“Do you think I have anything to hide?” she asked defiantly, sitting up straight and stiff again, turning each word out very precisely, except that the s ’s were a bit slurred. “I did go out. The stain was blood. I knew my husband was dead. Thaler came to see me about my husband’s death. Are your questions answered now?”

“We knew all that,” I said. “We’re asking you to explain them.”

She stood up again, said angrily:

“I dislike your manner. I refuse to submit to⁠—”

Noonan said:

“That’s perfectly all right, Mrs. Willsson, only we’ll have to ask you to go down to the Hall with us.”