Straightaway, one and all appear to have assumed that he was in
the tub, splashing soapsuds around, while Lane Fleming was being shot.
And Anton Varcek, who can be taken as an example of what S. I. Hayakawa
was talking about when he spoke of people behaving like scientists
inside but not outside their laboratories, saw Lane Fleming dead, with
an object labeled 'revolver' in his hand, and, because of his verbal
identifications and semantic reactions, immediately included the
inference of an accident in his description of what he had seen. That was
just an extra dividend of luck for Dunmore; it got the whole crowd of
you thinking in terms of accidental shooting.
"Well, from there out, everything would have been a wonderful success for
Dunmore, except for one thing. Arnold Rivers must have heard, somehow,
that Lane Fleming had been shot with a Confederate .36 that he'd bought
somewhere that day, and that the revolver was in the hands of this
coroner of yours. So Arnold, with his big chisel well ground, went to see
if he could manage to get it out of the coroner for a few dollars. And
when he saw it, lo! it was the .36 Colt that he'd sold to Dunmore about
a month before."
Gladys set down her glass. "So!" she said.
Pages:
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308