“I fired you,” he said with some feeling, “because of your meddling into my affairs.”
“You mean tracing you through the state medical bureau?”
“Yes.”
I said, “All right, that’s done. We’ve found you. You’re here, and I’m here. Now, let’s talk turkey.”
“That’s exactly what I wanted you to do, but understand this, young man, I’m not going to be held up. I—”
“Forget it. Here’s the dope. Two other people have been up to Oakview trying to get a line on your wife. One of them was a man named Miller Cross. I can’t find out anything about him. The other one, about three weeks ago, was a girl named Evaline Harris, who went under the name of Evaline Dell when she was in Oakview. She’s a cabaret entertainer at the Blue Cave in the city. I haven’t checked up on the place, but I understand it employs B girls who come out on the stage, show plenty of figure, sing a song or two, just enough to give them an ostensible occupation, and for the rest, make a commission on drinks and pick up what they can on the side.
“I contacted this Evaline Harris. I have her address here in case you’re interested. I put it up to her that I was an adjuster from the railroad company. Her trunk was damaged in transit to Oakview. She fell for it. I told her we had to know her business and why she was going under an assumed name. She said she was making an investigation trying to find out about a woman and that she was making that investigation on behalf of the woman’s husband. Now then, why didn’t you play fair with us?”
There was surprise on his face. “The woman’s husband?” he repeated.
I nodded.
“Then she’s married,” he said.