“As the fellow said when he fell out of the airplane, it was a swell ride but we lit kind of hard.”
“That’s it.”
“Now. Chambers, you don’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to, but I’ve come over here, partly to see what you look like, and partly because it’s been my experience that a frank talk saves a lot of breath afterwards, and sometimes paves the way to the disposition of a whole case with a proper plea, and anyway, as the fellow says, after it’s over we understand each other.”
“Why sure, judge. What was it you wanted to know?”
I made it sound pretty shifty, and he sat there looking me over. “Suppose we start at the beginning.”
“About this trip?”
“That’s it. I want to hear all about it.”
He got up and began to walk around. The door was right by my bed, and I jerked it open. The cop was halfway down the hall, chinning a nurse. Sackett burst out laughing. “No, no dictaphones in this. They don’t use them anyway, except in movies.”
I let a sheepish grin come over my face. I had him like I wanted him. I had pulled a dumb trick on him, and he had got the better of me. “O.K., judge. I guess it was pretty silly, at that. All right, I’ll begin at the beginning and tell it all. I’m in dutch all right, but I guess lying about it won’t do any good.”
“That’s the right attitude, Chambers.”