Chapter 25 Chapter Twenty-Four

Judge Herbert said: "The indictment of Phyllis Bancrowe is now open. Are you ready to hear the defendant's plea?" "Wait a minute," said Hastings. "In court, we announced yesterday that we would stop presenting evidence in this case, but because the county's law enforcement authorities received some criticism during yesterday's press conference, if the court allows, I would like to ask some more questions to clarify..." "Any criticism or press conference has nothing to do with this court," Judge Herbert interrupted. "If you have to present additional evidence, this court will treat it as a motion to reopen. Does the defendant object?"

"No," Mason said. Hastings said triumphantly, "Sergeant Jewitt is summoned to the witness stand." "Sheriff, you have taken your oath, you don't need to take another oath, please take your seat." said the judge. "Sheriff, now we are going to talk about yesterday afternoon's press conference, did you hear the defendant's statement at that time?" "yes." "Does the statement refer to the defendant's actions on the night of the 10th?" "yes." "Do you remember what she said about the circumstances of the shooting?"

"She said she got the gun out of her purse and shot Weymar Kiley on the boat and jumped into the water, and she had a purse in her hand, and she guessed she dropped it when she jumped into the water, and the gun Yes. She said she heard the gun drop to the deck and bounce into the water." "After listening to this passage, have you visited the place where she said she was shot?" "Have." "Is anyone going with you?" "Yes, a trained diver." "What did you instruct him to do?" "Search the seabed." "Did you find anything?"

"A purse for women." "Now I'll show you a lady's bag with Phyllis Bancrowe's ID card and driver's license in it. It's soaked, but you can still see it. Please see if you've seen it?" "Yes, it was given to me by the diver." "We request it to be used as evidence." Judge Herbert frowned and looked at Mason thoughtfully. "Are there any objections?" "No." "Well, did the diver find anything else?" "Have." "What is it?" "A gun." "Can you describe it?"

"Yes, it is a . 38 Smith & Wesson six-shooter, No. 133347, with one cartridge fired and five remaining in it. Investigations have revealed that the gun belonged to the defendant's husband, Harold Bancroft. possessing." "Have you ever done a ballistic test on this gun?" "Have." "Have you compared the test bullets with the bullets on the deceased?" "yes." "The results of it?" "Shows both were fired from the same gun." "During the press conference, some people criticized that your unit did not mark the place where the boat was found on the afternoon of the 11th, nor did you send personnel to search the nearby underwater. Did you try to find out the correct place where the yacht was found afterwards?"

"Have." "Have you found the correct grounding location?" "found it." "How did you find it?" "It was a helicopter pilot who first discovered the yacht. He took photos at that time, and we asked him to point out the correct location based on the scenery on the coastline in the photos." "Did you send someone to dive under the site?" "Have." "Did you find anything?" "Nothing at all." Hastings proudly said to Mason, "It's your turn to ask." Mason said, "Sergeant, as far as I know, the place where the diver found the bag and the pistol is exactly where Mrs. Bancroft told you, that is to say, she told you that there was something to be found there."

"yes." "Is the defendant using this to substantiate her statement?" The sheriff crossed his legs, then opened them again, and said with a smile, "It depends on what you mean by proof. It's like a hunter telling you that he stood under an oak tree and killed a man with a single shot." A deer a thousand yards away, and he'll show you that oak tree if you ask for confirmation." There was a burst of laughter from the auditorium. Judge Herbert said grimly, "Sergeant, please be dignified." "Excuse me, court, I didn't mean to be joking. He asked me if finding the purse and pistol would confirm what the defendant said, and I just answered to the best of my ability. It doesn't do anything about what she described as what happened on the boat. As evidence. Deliberate or premeditated murder can also leave these evidence at the scene."

