"## [theme]" "Oh, dear." "Well, you said you wanted some with larger rhinestones, and those" "I know, but now these have the wrong kind of clips." "But I'm certain I showed you a pair with the kind that you like." "Oh, but they were the ones that were more of a turquoise, weren't they?" "I mean, don't you think a clearer blue with my coloring is" "My dear, at this point I'm not sure at all what I think." "Oh, dear." "I am a nuisance, aren't I?" "I don't know why I can't seem to make up my mind about anything today." "Maybe I have some more down here that you might like better." "You know, maybe I should be looking at brooches." "That's really what I came to this counter for." "And if we could find something that matches" "I wonder if you could tell me where a ladies' room is." "Yes, of course." "There's one right down the corridor there." " Oh." " Oh, I'm sorry." " Here." "You dropped this." " Thank you." " Are you all right?" " Uh" "I don't think she's very well." "I know." "I better take a look." "Miss Fairweather, if you please." "[whispering]" "Uh, Men's Furnishings are on through that way, sir." "Right through the next section." "Thank you." "Oh." "Excuse me, sir, but have you seen" "Yes?" "I'm sorry." "I don't ordinarily speak to strangers." "But I'm looking for my aunt-- a white-haired woman." "I lost her down in Millinery" "Dark coat?" "Flowered hat?" "Aunt Sarah." "Ginny, where on earth have you been?" " Let's run along now." " I've been looking over this whole store" "Oh, no, you don't." "Stand right there, madam." "Right where you are." "Well, Miss Fairweather?" "Two scarves, a dozen stockings, and this necklace is from my counter, too." "She just dropped them in there." "Tried to get rid of them, you mean." "She knew I'd spotted what she'd done, all right." "Sarah, what's he talking about?" "Shoplifting, that's what." "There's not going to be any more of it in my section." " You let go of her!" " It's just a misunderstanding." "Oh, no it's no misunderstanding." "You're a thief and you know it." "There's not one single sales slip with those items." "Now wait, just wait." "I'll pay for anything." "And you'll go along, too, young lady." "I guess I know an accomplice when I see one." " You don't have to be so" " I'd call a store detective if I were you." "Oh, you would, would you?" "And who are you, sir?" "My name is Mason." "I'm an attorney." "Well, then, you must be familiar with the fact that the store has a perfect right to detain anyone suspected of stealing." "But you don't have the right to slander this woman in front of these people, nor to commit battery by grabbing her that way." "Of all the nerve." "In fact, if she has any reasonable explanation for what she's done, you may find you're putting the store in worse trouble than this woman is." "Well, I'm certainly not going to stand here and" "The man's right, you idiot." "Please, everyone." "Just move along, thank you." "I'm terribly sorry, madam." "If you'll both step into the office," "I'm sure we can straighten this out in just a moment." "It's obviously a mistake." "I know it's a mistake." "My aunt's never stolen anything in her whole life." "Ladies." "Thank you." "I don't quite know what all this fuss is about, but... thank you anyway." "Taxi." "I've never been so mortified in all my life." "But they let us pay for everything, and you do need the stockings." "$78." "Aunt Sarah, what's the matter with you?" "I don't know." "I'm not sure I even remember exactly what's been happening." " Get in." " No." "We ought to go to George's office, and we can walk there." "You are going straight home and straight to bed." "But I want to see if he's come back yet." "Oh, Ginny, I'm so worried about George." "Maybe that's what's been upsetting me." " Ever since George disappeared" " You hate Uncle George." "Underneath, you know you really hate him." "Nonsense." "I love my brother." "Besides, I'm worried about his business." "If George stays away very long" "Aunt Sarah, can't you for once just let other people's problems go go hang?" "Of course not." "It's a very important and valuable business." " Here." "I'm sorry we bothered you." " All right, all right." "I'll do all the worrying." "I'll take care of Uncle George." "I'll take care of everything." "Only will you go home?" "Go home right now." "Well?" "Where is he?" " Your uncle George?" " Mm-hmm." " He hasn't come in yet." " Of course not." "The infantile adult never behaves." "Oh, but we have plenty of work to do without him." "This arrived in the morning mail." "I'm sure you don't have to worry about your uncle." "His car keys?" "Well, if that doesn't just take-- [phone rings]" "Hello?" "Oh, uh, hello, Mr. Cullens." "No, he just stepped out for a moment." "Is there any message I can" "What?" "The Bedford diamonds?" "One moment, Mr. Cullins." "Tell him it's all right." "It'll be taken care of right on time." "What are the Bedford diamonds?" "Your aunt Sarah was down earlier this morning and opened the safe." "I can do the job myself." "It's just a recutting job that Mr. Cullens brought down for your uncle yesterday morning." "Beautiful stones." "I'll show them to