"I am swearing it."

"You are swearing that it was not the telephone?"

"Yes."

"You are as positive that it was not the telephone as you are of any other testimony you have given in this case?"

"Absolutely."

"Do you know what time this was?" asked Perry Mason.

"It was somewhere in the vicinity of two o'clock in the morning. I don't know exactly. Subsequently, when I became more wide awake, I notified the police. It was then two twentyseven A.M. There had been an interval of perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes—I don't know exactly how long—I had been dozing."

Perry Mason slowly got to his feet. "Don't you know," he said, "that it is a physical impossibility for one who is in Apartment 269 of the Bellaire Apartments to hear the doorbell ringing in Apartment B in the Colemont Apartments?"

"It isn't an impossibility. I heard it," said the witness truculently.

"You mean you heard a bell ringing. You don't know that it was the doorbell."

"I know it was the doorbell."

"How do you know it?"

"Because I recognized the sound of the ring. I know it was a doorbell."

"But you don't remember ever having heard the doorbell ringing in that apartment before?"

"No, this was a very hot night. It was a quiet, still night. There were no noises. The windows were all open."

"Answer the question," said Perry Mason. "You never heard the doorbell ring in that apartment before?"

"I can't remember."

"And you haven't listened to the doorbell since, in order to tell whether it was the doorbell that you heard or not?"

"No, I haven't. I didn't do it because I didn't have to do it. I know a doorbell when I hear one."

Perry Mason dropped back in his chair, smiled at the jury, a smile which was a scornful comment upon the testimony of the witness, but a smile, by the way, which brought no answering expression to the eyes of the jurors. "That," he said, "is all."

John Lucas took the witness for redirect examination. "Regardless of the measurements in feet and inches," he said, "you may state whether the distance is too great for you to have heard a doorbell."

Perry Mason was on his feet. "Objected to, your Honor," he said, "as not proper redirect examination, as argumentative, as assuming facts not in evidence, as leading and suggestive. This witness has stated that to the best of his knowledge he never has heard a doorbell in this apartment. Therefore, it is not proper for him to state whether a doorbell could or could not have been heard. This is the conclusion for the jury to draw. Never having heard a doorbell ring, it is obviously impossible for him to tell whether he could have heard a doorbell ring. It is only a surmise on his part."

Judge Markham nodded thoughtfully, and said, "The objection is sustained."

Lucas frowned, and then said after a moment. "You were able to hear the telephone bell when it rang?"

"Yes."

"Was that bell distinctly audible or faintly audible?"

"It was distinctly audible. It sounded so plain that I thought it was my own telephone."

"In your experience," asked Lucas hastily, "are telephone bells and doorbells about equally loud?"

"Objected to," Perry Mason said, "as leading, suggestive, calling for a conclusion…"

Judge Markham nodded and said decisively, "Counselor, the objection is sustained. The question is improper."

John Lucas thought for a moment, leaned toward one of the deputies at his side, and whispered for several seconds. A look of cunning was on his face. Once or twice, as he whispered, he smiled. The deputy nodded. Lucas straightened in his chair, and said, "That's all."

"Recrossexamination?" asked Judge Markham.

Perry Mason shook his head.

"It is approaching the time heretofore fixed for an examination of the premises by the jury," Judge Markham said. "We will, therefore, take a recess at this time and we will proceed to the premises which will be shown to the jury. During such time no testimony will be offered or taken. Counsel can agree, themselves, as to certain matters which are to be pointed out to the jurors. The jurors will inspect those things and observe the premises. We will then return to court for further testimony. Cars are in readiness to transport the jury and the court officials to the premises. The Court will endeavor to do its part by having the trip made expeditiously, so that the case may continue its usual rapid progress." Judge Markham turned to the jurors. "During the trip which we are about to make," he said, "you gentlemen will remember the previous admonition of the Court and not discuss the case or allow any one to discuss it with you. Nor will you form or express any opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant."

Chapter 19

Officials from the sheriff's office hod paved the way for the examination of the premises by the jurors. The jurors stood in a body on the sidewalk, looked at the space between the two apartment houses. Upon stipulation of counsel, a deputy sheriff pointed out the windows of the Crandall apartment and also the windows of Apartment B in the Colemont Apartments. The jurors were taken up to the apartment where the murder had been committed. Deputies had previously arranged with Sidney Otis to have the apartment open for inspection.

John Lucas motioned to Judge Markham, drew him off to one side and beckoned to Perry Mason. "May we point out the doorbell and press the button?"

"No objection," said Perry Mason.

A deputy sheriff pointed out the bell button. He pressed the button. The faint ringing of the bell could be heard in the upper apartment.

"Now," Perry Mason said, "if tests are being made with that doorbell, it should be removed, properly identified, and introduced in evidence."

John Lucas hesitated a moment. "We will do that," he said, "when we return to court."

He turned to the deputy sheriff. "What's the name of the present tenant of the apartment?" he asked.

"Sidney Otis."

"Slap a subpoena on him," ordered John Lucas in the majestic manner of a king who is accustomed to command and receive implicit obedience. "Bring him into court. And disconnect that doorbell and bring it into court.

"And now," said John Lucas in an undertone, "we'll take the jurors up to Apartment B in the Colemont Apartments, so they can look across into the windows of this upstairs apartment." He turned to the deputy sheriff, stared significantly at him. "You," he said, "can be disconnecting that doorbell while we're up there."

It took two trips of the elevator for the jurors to reach the Crandall apartment, the elevator being packed to capacity both times. When the jurors had all been assembled and had crowded to the windows, which were open, and were staring across the space into the apartment where the murder had been committed, a whirring bell exploded the silence. There was an interval and then the bell rang again, long and insistent.

Perry Mason grabbed John Lucas by the arm, rushed him across to confront Judge Markham, said, out of earshot of the jury, "Your Honor, that is manifestly unfair. There was no stipulation that the doorbell was to be rung while the jurors were assembled here. That's equivalent to the taking of testimony."

John Lucas kept his face innocent and guileless. "This," he said, "comes as very much of a surprise to me. I certainly didn't know that the bell was going to ring. I did instruct a deputy to disconnect the doorbell. Doubtless, in disconnecting it he pressed the button which caused it to ring."

Perry Mason said thoughtfully, "And I noticed you were engaged in a whispered conversation with him when the question was brought up in court as to whether it was possible for a witness to have heard the doorbell ring across the intervening space. And I noticed, further, that you gave the deputy a very significant look just before you left the other apartment house."