Chapter 23 twenty-three

At midnight, Magistrate Gregory continued his investigation.His strong physique and tenacious will gave him the tenacity of a bull.District Attorney Topham felt that it was best to postpone the matter until Monday morning. He was tired enough, but he didn't want to argue about it anymore, so he had a reluctant expression on his face. Bite your head and get on with it. Magistrate Gregory looked at his watch and said: It won't be long, I must have a full understanding of the matter before I leave. Mason raised his hands above his head, yawned, and smiled to the D.A.: I guess there's nothing to worry about at this late hour.

The District Attorney bowed and said sleepily: I don't think we can go on and on. Gregory said: When will I figure out what happened here before I leave.There is evidence that the signature on those shares is not Banning.Clark's handwriting.He glared at Mason sullenly. Mason yawned again and said: This is a mystery.If Banning.Clark was poisoned to death, and there were only a few breaths left in the end. Why would someone use a .38 automatic pistol to hasten his death?If Clark had lived a little longer, what devastating consequences would he have had on the man who shot him?What if you do find the person who poisoned you?He would claim the killer was the one who fired the shot.And what to do with the shooter?He would say that the deceased had swallowed enough poison to kill him.All in all, gentlemen, things are tricky.

There was a crisp knock on the door. I will drive.Mason said. Gregory rushed in front of him and flung the door open. Drunk Paul.Drake was about to knock on the door again, but the sheriff was taken aback. Don't open the door like that again.Paul scolded, if your guests fall badly, they will sue you in court. Who are you?The magistrate asked bluntly: Oh, yes, I know now, it was the man who discovered the gold mine. Better use find, sir.Discovery is meant to be somewhat hit and miss.Findings indicate that after careful planning and Oh, it's Small.Come in, Small, I have something to ask you.

Small held out his hand, hello, sir.I didn't expect to see you here.Are you OK? He greeted, good evening, Mr. Mason, and I brought a friend. Magistrate Gregory said: Small, I want you to answer this question frankly.Did you know the signature on the stock "Wait a minute," interposed Mason, "I suggest that these witnesses should testify somewhere where they can be written down in shorthand."You have asked many questions of other witnesses in an unfair manner. You shouldn't make irresponsible remarks about my affairs.Gregory interrupted Mason angrily, I was investigating.

If you think so, go ahead.Mason shot back. Paul.Drake said: But please don't ask questions in a drafty hallway. what are you doing hereasked Gregory. Waiting for a drink, Paul told him that the way you greeted me and how eagerly you opened the door made me feel comfortable.But, my dear sir, I see now that your manner is quite different from the politeness with which you first opened the door. Get this drunk out!Gregory snapped. That's not okay!Mason said that this person came to discuss business with me and was with the deceased Banning.Something about Clark's estate.As Banning.Clark's executor, I have the right

you come with me!Gregory was hesitant to Hayward.Small said. Mason handed it to Hayward.Give Small a key and go upstairs to Banning.Clark's room, he said, where you and the D.A. can continue your conversation. very good!Gregory grunted. They were halfway up the stairs when Mason said, "Sir. What? I think there's something you should know before you cross-examine me. What's up? Let me speak to the District Attorney about that, please? Gregory hesitated, Mason had already gone up the stairs and said: Small, go upstairs to Banning.Clark's room, I need to speak to the officer.

Small went upstairs and Mason came up the stairs and stood beside the sir, that's it, sir, he whispered, we don't need to quarrel about it.If you calm down a bit, you will see that we are working towards a goal.I want to solve this case. The D.A. said: Sir, can we coexist peacefully and get things done?And, I think all we can do right now is get preliminary testimony and stop everything. I'm going to warn you, said Mason, you'd better make a note of your relationship with Hayward.Small's dialogue.Otherwise, you will regret it. I don't have a court clerk, Gregory said, and that's just the beginning.

My secretary can take notes. The Sheriff had a suspicious smile on his face. Something is better than nothing.Mason said. The sheriff rebuffed him in a rage, but I don't think so, he said, and I feel a little bit of sympathy for my brother-in-law now. All right.Mason said that anything I said was recorded by my secretary. I don't give a shit about what you say.Gregory said. Can we speak more politely?Topham protested angrily. let's go!Gregory said and walked upstairs. Mason walked down the stairs, smiling at Della.Streeter said: Now, let's look at the application of Pete's psychological tactics in actual combat.

