“Yes, sir, I know Mr. Bowen. No, I didn’t let him out, but that was a long time before.”
“I know. All right, you let nobody out. Let’s get back to in. You answered the door when Mr. Chapin came.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Was he alone?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You opened the door and he came in and you shut the door again.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now see if you can remember this. It doesn’t matter much if you can’t, but maybe you can. What did Mr. Chapin say to you?”
She looked at me, and aside at Mrs. Burton, and down at the floor. At first I thought maybe she was trying to fix up a fake for an answer, then I saw that she was just bewildered at the terrible complexity of the problem I had confronted her with by asking her a question that couldn’t be answered yes or no. I said, “Come on, Rose. You know, Mr. Chapin came in, and you took his hat and coat, and he said—”
She looked up. “I didn’t take his hat and coat. He kept his coat on, and his gloves. He said to tell Dr. Burton he was there.”