“That’s right — I don’t even know that I went to call on Mr. Austin Cullens.”
“You don’t know that? ”
“No,” she said placidly. “As a matter of fact, I’ve been trying to cudgel my brains ever since I regained consciousness. I can remember yesterday morning, that is, I guess it was yesterday.” She turned to Perry Mason and said, “This is Tuesday, isn’t it, Mr. Mason?”
He nodded. “Yes,” she said, “it was yesterday morning. I can remember yesterday morning. I can remember everything that happened. I can remember receiving the keys to my brother’s car. I remember going and getting the car. I can remember putting it in the garage. I can remember waiting in the shoe department of a department store. I remember, later on, being accused of shoplifting. I remember having lunch with Mr. Mason... And I can’t remember one single thing that happened after I left that store.”
“Oh,” Sampson said, sneering, “you’re going to pull that old stuff, that your mind’s a blank, are you?”
Mason said, “That isn’t a question, Sampson, that’s an argument.”
“Well, suppose it is an argument?”
Dr. Gifford said, “I think Mr. Mason is right. Within reasonable limits, you may question my patient, but you certainly aren’t going to argue with her, or attempt to browbeat her.”
“That old alibi has whiskers on it a foot long,” Sergeant Holcomb said sneeringly.
Dr. Gifford said, “As a matter of fact, in case you gentlemen are interested, it quite frequently happens that following a concussion, there’s a complete lapse of memory covering a period of from hours to sometimes days prior to the shock. Occasionally, with the passing of time, that memory slowly returns.”