“And I have so advised Esther Clarde. It may interest you to know, Donald, that I talked with her early this morning. I have an appointment with her at ten-thirty. I’ve persuaded her that the only thing to do is to call the officers and confess frankly that she tried to protect you.”
“You mean reverse her statement?”
“That’s it exactly.”
“Her identification won’t amount to much if she goes on the stand now and swears I was the one who went into the hotel.”
He was positively beaming. “That’s right, Donald, that’s right. You have a very clear legal mind, but if she said that you had bribed her not to identify you, that it was because of this bribe she lied to the officers, but that afterward she had competent legal advice and realized that that made her an accessory after the fact — well, Donald, that legal mind of yours won’t have any difficulty in putting two and two together.”
“It doesn’t,” I said.
“I didn’t think it would.”
“Very clever,” I told him.
“Thank you,” he said, flashing his teeth in a grin. “I thought it was pretty good myself.”
“All right, what do you want?”