"I didn't say he forgot him."
"You did say he was jealous of him."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because Peter and I were good friends. He was a very troubled person, you see, he was having difficulty getting the kind of acting roles he wanted and… we would discuss all this, he would tell me what his ambitions were and… and the problems he was having and. I would offer encouragement to him… I would listen to him."
"So your husband became jealous of him?"
"Yes."
"I see. And that's why he forgot all about him when he was testifying here earlier. Because he was jealous."
"No, he didn't forget all about him. I think it was both. I think he really was making a literary pun, in addition to the play on Peter's real name."
"The pun on The Iceman Cometh, you mean?"
"Yes."
"The 'Iceman' signifying Death."
"Yes."
"Did Peter Malcom ever try to kill your husband?"
"No."
"Or ever conceive a murder plot against him?"
"No, of course not."
"Yet Peter Colman in the novel does exactly that. In fact, he succeeds in causing the lieutenant's death."
"I know that. I'm quite familiar with the book."
"Since you're so familiar with it, how do you explain it, Mrs. Driscoll?"
"The lieutenant kills himself. He sacrifices himself."
"Yes, we all know that. But only because he recognizes Colman's plot."
"Yes."
"But you've testified that Peter Malcom, the man who is supposedly the source for…"
"He is."
"Yes, we have your word for that, Mrs. Driscoll, although it does seem to contradict your husband's word on several points. But nonetheless, we do have your testimony that this real man Peter Malcom never plotted against your husband's life. Was there ever any trouble between them?"
"Trouble?"
"Yes. Did he and your husband ever fight, or…"
"No."
"Or exchange harsh words?"
"No. Dris didn't like him and… he… he wouldn't have him in the house."
"Did they speak to each other?"
"I don't know. I don't think so."
"Did you speak to him?"
"Peter? Yes, of course."
"I see. Even though your husband disliked him?"
"Yes. Peter was… I told you. He was a very troubled person. You can't just turn your back on someone, you can't just let them… let them get lost or… or hurt. You can't just let people die."
"I see." Brackman sighed, walked back to the plaintiff's table, picked up a pencil there, walked to the witness stand again, pursed his lips, looked down at the pencil in his hand, and very quietly said, "Mrs. Driscoll, was there anything in your husband's past to suggest the 105th Division?"
"No," Ebie answered quickly, and then felt she had answered too quickly because Brackman looked up at her sharply, and then smiled.
"Nothing at all?"
"Nothing."
"None of his courses were numbered a hundred and five, were they? Design 105, or Illustration 105, or what ever your husband was studying?"
"No, the courses weren't numbered that way at Pratt."
"Did your husband ever make any reference to having seen a play called Catchpole?"
"Certainly not."
"Or to the division insignia in that play?"
"No."
"An insignia with the number 105 in yellow on a black field?"
"No."
"No reference to a hundred and five?"
"No."
"Then where did it come from, Mrs. Driscoll? Was it perhaps the apartment number on Peter Malcom's door?"
"No, he lived in apartment 47."
"Was it your apartment number?"
"No."
"Was it your husband's APO number perhaps? When he was overseas.?"
"No, it was none of those things."
"Well now, I was really hoping, Mrs. Driscoll, that you could clear up the mystery for us, since you seem to have cleared up so many of the other troubling points. It seems however, that the thief's fingerprints are still very much in—"
"Don't say that," Ebie warned.
"I beg your pardon, Mrs. Driscoll. But since the theft of another man's work is the matter before this—"
"My husband didn't steal anyone else's work!"
"Then perhaps he may have mentioned to you how he hit upon that number, Mrs. Driscoll, if not by seeing it on the stage?"
"He did not see the play."
"How do you know?"
"He told me."
"Where did he get the number, then?"
Ebie hesitated.
"Do you know, Mrs. Driscoll?"
"Yes, I know," she whispered.
"What?" the clerk asked. "I'm sorry, I…"
"She said, 'Yes, I know,' " Brackman said.
"What?" the clerk said again.
"Yes, she knows," McIntyre said.
"If you indeed know, Mrs. Driscoll," Brackman said wearily, "will you tell us?"
"Yes."
"Please."
"Yes," she repeated, and looked at Driscoll. He was still staring directly ahead of him. "The… the number isn't a… it isn't a hundred and five."
"Oh? What is it then?"
"Its… it's two numbers. It's a ten and… and a five."
"I see. It's a ten and a five," Brackman said, and smiled up at the judge. "But not a hundred and five."
"No."
"Mrs. Driscoll, perhaps you'd like to tell us the difference between a ten and a five in sequence, and the number a hundred and five."
"Yes."
"Please."
"The ten and the five are a date."
"What?" Brackman said.
"A date. It's ten slant five."
"I'm not sure I understand you, Mrs. Driscoll," McIntyre said. "By 'ten slant five,' do you mean 'ten virgule five?' "
"I don't know what 'virgule' means," Ebie said.
"Well…" McIntyre said, and rapidly scribbled onto the pad in front of him. "Is this it?" he asked, and held up the pad for her to see:
"Yes," Ebie said, "that's it. October 5th."
"October 5th," Brackman said musingly. "Of any particular year, Mrs. Driscoll, or just any year picked at random?"
"1950," Ebie said. She kept watching her husband, but he would not turn to meet her glance.
"October of 1950, I see," Brackman said. "October 5th in the year 1950. And what does that date commemorate? An anniversary, perhaps? Were you married on October 5th?"
"No."
"Did your husband go into the service on October 5th?"
"No."
"Was it your birthday?"
"No."
"Or his?"
"No."
"Or Peter's?"
"No."
"Or anyone's?"
"No."
"Then what was it, Mrs. Driscoll? Why did your husband attach such importance to this number, which you are now telling us is a date, ten virgule five, and not really a hundred and five? Perhaps you can tell us."
"October 5th was the date on a… a letter."
"What letter?"
"A letter I… a letter I wrote to my husband in Korea."
"I see."
"Yes," she said.
"Did you write your husband many letters while he was in Korea?"
"Yes."
"But he took the date from this one letter, is that it?"
"October 5th."
"Yes, that's quite clear. Did you also write to him on October 2nd, perhaps, or October 4th…"
"Every day."
"But this particular letter was the one he…"
"You… you asked if it was an anniversary."