“Yes.”
“That’s bad.”
“Why?”
“It implies malice.”
“What the hell’s that got to do with it?”
Drumson returned to a perusal of the complaint, frowned, “You see, Mrs. Cool, the law provides certain immunities to a person who acts in good faith and without malice, as a reasonable person might do. In other words, certain communications are known, in the eyes of the law, as privileged communications; but in order to take advantage of the privileged communication provisions of the law, a person must show that everything he said was said in good faith, and without malice.”
“Now, as I understand the situation, you are a private detective. You had been employed by Everett Belder, among other things, to ferret out the person who was responsible for writing certain letters. You had reasonable grounds to make you believe that this secretary was the person in question. It was a mistake, but an honest mistake which any person might have made.”
Bertha’s nod was eager.
“So,” Drumson went on, “your communication was privileged, provided it was made without malice, Mrs. Cool.”
“Well, it was. I didn’t even know the girl.”