I saw I’d got to tread carefully here. I took her over the ground gently. “That may sound phoney to you,” I said, “but I’ve only been running around with her for a day or so. You see, I’m crazy about her, but I don’t know how she feels about me. I want to go on with this, but I’ve got to find her first.”
“Isn’t that too marvellous?” She looked almost coy. “Well, I’ll help… I think a girl needs a man… don’t you? Look, I’ll write down her address.”
I gave her a pencil and my notebook. She scribbled down an address on the west side of the town, and I put the notebook carefully back m my pocket.
I slid off the stool. “I’m goin’ right away,” I said. “You’ve been a swell help. I’ll ask you to the wedding.”
I left her at the run, with her mouth open to start all over again. I guess that dame enjoyed her lunch-hour. It certainly had given her something to talk about. And could she talk?
CHAPTER NINE
ALL THIS DIDN’T get me anywhere. When I got to the address the blonde had given me, Mardi wasn’t there. She had left about two days ago, the landlady told me, taken her bags and left no address. Was. I pleased?
I returned to my apartment, feeling sore. The only thing I did know was that Mardi had left her job because of me. That told me that Spencer thought she knew something and wasn’t risking anything. If what she knew was important, maybe he’d hidden her away. Against that, the landlady had told me that she had come by herself to pack her bags and didn’t seem very worried. She did say that she had to go out of town on business, and didn’t know when she would return. This was probably an excuse to satisfy the landlady, or was it?
I sat on the table and brooded about it. I wondered if I should find her again by proceeding in the investigation of the Vessi frame-up. While I was thinking about it the telephone rang.
The hard, clear metallic voice floated over the wire. “Nick Mason?”