The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece by Erle Stanley Gardner Page A

would do that?"
    "Sure he would. They'll hand him a smooth line, saying, 'Now, Mr. Duncan, you're a lawyer. It wouldn't look well for you to be trapped on cross-examination. The physical facts show the murder must have been committed at three o'clock. Now, isn't it reasonable to suppose that it was the small hand you saw pointing at the figure three on the dial of that clock instead of the large hand? Of course, we don't want you to testify to anything that isn't so, but we wouldn't like to see you made to appear ridiculous on the witness stand.' And Duncan will fall for that line, go home, think it over and hypnotize himself into believing that he remembers distinctly that the time was three o'clock, instead of quarter past twelve. Men like Duncan, prejudiced, opinionated and egotistical, are the most dangerous perjurers in the world because they won't admit, even to themselves, that they're committing perjury. They're so opinionated all of their reactions are colored by their prejudices. They can't be impartial observers on anything."
    "Can't you trap him in some way," Della Street asked, "so the jury will see what kind of man he is?"
    He grinned at her and said, "We can try. But it's going to take a lot of trapping, and in some quarters it might not be considered ethical."
    "Well," Della Street said, "I don't think it's ethical to let a client get hung because some pompous old walrus is lying."
    Drake said, "Don't worry about Perry, Della. He'll work out some scheme before the case is over that'll get him disbarred, if it doesn't work, and make him a hero, if it does. No client of Perry Mason's was ever convicted on perjured evidence yet."
    "You're trailing Duncan?" Mason asked.
    "Yes. We're putting shadows on every one who leaves the house, and I'm getting reports telephoned in at fifteen minute intervals."
    Mason nodded thoughtfully and said, "I particularly want to know when he goes to an oculist."
    "Why the oculist?" Drake asked.
    "I've noticed he keeps looking through the bottom of his glasses," Mason said. "They're bifocals. Evidently they don't fit him. A lot's going to depend on his eyesight. The D.A. will want him to make a good impression. Right now he can't read anything unless he looks through the lower part of his glasses and holds it at arm's length. That won't look good on the witness stand when a man's testifying about something he saw in the moonlight at three o'clock in the morning."
    "But he didn't sleep with his glasses on," Della Street objected.
    "You'll think he slept with binoculars on by the time he gives his testimony," Mason remarked grimly. "The district attorney's a pretty decent chap, but some of these deputies are out to make records for themselves. They'll give Duncan a hint about what they're trying to prove, and Duncan will do the rest. How about Jackson; is he back?"
    She nodded, and said, "Harris overheard a telephone conversation between Doris Sully Kent and Maddox. I think you'll want Paul to hear what Jackson has to say about that conversation."
    "Show Jackson in," Mason said.
    She paused in the doorway long enough to say, "Do you think it's on the level – Kent's plane having motor trouble?"
    "Yes, I talked with the pilot. It was just one of those things. He made a forced landing in the desert. It didn't take so long to fix the ignition trouble, but he had to clear off a run-way by grubbing out a lot of greasewood. It was just one of those things that happen once in a million times."
    "Then Kent isn't married."
    "No."
    "That means Lucille Mays can be a witness against him?"
    "She doesn't know anything anyway. Bring Jackson in."
    When she had left the room, Drake said in a low voice, "Would Kent have had any reason for making a detour with that airplane, Perry?"
    Mason said tonelessly, "How the hell do I know? He said he had motor trouble, and so did the pilot."
    "And he's your client," Drake remarked.
    "He's my client – and yours," Mason admitted. "But don't be so damned cynical. I