_ CHAPTER XVII
The news that Judge Brewster would appear for the defendant at the approaching trial of Howard Jeffries went through the town like wildfire, and caused an immediate revival in the public interest, which was beginning to slacken for want of hourly stimulation. Rumor said that there had been a complete reconciliation in the Jeffries family, that the banker was now convinced of his son's innocence and was determined to spend a fortune, if necessary, to save him. This and other reports of similar nature were all untrue, but the judge let them pass without contradiction. They were harmless, he chuckled, and if anything, helped Howard's cause.
Meantime, he himself had not been idle. When once he made up his mind to do a thing he was not content with half measures. Night and day he worked on the case, preparing evidence, seeing witnesses and experts, until he had gradually built up a bulwark of defense which the police would find difficult to tear down. Yet he was not wholly reassured as to the outcome until Annie, the day following the interview in his office, informed him breathlessly that she had found the mysterious woman. The judge was duly elated; now it was plain sailing, indeed! There had always been the possibility that Howard's confession to the police was true, that he had really killed Underwood. But now they had found the one important witness, the mysterious woman who was in the apartment a few minutes before the shooting and who was in possession of a letter in which Underwood declared his intention of shooting himself, doubt was no longer possible. Acquittal was a foregone conclusion. So pleased was the judge at Annie's find that he did not insist on knowing the woman's name. He saw that Annie preferred, for some reason, not to give it--even to her legal adviser--and he let her have her way, exacting only that the woman should be produced the instant he needed her. The young woman readily assented. Of course, there remained the "confession," but that had been obtained unfairly, illegally, fraudulently. The next important step was to arrange a meeting at the judge's house at which Dr. Bernstein, the hypnotic expert, would be present and to which should be invited both Captain Clinton and Howard's father. In front of all these witnesses the judge would accuse the police captain of brow-beating his prisoner into making an untrue confession. Perhaps the captain could be argued into admitting the possibility of a mistake having been made. If, further, he could be convinced of the existence of documentary evidence showing that Underwood really committed suicide he might be willing to recede from his position in order to protect himself. At any rate it was worth trying. The judge insisted, also, that to this meeting the mysterious woman witness should also come, to be produced at such a moment as the lawyer might consider opportune. Annie merely demanded a few hours' time so she could make the appointment and soon reappeared with a solemn promise that the woman would attend the meeting and come forward at whatever moment called upon.
Three evenings later there was an impressive gathering at Judge Brewster's residence. In the handsomely appointed library on the second floor were seated Dr. Bernstein, Mr. Jeffries and the judge. Each was absorbed in his own thoughts. Dr. Bernstein was puffing at a big black cigar; the banker stared vacantly into space. The judge, at his desk, examined some legal papers. Not a word was spoken. They seemed to be waiting for a fourth man who had not yet arrived. Presently Judge Brewster looked up and said:
"Gentlemen, I expect Captain Clinton in a few minutes, and the matter will be placed before you."
Mr. Jeffries frowned. It was greatly against his will that he had been dragged to this conference. Peevishly, he said:
"I've no wish to be present at the meeting. You know that and yet you sent for me."
Judge Brewster looked up at him quickly and said quietly yet decisively:
"Mr. Jeffries, it is absolutely necessary that you be present when I tell Captain Clinton that he has either willfully or ignorantly forced your son to confess to having committed a crime of which I am persuaded he is absolutely innocent."
The banker shrugged his shoulders.
"If I can be of service, of course, I--I am only too glad--but what can I say--what can I do?"
"Nothing," replied the Judge curtly. "But the moral effect of your presence is invaluable." More amiably he went on: "Believe me, Jeffries, I wouldn't have taken this step unless I was absolutely sure of my position. I have been informed that Underwood committed suicide, and to-night evidence confirming this statement is to be placed in my hands. The woman who paid him that mysterious visit just before his death has promised to come here and tell us what she knows. Now, if Captain Clinton can be got to admit the possibility of his being mistaken it means that your son will be free in a few days."
"Who has given you this information?" demanded the banker skeptically.
"Howard's wife," answered the judge quietly. The banker started and the lawyer went on: "She knows who the woman is, and has promised to bring her here to-night with documentary proof of Underwood's suicide."
"You are depending on her?" he sneered.
"Why not?" demanded the judge. "She has more at stake than any of us. She has worked day and night on this case. It was she who aroused Dr. Bernstein's interest and persuaded him to collect the evidence against Captain Clinton."
