The Rubber Band

"Oh, for God's sake," Cramer sounded disgusted. "I wish I'd let the Commissioner pull you in, as he wanted to. I don't need to tell you why I hate to work against you, but have a heart. Send her down here, I won't bite her. I was going to a show tonight."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Cramer." Wolfe affected his sweet tone, which always made me want to kick him. "I must first verify your information about the larceny charge, and then I must get in touch with Miss Fox. You'll be there until eight o'clock."

Cramer grunted something profane, and we hung up.

"So." I tossed down my notebook. "Mr. Muir is yellow after all, and Mr. Perry is probably coming to find out how you knew he would be. Shake-up in the Seaboard Products Corporation. But where the devil is Johnny-ah, see that? All I have to do is pronounce his name and he rings the doorbell."

I went to the entrance and let him in. One look at his satisfied handsomeness was enough to show that he had been marvelous all over again. As a matter of fact, Johnny Keems unquestionably had an idea at the back of his head-and still has-that it would be a very fine thing for the detective business if he got my job. Which doesn't bother me a bit, because I know Wolfe would never be able to stand him. He puts slick stuff on bis hair and he wears spats, and he would never get the knack of keeping Wolfe on the job by bawling him out properly. I know what I get paid high wages for, though I've never been able to decide whether Wolfe knows that I know.

I took Johnny to the office and he sat down and began pulling papers out of his pocket. He shuffled through them and announced, "I thought it would be better to make diagrams. Of course I could have furnished Archie with verbal descriptions, but along with my shorthand I've learned-"

Wolfe put in, "Is Mr. Walsh there now?"

Johnny nodded. "He came a few minutes before six. I was watching from the back of a restaurant that fronts on Fifty-sixth Street, because I knew he'd have a shadow and I didn't want to run a risk of being seen, a lot of those city detectives know me. By the way, there's only the one entrance to the boarding, on Fifty-fifth." He handed the papers across to Wolfe. "I dug up nine other ways to get in. Some of them you couldn't use, but with two of them, a restaurant and a pet shop that's open until nine, it's a cinch."

Instead of taking the papers, Wolfe nodded at me. "Give them to Archie. Is there anyone in there besides Mr. Walsh?"