'I m glad you re not sick,' Peter March said.
Bill said, 'Stop at my house on the way home for a drink.' Ann remembered that Jameson, the real-estate man, would be at the house to look at Peter. She hoped he would accept.
He did. He was pleased to have relations pleasant. 'I d like to.' He looked at the others. 'That is, if…'
'You go,' Dr Woodrin told Carmel. 'I ve got to get some sleep.'
'We can t go,' Alice March said, speaking for Talmadge. 'I m sorry you didn t find your Delia, Mr Crane.'
'Oh, I ll find her,' Bill said.
Ann slipped on her caracul coat and they said good night to the others. They found Williams in the bar. He was drinking scotch and soda. The bartender with the gold teeth scowled at Bill. 'You here again, pal?' he said.
'Don t pal me, pal,' Bill said.
Williams said, 'Donovan took it on the lam a minute after you got here, Bill.' He took a long drink of the whisky. 'Talmadge March tipped him off.'
'The hell!' Ann saw Bill was surprised. 'They re still friends, then.'
Ann asked, 'Did you come out here to find Delia?'
'Yeah. I think she s dead.' He told her about Lefty and the phone call. 'And I looked in Delia s room. It s been cleaned out'
She was shocked about Lefty. 'The poor man with the funny voice!' She added, 'But Delia s still alive.' She told him Dolly had had a note from her. 'She s all right.'
'You re pretty smart,' Bill said. 'Somebody has to be.'
'All right. All right. But you ll get in trouble, going around alone. Don t forget that mysterious phone call.'
'It s not a bit mysterious.'
She had to smile at Bill s face when she told him she knew who made the call. She told him what Dolly had overheard. 'Just come to me when you need any information,' she concluded.
Williams was amused. 'Looks like you met your master, Bill.'
'Darned if it doesn t.' Bill turned toward the bar. 'That reminds me, I owe you some champagne, Ann.' He spoke to the sullen bartender. 'Two bottles, Pete.'
The man got two bottles out of a cabinet. Ann protested, 'But I only won one.' The man put the bottles on the red-lacquered bar. 'Fifteen bucks,' he said.
Bill put some money on the bar. 'I know, only one.' He took the bottle by the neck, held it up to the light.
'Make up your mind, pal,' the bartender said. 'One or two?'
'Oh, two, by all means,' Bill said. He tapped the bartender across on the head with the bottle. It wasn t a hard blow, but the neck broke. He handed Ann the other bottle. 'Here, darling.' The bartender had disappeared behind the bar.
Williams paused to look over the bar. 'That s a dirty trick,' he complained, 'wasting good champagne like that.'
They went to the car and started for home. Carmel and Dr Woodrin had left, but Peter s car was still there.
Bill sighed with satisfaction. 'That guy ll think twice before he calls up and threatens us again.'
Ann said, 'Could Talmadge March be working with Donovan?'
'I think only one guy is doing the murdering,' Bill said. 'You wouldn t take the chance of blackmail by having an accomplice.'
Williams said, 'Suppose I turn up Peter March.'
'You d have my thanks,' Bill said.
Ann asked, 'How could you do that?'
'It depends on Jameson,' Williams said mysteriously.
Bill said, 'I hope Jameson comes through.'
'I think you re terrible,' Ann said.
'I ve got nothing special against Peter,' Bill said. 'I d just like to hang him.'
'No, it s me you re against. You re just trying to run Peter down because of me. I m glad I m not married to you.'
'I m not… '
Ann felt very angry. She interrupted him. 'You re doing your best to embarrass me-letting everybody at the Crimson Cat see you were chasing that singer.'
'Didn t you let everybody see you were chasing Peter March?'
They quarreled all the way home.
CHAPTER XII
While Williams waited for Mr Jameson, the Brookfield real-estate man, in front of the house, Ann got ice and glasses from the pantry. Crane stretched out on the blue couch in the living room. 'This feels nice,' he said.
Ann said, 'Bill, why do we fight all the time?'
'I guess it s my drinking.'
'It s partly.'
'Maybe you just don t like me.'
' But I do. I like you very much.'
'Would you like me more if I gave up drinking?'
'Yes.'
'Then I ll give it up.'
'Just don t drink so terribly much.'
'No, I won t drink at all. But you have to promise to like me.'
She came to the couch and touched Crane s neck with her fingers. 'You re nice,' she said. 'I ll like you.'
Her fingers were cool and soft. He tried to take hold of her hand, but she moved away from the couch. She went to a chair across the room. 'What about this case, Bill?' she asked.
They tried to agree on a major suspect, but they couldn t. They decided Talmadge March had the best motives: hatred and a desire for money, but Ann said she was sure Donovan had something to do with the deaths.
'I still think he and Talmadge might be working together,' she said.
'And I still think the murderer would work alone,' said Crane. 'He wouldn t dare have an accomplice. Too much chance for blackmail.'
Ann thought, in that case, she would just suspect Talmadge. He would naturally hate John for informing Simeon March he was in the night-club business.
So would Dr Woodrin, Crane said. Probably even more, because he had lost all his money in the venture. But Crane couldn t see why the doctor would kill Richard, unless he wanted Carmel.
'He likes her,' Ann admitted.
'But Carmel likes Peter.'
Ann s face became guarded. 'He should kill Peter next, then.'
'That doesn t make much sense, killing a lot of people to make a girl you hope to marry rich.'
'How about Simeon March?' Ann asked.
'Why not?' Crane wished his head would stop aching. 'Don t they always pin it on the person who calls in the detectives?'
'And Alice March?'
'I always suspect people I don t like.'
'You ought to suspect Peter, then.'
'Don t you know I m crazy about Peter?'
'You mean Carmel, don t you?'
