“Do you know anyone who lives in the apartment house where this decedent resided and where his body was found?”
“No.”
Mason regarded him with narrowed eyes. “You’re aware that you’re under oath, and that this is a murder case?”
“Naturally.”
“And your answers still stand?”
“Yes.”
“That,” Mason announced, “is all.”
Judge Knox, in a manner which plainly showed his complete disbelief, said, “Mr. Carrel, do you wish this court to understand that during the time you and your relatives were discussing the steps you were taking to have your uncle, the defendant in this case, declared incompetent, there was never at any time in your presence any conversation whatever as to the material advantages which would result in behalf of any of the relatives from preventing your uncle’s marriage, preventing him from making a valid will, or prevailing in your action to have him declared incompetent?”
Carrel shifted his eyes, looked at Mason for a moment, then turned appealingly to Kittering. In an almost inaudible voice, he said, “There was never any such conversation.”
“That’s all,” Judge Knox said, his voice as ominously final as the closing of a steel trap.