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Authors: Eric Ambler
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shoe on. The other shoe, together with some pieces of earrings, was found by the police on the shoulder of the driveway above. In addition to having been shot in the back with a 0.38 bullet, Mrs Finch had two skull fractures and a number of bruises and abrasions which could have been the result of her being hit with a gun. A torn surgical glove was lying on the floor of the garage.
No gun was found. No one saw Miss Tregoff hiding in the bougainvillaea. Dr Finch had left.
At the time the police arrived at the house, the doctor was, in fact, on South Citrus Avenue, a few minutes’ walk away, stealing a Ford car from a driveway. He abandoned it two miles away in La Puente, and then stole a Cadillac, in which he drove up to Las Vegas. It was about 6.30 a.m. when he reached Miss Tregoff’s apartment. She had not yet returned. The manager let him in with a pass key.
Then, the doctor went to bed. He had had a tiring day.
Miss Tregoff says that it was on the way back to Las Vegas and over the car radio, that she learned of Mrs Finch’s death. When she awakened the doctor and told him, he ‘seemed quite shocked.’ ‘I asked him if he had killed his wife and he said no.’
Relieved to hear this, Miss Tregoff went off to work at the Sands Hotel, where she was a cocktail waitress on the morning shift. Some hours later, after the doctor’s arrest, she was taken to Las Vegas police headquarters, questioned, and then held as a material witness. She made a number of statements. Eleven days later, after she had given evidence at the preliminary hearing of the case against Dr Finch in the municipal court, she was arrested on a charge of ‘aiding and abetting’ him in the murder of Mrs Finch.
An indiscreet conversation between two Las Vegas prostitutes led the police to question Keachie. In August, Cody was picked up by the police in Milwaukee.
The Los Angeles County Court building looks like the new head office of a prosperous building society. There are escalators inside as well as lifts. Courtroom No. 12 is spacious, well-lighted, and efficiently air-conditioned. There is no dock. Defendants sit beside their lawyers at a long table facing the judge’s rostrum. Also at this table are the prosecution lawyers. The witness ‘stand’ is a throne-like chair placed beside the judge’s desk and furnished with a microphone so that the whole court can hear plainly what is said. The jury sits to the left of the judge. The press box is on the right. A wooden barrier with swing gates separates all this from the main body of the court where the public sits. Over three hundred spectators can be accommodated.
American courtroom scenes in films and books had prepared me for most of the differences of lay-out and procedure. WhatI had not been prepared for was the informality of Western justice.
Each defendant was in the charge of a uniformed sheriff (in Miss Tregoff’s case, an attractive girl-sheriff) and they were brought into court via the public corridor. Once seated at their table to await the arrival of the judge, they were immediately surrounded by press photographers, television cameramen and reporters, who only moved out when the bailiff announced the judge’s entrance. During the frequent and lengthy recesses, the photographers and reporters would move in again. Photography in court was forbidden only during the actual hearing; but during the recesses lawyers and witnesses could pose for pictures re-enacting the proceedings. As the trial progressed a circus atmosphere developed that even the regular crime reporters began to find disconcerting. One Los Angeles paper was running a series of ‘impressions’ written by Hollywood actresses—a different one each day. ‖ The sight of those ladies, pad and pencil in hand, dark glasses removed and skirts hitched up becomingly, being photographed while they interviewed the eagerly co-operative defendants, made one wonder if this really could be a murder trial, if perhaps the whole
No gun was found. No one saw Miss Tregoff hiding in the bougainvillaea. Dr Finch had left.
At the time the police arrived at the house, the doctor was, in fact, on South Citrus Avenue, a few minutes’ walk away, stealing a Ford car from a driveway. He abandoned it two miles away in La Puente, and then stole a Cadillac, in which he drove up to Las Vegas. It was about 6.30 a.m. when he reached Miss Tregoff’s apartment. She had not yet returned. The manager let him in with a pass key.
Then, the doctor went to bed. He had had a tiring day.
Miss Tregoff says that it was on the way back to Las Vegas and over the car radio, that she learned of Mrs Finch’s death. When she awakened the doctor and told him, he ‘seemed quite shocked.’ ‘I asked him if he had killed his wife and he said no.’
Relieved to hear this, Miss Tregoff went off to work at the Sands Hotel, where she was a cocktail waitress on the morning shift. Some hours later, after the doctor’s arrest, she was taken to Las Vegas police headquarters, questioned, and then held as a material witness. She made a number of statements. Eleven days later, after she had given evidence at the preliminary hearing of the case against Dr Finch in the municipal court, she was arrested on a charge of ‘aiding and abetting’ him in the murder of Mrs Finch.
An indiscreet conversation between two Las Vegas prostitutes led the police to question Keachie. In August, Cody was picked up by the police in Milwaukee.
The Los Angeles County Court building looks like the new head office of a prosperous building society. There are escalators inside as well as lifts. Courtroom No. 12 is spacious, well-lighted, and efficiently air-conditioned. There is no dock. Defendants sit beside their lawyers at a long table facing the judge’s rostrum. Also at this table are the prosecution lawyers. The witness ‘stand’ is a throne-like chair placed beside the judge’s desk and furnished with a microphone so that the whole court can hear plainly what is said. The jury sits to the left of the judge. The press box is on the right. A wooden barrier with swing gates separates all this from the main body of the court where the public sits. Over three hundred spectators can be accommodated.
American courtroom scenes in films and books had prepared me for most of the differences of lay-out and procedure. WhatI had not been prepared for was the informality of Western justice.
Each defendant was in the charge of a uniformed sheriff (in Miss Tregoff’s case, an attractive girl-sheriff) and they were brought into court via the public corridor. Once seated at their table to await the arrival of the judge, they were immediately surrounded by press photographers, television cameramen and reporters, who only moved out when the bailiff announced the judge’s entrance. During the frequent and lengthy recesses, the photographers and reporters would move in again. Photography in court was forbidden only during the actual hearing; but during the recesses lawyers and witnesses could pose for pictures re-enacting the proceedings. As the trial progressed a circus atmosphere developed that even the regular crime reporters began to find disconcerting. One Los Angeles paper was running a series of ‘impressions’ written by Hollywood actresses—a different one each day. ‖ The sight of those ladies, pad and pencil in hand, dark glasses removed and skirts hitched up becomingly, being photographed while they interviewed the eagerly co-operative defendants, made one wonder if this really could be a murder trial, if perhaps the whole
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