looked at me, as if my eye might somehow help, but I was deadpan. Then he returned to Wolfe.
'All right,' he said.
'You accept the proposal as I made it?'
'Yes. Only I'll pay it. I'd rather not--I'd rather pay it my28 Self. You said to be paid if and when earned. Who decides 7 whether you've earned it or not?' ; 'You do. I doubt if that will be a bone to pick.'
'A question my wife asked--do you know who the eyewit? ?ess is?'
'Your wife was witless to ask it. If I knew would I tell you? ?Or would you want me to? Now?'
Rackell shook his head. 'No, I guess not. No, I can see that it's better just to let you--' He left it hanging. 'Is there ; anything else you want to say about it?'
Wolfe said there wasn't. Rackell got up and stood there as 'if he would like to say something but didn't know what. I ' arose and moved toward the door. I didn't want to be rude to I client who had just bought a suggestion that would cost I him twenty grand, but now that he had okayed it I had a job M0 do and I wanted to get going. I still didn't know where | Wolfe thought he was headed for, but the sooner I got started if tin my instructions the sooner I would know. They finally j/<same, and I went ahead and opened the front door for them. |* She held his elbow going down the stoop. I shut the door and jltejoined Wolfe in the office.
'Well?' I demanded. 'Do I proceed?' 'Yes.'
'It's nearly half-past six. If I offer to buy her a meal--I lht if that's the right approach.' ? 'You know the approaches to women, I don't.' 'Yeah.' I sat at my desk and pulled the phone to me. 'If ask me this stunt you've hatched is a swell approach to a 1 to the hoosegow. For both of us.' : He grunted. I started dialing a number.
tew York can have pleasant summer evenings when it wants to, and that was one of them--warm but not hot not muggy. I paid the taxi driver when he rolled to the jfb at the address on Fifty-first Street east of Lexington, got
29
out, and took a look. In bright sunshine the old gray brick building would probably show signs of wear and tear, but now in twilight it wasn't too bad. Entering the vestibule, I scanned the tier of names on the wall panel. The one next to the top said devlin-berk. I pushed the button, shoved the door open when the click came, went in, glanced around for an elevator and saw none, and started to climb stairs. Three flights up a door stood open, and there waiting was Delia Devlin.
I told her hello, friendly but not profuse. She nodded, not so friendly, hugged the wall to let me pass, shut the door, and went by me to lead the way through an arch into a living room. I sent my eyes around with an expression of comradely interest. The chairs and couch were attractive and cool in summer slips. There were shelves of books. The windows were on the street, and there were three doors besides the arch, two of them standing open and one not quite closed.
She sat and invited me to. 'I can't imagine,' she said in a louder voice than seemed necessary, in spite of the street noises from the open windows, 'what you want to ask me that's so mysterious.'
Sitting, I regarded her. Only one corner lamp was on, and in the dim light she wasn't at all bad looking. With smaller ears she would have been a worthy specimen, with no glare on her.
'It's not mysterious,' I protested. 'As I said on the phone, it's private and confidential, that's all. Mr. Wolfe felt it would be an imposition to ask you to come to his office again, so he sent me. Miss Berk is out, is she?'
'Yes, she went to a show with a friend. Guys and Dolls.'
'Fine. It's a good show. This really is confidential, Miss Devlin. So we're alone?'
'Certainly we are. What is it, anyhow?'
There were three things wrong. First, I had a hunch, and my batting average on hunches is high. Second, she was talking too loud. Third, her telling me where Carol Berk was, even naming the show, was off key.
'The reason it's so confidential,' I said, 'is simply that you
3?
ought to decide for yourself what you want to do. I doubt if I you realize what lengths other people may go to to help you decide. You say we're alone, but it wouldn't surprise me a j bit--'
I sprang up, marched across to the door that wasn't quite
(closed, thinking it the most likely, and jerked it open. Behind
me a little smothered shriek came from Delia Devlin. In front
of me, backed up against closet shelves piled with cartons and
I miscellany, was Carol Berk. One look at her satisfied me on
one point--what her eyes were like when something hap i pened that really aroused her.
I stepped back. Delia Devlin was at my elbow, jabbering. I gripped her arm hard enough to hurt a little and addressed Carol Berk as she emerged from the closet. 'My God, do I look like that big a sap? Maybe your sidewise glance isn't as keen as you think--'
Delia was yapping at me. 'You get out! Get out!' Carol stopped her. 'Let him stay, Delia.' She was calm and contemptuous. 'He's only a crummy little stooge, trying to slip one over for his boss. I'll be back in an hour or so.'
She moved. Delia, protesting, caught her arm, but she pulled loose and left through one of the open doors. There were sounds from the adjoining room, then she appeared again, with a thing on her head and a jacket and handbag, and passed through to the foyer. The outer door opened and then closed. I crossed to a window and stuck my head out and in a minute saw her emerge to the sidewalk and turn west. I went back to my chair and sat. The open closet door was unsightly, and I got up and closed it and then sat again. 'Just forget it,' I said cheerfully. 'The closet was a bum idea anyhow; she would have stifled in there. Sit down and relax while I try to slip one over for my boss.'
