The Case of the Grinning Gorilla

Hardwick walked over to look down at the assortment of stuff on the floor.

“I can tell you in a minute about the billfold,” Fallon said.

He stooped over, picked up the billfold, opened it, smiled and showed Hardwick the identification card in the front of the billfold.

“Well,” he said, “that’s it. I’ve been missing it for some time.”

“How much money is in it?” Hardwick asked.

“Thirty-two dollars when I lost it,” Fallon said. He unfolded the leather so that he could peer inside of the billfold, said, “That’s right,” and hurriedly dropped it into his pocket.

“Better count it and see if there’s any missing,” Mason suggested.

Fallon looked at him coldly. “It’s all there.”

Hardwick said, “This complicates the situation. Mason, what’s your interest in this?”

“I’m interested.”

“I understand, but in what way? Who has retained you?”

“No one,” Mason said and then added, “as yet.”

“Well, now,” Hardwick said, “that poses, of course, an interesting question. Under the circumstances I would suggest that Mr. Addicks retain you to assist me in handling this case which is coming up the day after tomorrow, a case in which, of course, it may be possible — however, I think I’ll discuss the legal aspects with you after you have been retained.”

“I’m sorry,” Mason said, “but I’m not open to a retainer from Mr. Addicks.”

“Are you giving me to understand then that you’re retained by Mrs. Kempton?”

“Not exactly,” Mason said. “I do happen to know something about the suit, and I have discussed it with her attorney.”

“All right,” Hardwick said, “let’s be fair about this, Mr. Mason. Don’t tell Mrs. Kempton or her lawyer anything about this until we have had a chance to effect a settlement.”

Mason smiled and shook his head.

“You mean you’re going to them with the information?”

“I mean I’m going to tell James Etna of Etna, Etna and Douglas, about the entry in the diary, and I’m going to tell him about what we found.”

“It won’t do a particle of good,” Hardwick said. “It may do harm.”

Mason shrugged his shoulders.

“Let’s look at the thing from a cold, legal standpoint,” Hardwick went on. “There are two instances in which one person may accuse another person of crime with no liability on the part of the person making the accusation. One of them is in the event the person actually is guilty of the crime. The law of slander and libel in this country is different from what it is in many countries. Here the truth is always a defense to a statement with might otherwise be libelous or slanderous.”

“Thank you for telling me the law,” Mason said.

Hardwick smiled. “I’m not telling you the law. I’m pointing out a legal situation. The second class of case, Mr. Mason, is a privileged communication.

“Now let’s suppose Mr. Addicks accused Josephine Kempton of crime. He has two defenses. In the event she was guilty of crime, he can plead the truth, and that’s a complete defense. In the event she wasn’t guilty of crime but he said she was, all he needs to do is to show that the communication was privileged. In other words, that he was acting in good faith in giving information to a person who had a legitimate interest in the matter. That completely disposes of any question of defamation.”

Mason stretched his arms, yawned, and said, “I never like to argue legal points unless I’m paid for it. So far no one has retained me, and somehow I don’t think anyone is going to.”

Hardwick said, “Of course, Mr. Mason, circumstances have put you in rather a peculiar position. Am I to understand that you first suspected the articles in question might have been concealed in this stone urn because of entries in the diary of Helen Cadmus?”

“That’s right.”

“Those entries were in her handwriting?”

“Frankly, Counselor, I don’t know.”

“Of course, such entries wouldn’t be evidence of anything,” Hardwick said. “They couldn’t be introduced in court. It’s merely something that Helen Cadmus has written. They could have been self-serving declaration.”

“In what way?” Mason asked.

“She could have taken these things herself and concealed them in the urn and then gone to the trouble of making this entry in the diary so that in the event she was ever involved in any way, she could refer to the entry as supporting her statement that the monkey had been concealing things here. Surely, Mason, you don’t need to have me point out to you that this would be a self-serving declaration?”

Mason said, “I don’t think I need to have you point out anything to me.”

Hardwick turned to Nathan Fallon. “I think we had better go into conference with Mr. Addicks at once.”

“He told me to tell you he wouldn’t see you,” Fallon said obstinately. “He’s been hurt. Yesterday he was almost killed by a gorilla that he’d been training. I saw the whole thing.”

Hardwick frowned. “Well, Nathan, I think we won’t need to detain Mr. Mason and Miss Street any longer. I take it they were just leaving.”

“That’s right.”

“Good night,” Hardwick said abruptly, shaking hands with Mason and bowing once more to Della Street.