Case of the Footloose Doll (17 page)

“What did you tell her?”

“I told her an ice pick made a wonderful weapon; that if you needed to make a man keep his distance, an ice pick would do the trick.”

“Did you say anything else about them?”

“I suggested putting a cork on the end of the ice pick so that it could be carried in a purse.”

“And you put one of those ice picks in your purse?”

“Yes.”

“Now, Miss Baylor, you are under oath. I want you to think carefully.

Did you have any conversation with the defendant in which she told you she wanted these ice picks as weapons to use against Carl Harrod?”

“No.”

“She didn’t tell you that?”

“No.”

“Or words to that effect?”

“No.”

“You gave her these ice picks as weapons?”

“Yes.”

“Did you suggest she use them, or one of them, as a weapon to intim-idate Carl Harrod?”

The witness hesitated.

“Did you?”

“I told her if Carl Harrod tried any more blackmail, she could threaten him with an ice pick to protect herself in self-defense.”

“And she accepted these ice picks from you after that conversation?”

“I just left them there in her apartment.”

“Thank you. That’s all. The defense may take the witness.”

“Did you ever meet Carl Harrod in his lifetime?” Mason asked.

“I met him, yes.”

“How did you happen to meet him?”

“He came to the defendant’s apartment while I was there.”

“What did you do?”

“I opened the door.”

“He was standing there?”

“He was standing there.”

“You recognized him?”

“He told me who he was.”

“And what did you do?”

“I told him how I felt about blackmailers and then slapped his face.”

“Did you, at that time, stab him with an ice pick?”

“Certainty not!”

“You say that you put one of these ice picks in your purse?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I wanted to carry it with me.”

“Why?”

“To protect myself.”

“Against whom?”

“Against anyone who might attack me.”

“Did you feel that someone might attack you?”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“I have told you, Mr. Mason, I had slapped Carl Harrod’s face. I was under no illusions about the character of Carl Harrod. He was a blackmailer who had—”

“Now, just a moment! Just a moment!” Calvert interrupted. “If the Court please, I feel that the witness should be admonished only to answer questions, not to volunteer any disparaging remarks concerning the character of the deceased.”

Judge Bolton said, “I think, Mr. Prosecutor, the situation is obvious.

The Court was not born yesterday. However, the law is the law, and the character of a decedent in a murder case is not in issue. However, the witness will refrain from making statements as to the character of the decedent.”

“You felt you might have some trouble with Carl Harrod?” Mason asked.

“Yes.”

“And for that reason put an ice pick in your purse?”

“Yes.”

“Where is that ice pick now?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“No.”

“Where was it when you saw it last?”

“I . . . I threw it away.”

“And why did you do that?”

“Someone suggested that I should.”

“Your father?”

“Yes.”

“And why did your father make that suggestion?”

“We knew that Carl Harrod had been stabbed with an ice pick. My father knew that I had slapped his face. I told him about buying the ice picks. He suggested I had better get rid of the one that I had.”

“When did this conversation take place?”

“On the second of this month, the day Harrod died.”

“Do you remember that I visited your father on that date?”

“Yes.”

“And while I was there, Sgt. Holcomb telephoned?”

“I believe so. Yes.”

“Now then, when did you dispose of the ice pick with reference to my visit?”

“Immediately after you left and before Sgt. Holcomb came.”

“And what did you do with it?”

“I took the elevator to the freight entrance. I went out in the alley where there were some trash cans. I raised the lid of one of the trash cans, put the ice pick in there, and then returned to the room.”

“You were back in your suite at the hotel before Sgt. Holcomb arrived?”

“Yes.”

“Did you tell him about what you had done with the ice pick?”

“No.”

“Did you tell anyone?”

“No. I refused to discuss my testimony with anyone. I said that I would tell my story on the witness stand and that I wouldn’t talk before I got on the witness stand.”

“I see,” Mason said. “You did, however, admit buying the three ice picks?”

