Finch: 'Not yet. You may next time. Going?'
That ended the dialogue. Corrigan had no exit line that he cared to use. The only sounds that came were footsteps and the opening and closing of the door, then more footsteps and another opening of the door, and, after a wait, its closing and the lock being turned. I stayed put until the closet door swung open without my touching it.
Finch' stood grinning. 'Well?' he demanded.
'You're on the honors list,' I told him. 'This is my lucky week, first Mrs. Potter and now you. Where did you plug him?'
'Two body jabs and one on the side of the neck.'
'How did he invite it?'
'He swung first and then tried to lock me. That wasn't much, but the strain of that talk, with you listening-I'm hungry. I want some lunch.'
'You won't get any, not now, unless it's a sandwich in a taxi. It's your move. He'll see that manuscript or bust, and one will get you ten he's on his way to Mrs. Potter, who he thinks is stupid. You will get there first, if you step on it, and stay there. The address is twenty-eight-nineteen Whitecrest Avenue, Glendale. I'll phone her. Get going!'
'But what-'
'Scoot, damn it! Write me a letter.'
He moved. He got hat and raincoat from the closet and was gone. I uprighted the chair that had toppled, straightened a rug, went to the closet for my shoes, and put them on. Then I sat in the armchair by the phone and called the Glendale number.
'Mrs. Potter? Archie Goo-'
'Did he come?'
'He did. I hid in the closet while Finch talked with him. He would give his diploma from law school to see that manuscript. When he saw there was nothing doing he tried to lay Finch out and got knocked down. He left in a hurry, and I'm giving ten to one that he's on his way to you, so I sent Finch and I'm hoping he'll get there before Corrigan does. What-'
'Really, Mr. Goodwin, I'm not afraid!'
'Don't I know it. But Corrigan will bear down hard for you to name him your counsel, and it will take most of the pressure off if Finch is there. Anyway, I think you'll like Finch, he's not coarse and crude like me. You may have to give him some lunch. If you make Corrigan your attorney, no matter what he says, I'll come and throw rocks through your windows.'
'That would be coarse and crude, wouldn't it? I honestly think you have no confidence in me at all.'
'Little you know. If Corrigan gets there first, stall him until Finch comes, and don't forget Finch has been there before.'
'I won't.'
We hung up.
Going to a window and seeing with pleasure that it was raining only about half as hard as it had been, I opened it a good four inches to get some air. I raised the question whether to phone Wolfe and decided to await further developments.
Having had no opportunity for a look at the morning papers, I phoned down for some, and, when they came, got comfortable. The papers were no damn good, except the sports pages, but I gave them enough of a play to make sure that nothing had happened which required my immediate attention and then picked up Finch's book, Twilight of the Absolute, and gave it a try. I got the impression that it probably made sense, but I ran across nothing that convinced me that I had been wrong in trying to get along without it.
The phone rang. It was Finch. He was calling from Mrs. Potter's. He began by reminding me that he had not accepted my offer of ten to one. I agreed. 'I know you didn't. He came, did he?'
'Yes. I was in ahead by five minutes. He was surprised to see me and not delighted. He insisted on talking with Mrs. Potter alone, but I listened in from the kitchen with her knowledge and consent. He poured it on about the danger of libel and how it wouldn't cost her anything for him to read the manuscript and give her his professional advice, and the way he put it, it was hard for her to handle. She couldn't brush him off as a stranger, as I had. You should have heard her.'
'I would have liked to. What was her line?'
'Simple. She said if there was libel in the manuscript she didn't want to know it and didn't want me to, because then it wouldn't be right to sell it to the movies, but if we just go ahead and sell it, it will be up to the movie people and surely they have good lawyers. He couldn't get it into her head that even so she would be responsible.'
'I'll bet he couldn't. Kiss her for me.'
'I wouldn't mind a bit. She is sitting here. Frankly, it was a waste of taxi fare to send me out here.'
'No. Of course Corrigan has left?'
'Yes. He kept his taxi.'
'He may be back. He came to get his hands on that manuscript and he intends to. If he does go back there's no telling what he'll try. Stick around. Stay until you hear from me.'
'I think Mrs. Potter feels that her husband doesn't like the idea of men in the house while he's away, especially one at a time.'
