Page 101 of Death on Gallows Path

“Damon Swindell and Zoley Georger, Bryon’s wife . . . there was something going on between them.”

“Something that could make Bryon jealous?” Teague asked. “Possessive? Volatile?”

Possessive. Volatile.

The very words Zoley used.

“Looks,” Clara said. “We both saw them. And the way he talked to her.”

“It was an impression. Nuance,” I said.

He huffed out an I-was-afraid-of-that breath.

“Not only that,” said Clara, “but Sheila astutely pointed to indications it was long past the honeymoon phase. He was dismissive of Zoley. Took her for granted.”

He raised one eyebrow at me.

“I completely agree with Clara.”

“Anything else?” he asked with more skepticism than was good for him.

Clara, possibly more forgiving of skepticism than I was, said, “Zoley Georger had a lot of makeup on her cheek at the second class. It was notable.”

“Why notable?”

He knew, but wanted one of us to state it.

Clara obliged. “It was thick enough to hide bruises.”

“Did you see bruises, Sheila?” Teague asked.

“I never got a close look at her.”

“Why not?”

“Because I was focused on Gracie, as I was supposed to be.” From that grand tone, I descended to reality. “And she was being a stinker.”

He barely suppressed a grin at that last word, but had it out of sight when he asked, “Did you get a better look, Clara?”

“Nope. LuLu wasn’t any better.”

He sighed.

Served him right. If he’d been in class, his eagle detective eyes might have caught all the possible clues . . . except Murph was as distractible as Gracie and LuLu.

“You said she had bruises, but you didn’t actually see bruises, did you, Clara?”

“Of course not,” Clara said. “That was the whole reason for the makeup, so we wouldn’t see bruises.”

Kit would say Clara had begged the question.

The formal definition of that phrase does not involve a question being made obvious. Yes, it’s been misused enough for many to define it that way, but don’t tell my great-aunt.

She sticks to the logic-based meaning of a response that includes an assumption and thus fails to address the question.

Clara’s assumption was that makeup preventing us from seeing bruises proved there were bruises, which was the core of Teague’s question.

“You’ve got to give me more than that if I’m going to take it to the department.”