by Kane, Henry
“A person of no decisions. A person who needs one to lean upon. Perhaps that is why I love him so dearly. My own Ralph.”
“Let’s get back to cases, sweetie.”
“Cases?”
“Some one around here has got to make decisions. Look, tomorrow morning you return to Italy — ”
“To sing in my La Scala …”
“You’re to be married on the ship going over — ”
“He is so sweet, is he not, Miss Nelson? So young and sweet — ”
“Too young and too sweet, if you ask me, but you’re not asking. Okay. So you had a hundred thousand bucks here in a bank vault. So you drew it out today and put it into that little black bag. You did that today because you’re sailing tomorrow morning at eight and you want to have it with you. There are business ways of doing that, but you had to go and pick the crazy way. That’s bad enough, but you had to go and make it worse.”
“But you have already told me, Miss Nelson. You have told me, and you have told my fiancé.”
“Telling that Hardwood, your fiancé, telling him is like telling nobody. But I’m telling you again, and I’m insisting. You chattered like a magpie at dinner, you mentioned this thing to everybody.” She raised her hands to her head. “A hundred thousand cash bucks, and this opera singer advertises it.”
“But there are only four other lodgers, except of me, and except of Ralph.” She went to Miss Nelson and patted her arm. “And they are so sweet people, so charming, lovely …”
“Lord spare me from the artistic type. Look, I’m serious.”
“I know. You are a good, true person …”
“I’m going to do what I told Ralph I wanted to do, and what I told you. It’s only for overnight, and we’ll all rest better. I’m going to call this private detective, he has a fine reputation, I only hope I can get him in. I checked him in the phone book and he lives right near here. I’m going to call him, and if I can get him, I’m going to ask him to come over. It’s only for this one night, and Olga, please, it’s for your own benefit.”
“But are they not so terribly expensive, these private people, these detectives …?”
Read more of The Case of the Murdered Madame
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Copyright © 1963 by Henry Kane, Registration Renewed 1991
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, corporations, institutions, organizations, events, or locales in this novel are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, used fictitiously. The resemblance of any character to actual persons (living or dead) is entirely coincidental.
eISBN 10: 1-4405-4037-3
eISBN 13: 978-1-4405-4037-0