Drake said: Perry, I'm clearer now.After walking for such a long night, the cool wind has woken me up, but I'm getting chills now, can you help me find a glass of wine or something? no wine.Mason told him, you need to stay awake. Derek sighed: Hey, it's not a big deal to try to find it. I guess, with Drake still drinking and talking and babbling, you mean to go after the guy who came here with me from the Mojave, that is, expose him, don't you? Yes. I am strictly obedient. what have you found? Small has been swaying Bradisson's every move. How long has it been? Drake replied: I would like to know too.Small cannot be expected to reveal his true attempt to control Bradisen.But a little trickery can yield some information, so I tried to find out when Small and Bradisson first met, in January 1942, and soon after. It's very familiar.

January 1942?Um.Mason said with a meaningful smile. yes he There was the sound of the door being pushed open upstairs, and then someone walked up to the stairs. Sounds like a hot tempered officer.Drake said. Gregory shouted: Mason, come here! It was a little urgent this time, Drake said, Perry, I'm afraid you'll have to deal with him again. Mason to Della.Streeter nodded, then turned back halfway up the stairs and said: Paul, you'd better come too, I might need a witness. Your task may be noblest, but how can I climb stairs?Drake sighed. As soon as Mason entered the room, Gregory pointed to the typewriter and asked: What is this?