The banker frowned.
"She is the cause of the whole miserable business," he growled.
The door opened and the butler, entering, handed his master a card.
"Ah!" ejaculated the judge. "Here's our man! Show him up."
When the servant had disappeared Mr. Jeffries turned to his host. With a show of irritation he said:
"I think you put too much faith in that woman, but you'll find out--you'll find out."
Judge Brewster smiled.
"That's our object, isn't it, Mr. Jeffries--to find out?" he said sarcastically.
"What's the name of this mysterious witness?" exclaimed the banker testily. "If the police haven't been able to find her why should Howard's wife be able to do so? There was a report that she herself was----" He paused and added, "Did she tell you who it was?"
"No," said the judge dryly, "she will tell us to-night."
The banker bounded in his seat.
"You'll see," he cried. "Another flash in the pan. I don't like being mixed up in this matter--it's a disagreeable--most disagreeable."
Dr. Bernstein puffed a thick cloud of smoke into the air and said quietly:
"Yes, sir; it is disagreeable--but--unfortunately it is life."
Suddenly the door opened and Captain Clinton appeared, followed by his
fidus Achates, Detective Sergeant Maloney. Both men were in plain clothes. The captain's manner was condescendingly polite, the attitude of a man so sure of his own position that he had little respect for the opinion of any one else. With an effort at amiability he began:
"Got your message, judge--came as soon as I could. Excuse my bringing the sergeant with me. Sit over there, Maloney." Half apologetically, he added: "He keeps his eyes open and his mouth shut, so he won't interfere. How do, doctor?"
Maloney took a position at the far end of the room, while Dr. Bernstein introduced the captain to Mr. Jeffries.
"Yes, I know the gentleman. How do, sir?"
The banker nodded stiffly. He did not relish having to hobnob in this way with such a vulgarian as a grafting police captain. Captain Clinton turned to Judge Brewster.
"Now, judge, explode your bomb! But I warn you I've made up my mind."
"I've made up my mind, too," retorted the judge, "so at least we start even."
"Yes," growled the other.
"As I stated in my letter, captain," went on the judge coolly, "I don't want to use your own methods in this matter. I don't want to spread reports about you, or accuse you in the papers. That's why I asked you to come over and discuss the matter informally with me. I want to give you a chance to change your attitude."
"Don't want any chance," growled the policeman.
"You mean," said the judge, peering at his
vis a vis over his spectacles, "that you
don't want to change your attitude."
Captain Clinton settled himself more firmly in his chair, as if getting ready for hostilities. Defiantly he replied:
"That's about what I mean, I suppose."
"In other words," went on Judge Brewster calmly, "you have found this--this boy guilty and you refuse to consider evidence which may tend to prove otherwise."
"'Tain't my business to consider evidence," snapped the chief. "That's up to the prosecuting attorney."
"It will be," replied the lawyer sharply, "but at present it's up to you."
"Me?" exclaimed the other in genuine surprise.
"Yes," went on Judge Brewster calmly, "you were instrumental in obtaining a confession from him. I'm raising a question as to the truth of that confession."
Captain Clinton showed signs of impatience. Shrugging his massive shoulders deprecatingly, said:
"Are we going over all that? What's the use? A confession is a confession and that settles it. I suppose the doctor has been working his pet theory off on you and it's beginning to sprout."
"Yes," retorted the judge quickly, "it's beginning to sprout, captain!"
There was a sudden interruption caused by the entrance of the butler, who approached his master and whispered something to him. Aloud the judge said:
"Ask her to wait till we are ready."
The servant retired and Captain Clinton turned to the judge. With mock deference, he said:
"Say, Mr. Brewster, you're a great constitutional lawyer--the greatest in this country--and I take off my hat to you, but I don't think criminal law is in your line."
Judge Brewster pursed his lips and his eyes flashed as he retorted quickly:
"I don't think it's constitutional to take a man's mind away from him and substitute your own, Captain Clinton."
"What do you mean?" demanded the chief.
"I mean that instead of bringing out of this man his own true thoughts of innocence, you have forced into his consciousness your own false thoughts of his guilt."
The judge spoke slowly and deliberately, making each word tell. The police bully squirmed uneasily on his chair.
"I don't follow you, judge. Better stick to international law. This police court work is beneath you."
