know.”“ Them’ s the two, all right.”“ When they were together on the beach, did they seem friendly?”“ Well, they didn’ t act like brother and sister.” A laugh from the spectators.“ Thank you, Mrs. Kasta.” Demonides turned to Chotas.“ Your witness.”
Napoleon Chotas nodded amiably and rose and ambled over to the formidablelooking woman in the witness box.
“ How long have you worked at this villa, Mrs. Kasta?”“ Seven years.”“ Seven years! You must be very good at your job.”“ You bet I am.”
“ Perhaps you could recommend a good housekeeper for me. I’ ve been thinking about buying a place on the beach at Rafina. My problem is, I need privacy so I can work. As I remember those villas, they’ re all bunched together.”
“ Oh, no, sir. Each villa is separated by a big wall.”“ Oh, good. And they’ re not crowded next to one another?”
“ No, sir, not at all. Those villas are at least a hundred yards away from each other. I know one that’ s up for sale. You’ d have all the privacy you need and I can recommend my sister to do the housekeeping for you. She’ s good and she’ s tidy and she cooks a bit.”
“ Well, thank you, Mrs. Kasta, that sounds wonderful. Perhaps I could call her this afternoon.”
“ She does a bit of day work. She’ ll be home at six.”“ What time is it now?”“ I don’ t carry a watch.”“ Ah. There’ s a large clock on the wall over there. What does it say?”“ Well, it’ s hard to make out. It’ s clear across the room.”“ How far away would you say that clock was?”“ About— er— fifty feet.”“ Twenty-three feet, Mrs. Kasta. No more questions.”
It was the fifth day of the trial. Doctor Israel Katz’ s missing leg was paining him again. While he was performing an operation, he could stand on his artificial leg for hours on end, and it never bothered him. But sitting here without the intense concentration to