“Aw, dry up,” one of the officers said. I could see the district attorney’s investigator was getting little beads of perspiration on his forehead.
Bertha said, “And don’t think you’re going to strong-arm your way out of it simply because you’re in your own county. The kidnapping took place in another county, and if you knew how some of these other counties hate the guts of you men from this part of the state, you’d know what’s going to happen.”
That was the bombshell that did the work. I could see the D.A.’s man cave just as though his knees had buckled. He said, “Now, listen, there’s no use losing our tempers and yelling at each other. Let’s be reasonable. If this man’s innocent, he should be as anxious to prove it as anyone.”
I said, “That’s better. What do you want?”
“We want to find out whether you were the man who had the adjoining room in that hotel on the night of the murder.”
“All right, let’s find out.”
“Cripes, brother, that’s all we were trying to do.”
I said, “Let’s find out in a fair way.”
“What do you think’s a fair way?” one of the officers asked.
I said, “I’ll go down to the jail. You get five or six other people that are generally of my build and complexion, and have them dressed just about the same. While we’re doing it, let’s do it right. How many people saw this man who went to the hotel?”