I’d found the rest of it by the time Bertha returned from the telephone, some old stage costumes and some vaudeville publicity photographs of a woman in tights with autographs written on them, Lovingly, Flo.
I studied the pictures. “Add twenty years and forty pounds,” I said, “and that’s the woman I saw in Oakview, the one who was registered as Mrs. James C. Lintig.”
Bertha Cool didn’t say anything. She walked over to the kitchenette and brought out a bottle of brandy.
I looked at the date on the seal of the bottle. It said 1875.
Chapter Eleven
Bertha Cool had just finished pouring her third brandy at the end of an hour, when the telephone rang.
She looked at her wrist watch and said, “That’s prompt action. One of the operatives reporting on Harbet.”
She picked up the receiver and said, in that crisp, official voice of hers, “Yes, this is Bertha Cool talking. Go ahead.”
I couldn’t hear what was coming over the wire, but I could see the expression on Bertha Cool’s face. I saw the lips tighten, the eyelids lower. She said, “I don’t do any driving myself. That can be verified.”
There was another long period of silence while Bertha Cool sat listening at the telephone. Light scintillated from the diamonds on the hand that held the receiver. She avoided looking at me. After a while she said, “Now listen, I’ll have to check up on my records to find which operative was driving the car at the time you mention and where the car was in operation. Personally, I think there’s some mistake but... No, I’m not going to the office now. I’m in bed. It wouldn’t do me any good if I went there. I couldn’t find the records. My secretary has charge of those... No, I’m not going to have her disturbed at this hour, and that’s final. It isn’t that important. Nine times out of ten, witnesses who take licence numbers are mistaken... Yes, by ten o’clock in the morning... All right, nine-thirty then. That’s absolutely the earliest... I have several operatives. I have two or three out on a case now... No, I can’t tell you their names or the nature of the case. That’s confidential. I’ll look up my car records in the morning and advise you. I won’t do anything until then.”