“You told me about how you’d been breaking speed laws,” she said, “but your car was stone cold when you tried to start it. You had to use the choke, and nurse it along. I know you never even went near Mr. Ellis. If you want to know how I know, he called me up not more than five minutes before you came back and asked me if I could meet him at his office at ten-thirty tonight. He said some officers from Santa Carlotta were going to be there, and he wanted me to look at a photograph. He didn’t say a single thing about you being there or about all that hocus-pocus that you dished out.
“That’s okay by me. I have enough confidence in you so that if you don’t want to take me into your confidence, I’ll play the game the way you want. But when you steal my purse, that’s just too much. I had it here in this room when you were here. You walked out, and now it’s gone.”
I dropped into a chair and began to laugh.
There was indignation in her eyes.
“It’s no laughing matter,” she said.
I said, “Listen, Marian. I want you to do one more thing for me.”
“I’ve done a lot for you already,” she said.
“I know you have. This is going to be hard for you to do, but I want you to do it.”
“What?” she asked.
“Believe every word that I’ve told you.”