He said, “Mr. Lam, your activities in this case have been rather remarkable.”
I said, “Haven’t they?”
He flushed.
I said, “It’s an awful shock to learn that my own aunt is guilty of a murder.”
“And, by a remarkable coincidence,” he said, “in a case which you were investigating.”
I raised my eyebrows and said, “A case I was investigating?” and looked blankly at Bertha Cool.
Bertha Cool said, “There’s some mistake. Donald is working for me. We weren’t investigating any murder.”
“Why did he go to Oakview?” Ellis asked.
Bertha said, “I don’t know. That was private business. He asked for time off. It had something to do with finding his aunt. They’d been estranged for a while, and he wanted to look her up. He found her in Oakview, you know.”
Ellis frowned and said, “Yes. I know.” And then, after a moment: “Perhaps, Mr. Lam, if you had no interest in the Evaline Harris murder, you’ll be kind enough to tell me why you took it on yourself to run Miss Dunton into your rooming-house as your cousin, and—”