“So I kept putting it off. We got a good one in December and I went to Florida for a vacation, but down there I met a man with a lead and we followed it up here just a week ago. That’s what I’m working on now. That’s what brought me here today. This man—”
She stopped abruptly.
“Well?” I invited her.
She looked dead serious, not more serious, but a different kind. “I’m not putting anything on him,” she declared. “I don’t owe him anything and I don’t like him, but this is strictly about me and no one else — only I had to explain why I’m here. I wish to God I’d never come!”
There was no question about that coming from her heart, unless she had done a lot of rehearsing in front of a mirror.
“It got you this talk with me,” I reminded her.
She was looking straight through me and beyond. “If only I hadn’t come! If only I hadn’t seen him!” She leaned toward me for emphasis. “I’m either too smart or not smart enough, that’s my trouble. I should have looked away from him, turned away quick, when I realized I knew who he was, before he turned and saw it in my eyes. But I was so shocked I couldn’t help it! For a second I couldn’t move. God, I was dumb! I stood there staring at him, thinking I wouldn’t have recognized him if he hadn’t had a hat on, and then he looked at me and saw what was happening. I knew then all right what an awful fool I was, and I turned away and moved off, but it was too late. I know how to manage my face with nearly anybody, anywhere, but that was too much for me. It showed so plain that Mrs. Orwin asked me what was the matter with me and I had to try to pull myself together — then seeing Nero Wolfe gave me the idea of telling him, only of course I couldn’t right there with the crowd — and then I saw you going out and as soon as I could break away I came down to find you.”
She tried smiling at me, but it didn’t work so good. “Now I feel some better,” she said hopefully.
I nodded. “That’s good bourbon. Is it a secret who you recognized?”
“No. I’m going to tell Nero Wolfe.”