Chapter 10 Chapter 10 The Couch at the Belvedere Hotel
When Spade sat up, it was daylight, and the night was only a puff of smoke.Bridget O'Shaughnessy was beside him, breathing softly and evenly, soundly asleep.Spade got up quietly, walked out of the bedroom, and closed the bedroom door.He finished dressing in the bathroom, then examined the sleeping girl's clothes, took a flat brass key from her coat pocket, and went out.
He came to Crown Apartments and used that key to enter the gate and her apartment.When he entered the door, he didn't look sneaky at all, and walked in swaggeringly.But it's almost imperceptible to the ears alone, as he tries to be as quiet as possible.
He turned on all the lights in the girl's apartment and searched the whole room.His eyes and thick fingers move without haste, without hesitation, rashness, or detours. He probes, examines, and inspects inch by inch. His movements are skillful and confident.Every drawer, closet, filing shelf, box, bag, trunk—locked or not—was opened and its contents inspected by eye and finger; every garment was touched by hand. However, look for the bulge that hides the secret, and then use your ears to hear the sound of paper being crumpled when you pinch the clothes.He pulled off the sheets, pushed back the rug, and looked under each piece of furniture.He lowered the blinds to make sure nothing was rolled up and hidden inside.He looked out the window to see if there was anything hanging outside under the ledge.He poked a fork into the powder and cream jars on the dresser, and held up the perfume nozzles and bottles to the light.He checked the cutlery and food, and emptied the contents of the trash can on a spread of newspapers.He opened the lid of the toilet tank in the bathroom, drained the water, and looked inside.He also checked the metal drain screens in the bathtub, washbasin, sink, and laundry tub.
He didn't find the blackbird, or anything that looked like it was related.The only piece of paper he found was a receipt for Bridget O'Shaughnessy's monthly rent for the apartment a week earlier.The only object of interest and delay in the search was a painted box locked in a dresser drawer, containing two handfuls of rather valuable jewels.
He made a cup of coffee after his search.Then he unlatched the kitchen window, made a few slashes around the edge of the latch with the pocket knife he had with him, pushed open the window--which faced the fire escape--and picked up his hat and coat, and left the apartment as he had come.
On the way home, he stopped at a grocery store.The shopkeeper had puffy eyes and was wobbly fat.He bought oranges, eggs, rolls, butter and cream.
Spade entered the apartment softly, but before he could close the door, Bridget O'Shaughnessy called from behind, "Who?"
"Little Spade with breakfast."
"Oh, you scared the hell out of me!"
The bedroom door he had closed before was now open.The girl shivered and sat on the edge of the bed, hiding her right hand under a pillow.Spade put the paper bag on the kitchen table and went into the bedroom.He sat down on the bed beside her, kissed her smooth shoulder, and said, "I want to see if that kid is still there, and buy something for breakfast."
"Is he still there?"
"It's gone."
She sighed and leaned against him.
"I woke up and you weren't here and then I heard someone come in. I was freaking out."
Spade brushed back the red hair around her face with his fingers and said, "I'm sorry baby, I thought you were going to sleep till now. You kept that gun under your pillow all night?"
"No, you know I didn't. I jumped up and took it when I was startled."
He made breakfast and slipped the flat brass key back into her coat pocket while she was washing and dressing.She came out of the bathroom whistling to the tune of "In Cuba".
"Shall I make the bed?" she asked.
"It couldn't be better. The eggs will have to cook for a few more minutes."
Their breakfast was already on the table when she came to the kitchen.They sat in the same places they sat the night before, and ate heartily.
"And what about the bird?" Spade suggested while they were eating.
She put down her fork and looked at him, frowning and pursing her little mouth.
"You shouldn't have asked me that this morning anyway," she protested. "I don't want to, and I won't."
"He's a stubborn, nasty little slut," he said sadly, putting a roll in his mouth.
