FIVE
Joking 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 to d