you." "Hello, Mr. Cullens." "I believe those stones are being worked on right now, so" "Oh." "Well, why didn't you say so?" "Yes, I'll give the instructions." "Goodbye." "Oh, that was a false alarm." "He says don't cut the stones yet." "The owner wants to show them to a possible buyer." "Well, say something." "Isn't that all right?" "Mrs. Bedford's diamonds-- they're not here." "Perhaps you'd better start at the beginning." "Mr. Mason, my aunt Sarah has never taken a thing in her life." "Her only trouble is she just gives all the time." "Only now she's sick, and now she's disappeared again." "She never took that taxi home, don't you understand?" "You see, after the store apologized for saying she'd been shoplifting" "She had been shoplifting." "All right." "Of course she had." "And now she's stolen Mrs. Bedford's diamonds." "I know she has them because the foreman saw them in the safe when he and Uncle George locked up last night, before he disappeared." "Just as though all her unconscious resentments had boiled up and snapped." "Snapped at what?" "Well, at Uncle George, of course." "All her life she's had to look out for that-- that creature." "I take it you don't like George Trent very well." "Whatever gives you that idea?" "I'm just realistic about my emotions, that's all." "Oh, I see." "No, you don't." "You see, the trouble with Uncle George is he's never had any boyhood." "He's always been good and made money, and now he's 50, and, you see, he has this innate repression, this subconscious rebellion against environment which-- which" "Which does what?" "Which makes him get drunk." "Go on." "Well, that's what the keys are all about." "Whenever he feels one of his periods of-- of release coming on, he puts his car keys in an envelope and mails them to himself." "I think that's a very good thing for a man to do when he's going to start drinking." "You needn't defend him, Mr. Mason, because then it gets worse." "When he drinks, he starts gambling." "Sometimes he can lose thousands of dollars." "If you don't think a lifetime of that is enough to make my aunt Sarah snap" "Excuse me, Perry." "There's a Mr. Austin Cullens to see you." "I'll just go right in, if you don't mind." "Ginny, what the devil's going on?" "You running to lawyers, stores phoning me for character references about your aunt, your uncle's foreman running all over the place like a chicken with his head chopped off" "Yes, I know those diamonds are missing." "Please listen, Mr. Cullens." "We're going to find them." "Rather, Mr. Mason is." "And we'll find Uncle George and Aunt Sarah, too, but you must realize that she's not well." "She'd never do anything like this if she weren't so psychologically upset." "Oh, gobbledegook." "Hello, Mr. Mason." "I'm Austin Cullens." "I've known this kid since she was this high." "Used the same silly words then." " Mr. Cullens" " Sarah Breel is no more sick than I am." "She's just putting on an act to cover for George, that's all." "Just what do you mean, Mr. Cullens?" "The old mother hen." "Doesn't want me getting sore and accusing George of grand theft." "Ginny, you know very well he has those diamonds-- probably hocking them in some poker game right now." "If that is the case, what do you intend to do about it?" "Nothing." "We've been friends for twenty years, Mr. Mason." "I'll get those stones back." "Those stones actually belong to a Mrs. Bedford, isn't that right?" "I'm a dealer in gems-- buy and sell." "This time I'm acting as an agent." "Now lone Bedford has a buyer who wants to look at things and" "Mr. Cullens, you just can't tell Mrs. Bedford any of this." "Of course I can." "I can also tell her not to worry." "George Trent has never let me down yet." "Ginny, you've got to learn something." "In a difficult situation, the only thing to do is tell the truth." "He has a point, Virginia." "Now you come along and stop pestering people." "You're the one who needs a drink." "All right." "Oh, goodbye, Mr. Mason." "Goodbye, Virginia." "Della, get hold of Paul Drake." "I want him to start looking in a hurry." "For the diamonds, Perry?" "No, for Aunt Sarah." "Look where?" "Oh, begin with police headquarters, ambulance calls, emergency hospitals." "Oh, Mr. Mason." "Good evening, Andre." "I have a message for you." "From Mr. Drake?" "He was going to meet me here." "Your exchange-- a number to call." "Here it is." "Thank you." "Mrs. Ione Bedford." "Well, the minute I found out my beautiful diamonds had disappeared," "I told Austin Cullens I was going to sue." "You were going to sue?" "Well, you don't think I'd run the risk of being mussed up by the famous Perry Mason" "Legally speaking, that is." "What else made you change your mind, Mrs. Bedford?" "Well, Austin found the diamonds." "They're at a place called the Golden Platter, I think." "Apparently, that ridiculous George person had borrowed money on them to gamble with." "Did Mr. Cullens get the diamonds back for you?" "Well, the people are still hemming and hawing a little, I gather." "But Aussie says that's the usual noise, so we'll pay a little extra." "But he says don't worry, he can handle it, all right." "And I did want you to know, Mr. Mason, that