“That isn’t what I said. I asked you what your attitude would be if Rita had killed him.”
“If Rita killed him,” she said, “she isn’t entitled to any consideration from Jimmy or from me. She put us both in an awful spot.”
“Suppose Jimmy killed him?”
“If Jimmy killed him he isn’t entitled to any more consideration — well, hardly any more — well—”
Mason nodded and said, “So it’s different if Jimmy killed him, is it?”
“Well,” she said hotly, “if Jimmy killed him, he had some reason. He had plenty of reason.”
“Did Rita have any reason?”
“I don’t know. If she did it, it was probably in self-defense.”
“Isn’t that a good reason?” Mason asked.
“Yes. The reason’s all right, but it’s the way she handled it, sneaking out and leaving the body in such a way that Jimmy would be blamed for it.”