The young officer seemed pleased with the compliment. He looked again at Lucy’s disheveled hair and admitted, “At first I did think you’d been attacked like you said. But all that about the clerk mistaking you for Mrs. Carrol just because you were dressed something like her and look a little like her, well, it didn’t sound like the truth to me. After you’ve been on the force a while you get a kind of feeling about things like that. What were you doing up there?” he demanded, his voice suddenly gruff and authoritative.
“I must look a sight,” Lucy parried. She ran her fingers through her hair and tried to pat it into place, thinking desperately. “Well, it was my boy friend’s idea, really. He thought it up and we’ve been pulling the same stunt for months without ever getting caught before.”
“Prowling hotel rooms, eh?”
Lucy nodded and hung her head guiltily.
“How did you work it?” the officer asked, his eyes bright, alert.
“Like tonight, you know. We’d case a joint until we spotted somebody that looked enough like one or the other of us, get a key to the room and—”
Lucy Hamilton launched into a story of petty thievery and criminal activity, alternately acting tough, begging, cajoling, and sniffling. She blamed her male accomplice who had taken to dope of late. This had made her decide to send the hop-head hopping after tonight, and get herself a decent job, and settle down.
“I swear I’m through with this sort of thing from now on. I’ll never do it again. I swear I won’t, officer,” she ended, her fingers tightening on his arm, her eyes looking up into his imploringly. “Just let me off this time, huh?”
He shook his head, gulped, and looked away from her pleading eyes. It was clear that the officer believed her story and was sorry for her.
Lucy was quick to press her advantage. “Can’t you see that it was just tough luck I got caught tonight, officer? On the very night I’d made up my mind to quit the whole rotten business. Another two minutes would have made all the difference in the world to me! If you’ll just let me go this time!”