Fred and I looked each other over. I was thinking, “Jerry didn’t do that but it is no use telling you so.”
Fred said to me, “You ran into Shirley last night.”
I admitted it.
He went on. “After you’d had me to lunch to talk over father’s affairs, Steve. I’ve not mentioned that to the reporters or even to the police yet; but of course I’ve been thinking about it.”
“Mentioning it?” I said.
“I wanted this talk with you first, Steve. Why did you call me yesterday and afterwards smash Shirley’s car? What did you know?”
I stared at him and shook my head.
“Yesterday at lunch,” Fred kept at me, “you asked me particularly about father’s engagements for last night; you asked whether Shirley would drive down to meet him. I told you she would.”
I had nothing to do but to nod at this.
Fred asked directly, “You smashed into her car to stop her?”