oh mason said your investigative record But I didn't do such research at all. Mason looked puzzled, and he said, "Sir, I'm afraid your memory is wrong, Della.Streeter did remember Gregory turned blue with anger, and said angrily: Damn, don't try to pretend to be confused with me.You're taking the case too lightly.I'm investigating, and I'm going to investigate in my own way. Yes, sir, of course. Mason turned to Della.Streeter said reproachfully: Della, sir told you to clear all the papers out of this room, or lock it up? Della dropped her eyes and said: I'm sorry. Topham's gaze shifted from Mason to the officer, revealing a wordless reproach. Mason said: Sir, I'm sorry.He sounded like he was asking for forgiveness for a legitimate oversight. Gregory was so angry that he was almost speechless. He said: I tell you that I have not done any investigation here.Topham, I was just asking informally before you got here. Yes, of course, Mason was a little too quick to answer, and you wouldn't be doing any investigation without Topham around. Hayward.Small's eyes kept moving across the faces, catching every change in expression, and he remembered every word they said. Mason nudged Della.street. Della tore the page from the typewriter and said to Small: This was all a mistake, and we're sorry, sir. Gregory glanced at Mason and said: You will pay for it, you will But I said sorry.My secretary shouldn't have left it here.We apologized, told Small about the failure to investigate, and told Topham about it.On this we are unanimous.You said there was no investigation, and we also said no.What more do you want?The more you talk, the more suspicious your witnesses will become. Gregory didn't know what to say for a moment. Mason went on eloquently: And, frankly, I don't see any reason for you to take such an attitude either.Since 1942, Hayward.Small had been blackmailing Bradisson, of course, so that Bradisson should attribute the murder to Small's motives.But if you ask me, Sheriff, I think Bradison is Didn't ask you.The Sheriff interrupted him. Mason made a gesture of humility that was refuted by his superiors, and bowed politely.After that, he simply didn't say a word. Gregory turned to Hayward.Small said: What I want to know is about stocks. Small licked his lips and just nodded. What's the matter?Gregory asked. All I know is what Dolena told me. Oh, what was said? Mason snapped: This is hearsay testimony.Small, I won't repeat, you can't vouch for the authenticity of your testimony. Never mind!cried Gregory. When he hears about it from you, he's going to charge you with third-degree murder, you know, Mason said, how about a cigarette, who wants to smoke? He quietly took out the cigarette case from his pocket. Thank you, I'll have one.Della.Streeter said sweetly. Gregory said angrily: Get out, get out! But I thought you needed me.Mason said. i need you to explain Oh yes.You still want to talk about it? no no. Heyward's mind was in constant motion, and he said suddenly: Well, I'm going to make things clear.I had nothing to do with the poisoning thing, I did oh did give Jim Carter eighteen months ago.Bradisson applied a little pressure. January 1942, isn't it?Mason asked. right. I think it's in Banning.Mrs. Clark had just died. Small said nothing. And Moffgate was probably starting to press him at about the same time.Mason said. I'm not interested in these!Gregory said. I'm interested, said Topham, quietly but with dignity, sir, let Mason go on. Gregory said angrily: He directed this play to save his life by covering up forged stock signatures Nevertheless, Topham interrupted him calmly, saying coldly, I hope Mr. Mason will not be disturbed, Mr. Mason, go on. Mason bowed slightly, thank you, he said to Small, probably in Banning.When Mrs. Clark died, didn't she? Small's eyes met Mason's, then looked away, and he said: Oh yes. Mason went on to say that the situation is very interesting now. We learned that Mrs. Bradisson sneaked into the Banning.Clarke's room replaced the new will with the old one, an ingenious way of legitimizing the false will, which would of course invalidate the old one if the testator's wish to annul it was expressly stated in the new one, but Unless the old will is destroyed and it cannot be proven that it has been superseded.It is impossible for a layman to think of this, and it is very likely that some clever lawyer came up with such a clever and perfect plan.I've been wondering if Mrs. Bradisson's idea of ​​changing her will has been around for a while.Small, you don't know these things, do you? Hayward.Small raised his hand and tugged at the collar of his shirt, as if it was too tight, and replied, No idea. Gregory tried to speak, but Topham motioned him to shut up. Mason said happily: Look, gentlemen, we have a poisoning incident and a shooting murder incident in front of us. These are two completely different crimes.But we cannot ignore that the criminal motives in these two cases are the same.Two murderers, acting independently because they didn't trust each other, one poisoned and the other shot.In this particular case, it's time to review everything that happened, analyze every clue and reason, and we'll find the answer. Gentlemen, I take it that Hayward was an acquaintance of a friend of Moffgate's, a lawyer, and a fellow with Jim.Bradison and his mother, Mrs. Bradison, were completely unfamiliar people.In early January 1942, Banning.Mrs. Clark is dead.In a will submitted for censorship, she left all her property to her mother and brother, implying that it was not much.Moffgate and Heyward were immediately after this very favourites.Moffgate became a shareholder in the company, and Hayward became a mine broker, though he had never sold mines before.But he had both ways, and sold the mine at a high price to a company in which Mrs. Bradison's mother and son held the majority of shares.So what's the conclusion? You are crazy, Hayward.Small said, what are you going to say, your mind is a mess. Mason said: Is it possible that Small was one of the witnesses to the later drafted will which was concealed with connivance? Your allegations are serious enough.Gregory blurted out. Of course, Mason gave him a cold look and said: Sir, presumably you now have a logical explanation for what happened. This is a lie.None of those things, Small said. Mason continued to the D.A.: Mr. D.A. will explain that Bradisen is anxious to see Hayward.Small was convicted, and it is not difficult to understand why the testimony given by Bradisson and his mother was so unfavorable to this witness.If Small has been blackmailing them, and if they can get him convicted of murder without anyone noticing, then But Gregory was practically yelling at the D.A. that no such investigation existed.Bradisson never gave such testimony either. Topham cast another reproachful glance at Gregory, and it was obvious that Topham didn't believe him either. Call Bradisson in and ask him.Gregory interrupted angrily. Mason just smiled disdainfully. Small said suddenly: Listen, I don't want to be framed for murder.If Jim wants to blame everything on me, I'll What are you going to do?Mason asked. I'm not going to sit still, that's all. Mason said: Don't worry, Small.You don't have to count on it, the officer is one of those old-fashioned guys who just believe in the normal course of action and keep the witnesses in the background.You've seen how much