“Who, me?” Hale asked.
“Who the hell did you think I was talking to?” Rondler asked.
Hale said with dignity, “I was in New York. Look up the records of the airplane passengers.”
I grinned at Rondler. “Look up the records of the airplane company, and you’ll find that the man who made the trip to New York weighed a hundred and forty-six pounds. Hale weighs about two hundred. Marco Cutler is the lad who answers that description.”
“Preposterous!” Hale said. “The records of the airplane company are in error.”
I lit a cigarette.
Rondler said, “Well, I guess that’s all of it. You folks can go, but don’t any of you leave the city without my consent. In a way, you’re all in custody as material witnesses, and will be under surveillance.”
We all filed out into the corridor. Hale said to Roberta Fenn, “I regret the deception I practiced on you. I got acquainted with Edna Cutler. I couldn’t get anything out of her, but I did get her to give me a letter of introduction to you. You’ll understand how it is.”
“Oh, sure,” Roberta Fenn said. “It’s all in a lifetime.”
I stretched and yawned. “Well, I’ve had a hard siege of it,” I said. “I’m going home and go to bed.”