'No. I wouldn't hear that unless it banged.'
'Then we'll try this. Since you were listening to his footsteps, even if you couldn't hear them any more after he got into the drawing-room, there was a moment when you figured that he had reached the foyer. You know what I J mean, the feeling that he was there. When • I saw Now, that will mean that he has just reached the foyer, and you begin feeling the time, the passing of time. Feel it as near the same as you can, and when it's time for the first shot to go off, you say Now. – Get it? Now.
I looked at the second hand of my watch; it went crawling up from the 30.
She said, 'Now.' i I stared at her. 'My God, that was only six seconds.', She nodded. 'It was as short as that, Pm sure it was.' ^. 'In that case… all right. Then you ran to the foyer, and there was no light there. Of course you couldn't be wrong about that.' ^ 'No. The light was off.' ‹ 'And you switched it on and saw Chapin kneeling, getting up. Did he have a gun in his hand?' ^ 'No. He had his coat and gloves on. I didn't see a gun… anywhere.'
'Did Inspector Cramer tell you about the gun?' ^. ^ She nodded. 'It was my husband's. He shot… it had been fired four times.
They found it on the floor.', ^ • 'Cramer showed it to you.'
'Yes.' •• ••»
'And it's gone from the drawer in the study.'
'Of course.'
'When you turned on the light Chapin was saying something.'
'He was saying my name. After the light was on he said – I can tell you exactly what he said. Anne, a cripple in the dark, my dear Anne, I was trying to hop to the switch. He had fallen.'
'Yeah. Naturally.' I finished scratching ^ on the pad, and looked up at her. She was sitting tight. I said, 'Now to go back again. Were you at home all afternoon?'
'No. I was at a gallery looking at prints, and then at a tea. I got home around six.' Kv! ^ ‹I 'Was your husband here when you got here?' ' f 'Yes, he comes early… on Saturday.
He was in his study with Ferdinand Bowen.
I went in to say hello. We always… said hello, no matter who was here.' | 'So Mr. Bowen was here. Do you know I what for?' ' • 'No. That is… no.'
'Now come, Mrs. Burton. You've decided to put up with this and it's pretty swell of you, so come ahead. What was Bowen here for?'
'He was asking a favor. That's all I know.'
'A financial favor?' ‹I suppose so, yes.'
'Did he get it?'
'No. But this has no connection… no more of this.'* ^ « 'Okay. When did Bowen leave?'
'Soon after I arrived, I should say a quarter past six. Perhaps twenty after; it was about ten minutes before Dora came, and she was punctual at six-thirty.'
'You don't say so.' I looked at her.
'You mean Dora Chapin.' '. '^
'Yes.' -' -;^ n
'She came to do your hair.'
'Yes.':i ^. ^-': 'I'll be damned. – Excuse me. Nero Wolfe doesn't permit me to swear in front of ladies. And Dora Chapin got here at six-thirty. Well. When did she leave?'
'It always takes her three-quarters of an hour, so she left at a quarter past seven.' She paused to calculate. 'Yes, that would be right. A few minutes later, Perhaps. I figured that I had fifteen 'Mutes to finish dressing.'
I 'So Dora Chapin left here at seveni twenty and Paul Chapin arrived at half past. That's interesting; they almost collided. Who else was here after six o'clock?',
'No one. That's all. My daughter left around half past six, a little before Dora came. Of course I don't understand -what is it, Alice?', 4, A door had opened behind me, and I turned to see. It was the woman, the old friend. She said: A; ^ 'Nick Cabot is on the phone – they notified him. He wants to know if you want to talk to him.'
Mrs. Burton's dark eyes flashed aside for an instant, at me. I let my head go sideways enough for her to see it. She spoke to her friend, 'No, there is nothing to say. I won't talk to anyone. Are you folks finding something to eat?'
'We'll make out. Really, Anne, I think -'
'Please, Alice. Please -'
After a pause the door closed again. I had a grin inside, a little cocky. I said,
'You started to say, something you don't understand…' , She didn't go on.. She sat looking at me with a frown in her eyes but her brow smooth and white. She got up and went to a table, took a cigarette from a box and lit it, and picked up an ash tray. She came back to the couch and sat down and took a couple of whiffs. Then she looked at the cigarette as if wondering where it had come from, and crushed it dead on the tray, and set the tray down. She straightened up and seemed to remember I was looking at her. She spoke suddenly:
'What did you say your name is?'^.