As Spade and Bridget O'Shaughnessy walked across the sidewalk to the waiting taxi, the young man who had followed Spade did not appear, and the taxi was not followed.When the car came to the Crown Apartment, the young man was not nearby, and there were no people hanging around. Bridget O'Shaughnessy wouldn't let Spade follow her in. "It's bad enough coming home in evening clothes at this hour, let alone taking someone else with you. Let's hope you don't meet anyone." "Shall we have dinner tonight?" "OK." They kiss goodbye.She walked into the apartment and he said to the driver, "Belvedere Hotel." When he arrived at the Belvedere Hotel, he found the young man who had followed him sitting on a couch in the lobby, from which the elevator could be seen.The young man pretended to be reading a newspaper.Spade inquired at the front desk that Kylo was not there.He frowned, touched his lower lip, and there was a gleam in his eyes. "Thank you," he said gently to the receptionist, and turned away, walking nonchalantly across the hall to the couch with a view of the elevator, and sat within a foot of the young man pretending to read a newspaper. .The young man just stared at the newspaper without looking up.From a close look, he was less than twenty years old.He has an average appearance, but his facial features are still pretty, which match his figure.His skin was very fair, and despite the beard growing on his cheeks and the blood rushing to his face, it didn't hinder his whiteness.His clothes weren't new, and the texture wasn't too good, but there was something neat and masculine about his grooming and demeanor.Spade asked casually, "Where is he?" he asked, spreading tobacco on a half-rolled brown paper. The young man put down the newspaper and looked around.His movements were slow, as if he was deliberately suppressing his natural agility, and his small light brown eyes were hidden under long curved eyelashes, looking at Spade's chest.He said, "What?" in a voice that was flat and artificial, as cold as his young face. "Where is he?" Spade was busy rolling his cigarette. "Who?" "That sissy." The light brown eyes looked up from Spade's chest to the knot of his dark red tie and stayed there. "You know what you're doing, man?" said the lad brutally. "Damn me?" "I'll remind you when I'm going to trick you." Spade licked the cigarette in his hand and smiled at him pleasantly. "He's from New York, isn't he?" The young man stared at Spade's tie and said nothing.Spade nodded, as if the young man admitted it, and asked, "Have you memorized a lot of cases?" The young man stared at Spade's tie for a long time, then picked up the newspaper, returned his attention to it, and said "Fuck off" from the corner of his mouth. Spade lit his cigarette, leaned back comfortably on the couch, and said in a casual but friendly tone, "Little guy, you, or some of you, if you want to get things done, you have to talk to me first." Talk. You can tell 'G' that these are my words." The young man put down the newspaper quickly, and faced Spade with cold light brown eyes fixed on his tie, his thin hand spread out to press on his stomach. "Continue to ask if there are any good ones for you, as many as you want." His voice was low and hoarse, full of threats, "I tell you to go away. Go away!" A stocky man with glasses and a girl with blond hair and thin legs passed by, and when he was sure they couldn't hear, Spade chuckled and said, "It might work well in the world, but you're not there now. You're on my turf." He took a puff on his cigarette and exhaled a long puff of white smoke, "Come on, where is he?" The young man answered two words.The first word is a guttural verb and the second is "you". "People who talk like this, beware of looking for teeth." Spade's voice was still friendly, but his face was already stiff. "If you want to come out to hang out, you have to be polite." The young man repeated those two words. Spade threw the cigarette butts into a stone jar by the couch and raised a hand for a man standing by the cigar rack.The man, who had stood there for several minutes, nodded and walked towards them.He was a middle-aged man, of medium height, with a round sallow face, of solid build, and dressed in neat black. "Hello, Sam," he said as he approached. "Hello, Luke." They shook hands, and Luke said, "What happened