Kleinsmidt said to me, out of the corner of his mouth, “They’d break me if they knew I’d done any talking. You’re supposed to hit the chief’s office without knowing anything about what the score is.”
“Why?” I asked.
Kleinsmidt measured the distance to the waiting airplane, slowed his pace somewhat so he wouldn’t get there too soon. “What time did you leave Bertha Cool in the Sal Sagev Hotel?” he asked.
“Why, I don’t know. Yes, I do, too. It was shortly after eight.”
“Where’d you go?”
“Down to my room.”
“What’d you do there?”
“Packed up.”
“You didn’t check out?”
“No. I left that for Bertha to do. They’d have charged me for another twenty-four hours on the room, anyway, and Bertha’s the treasurer. She knew I was going.”