“Do you suppose I could help you make up your mind?” There’s the nibble. Reel ‘er in...
“You know, Mrs. Priam, that might be a perilous offer... Mrs. Priam?... Hello!”
She said in a low voice, quickly, “I must stop,” and the line went dead.
Ellery hung up perspiring. He was so annoyed with himself that he went upstairs and took a shower.
Laurel Hill dropped in on him twice in the next twenty-four hours. The first time she was “just passing by” and thought she would report that nothing was happening, nothing at all. Priam wouldn’t see her and as far as she could tell he was being his old bullying, beastly self. Delia had tried to pump her about Ellery and what he was doing, and as a matter of fact she couldn’t help wondering herself if...
Ellery’s glance kept going to his typewriter and after a few moments Laurel left abruptly.
She was back the next morning, recklessly hostile.
“Are you taking this case, or aren’t you?”
“I don’t know, Laurel.”
“I’ve talked to my lawyers. The estate isn’t settled, but I can get the money together to give you a retainer of five thousand dollars.”