to Miles, if I ask you." "Well, bad luck." Spade tilted his head and pointed him to the boy on the couch. "Why do you let these unscrupulous gunmen hang around in your lobby? They eat guys The clothes are stuffed up." "Oh?" Luke's face suddenly became serious, and those sly brown eyes looked at the young man carefully. "What are you doing here?" he asked. The young man stood up, and Spade also stood up.The young man stared at their ties, first at this and then at that.Luke's tie is black.Standing in front of them, the young man looked like a schoolboy.Luke said, "Okay, if you have nothing to do, go away and don't come again." The young man said: "I will remember you." Then he went out. They watched him walk out the door.Spade took off his hat and wiped his sweaty brow with a handkerchief. "What's going on?" asked the security officer. "Damn it, I wish I knew," Spade replied. "I just happened to see him. Know Joe Carroll, room six three five?" "Oh, that guy!" The security chief shot Spade a malicious look. "How long has he lived here?" "Four days. Today is the fifth day." "What's the matter with this man?" "I don't know, Sam. I don't have a problem with him, I just don't like the way he looks." "Check to see if he came back last night." "I'll try." The security chief agreed and walked away. Spade sat on the couch and waited for him to return. "No," Luke reported, "he didn't sleep in his room. What's wrong?" "nothing." "Don't lie to me. You know I'll keep my mouth shut. If something's wrong, we need to know so we can collect people's money to fix it." "There's nothing wrong," Spade reassured him. "In fact, I'm doing a little work for him. If he has a problem, I'll let you know." "You'd better do it. Shall I keep an eye on him?" "Thanks, Luke, there's no harm in keeping an eye on him. These days, the more you know about the people who hire you, the better."
The clock above the elevator door said eleven twenty-one when Joe Kylo came in from the outside.There was a bandage on his forehead, his clothes were wrinkled from wearing them for too long, his face was pale, his eyelids and the corners of his mouth drooped.Spade met him at the front desk. "Good morning," Spade said lightly. Kai Luo straightened his exhausted body, and the sagging lines on his face suddenly tightened. "Good morning." There was no enthusiasm in his reply. The conversation paused for a moment.Then Spade said, "Let's find a place to talk." Kylo raised his chin. "With all due respect," he said, "the few conversations we've had in private have not gone very well, and I'm in no rush to continue. Sorry for being blunt, but it's true." "You mean last night?" Spade put his head and hands impatiently. "What the hell could I do? I thought you were a sensible person. If you're going to fight her, or seduce her Come against you, I'm only on her side. I don't know where the goddamn bird is, and neither do you. But she does. How do we get the bird if I don't coax her?" Kailo hesitated for a moment, then said suspiciously: "I must say, you always have a seamless argument ready." Spade glared at him and said, "What do you think of me? Stuttering? Come on, we can talk over here." He led Kylo to the couch.When the two sat down, he asked: "Dundee brought you back to the Bureau?" "right." "How long have they tormented you?" "Until just now, it didn't matter whether I was willing or not." Kai Luo's expression and tone were mixed with pain and anger, "I must report this matter to the Greek Consulate General and discuss it with a lawyer." "Go ahead and see what happens. What did you spit on the police?" There was a reserved self-satisfaction in Kai Luo's smile. "Not a single word. I'm sticking with my story in your room," his smile faded, "but I wish you'd made up a little more plausible story. I'm repeating those words, thinking it's ridiculous pole." Spade smirked. "That's," he said, "but stories like this have to be absurd. Are you sure you didn't tell them anything?" "You may rest assured, Mr. Spade, I really haven't." Spade tapped his fingers on the leather cushion between them. "Dundee will come to you again, as long as you don't say anything. Don't worry about the story being ridiculous. If it makes sense, we'll all go to jail." He stands up. "You're being bombarded by the police. After a night, I must be sleepy now, see you later."
