“Well, what a damn dirty trick! To write such a note, I mean, and deliberately get someone into all this trouble. Whoever did it?”
“That’s not known, for the note wasn’t signed.”
“Isn’t it rather odd that Gid would go to Dreamer’s Park in the middle of the night? Did you know he was going?”
“No. I only learned that he went after he had gone. I was away from home at the time, talking with Rose Pogue.”
“You don’t seem much disturbed by it all, except that it’s got him in jail, and so I assume that his reason for going there, whatever it was, was innocent enough.”
“I’m not quite convinced that his reason for going was so damn innocent, I must admit, but it came to nothing, as it turned out, which makes it much easier to forgive him. To tell the truth, he went there to meet Beth Thatcher.”
“The hell he did! If he were my husband, I don’t believe I’d be quite so amiable about something like that as you seem to be.”
“It’s not that I’m so amiable, really. It’s only that I’m forced by circumstances to appear so. I may yet, when the time is right, decide to deprive him temporarily of a few privileges for going off like that the minute my back was turned. Now, however, he is in jail and in trouble, and I must do what I can to get him out. It’s perfectly clear that this is far too serious to be left in the hands of incompetents like Hec Caldwell and Cotton McBride. Whatever Gid may have intended to do in Dreamer’s Park and didn’t, I don’t wish to have him hanged or taken away from me permanently as a consequence.”
“I agree with you there. It would be unfortunate to have anything very grim happen to him, although a little discomfort and a temporary loss of privileges seem to be in order. What do you intend to do?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll have to investigate the situation and see what I can discover. As a beginning, I’ve been trying to find that sneaky bastard McBride, but he’s been avoiding me.”
“That’s a good sign, if you ask me. It shows how uncertain of himself he is. What do you expect to do to him when you catch him?”
“I expect to ask him some questions, that’s what.”
“Is that all? I was in hopes it would be more.”
“I can hardly afford to assault a policeman, no matter how offensive he is or how much he may deserve it. There’s very little I could do to clear this matter up if I were in jail also.”
“That’s true. You’ll have to control your natural impulses if you wash to remain free to operate. Is there anything in particular that I can do to help?”
“Not immediately. There may be something later, however, and it’s reassuring to know that you’re available. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”
“Don’t mention it. In the meanwhile, I’ll keep things open and going here at the office, although I don’t imagine there will be much to do after it becomes generally known that Gid is in jail. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to practice law in a cell.”
“As a legal secretary, do you think his practice will suffer after his release? After all, people may be a little reluctant to employ a lawyer who has been suspected of murder, and worst of all, who behaved like a perfect simpleton in order to get himself suspected.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you. It’s my professional opinion that his practice will benefit, if anything. He will get a certain amount of publicity, which is always good in the end, and when he is proved innocent, thanks to you, everyone will eventually forget how it really was and think that it was due to his own cleverness as a lawyer.”
“That’s quite encouraging, I must say. I respect your opinion, and I’ve always felt that you have a great deal more to do with the efficiency of this office than is generally conceded. Would you like to go somewhere and have a drink or something?”
“I’d like to, but I don’t think I’d better. I’m scheduled for a skirmish with a certain engineer this evening, and I need to keep a clear head.”
“In that case, I’ll run along. Good-by for the present.”
“Good-by,” Millie said. “Let me know the instant I’m needed.”
Sid went downstairs and stood for a moment on the sidewalk to consider her immediate future. She thought at first that she would go home and apply herself to devising a plan of action of some kind, but then she thought that she might as well try once more to catch Cotton McBride, and so she went over to the police department in City Hall, and Cotton was there, and she caught him.
“Here you are at last,” Sid said. “Where the devil have you been?”
Cotton was sitting at his desk, inserted to his hips in the kneehole, and he stood up so quickly and carelessly that he banged one knee against the under edge of his belly drawer, which was not only painful but also added to an effect of guilty confusion.
“I’ve been busy,” he said.
“That’s certainly so. I won’t argue with that. You’ve been busy making mistakes and the worst kind of fool of yourself. Why have you put Gid in jail without a word of warning to me or anyone else?”
“I put him in jail because he’s a murder suspect, that’s why.”
“And why, precisely, do you consider him a murder suspect?”
“You know as well as I do why he’s considered a suspect. Because he was seen in Dreamer’s Park about the time Beth Thatcher was murdered there.”
“Are you sure? What time was that?”
“He said he left home about nine-thirty, and he walked to the park, so it must have been around ten o’clock.”
“Truly? That’s very astute of you. It’s incredible how you
