“If he didn’t show up, what difference does it make?”

“But it could have been Ringold?”

I said, “Hell, it could have been anybody. I’m telling you she was at a movie.”

He was silent for a minute, and I took advantage of that silence to ask him, “Do you know anything about your stepson’s company — the one of which he’s president... what it’s doing?”

“Some sort of a gold dredging proposition. I understand they have a potential bonanza, but I don’t want to know about it.”

“Who does the actual peddling of the stock?”

He said, “I wish you wouldn’t call it that. It sounds — well, it sounds crooked.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yes, I know, but I don’t like it referred to in those terms.”

“All right, fix the terms to suit yourself, then tell me who’s peddling the stuff.”