“What do you suppose she meant when she said she had swiped it?”
“Why — she meant — she saw it somewhere and took it.”
Wolfe turned. “Miss Frost. What do you suppose Miss Lauck meant by that?”
“I suppose she meant what she said, that she swiped it. Stole it.”
“Was that customary with her? Was she a thief?”
“Of course not. She only took a box of candy. She did it for a joke, I suppose. She liked to play jokes — to do things like that.”
“Had you seen the box before she produced it in that room?”
“No.”
Wolfe emptied his glass in five gulps, which was par, and wiped his lips. His half-shut eyes were on the blonde. “I believe you went to lunch that day with Miss Lauck. Tell us about that.”
“Well — Molly and I went together about one o’clock. We were hungry because we had been working hard — the show had been going on since eleven o’clock — but we only went to the drug store around the corner because we had to be back in twenty minutes to give Helen and the extras a chance. The show was supposed to be from eleven to two, but we knew they’d keep dropping in. We ate sandwiches and custard and came straight back.”