Mason had already started down the stairs. “So sorry I disturbed you, Doctor. I can appreciate the demands that are made on your time.” And to keep the doctor from realizing that he had failed to follow his suggestion, Mason went on, “What time do you operate in the morning?”
“Eight-thirty,” Dr. Sawdey said and closed the door.
“Hungry, Della?” Mason asked as they approached the taxicab.
“I could use a little food,” she admitted.
Mason said, “ I don’t feel particularly hungry, and I want to keep an eye on Dr. Sawdey. I want to see if he goes out within the next ten or fifteen minutes. Suppose you take the cab and go to Locarno’s Grill. I’ll be along in twenty minutes or half an hour.”
She regarded him with that whimsical expression which a woman reserves for a man of whom she is very fond and who has been rather clumsy in seeking to outwit her.
“Something wrong with that?” Mason asked.
“Dr. Sawdey is a doctor. If he leaves, it will be on a call.”
Mason nodded.
“And it would be on an urgent call. Therefore, he’ll leave in an automobile. I suppose you’re going to run after him on foot?”