I said, “Mind if I smoke?”
He frowned. Kleinsmidt smiled.
Laster said to Mrs. Clutmer, “This man says he was on the outside of the depot standing out where it was cool, waiting for the train to come in. Now where were you?”
“We were right inside the depot for a while, and then we went out and stood on the platform outside. But we watched the people get off the train, and we watched the people who got on. Not that I’m nosey at all, but I just like to know what’s going on. I just use my powers of observation, that’s all.”
Laster turned to me.
“Well?” he asked.
I lit a match, held it to the end of my cigarette, and took a deep drag.
Mrs. Clutmer started volunteering information. “Helen Framley is pretty strong for this young man, if you, ask me. I know for a fact that she and that boy friend of hers had a quarrel over this man last night.”
“How do you know it was over him?” Laster asked.
“You could hear what they said in my apartment just as plain as day. They were talking very, very loud. Their voices were raised — almost shouting at each other. He accused her of falling for him, and she said that if she wanted to she would, that Beegan didn’t have any mortgage on her. Then Beegan said he’d show her whether he had a mortgage on her or not, and said she’d spilled a lot of information she had no business giving. Then he used some kind of a funny expression — that is, he called her something.”