“Frankly, Virgie, I don’t know just what would have happened if the Prosecution had sensed the truth and made a fair investigation. They’d have arrested you, charged you with murder, and you’d have had to plead self-defense. Under the circumstances, it wouldn’t have sounded so good. When a man is killed in his own house, it’s rather difficult to establish self-defense.”
She sobbed and said, “I know it.”
“But,” Mason went on, “Sergeant Holcomb thought he must have made a mistake and handed the ballistics expert the wrong bullet. In many ways, you can’t blame him. It was a perfectly natural conclusion for him to reach, and a police officer could hardly be expected to be so conscientious that he’d allow a murderer to escape, simply because he’d inadvertently confused bullets which had been handed him by an autopsy surgeon.”
“But Sergeant Holcomb’s testimony on the witness stand was so belligerent, and so positive, that I saw my big opportunity to fix it so you could never be prosecuted.”
“Why can’t I be prosecuted?” she asked.
“Because,” he said, “the State can never prosecute you for the murder of Austin Cullens, unless they show that Cullens was killed with the gun which you must have placed in the desk drawer in your uncle’s office. The only way they can do that is to trace the bullets from the body of Cullens. And the only way they can do that is to put Sergeant Holcomb on the stand, and Sergeant Holcomb has testified so positively and so belligerently, that he can never back up on that testimony now — not without submitting himself to a prosecution for perjury, as well as a storm of public ridicule. They’ll never do that.”
“Then they won’t do anything with me?” she asked.
“Not if you keep your mouth shut,” he told her. “I don’t want you to ever tell anyone anything about what happened.”
“I didn’t want Auntie to stand up there and take it,” she said. “I wanted to come in and confess. I...”
“I knew you would,” Mason said, patting her shoulder, “but I thought your aunt was quite capable of carrying on. Now, buck up, Virgie, I want you to be as good a campaigner as she was. I’ve had you held virtually a prisoner out here. That’s all over with. You can go back now, telephone or...”