"Perhaps it is," replied the lawyer quickly without losing his temper. Then he asked: "Captain, will you answer a few questions?"
"It all depends," replied the other insolently.
"If you don't," cried the judge sharply, "I'll ask them through the medium of your own weapon--the press. Only my press will not consist of the one or two yellow journals you inspire, but the independent, dignified press of the United States."
The captain reddened.
"I don't like the insinuation, judge."
"I don't insinuate, Captain Clinton," went on the lawyer severely, "I accuse you of giving an untruthful version of this matter to two sensational newspapers in this city. These scurrilous sheets have tried this young man in their columns and found him guilty, thus prejudicing the whole community against him before he comes to trial. In no other country in the civilized world would this be tolerated, except in a country overburdened with freedom."
Captain Clinton laughed boisterously.
"The early bird catches the worm," he grinned. "They asked me for information and got it."
Judge Brewster went on:
"You have so prejudiced the community against him that there is scarcely a man who doesn't believe him guilty. If this matter ever comes to trial how can we pick an unprejudiced jury? Added to this foul injustice you have branded this young man's wife with every stigma that can be put on womanhood. You have hinted that she is the mysterious female who visited Underwood on the night of the shooting and openly suggested that she is the cause of the crime."
"Well, it's just possible," said the policeman with effrontery.
Judge Brewster was fast losing his temper. The man's insolent demeanor was intolerable. Half rising from his chair and pointing his finger at him, he continued:
"You have besmirched her character with stories of scandal. You have linked her name with that of Underwood. The whole country rings with falsities about her. In my opinion, Captain Clinton, your direct object is to destroy the value of any evidence she may give in her husband's favor."
The chief looked aggrieved.
"Why, I haven't said a word." Turning to his sergeant, he asked, "Have I, Maloney?"
"But these sensation-mongers have!" cried the judge angrily. "You are the only source from whom they could obtain the information."
"But what do I gain?" demanded the captain with affected innocence.
"Advertisement--promotion," replied the judge sternly. "These same papers speak of you as the greatest living chief--the greatest public official--oh, you know the political value of that sort of thing as well as I do."
The captain shrugged his shoulders.
"I can't help what they say about me," he growled.
"They might add that you are also the richest," added the judge quickly, "but I won't go into that."
Again Captain Clinton reddened and shifted restlessly on his chair. He did not relish the trend of the conversation.
"I don't like all this, Judge Brewster--'tain't fair--I ain't on trial."
Judge Brewster picked up some papers from his desk and read from one of them.
"Captain, in the case of the People against Creedon--after plying the defendant with questions for six hours, you obtained a confession from him?"
"Yes, he told me he set the place on fire."
"Exactly--but it afterward developed that he was never near the place."
"Well, he told me."
"Yes. He told you, but it turned out that he was mistaken."
"Yes," admitted the captain reluctantly.
The judge took another document, and read:
"In the case of the People against Bentley."
"That was Bentley's own fault--I didn't ask him," interrupted the captain. "He owned up himself." Turning to the sergeant, he said, "You were there, Maloney."
"But you believed him guilty," interposed Judge Brewster quickly.
"Yes."
"You thought him guilty and after a five-hour session you impressed this thought on his mind and he--he confessed."
"I didn't impress anything--I just simply----"
"You just simply convinced him that he was guilty--though as it turned out he was in prison at the time he was supposed to have committed the burglary----"
"It wasn't burglary," corrected the captain sullenly.
Judge Brewster again consulted the papers in his hand.
"You're quite right, captain--my mistake--it was homicide, but--it was an untrue confession."
"Yes."
"It was the same thing in the Callahan case," went on the judge, picking up another document. "In the case of the People against Tuthill--and--Cosgrove--Tuthill confessed and died in prison, and Cosgrove afterward acknowledged that he and not Tuthill was the guilty man."
"Well," growled the captain, "mistakes sometimes happen."
Judge Brewster stopped and laid down his eyeglasses.
"Ah, that is precisely the point of view we take in this matter! Now, captain, in the present case, on the night of the confession did you show young Mr. Jeffries the pistol with which he was supposed to have shot Robert Underwood?"
Captain Clinton screwed up his eyes as if thinking hard. Then, turning to his sergeant, he said:
"Yes. I think I did. Didn't I, Maloney?"
"Your word is sufficient," said the judge quickly. "Did you hold it up?"
"Think I did."
