n. Time out!

"One moment, Mr. Drake," he said calmly. "I quite agree with you--from
your viewpoint. What mine is, you can't be expected to know. But believe
me when I say that I consider it of vital importance to the
investigation of the murder of Mrs. Selim that this particular bridge
hand, with all its attending remarks, the usual bickering, and its
interruptions of arriving guests for cocktails, be played out, exactly
as it was this afternoon. I thought I had made myself clear before. If
you don't wish me to believe that _you have something to conceal_ by
refusing to take part in a rather grisly game--"

"Certainly I have nothing to conceal!" John C. Drake snorted angrily.

"Then please bow as gracefully as possible to necessity," Dundee urged
without rancor. "And may I ask, before we go on, if you made your
entrance at this time, and the facts of your arrival?"

Drake considered a moment, gnawing a thin upper lip. Beads of sweat
stood on his high, narrow forehead.

"I walked over from the Country Club, after eighteen holes of golf with
your _superior_, the district attorney," Drake answered, with nasty
emphasis. "I left the clubhouse at 5:10, calculating that it would take
me about twenty minutes for the walk of--of about a mile."

Dundee made a mental note to find out exactly how far from this lonely
house in Primrose Meadows the Country Club actually was, but his next
question was along another line:

"You _walked_, Mr. Drake?--after eighteen holes of golf on a warm day?"

Drake flushed. "My wife had the car. I had driven out with Mr.
Sanderson, but he was called away by a long distance message. I lingered
at the club for a while, chatting and--er--having a cool drink or two,
then I set out afoot."

"No one offered you a lift?" Dundee inquired suavely.

"No. I presume my fellow-members thought I had my car with me, and I
asked no one for a lift, for I rather fancied the idea of a walk across
the meadows."

"I see," said Dundee thoughtfully. "Now as to your arrival here--"

"I walked in. The door had been left on the latch, as it usually is,
when a party is on," Drake explained coldly. "And I was just entering
the room when I heard my wife make the remark about covering an honor
with an honor, and then her question of Penny as to whether she should
have played second hand low."

"So you entered this time at the correct moment," said Dundee. "Now, Mr.
Drake, I am going to ask you to re-enter the room