“All the better. That would tell me much.”
“Perhaps more than you want to know. You told Bilic to ask for Room Nineteen. Why?”
“To impress him.”
“Since you just arrived in Yugoslavia, how did you know about Room Nineteen?”
“It was mentioned to me several times in Albania.”
“In what way?”
“As the lair of the panther who heads the secret police, and therefore the center of power.” Wolfe flipped a hand. “Let me finish. I told Jubé Bilic to take us to the north corner of the square, but when he brought us here instead I thought it just as well. You would soon have learned of our presence, from someone else if not from him, and it would be better to see you and tell you about us.”
“It would be better still to tell me the truth.”
“I have told you the truth.”
“Bah. Why did you offer to pay Bilic in American dollars?”