Wolfe shook his head. “That’s one of the details you’ll get. Confound it, do I mean what I say?”
“Search me. I never know. You say you’ll take my word. Why not take my word that I’ll either do it or forget I ever heard it?”
“No. Archie, get Mr. Skinner.”
Cramer uttered a word that was for men only. “You and your goddam charades,” he said bitterly. “Why do you bother with me? You know damn well I’m not going to let you slip it to the D.A.’s office, because you may really have it. You have before. Okay. On your terms.”
Wolfe nodded. The gleam in his eye came and went so fast that it nearly escaped even me.
“Your notebook, Archie. This is rather elaborate, and I doubt if we can finish before dinner.”
XIV
“I’ll explain gladly,” I told Officer Hefferan, “if you’ll descend from that horse and get level with me. That’s the democratic way to do it. Do you want me to get a stiff neck, slanting up at you?”
I yawned wide without covering it, since there was nothing there but nature and a mounted cop. Being up and dressed and breakfasted and outdoors working at seven in the morning was not an all-time record for me, but it was unusual, and I had been up late three nights in a row: Tuesday the congregation of clients, Wednesday the festivities with Lily Rowan, and Thursday the drive to La Guardia to meet the airplane, which had been on schedule.
Hefferan came off his high horse and was even with me. We were posted on top of the little knoll in Central Park to which he had led me the day I had made his acquaintance. It promised to be another warm October day. A little breeze was having fun with the leaves on the trees and bushes, and birds were darting and hopping around, discussing their plans for the morning.