"This is your own idea, Fred?"
"Sure."
"Talked it over with Anita?"
He shook his head furiously. "I wouldn't compromise you, Gyp, and not with her!"
That settled it. I would trust Anita with the crown jewels.
"No dice, Fred," I said. "Give me the facts."
"Gyp," he pleaded. "Don't ask for them!"
"The facts!"
He straightened up from where he had hung over my desk during the whole argument. "This cuts my guts right out," he said. "Suspect apprehended around two o'clock this morning and now in detention at the City Jail. Native white female, age fifty-eight. Named Maude Tinker." He stopped.
I couldn't start. Maude Tinker! My given name is Joseph Tinker—although they all call me Gyp. "What ..." I got out at last. "What did she look...?"