there's nothing more that needs to be done." "Bye-bye." "Perry, this is Sergeant Gifford." "How do you do, Sergeant?" "The sergeant is not something I dug up." "So far, this hasn't been my day for finding people." "I came here to find you, Mr. Mason." "I understand you guys been asking all over town for a Mrs. Sarah Breel, right?" "What about Mrs. Breel, Sergeant?" "What is it you want?" "I want to know how come you seemed to know in advance that the old lady was going to be hurt." "Hurt?" "She was struck down by a car less than an hour ago." "She's in emergency hospital." "Fractured left ankle." "She's pretty badly bruised." "A slight concussion." "Is that why she's still unconscious?" "No, no." "I gave her a sedative for pain." "When she came to, after she'd been hit, her mind seemed to wander a good deal." "She couldn't remember anything." "Sergeant, I'm going to take her upstairs now." "Okay." "But remember, that officer stays on duty up there." "Why?" "What has she done?" "Maybe you can tell me a few whys, Mr. Mason." "Follow me." "Apparently, the old lady was just running along a sidewalk out on Rupert Street." "She jumped out between parked cars." "Some guy coming along slow hit her." "Have you got the driver of the car?" "I talked to him." "It wasn't his fault." "He says some kind of blue sedan pulled out from the curb in front of him." "He swerved, so he didn't see the dame when she ran out, and not in a crosswalk, either." "Here." "This is the stuff that fell out of her purse when she was hit." "The gun, too?" "That's right." "But you don't actually know that it was ever in her purse, of course." "It was just found there on the pavement, I suppose." "All right, Mason, try to dodge this." "Look rather like diamonds." "Huh." "Like a measly fifty thousand bucks' worth, maybe." "So what don't you know about them?" "Sergeant, since I've never seen these stones before," "I obviously can't make any statements about them." "Now look here, Mason" "And since I can't talk to Mrs. Breel, I can't ask her about them, can I." "So if you'll excuse me, I have my own work to do." "Good night." "Paul, have you located Virginia Trent?" "No, not yet." "But the police must have her name or number from Sarah's identification." "Perry, I just tried her phone." "That's not what I'm looking for." "Here it is." "Cullens." "Austin Cullens." "9461 Rupert Street." "Sarah's accident must have been back there near the corner." "Paul." "Anybody home?" "Mr. Cullens?" "Wait a minute, there's a lamp over here." "Scorched." "No wonder." "Somebody put a penny in it." "Paul." "It's Austin Cullens." "He's been shot." "He's dead." "Here, Perry." "His shirt was pulled out, and this was tied around his waist." "Chamois bag of some sort." "Not just some sort." "It's the type of pouch that gem dealers often carry." "Only that Cullens' pouch was inside out and empty." "Then we don't know what was ever inside it, do we?" "Oh, no, no." "It couldn't have been those diamonds we saw by the old lady's bag." "Of course not." "Excuse me, Lieutenant." "Yes, Gifford?" "[whispering]" "Please don't leave quite yet." "Tragg, I've reported a crime." "I've told you all I can about it." " Hah." " Never mind, Sergeant." "Perry, about that gun we found in Sarah Breel's purse." "It wasn't actually found in the purse, as I recall." "Two shots were fired from that gun, and one slug was found in Cullens' body." "And I'm sure I'll find the other one around here any minute now." "Lieutenant, you haven't even run a ballistics check yet." "No, but we've traced the gun's serial number, and it's registered to the George Trent Company." " So what?" " It was kept in an office desk-- the same desk Sarah Breel used whenever she was there." "It was seen in that desk just a few days ago." "Who says all this?" "Old dame has a niece named Virginia Trent." "One of our men's been talking to her down at the hospital." "And of course the girl insists that her Aunt Sarah just couldn't commit such a horrible crime." "Tragg, someone stuck a penny in a light socket, probably so Cullens would blow a fuse when he came home." "An assailant who preferred darkness, in other words." "Well, if that sounds like an old lady's trick to you" "It sounds like you think you're in court already." "Relax, Tragg." "In this case, believe it or not, I don't even have a client yet." "But Ginny says I need you for my lawyer." "And I've known all day how badly you need help, Mrs. Breel." "But I can't very well represent you unless you tell me the truth." "Oh, dear, haven't I?" "I'm supposed to be sleeping, they said." "And I'm held under suspicion of something." "Murder, Mrs. Breel." "I know you can't really talk much until morning." "But if you could just tell me why you went out to Austin Cullens' house." "Department store." "I remember seeing you, and then, later on, I had a lamb chop for dinner somewhere, but... oh, no, I'm not even sure I remember that." "All right." "You can let me know in the morning if you've changed your mind." "And my brother." "Poor little George." "I think I was looking for him." "Oh, everything would be so much clearer if only I could find George." "I've