“And what did Isom say when he came in, Joe?”
“He said he’d kill me, he was in a temper,” Joe replied.
“You had no quarrel before he said that, Isom just burst right into the room and threatened to kill you, did he, Joe? Now, you’re sure about that?”
“Yes, I’m perfectly sure.”
“What had you done to send Isom off into a temper that way?”
“I hadn’t done a thing,” said Joe, meeting the coroner’s gaze honestly.
The coroner asked him concerning his position in the room, what he was doing, and whether he had anything in his hands that excited Isom when he saw it.
“My hands were as empty as they are this minute,” said Joe, but not without a little color in his cheeks when he remembered how hot and small Ollie’s hand had felt within his own.
“When did you first see this?” asked the coroner, holding up the sack with the burst corner which had lain on Isom’s breast.
The ruptured corner had been tied with a string, and the sack bulged heavily in the coroner’s hand.