Norm looked at the two of us with regret. “I wanted to take it back as soon as I said it. All I can tell you is, I reacted as a father, not as a lawyer. I would never have actually followed through on it.”

“You pulled a gun on him?”

“Yes. Ever since what happened to Will, I’m always carrying. I’ve started to share your philosophy of life, Darrell. You never know. If someone comes after me or my family, I intend to be prepared.”

“What was the argument about?”

“I’m sure Ruby told you. Ajax made a crude joke at Will’s expense. I won’t repeat what it was, but it was foul. It set me off. I’ve been working fourteen-hour days, seven days a week, as we get closer to trial, and I was strung out. Not that I’d ever laugh off the kind of thing he said, but I overreacted. Mind you, it wasn’t just the joke. It was the fact that it was Ajax.”

“Where were you on Friday and Saturday?” Darrell asked.

“I just told you. Working. Morning to night. I haven’t had a weekend off in a couple of months.”

“Can anyone verify that?”

Norm shook his head. “I had a couple of meals brought in. I made some phone calls. Otherwise, I was alone in my office in Random the whole time. I’ve hardly seen Kathy or Will. They know the drill. This is the critical time in the litigation.”

“So you don’t have an alibi,” Darrell concluded.

“Depending on when exactly Ajax was killed, no, I don’t. And yes, I’m obviously familiar with the Ursulina crime scenes. In fact, I’ll do your job for you and confirm what you already know. If I wanted to murder Ajax and make it look like the earlier murders, I could easily have done so.”

“Norm,” Darrell interrupted, because it was obvious that Norm was losing a grip on his emotions. In most circumstances, Darrell wouldn’t have tried to stop a suspect from talking, but Norm was also his best friend. The previous December, Darrell had declined to interview Norm for that very reason, but he didn’t let it stop him this time. It made me wonder if he had doubts about Norm and wanted to judge for himself what he saw in his friend’s face.

Regardless, Norm kept rambling, quickly and loudly.