“Oh, Harold,” Inez Colton said tearfully. “ Why did you do it? You promised you wouldn’t come near me.”
Harold Leeds said sullenly, “Gosh, Inez, I made absolutely certain no one was following me. How did I know I was going to walk into this guy?” indicating Mason with a jerk of his head. “I simply had to see you.”
Mason said, “Suppose you tell us all about it, Harold. Sit down where you can be comfortable, and get it off your chest. You’ll feel better then.”
“I have nothing to say,” Harold Leeds said, “particularly to you. If I talk, it will be to the district attorney.”
“That’s swell,” Mason said. “But first, young man, you’ll go on the witness stand as a witness for the defense. I’ll ask you why you went downstairs to John Milicant’s apartment, what your business dealings with Milicant were and why you deemed it necessary to kill him. You can answer those questions on the witness stand. Here’s a subpoena.”
With a flourish, Mason handed him a subpoena to appear as a witness for the defense in court at ten o’clock A.M. the next day. The young man, as one in a daze, extended a quivering hand to take the folded oblong of legal-looking paper.
Mason said to Paul Drake, “Okay, Paul, let’s go. Come on, Della. We have nothing more to do here.”
Leeds said, “Wait a minute. You can’t... can’t put me on the witness stand.”
“You just think I can’t,” Mason said.
“No! No! You can’t! I wouldn’t help your case any. I’d hurt it, and I can’t afford to get mixed up in this thing.”