“Like I said. He didn’t do any describing. He asked me to, and I did.”
“Go ahead.”
“Then he said he wanted to come and maybe exchange the hat and would I be there and I said yes. In about half an hour, maybe a little more, in he came. He showed me a New York detective license with his picture on it and his name, Orvald Cather, and he said it wasn’t his wife that bought the suit, he was investigating something. He said he was working for Nero Wolfe, the great detective, and something had come up about the suit and hat, and he wanted me to come to New York with him. Well, that was a problem. My brother and I don’t like any trouble. We’re no Brooks Brothers, but we try to run a nice honest little business—”
“Yes. But you decided to come?”
“My brother and I decided. We decide everything together.”
“Did Mr. Cather give you any inducement? Did he offer to pay you?”
“No, he just talked us into it. He’s a good talker, that man. He’d make a good salesman. So we came together on the tube, and he brought me here.”
“Do you know what for?”
“No, he didn’t say exactly. He just said it was something very important about the suit and hat.”
“He didn’t give you any hint that you were going to be asked to identify the woman who bought the suit and hat?”