“After you went back to sleep I went to MacArthur and he was as frightened as an old maid in a harem. All up in the air ... hundreds of feet. Said tomorrow is visiting day throughout the hospital and that it will be all over town by tomorrow night about the nurse being murdered and that after last night ... you know ... the-you-you-must-do-something line....
“So I made him come across with all he knew and sent for Rogers. He’ll be here by six on the mail plane or eight via Chicago.
“The man everybody but MacArthur suspects is young Sterling.”
“The hell you say!” Snod continued placidly waving his wet handkerchief in the dead air.
“Yep. I’ve seen him and he’s not guilty.”
“Huh? Howd’y’know?”
“Nothing concrete. Except he took me over his building. Left his dying father at MacArthur’s request, because I was supposed to be a friend of the old man. He’s worried, jumpy, nervous as a cat locked up, but he’s square or I’m a ninny.”
“You’ve been one a long time, Matt. Still, if he’s where we can keep an eye on him, just in case a real unbiased detective, like me, for instance, should disagree with you, I suppose we’d better not tell Lil. If she ain’t improved since this morning, she might do a real fade-out, and then where’d we be, with MacArthur pressing for immediate action? In hell! Who else charmed the pants off you, mister?”
“Shut up, Snod. We’ve only twenty minutes before you go back on!”
Snod groaned deeply. “A light luncheon, before I again enter the dominion of women?”