“My father did, after Sgt. Holcomb told him that Carl Harrod had told his wife I had slapped his face, and that—”

“Just a moment,” Calvert interrupted. “I object to the witness relating any conversation which took place with Sgt. Holcomb. That is hearsay.”

“On the contrary. Your Honor,” Mason said. “It is a fact in this case, so far as it concerns the motivation or bias of this witness. I am entitled to show the attitude of mind of this witness insofar as it may pertain to any bias either for or against the defense.”

“The objection is overruled,” Judge Bolton said. “Go on with your statement, Miss Baylor.”

“Well, Sgt. Holcomb said that Mrs. Harrod, or the woman who was supposed to be Mrs. Harrod, had told the police that I had slapped Carl Harrod’s face, and that, when Mr. Mason had been there getting a statement from Mr. Harrod, he had insinuated I was the one who had stabbed Harrod with an ice pick. Under the circumstances, Sgt. Holcomb suggested that a determined attempt might be made to have it appear I had done the stabbing and . . . and he didn’t want to have that happen.”

“Did you tell him about buying the ice picks?”

“No, I didn’t tell him. My father told him. I made no statement whatever. I simply sat there.”

“And Sgt. Holcomb didn’t question you?”

“No.”

“But talked with your father?”

“Yes.”

Mason smiled. “Did Sgt. Holcomb say to your father that it might be better if he didn’t question you at all until after he knew more of the facts, so that you wouldn’t be a vulnerable witness in case I should take you on cross-examination?”

“Something like that.”

“And your father told Sgt. Holcomb that you had purchased the three ice picks and given them to the defendant?”

“Yes.”

“And did Sgt. Holcomb ask you or your father what had happened to the missing ice pick?”

“No, sir,” she said. “He didn’t know one was missing. They were all there in the apartment. That was the thing I couldn’t understand; but I said nothing and my father said nothing. I don’t think the officers knew about any other ice pick.”

“Now then,” Mason said, “you gave the defendant two of the ice picks?”

“Yes.”

“To be used as weapons in case of necessity?”

“Yes.”

“Can you suggest any reason why the defendant, having two ice picks which you had given her to be used as weapons, should go down to the Arcade Novelty Company and buy three more ice picks?”

“No, sir, I cannot. I have discussed that matter with my father, and we decided—”

“Just a moment!” Calvert interrupted. “We object to any statement as to what she said to her father or what her father said to her.”

“The objection is sustained,” Judge Bolton said. “In fact, the entire question asked by the defense counsel is argumentative.”

“I have no objection to the question on that ground,” Calvert said.

“The prosecution has its own theory in the matter, and I think it is obvious. If Mr. Mason cross-examines this witness as to the reason the defendant might have had for purchasing those three ice picks, I intend to go into the matter on redirect examination.”

“That’s the vice of these questions which go far afield,” Judge Bolton said. “The Court will of its own motion terminate this line of cross-examination. That question is argumentative, and the witness need not answer.”

“The prosecution feels it is obvious, Your Honor,” Calvert said, “that the defendant in this case wanted the crime blamed on Katherine Baylor.

Knowing that Katherine Baylor had taken one of the ice picks away in her purse, the defendant purchased other ice picks so that the police would be led to believe that the two ice picks Katherine Baylor had given the defendant were still in the defendant’s apartment, and therefore couldn’t have been used in inflicting the fatal stabbing. This, if the Court please, is one of the strongest points in our case, because it shows premeditation. If it hadn’t been for the peculiar quirk of fate by which there were different price tags on the ice picks, the defendant’s ruse might have gone undetected.”

“You can argue the case after the evidence is in,” Judge Bolton said.

“As far as this witness is concerned, I don’t care to have her interrogated as to the possible motives of the defendant. I suggest, however, that it is significant that this witness disposed of the ice pick she had in the manner she did.”

Calvert shrugged his shoulders. “Of course. Your Honor, the witness was acting under the advice of her father, and her father knew that Mr. Perry Mason—well, he knew his reputation and knew that Mr. Mason would confuse the issues if it was at all possible.”

“They’re confused now,” Mason said.

