“But he’s going to see me?”
“He’ll see you,” Bertha said, “but he could have been a lot nicer about it.”
“What’s the address?”
Bertha took a piece of paper, scribbled an address on it, said, “His apartment is 825. It’s one of those places where you have to be announced. Private switchboard and all that kind of stuff. Just wait until the next time Bob Elgin wants something out of me.”
I said, “Perhaps he was just grouchy at being disturbed by the telephone.”
“He tried to stall us,” Bertha said. “Fancy that, lover, the nerve of him trying to stall Bertha Cool!”
“Perhaps he wanted to go back to sleep.”
“Well, it’s time for him to get up. I’ve done too damn much for him.”
“What did you ever do for him, Bertha? It might help if I knew.”
“I squared a rap for him once, and believe me it took some squaring. I damn near lost my licence over that. But that’s something you don’t need to know. It’s better if you don’t. You beat it on up there, lover.”