«'I don't care to have my death an event which will transform these people from rags to riches nor, on the other hand, do I want their loyalty to pass unrewarded.

«'I, therefore, give, devise and bequeath to my chauffeur, George Eagan, the sum of fifty thousand dollars, in the hope that he will open up a business of his own with a part of this money as capital and save the balance as a reserve. I also give, devise and bequeath a similar sum of fifty thousand dollars to Anna Fritch.'»

Here Caswell turned the page rather hurriedly as one does when nearing the end of an important document.

«'Should any person, corporation, or otherwise, contest this will or should any person appear claiming that I have a relationship with that person, that he or she is an heir, that I have through inadvertence or otherwise neglected to mention him, I give to such person the sum of one hundred dollars.'

«Now then,» Jerry Caswell said, «that will contains the usual closing paragraph with the date. It is signed by the testatrix, and it is witnessed by none other than the late Delano Bannock, the attorney, and…» And here Caswell turned impressively to the defendant… «the defendant in this case, Virginia Baxter.»

Virginia sat gazing at him openmouthed.

Mason squeezed her arm and brought her back to reality.

«Does that conclude the testimony of this witness?» Judge Grayson asked.

«It does, Your Honor.»

«Any cross-examination?»

Mason got to his feet. «This will was the one you found in the sealed envelope?»

«Yes. The sealed envelope was in the drawer where Lauretta Trent said it would be. The will was in the sealed envelope.»

«What did you do with it?»

«I put it in a safe and called the district attorney.»

«Where was the safe?»

«In my bedroom.»

«And your bedroom is in the house owned and occupied by Lauretta Trent during her lifetime?»

«Yes.»

«The safe was already in your bedroom when you moved in?»

«No, I installed it.»

«Why did you install it?»

«Because I had certain valuables and I knew that the house was big; and the reputation of Lauretta Trent for extreme wealth was well known; so I wanted to have a safe place where I could keep my wife's jewelry and such cash as I had in my possession.»

«What has been your occupation?» Mason asked.

«I have done several things,» Kelvin said with dignity.

«Such as what?»

«I don't think I need to enumerate them.»

«Objected to as incompetent, irrelevant, immaterial, not proper cross-examination,» Caswell said.

«Oh, certainly,» Judge Grayson said, «I think this is background material and cross-examining counsel should be entitled to it, although I can't see that it will affect the outcome of the case or materially affect the evaluation the Court is placing on the testimony of the witness.»

«There's no need of going into his entire life,» Caswell snapped irritably.

Judge Grayson looked at Mason inquiringly. «Do you have some particular reason for this question?»

«I'll put it this way,» Mason said, «so I can summarize the situation. All these various business activities, which you yourself state have been numerous, were unprofitable, were they not?»

«That is not true, no sir.»

«But the net result was that you went to live with Lauretta Trent?»

«At her invitation, sir!»

«Exactly,» Mason said, «at a time when you were unable to support yourself.»

«No, sir. I could have supported myself but I had had certain temporary financial losses, certain business setbacks.»

«In other words, you were virtually broke?»

«I had had financial troubles.»

«And your sister-in-law invited you to come and live with her.»

«Yes.»

«At your instigation?»

«The other brother-in-law, Mr. Boring Briggs, was living in the house. It was a large house and-Well, my wife and I went there on a visit and we never moved out.»

«And the same was true of Boring Briggs, to your knowledge, was it not?» Mason asked.

«What was true?»

«That he had met with financial reverses and had come to live with his wife's sister.»

«In his case,» Kelvin said, «there were circumstances which made such a course of action… well a-necessity.»

«Financial circumstances?»

«In a way. Boring Briggs had met with several reverses and was unable to give his wife the monetary advantages which she subsequently obtained through the generosity of her sister, Lauretta Trent.»

«Thank you,» Mason said. «That's all.»

Kelvin left the stand.

«All right,» Mason whispered, turning to Virginia Baxter. «Tell me about it.»

«That's the will,» she answered. «I remember now typing that wonderful tribute to her doctor.»

Mason said, «I'm going up to get that will and take a good look at it. I don't want you to seem to be paying any great attention to what I'm doing, but look over my shoulder, particularly at the attestation clause and the witness clause and see if that really is your signature.»

Mason walked up to the clerk's desk. «May I see the will, please?» he said. «I'd like to examine it in some detail.»

The clerk handed Mason the will while Caswell said, «My next witness will be a member of the California highway patrol, Harry Auburn.»

Auburn, in uniform, advanced to the witness stand. He proved to be the officer who had inspected the scene of the collision at the Saint's Rest Motel.

Mason, turning the pages of the will, casually paused to examine the signatures.

Virginia Baxter said in some dismay, «That's my signature and that's Mr. Bannock's signature. Oh, Mr. Mason, I remember it all now. This is the will all right. I remember several things about it. There's a little ink smudge at the bottom of the page. I remember it happened when we were signing it. I wanted to type the last page over but Mr. Bannock said to let it go.»

«There seems to be a fingerprint there,» Mason said, «a fingerprint in the ink.»

«I don't see it.»

«Over here,» Mason said. «Just a few ridges, but enough, I would say, to make an identifiable fingerprint.»

«Heavens,» she said, «that will be mine-unless it should be Lauretta Trent's.»

«Leave it to Caswell,» Mason said, «he'll have found it out.»

The lawyer flipped over the remaining pages of the will, folded it, replaced it in the envelope, went up and tossed it casually on the clerk's desk, as though not greatly interested in it, and turned his attention to the witness on the stand.

As Mason walked back and sat down beside Virginia Baxter, she whispered to him, «But why in the world would anyone want all this fuss about forging two wills when there already was this will? It must have been that they didn't know of its existence.»

«Perhaps someone wanted to find out,» Mason said. «We'll talk it over later, Virginia.»

Harry Auburn gave his testimony in a voice without expression, simply relating what had happened, and apparently with every attempt to be impartial but, at the same time, to be one hundred percent accurate.

He testified that he had been directed by radio to go to the Saint's Rest Motel to investigate an automobile accident; that this had been a routine call; that he had gone up the road to the Saint's Rest and found that an automobile belonging to the defendant and one belonging to Perry Mason had been in a collision; that while he was investigating the facts of the collision he asked for a check on the cars, and he was called back on the radio of his car.

«Now, you can't tell us what anyone told you on the radio,» Caswell said. «That would be hearsay, but you can tell us what you did with reference to that call.»

«Well, after receiving that call, I interrogated the defendant as to whether she had been using the car, whether she had been in another collision, and where she had been in the last hour.»