got a man trying to trace him right now, Mrs. Breel, but we're not having any luck." "Well, there." "You're doing it." "So you already are my lawyer." "Now that's settled." "I can go to sleep happy, Mr. Mason." "You want to see me?" "Yes, Mr. Golding, I do." "I'm Paul Drake." "I know." "Come on in the office." "You own and operate the Golden Platter, I understand." "I got a message." "You're looking for George Trent." "A man named Austin Cullens told someone that Trent had been here during the last day or two." "I know Trent." "Big drinker." "Big plunger." "But not often." "Not for months." "Somebody told somebody wrong, that's all." "Apparently, Trent hocked some diamonds with you to get money to gamble with." "I run a quiet business, Mr. Drake." "You run a joint, and you've had trouble with the police." "Now I think Cullens got those diamonds back from you, maybe just this evening." "I never met anybody named Cullens." "Now get out of here." "Then you don't care if he's dead." "If what?" "Cullens was murdered, probably just after leaving your place." "Just in case you didn't know." "What's this guy Cullens look like?" "Six feet tall, medium build." "Okay." "Never mind." "That's the same bird, all right." "Heleft here about 7:00, no later." "After what?" "After taking back the diamonds?" "After he asked the same stupid questions you did and after I gave him the same answers." "I haven't seen Trent, and I haven't seen any diamonds." "Now good night, Mr. Drake." "Good night, Mr. Golding." "I'm going out, Joe." "I'll be back in a little while." "They're lovely, aren't they?" "The diamonds." "I thought you'd like to know about it as quickly as possible that your diamonds had been found." "I never mind company at this hour." "Only where did you get the picture, Mr. Mason?" "From the police department." "They have the diamonds down there right now." "They were found in some woman's purse, you say?" "The last I knew, Aussie Cullens phoned and said he could get my diamonds back from some gambling place, like I told you." "That the last time you talked to Cullens?" "Well, yes." "Only I do think I should be talking to him again, don't you?" "Why you came to see me instead of him I really" "I just wanted to show you this picture." "I thought you'd be glad to know that your diamonds had been recovered." "Well, I'm not, particularly." "You see, those aren't my diamonds." "I've never seen those stones before in my life." "You're sure?" "Here, take another look." "They're not mine, I tell you." "I don't know anything about them!" "[doorbell buzzes]" "All right, relax." "A man named Paul Drake knows I'm here, and" " Yeah." " Pete." "I thought I heard a man's voice in here." "This is Pete" " Mr. Chennery my husband, but we haven't been living together" " Aw, shut up." " Pete, this is" "I know who he is." "What do you think I been watching you for?" "Cullens, I'm going to wring your neck." "Stop it, Pete." "This is Mr. Mason." "He's a lawyer." "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but Austin Cullens is already dead." "He's been murdered." "So that's why you came to see me." "You think I had something to do with Austin Cullens." "You went out with the guy, didn't you?" "You moved out of our place, changed your name." "Oh, stop it, you fool." "Yes, Mr. Mason, I-- I did let Austin Cullens take me out." "I even helped him sell his diamonds and things." "What do you mean helped him sell his diamonds?" "You see, Mr. Mason, the reason I couldn't identify those things in the picture is because I don't own any diamonds." "I never did." "He used me to pretend, to put on a show of being rich and owning jewelry." "It helped him get a much higher price, he said." "He" "You call me a fool." "Oh, Pete, darling, please understand." "Was Austin Cullens a crook?" "Is that why you're so frightened now?" "I don't really know what he was." "At first I just thought I was helping him in his business, but then he kept mentioning more and more gems" "Ione, don't tell him any more." "But Pete, if Aussie's been murdered" "You need your own lawyer, not this one." "Get out of here, Mason." "You're right, Mr. Chennery." "Maybe you both need lawyers." "Pete, darling, I'm so glad to see you." " [slap] - [lone gasps]" "What is this with you and this Cullens guy?" "What's been going on here?" "Nothing's been going on, darling." "You've got to understand." "What are you talking about?" "Where'd you get this place and those clothes and everything?" "Fence?" "But I" " I don't understand." "I'm sure we'll that find Austin Cullens was dealing in stolen jewels." "He used lone Bedford to put up a front as owner of certain items so that they could be sold on an open market instead of the usual half-price underworld deal." "We've known Austin for years." "Under certain compulsions, a person can change, Aunt Sarah." " Now don't you think you ought to" " But George always trusted Austin." "He used to be honest." "And you've always trusted your brother George, of course, or so you've claimed." "What?" "Auntie, you just can't go on trying to protect" "Ginny, I've told you before, I'll do all the talking in this family." "Mrs. Breel, I