“Stop a moment,” Craige held up his hand. “You are not obliged to answer these questions, Kitty, except in a law court. Don’t overstep your authority, Mitchell.”
Mitchell’s only answer was to shrug his heavy shoulders, and look across the table at Kitty. “Miss Baird,” he began. “You purchased some peaches for Mrs. Parsons on Saturday—”
She looked at him dumbly. Then at Mrs. Parsons, who gazed back at her in silent astonishment. “I bought some fruit for her on Saturday,” she admitted. “But if there were any peaches in the basket, they were there unknown to me.”
Mitchell smiled significantly. “Pretty thin,” he commented, and glanced over at Craige, before again addressing her. “You stopped to see Mrs. Parsons on Sunday morning, Miss Baird—and you brought those peaches home to your aunt.”
“I did not!” Kitty’s voice rang out clearly. “I was at Mrs. Parsons’ for a few minutes on Sunday on my way from church—”
“With Major Wallace?”
Kitty changed color. “Yes.”
“And Major Wallace went into the house with you?”
Kitty paused in uncertainty and her eyes sought Wallace. He sat lolling back in his chair, his air of indifference plainly assumed as his restless fingers played with the catch of Mrs. Parsons’ gold mesh bag.
“I went upstairs to see Mrs. Parsons,” she explained. “I left Major Wallace standing in the vestibule—”