The Case of the Grinning Gorilla

“Yes. I took the bus that got me to the Olive Street intersection at exactly five-fifty. You see, I know the bus schedules from having been out there so much.”

Mason said, “Hang it, I’m jumpy about this thing. Let me hit the high spots. Was he alive when you got there?”

“Yes.”

“What did he say to you?”

“That’s just the point. He didn’t have a chance to say anything. He was killed just as I entered the...”

“Who killed him?”

“A gorilla.”

Mason said, “Come, come, Mrs. Kempton. Let’s be practical.”

“Mr. Mason, please don’t doubt what I’m telling you. I’m telling you the absolute truth. I saw it with my own eyes. Mr. Addicks was lying on the bed and this gorilla plunged a knife into him several times.”

“Which gorilla was it?”

“Mr. Mason, I can’t swear which gorilla it was. It was one of the three large ones, but I don’t know which. You see it wasn’t normal — the gorilla killed him while it was in a hypnotic trance.”

Mason regarded her with thoughtful eyes.

“You don’t believe me, do you, Mr. Mason?”

Mason said, “Even if I did, a jury wouldn’t.”

“Well, I don’t know why not,” she flared. “After all, that’s what Mr. Addicks had been trying to do for years and years. He was trying to get a gorilla that he could hypnotize, and...”

“All right,” Mason said. “It’s your story. Let’s not waste time arguing. I want to know what happened.”

“Well, I entered the room. At first I couldn’t see Mr. Addicks. I called out his name, and then I saw him lying there on the bed. He looked as though he might be asleep, and this gorilla came from around the corner by the bathroom. It was hypnotized, Mr. Mason.”

“You’ve said that twice. How do you know?”

“The expression of the eyes. The gorilla grinned at me and moved over to the bed with that peculiar shambling walk, and — it was grinning all the time, as if it enjoyed turning the tables on the man who had tortured it.”

“What did you do?”

“I screamed, and I fainted.”

“Did you know there were gorillas loose in the house?” Mason asked. “Were any of the animals loose when you went along that walk past the cages?”

“No, everything was shipshape. Two big gorillas were in one of the cages that were opened later, and the friendly gorilla in the other.”

Mason said, “Then somebody turned those gorillas loose between the time you...”

“The gorilla did that.”

“Which one?”

“The gorilla that killed Mr. Addicks.”

“How do you know?”

“Why, I know, Mr. Mason. You can’t be around them very long without knowing how they work. Those cages had bar locks that could be worked from the outside, and the minute one gorilla got loose, why, he’d open the other cages. That’s one of the first things he’d do.”

“Go on,” Mason said.

She said, “Well, I fainted. I came to and one of the friendly little gorillas, who has always liked me, was sitting down beside me. He was making little whimpering noises of sympathy, and he licked my face with his tongue. I think that’s what wakened me out of my faint.”

“Were you frightened?” Mason asked.

“Not particularly. I recognized this gorilla as soon as I opened my eyes.”

“Then what?”

“Then,” she said, “I spoke to him, and he was tickled to death to see that I was all right. He patted my cheek and ran his hands over my hair, and was just as pleased as he could be.”

“Then what?”

“Then I got up and looked around, and I could see that Mr. Addicks was dead. I could see the knife sticking out of his back. So I went to the telephone and tried to get Mr. Etna, and I couldn’t get him. I tried and tried to get you and couldn’t get you, and I was just desperate when Miss Street finally answered the telephone.”

“Why didn’t you call for the police?”

“Because I didn’t know what to do, Mr. Mason. I didn’t know but what you’d tell me to get out of the house and not let anyone know I’d been there. But... well, I just didn’t know what to do.”

“And where was this big gorilla all this time?”

She said, “One of the first things I did was to lock every door leading into Mr. Addicks’ suite of rooms upstairs.”

“How about your friendly gorilla?”

“Oh, I left him in there. He was perfectly safe. He was just like a child. He was to glad to see me I couldn’t get him away. He’d clap his hands and...”

“Go on,” Mason said.

“Well,” she said, “I told you that I’d meet you down at the door at 546 Rose Street. I didn’t hardly dare to go out in the corridor, but after a while I decided it would be all right — that was about the time that I was expecting you. So I gently unlocked the door to the corridor and looked out. Everything was quiet, so I sneaked out into the hallway and... well, I guess something hit me. I remember seeing all kinds of shooting stars, and the next thing I knew, I was lying there on the floor with consciousness coming back to me, and then I saw you standing there facing the gorilla, and as soon as I saw that gorilla I knew you were going to have trouble.”

“Why?”