"Do you know if there was a light shining on it?" asked the judge quickly.
At this point, Dr. Bernstein, who had been an attentive listener, bent eagerly forward. Much depended on Captain Clinton's answer--perhaps a man's life.
"Don't know--might have been," replied the chief carelessly.
Judge Brewster turned to Dr. Bernstein.
"Were there electric lights on the wall?"
"Yes."
"What difference does that make?" demanded the policeman.
"Quite a little," replied the judge quietly. "The barrel of the revolver was bright--shining steel. From the moment that Howard Jeffries' eyes rested on the shining steel barrel of that revolver he was no longer a conscious personality. As he himself said to his wife, 'They said I did it--and I knew I didn't, but after I looked at that shining pistol I don't know what I said or did--everything became a blur and a blank.' Now, I may tell you, captain, that this condition fits in every detail the clinical experiences of nerve specialists and the medical experiences of the psychologists. After five hours' constant cross-questioning while in a semi-dazed condition, you impressed on him your own ideas--you suggested to him what he should say--you extracted from him not the thoughts that were in his own consciousness, but those that were in yours. Is that the scientific fact, doctor?"
"Yes," replied Dr. Bernstein, "the optical captivation of Howard Jeffries' attention makes the whole case complete and clear to the physician."
Captain Clinton laughed loudly.
"Optical captivation is good!" Turning to his sergeant he asked, "What do you think of it, Maloney?"
Sergeant Maloney chuckled.
"It's a new one, eh?"
"No, captain--it's a very old one," interrupted the lawyer sternly, "but it's new to us. We're barely on the threshold of the discovery. It certainly explains these other cases, doesn't it?"
"I don't know that it does," objected the captain, shaking his head. "I don't acknowledge----"
Judge Brewster sat down. Looking the policeman squarely in the face, he said slowly and deliberately:
"Captain Clinton, whether you acknowledge it or not, I can prove that you obtained these confessions by means of hypnotic suggestion, and that is a greater crime against society than any the State punishes or pays you to prevent."
The captain laughed and shrugged his shoulders. Indifferently he said:
"I guess the boys up at Albany can deal with that question."
"The boys up at Albany," retorted the lawyer, "know as little about the laws of psychology as you do. This will be dealt with at Washington!"
The captain yawned.
"I didn't come here to hear about that--you were going to produce the woman who called on Underwood the night of the murder--that was what I came here for--not to hear my methods criticised--where is she?"
"One thing at a time," replied the judge. "First, I wanted to show you that we know Howard Jeffries' confession is untrue. Now we'll take up the other question." Striking a bell on his desk, he added: "This woman can prove that Robert Underwood committed suicide."
"She can, eh?" exclaimed the captain sarcastically. "Maybe she did it herself. Some one did it, that's sure!"
The library door opened and the butler entered.
"Yes, some one did it!" retorted the judge; "we agree there!" To the servant he said: "Ask Mrs. Jeffries, Jr., to come here."
The servant left the room and the captain turned to the judge with a laugh:
"Is she the one? Ha! ha!--that's easy----"
The judge nodded.
"She has promised to produce the missing witness to-night."
"She has, eh?" exclaimed the captain.
Rising quickly from his chair, he crossed the room and talked in an undertone with his sergeant. This new turn in the case seemed to interest him. Meantime Mr. Jeffries, who had followed every phase of the questioning with close attention, left his seat and went over to Judge Brewster.
"Is it possible," he exclaimed, "is it possible that Underwood shot himself? I never dreamed of doubting Howard's confession!" More cordially he went on: "Brewster, if this is true, I owe you a debt of gratitude--you've done splendid work--I--I'm afraid I've been just a trifle obstinate."
"Just a trifle," said the judge dryly.
Sergeant Maloney took his hat.
"Hurry up!" said the captain, "you can telephone from the corner drug store."
"All right, Cap'."
Dr. Bernstein also rose to depart.
"I must go, Mr. Brewster; I have an appointment at the hospital."
The judge grasped his hand warmly.
"Thank you, doctor!" he exclaimed, "I don't know what I should have done without you."
"Thank you, sir!" chimed in the banker, "I am greatly indebted to you."
"Don't mention it," replied the psychologist almost ironically.
He went out and the banker impatiently took out his watch.
"It's getting late!" he exclaimed; "where is this girl. I have no faith in her promises!"
As he spoke the library door opened and Annie appeared. _