“Not to the prosecution, they aren’t,” Calvert snapped.

“That will do,” Judge Bolton ruled. “Are there any further questions of this witness?”

“None, Your Honor,” Mason said.

“Your next witness?” Judge Bolton asked Calvert.

“My next witness,” Calvert announced, “is Nellie Elliston.” 

The woman Mason had seen in Harrod’s apartment came forward. She was dressed in a neat, new outfit, well shod, with lustrous, sheer stockings, and had evidently spent some time in a beauty shop. After she had given her name and address, Calvert started questioning her and in questioning pulled no punches.

“Your name is Nellie Elliston?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever gone under any other name?”

“Yes.”

“What?”

“Mrs. Carl Harrod.”

“Were you married to Harrod?”

“No.”

“You were, however, living with him as his wife?”

“Yes.”

“In Apartment 218 at the Dixiecrat Apartments?”

“That’s right.”

“How long had you known Harrod?”

“About two years.”

“Where did you meet him?”

“In a bar.”

“How soon did you commence living with him after you first met him?”

“About a week.”

“You assumed the name of Nellie Harrod purely as a matter of convenience?”

“Yes.”

“Calling your attention to the second of this month, you were then living with Carl Harrod at the Dixiecrat Apartments as his wife?”

“I was using his name. We were going to be married. There were some legal complications. We didn’t wait for those to be ironed out.”

“Well,” Calvert said, his voice radiating approval, “thank you for being so frank, Miss Elliston, even at the expense of your good name and reputation. I am sure the Court will appreciate it. Now, can you tell us exactly what happened on the night of the second?”

“Carl had been out. He came back about—oh, I don’t know, about eight-thirty or nine o’clock. He had had a nosebleed. He got some fresh handkerchiefs and changed his shirt. I asked him what had happened and he said a girl had smashed him; that she had taken him entirely by surprise.”

“Then what?”

“I asked him what he did to her and he said nothing; that she had slammed the door before he had a chance.”

“And then what?”

“Then he went out again. I had an idea he was going back—”

“Never mind your ideas,” Calvert interrupted. “Just answer questions and give us the facts. The Court isn’t interested in what you may have thought, only in the facts.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Now, he went out and then what happened? When did you see him again?”

“He came back in about—Oh, I don’t know, about something over an hour, perhaps an hour and a half. I didn’t check the time.”

“And what was his condition at that time?”

“He was coughing. He coughed up a speck or two of blood. At first I thought it was from the—”

“Tut, tut,” Calvert chided, holding up his finger and smiling. “Not your thoughts, Miss Elliston, just what you know.”

“Yes, he came back and told me—”

“Now, just a moment. At that time, did he say anything to you about the fact that he thought he might be going to die?”

“No.”

“Do you know from anything he said whether he thought any injury he might have had at that time was fatal?”

“He didn’t think it was fatal. He was thinking only in terms of collecting damages. He actually was jubilant. He said we’d have some real money coming in and that then he could get the legal difficulties straightened out and then we could be married and go abroad on a honey-moon.”

“Very well. Then I don’t think it is proper for you to tell the Court anything he may have said at that time. You can tell us what happened and that’s all.”

“Well, he telephoned the Drake Detective Agency and said he wanted to get in touch with Mr. Perry Mason. Then when he got Perry Mason on the telephone he told him—”

“Now, there again, I doubt if that is pertinent,” Calvert said. “And, of course, you don’t know of your own knowledge that he had Mr. Mason on the other end of the telephone, do you? You simply heard one end of the conversation?”

“Yes.”

“So you can’t testify that Mr. Mason was on the other end of the line. After that, what happened?”

“Then Mr. Mason came and his secretary, Miss Della Street, was with him.”

“And what happened at that time?”

“Well, Carl told Mr. Mason that he had been stabbed—”

“Now, just a minute. Did he expect to die at that time? That is, did he believe death was imminent because of some wound he had received?”

“No, sir, he did not. He was still trying to lay the foundation for collecting big damages.”