Macdonald chuckled. “What you’d call a logical deduction,” he said. “Very intelligent, Mr. Webster. Now by way of clearing the decks, where were you yesterday (Thursday) evening, between five and seven o’clock?”
“Bless you, I’m glad you’ve asked that one,” rejoined Webster heartily. “I hate going round in circles. If you think I’ve been up to any funny business, I’d rather get it straight. Between five and seven yesterday I was at home with Auntie. She’s nervous of thunderstorms: nervous as a cat. She said to me earlier, ‘Ernie, don’t you stay out too long this afternoon. It’s going to thunder. I know it.’ So I went home early—four o’clock it was—and took the old lady some nice cakes and got her tea. Not that she ate anything; much too upset she was with the storm.” Mr. Webster prodded Ma
