Chapter 10 Chapter 10 Knocking Mountains to Suppress Tigers or Falsifying the Real

Constable Holcomb parted the crowd in the gallery, grabbed the woman by the arm, and led her to the prosecutor's seat.It was a young woman with dark hair and a slender figure.Prosecutor Borg sat her down and asked her questions in a low voice.But no matter what the question was, Thelma Babbins just bit her lip.Shaking his head, no answer. The Borg prosecutor's office gradually lost patience, raised its voice, and threatened: "If you intend to pretend to be deaf and dumb to the end, the presiding judge has the right to send you to jail for insulting the court." However, the woman remained silent.

Prosecutor Borg was getting sullen, but Mason was enjoying the fun of puffing smoke nonchalantly. A news reporter turned on the flash of his camera and took pictures of Therma Babbins, who bowed his head silently, the anxious and angry prosecutor Boger, and the sneering Lawyer Gessen smoking a cigarette-these will probably be published in tomorrow's newspapers Close-up shot. The presiding judge sat down in the court again: "The court will be held again, and new witnesses will be called to appear in court." "Hazel Henwick, stand on the witness stand." Prosecutor Borg yelled because he was too annoyed, but the woman remained motionless.

"Hey, didn't you hear? Raise your right hand and take the oath, then take the witness stand." "My name is not Hazel Henwick." "Then what's your name?" "Therma Babbins." "Well, then, Therma Babbins, take the oath, and go to the witness stand." She hesitated for a moment, raised her right hand to swear, and sat on the witness stand. Prosecutor Borg raised his voice and began to question. "You used the name Hazel Henwick?" She hesitated.So Mason interposed in the tone of a well-meaning protector: "Miss Babbins, if you don't want to answer this question, you don't have to answer it."

Prosecutor Borg was very angry because the questioning was interrupted, "Mason, you let her go, and you still want to be her defender?" "Yes, Mr. Prosecutor Borg. Miss Bebbins, there is no need for you to answer the question just now." "No, it is necessary to answer. This is an important inquiry." Mason smiled, as if to reassure her: "Miss Babbins, there is no need to answer. You may say: 'By constitutional right, I refuse to answer questions that are not in my favor.'" Thelma Bebbins smiled and repeated the words like a parrot. Prosecutor Borg sighs in disappointment, apparently admitting defeat.

But he soon stood up again and fired at Miss Babbins again: "Were you in Mr. Bashad's office when he was killed?" Therma Bebbins once again calls on Mason for help. Mason honestly extended a helping hand, "Please refuse to answer this question." Prosecutor Borg glared at Mason through gritted teeth, and began to attack from another direction. "Witness Babbins, do you know Mr. Perry Mason?" "Yes, I know." "Are you from Lena, Nevada, where Mr. Mason persuaded you to go down?" The woman felt embarrassed again, and cast a look at Mason asking for help, so Mason replied on his behalf: "Save me a little time, I will answer directly on her behalf. I am the one who gave her travel expenses and asked her to go to Rina City."

Prosecutor Borg was shocked and shouted in surprise: "What did you say! As a lawyer, did you admit in court that you gave a wanted woman a sum of money to let her escape?" "yes." Because of Mason's straightforward answer, even the presiding judge leaned out in shock. "About this point. As the presiding judge, I ask you to explain." "I see. In order not to make the trial any more confusing, I will explain the situation myself. A young woman was in the reception room on the night Mr. Hartley Bashard was murdered. At this time, Mon The murderer wearing a black mask came out of the office inside. The mask had two holes for the eyes, and one of the holes had no eyeballs. The woman cried out when she saw this. The murderer beat her. At this time, she tore off the mask. Saw the murderer's true face. But the woman's back was facing the light from the glass of the office door, so the murderer couldn't see her face. The murderer beat her again and made her faint. The murderer probably thought she was dead, so he ran away But she is still alive. So, Judge, this woman is the only witness who saw the face of the murderer who left the scene of the murder."

"In this way, Lawyer Mason, you have committed a serious crime by hiding such an important witness. Do you admit your crime?" "Judge, please listen to me to the end. The murderer murdered Bashad in a planned way. It can be proved that it was deliberate murder from the two points of preparing blankets to cover the gunfire and preparing a fake suicide note with a typewriter. But escape is not premeditated. I say this because the mask was hastily made from the carbon paper on the table after the murder. And, inexplicably, although escaped through the back door, no one would see it. The murderer did it from the outside reception The murderer knew that there was a young woman waiting in the reception room. Not only that, but he deliberately made a mask to show that he lacked one eye, so that the woman could see."

"Then why did the murderer do this? Because the victim, Bashad, was holding a glass eyeball in his hand when he was killed. The murderer noticed this, and quickly came up with a trick to fake the eye. The fake eye didn't come from the murderer's eye socket by chance. The expert Dr. Bates proved that as long as the inlaid suitable false eye is not removed by himself, it will never fall off by itself. Therefore, the false eye in the hands of the victim Bashad is not the murderer. However, why did the murderer deliberately escape? How about removing the false eye so that the witnesses can see that he is one-eyed? Judge, there is only one reason for this, that is, the murderer is sure that no one will know that he has a false eye. He also knows whose eye is in the hand of the dead Bashad , thinking that the owner of the fake eye will be mistaken for the murderer and arrested.”

