“Quarrel?”
“Yes, Madam, quarrel. Your servant, Oscar, overheard you.”
Kitty’s bright color had flown. With eyes expressing her scorn, she threw back her head defiantly.
“Ask Oscar,” she suggested. “Servants’ gossip may prove diverting—whether truthful or not.”
Penfield watched her for an intolerable moment. Kitty’s breath was coming unevenly when he finally spoke.
“You are excused, Miss Baird,” he stated briefly, and turned to the Morgue Master. “Summon Mrs. Benjamin Potter, Hume,” he directed.
Kitty’s sudden dismissal by the coroner was a shock to the reporters as well as to the spectators, and they watched her leave the room with undisguised curiosity and disappointment. Were they to be cheated out of a sensational scene? Why had not Coroner Penfield pressed home his question?
Nina Potter’s entrance cut short speculation and the reporters watched her take her place in the witness chair with renewed hope. Her self-possessed air was a surprise to Ted Rodgers, who secretly considered her a bundle of nerves. She looked extremely pretty and Coroner Penfield watched her admiringly as the oath was being administered. From his seat on the second row, Ben Potter leaned against Rodgers, regardless of the latter’s discomfort, in his endeavor to get an uninterrupted view of his wife.
“Mrs. Potter,” Coroner Penfield had again resumed his seat. “What relation are you to Miss Katrina Baird?”