Mason patted her hand. “I think you’d better try crossword puzzles. It might be safer.”
“Will we have long to wait?” she asked.
“My guess,” Mason said, “is ten minutes.”
Events proved that Mason missed his guess by exactly twenty minutes. It took the jury half an hour to come filing into court with its verdict. Judge Barnes said, “Have you agreed upon a verdict, ladies and gentlemen?”
“We have,” one of the men answered.
The clerk took the folded document and handed it to Judge Barnes, who scrutinized it for a moment, then passed it back. “Read your verdict,” he said.
The foreman read the verdict. “We, the jury, impaneled to try the above entitled case, find Sarah Breel not guilty of the crime charged in the indictment. The jury suggests to the district attorney’s office that it forthwith arrest Virginia Trent and try to prosecute her more intelligently than it has the defendant in this case.”
The corners of Mason’s mouth were twitching. “I take it it may be stipulated that in entering the verdict, only the portion which finds the defendant not guilty is to be entered in the records.”
“So stipulated,” Sampson said sullenly.
Judge Barnes waited until the verdict had been entered, and then regarded the jury thoughtfully. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “in discharging you, the Court wishes to compliment you upon the manner in which you have performed your duty. This has been one of the most astounding cases this Court has ever witnessed. Right at present, the Court is frank to state that it doesn’t know whether the evidence points, as the jury apparently believes, to the fact that Virginia Trent fired the shot which killed Austin Cullens, or whether this Court has witnessed one of the most astounding pieces of legal legerdemain which has ever been perpetrated in a courtroom. Subsequent events will doubtless prove which is correct. The defendant is discharged from custody and court is adjourned.”