I tell him that a coupla his buddies are bringin' Periera and Fernandez in at twelve-thirty o'clock, an' that when they arrive at the station they are not to be brought into me until I ring for 'em. I tell him that two rings on the bell is the signal that they are to be brought in an' he says OK.
I then look through the list of Henrietta's clothes, an' I fix it the way I want, an' I then take it in to the stenographer in the next office an' tell him to make three copies of it.
While he is doin' this I light another cigarette an' go an' look outa the window. Pretty soon i see a police car draw up outside an' I see the officers bring in Periera and Fernandez. These two birds are lookin' good an' surprised I can tell you. I then go an' park myself in the chair an' put my feet on the desk.
A coupla minutes afterwards the door opens an' the first copper comes in with Henrietta.
'Everything OK?' I ask him.
He says yes, that they have fingerprinted the dame and photographed her like I said, an' the records clerk is makin' out a card now for the index.
I say all right an' that he can go. He goes an' leaves Henrietta standin' there in the middle of the floor lookin' at me.
She looks at me as if I was a large lump of mud. She looks from the tip of my fedora down to the soles of my shoes which are restin' on the top of the chief's cigar box. Then she gives her lip a curl an' looks just as if she was goin' to be sick.
Just at this minute I press the desk button which is fixed my side of the desk twice, an' in a coupla seconds the door opens an' the two State coppers come in with Periera and Fernandez.
I tell the coppers to scram. Then I wave my hand to the two guys.
'Sit down, boys,' I tell 'em, very cheerful. 'I wanna talk to you.'
I motion them to go over an' sit on the long seat that is up against the wall. Henrietta is still standin' in the middle of the floor.
They go an' sit down.
'Periera,' I say, 'I want you to do something, an' you gotta watch your step in doin' it, because if you slip up then I'm goin' to get funny with you.'
I point to Henrietta.
'It's about this dame here,' I go on. 'I ain't got any particular charge that I want to bring against her at the moment, but it's on the cards that I'm goin' to want her as a material witness for the State of New York. Metts, the Chief of Police here, ain't got any spare room around to keep her in, an' I've got to get outa town for a few days. So Metts is goin' to swear you in as a deputy an' it's goin' to be your business to keep an eye on this dame until we want her. Got that?'
He nods.
'I get eet,' he says.
I turn around to Henrietta.
'You heard what I said, sweetheart, didn't you?' I tell her. 'I'm lettin' you blow outa here an' you get back to the Hacienda Altmira until I want you, an' don't try an' get outside the Palm Springs limit otherwise I'm goin' to have you pinched pronto. OK. Now you scram outa here an' once you're outside you can smoke as much as you like. So long, baby, I'll be seem' you.'
I give my fedora a sorta cheeky flip so's it's right over one eye, an'I waggle my feet on the desk. It works. She blows up.
'Yes,' she hisses like a snake, 'and you'll be seeing me,' she gulps. 'If you think that you can get away with this sort of thing you're very much mistaken,' she goes on, 'you're just a conceited, insolent, rough-housing gorilla who's no more fitted to carry a Federal badge an' have the authority that goes with it than the dirtiest dago that ever crawled over into this country. You're cheap and nasty, and one day I'm going to make you squirrn for this. In the meantime you can take this to go on with.'
She takes a quick step forward an' before I can move she leans across the desk an' busts me in the face with her clenched fist. I tell you I was quite surprised.
Then she steps back, turns around on her heel an' walks out. I was watchin' her while she went, an' believe it or not she looked a picture. That Henrietta can certainly walk.
Fernandez grins.
'It looks like she ain't so pleased about something,' he says.
I laugh.
'You wouldn't be if you was her,' I say.
I take my feet off the desk an' at this minute the stenographer comes in with the duplicate lists of Henrietta's clothes.
'Now listen, Fernandez,' I tell him. 'I gotta idea. l gotta idea that we can pin this Aymes bump off on Henrietta all right, an' I reckon that once we got a capital charge against her I can make her squeal the rest of the stuff about the counterfeitin'. But I got to prove that she was the woman who was in the car with Aymes, an' once I can do that I got her all set. Once I can pin that on her an' it looks as if there's a life sentence for her in the bag, I reckon she'll blow the works on anything if she thinks that talkin' is goin' to help her any.
'Now I gotta idea how we can work. I been grillin' this Henrietta good an' plenty this mornin', an' I gotta description of the clothes she was wearin' on the 12th January, the day that Granworth died.'
I get up an' I hand one of the duplicate clothes descriptions to Fernandez. He looks at it a long time.
'Do you remember her wearin' any stuff like that?' I ask him.
'I sorta remember the coat an' the hat,' he says, 'but I wouldn't know about that day. You see, I never saw her that day. I was off duty.'
'That's OK, Fernandez,' I say, 'but here are two guys who could swear to those clothes. One of 'em is the maid at the Aymes apartment. I reckon that she packed Henrietta's bags an' looked after her kit before she went away to Hartford, didn't she?'
He raises his eyebrows.
'You bet' he says. 'Marie Dubuinet-that's the maid-would know, an' I can tell you where you can contact her.
She's still in New York. She's personal maid to Mrs John Vlaford, an' she'd know. She's a durn intelligent girl is Marie.
She never forgets a thing.'
'OK,' I say, 'an' there's somebody else too. There's the watchman on Cotton's Wharf. I reckon if this guy's sight was good enough to see that it was a woman who got outa Granworth's car, it was good enough for him to remember the fur coat an' hat she was wearin'. I'm takin' this description to New York, an' I'm goin' to get the police to check up with the maid an' the watchman. If they can identify those clothes then I'm comm' back here to pinch Henrietta, because I tell you now that I'm dead certain that she bumped Aymes.
'There's another thing, Fernandez,' I go on. 'I reckon that I mighta made a mistake about you bein' the guy who had a shot at me the other night. Maybe it wasn't a guy at all-maybe it was a dame.'
I look at him sorta old-fashioned.
He grins.
'Well, you might be right at that,' he says. 'It certainly wasn't me. Periera here an' a coupla the boys know I was stickin' around there all the time. But,' he goes on, 'I reckon that maybe you're right. I like Henrietta, but I don't hold with murder an' it looks like you say that she bumped Granworth all right, but I'm sorry all the same,' he says, 'because she is a swell dame.'
'You're tellin' me,' I say. 'An' it's always swell dames who start the trouble. They're always worse than the worst he-killer. They just don't care.'
I get up.
'OK, boys,' I tell 'em. 'Be on your way. Don't you forget, Periera, that you're responsible for Henrietta, an' thanks for the tip-off about the maid, Fernandez. I'll take care of that job right away.'
When they have gone I sit down at the desk an' do a little quiet thinkin'. I reckon that maybe this thing is goin' to work out, an' if it don't, well it's just too bad.
Metts blows in. He is grinnin' all over his face.
'You certainly handed it to the dame,' he says. 'I thought one time that she was goin' to crown you. I was listenin' in the next room,' he goes on. 'I just couldn't miss it. You see I don't get much excitement around