want to know what happened last night." "Oh, if only I could remember." "Mrs. Breel, ballistics has now proved that the bullet that killed Cullens came from that gun in your purse." "They've also found blood on one of your shoes that matches Cullens' blood." "They'll be ready for a hearing on your case almost immediately." "Well" "Well, I'm not afraid of that." "I'll defend you with nothing if I have to." "But I'd much rather show all the pains you went to-- losing your memory, shoplifting-- just so you'd be taken for a thief instead of George Trent." "Maybe even so you'd take the blame for a murder instead of" "I can't help it, Mr. Mason." "Until you find George, I'm afraid you'll just have to-- have to do without me." "No more keys in the mail?" "No postcards from Las Vegas?" "There's nothing from Uncle George." "I suppose the police have been through here already." "Yes." "They looked at the safe last night." "What's this other door key on here?" "Oh, that's just for storage." "Uncle George rented the office next door for shipping and things, but he doesn't use it anymore." "[phone rings]" "Hello?" "Oh." "Yes, this is the Trent Company, but there's no one here right now." "No, I told you" "Oh." "Yes, he is." "One moment, please." "Who's calling?" "Mr. Drake." "[clatter]" "Mr. Mason?" "In here, Virginia." "What happened?" "There's a Mr. Paul Dr" "I tried to move one of the crates." "It turned over." "I'd guess he's been dead for a couple of days." "Uncle George." "Oh, Mr. Mason." "So George Trent's been dead ever since this whole thing began." "The police doctor thinks he was probably shot sometime late Monday night." "It was Tuesday morning when Sarah Breel got in trouble for shoplifting." "And now it's Wednesday, and they're still going ahead with a hearing right away?" "Burger feels he has an airtight case against Mrs. Breel for killing Austin Cullens." "Is he going to claim she killed her brother, too?" "Well, two shots had been fired from that gun they claim fell from her purse, remember." "But you said the bullets couldn't be matched." "The slug that killed Trent went through his body and flattened when it hit an iron pipe there in the office." "But it weighs the same as the other, and it's not only the same calibre, but analysis shows it's the same alloy and the same manufacturer." "Well, that still doesn't prove anything." "And, as for who killed Trent, a lonely office building, late at night, no exact time of death." "Check." "That's why they'll stick to one murder charge at a time." "Well, here's what I had to report on the Cullens case before I was so rudely interrupted-- one blue sedan." "A what?" "Last night, when I followed the owner of the gambling joint, Bill Golding, he went straight home, then straight back again, but this time he used a different car." "Then this morning, Golding drove the first car to a used car lot and sold it for $2,700." "A blue sedan?" "I didn't click on any of this until I read the police report on your client's accident." "The man who hit her said a blue sedan had just pulled away from the curb." "Paul, if this man Golding went out to Cullens' place last night" "Don't get excited, Perry." "Since then, Golding has disappeared." "Oh, Paul." "All right, get every man you have on the job." "Perry, can't your client help you now?" "After all, with her brother dead, there's no point in the old dame still protecting him, covering for him" "That's my trouble, Paul." "Now Sarah Breel's less help than ever." "Now she insists she can't remember anything." "[intercom buzzes]" "Yeah, Gertie?" "For me?" "Put him on." "Hi." "This is Paul." "You did?" "Good." "Located Golding." "Okay, I got it." "Thanks." "Well, no wonder we couldn't find him." "Golding was picked up by the DA's office." "They're keeping him under wraps planning to use him as a prosecution witness." "Well, Mr. Cullens phoned and said he'd located the diamonds." "I didn't know whether it was true or not." "He seemed anxious that I phone Mr. Mason for him and reassure him." "Mostly he was worried that a lawyer or anyone like that would become involved." "Mrs. Chennery, have you ever seen these diamonds before?" "Mr. Burger, I've told you a thousand times I was not Mr. Cullens' partner." "I" " I just pretended I owned things, and he paid me for it." "He called what he was doing was good salesmanship." "Salesmanship?" "I think we can find a better name for it than that." "[Gifford] High-class fencing, I suppose you'd call it." "Those diamonds were originally stolen from a collection in New York City." "So far we've traced three gem sales that Cullens made from stolen items." "All within the last few months, however." "Apparently, Cullens' business was quite legitimate for many years." "Sergeant Gifford, there's one thing that bothers me." "Now, as an expert witness on robbery matters, perhaps you can answer one question for me." "why would Austin Cullens take a stolen item like these diamonds to George Trent?" "Same reason he used the lady there." "Part of the come-on, the buildup for the big sale." "Or maybe he was nervous, he wanted the stones recut so they wouldn't be identified