“Look,” he said at last, “I’ve got to find out who’s at the bottom of all this. Who’s willing to pay you ten grand to make things awkward for me.”
I bet he’d like to know that, but he wasn’t getting any help from me. I had already made up my mind that I was going to look into that also.
I shrugged. “You can search me,” I said. “I’ve been asking myself the same question.”
He came over and stood close to me. “I’ve got a hunch that you know something that would give me the key to this. I’m going to ask you to come clean.”
As I began to speak he held up his hand. “Don’t be in a hurry,” he said; “Think first. If you can’t remember, I’m going to jog your memory.”
I said, “I’ve told you I got a note which was typewritten. I’ve no more idea than the dead who it could be.”
He said, “Would it be a man or a woman?”
I shook my head. “I tell you I can’t help you.”
He stood looking at me, his face slightly flushed. “That’s a pity,” he said. He walked over to the door and jerked it open. “Gus, come in here.”
The thin dope shuffled in and stood waiting. His little eyes restlessly wandered from my face up to the ceiling and back again.