"You said you had a photo taken of the helicopter ride?" "yes." "Does it show where the yacht was found?" "yes." "Could you show me the photo, please?" The sheriff held out his hand, and Hastings handed him an eight-by-ten photograph. "This is it," said the sheriff. "Of course it is zoomed in. You can see that the X on it is the clearly identifiable landscape indicator on the shore." "Well, did you compare this photo with our evidence? That is, the location of the yacht on that survey map." "No, but I can do it."

"Please tell us the depth of the water at that location after comparison." The sheriff turned to a clerk who, from a pile of papers, had found the map that Mason had requested as evidence. After measuring and calculating, the sheriff said: "In my opinion, under normal low tide conditions, it should be about ten feet." "Do you know how much anchor cable was out when the boat was found?" "I know, about fifteen feet." "But when you spot the yacht and take this photo, the boat was floating at low tide. It must have been high tide a few hours ago, with fifteen feet of anchor line exposed, the range of the boat's drift. Should be huge."

"I think divers should have taken that into account." "Is this what you think?" "I directed him to search the bottom of the sea near there." "In court, I propose to delete the aforementioned diver's observations and discoveries, because these are only hearsay evidence and not the best evidence." "Your court," said Hastings. "We can prove that these are relevant to this case. The diver is in court. I just didn't summon him. I can summon him if necessary." "You'd better subpoena him," Mason said. "As soon as I have the opportunity to cross-examine him, I withdraw this motion, or I request that all evidence be expunged."

