“No. She said she was simply passing on the message, that Sarah was busy, and...”
“Yes. You’ve gone over all that, but did this person give you any idea of who she was?”
“No. Somehow, I got the impression she was a waitress in some restaurant where Sarah had established headquarters. You know, where Sarah could stand by the door to wait and watch. She said Sarah was over at the window, watching to see if a man to whom she’d telephoned was double-crossing her.”
“You have your own car?”
“Yes. That is, it isn’t mine. It’s a car I can borrow when I need one.”
“And you parked it a half a block beyond the house up the hill?”
“Yes.”
“She distinctly told you a half block beyond the house, and up the hill, did she?”
“That’s right.”
Mason said, “That shot was instantly fatal. She’s dead. There isn’t the faintest trace of pulse. You can tell from the location of the wound and the direction of the bullet that death was virtually instantaneous. Now then, why should she have committed suicide?”