Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, Vol. 29, No. 4, September 1971

“I can only assure you he won’t be there. If I wasn’t sure he wouldn’t be there, I wouldn’t say so.”

“You were with Perkins, Santo. True, and Baxter that night, weren’t you? Now listen, I want to know everything down the line. This may be our last meeting.”

“I’ll speak to my attorney.”

Sirianni was insistent. “Perkins, True, Santo and Baxter, that’s what I want to know, if you were with those four guys the night of the Monohan thing when everything happened at that place.”

“Yes, I was with them.”

“Now, then, where did this murder take place? When I get on the stand I want to know everything so I can say where we were that night.”

Barbara became nervous at the line of questioning and changed the subject. She said she would like him to see a motel clerk in Encino to fake a registration for the night of last March 9, the date of the murder. “We can use the name of Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Clark of San Francisco.”

“We’ve got to get this straight. I don’t want to make an ass of myself in court because the $500 I’m getting for this is just chicken feed.”

“I was under the impression I was going to pay you more.” Here Barbara laughed lightly at the suggestion of the favors she promised. Sirianni ignored the remark.

There was more to their conversation, all of it damning to Barbara. She reiterated the fact that Shorter would not be at the trial and when pressed for assurance declared that “he’s been done away with. He won’t be at the trial.”

Assistant state’s attorney lost no time in getting the trial under way. He called for his star witness, John True, after the court granted his move to dismiss the murder indictment against True. The tall, husky deep sea diver came into the courtroom surrounded by nine police officers and walked to the witness stand without looking at any of the defendants. They all ignored him.

True’s testimony, from start to finish, regarding the murder and robbery that backfired into a tragic and senseless death of an innocent and crippled old woman shocked the packed courtroom. There was an unmistakable aura of horror over the assembled crowd as True continued his testimony.

“Mr. True,” Alexander asked, “on the ninth day of March, 1953, did you go to the Monohan home?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Who accompanied you?”

“Jack Santo, Emmett Perkins, Barbara Graham, and Baxter Shorter.”

“Who gave instructions?”

“Jack Santo.”

“Did you observe if Barbara had a gun at the time?”

“I didn’t at that time, no.”

Previously, True testified that Emmett Perkins had given him a gun. “I didn’t dare refuse to take it. I went in the door after Barbara entered and I saw her hitting Mrs. Monohan in the face with a gun. Mrs. Monohan was begging for mercy.”

“What did you do?”

“I grabbed the lady by the face. Well, Barbara had been hitting her with a gun and Mrs. Monohan was begging for mercy. She was groaning all the time. I asked Barbara not to hit her any more. Mrs. Monohan collapsed then.”

“What happened then?”

“First Barbara pulled a pillow case over the lady’s head and Perkins tied her hands behind her back and said, ‘Let’s get her away from the door.’ I had her head lying in my lap and I held her head off the floor and we dragged her around the corner and put her in a closet, and I said. ‘Don’t put her in there.’ I took my knife — this pillowcase was over her head — and I cut the case across where she could breathe. Everyone else was going through the house, opening doors and rummaging through the house, and Jack Santo came by with some kind of cloth and tied it around her neck real tight and told me to get looking for a safe. I looked around and couldn’t find anything but a floor furnace and a disposal unit. I then went into the kitchen and saw Santo there. Mrs. Monohan was moaning and I believe it was Shorter said, ‘I will stop that racket,’ or something to that effect.”

“What did you do next?”

“I went back into the hall and cut the straps around her face.”

“Did you do anything with the pillowcase?”

“Yes, I did. I cut holes in it. I tore it open so she could breathe.”

Alexander walked dramatically to the counsel table, picked up two blood-matted white cloths and showed them to True. The cloths were clipped at either end. True identified them as the ones he had cut from the body of Mrs. Monohan. He also identified other items used to cover Mrs. Monohan’s head and to bind her.

The defense hammered at True savagely, at this pack of lies he recited under oath. They tried to shake his story that he went with the mob only to steal money and not to inflict injury on anyone, least of all an old, crippled woman. Defense Attorney Ward Sullivan was exceptionally vicious in his attack on True’s story.

“You stated that you wanted to quit and run after you saw Barbara beating Mrs. Monohan, is that correct?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Then why didn’t you run? Why didn’t you turn around and run? Run right out of the house?” Sullivan roared.

“Because I was afraid! If you had been in my place, you wouldn’t have walked out either. Not and lived to get to the door!”