he wants you to believe that Bradisson has nothing to do with it.It's only when you're standing in front of a judge waiting for the death sentence that you learn that Bradisson was involved. Gregory said: I will not tolerate Please don't interrupt!Topham interrupted him. The district attorney's tired eyes stopped Gregory. Mason continued: "Personally, I'm still a little skeptical of Bradisson's testimony, which doesn't sound very logical.I don't see Hayward.Why did Small put arsenic in the sugar bowl.On the other hand, there are many reasons why Bradisson put arsenic in the sugar. Gentlemen, looking at the evidence in a fair and reasonable light, Bradisson and his mother suffered from obvious symptoms of arsenic poisoning, but it was later confirmed that the poisoning was caused by their own swallowing of ipecac.Should we dig deeper?They planned to send Hayward the next night.Small died of arsenic poisoning, and then you'd have no idea, because the real poisoner was also the victim.People who blackmail people don't kill the chicken to get the egg.But the blackmailed person always wants to kill the blackmailer. Topham looked at Small thoughtfully, and nodded almost imperceptibly. Small said: You're making up a story, it's just bullshit. But, Mason went on, your plan fell through because Small simply didn't go to tea that night.The reason was that he planned to run away with Mrs. Sims' daughter, and he knew Mrs. Sims would not agree to it.He was a little afraid of her weird intuition, sharp tongue and sharp eyes.So Small never showed up.Made Dorina leave a note under the sugar bowl.This disrupted Bradisson's plans. We are now almost certain of exactly when the arsenic was put into the sugar.It was in Della.Streeter, Banning.After Clark, Mrs. Sims and I had the first cup of tea, because Mrs. Sims poured herself a fourth cup of tea, she was also the fourth to get the sugar from the jug and she had no ill effects.Then the people who attended the general meeting entered the house.At that time, people were walking around the table, and the scene was very chaotic. Then, Banning.Clark had a second cup of tea with sugar, so he had the maximum dose of poison, and Della and I drank almost all of it.Streeter drank a second cup of tea, sweetened it, and drank a little poison at the same time.I think Bradisson was trying to poison Hayward.Small, thought he had a habit of going into the kitchen for a cup of tea.The poisoning attempt failed, and Bradisson, in order to achieve his purpose, gave a very confidential testimony to the Sheriff that he knew Small was guilty, and that if the Sheriff charged Small with other evidence, he would act as Unannounced witnesses testify and send Small to death row. Mason stopped talking and stared at the D.A. as if Small had become an unrelated spectator. How does that sound, Mr. District Attorney? Very, very logical.the district attorney said. Small hurriedly said: Attorney Mason was right.Bradisson the backstabbing liar.I should have known he would do this.Well, the bastard.Now I have to talk too, I'm going to tell the truth. That couldn't be better.Mason said. Small said: "I knew Moffgate well, we used to meet in his office a lot.I got him business, you know, I'm not trying to get victims to sue and come to him as a lawyer, I'm just a friend who gets him some business and he helps me too.I happened to be in his office one Friday morning, and I'll never forget that it was December 5th, 1941, because on December 7th the well-known event happened.Oh, I was waiting to see Moffgate that day in the outer office, Benning.Clark opened the office door to see who was in the outer office.He saw me sitting there and asked if I could come in and be a witness to the will. Have you gone in yet? Yes. What happened next? You know it all. Don't you know what is written in the will? have no idea.I only found out about Mrs. Clarke's death and that a will had been brought to probation when I read the papers in January.I asked Moffgate if I was obliged to testify as a witness to that will, and he acted strangely, so I began to wonder.I checked the records.When I saw that the will they sent for inspection was dated about a year ago, and had two witnesses sign after Mrs. Clarke's name, I knew what was going on at once.Here came my chance to make money, and just like that, you know, it wasn't hard, I became a mineral broker.Then I called on Bradisson, making a casual statement that I knew his sister, that I was a witness to her will, which had just been made before she died.Suffice it to say, and since then, as soon as I hint that mining companies should buy my mines at the price I say, the money just keeps rolling in.I can't kill them all, but I have to make sure my business is profitable. Mason told the district attorney: Now, if we can find another witness, we may learn something about Banning.The circumstances under which Clark was killed. Small said: "The other witness was named Craig Law.He was with me in the office waiting for the meeting.We happened to know each other, all I know is that his name was Craig Law, and he was about fifty-four or five years old. Mason told the D.A.: There was an unmentioned part of the whole story.Just in Banning.When Clark drank the poisoned tea and left, Moffgate wanted me to guarantee Banning.Clark's testimony.Mofgate had prepared a summons for Clark, and he said he would deliver it to him.It was logical for Mofgate to do so, but apparently he didn't go because it seemed to imply that he had other plans. Back then, I was also a little bit stupid.I underestimated Moffgate's intellect.I thought he'd be dumb enough to let the witnesses he needed slip through his fingers, but he wasn't. He was smart enough to know that if he gave me the subpoena, I'd signal Benning.Clark hides.So Moffgate had a good excuse to go to the cactus garden and deliver the summons to Clark.If he got caught there, he'd say: Hey, I'm here to deliver the summons.But if he hadn't been caught, if no one had seen him go there, if he found Banning.Clark was lying on the sand, so all he had to do was pull the trigger of his pistol and leave the scene.I noticed that the sheriff looked up where all the people were at that time, but he didn't check Moffgate, and Moffgate said he was driving back to Los Angeles.For some reason Gregory the Magistrate believed it. Not so long ago, Mofgate really went out of his way to cancel the Starshot Mine deal on the grounds of fraud.Recently, he has been talking about ending the lawsuit and keeping the minerals.Probably in Banning.While Clark was working on his wall, Moffgate spied something.Or Moffgate might have shone a UV-lighting machine over that wall.If you shine UV light on the lower part of that stone wall, you'll understand. The obvious one is Banning.Clark begins to wonder what Moffgate is doing and why Small is really controlling Bradisen.Needless to say, there was deadly evidence hidden in Clark's desk, and I do know the evidence was tampered with, because all I found was a vial and a dying mosquito.If Clarke had put the mosquito in the bottle when he was writing his will, the mosquito would have died before I saw it. You know, sir, if I were you, if I had a brother-in-law as bright and astute as Lieutenant Tragg living in Los Angeles, I think I'd call him and tell him to arrest Moffgate for first-degree murder, Get him out of Los Angeles straight to St.Roberto.