Kept Women Can’t Quit

“I told him I’d try and reach Evelyn right away and asked him if he had any idea what you were after and he said he didn’t, that you were posing as a writer but that you certainly were on the track of something. He said you tried to make a circuitous approach, but he’d had you figured out right from the start.”

“Interesting,” I said.

“Isn’t it?”

“Where’s the letter that came by messenger?” I asked.

She opened her purse and handed me an envelope. I looked it over, pulled out my knife, cut the envelope along the edge, then pulled out a sheet of note paper. It was covered with masculine handwriting and was signed “Standley Downer.” It read:

Dear Mr. Lam:

Hello, Sucker!

I understand Hazel has asked you to get her fifty grand back. For your information, Hazel is all finished. I am the one who gave it to her, so now I’m taking it back. She hasn’t a dime left. It serves her right. If you expect her to pay you anything it won’t be in cash.

You’re a businessman. Don’t let her make a sucker out of you the way she tried to make a boob out of me.

I presume she told you she said “yes” in front of an altar. For your information, it was on the back seat of an automobile. She never got me near an altar. Every cent she ever had is money I gave her.

Any story she may have given you about inheriting the money is just so much malarkey. I told her I was giving her this wad of dough. She fell for that line. It was nice while it lasted.

If you feel you can run your business on promises go ahead and be a sucker. The only money she has to eat on is what she borrowed on her equity in the car.

So long, Sucker!

I handed the letter to Elsie. She read it and her eyes widened. “Donald, how did he know about all this?” she asked.

I said, “He might have a pipeline in to police headquarters, he might have a newspaper reporter tipping him off, or Hazel may have a friend in whom she’s confiding who is double-crossing her.”

“Interesting possibilities, aren’t they?” she said.

I nodded. “The guy works fast.”

“What was his object in writing you?” she asked.

“Trying to get me to layoff the case by telling me there wouldn’t be any money for a fee,” I said.

“But, Donald, if they’re not married, doesn’t that leave you in something of a spot? If you find him he’ll tell you to go jump in the lake.”

I said, “After I find him Hazel is supposed to take over. You remember she said she had something on him?”

Elsie thought things over for a moment, then said, “Donald, do you know what I think?”

“What?” I asked.

“That there’s collusion between Hazel and Standley. He assisted in stealing the money from the— Donald, they’re going to get you involved in this money deal and make you some sort of a cat’s-paw.”

“Could be,” I said.

“Donald, it has to be! This letter must have been written not too long after Hazel left your office.”

“It’s possible,” I said.

“Donald, don’t you understand? They’re working hand in glove, trying to trap you in some way.”

“If that’s true, we can’t stop them from being hand and glove,” I said.

“But what do we do?” she asked.

“You sit right here, Mrs. Lam,” I said. “You make up the bed. You ride herd on that telephone. You answer it every time it rings. You tell them that you’re Evelyn’s roommate, that Evelyn is going to call you sometime later on and that you’ll take any messages.”

“How long do I stay here?”

“Until I get back to relieve you,” I said. “Ring up the office. Say you had to leave early on account of a headache. Don’t let the switchboard operator get Bertha on the line.

“Incidentally, there’s an enclosed garage space that goes with this apartment. I’m going down now and take a look in there. You prowl through the wastebasket and see if there’s anything that would give us a clue. I don’t think there is, but you can give it a prowl.”

I headed for the door.

Elsie stood looking at me dubiously.

“What’s the matter?” I asked. “Afraid?”

“Oh, no,” she said. “It’s just that I’m trying to reconcile my ideas of a honeymoon with you to a dirty wastebasket filled with some other woman’s discarded clothing.”