‘I heard you again, Stevens!’ He took a threatening step forward. ‘Last night you ruined my beauty sleep – and that’s every night since they put you in here. Whimpering like a new-born … mumbling and bawling, and chunnering on about how it wasn’t you who killed John Tanner, but his cheating wife.’ Folding his thick, muscled arms, he set a menacing stance. ‘You’re a damned fool, Stevens! Whatever possessed you to take the rap for what she did? Oh, yes, thanks to you talking in your sleep, I know the truth of it, and I reckon you must be out of your tiny mind. Oh, and if I was to let it be known what a soft idiot you are, the real men in this place would eat you for breakfast! As for your fancy piece, well now, she must be on cloud nine. I mean, thanks to you, she’s suddenly free as a bird. She can go where she likes, and with who she likes. But you’re such an idiot, you fell for it. By now you surely must see her for what she is, because if you don’t then all I can say is, you really must be gormless!’ ‘I’m not gormless.
