Everett, quiet-mannered and polite, as always, answered questions readily enough, but offered no additional information.
He repeated his story of the evening, how he had been with Mr. Tracy until about ten o’clock, and then had gone to his room and to bed.
“You heard no unusual sounds during the night?”
“No,” said Everett, but it seemed to me he had hesitated.
Hart must have noticed this, too, for he said, “Are you quite sure? No sounds inside the house or out?”
Apparently Charlie Everett was a truthful man. But it was equally evident he did not want to testify further.
“I must press you for an answer, Mr. Everett,” the Coroner prodded him.
“Well, to be strictly accurate, I may say that I thought I heard the sound of a boat on the lake some time after midnight.”
“What sort of boat?”
“I don’t know. And it may not have been any. I was asleep, and I partially awaked and seemed to hear a slight sound as of paddles. But it may well be that I dreamed it, for I heard no further sounds.”