"Not a thing, Mrs. Brenner, probably, but I've just to make sure where every man in the village was this afternoon."
Mrs. Brenner's lids flickered. She felt the questioning intentness of Sheriff Munn's eyes on her stolid face and she felt that he did not miss the tremor of her eyes.
"Where was your son this afternoon?"
She smiled defiance. "I told you, on the beach."
"Whose room is that?" Munn's forefinger pointed to Tobey's closed door.
"That's Tobey's room," said his mother.
"The mud tracks go into that room. Did he make those tracks, Mrs. Brenner?"
"No! Oh, no! No!" she cried desperately. "Mart made those when he came in. He went into Tobey's room!"
"How about it, Brenner?"
Mart smiled with an indulgent air. "Heard what she said, didn't you?"