“Let me see it.”
She took it off her wrist. I set the hands back to eleven-fifteen and smacked the watch sharply against the corner of the dresser. It stopped. I said, “Put it back on. Remember, you broke your wrist watch this morning driving down. You dropped it in the rest-room of a service station. Think you can put this stuff across, think you understand it?”
“Yes, yes,” she said. “I understand it. You’re so nice! I knew I could depend on you.”
“Nix on it,” I said. “Get busy. On your way. Don’t try to call me here. Call me at the agency. Don’t call me while you’re under surveillance or from the police station. If it comes to a showdown, you can tell them that you know me and intended to look me up later. You didn’t give your name to Elsie Brand, did you?”
“Who’s Elsie Brand?”
“The office girl in the agency.”
“No, I just told her I was a friend of yours.”
I pushed her out into the corridor, patted her shoulder, and said, “Good luck, kid. On your way.”
I waited until I heard her go down the stairs and slam the outer door. I was a little afraid the landlady might try to question her.
After the front door slammed, I walked out to the telephone booth in the corridor and called the agency office. Elsie Brand answered.