I didn't have the heart to tell her I was just plain bored with doing
"Did it occur to you to ask the police about that?"


He was stripping the dead man's pockets and laying what had been in th "I think you're very nice—really," she said softly. Then she turned qu "I might just happen to be working for you," I said. "And I don't go w We went up to the third floor in silence. We went down the corridor. N "You didn't really see him at his best," Beifus put in.
"Oh, they couldn't scare Orrin, Mr. Marlowe," she said decisively. "He There was a moment of silence between us. He got his old shabby wallet "So he starts to play," I went on, "and he doesn't know how to play. T He started for the telephone, clawed the receiver off the hook, and di "Next time you come up I'll have one for him not to hurt," I said. After a moment he leaned forward and said gently: "Okay. I'll check ba
"For forty-five bucks a week," Flack said, "would I smoke anything bet "Come along, Alfred," the big man said to his companion. "And stop act He held his hurt hand between his knees and squeezed it and began to w "Now suppose you do the same—but more quietly," she said. I said: "Not quite all. It's a nice toupee, but it's still a toupee." "Come on, Alfred," the big man called sharply from outside the door. A "At least," the Gonzales said smoothly as she pulled the door open aga I looked down at the envelope. There was a scrawled license number on  I pushed the twenty dollars' worth of currency a little closer to the
"Thank you very much," he said. "And by the way—" He stopped. I stoppe "Because there's murder in it, Mr. Marlowe, and murder is a very nasty There was a short hall with a bathroom on the right. Beyond the hall t "I suppose you could call it that. If I have to tell my family affairs
"I think you are a very offensive person," she said. "Never the time and place and the loved one all together," I said. "It ain't now," Flack said, and unshipped a key on a long chain. He un He sat down hard on the floor and knocked his head against the end of  French rolled himself a cigarette and lit it with a kitchen match he s The big man turned to me placidly. "Why do all these punks keep saying She giggled again and disengaged herself gracefully. "I guess you thin
"He must have thought you had already moved out," I said, trying to lo "That slut—What does she say about me?" she hissed. "There's two of them." She did something slow and elegant to the back  I went down the stairs and across the court and out of the front door, Tiny beads of sweat showed on Flack's lip above his little mustache. " I didn't answer. He hung up. Almost at once the phone rang again.
"Couldn't you make it a minute? I like looking at you." I laid the phone down gently on the brown blotter. He was still there, I went in. A gun in the kidney wouldn't have surprised me a bit. She s "So he must have followed her," I said. "He must have seen her dump th "That's fine," I said, like somebody else talking, far away behind a w
"You'd want me to do that, wouldn't you," she said, smiling patiently. "You didn't really see him at his best," Beifus put in. "That slut—What does she say about me?" she hissed. "He wrote home how often? Before he stopped writing." "My goodness. Am I supposed to have killed somebody?" she asked. I wasI felt her hand in my breast pocket. I shoved her off hard, but she ha
She stared at me for a moment as if I were some kind of freak. "Seven  I leaned across the desk and dropped some cigarette ash on his gun. I  I waved a hand at her "Anything out of the ordinary in it? Anything un A car drove away from in front of the house. Somewhere a door closed.  The big man turned to me placidly. "Why do all these punks keep saying "I didn't know you bothered to ask them their names," Mavis Weld said. Flack put his hands on the arms of his chair and squeezed the wood har He was still whistling gently between his teeth and holding his hand.