Over My Dead Body

Her head was tilted back to look up at me, and a little gasp left her mouth open. "But he can't-he must!" She jumped to her feet and I backed up a step as her eyes flashed at me. "We are from Tsernagora! She is-my friend is-" Indignation choked it off.

"It's final," I said brusquely. "He won't touch it. Sometimes I can change his mind for him, but there are limits. What does 'hvala Bogu.' mean?"

She stared. "It means 'Thank God.' If I see him, tell him-"

"You shouldn't have said it. It gives him the willies to hear a Montenegrin female voice talk Montenegrin. It's a kind of allergy. I'm sorry, Miss Lovchen, but there's not a chance. I know him from A to P, which is as far as he goes. P is for pig-headed."

"But he-I must see him, tell him-"

She was stubborn enough herself so that it took five minutes to persuade her out, and since the only prejudice I had acquired against Montenegrin females up to that point was based merely on pronunciation, which is not after all vital, I didn't want to get rough. Finally, I closed the front door behind her and went to the kitchen and announced sarcastically:

"I think it's safe now. Stay close behind me and if I holler run like hell."

Wolfe's inarticulate growl, as I wheeled and headed for the office, warned me that there was barbed wire in that neighbourhood, so when he came in a few minutes later and got re-established in his chair I made no effort to explain my viewpoint any further. He drank beer and fiddled around with a pile of catalogues, while I checked over a couple of invoices from Hoehn's and did some miscellaneous chores. When a little later he asked me to please open the window a crack, I knew the tension was relaxing towards normal.

But if either or both of us had any idea that we were through with the Balkans for that day, it wasn't long before we had it jostled out of us. It was customary for Fritz to answer the doorbell from eleven on, when I was in the office with Wolfe. Around twelve-thirty he came in, advanced the usual three paces, stood formally, and announced a caller named Stahl who would not declare his business but stated that he was an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

I let out a low whistle and ejaculated cautiously "Aha!" Wolfe opened his eyes a trifle and nodded, and Fritz went for the caller.