“We’ll warn him not to do that again. How you must have suffered. Skip things like that. I can’t bear it.”
“Go spit up a rope. He went into a place on 8th Street near Sixth, a bar and restaurant named Wellman’s. I happen to know a guy that works there. I waited outside a while, and then I went in and saw that Sam was there filling and spilling — he’s the guy I know. I bought a drink and chinned with him. The subject was there at the bar taking on cargo. He would sip at one maybe ten minutes and then down it would go and he’d get a refill. After that had been going on for an hour and a half Sam began frowning at him and I asked Sam about him. By the way, I had to turn loose of two dollars and sixty cents for refreshments.”
“I’ll bet you did. Wait till Wolfe sees the expense account, I won’t pass it.”
“Now, look here, Archie—”
“I’ll see. Finish your report to your superior.”
“Wait till I laugh. Haw. Sam said the subject was a good customer, too damn good sometimes. His name was Dawson and he lived in the neighborhood. A dozen times in the past two years Sam had had to get him home in a taxi. Well, it went on and on. After a while he staggered over to a table and sat down and asked for more. Finally he flopped. Sam and I made a couple of efforts to straighten him up, but he was out. So I offered to see him home, and Sam thought that was swell of me, and so did I until I started carrying him up that two flights of stairs. He weighs two hundred if he weighs an ounce.”
“Saul says a hundred and seventy.”
“Saul didn’t carry him upstairs. It was a quarter after five when I got him here. I took his pants and shoes off, and then sat and thought it over. The main thing was, why should I get you out of bed at that hour? I know how you are before breakfast—”
“So you took a nap and then phoned an SOS as if—”
“I didn’t take a nap. I just wanted you to realize—”