“Why not?”
She flushed. “I prefer not to discuss that.”
“You’ll have to, sooner or later,” Sergeant Holcomb said. “I don’t want to pry into your private affairs, just to be doing it, but you can’t hold out on the police. You stick right around here. I’m going in.”
The others had already gone on into the house, and Sergeant Holcomb joined them. Mason dropped his cigarette to the cement, ground it out with the sole of his shoe.
“Just as a matter of curiosity, Mrs. Tidings,” he said, “had your husband been here before?”
“Once.”
“On a friendly visit?”
“A business visit.”
“Was there some question of alimony between you?”
“No. Well, it wasn’t serious. Alimony was a detail. I didn’t care about that.”