“Oh, a reporter!” assumed the woman, and Mr. Parker did not correct her. “I thought maybe you were from the police. Yesterday I saw a man watching The Green Parrot and I said to my husband, Gus, ‘The cops are going to raid that place.’”
“And did they?” interposed Mr. Parker.
“Not that I know of. The outfit just moved out. And a queer time to be doing it too, if you ask me!”
“When did they leave?”
“The van pulled up there about two o’clock last night. They were loading stuff in until almost dawn.”
“Can you tell me where they went or why they moved out?”
“No, I can’t,” the woman replied with a shrug. “Like as not they were afraid the police were going to raid ’em. I’m telling you that place deserved to be closed up.”
“Just what went on there?”
“I never was inside the place, but some mighty queer acting people seemed to be running it. Why, I’ve seen men go in and out of there at four o’clock of a morning, hours after the cafe closed up.”
“Foreigners?”