“There,” Malone said fervently, “I agree with you.”
“The whole trouble was,” the Queen said, “that nobody knew about anybody else.”
“I’d gathered something like that,” Malone said. “But what exactly was it all about?”
“Well,” the Queen said, “Major Petkoff was supposed to tell Lou, in effect, that if she didn’t agree to do espionage work for the Soviet Union, things would go hard with her father.”
“Nice,” Malone said. “Very friendly gentleman.”
“Well,” the Queen continued, “he was supposed to tell her about that at the bar, when he had her alone. But she got that drugged drink before he could begin to say anything.”
“Then who drugged it?” Malone said. “Lou?”
The Queen shrugged. “Someone else,” she said. “Major Petkoff didn’t know anything about the drugged drink.”
“A nice surprise for him, anyhow,” Malone said.
“It was a surprise for everybody,” the Queen said. “You see, the drugged drink was meant to get her to the hospital, where they’d have her alone for a long time and could really put some pressure on her.”