Over My Dead Body

I got out at the thirty-second and walked half a mile, around three corners, to 3259. The lettering on the door said:

WHEELER & DRISCOLL

IMPORTERS AND BROKERS

I opened the door and went in, and right away, even in the ante-room, found myself in the midst of prosperity, judging by the rugs and furniture and the type of employee displayed. She was the kind who without any visible effort conveys the impression that she got a job in an office only because she was fed-up with yachting and riding to hounds. Not wanting to frighten anyone into scooting out of any other Wheeler & Driscoll doors into the public corridor, I told her:

"My name is Goodwin and I would like to see Mr Nathaniel Driscoll."

"Have you an appointment?"

"Nope, I just dropped in. Have you heard about the diamonds? The ones he thought had been stolen from him?"

"Oh, yes." Her lip twitched. "Yes, indeed."

"Tell him my name is Goodwin, and Miss Tormic sent me to see him. I represent Miss Tormic."

"I'm sorry. Mr Driscoll isn't in."

"Has he gone home?"

"He hasn't been here this afternoon."

In the first place, my hunch was still alive and kicking, and in the second place, she wasn't a good liar, even with a common conventional lie like that. I got out my memo pad and wrote on it:

"If you don't want the cops busting in here in about two minutes looking for your fencing teacher, let's have a little talk. And, for God's sake, don't let her show her face in the hall.

"A.G."

I grinned at the employee to show there was no hard feeling; and indeed there wasn't. "May I have an envelope?"

She got one and handed it to me, and I inserted the note and licked the flap and sealed it. "Here," I said, "take this to Mr Driscoll, there's a good girl, and don't argue. Do I look like a man who would come all this way to see him unless I knew he was here?"

Without saying a word, she pressed a button. A boy entered from a door on the left, and she gave him the envelope and told him to deliver it to Mr Driscol's desk. I said, "Deliver it to him." And then, as the boy disappeared, I went to the entrance door and opened it and stood there where I could see the hall in both directions. There were several passers-by, but no sign of any frantic dash for freedom. I must have stood there for all of three minutes before I saw, about fifty feet down the hall, the top of a head and then a pair of eyes protruding beyond the edge of a door-jamb. I called in a tone of authority:

"Hey, back in there!"