When Spade walked into the outer office, Effie Palin was on the phone and said, "No, not yet." She looked at him and mouthed silently, "Eva." He shook his head . "Okay, I'll ask him to call you when he comes," she said loudly, and put the receiver back. "This is the third call she's made this morning," she told Spade. Spade growled impatiently.The girl's brown eyes glanced toward the inner office. "Your Miss O'Shaughnessy is in. She's been here a few minutes past nine and waiting." Spade nodded as if he had expected it, and asked, "Is there anything else?" "Sheriff Burrows called and didn't leave a message." "Call him for me." "There's another Mr. G calling." Spade's eyes lit up.He asked, "Who?" "Mr. G. That's what he said." She showed complete indifference. "I told him you weren't in, and he said, 'When he comes, please tell him that Mr. G. got his message and called. Yes, will call again.'” Spade's mouth is tightly shut, as if reminiscing about his favorite food. "Thanks, dear," he said, "you'll see if you can find Tom Burrows." He opened the inner door, went into his office, and closed the door. Bridget O'Shaughnessy in the same dress she had worn on her first visit.She got up from the chair by the desk and walked quickly towards him. "Someone has come into my apartment," she cried, "and it has been turned upside down." His surprise seemed appropriate. "Did you lose something?" "I don't think so... I don't know. I dare not stay there. I changed as fast as I could and came here. Oh, he must have followed you when you got there." Spade shook his head. "No, baby." He took an afternoon's paper from his pocket and pointed her to a quarter-column headline "Screaming to Scare Burglars Away."The news was about a young woman named Caroline Beale, who lived alone in an apartment on Sutter Street, and was awakened at four o'clock this morning by the sound of someone moving in her bedroom.She screamed, and the figure fled.Later this morning, two other single women who lived in the same building noticed signs of the burglars in their apartment.None of the three had property stolen. "I dumped him on Sutter Street," Spade explained. "I went into the building and slipped out the back door. All three were women and they lived alone. He was trying to find you Using an alias, I checked all the apartments in the foyer that were registered in a woman's name." "But didn't he stare at where you lived last night?" she retorted. Spade shrugged. "There's no reason to assume he had no accomplices; or that he went to Sutter Street thinking you'd spend the night with me. There are many possibilities, but it wasn't me who led him to the Crown." She was still dissatisfied: "But he still found out, or someone else." "That's possible," he said, frowning, staring at her feet. "I was wondering if it was Kylo. He was out of the hotel all night and only got back a while ago. He told me he was interrogated by the police all night." , but I doubt it." He turned and opened the door and asked Effie Palin, "Did you find Tom?" "He's not here. I'll try again later." "Thank you." Spade closed the door, facing Bridget O'Shaughnessy.She looked at him, her eyes clouded with worry. "You went to see Joe this morning?" she asked. "right." She hesitated for a moment: "Why?" "Why?" He smiled at her. "My little one, because if I want to get to the bottom of this bewildering case, I'm going to have to hook up with all kinds of people." He held out an arm. Hold her by the shoulders, bring her to the swivel chair, kiss the tip of her nose lightly, let her sit on the chair, and sit on the desk in front of her. He said, "Now we have to find you a new home, right?" She nodded vigorously: "I won't go back there." He patted the table next to his legs with a thoughtful look on his face.After a little while he said, "I know what to do, wait a minute." He went to the outer office and closed the door.Effie Palin reached for the phone and said, "I'll try again." "Try again later. Based on your womanly instincts, do you still think she's a good girl? Or do you think otherwise?" She looked up at him with piercing eyes. "No matter what trouble she got into, I still believe she's a good person. Do you mean that?" "That's what it means." He said, "Then would you like to help her?" "How to help?" "Can you hide her for a while?" "You mean hiding at home?" "Yes, someone broke into her place. It's the second time she's had a thief this week. It would be better if she didn't live alone, and it would be great if you could take her home for a few days." All right." Effie Palin leaned forward and asked earnestly, "Sam, is she really in danger now?" "I think it is." She scratched her lips with her nails. "That would turn mother blue. I've got to tell my mother she's an incredible witness and you can't let her show up until the last minute." "That's sweet of you," Spade said, "better get her there now. I'll get her keys and get what she needs from her apartment. Let me see . . . no Be seen to leave together. You go home now. Take a taxi, but make sure no one is following you. Probably no one will follow you, but be careful just in case. I'll take her out later, make sure no one follows Follow her."
