CHAPTER SEVENAnother Point of View
“Until Sunday afternoon, July sixth, 1941,” began Gamadge, “Alvira Radford and her sister Eva Hickson occupied what had once been their farm cottage. The farm itself was down the road, on the other side of the highway; it had been rented, it had been mortgaged, and it now stood empty. Alvira Radford, a woman of small means, had lived in the cottage for economy’s sake since—Hunter thinks—1932; Mrs. Hickson joined her some years later, after Hickson died. Alvira does not seem to have known much about Hickson, or Mrs. Hickson’s married life; since, if gossip is to be believed, she did not know until Mrs. Hickson’s death that that lady had possessed what to Alvira must have seemed a great fortune—one hundred and six thousand dollars.
“Mrs. Hickson, a victim
