The Sporting House Killing G. Powell (best free novels .TXT) 📖

minute. But first, you said something a few minutes ago I thought was so well put, I’d like to remind the jury of it.”

Papa went back to Miss Peach and took her notepad. Since her notes were for him, she’d taught him to read her shorthand.

Back at the defense table, he pinched on his pince-nez, flipped through the pages, and placed the pad on top of an open magazine, leaning over it with both arms extended in support. “Miss Peach takes down the testimony for me word for word, and I wonder if she got this right.”

Palmer sat upright, straining his neck, struggling to see what Papa was reading.

“You tell me if she didn’t record it right. Here goes: ‘Every human being carries with him from his cradle to his grave certain physical marks which do not change their character, and by which he can always be identified, and that without shade of doubt or question. These marks are his signature, his physiological autograph, so to speak’”—he peered at the jury as he said the words—“‘and this autograph cannot be counterfeited, nor can he disguise it or hide it away, nor can it become illegible by the wear and the mutations of time.’”

He looked up over his spectacles straight at Palmer. “Does that sound like what you just testified to?”

Palmer’s eyes darted to Blair then back to Papa. “Very close. I don’t believe I discussed mutations.”

“No, I don’t think you did either. In fact, I’m afraid I might have misled you a bit, Detective. I wasn’t actually reading Miss Peach’s notes. I was reading from this magazine article.”

He held up a magazine.

Blair jumped up. “Objection! Hearsay.”

Papa shrugged. “Impeachment.”

“Overruled.”

Papa took the magazine over to the witness stand. “It’s not Nature magazine. It’s The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine. Take a look at page 237 in the June 1894 issue.” He pointed to the relevant passage and held it out toward Palmer. “Did I read that cradle-to-grave part exactly how it’s written there?”

Palmer studied the magazine page, then flipped to the next and back again. He turned it over to see the front cover, then the back, and then returned to the page in question. He took so long the jurors began to glance at one another.

Finally, he spoke. “It appears so.”

“Isn’t that passage from Century Magazine identical to the testimony you gave on direct examination a few minutes ago?”

“I don’t remember my words exactly, sir.”

“Fair enough,” Papa said.

Palmer should have just admitted it and saved himself some embarrassment.

“Miss Peach did take these notes of what else you said earlier,” Papa said, putting down the magazine and picking up the notepad. “Let me quote you from her notes this time: ‘There are no duplicates of a man’s finger markings in all the swarming populations of the globe. This autograph consists of the marks on the hands and the feet. If you look at your fingers, you’ll see clearly defined patterns, such as arches, circles, long curves, and whorls.’ Was that your exact, word-for-word testimony?”

Palmer stared at him silently.

“Detective?”

“It sounds similar, but I’m not sure it’s exact.”

“Now, listen to this from the article in Cent—”

Blair exploded. “I object to this, Your Honor. This article’s not evidence. It’s hearsay.”

“Goes to the man’s credibility, judge. It may be hearsay, but it’s hearsay he’s spouting in court like it’s his own.”

“Overruled.”

Harley crossed his arms and smiled discreetly.

“Listen to this passage from the magazine, detective: ‘Whereas this signature is each man’s very own, there is no duplicate of it among the swarming populations of the globe.’ You and the author here both see folks swarming around the globe, huh?”

Silence.

Palmer swallowed hard. “The author and I are both speaking about a common truth, so I’m not surprised by similarity of expression.”

“So you and this author both coincidentally chose the words ‘swarming populations of the globe’?” Papa peered over his pince-nez.

“Apparently.”

“All right.” Papa nodded. “That author goes on, ‘If you will look at the balls of your fingers, you that have very sharp eyesight, you will observe that these dainty curving lines lie close together, like those that indicate the borders of oceans in maps, and that they form various clearly defined patterns, such as arches, circles, long curves, whorls, etc., and that these patterns differ on the different fingers.’ Sure sounds like what you said, doesn’t it?”

“There are material differences, counselor.”

“Sure, you’re right. Let’s try another then. Did you also say this on direct examination, as Miss Peach recorded it? ‘On the barrel of that gun stands the assassin’s natal autograph, written in the blood of the helpless whore. There is only one man in the whole earth whose hand can duplicate that crimson sign, the defendant, Cicero Sweet.’ Did you say that to the jury under oath?”

There was another extended moment of silence before Palmer finally answered aloud, voice tight. “Something like that, I think.”

“So the ‘assassin’s natal autograph,’ that’s the way you put it?”

“Yes.”

“Well, sir, let me read to you one final passage from this article,” he said, placing his finger on the bottom of the page. “‘Upon this haft stands the assassin’s natal autograph, written in the blood of that helpless and unoffending old man who loved you and whom you all loved.’” He paused and stared at the jury. “‘There is but one man in the whole earth whose hand can duplicate that crimson sign.’”

Papa tossed the magazine back on the table and stroked his whiskers thoughtfully. “So you and this author both coincidentally came up with the phrase ‘assassin’s natal autograph’—and the ‘crimson sign,’ to boot?”

“It appears so,” Palmer said quietly.

Papa nodded. “Well, sir, to be honest, you did read a magazine article after all now, didn’t you?”

Palmer picked at a bit of skin on one finger. “It’s possible I read it sometime back and forgot about it. Perhaps I adopted someone else’s verbiage without realizing it. But the science is sound.”

“Detective, I expect there’s nothing really wrong with borrowing a few words here and there, is there?”

“Not at all, as long as they’re