Notes:
As Spade and Bridget O'Shaughnessy walked across the sidewalk to the waiting taxi, the young man who had followed Spade did not appear, and the taxi was not followed.When the car came to the Crown Apartment, the young man was not nearby, and there were no people hanging around. Bridget O'Shaughnessy wouldn't let Spade follow her in. "It's bad enough coming home in evening clothes at this hour, let alone taking someone else with you. Let's hope you don't meet anyone." "Shall we have dinner tonight?" "OK." They kiss goodbye.She walked into the apartment and he said to the driver, "Belvedere Hotel." When he arrived at the Belvedere Hotel, he found the young man who had followed him sitting on a couch in the lobby, from which the elevator could be seen.The young man pretended to be reading a newspaper.Spade inquired at the front desk that Kylo was not there.He frowned, touched his lower lip, and there was a gleam in his eyes. "Thank you," he said gently to the receptionist, and turned away, walking nonchalantly across the hall to the couch with a view of the elevator, and sat within a foot of the young man pretending to read a newspaper. .The young man just stared at the newspaper without looking up.From a close look, he was less than twenty years old.He has an average appearance, but his facial features are still pretty, which match his figure.His skin was very fair, and despite the beard growing on his cheeks and the blood rushing to his face, it didn't hinder his whiteness.His clothes weren't new, and the texture wasn't too good, but there was something neat and masculine about his grooming and demeanor.Spade asked casually, "Where is he?" he asked, spreading tobacco on a half-rolled brown paper. The young man put down the newspaper and looked around.His movements were slow, as if he was deliberately suppressing his natural agility, and his small light brown eyes were hidden under long curved eyelashes, looking at Spade's chest.He said, "What?" in a voice that was flat and artificial, as cold as his young face. "Where is he?" Spade was busy rolling his cigarette. "Who?" "That sissy." The light brown eyes looked up from Spade's chest to the knot of his dark red tie and stayed there. "You know what you're doing, man?" said the lad brutally. "Damn me?" "I'll remind you when I'm going to trick you." Spade licked the cigarette in his hand and smiled at him pleasantly. "He's from New York, isn't he?" The young man stared at Spade's tie and said nothing.Spade nodded, as if the young man admitted it, and asked, "Have you memorized a lot of cases?" The young man stared at Spade's tie for a long time, then picked up the newspaper, returned his attention to it, and said "Fuck off" from the corner of his mouth. Spade lit his cigarette, leaned back comfortably on the couch, and said in a casual but friendly tone, "Little guy, you, or some of you, if you want to get things done, you have to talk to me first." Talk. You can tell 'G' that these are my words." The young man put down the newspaper quickly, and faced Spade with cold light brown eyes fixed on his tie, his thin hand spread out to press on his stomach. "Continue to ask if there are any good ones for you, as many as you want." His voice was low and hoarse, full of threats, "I tell you to go away. Go away!" A stocky man with glasses and a girl with blond hair and thin legs passed by, and when he was sure they couldn't hear, Spade chuckled and said, "It might work well in the world, but you're not there now. You're on my turf." He took a puff on his cigarette and exhaled a long puff of white smoke, "Come on, where is he?" The young man answered two words.The first word is a guttural verb and the second is "you". "People who talk like this, beware of looking for teeth." Spade's voice was still friendly, but his face was already stiff. "If you want to come out to hang out, you have to be polite." The young man repeated those two words. Spade threw the cigarette butts into a stone jar by the couch and raised a hand for a man standing by the cigar rack.The man, who had stood there for several minutes, nodded and walked towards them.He was a middle-aged man, of medium height, with a round sallow face, of solid build, and dressed in neat black. "Hello, Sam," he said as he approached. "Hello, Luke." They shook hands, and Luke said, "What happened