“You’re going to get it. I am preparing for it—”
“Sure you are. You’re preparing to dry up and die. We respectfully request an appointment for Colonel Ryder to call on you at the earliest opportunity. We request you to remove your brain from the cedar chest and give me back my sweater, which is stretched out of shape, and go to work.”
“Confound you—”
“What the hell,” Cramer barked, “is all this?”
“Please be quiet,” Wolfe snapped. He folded his arms and shut his eyes, and his lips pushed out and then in again, and out and in. Cramer and I had both seen that before, on various occasions. This time it went on for quite a while. Finally Wolfe heaved a deep sigh and his eyes opened.
“Very well,” he muttered at me. “Talk.”
I grinned at him. “May I phone Colonel Ryder to come tomorrow at eleven?”
“How do I know? I’ve got a job to do.”
“As soon as it’s finished?”
“Yes.”