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THE CASE OF THE TROUBLED TRUSTEE
by Erle Stanley Gardner

Copyright 1965 by Erle Stanley Gardner
All rights reserved.

Published simultaneously in the Dominion of Canada by George J. McLeod Limited, Toronto.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 65-1 1487



Foreword

Whenever people who are familiar with the outstanding figures in the field of legal medicine get together for informal shoptalk, the name of Dr. Leopold Breitenecker, of Vienna, will probably be mentioned.
My close friend, Dr. LeMoyne Snyder, who is both an attorney at law and an M.D., who has specialized in the field of forensic medicine and whose book, _Homicide Investigation_ is one of the most authoritative books on the subject, spent quite a bit of time working and studying with Dr. Breitenecker in Vienna. He has told me much about the man's ability.
Too few people appreciate the importance of legal medicine and very few people appreciate the ramifications of the subject.
The average individual thinks of legal medicine in terms of the investigation of murders; legal medicine not only covers a wide scope but the field is constantly being enlarged.
The expert in legal medicine is being called upon daily to answer questions upon which important issues depend.
A man is smoking in bed. The house burns and the body is charred beyond recognition: Did the man have a heart attack, drop a cigarette and so cause the fire; or was he intoxicated when he met his death through suffocation or from the flames?
The medicolegal expert can give the answers, and where there is a certain type of insurance the answer may be important.
A body is found in bed: Was the body moved from some other place after death and placed in the bed?
The medicolegal expert can usually answer that question.
Were injuries inflicted before death or after death? What was the direction of the bullet wound? Which is the wound of entrance and which the wound of exit? How far was the gun from the body when it was discharged? 'Was the death murder or suicide?
Many, many times in cases when medicolegal experts were not called in, these questions have been answered erroneously. But the expert in the field of forensic medicine not only gives answers to these questions, he is able to demonstrate that his answers are correct. The international recognition of Dr. Breitenecker was expressed when he was sent by U Thant (UNO) into the Congo in 1962 to clarify the circumstances of the death of three members of the International Red Cross, and again, in 1964, when U Thant called him in to investigate the murder of an English officer in the Cypriot conflict.
And, since he is one of the world's oustanding experts in this important field,
I dedicate this book to my friend,

LEOPOLD BREITENECKER, M.D.
Professor and present Dean of the Faculty
of Medicine, University of Vienna.

ERLE STANLEY GARDNER



Chapter One

Perry Mason, entering his office, grinned at Della Street and said, "What's in the mail, Della, anything startling?"
She indicated the pile of letters on Mason's desk. "Tile usual, people who want."
"Want what?"
"People who want you to make talks; write letters of endorsement, donate some intimate article for a celebrity auction."
"What else is new?" Mason asked.
Della Street rolled her eyes in an exaggerated pantomime of passionate interest.
"If," she said, "you want any efficiency whatever out of Gertie, your romantic receptionist, you had better get Kerry Dutton out of the office."
"And who is Kerry Dutton?" Mason asked.
"He is a youngish gentleman whose clothes are quietly elegant. He has a cameo-like profile, brown, wavy hair, steel-gray eyes, a very nice mouth; probably a thirty-six chest and a thirty waist. He is driving Gertie half crazy. She can't take her eyes off him."
"What does he want?" Mason asked.
"That," she said, "is the mystery. The man's card says that he is an investment counselor. He wants to see you about a matter that is very personal and exceedingly urgent."
Mason said, "I don't want to make any investments. I don't--"