CHAPTER 5Joking Aside
“We could joke about the rifle half an hour ago,” said Gamadge. “Now we must—”
“Just one moment.” David Malcolm stood in an easy posture, one hand in a pocket, the other gently swishing the long sheaf of wild asters against his leg. There was a half-smile on his lips, but under this appearance of cool assurance a close observer would have seen tautness and control.
“Yes, Mr. Malcolm?”
“Do I understand that you were with Mrs. Malcolm?”
“Every moment, although I didn’t happen to have my eyes on her at the moment she died.”
“Then excuse me for asking: why exactly do you feel yourself in a position to conduct an inquiry? I mean—even assuming that you had no motive for killing my stepmother, and no animus against her, you did, so far as the rest of us know, have time
