“And told you he was dead?”
She nodded, in tight-lipped silence.
“Why didn’t you notify the authorities?” Mason asked.
“As far as that’s concerned, why didn’t Alden?”
“ I’m asking about you,” Mason said conversationally.
“For the very good and sufficient reason that we couldn’t afford to mix into it. We didn’t think anyone knew. How did you find out?”
Mason said, “Finding out things is our business, Miss Colton. Don’t you think you’d better make a complete statement?”
Della Street, who had unobtrusively slipped her shorthand book from her purse and taken notes of the conversation, now shifted her position so that the notebook rested on the arm of the chair.
“There’s nothing to tell. I... We...”
She broke off as a gentle tapping sounded on the panels of the door. Without making any move to answer, she raised her voice and said, “I have nothing to say. Even if you do accuse Harold Leeds of murdering Milicant, you can’t...”