“Why, no.”
“Did you notice smoke in the room? The odor still is here.”
Jerry sniffed the air. “Neco’s,” he decided. “They’re one of the strongest cigarettes on the market and not easy to get. Now that you mention it, the odor was in the room when I came in! But I didn’t think about it at the time.”
“Then whoever struck you must have been in here waiting!”
“Sure. Whoever it was, came in the window. He was hidden behind that screen. As I started to leave, he reared up and let me have it from behind! That’s all I remember.”
“Then you didn’t see him?”
“No, it happened too fast.”
“Jerry, it may have been Danny Deevers!”
“Maybe so,” the reporter agreed. “But I always figured if he caught up with me, he wouldn’t fool around with any rabbit punches.”
“He may have been frightened away, hearing me in the hall,” Penny said. “Jerry, do you have other enemies besides Danny?”