I opened the window, then the door. Bertha Cool switched off the lights. We went out into the corridor, and Bertha Cool said, “Think of having a disposition like that at this hour in the morning. Donald, if you want to take the advice of one who has seen something of the world, go marry that girl before someone else beats you to it.”
I said, “I’ve heard of goofier ideas, at that.”
“What do we do now?” Bertha asked.
I said, “We go back to the taxi. I go out to the Key West Apartments and keep the operatives on the job to make certain nothing slips. You go back to your apartment and grab a little sleep. I don’t dare to show up around the office because they’ll nab me on that hit-and-run charge. You stay away from that office appointment with the cops. Show up at the Key West about nine or nine-thirty, and we’ll go in and have a talk with Aunt Amelia.”
“What are we going to talk about?” Bertha asked.
I said, “I think I know the words, but I don’t know the music — yet. I’ll have to think it over. Keeping a watch on that apartment house will give me a chance to think.”
We climbed in the taxi, and I told the driver to take me to the Key West, and then take Bertha to her apartment.
As we were rolling along, Bertha said, “Do you think she’s going to skip out tonight, Donald?”
“No. Not one chance in a hundred, but we can’t afford to gamble on one chance in a thousand.”
Bertha Cool said, “Are you telling me,” and settled back against the seat cushions.