“She can’t! She don’t know either!”
I sprang from my chair and stood over them. “Look,” I said savagely, “save that for the cops. Can’t drive a car? Certainly you can! Everybody can!”
They were looking up at me, Carl bewildered, Tina frowning. “In America, yes,” she said. “But we are not Americans, not yet. We have never had a chance to learn.”
“You have never driven a car?”
“No. Never.”
“And Carl?”
“Never.”
“What the devil is this?” Wolfe demanded.
I returned to my chair. “That,” I said, “was the question I wanted to ask. It has a bearing, as you’ll soon see.” I regarded Carl and Tina. “If you’re lying about this, not knowing how to drive a car, you won’t be sent back home to die, you’ll die right here. It will be a cinch to find out if you’re lying.”
“Why should we?” Carl demanded. “What is so important in it?”