The Case of the Howling Dog

"Gentlemen, I need not mention to you the inevitable result of such a combination of wickedness, founded upon crime, nurtured in deception, and culminating in murder. There were two conspirators, each of whom knew that the other had the power to send the long arm of the law swooping down in righteous reprisal. Thelma Benton was the first to act. She left the house at six o'clock and repaired to a rendezvous with a male friend. What she said to him, we need not ask. We are only concerned with what happened. And, mind you, I am making no case against Thelma Benton and her accomplice, but am only pointing out to you what might have happened, as a reasonable hypothesis upon which the evidence can be explained. Thelma Benton and her accomplice returned to the house. They entered, by using the key of the pseudohousekeeper. Upon guilty feet, the pair stalked their living prey, as though he had been a beast of the jungle. But the sensitive ears of the dog heard and interpreted that which was happening. Alarmed by the barking of the dog, Clinton Forbes stepped out of the bathroom. He saw his housekeeper standing there, and wiped the lather from his face as he started to talk to her. Then he saw the man who was with her, and knew the purpose of her visit. In a panic, he rushed to the bathroom and liberated the dog. The dog sprang at the masculine intruder, and the man shot. The dog fell lifeless to the floor. Forbes struggled with the woman and then there were two more shots fired at close range, and then — silence."

Perry Mason came to an abrupt halt. He stared seriously, solemnly at the jury. In a voice that was so low it could hardly be heard, he said, "Gentlemen, that is all."

He turned and walked back to his seat.

Claude Drumm stared uncertainly at the jury, at the judge, at the hostile faces of those in the courtroom, then shrugged his shoulders.

"No argument," he said.

Chapter 22

It was more than two hours after the verdict had been returned, when Perry Mason entered his office. It was long since dark, but Della Street was waiting for him, her eyes starry. Paul Drake was also in the office, lounging on the edge of a desk, his droll features twisted in placid humor while a cigarette dangled listlessly from the corner of his mouth.

Perry Mason was leading a police dog on a leash.

The pair stared at the police dog, then at Mason.

"By George," said Paul Drake, "you certainly have a genius for the dramatic and spectacular. Now that you have used a dog in order to get an acquittal, you're going to adopt a police dog and lead him around with you. It will serve to keep every one familiar with your dramatic triumph."

"Not necessarily," said Perry Mason. "Let me put the dog in the closet here. He's nervous, and I think it would be better for him to go in there."

He led the dog to the closet in his private office, unleashed the animal, bedded him down on the floor, reassured him with low, crooning conversation, and then closed, but did not latch, the door. He turned to receive the handshake of Paul Drake, and then Della Street 's arms were about his neck, crushing him down to her as she danced in an ecstasy of glee.

"Oh," she said, "it was so wonderful! I read your argument in the paper. They got out an extra in which they set forth your arguments verbatim. It was simply wonderful!"

"The newspapers," said Paul Drake, "are calling you the Master of Courtroom Drama."

"Just a lucky break," said Perry Mason modestly.

"Lucky nothing," Paul Drake said. "That thing was carefully planned. You had about six strings to your bow. If you had been forced to do it, you could have used the evidence of the Chinese cook to show that the dog did howl. If you had been forced to, you could have put Mae Sibley on the stand and made the whole case a joke. You could have done any one of a dozen things."

Della Street said excitedly, "As soon as I read your argument, I knew the chain of reasoning by which you had realized where the bodies were…"

Abruptly she glanced at Paul Drake and broke off.

"But," said Drake, "there are two or three things about your argument that don't hang together. In the first place, if Thelma Benton had returned to the house with this chap, Carl Trask, and they had murdered Forbes, why wouldn't Wheeler and Doake have seen them drive up?"

"Wheeler and Doake weren't witnesses," said Perry Mason.

"I know that," said the detective. "You saw to that by seeing to it that the district attorney didn't know you had shadows watching the house. If he had known all that those two fellows knew, he would have moved heaven and earth to get them."

"Was it fair to let them get out of the jurisdiction of the court?" asked Della Street dubiously.

Perry Mason stood with his legs wide apart, his shoulders squared, his jaw thrust forward.