"Shut the door and come on in," I insisted. "You might as well. I was expecting you. Did you think Finch would be fool enough to run off to Glendale and leave the manuscript here in a drawer unguarded?" He moved, and I added quickly, "If you dash off I won't chase you. I'll call downstairs, and if necessary I'll call the cops, and we'll not only find you but also find out how you got that key. I don't think it's breaking and entering, but by God it's something, and I'll hang it on you."
He hooked his elbow on the edge of the door and swung it. It didn't quite close, and he backed against it until it did. Then he walked on in and stopped at arm's length.
"So you followed me here," he stated. He was a little hoarse. s With his jockey's physique and prizefighter's jaw and hungry eyes, he was certainly not imposing. The top of his head was a good inch below my eye level.
He repeated it, this time as a question. "You followed roe here?"
I shook my head. "I can't think of a single question you could ask that I would feel like answering. Nor do I want to
ask any, except maybe one: why don't you call Nero Wolfe and talk it over with him? Reverse the charge. There's a phone."
He sat down, not to be sociable. It was probably his knees. "This is persecution," he said.
"Not in the statutes," I objected. "But what you just did is, getting a key to another man's hotel room, whether by bribery or just asking for it. Have you anything to say?" "No."
"Absolutely nothing?" "No."
"Are you going to call Mr. Wolfe?" "No."
"Then I'll use the phone myself. Excuse me." I got the phone book, looked up a number, lifted the receiver, and asked for it. A female voice answered, and I gave my name and asked to speak to Mr. Dolman. In a moment he was on.
"Dolman? Archie Goodwin. I'm in Room Twelve-sixteen at the South Seas Hotel. A man named James A. Corrigan is here with me, but will soon be leaving, and I want him tailed right. Send me three good men at once, and have three more ready to take over as required. He'll prob-" "What the hell, is he there hearing you?" "Yes, so don't send Gibson. He'll probably be moving around, so they should have a car. Step on it, will you?"
I hung up, because I was through and also because Corrigan had already started to move around. He was heading for the door. I got to him, gripped a shoulder and hauled him back, and faced him.