too easy." "There's a lot of reasons." "One moment." "Mr. Mason, you realize this is a speculative answer and highly irregular." "If you wish to make objection" "On the contrary, Your Honor." "Defense is quite willing to stipulate that almost anything Austin Cullens did lately was criminal." "Provided it is clear that we make no stipulations regarding George Trent, either as to his involvement with Cullens or as to his honesty." "Mr. Burger?" "Well, in that case, Your Honor, I have no further questions of this witness." "[judge] Mr. Mason?" "Sergeant Gifford, you testified earlier that you were present when Homicide examined the scene of Austin Cullens' death." "Do you know whether they recovered a second bullet anywhere in that room?" "No, sir, they didn't find it." "Anyway, it's my understanding they quit looking when George Trent's body was discovered and the same calibre bullet" "Just answer my questions, please, Sergeant." "Now, you were also present when the emptied gem pouch was removed from Cullens' body, is that correct?" "It is." "Also from his trouser pockets, one wallet, comb, handkerchief" "Yeah, I helped with all that." "Tell us." "Which pocket were his car keys in?" "Which?" "Well, right front pocket, I guess." "Sure, same as the comb." "I remember." "And the four and a half dollars in loose change?" "It was in the left pocket." " And his wallet?" " Left hip pocket." " Look, what's the point of" " Then what was in his right hip pocket?" "What?" "That's all there is listed." "Do you mean the man had nothing in his right hip pocket?" "No, sir." "It was empty." "Didn't that strike you as rather unusual, Sergeant, considering Mr. Cullens was right-handed?" "Well, I guess I just never thought about that." "Of course." "You're only on robbery detail, aren't you, Sergeant?" "Thank you." "That'll be all." "So you'd been out of town." "You came back, and you were watching your wife, is that right?" "Well, people had been writing to me." "I mean, she'd moved out on me already, but now she was going with this guy Cullens and wearing all these fancy clothes." "So sure, I watched lone's place a couple of days but I didn't get a crack at him." "So what did you decide to do then, Mr. Chennery?" "Well, I decided I'd go to his place and meet him." "Have a talk, maybe." "Why didn't you ask your wife for an explanation first?" "Mr. Chennery, you're gonna have to be just as frank here as you were in my office." "Okay, so I'm out of funds." "I figured maybe if this guy didn't know lone had a husband around still" "All right." "All right, you decided to shake him down in some way." "Now, what did you do on that night of Mr. Cullens' murder?" "I went out to his house about 7:30." "And I was just about to knock when I heard voices." "There must have been a window open in the side room there." "Whose voices did you hear, Mr. Chennery?" "I don't know." "Just a man and a woman." "But I wouldn't be able to recognize any of these people." "Well, did you hear any specific words?" "Well, the man was doing most of the talking, and I heard him say "For Pete's sake, will you quit worrying about George Trent?"" "Then I heard him say "Get out of here." "Go on, get out."" "That's all you heard?" "Nothing else at all?" "Well, just then a car pulled up and stopped in front of the house, so I figured maybe I better come back some other time to see Cullens, and I left." "That's all I know." "As you left that house, did you happen to notice what kind of a car it was that had pulled up and stopped there?" "Not really, no." "Except it was a sedan, a blue sedan." "[Burger] Your witness." "Mr. Chennery, isn't it possible that the woman's voice you heard inside Mr. Cullens' house was the voice of your own wife?" "No, because first I thought the same thing." "So I went straight to a drugstore and phoned lone's place." "Well, she answered." "Me, I hung up, and I went to a bar to figure what next." "You do quite a bit of figuring, don't you, Mr. Chennery?" "In 1957, you were arraigned in San Francisco on a bunco charge." "In 1955, you served six months in jail for burglary." "Your Honor, I'll object to that." "Counsel knows full well that an arraignment is not proper grounds for impeaching a witness." "Neither is a conviction for a misdemeanor." "Never mind, Mr. Burger." "I'll sustain you." "Then, Your Honor, I'd like permission to recall Mr. Chennery after hearing the testimony of the next witness." "I see nothing wrong with that." "I see nothing wrong in that, either, Your Honor." "I call Mr. Bill Golding to the stand." "Sure, I owned a blue sedan." "The only reason I tried to get rid of it was first reaction when I heard there was a murder." "That's all." "I'm a businessman." "I don't like to get mixed up in these things." "You say that you spoke to Austin Cullens earlier in the evening?" "Yeah, like I said, when he put on a pitch about George Trent hocking some diamonds at my place." "And what did you do after Cullens left the Golden Platter?" "Well, I used to know George Trent." "I thought maybe he was in trouble." "So I tried to phone him a few places but couldn't reach him." "And what then?" "So I got to