to Miles, if I ask you." "Well, bad luck." Spade tilted his head and pointed him to the boy on the couch. "Why do you let these unscrupulous gunmen hang around in your lobby? They eat guys The clothes are stuffed up." "Oh?" Luke's face suddenly became serious, and those sly brown eyes looked at the young man carefully. "What are you doing here?" he asked. The young man stood up, and Spade also stood up.The young man stared at their ties, first at this and then at that.Luke's tie is black.Standing in front of them, the young man looked like a schoolboy.Luke said, "Okay, if you have nothing to do, go away and don't come again." The young man said: "I will remember you." Then he went out. They watched him walk out the door.Spade took off his hat and wiped his sweaty brow with a handkerchief. "What's going on?" asked the security officer. "Damn it, I wish I knew," Spade replied. "I just happened to see him. Know Joe Carroll, room six three five?" "Oh, that guy!" The security chief shot Spade a malicious look. "How long has he lived here?" "Four days. Today is the fifth day." "What's the matter with this man?" "I don't know, Sam. I don't have a problem with him, I just don't like the way he looks." "Check to see if he came back last night." "I'll try." The security chief agreed and walked away. Spade sat on the couch and waited for him to return. "No," Luke reported, "he didn't sleep in his room. What's wrong?" "nothing." "Don't lie to me. You know I'll keep my mouth shut. If something's wrong, we need to know so we can collect people's money to fix it." "There's nothing wrong," Spade reassured him. "In fact, I'm doing a little work for him. If he has a problem, I'll let you know." "You'd better do it. Shall I keep an eye on him?" "Thanks, Luke, there's no harm in keeping an eye on him. These days, the more you know about the people who hire you, the better."
The clock above the elevator door said eleven twenty-one when Joe Kylo came in from the outside.There was a bandage on his forehead, his clothes were wrinkled from wearing them for too long, his face was pale, his eyelids and the corners of his mouth drooped.Spade met him at the front desk. "Good morning," Spade said lightly. Kai Luo straightened his exhausted body, and the sagging lines on his face suddenly tightened. "Good morning." There was no enthusiasm in his reply. The conversation paused for a moment.Then Spade said, "Let's find a place to talk." Kylo raised his chin. "With all due respect," he said, "the few conversations we've had in private have not gone very well, and I'm in no rush to continue. Sorry for being blunt, but it's true." "You mean last night?" Spade put his head and hands impatiently. "What the hell could I do? I thought you were a sensible person. If you're going to fight her, or seduce her Come against you, I'm only on her side. I don't know where the goddamn bird is, and neither do you. But she does. How do we get the bird if I don't coax her?" Kailo hesitated for a moment, then said suspiciously: "I must say, you always have a seamless argument ready." Spade glared at him and said, "What do you think of me? Stuttering? Come on, we can talk over here." He led Kylo to the couch.When the two sat down, he asked: "Dundee brought you back to the Bureau?" "right." "How long have they tormented you?" "Until just now, it didn't matter whether I was willing or not." Kai Luo's expression and tone were mixed with pain and anger, "I must report this matter to the Greek Consulate General and discuss it with a lawyer." "Go ahead and see what happens. What did you spit on the police?" There was a reserved self-satisfaction in Kai Luo's smile. "Not a single word. I'm sticking with my story in your room," his smile faded, "but I wish you'd made up a little more plausible story. I'm repeating those words, thinking it's ridiculous pole." Spade smirked. "That's," he said, "but stories like this have to be absurd. Are you sure you didn't tell them anything?" "You may rest assured, Mr. Spade, I really haven't." Spade tapped his fingers on the leather cushion between them. "Dundee will come to you again, as long as you don't say anything. Don't worry about the story being ridiculous. If it makes sense, we'll all go to jail." He stands up. "You're being bombarded by the police. After a night, I must be sleepy now, see you later."
