“Well, I didn’t,” Sampson said. “I didn’t even make a pass at Holcomb. I kept out of his way.”
“Holcomb certainly made a swing at you,” Mason said.
“Well, that’s neither here nor there,” Sampson remarked.
Mason grinned his fighting grin. “It may not be here, but it’s either in that shorthand record or I’m going to find out why it isn’t.”
The court reporter nodded wearily and said, “It’s in.”
“Thank you,” Mason said.
There was a moment of silence. Mrs. Breel, on the bed, gave a peculiar gurgling sound which might have been a snore. Sergeant Holcomb asserted once more, “No hypodermic in the world ever took effect that quick.”
“Did you,” Mason asked, “note the exact time when Dr. Gifford administered the hypodermic?”
“No,” Holcomb said, “but it was less than two minutes ago.”
Mason said, “Time passes very rapidly, Sergeant, when you’re engaged in fisticuffs with a deputy district attorney in the room of a patient whose physicial condition is so grave that the doctor has warned you not to subject her to any undue shock.”