thinking." "What was this bird Cullens trying to pull?" "Maybe he was trying to get me into trouble." "So I looked up his address, and I drove out there." "And did you see Mr. Chennery leave the house as you arrived there?" "No." "It was getting dark that side of the street." "There were a lot of trees around, and the house was dark, too." "I waited around a few minutes, then I got out and walked over to the liquor store." "Phoned the house trying to see if I could raise anybody." "I tried a couple of times, but no luck." "Then when I went came back outside, I heard a shot." "It sounded like a shot." "Well, I figured that was no place for me to be." "Only just when I started the car," "I heard some banging around going on inside the house." "A few minutes later, this woman came running out." "Did you get a good look at that woman, Mr. Golding?" "That's her." "The defendant." "Mrs. Sarah Breel." "And what happened then, Mr. Golding?" "Well, she looked so scared and wild running off down that sidewalk," "I just thought I'd better get out of there." "Only just as I pulled away from the curb, I heard some brakes screech." "I didn't look back." "I didn't see the other car hit her." "I'm sorry about that." "I'm a businessman, but I would have stopped." "I would have helped her." "Mr. Mason, I want you to plead me guilty." " Mrs. Breel" " No, I mean it." "You heard their testimony." "There's not a single flaw." "One man heard those voices in the house arguing." "Heard me and Mr. Cullens, I mean." "Then that other man heard the shot and saw me running." "Well, I was there because when I went home that evening," "I'd found a delayed message from George, which had sent the night before." "Well, he had discovered that Austin Cullens was a crook, and he was going to investigate." "Well, I marched right over there, and after Mr. Cullens was dead," "I took the diamonds off his body." "Of course I took them." "That's when I got his blood on my shoe." "And that gun-- they have the gun I used." "Oh, it's just ridiculous your wasting your time trying to keep me from being punished for what I did." "All right." "That's enough." "Paul." "Mrs. Breel, I got permission to bring you a visitor in here." "Oh, Ginny." "Oh, Aunt Sarah!" "Oh, you crazy, stubborn" "Now, now, it's all right, it's all right." "The psychological trouble with you, Mrs. Breel, is that you can't resist taking on everyone else's problems." "I beg your pardon?" "But it was a long time before I realized that you weren't just protecting your brother but someone living." "It's Virginia you're really trying to cover for, isn't it?" "No." "That's not true." " Please, Aunt Sarah" " You be quiet." "I've told you, I'm in charge of this family." "And I think Virginia might like to be in charge of herself for a change." "Yes, Mr. Mason, I would." "Virginia." "There could have been two women in that house or one there earlier." "You could have seen that message from George Trent and got over there first." "It could have been your voice that Mr. Chennery heard, fighting with Cullens." "Yes." "Yes." "No." "No, that's not true." "Virginia, I think it was Austin Cullens who murdered your uncle to keep himself from being exposed." "I think everything Cullens did after that was simply to drag red herrings all over the place." "Now, I don't think Cullens would have kept the gun he killed George with, but he did keep your office gun." "Perhaps he'd taken it away from George." "Anyway, I think that on the night that you went to see Cullens, he was still carrying that gun in his empty hip pocket." "Yes, he he threatened me with it." "Oh, Ginny..." "He told me to go into the living room, but when he switched on a lamp, all the lights went out." "And he grabbed me so I couldn't run." "We'd been arguing." "He realized I knew about him." "Then, when the telephone started ringing, I twisted his arm to get away." " The gun went off, and I ran." " Ohh!" "I hope you realize what you've done." "A poor child with her entire life before her." "Now, the gun went off how many times, Virginia?" "Just once." "Paul, get a thousand men if you have to." "Tragg will help, but don't tell him why." "Remember the testimony about an open window?" "And two bullets." "I gotcha." "There are a lot of trees outside, a garage it might have hit." "I'm on my way." "What are you doing?" "I'm going to put on a defense for you, Mrs. Breel, with just one witness" " Virginia." "I" " I don't exactly know how the gun went off, but it did." "I" " I didn't even wait to see what had happened." "Finally, I went through an alley, and-- but there were fences." "Then back on the street, there were cars going by." "I was so frightened." "Finally I" " I went through the trees and away down a side street." "Go on, Virginia." "Well, that's when Aunt Sarah must have seen me." "She told me later that she'd come up on the porch and heard the shot and saw me running away." "Poor Aunt Sarah." "She went in and found his body, and" "Please, Your Honor, just because she took the gun and things away, just because she tried to protect me, she shouldn't be punished." "Don't you understand?" "I'm the one who killed Austin