Kelsey, with something of a swagger this time, took his position on the stand.
Mason said, “Mr Kelsey, you were not at the press conference yesterday when the defendant told her story.”
“No, sir.”
“But you did hear what that story was?”
“I did.”
“And did you then hurriedly make a trip to the beach with a diving outfit, go to the place the defendant had described, dive under water, there find the purse belonging to the defendant and which contained some three thousand dollars in fifty and hundred-dollar bills, which you appropriated, and then, in order to plant evidence which would clinch the case against the defendant, drop the murder gun near the place where the purse was lying?”
“What!” Kelsey exclaimed. “Why, I—”
“Oh, Your Honour,” Hastings interposed, “this is improper cross-examination. This is completely incompetent. This witness is not on trial.”
“He will be on trial,” Mason said, “because I propose to show that before the defendant told her story I had a diver carefully explore the bottom of the bay at this point, that at that time the defendant’s purse was lying there with three thousand dollars in it; that I had the diver take out the three thousand dollars and substitute three thousand dollars which I had drawn from a bank and on which I had kept the numbers of the bills; that at that time there was no gun anywhere near the location of the purse.
“Now then, someone hurriedly went to the spot, removed the three thousand dollars from the purse and put the murder weapon where it would be found.
“That person must have been the murderer — the person who was Gilly’s partner, who joined him on the yacht sometime after the defendant had left, who had a boat which he tied to the yacht, who stayed with the yacht while the tide rose and the boat drifted to another part of the bay, who sat with Gilly while he made a meal of canned beans which they took from the boat’s stock of provisions; that they tossed the bean can overboard, that they then got in an argument, that this person accused Gilly of double-crossing him on the reward, and shot Gilly with the weapon which Mrs Bancroft had dropped to the deck of the boat when she jumped overboard.
“Then this person left the body on the yacht, after searching it for money and finding none.
“The murderer then rowed back to shore and—”
“Now, wait a minute,” Kelsey said, “you can’t accuse me of that because a detective was shadowing me. He followed me all the way from my interview with Eve Amory to the Ajax-Delsey Apartments.”
Mason smiled. “So you knew you were being followed?”
“Of course.”
“And,” Mason said, “what was to prevent you, knowing that you were being followed and the detective was shadowing the front of the Ajax-Delsey Apartments, from slipping out the back way, borrowing a car which you found parked there, and going to the harbour?”
“You can’t prove anything of the sort,” Kelsey said.
“Yes I can,” Mason said, “because those bills which I had placed in Mrs Bancroft’s purse were furnished me by a bank long after the murder had been committed, and the bank has the numbers of those bills, and unless I’m very mistaken you have that three thousand dollars in bills either in your pocket now or concealed somewhere in your room or in your automobile, and I intend to get a search warrant and—”
For one long, trapped moment Kelsey surveyed Mason, sized up the situation, then suddenly and before anyone could stop him, bolted from the witness stand and through the door to the judge’s chambers.
After the first numbing shock of surprise the sheriff went pell-mell in pursuit.
Mason turned and grinned at Bancroft.
From a distant corridor came the sound of a voice shouting, “Halt or I’ll shoot!”
Two shots were fired in quick succession.
A few minutes later the sheriff returned to court, leading a handcuffed Kelsey.
“Now then, if the Court please,” Mason said, “I think if the sheriff will search his prisoner he will find a roll of bills in the prisoner’s pocket and that the numbers on those bills will coincide with the list furnished me by the bank, and which I now hand to the sheriff.
“Kelsey thought that Gilly had double-crossed him in connection with the three thousand dollars. After hearing Gilly’s story on the yacht he thought that Gilly had again double-crossed him in that Mrs Bancroft had given him a large sum of money before she had pulled the gun on him.
“The Court will remember that the jar of the yacht running aground was sufficient to throw Mrs Bancroft off balance and cause her to pull the trigger of the gun. It is only natural to assume that Gilly was also thrown off balance, and after having been shot at, had the presence of mind to lie still so that he wouldn’t be shot at again.
“Kelsey accused Gilly of double-crossing him. He had the gun, which had not fallen overboard at all but had remained where it had dropped on the deck. He used that gun to kill Gilly in cold blood, and then searched him for the money which he thought Gilly would have. He was disappointed and surprised to find that Gilly didn’t have it.
“He then left the yacht, rowed ashore, got in the car he had borrowed or stolen, returned to the back door of the Ajax-Delsey Apartments, went to Gilly’s apartment and there carefully fabricated the evidence which indicated Gilly’s last meal had been consumed in the apartment before he went to the yacht club. In that way he was able to cause the coroner’s office to believe death had occurred several hours earlier.”
Judge Hobart looked at the cringing Kelsey, said to the sheriff, “Search that man. Let’s see if he has bills in his possession, the numbers of which coincide with this list which Mr Mason has just handed me.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ten minutes later when Judge Hobart, assisted by the district attorney, had carefully checked the numbers of the bills found in Kelsey’s wallet, Judge Hobart said, “These numbers check, Mr Mason. I take it, Mr Hastings, that a motion to dismiss the case against Mrs Bancroft is in order.”
“I make that motion now,” Hastings said somewhat sheepishly.
“Now, I want to say something,” Kelsey said.
“Anything you say can be used against you,” Judge Hobart said. “You don’t have to make any statement. If you do make any statement it is to be made freely and voluntarily and can be used against you.”
“I know what the score is,” Kelsey said wearily. “I just want to state that Mr Mason had it all doped out except one thing. I actually shot Gilly in self-defence. I accused him of cheating, accused him of lying and accused him of having made a shake-down that I knew nothing about.
“He denied the accusation and I told him I intended to search him. I started for him and he grabbed a knife, which he had evidently taken from the galley, and came for me. I shot him.”
“Then what did you do?” Judge Hobart asked.
“I searched him for money. I didn’t find as much as I thought I was going to find but I did find what was left of the thousand dollars that he had secured from Mrs Bancroft earlier. He was a complete double-crosser and a heel and when he knew I was going to discover what he had done he tried to kill me.”
“What did you do with the gun?” Judge Hobart asked.
“I took that gun and concealed it where it wouldn’t be found. Later on when I learned the story Mrs Bancroft had told the press I reloaded one chamber in that gun and tossed away the empty cartridge. I got a skin-diver’s outfit, went down, located the purse, took out the money, planted the gun near the purse. I felt that under the circumstances I was entitled to that money. It had been my brains that had enabled Gilly to cash in on the idea.”
Judge Hobart turned to Mason. “What happened to the bullet that Mrs Bancroft fired?”