Part 15 (2/2)
”And if the person had wanted the yacht to sail on into oblivion, the fuel tanks could have been filled, and the yacht would then have gone a very considerable distance beyond the point where it was picked up, before running out of fuel?”
”Yes, sir, depending of course on whether the murderer had to accept the condition of the fuel tanks as he found them. He or she may not have dared to attempt to refuel with the body aboard--or if the murder was committed at night, there would have been little opportunity to have replenished the fuel.”
”Thank you,” Mason said. ”That's all.”
Donovan Fraser said, ”Call Dr. Andover Calvert.”
”I'll stipulate Dr. Calvert's qualifications, subject to the right of cross-examination,” Mason said cheerfully. ”Just go right ahead and ask him your technical questions.”
Fraser regarded Mason with some surprise but very quickly took advantage of the opportunity. ”Very well,” he said. ”You'll stipulate that Dr. Calvert is an examining physician connected with the office of the coroner, an autopsy surgeon, a duly qualified physician and an expert in all fields of forensic medicine?”
”Subject to the right of cross-examination,” Mason said. ”I'll stipulate to his general qualifications, subject to cross-examination.”
”Very well. Be sworn, Dr. Calvert,” Fraser instructed.
Dr. Calvert held up his right hand, was sworn, and took the witness stand.
”You boarded the yacht, the Cap's Eyes on Thursday, the eleventh?”
”I did.”
”That was then on the high seas?”
”Yes, sir.”
”What did you find?”
”The cabin door, which had been locked by a spring lock on the inside, had been forced open by some party before we arrived. I understand this was done by Navy personnel who had boarded the boat before the Coast Guard was notified.”
”Go on,” Fraser said. ”What did you find in the cabin?”
”In the cabin we found the body of a woman about twenty-eight years of age. The first stages of decomposition had set in, and I estimated the woman had been dead for somewhere between twenty-four and fortyeight hours. The woman was lying on her back on the floor of the cabin. There was an open handbag near her hand, and a c.o.c.ked double-action Smith and Wesson revolver was lying near her right hand. One bullet had been discharged from this revolver and then the weapon had been c.o.c.ked, apparently preparatory to firing a second shot.”
”Did you find the one bullet which had been discharged?”
”We found a bullet embedded in the woodwork of the cabin near the door. I believe that it was checked out by ballistics and shown to have been fired from the weapon which was lying there on the floor of the yacht near the hand of the woman.”
”You subsequently performed an autopsy on the body of this woman?”
”I did, yes, sir.”
”And what did you find?”
”I found that she had been killed by gunfire. Two bullets had entered the chest cavity, slightly above and to one side of the heart. The two bullet holes were less than an inch and a half apart, and the courses of the bullets were, generally speaking, parallel.”
”Had the bullets gone through the body or were they still embedded in the body?”
”One of them had been deflected and had embedded itself in bone. The other had just penetrated far enough to go through the body. It was found in the clothing of the decedent.”
”These bullets were, in your opinion, the cause of death?”
”Yes.”
”Cross-examine,” Fraser said to Perry Mason.
Mason arose and walked toward the witness. His manner was casual and his voice was calmly conversational. ”Two bullets, Doctor?”
”Yes.”
”Which one inflicted the fatal wound, Doctor?”
”They both inflicted fatal wounds.”
”Which one was the cause of death?”
”Either could have been the cause of death.”
”Pardon me, Doctor. I'm not asking you about could have, I'm asking you about which did cause death.”
”Both of them inflicted fatal wounds.”
”Would you say both bullets caused death?”
”Yes.”
”Would you say that a person could die twice?”
”That isn't what I mean.”
”What do you mean?”
”I mean that either bullet might have caused death and either bullet could have caused death.”
”How far apart were the bullets?”
”Around an inch and a half at the point of entrance.”
”And which one was fired first?”
”I have no way of knowing.”
”Were the bullets instantly fatal?”
”That depends on what you mean by instantly.”
”Well, what do you mean by it?”
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