Part 13 (1/2)
”And you talked with him?”
”At The Barn?”
”Yes.”
”Of course I talked with him. That was part of my job, to keep the customers feeling good.”
”And Mrs. Ellis resented that?”
”Frankly, I don't know. I heard she was jealous and I wanted to see her.”
”Why?”
”I wanted to tell her there was absolutely no ground for any jealousy whatever.”
”So you went aboard the yacht?”
”Yes.”
”And you had this gun with you?”
”No.”
”No?”
”No. Definitely not. That was before the gun was put in my bag.”
”How do you know?”
”Well, I ... well, I'll say this. That was before I discovered the gun in my bag.”
”That's better. You don't know when it was put there?”
”Not definitely, no.”
”And you left The Big Barn that night?”
”Later on, yes.”
”And you didn't see Mrs. Ellis on the yacht?”
”No.”
”Did you see Mr. Ellis that night?”
”I saw him later, shortly before the trouble with George Anc.l.i.tas.”
”Did you tell him you were looking for his wife?”
”He told me his wife had been looking for me, and I told him that there was absolutely no reason for her to be jealous, at least as far as I was concerned.”
”And what did Helman tell you?”
”He said his wife got these unreasoning spells of jealousy, and when she did, that you couldn't reason with her or anything. He said that he had been planning on going on a cruise with her but that she'd taken the skiff and gone ash.o.r.e and left him marooned on the boat.”
”And when was that?”
”That was Tuesday night.”
”Did you also talk with him last night?”
”Now, just a minute,” Mason said. ”I think this questioning has gone far enough, Lieutenant.”
”Okay,” Lt. Tragg said rather cheerfully. ”I just want to ask Miss Robb one question. Did you at any time ever enter the cabin of Ellis' yacht, the Cap's Eyes?”
”At any time?”
”At any time.”
”No.”
”You knew the yacht?”
”Yes.”
”You'd been aboard it?”
”Well . . . yes, I went aboard once with Helman, when he was showing me around.”
”Did you go in the cabin then?”
”I . . . I may have.”
”When was that?”
”Oh, some time ago.”
”How long ago?”
”Two weeks ago.”
”Did you kill Nadine Ellis while you were on that yacht?”
”Did I kill Nadine Ellis? What are you talking about?”
”I'm talking about murder,” Tragg said. ”Did you see her Wednesday and kill her?”