“It is not flamboyant. At a hundred thousand a year, a modest expectation, my income would be a million in ten years. A detective license once lost in this fashion is not easily regained.”
“All right. A million. I’ll need all the facts for drafting a complaint.”
“You have them. You’ve just heard Archie recount them. Must you stickle for more?”
“No. I’ll manage.” Parker got to his feet. “One thing, though, service of process may be a problem. Policemen may still be around, and even if they aren’t I doubt if strangers will be getting into that house tomorrow.”
“Archie will send Saul Panzer to you. Saul can get in anywhere and do anything.” Wolfe wiggled a finger. “I want Mr. Koven to get that. I want to see him in this room. Five times this morning I tried to get him on the phone, without success. If that doesn’t get him I’ll devise something that will.”
“He’ll give it to his attorney.”
“Then the attorney will come, and if he’s not an imbecile I’ll give myself thirty minutes to make him send for his client or go and get him. Well?”
Parker turned and left, not loitering. I got at the typewriter to make out a bill for half a grand, which seemed like a waste of paper after what I had just heard.
VI
At midnight that Tuesday the office was a sight. It has often been a mess, one way and another, including the time the strangled Cynthia Brown was lying on the floor with her tongue protruding, but this was something new. Dazzle Dan, both black-and-white and color, was all over the place. On account of our shortage in manpower, with me tied up on my typing job, Fritz and Theodore had been drafted for the chore of tearing out the pages and stacking them chronologically, ready for Wolfe to study. With Wolfe’s permission, I had bribed Lon Cohen of the Gazette to have three years of Dazzle Dan assembled and delivered to us, by offering him an exclusive. Naturally he demanded specifications.