“That,” Judge Grosbeck ruled, “is quite apparently the law.”
Peavis said, “I’ll gladly answer that question. I hired Mr. Lynk as my agent to get the stock.”
“Did you give him any money?”
“Well, no. But he knew that the money would be forthcoming as soon as he had reason to call for it.”
“You mean as soon as he had the stock?”
“Well—” Peavis glanced at his lawyer, then glanced hurriedly away.
“Can’t you answer that question?” Mason asked.
“No,” Peavis said. “The stock didn’t have anything to do with the payment of money. I hired him to get the stock. He was my agent.”
“And how did you get in touch with Mr. Lynk?”
“Objected to,” Labley said promptly, “as incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial. It makes no difference how the plaintiff made his contacts with Mr. Lynk. The point is that he made them.”
“Of course,” Judge Grosbeck pointed out, “this man is an interested party, a hostile witness, a...”
“If the court please,” Mason interrupted, “I’ll be willing to hold the question in abeyance. I don’t wish to take up the court’s time unduly. I’ll let Mr. Peavis step down, and call another witness.
“If subsequent testimony makes it necessary for me to examine Mr. Peavis on this point, I think the court will appreciate, by that time, the relevancy of the facts sought to be ascertained.”
“I don’t see how they can be pertinent,” Labley insisted.
“Well, we’ll let the question remain in abeyance as Mr. Mason has suggested,” Judge Grosbeck ruled.
Mason said, “Step down, Mr. Peavis. Mr. Coll, will you take the stand please?”
Sindler Coll took the oath as a witness with manifest reluctance. He seated himself on the witness stand and appeared very ill at ease.
“How long have you known Mr. Peavis?” Mason asked as soon as the witness had given his name and address to the court reporter.
“Almost ten years.”
“What’s your occupation?”
“I’m a sharpshooter.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, I speculate. Wherever I see an opportunity to make a profit, I pounce on it.”
“And Peavis approached you with reference to getting this stock?”
“He did.”
“And you had a conversation with Peavis as to what he was ready to do, and then you passed that word on to Mr. Lynk, did you not?”
“That’s right.”
“In other words, you acted as the go-between?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now, so far as you know, Mr. Peavis never met Mr. Lynk.”
“Well... yes, sir, I think he did.”
“Oh, he did?”
“Yes, sir.”
“When?”
“Well, that was the night of the tenth.”
“The night Lynk was murdered?”
“Well, he was murdered early — no, I guess that’s right. I guess he was murdered at midnight of the tenth.”
“How do you fix the time?”
“On what I’ve read in the papers.”
“When did you last see Mr. Lynk?”
“On the afternoon of the tenth.”
“About what time?”
“About three o’clock.”
“What did he tell you?”
“He said he wanted to talk with Peavis.”
“And what did you do?”
“I got Peavis.”
“Did you sit in on the conversation?”
“I did.”
“What was discussed?”
Coll shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “Well,” he said, “Lynk told Peavis that he could get, or was getting the stock, and for Peavis to be there with his money to pick it up.”
“What do you mean by there?”
Coll said, “I didn’t mean to say that. I just meant that Harvey wanted Peavis to have the money all ready.”
“In other words, without the money, Lynk didn’t intend to deliver the stock?”
“I don’t know. I...”
“It’s hearsay anyway,” Labley said.
Mason shook his head. “No, Counselor, it calls for a conclusion of the witness. I’ll withdraw it.”
Judge Grosbeck smiled.
“So,” Mason said musingly, “Lynk told Peavis to be there with the money.”
“That’s right.”
Labley cleared his throat. “I am wondering if the witness understood that question.”
“We’ll have it read to him,” Mason said.
The court reporter read the question and answer, and Coll said quickly, “No, no, that isn’t right. I didn’t mean that. I didn’t say that Lynk told him to be there with the money. That’s a word that the lawyer has put into my mouth.”
Mason smiled. “In any event, Mr. Coll,” he said, “Lynk wanted Peavis to be out there at Lilac Canyon with the money, didn’t he? Whether it was to be given as compensation for services performed or as the purchase price of stock?”
“I... well... I don’t know what he wanted. I can’t remember exactly what was said.”
Mason said, “That’s all.”
Labley said, “In Lilac Canyon, Mr. Coll?”
Coll jumped as though a pin had been stuck into him. “No, no,” he said. “I didn’t mean that. No, certainly not. He didn’t say anything about Lilac Canyon. He just said — well, he said Peavis had better get his dough ready because the stock was in his hands.”
“Did Mr. Lynk tell Mr. Peavis where to bring that money?” Labley asked.
“No, sir. He did not.”
Labley hesitated a moment, glanced dubiously at the frankly skeptical face of Judge Grosbeck, and said, “That’s all.”
The judge settled back in his chair and half closed his eyes, knowing that the preliminary having been laid, it would be good procedure for Mason to clamp down on Coll and rattle him with a running fire of cross-examination before he could recover his self-possession. The judge, who had every intention of giving Mason plenty of leeway, composed his features into an expression of judicial impassivity.
But Mason surprised everyone by saying, “That’s all, Mr. Coll.”
Coll avoided Labley’s eyes as he left the witness stand.
“Esther Dilmeyer,” Mason said.
She came forward and held up her hand to be sworn — very chic in a soft black wool jacket dress and a tiny black hat. The only touch of color was a gold pin at her throat and a matching bracelet on her left wrist.
Judge Grosbeck looked at her curiously. Labley seemed somehow ill at ease.
Mason said, “Your Honor, this young woman has just been discharged from the hospital. An attempt was made to poison her, and her recovery was...”
“The court understands the facts generally,” Judge Grosbeck said, looking at Esther Dilmeyer.
She gave her name and address to the court reporter, and smiled at Mr. Mason.
“Miss Dilmeyer,” Mason said casually, “you’re acquainted with Mr. Peavis?”
“Yes.”
“And have been for some time?”
“Well, a few weeks.”
“And, at his suggestion, you made it a point to become acquainted with Mr. Robert Lawley?”
“No.”
“No?” Mason asked, raising his eyebrows.
“No, sir.”
“Who did make that suggestion?”
Labley jumped to his feet. “Your Honor,” he said, “it is incompetent, irrelevant and immaterial.”
Judge Grosbeck looked at Mason curiously. “I’d be glad to hear from you on that point, Mr. Mason,” he said.
Mason’s manner was quietly matter-of-fact. He said, “Your Honor, there are two horns to the dilemma which confronts the plaintiff in this action. Either he can appear in the rôle of holding himself out as a prospective purchaser for the stock in question, in which event the fact that Lynk died before the stock could be sold leaves the plaintiff with no right whatever to maintain his action; or he can adopt the position that Lynk was his agent, purchasing the stock for the plaintiff in this action. That is the only theory on which he can maintain the present action. The minute he adopts that theory, he becomes responsible for everything which Lynk, as his agent, did. Now then, in place of seeking a legal remedy, he has sought an equitable remedy. He is now in a court of equity. It is an axiom that he who comes to equity must come with clean hands. If the actions of his agent, Lynk, in obtaining this stock were such as to shock the conscience, if he employed illegal means, or if he resorted to entrapment, fraud, or oppression, then the plaintiff is not entitled to an equitable remedy because the courts of equity won’t let him cross the threshold.”