At this point, Mason paused for a moment, and then the presiding judge said puzzledly: "The words of lawyer Mason are indeed interesting. But he didn't provide any evidence, he just reasoned for the sake of reasoning." "No, there is evidence. When Ms. Hazel, who saw the murderer, stood up from the sofa, she staggered and propped her hands on the glass of the office. So her fingerprints were left on the glass. I instructed Detective Drake to analyze the fingerprints. The investigation was carried out, and the result was shocking. She turned out to be the murderous devil in the police bulletin, a terrible woman who specially married rich men, and then poisoned them one by one to seize the inheritance."

The presiding judge was horrified and looked at Mason blankly.Prosecutor Borg was also dumbfounded in astonishment.Mason continued to speak calmly: "She and Dick were secretly married. But her marriage was a bigamy prohibited by law. She also had a husband named Chamaz. He fell out with her two days later and was never seen again. Well, I Now to give evidence of the above stated facts. Here is a copy of murderer Hazel Henwick's criminal record and a photograph of her fingerprints left on the door glass. I would be delighted if Prosecutor Boger would appreciate it to the end."

Mason presented physical evidence in a deceptive manner. Prosecutor Borg took the evidence with trembling hands and immediately began to check it.Hazel's criminal record has her face and fingerprints on it.There is also a photo of the fingerprints of both hands.Prosecutor Borg took the photo and asked Mason, "Is this the fingerprint on the glass of the office door?" "Yes. It's the fingerprint of the woman who claimed to be Hazel. How about it? It's exactly the same as the fingerprint in the murder record?" "Well... exactly the same." "Then, Mr. Prosecutor, compare the fingerprints with those of Miss Thelma Babbins, who is now sitting in the witness box." The Borg prosecutor's office walked up to the witness Therma Babbins, examined her fingerprints, and compared them with the photographs. "Oh, it's different. So the Babbins witness wasn't the woman who saw the murderer?" Prosecutor Borg, flushed with frustration, stamped his feet. The courtroom is thrown into disarray as circumstances unexpectedly turn in the opposite direction.The presiding judge ordered a ten-minute break.Attorney Mason and Prosecutor Borg were immediately called into the next room. "Because the trial process is complicated, I want to discuss it with you." The presiding judge said frankly. Prosecutor Borg stared at Mason and said, "Judge, I'm interested in speaking with Attorney Mason. I want to arrest him." "What was the reason for the arrest?" "He was guilty of abetting Therma Babbins to deceive the police by having her go to Reena dressed as Hazel Henwick." Mason replied with a smile: "I don't know about this at all, and there is no accusation of making Miss Babbins dress up as Henwick. Miss Babbins lives in an apartment in Lena City under her real name. I ordered Detective Drake to give the When she sent the documents, she also clearly stated that her name was Therma Babbins, and the criminal police who were ambushing in the apartment must have witnessed all this, I think your accusation has nothing to do with me at all." "But, Mason, why did you use this elaborate trick to deceive us?" the prosecutor asked with a backbiting tone. Mason replied with a serious expression: "What the murderer is most afraid of is that the only witness, Hazel, will testify in court, but the murderer does not know what the woman looks like. So, if I let a woman who looks like Henwick stand as a witness At the banquet, I thought that the murderer must have fled in a hurry. I believed from the beginning that Mr. Burnett was innocent, because if he were the murderer, he would not be able to let his false eye be held in the hands of the dead Bashard, nor would he Wouldn't wear a mask that purposely reveals empty eye sockets without eyeballs. The real murderer takes advantage of the fact that no one knows he wears false eyes in an attempt to put the murderer's blame on the one-eyed Mr. Burnett. Well, except Burnett Is there anyone besides sir who wears false eyes? To find out, I had a bust of the Bashads taken by a daylit window. The pupils of the real eyes follow the light Prosthetic eyes cannot make this adjustment. Therefore, if a photo of a person wearing a prosthetic eye is taken under strong light, the size of the two pupils will be different. I noticed that Secretary Kulmer claimed that He hated taking pictures, and was not allowed to take pictures. Therefore, when Miss Babbins sat on the witness stand, he probably thought that Miss Babbins was the only witness who could clearly conclude that he was the murderer, so he was panicked. So I hurried to find a Find where Kulmer is, Prosecutor Borg." Just as Mason finished speaking, the phone rang suddenly. The presiding judge picked up the phone and immediately handed it to Mason. The call was from Secretary Tina. Just now I was standing behind the auditorium, paying attention to whether anyone was running away in a panic and sneakily. I found a person—"Kulmer!" "Have you followed him?" "Well, he's at Union Airport now. The plane leaves in 22 minutes. Kulmer bought a ticket for this flight." "Tina, be careful not to be detected." Mason glanced at his watch and said to Prosecutor Borg, "Culmer will take off from Union Airport in 21 minutes. Please order Officer Holcomb to arrest him." He. Arm yourself with a pistol."