Evan Hunter - Lizzie

“Had you any sinkers over there?”

“I think there were some. It’s so long since I’ve been there. I think there were some.”

“You had no reason to suppose you were lacking sinkers?”

“I don’t think there were any on my lines.”

“Where were your lines?”

“My fish lines were at the farm here.”

“What made you think there were no sinkers at the farm? On your lines?”

“Because some time ago, when I was there, I had none.”

“How long since you’d used the fish lines?”

“Five years, perhaps.”

“You left them at the farm then?”

“Yes, sir.”

“And you haven’t seen them since?”

“Yes, sir.”

“It occurred to you, after your father came in, it would be a good time to go to the barn after sinkers. And you had no reason to suppose there was not abundance of sinkers at the farm. And abundance of lines.”

“The last time I was there, there were some lines.”

“Did you not say before you presumed there were sinkers at the farm?”

“I don’t think I said so.”

“You did say so. Exactly. Do you now say you presume there were no sinkers at the farm?”

“I don’t think there were any fish lines suitable to use at the farm. I don’t think there were any sinkers on any line that had been mine.”

“Do you remember telling me you presumed there were lines, and sinkers, and hooks at the farm?”

“I said there were lines, I thought. And perhaps hooks. I didn’t say I thought there were sinkers on my lines. There was another box of lines over there beside mine.”

“You thought there were not sinkers?”

“Not on my lines.”

“Not sinkers at the farm?”

“I don’t think there were any sinkers at the farm. I don’t know whether there were or not.”

“Did you then think there were no sinkers at the farm?”

“I thought there were no sinkers anywhere, or I shouldn’t have been trying to find some.”

“You thought there were no sinkers at the farm to be had.”

“I thought there were no sinkers at the farm to be had.”

“That is the reason you went into the second story of the barn. To look for a sinker.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You went straight to the upper story of the barn?”

“No. I went under the pear tree and got some pears first.”

“Then went to the second story of the barn, to look for sinkers for lines you had at the farm, as you supposed, as you had seen them there five years before that time.”

“I went up to get some sinkers, if I could find them. I didn’t intend to go to the farm for lines. I was going to buy some lines here.”

“You then had no intention of using your own line and hooks at the farm.”

“No, sir.”

“What was the use of telling me, a little while ago, you had no sinkers on your line at the farm?”

“I thought I made you understand that those lines at the farm were no good to use.”

“Did you not mean for me to understand one of the reasons you were searching for sinkers was that the lines you had at the farm, as you remembered them, had no sinkers on them?”

“I said the lines at the farm had no sinkers.”

“I did not ask you what you said. Did you not mean for me to understand that?”

“I meant for you to understand I wanted the sinkers. And was going to have new lines.”

“You had not then bought your lines?”

“No, sir. I was going out Thursday noon.”

“You had not bought any apparatus for fishing?”

“No hooks.”

“Had bought nothing connected with your fishing trip?”

“No, sir.”

“Was going to go fishing the next Monday, were you?”

“I don’t know that we should go fishing Monday.”

“Going to the place to go fishing Monday?”

“Yes, sir.”

“This was Thursday, and you had no idea of using any fishing apparatus before the next Monday.”

“No, sir.”

“You had no fishing apparatus you were preparing to use the next Monday until then.”

“No, sir. Not until I bought it.”

“You had not bought anything.”

“No, sir.”

“Had not started to buy anything.”

“No, sir.”

“The first thing in preparation for your fishing trip the next Monday was to go to the loft of that barn to find some old sinkers to put on some hooks and lines that you had not then bought.”

“I thought I would find out whether there were any sinkers before I bought the lines. And if there were, I shouldn’t have to buy any sinkers. If there were some, I should only have to buy the lines and the hooks.”

“You began the collection of your fishing apparatus by searching for sinkers in the barn.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Where did you look upstairs?”

“On that workbench, like.”

“In anything?”

“Yes, it was a box. Sort of a box. And then some things lying right on the side that wasn’t in the box.”

“How large a box was it?”

“I couldn’t tell you. It was probably covered up with lumber, I think.”

“Give me the best idea of the size of the box you can.”

“Well, I should say... I don’t know... I haven’t any idea.”

“Give me the best idea you have.”

“About that large,” she said, and extended her gloved hands, measuring out the distance between the forefinger of each hand.

“That long?” Knowlton asked.

“Yes.”

“How wide?”

“I don’t know.”

“Give me the best idea you have.”

“Perhaps about as wide as it was long.”

“How high?”

“It wasn’t very high.”

“About how high?”

Lizzie again extended her hands.

“About twice the length of your forefinger?” Knowlton said.

“I should think so. Not quite.”

“What was in the box?”

“Nails... and some old locks... and I don’t know but there was a doorknob.”

“Anything else?”

“I don’t remember anything else.”

“Any lead?”

“Yes. Some pieces of lead, like.”

“Foil? What we call tin foil? The same as you use on tea chests?”

“I don’t remember seeing any tin foil. Not as thin as that.”

“Tea-chest lead?”

“No, sir.”

“What did you see in shape of lead?”

“Flat pieces of lead, a little bigger than that. Some of them were doubled together.”

“How many.”

“I couldn’t tell you.”

“Where else did you look? Beside in the box?”

“I didn’t look anywhere of lead except on the workbench.”

“When you got through looking for lead, did you come down?”

“No, sir. I went to the west window, over the hay. To the west window. And the curtain was slanted a little. I pulled it down.”

“What else?”

“Nothing.”

“That is all you did?”

“Yes, sir.”

“That is the second story of the barn?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Was the window open?”

“I think not.”

“Hot?”

“Very hot.”

“How long do you think you were up there?”

“Not more than fifteen or twenty minutes, I shouldn’t think.”

“Should you think what you’ve told me would occupy four minutes?”

“I ate some pears up there.”

“I asked you to tell me all you did!”

“I told you all I did!”

“Do you mean to say you stopped your work, and then — additional to that — sat still and ate some pears?”