Cullens!" "Thank you, Virginia." "That's all, Your Honor." "Well, Mr. Burger?" "Are you going to cross-examine?" "Or would you prefer that I entertain a motion for dismissal of the charges against Mrs. Breel?" "No, Your Honor, I believe I'd prefer a brief recess while the witness has a chance to recovers herself." "Of course." "Court recessed for half an hour." "Perry, what in the name of" "Oh, Hamilton." "I'm sorry I botched up your case a little." " Haven't you heard from Tragg yet?" " Tragg?" "He ought to be back in a few minutes." "Perry, what I don't understand is why did you do it that way and break the old lady's heart?" "Why didn't you come to me about the niece?" "Here they are." "Got it, Perry." "Five feet up in an elm tree." "I didn't let Virginia start until I got your phone call." "What is that?" "The second bullet." "What second bullet?" "Mr. Burger, I'm very sorry the way this had to be handled, but this is the other slug that we stopped looking for." "The same calibre, marking." "I think we'll find it'll match the gun, all right." " Well" " It's always bothered me where that second shot might have been fired." "Then didn't you notice the discrepancy in testimony, Hamilton?" "Virginia said that Cullens' phone started ringing and that's when the shot was fired." "But Mr. Golding said that he phoned a couple of times, waited a few moments, then went out into the street, and then heard a shot-- just one shot." "Well, certainly the girl could have pulled the trigger twice." "In a quick struggle?" "Two shots several minutes apart?" "No, Hamilton." "And I'm sure you don't think so, either, do you, Mr. Chennery?" "Huh?" "What are you talking about?" "Hamilton, if there were two quite separate shots fired from that gun and one went through a window into a tree and the other killed Austin Cullens, then it's likely that the wild shot was the first shot, don't you think?" "Virginia's shot?" "What is all this?" "Look, Mr. Burger, if it's legal ethics for me to say anything," "I told the truth about what I saw in there at Cullens' house, and so did that Golding guy." "Well, there sure wasn't time for anybody else to be galloping back and forth around there, so whatever this guy says" "I'm not suggesting anything so complicated." "I just think there was someone else in the house all the time." "Go on, Perry." "Someone who'd been ransacking the place, maybe, looking for some of Cullens' stolen jewelry." "The professional who stuck the penny in the lamp, though apparently it didn't work as a perfect warning system for him." "Or did it, Mr. Chennery?" "How should I know?" "That was pretty cute testimony you gave me." "That could have helped convict someone else." "You actually saw that blue sedan from inside the house, didn't you?" " Look, Mr. Burger" " You were in there all along, weren't you?" "You picked up the gun after the girl ran away, and then you fought with Cullens, and then you killed him." "and then you had to hide again because there was an old lady out on the porch." "What?" "You're both crazy." "You told me that you'd been watching your wife for several days." "She told me that she'd been with Cullens quite often." "Now, I simply can't believe that you wouldn't have seen him in that time." "Yet when you saw me in your wife's apartment, you made it a point to call me Cullens." "That's a pretty feeble trick." "Unless, of course, you were scared because you'd just murdered Cullens." "Hey, you're not going to paint me into this." "Let go of me." "I have a fingerprint crew working on that house again, stem to stern." "One print of yours and we will paint you, all right." "Go ahead, Sergeant." "Quit shoving." "I didn't do it!" "It wasn't me!" "It was the old lady, the kid!" "One of them!" "Hey, let go of me!" "I tell you I didn't do it!" "You know, Perry?" "Maybe, for once, I was wrong." "On this case." "It wasn't easy to get a confession out of him, but Tragg managed it." "Pete Chennery said that Austin Cullens caught him snooping around the house before you came in, Virginia." "Then that's why he was so upset before I ever started talking." "Then, when I demanded to know about Uncle George and accused him of being crooked in some way" "Sure." "No wonder he wanted to get rid of you in a hurry." "Well, when you ran out, he started scrambling around in the dark for his gun." "But Pete Chennery was watching, and he found it first." "Pete claims that Cullens fought him for it, but anyway, this time there was an expert on the trigger." "Oh, dear, the things we think we're seeing, only they're not what we thought at all." "Aunt Sarah, in psychology it's a commonly known" "I know, I know-- the overly protective mother hen." "I don't like people like that." "I'm just sorry I'm one of them." "Oh, I don't think that's what she was going to say, Mrs. Breel." "No, of course not." "I was going to say when people love anyone as much as as we loved Uncle George, well, there just aren't any rules for how silly any of us will act." "Then why don't you take a lesson from him?" " What?" " Give me your car keys." "Della, put them in an envelope." "Yep." "The party is on us." "Let's go, Aunt Sarah."