In the Best Families

“Certainly. I turned a palm up. “Listen, you're in a hole. I never saw a man in a deeper one. You're even willing and eager to shell out to me, a double-crosser you can't trust, to give you a lift. You can't possibly expect to get out in the clear with no ropes tied to you-what the hell, who is? Your main worry is getting framed for murder, so your main object is to see that you don't. That ought to be a cinch. Zeck has a new man, a guy named Roeder, came here recently from the coast, who has started to line up an operation that's a beaut. I've been assigned to help on it, and I think I'm going to. It's as tight as a drum and as slick as a Doberman pinscher's coat. With the help of a man placed as you are, there would be absolutely nothing to it, without the slightest risk of any noise or a comeback.

“No. That's what got-

“Wait a minute. As I said, this is on my own. I'm not going to tell you what

Zeck said to me yesterday, but I advise you to take my suggestion. Let me arrange for you to see him. You don't have to take up where you left off, a lot of dirty little errands; you're a man of wealth now and can act accordingly. But also you're a man who is suspected by thirty million people of killing his wife, and that calls for concessions. Come with me to see Zeck, let him know you're willing to discuss things, and if he mentions Roeder's operation let him describe it and then decide what you want to do. I told you why I don't want to see you or anyone else framed for that murder, and I don't think Zeck will either if it looks as though you might be useful.

“I hate him, Rackham said hoarsely. “I'm afraid of him and I hate him!

“I don't like him myself. I told him so. What about tomorrow? Say four o'clock to-morrow, call for you here at a quarter to three?

“I don't-not to-morrow-

“Get it over with! Would you rather keep on listening for the phone and the doorbell? Get it over with!

He reached for his straight drink, which he hadn't touched, swallowed it at a gulp, shuddered all over, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

“I'll ring you around noon to confirm it, I said, and stood up to go. He didn't come with me to the door, but under the circumstances I didn't hold it against him.

So that evening when Wolfe came to 1019 it appeared to be high time for getting the false bottom in the brief-case ready, and we went on until midnight, discussing the programme from every angle and trying to cover every contingency.