Death of a Doxy (Crime Line)

He didn't see them. His jaw was clamped. He unclamped it to say, "Playing you. For God's sake. Playing you."

"Naturally I'm curious."

He got up and went through a doorway. I tossed the keys onto a table by a window and looked around. It was a good-sized room with three windows, with furniture that would do all right for a bachelor who wasn't fussy. The only light was from a pair of bulbs in a wall bracket, but there was a lamp by an easy chair that wasn't turned on. Orrie came back with a bottle and two glasses and offered me one, but I said no thanks, I had just dined. He put one glass down and poured in the other, took a healthy gulp, made a face, and sat down.

"Playing you," he said. "Nuts. Now you ask me where I've been since eight o'clock this morning and can I prove it."

I shook my head. "Since I'm merely curious, that would be stretching it. If I wanted to be nasty I would have opened up by barking at you something like, 'Why did you leave the ashtray on the floor?' Of course we do have to consider facts, such as the fact that I may be the only one besides you who knows that her being dead pulls a thorn for you. A bad thorn in deep. So of course I'm curious about one detail. Did you kill her?"

"No. My God, Archie. Am I a sap?"

"No. You're no mental giant, but you're not a sap. It would be nice if you could sell me. After all, you pulled me in, you knew I was going there today. It would be extra nice if you were covered."

"I'm not covered." He was staring at me but possibly not seeing me. He took a mouthful of whiskey and swallowed it twice. "As I told you, I'm on a job for Bascom. I was out at eight and picked up a subject a little before nine and was on him all day. It was -"

"Single tail?"

"Yes. Just routine. From nine-nineteen until twelve-thirty-five I was in the lobby of an office building."

"No company?"

"No."

"Then I'm still curious. You would be if we traded spots, you know damn well you would, but that's all I am, just curious. Do you want to ask me anything?"

"Yes, I do. You had gloves and keys, I don't mean mine. You knew there might be something there. Why didn't you take a quick look?"

I grinned at him. "You don't mean that."

"The hell I don't."