"It's kind of pointless any other way. The killers wouldn't be in a hu
That took thought. She pressed her lips and pushed a fingertip around


There was a little pause. She still had me talking to her anyway. She' I had enough of being polite for one afternoon. "Stop asking and start "It's nice of you to wait for me," she said. "I bet you haven't had yo "I—I'm afraid I can't tell you exactly the date. But it was like I sai "Better try the University Club," I told her. "I heard they had a coup
"Don't ever think I'm fooling," she said. "I'll give you exactly three She gave me a level, suddenly cool stare. "Then why?" Then when I didn It was a wall-bed living room, with the wall bed down and rumpled. The "I don't know what name he's using here. He's in Room 332." "Oh," she gave me the brilliant smile again. "You like to do the diffi The smile flashed like lightning and changed her whole face. The body
"Isn't pipe-smoking a very dirty habit?" she asked. I looked at the collection of small bills and medium bills and silver  I poured another slug of the gin and held it out of his reach. I banged on the screen door. The man paid no attention. I banged again A seductive voice said: "You do not like me so well, do you, amigo?" She made a threatening gesture with the little gun. "Turn around," she I went over and picked up my hat. "I never thought you killed him," I  "That's no way to talk to people over the telephone," she said sharply "Don't tell me. The minister needed it to stuff a cushion."
"Who's the house peeper here now?" I asked her, without taking up the  "If Dr. Hambleton did the phoning," I said. "You opened that can of be "Oh," she gave me the brilliant smile again. "You like to do the diffi She put the handkerchief away in a hurry and dug something else out of
Flack's small, intent eyes became round holes in a face washed clean o "You ain't getting no place with that breezy manner, bub. What's your  "Better try the University Club," I told her. "I heard they had a coup I closed the register, glanced over at Lester B. Clausen again, wrinkl "Vince! The Doc!" he shouted angrily. He shook the receiver and threw  "Dr. Zugsmith wouldn't permit anything like that," she said quickly. T "Must be a different Dr. Zugsmith," I said. "And your name?"
She nodded, gave me the up-from-under look that made her eyelashes cut She took her hand back and swung it hard. The slap sounded like Miss G "No, you don't. You think I'm cute. And I think you're a fascinating l "Oh hell. Just another screwball." He shrugged and put his lip back up I said it again. He smeared his face with his hands and said tersely:  The phone rang before I had quite started to worry about Mr. Lester B.
"If you keep on with that you won't be in any condition to listen to w "I trust you have carfare home," the contemptuous voice said behind me He peered at the card closely, sneered, bent it in half and bent it ag He sat down at his desk and reached for his telephone. "I got to make  Flack said suddenly: "I figure an ice-pick job's a dame's work. You ca
"The coroner will want to know," I said, and hung up. "I didn't mean it like that. I know you're doing the best you can, Mr. I paid off and stopped in a bar to drop a brandy on top of the New Yor "S-s-s-ure," he said. "M-M-Mavis Weld huh? You want h-h-her ph-ph-phon She blushed. "That's what the manager said. I'm just telling you.""Ha," I said. "All I know about Bay City is that every time I go there
"Funny thing, though," French said, almost dreamily. "When Weepy Moyer He made a grab for the glass. I put it on the table in front of him. H "Don't sit on the floor just to be chummy," I said. I looked at the two prints. One of them was looking down and was no go "Look," I said wearily, "I'm not talking about the guy lifting a walle "Well, most likely they'd just throw a scare into him first." It took me twenty-nine minutes to get to the Van Nuys Hotel. "There's two of them." She did something slow and elegant to the back