She said, “Nuts.”
“And,” I said, “I think we can do more at this end than we can at that.”
“How so?”
“Two people have been there ahead of me. They wanted the same thing I did. I figured they took away more than they left.”
“Then why did they want you out of town?”
I said, “I’ll bite.”
Bertha Cool studied me through a blue haze of cigarette smoke. She said, “That’s funny as hell, Donald.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
“Now, don’t get sore, lover. You know it’s all in a day’s work. It’s what you get for being a little runt. People figure it’s easy to push you around. Who was this guy?”
“I don’t know. He was sitting in the hotel room when I came up, right after I’d sent you that wire. I started to go back to Oakview, and then figured I had a lead I could follow to better advantage at this end.”