"Miles McCormick, the renter who died there so tragically with his family."
I didn't quite know how to respond; whether I should faint or scream for the police. I settled for a philosophical comment. "A case of justice by a higher power."
"You mean McCormick's death?"
"Of course."
"On the contrary. There was no connection at all between the two events. McCormick and his wife and child died because they violated a certain law, but not necessarily a law on the statute books."
"I'm afraid I don't quite follow that."
"Look at it this way, Miss Hopstead. You are walking through a dark room. A door is standing open. You come into violent contact with the edge of it. What happens?"
"A broken nose? A black eye."
"Precisely. The fact you didn't know the door was there didn't protect you from the consequences."
This of course, I was forced to concede.