"Good," said Hastings. "Sheriff, you can come down now, and I'm going to put Freeman Debow on the witness stand." Debow swore first that he was ordered by the sheriff and prosecutors to dive in a certain location to search for it. "Now we're going to talk about the first scene near the refueling dock just north of the yacht club. What did you find on the seabed there?" "A purse and a gun." "This women's leather bag has been adopted as evidence, please see if it is the one you found?" "yes." "Let's see if this gun is the one you found?" "yes." "Excuse me," said Hastings sharply. "Is this purse exactly as you found it?" Mason asked. The witness looked it over carefully and said, "Yes." "Is everything in it the same?" "yes." "When you found it, there was no money in the purse?" "Yes, there is a money bag with three twenty-dollar bills, two ten-dollar bills, one five-dollar bill, three one-dollar bills, and some change." "When you found the purse, did you have the money in it?" "yes." "Is this all the money?" "yes." "Is the gun exactly the same as when you found it?" "yes." "How far apart are the guns and purses?" "About . . . twenty or thirty feet." "On this coastal survey map, the place I circled with a pencil is marked as 'yacht'. This question was not asked by the prosecutor just now. You are obviously the diver who came to this location, aren't you?" "yes." "Have you searched the seabed near there?" "yes." "Did you find nothing?" "right." "Is there nothing?" "Only an old fishing bait can was left there. It was about a hundred feet from where the boat was found, though." "If the boat drifts with the ebb and flow of the tide, the bait pot should be closer to the boat when the tide is high, isn't it?" The witness thought for a while and said, "I think so." "How did you know it was a bait can?" The witness smiled and said, "At that depth, the lighting was good, and the logo on the can could be seen clearly. It was an empty bean can, so I said it was an old bait can." "What kind of sign is that?" "It's the paper label that usually wraps around the can." "You mean an 'old' bait can?" Witnesses kept smiling. "I don't see anyone fishing nearby, so I think it's been there for a long time." "It's been a long time, will the logo still be intact?" The witness frowned, thought for a while, and said, "That's right, I'd better remove the word 'old'. It's hard to say how long it will be called old." The witness smiled at the district attorney. "Thank you," Mason said. "No problem." "Your court," Mason said. "With regard to this evidence, I would like to cross-examine the opposing witness, Casey, a few more questions." "I think you have the right to cross-examine any of the witnesses on this new piece of evidence when the prosecutor closes the case," Judge Hobert said. "Mr. Casey, please come up." Kathy walked into the witness stand, looking a little arrogant this time. Mason said, "Mr. Casey, you didn't attend the defendant's press conference yesterday, did you?" "No." "But you heard what the defendant said at the meeting?" "yes." "So you rushed to the place mentioned by the defendant with your diving equipment, dived down to find the defendant's purse, and took away fifty and hundred yuan bills totaling three thousand yuan from the purse, and then, in order to establish the defendant's evidence, deliberately murdered the murderer. The gun was dropped near the purse, wasn't it?" "What!" Kathy yelled. "I……" "Your court," Hastings interrupted hastily. "This was an inappropriate cross-examination, completely irrelevant to the case and the witness was not at trial." "He's going to stand trial," Mason said. "Because I would like to point out that before the statement made by the defendant, I sent people to go down and search the seabed in the vicinity, and found the defendant's bag, which contained three thousand dollars; I asked the diver to take the three thousand dollars in the bag. When I came out, I put another 3,000 yuan from the bank and put it in. I wrote down the numbers of the money. But there was no gun near the purse at the time. Later, someone rushed there to take the 3,000 yuan, and put the murderous gun there This man must be the murderer - he is Jilly's accomplice. After the defendant left, he joined Jilly on the yacht, his boat was still tied beside the yacht. He and Jilly stayed on the yacht when the tide was high. .By and by, the boat drifted out, during which time they cooked and ate the bean cans on the boat, and threw the empty cans into the sea, and then they quarreled, and he accused Jilly of trying to betray him and keep it for himself, and took Bancroft The pistol that the wife dropped on the deck when she jumped ship killed Jilly. Then he left the body on the yacht and looked for money, but couldn't find it. So the murderer rowed back to the shore..." "Wait a minute," Casey said. "You can't accuse me of a detective who has been following me. That guy has been following me to Ajie's apartment since I met Amory." Mason smiled. "Did you know someone was following you?" "certainly." "Since you know that there is a detective following you and watching in front of Ai Jie's apartment, of course you will sneak out the back door and borrow a car to drive to the port." "You can't produce evidence." "Of course," Mason said. "Because, the three thousand dollars I put in Mrs. Bancroft's purse was withdrawn from the bank long after the murder, and the bank has recorded the number of the banknote. If I am not mistaken, the money is with you now. Pocket, or hidden in your house or car, I'm going to apply for a search ticket...” Casey stared at Mason for a long time like a trapped animal, and then looked around. Before everyone had time to react, he suddenly ran out of the witness stand and out the door of the judge's room. The sheriff was stunned for a while, and then hurriedly chased him out. Mason turned his head and smiled at Bancroft. A shout came from a distant corridor. "Stop! Or I'm going to shoot!" Then two shots were fired in succession. A few minutes later, the sheriff returned to the courtroom with Casey in handcuffs. "Your court," Mason said. "I'm now giving the sheriff the slip of banknote numbers that the bank gave me, and I think he'll be able to find money that matches those numbers just by searching the prisoner. "Kathy thought that Ji Li had taken three thousand dollars behind his back. After hearing Ji Li's explanation on the yacht, he thought that Ji Li had betrayed him again. He thought that Mrs. Bancroft had given Ji Li a gun before drawing the gun. Big bucks. "It will be recalled to the court that when the yacht ran aground, the vibration was so strong that Mrs Bancroft lost her balance and pulled the trigger involuntarily. We can infer that Keely must have lost his balance as well, since he heard a gunshot just before that." , and wisely lay still so as not to be shot again. "Casey accused Ji Li of betraying him, so he brutally shot him with the gun that fell on the deck, and then searched him, but he didn't expect that he had no money on him. Then he left the yacht, rowed back to the shore, and opened the Return to the back door of Ajie's apartment in a borrowed or stolen car, go up to Ji Li's room, where they fabricate evidence to show that Ji Li's last meal was eaten in the house before going to the club, so as to mislead the medical examiner about the time of death judgment." Judge Herbert looked at the cowering Casey, and said to the sheriff, "Search him to see if there is really money that matches Mr. Mason's number."