Ashbury said, “I’m sorry, Donald, but they’ve ganged up on us. The nurse won’t contradict the doctor.”
I reached for my hat. “It’s your funeral,” I said. “I had a winning hand until you trumped my ace.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to be. If you want to do a good day’s job, start getting worried about your wife.”
“That would be playing right into their hands.”
“So worried,” I went on, “that you insist on a consultation. Get a doctor of some real standing in the profession, get him out here right away, and take her blood pressure. ”
He looked at me for a minute, then his eyes softened into a twinkle. He started for the telephone.
I said, “Come on, Bertha.”
Chapter Fourteen
Tokamura Hashita sat on the edge of the bed, blinked his eyes against the light, and listened to my proposition. I said, “These experts say the stuff’s no good, Hashita. They claim it only works with rubber knives and unloaded guns. They claim they’ll put on a test and tie you in a bow-knot like a shoelace. They offer to bet fifty bucks. I tried to show them what you’d taught me, and they jammed me into a garbage can and told me they could do the same with you.”