“Walk out on the case, nothing,” Bertha retorted. “Just what case is there to walk out on? Belder wanted me to compromise a twenty-thousand-dollar judgment for twenty-five hundred dollars. All right, I’ve done it. What’s the result? Belder can’t get the money until he gets it out of his wife. He can’t find his wife because she’s skipped out after—”
“After what?” Elsie asked as Bertha ceased abruptly in mid-sentence.
“I just had a thought about that,” Bertha said. “She might have skipped out after killing Sally; then again, she might have skipped out after simply finding Sally’s body in the basement... Well, anyway, she’s skipped out. Belder can’t get the money to compromise the judgment until he can find his wife.”
“Don’t you suppose he’ll want to try to find his wife?”
“Probably. But what chance would I stand? The police are going to be looking for his wife, and the police are going to look a hell of a lot faster, and in a hell of a lot more places, than I can. No. I’m going fishing. That was the trouble with Donald — he didn’t know when to quit. I know when to quit. I’m going to quit before I lead with my chin and get into a lot of trouble.”
Bertha waved her hand vaguely toward the private office. “Any mail in there?”
“Half a dozen letters.”
“Important?”
“Nothing urgent.”
“All right, I’m going to duck out.”