“I didn’t approximate it. That’s accurate.”
“And just how did you fix it?”
“Because the television program we wanted to watch came on at eight o’clock.”
“You had expected this boy friend of yours earlier?”
“I didn’t say he was my boy friend.”
“He was a man?”
“Yes.”
“He was a friend?”
“Naturally.”
“Then I’ll refer to him as a man friend,” Mason said. “You had expected this man friend earlier?”
“I’d been waiting for him ever since... well, half past seven.”
“That was when he was due to arrive?”
“That was when I expected him.”
“So you were annoyed at the delay?”
“I was somewhat apprehensive.”
“Apprehensive?” Mason asked. “You thought perhaps he wasn’t coming?”
“No, I thought perhaps something had happened to him.”
“He’d been up to your apartment before?”
“I already said he had.”
“Was he in the habit of coming late?”
“I don’t make appointments by the clock.”
“But this time you did?”
“I made this appointment by the television.”
“Did you make the appointment, or did he?”
“Well, I suggested that... well, I don’t know. It’s just one of those things that happen.”
“So you were a little apprehensive as you were watching the elevator?”
“I had been apprehensive prior to that time. I wasn’t apprehensive when I was watching the elevator; I was expectant.”
“Was the defendant standing in the hall when you opened the door?”
“No, she came out afterwards.”
“You saw her when she emerged?”
“Well, I... yes.”
“Did you see her when she was emerging?” Mason asked.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Did you see her as soon as she opened the door?”
“The door was opened once and then closed again, and then opened the second time and the defendant came out holding this canary cage. She closed the door and hurried down the corridor.”
“Did you speak to her?”
“I didn’t have the chance.”
“What do you mean?”
“She didn’t even turn around.”
“Oh, then her back was to you?” Mason said.
“Naturally. If she was going to the stairway, her back had to be toward me. She wouldn’t have walked backwards.”
There was a slight titter in the courtroom. Judge Madison started to say something, then smiled and settled back in his chair.
“Did she have her back to you when she came out the door?” Mason asked.
“Yes.”
“Did you take your eyes off the elevator while you were watching her?”
“No, I— Well, I was sort of looking in both directions.”
“At the same time?”
“Well, alternating.”
“You were turning your head back and forth just as rapidly as you could turn it?”
“Certainly not! I was primarily interested in the elevator. I saw the defendant — well, just like you’d see anything incidentally.”
“And was her back to you when she came out of the apartment carrying the bird cage?”
“Yes. She backed out of the apartment, holding the bird cage.”
“Pulled the door shut and walked rapidly toward the stairs?”
“I’ve already told you that a dozen times.”
“So you never did see her face,” Mason said.
“I didn’t have to see her face to recognize her. I recognized her figure; I recognized her clothing.”
“So you didn’t see her face?”
“I saw her clothes.”
“So you didn’t see her face?”
“No.”
“What was she wearing?”
“A tweed coat.”
“Can you describe that coat? Was it tight-fitting or—”
“No, it was a loose-fitting, baggy, tweed coat.”
“A long coat or a short coat?”
“A long coat. It came to her knees — a little below.”
“You’d seen her in that coat before?”
“Many times.”
“And during all of this time you were waiting for your man friend to emerge from the elevator?”
“Yes.”
“And keeping your eye on the elevator so that he wouldn’t miss your apartment?”
“I wanted to welcome him.”
“Then you were standing there not because you wanted him to know where the apartment was, but because you wanted to give him your welcome in person?”
“Oh, if the Court please,” Dexter said, “that question has been answered several times.”
“And in several different ways,” Judge Madison said. “The witness may answer the question.”
“All right!” she said angrily. “I don’t know why I was standing there. It was just a natural gesture. I was... well, I was there, and it doesn’t make any difference why I was there. I was there and I saw this defendant emerge from her apartment carrying that caged canary.”
“When your man friend emerged from the elevator, did you run toward him?”
“No.”
“Did you walk toward him?”
“No.”
“You just stood there and let him walk all the way?”
“Well, I moved a few steps.”
“Walking, or running?”
“Walking.”
“Then you did walk to meet him?”
“Well, not all the way.”
“Part of the way?”
“Yes.”
“And during that time you had your back turned to the defendant?”
“She had gone before that. She opened the stair door and just shot through it.”
“Before your man friend emerged from the elevator?”
“At just about the same time.”
“What were the lighting conditions in the hallway of the apartment house, Mrs. Newton? The lighting was rather dim, I take it?”
“Well, you take it wrong,” she said. “I had been complaining about the lighting and so had some of the other tenants and beginning with the first of the year the management had put in a whole new series of lights — and it was high time they did it. The way things had been it was just as dark as a pocket. A body could have got herself hurt there.”
“So the lighting conditions were good?”
“They were.”
Mason hesitated a moment. “Do you have a driving license, Mrs. Newton?”
“Of course I do.”
“May I see it?”
“Well, I certainly don’t see what that has to do with it,” the witness said.
“Nor do I,” Dexter announced, getting to his feet. “If the Court please, I think it is incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial.”
Judge Madison shook his head. “This is cross-examination,” he said. “This witness has testified to a recognition of the defendant under circumstances which could be very vital to the defense, and I have no intention of limiting the cross-examination of defense counsel as long as the examination is within reasonable limits. Moreover, the Court thinks it knows what counsel is after and it is certainly pertinent.”
The witness reluctantly opened her purse, produced her driving license. “This gives the date of my birth,” she said, “and I certainly don’t want to have my age published in the newspapers. I just don’t think it’s anyone’s business.”
“I wasn’t interested in the date of your birth,” Mason said, taking the driving license. “I was interested in whether there were any restrictions — ah yes, I see that your driving license says that you must wear corrective glasses.”
“Well, what about it?” snapped the witness.
“You don’t seem to have any glasses on now,” Mason said.
“Well, I’m not driving a car now.”
“And you weren’t driving a car on the night of the thirteenth when you saw a figure that you thought you could recognize as that of the defendant.”