"That's what I thought--at first," Tess Rillette said. "But I know the truth now. You wanted to keep me away from Harry. You thought maybe you had one last chance of winning him back. And when you found out it was futile--you killed him!" "She's right, Daisy," Lasseroe said. "You killed Harry Duggin. You worshipped him--and hated him!" He got out of the chair and pointed at her, and a few glasses on a cocktail tray tipped over. Daisy was shouting, "You're both lying! You're trying to place the blame on me and switch things around so that I'll be put out of the way. You're trying to commit--double murder!" "Just what do you mean by that?" Lasseroe said. Daisy's voice was lowered as she stared at the art appraiser and said, "You killed him. You had every reason to kill him, and you did it. And now you're trying to get me out of the way. I know the truth about you, Lasseroe. I know how you've been swindling art patrons, charging them exorbitant prices for cheap junk such as Tess puts out--" Tess Rillette wasn't taking this sitting down. She started to call Daisy a lot of nasty names. It was all very unpleasant. And then Lasseroe said, "You've got a lot of influence around this town, haven't you, Daisy?" She liked that. She nodded. And there was a mean smile on her lips. Lasseroe was moving slowly toward her, and his face was pale. There was a light in the man's eyes that told Frey a lot of things. Frey reached into his coat pocket and touched the revolver to make sure that it was still there. "You've got a lot of mouth, too," Lasseroe was saying. "Just what do you mean by that?" Daisy looked at him straight. "You may turn out to be quite an annoyance," Lasseroe said. He kept moving toward her. Tess Rillette was grabbing Lasseroe's arm, saying, "Please--enough has already happened--" But Lasseroe was excited and he was pushing Tess Rillette away and then he was making a grab for Daisy. She fell backward and he went over with her and he got his fingers around her throat. She managed to scream once and then she started to gurgle. Frey opened the door and took out his revolver and pointed it at Lasseroe's spine. "All right," he said, "Let's stop playing." But Lasseroe was out of control now and he was choking the life out of Daisy Hennifer. He didn't seem to hear Frey, and he increased the pressure of his fingers around Daisy's windpipe. Tess Rillette was screaming and putting herself between Frey and Lasseroe, in an ungraceful try at the old martyr act. Frey knew that he couldn't stand on ceremony. He had to break it up and break it up fast. He pushed Tess Rillette and she didn't like being pushed. She was screaming now, and she threw fingernails at his face. He let her have a slow right to the jaw and it sent her across the room, spinning. Then he had a try at Lasseroe.