“Is that,” Elsie asked dryly, “all?”
“That’s all.”
“And that other telegram. It’s in on your desk I believe — do you want to send that?”
“Good heavens, no!” Bertha said. “Take that telegram, tear it up, put it in the wastebasket. Even tear that page out of your notebook. I must have been terribly angry when I dictated it. Donald certainly is a smart little devil.”
Elsie Brand’s smile was enigmatic. “Was there,” she asked “anything else?”
“That,” Bertha announced, “is all.”
Chapter XXII
1942 AUG 31
VALLEJO, CALIFORNIA
(STRAIGHT MESSAGE COLLECT) BERTHA COOL, CONFIDENTIAL INVESTIGATIONS