Death of a Doxy (Crime Line)

She would have had me if I hadn't taken the trouble to memorize it. "Thank God," I said, "you decided not to marry me. I'd get a Charley horse just trying to keep up. All right, we did discuss what the letter might say. But if you write it and I mail it, the minute he gets it you're a sitting duck. Tomorrow's Saturday. If you write it now and I mail it, he'll get it tomorrow morning. He might move fast and he might try anything. At ten o'clock tomorrow morning I'll be here, outside in the hall, and Saul Panzer, the rat, will be down in the lobby. When you leave, we leave with you, and we stick, and you don't try any dodges just to show that you know what men are for and what they're not for. At the Ten Little Indians we'll be there, and so will Fred Durkin, and one of us will be here, in the hall, all night. And so on until something happens."

"That's screwy," she said. "How could anything happen with all you heroes right there?"

"Leave that to us. We can't arrange details until we see how he reacts. You're willing to give it a try?"

"Certainly. The way you danced me in, I have to. Anyway, I want to. Nobody has ever tried to kill me, and it will make me feel important. All my life I have wanted to feel important."

"So has everybody else. But it must be understood that you will follow sugges – you will obey orders. You'll do exactly what you're told. What do you swear on, the Bible?"

"No, some of the men in it are awful, and so are the women. We'll shake." She offered a hand.

It was a purely professional contact, but it was a fact that she had nice hands, and I said so. "Before we go to work on the letter," I said, "I should mention the possibility that Stella may open it and read it. That would make it a different situation, but maybe even a better one. Anyhow, tomorrow is Saturday and he'll probably be there. Now the letter. We had the idea of addressing it to Milton Thales, care of Barry Fleming, but that would just be a stunt. Mr. Wolfe likes stunts. Would you call him Barry or Mr. Fleming?"

"I've never seen him. Mr. Fleming."