Not Quite Dead Enough (The Rex Stout Library)

“Oh, she’s much better. She’ll be all right.” He squinted at me. “I suppose Miss Amory told you about her?”

“Yeah, she told me a lot of interesting things.”

He shifted in his chair. Then he cleared his throat. “You were with her all evening, weren’t you?”

“Sure, I stuck around.”

“I saw you when you came back. When you brought her home. From my window.”

“Did you? It was pretty late.”

“I know it was. But I-You see, I was worried about her. I am worried about her. I think she’s in some kind of trouble or something, and I wondered if that was why she went to see that Lily Rowan.”

“You might ask her.”

He shook his head. “She won’t tell me. But I’m sure she’s in some kind of trouble, the way she acts. I don’t know Miss Rowan, so I can’t go and ask her, but I know you, that is I’ve met you, and if you were with them last evening-and then your coming to see me today-I thought you might tell me. You see, I’ve got a right to know about it, a kind of a right, because we’re engaged to be married.”

My brows went up. “You are? You and Miss Amory?”

“Yes.”

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” He squinted at me. “So I wondered why you came to see me, and I thought maybe it was to tell me something about her, or ask me something, and that made me wonder-Anyhow, if you know whether she’s in trouble I wish you’d tell me.”

Except for the fact that I had solved the mystery of Ann’s fiance, or rather it had solved itself, that certainly didn’t sound as if Roy’s visit was going to break anything. However, since I had him there, I thought I might as well see what he had concealed on his person, so I proceeded to treat him as a friend. I told him I was sorry I couldn’t help him out any on the nature of Ann’s difficulty, if any, and casually guided the conversation in the direction of the inhabitants of 316 Barnum Street. That proved to be a boomerang. The minute we arrived at that address he got started on pigeons, and then did he talk!