When Spade walked into the outer office, Effie Palin was on the phone and said, "No, not yet." She looked at him and mouthed silently, "Eva." He shook his head . "Okay, I'll ask him to call you when he comes," she said loudly, and put the receiver back. "This is the third call she's made this morning," she told Spade. Spade growled impatiently.The girl's brown eyes glanced toward the inner office. "Your Miss O'Shaughnessy is in. She's been here a few minutes past nine and waiting." Spade nodded as if he had expected it, and asked, "Is there anything else?" "Sheriff Burrows called and didn't leave a message." "Call him for me." "There's another Mr. G calling." Spade's eyes lit up.He asked, "Who?" "Mr. G. That's what he said." She showed complete indifference. "I told him you weren't in, and he said, 'When he comes, please tell him that Mr. G. got his message and called. Yes, will call again.'” Spade's mouth is tightly shut, as if reminiscing about his favorite food. "Thanks, dear," he said, "you'll see if you can find Tom Burrows." He opened the inner door, went into his office, and closed the door. Bridget O'Shaughnessy in the same dress she had worn on her first visit.She got up from the chair by the desk and walked quickly towards him. "Someone has come into my apartment," she cried, "and it has been turned upside down." His surprise seemed appropriate. "Did you lose something?" "I don't think so... I don't know. I dare not stay there. I changed as fast as I could and came here. Oh, he must have followed you when you got there." Spade shook his head. "No, baby." He took an afternoon's paper from his pocket and pointed her to a quarter-column headline "Screaming to Scare Burglars Away."The news was about a young woman named Caroline Beale, who lived alone in an apartment on Sutter Street, and was awakened at four o'clock this morning by the sound of someone moving in her bedroom.She screamed, and the figure fled.Later this morning, two other single women who lived in the same building noticed signs of the burglars in their apartment.None of the three had property stolen. "I dumped him on Sutter Street," Spade explained. "I went into the building and slipped out the back door. All three were women and they lived alone. He was trying to find you Using an alias, I checked all the apartments in the foyer that were registered in a woman's name." "But didn't he stare at where you lived last night?" she retorted. Spade shrugged. "There's no reason to assume he had no accomplices; or that he went to Sutter Street thinking you'd spend the night with me. There are many possibilities, but it wasn't me who led him to the Crown." She was still dissatisfied: "But he still found out, or someone else." "That's possible," he said, frowning, staring at her feet. "I was wondering if it was Kylo. He was out of the hotel all night and only got back a while ago. He told me he was interrogated by the police all night." , but I doubt it." He turned and opened the door and asked Effie Palin, "Did you find Tom?" "He's not here. I'll try again later." "Thank you." Spade closed the door, facing Bridget O'Shaughnessy.She looked at him, her eyes clouded with worry. "You went to see Joe this morning?" she asked. "right." She hesitated for a moment: "Why?" "Why?" He smiled at her. "My little one, because if I want to get to the bottom of this bewildering case, I'm going to have to hook up with all kinds of people." He held out an arm. Hold her by the shoulders, bring her to the swivel chair, kiss the tip of her nose lightly, let her sit on the chair, and sit on the desk in front of her. He said, "Now we have to find you a new home, right?" She nodded vigorously: "I won't go back there." He patted the table next to his legs with a thoughtful look on his face.After a little while he said, "I know what to do, wait a minute." He went to the outer office and closed the door.Effie Palin reached for the phone and said, "I'll try again." "Try again later. Based on your womanly instincts, do you still think she's a good girl? Or do you think otherwise?" She looked up at him with piercing eyes. "No matter what trouble she got into, I still believe she's a good person. Do you mean that?" "That's what it means." He said, "Then would you like to help her?" "How to help?" "Can you hide her for a while?" "You mean hiding at home?" "Yes, someone broke into her place. It's the second time she's had a thief this week. It would be better if she didn't live alone, and it would be great if you could take her home for a few days." All right." Effie Palin leaned forward and asked earnestly, "Sam, is she really in danger now?" "I think it is." She scratched her lips with her nails. "That would turn mother blue. I've got to tell my mother she's an incredible witness and you can't let her show up until the last minute." "That's sweet of you," Spade said, "better get her there now. I'll get her keys and get what she needs from her apartment. Let me see . . . no Be seen to leave together. You go home now. Take a taxi, but make sure no one is following you. Probably no one will follow you, but be careful just in case. I'll take her out later, make sure no one follows Follow her."
Notes: