“I asked her, and she said she’d tell me later.”
“What’s her name?”
“I don’t know.”
“What number do you call her at?”
“I never call her. Birch was my contact. Now I wouldn’t know how to get her.”
“Phooey. We’ll come back to that if we have to stimulate you. Why did you kill Birch?”
“I didn’t kill him. I’m not a killer.”
“Who did?”
“I don’t know.”
I sat down. “As I told you, what I’m interested in is murder. With that cord we could squeeze your guts out, but that wouldn’t help us any; we just want facts, and facts we can check. If you didn’t kill Birch and don’t know who did, now tell me exactly how you’ve got it doped, and don’t—”