"They were all in a wreck that involved three cars. The young lady in the underskirt was driving the first one. She claims that the dark man with the scar tried to murder her by forcing her to drive a car with a broken steering gear."
"What does he say?"
"He says the young lady is mentally unstable and of low character. It seems that he and the congressman observed her in the car for some time before the crash. They say that her behavior was most erratic, that she wailed and shrieked and at one point tried to abandon the car in full motion."
"How else can you abandon a car?" the judge said sharply. "You have to be in full motion."
"I mean the car was in full motion."
"I see. Where was this gentleman and the congressman while they were doing all this observing?"
"They were in the second car. The congressman was driving. The dark man is his body-guard. He was cleaning his gun at the time and that's how he happened to shoot the third car, although the young lady insists he was trying to shoot her."
"I think I've lost the thread," the judge said foggily. "Who was in the third car?"
"The man with the skinny legs who says he isn't Pillsworth, and a blonde woman."
"He says he isn't Pillsworth and a blonde woman?" the judge asked, his eyes loosening in their sockets. "Why should he say a thing like that?"