“What the devil did you do that for, Perry?”
“Do what?” Mason asked, his manner indicating surprise.
“Let Burger off the hook. The judge was granting a mistrial.”
“Sure he was. Then Janice would have remained locked up in jail and would have been tried again and perhaps convicted. I am now about to get her acquitted.”
“You are! How?”
Mason said, “Ever since I saw that photograph showing the coiled hose, I hoped I could get the prosecution to walk into this trap. Now they’re going to try to show the water had been shut off for months.”
“And as soon as they do it, your theory of the murderer sprinkling the ground with a hose goes out the window,” Drake said.
Mason grinned. “And that leaves Hamilton Burger with the job of trying to convince this jury that a man with the wealth of Morley Theilman would pick a place to spend the night with his secretary where there was no water in the bathroom, no water in the faucets!
“Stick around, Paul. You’re going to see something.”
Paul Drake pursed his lips. “I’ll be damned,” he said slowly.
Chapter Sixteen
At three-thirty when court reconvened, Hamilton Burger arose.
“If the Court please,” he said, “I regret having to make a confession. I cannot show that the water in the mains was turned off; in fact, apparently such was not the case. Therefore I have no alternative but to apologize to the Court and stipulate that the Court may declare a mistrial. I am sorry that I exceeded the bounds of propriety. My zeal was such that I over-stepped the limits. I do want to state in self-defense, however, that I did so because I had every reason to believe the water had been shut off and because I was exasperated by that completely fantastic, utterly unsupported theory of the defense that someone stood out there with a hose wetting the ground.”
“Very well,” Judge Seymour said, “in view of that statement of the prosecutor...”
“Just a moment, Your Honor,” Mason said. “May I be heard?”
“What is there to be heard on?” Judge Seymour asked. “Your motion for a mistrial is going to be granted.”
“That motion was withdrawn,” Mason said. “It was withdrawn in favor of a stipulation entered into by the parties that court would adjourn until three-thirty this afternoon and that at that time the district attorney would have witnesses in court to prove that water was not in the pipes.”
“He can’t prove it,” Judge Seymour said. “You have heard his statement.”
“Certainly, I have heard his statement,” Mason said. “His statement shows that the witness would testify the water was in the mains leading to the scene of the murder. My stipulation was that witnesses could be called to show the condition of the water in the pipes. Now let the district attorney call the witnesses.”
“But you had asked for a mistrial,” Judge Seymour said.
“I did at the time. The motion was withdrawn and it is now withdrawn. I want the case to proceed in accordance with the stipulation. I want the witness put on the stand. I don’t want a mistrial. I want to go before this jury with the evidence the way it is and I want a verdict of acquittal at the hands of this jury. We’re entitled to it and we want it.”
Judge Seymour smiled and said, “I now appreciate the strategy of the defense — and it certainly seems to be quite a strategic victory for the defense.
“Very well, Mr. District Attorney, call your witness.”
Hamilton Burger, with poor grace, said, “Your Honor, this is forcing my hand. I had not intended to put this witness on the stand at the present time.”
Judge Seymour said, “You entered into a stipulation with defense counsel, Mr. Prosecutor. I admit that at the time the Court failed to appreciate the subtle strategy back of the stipulation. The Court sees it now.
“The defense stipulated that the motion for a mistrial would be withdrawn to give the prosecution an opportunity to put on a witness testifying to the condition of the water in the water pipes at the scene of the crime.
“The prosecution entered into that stipulation. Now then, you put on your witness to show the conditions, whatever they were, or else dismiss the case — one or the other.”
Burger leaned over, whispered a few words to Ruskin, then strode from the courtroom. Ruskin arose and said, “Call Otto L. Nelson.”
Nelson came forward, was sworn, testified that he was in charge of the records of the Palmdale Mountain Subdivision Mutual Water Company; that water had been shut off at the real estate office of the subdivision for a period of about two years but that service had been reopened on the fourth at nine a.m.
“That’s all. You may cross-examine,” Ruskin said.
Mason smiled. “And who was the one who reopened the service, Mr. Nelson?”
“Cole B. Troy, one of the joint owners of the subdivision.”
“And when was water turned on?”
“Immediately. He asked to have immediate service.”
“Thank you,” Mason said, smiling. “That’s all.”
“That’s our case,” Ruskin said.
“Very well. Proceed with the argument,” Judge Seymour said.
“We waive our opening argument,” Ruskin said.
“And I waive my argument,” Mason said.
“What!” Ruskin shouted. “Why you can’t. The stipulation was that—”
“The stipulation was that the case would be resubmitted,” Judge Seymour interrupted dryly. “You have waived your opening argument. The defense has waived its argument and therefore there is nothing for you to reply to. Therefore you have no closing argument.”
“But the effect of that is to give Perry Mason the opportunity to have argued his case to this jury and then put a muzzle on us.”
“You made the stipulation,” Judge Seymour said. “The stipulation was very plain. The case was to be reopened for evidence and resubmitted to the jury.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the Court is now called upon to give you instructions as to the law of the case. After you have received those instructions, you will retire to deliberate. You will first select a foreman.
“The Court will read the instructions very briefly.”
For fifteen minutes Judge Seymour read the instructions of the Court. Then he swore a bailiff to keep charge of the jury, and the jury retired.
Ruskin stalked out of the courtroom without a word to Perry Mason.
“Well, Perry,” Paul Drake said, “you did it. And the interesting thing is you did it by a damn clever piece of courtroom strategy... How the devil did you know that there was water in those pipes?”
“I knew that the real estate office hadn’t been used for years and the photograph showed a hose coiled up and connected to a water outlet. From there on I had everything to gain and nothing to lose.”
Della Street said admiringly, “You did, as long as you could think at chain-lightning speed.”
“You’re still two paragraphs ahead of me,” Drake admitted.
Chapter Seventeen
Mason, Paul Drake, Della Street and Janice Wainwright sat in Mason’s office having coffee. Janice Wainwright was tearfully happy. Drake from time to time looked at Mason in puzzled bewilderment. Della Street was starry-eyed with pride.
On the desk in front of Mason was a paper fresh from the press with headlines reading, shortest deliberation in courtroom history, mason’s client acquitted in minutes.
“Will you kindly tell me what happened?” Paul Drake asked.
Mason said, “I don’t know what happened. No one will know for sure what happened until Troy is apprehended. I understand he’s now a fugitive from justice.