Whitewell said, “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
“Weren’t you down at the corner of Beech and Washington Streets at about nine o’clock last night?”
Whitewell hesitated. “I don’t know,” he said after a moment, “just how I am going to co-operate with you, Lieutenant. You seem determined to—”
“Quit sparring for time,” Kleinsmidt said. “Were you or weren’t you?”
Whitewell glowered at him. “No.”
“You’re positive?”
“Of course, I’m positive.”
“You weren’t there at any time, let us say, between eight-forty-five and nine-fifteen?”
“No, not at any time during the evening.”
Kleinsmidt stepped back, jerked open the door, looked out in the hall, and nodded his head.