“I know they can; I don’t mean that. But if he had run a car over Louis and saw he was dead, he would have gone back to the house, straight to a phone, and called a doctor and the police. You’ve met him. Couldn’t you see he was like that?”
This was a new development, a Sperling trying to persuade Wolfe that Kane’s statement was a phony.
“Yes,” Wolfe said mildly. “I thought I saw he was like that. Does your father know you’re here?”
“No. I–I didn’t want to quarrel with him.”
“It won’t be easy to avoid it when he finds out. What made you decide to come?”
“I wanted to yesterday, and I didn’t. I’m a coward.”
“A fool and a coward.” Wolfe shook his head. “Don’t rub it in. And today?”
“I heard someone say something. Now I’m an eavesdropper too. I used to be when I was a child, but I thought I was completely over it. Today I heard Connie saying something to Paul, and I stayed outside the door and listened.”
“What did she say?”
Gwenn’s face drew together. I thought she was going to cry, and so did she. That would have been bad, because Wolfe’s wits leave him when a woman cries.