“ Suppose I don’t tell you?”
“That’s going to be tough on you, Bertha. You’re mixed up in a murder case. If you get some significant evidence and don’t tell us, you’re out of luck.”
“And suppose I do tell you?”
Sellers said, “That’s the tough part of it, you’re out of luck anyway, Bertha. You can’t go around holding out evidence on the police. You’ve been doing that too much lately. Donald Lam did it and managed to get away with it, but he was crowding his luck all the time. Eventually he’d have come a cropper. But when you tried to use his tactics you snubbed your toe and fell flat on your face. And that’s where you are right now.”
Bertha said grimly, “All right, if I’m going to lose my license whether I keep my mouth shut or whether I talk, I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
“The point I didn’t explain,” Sellers went on dryly, “is that if you tell us, you’ll lose your license, but if the explanation is okay, you’ll keep your freedom. If you don’t tell us you’ll go to jail as an accomplice.”
Bertha said, “I think I may have something on that bridge, and I want to play it my way.”
Sellers said, “ I think you have something, Bertha, I want to play it my way.”
Abruptly the door to the bedroom opened. Mrs. Goldring, on the threshold, said to Sergeant Sellers, “I hope we’re not interrupting, and I hope the patient is all right but we’re so happy Carlotta has found her real mother. I want to present her. Mrs. Croftus, this is Sergeant Sellers — and,” she added hastily, “Mrs. Cool.”
“How do you do, Sergeant Sellers. And Mrs. Cool, I think I’ve met before. I’m sorry to learn that you’re indisposed, Mrs. Cool.”