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pink doings, and revealing also a bare arm which she extended. 'What do you think of that?' she demanded. It was quite an exhibit. The black and purple blotches began a few inches below the elbow and continued up to the shoulder curve. Curious as to what he had done it with, I got up and stepped over for a close-up, and she obligingly kept her arm up for me. I couldn't tell; it might have been fingers or fists, or he might have used something.
    'That's not all,' Violet said on a mixed note of pride and grievance. 'There's other places, but you'd have to pay to see them. And I took it. I told him, listen, I said, if you hurt me enough, don't think I'll just go baby. You can't lock me up, you can't lock up your daughter, can you'If you hurt me enough I'll spill it plenty where it will do the most good and I'll clear out, and try and find me, you or anyone else. So you can let up, see?' She had the dress back over her shoulders and was starting to fasten it. 'He let up. I've got Dazy Perrit right, and I'm the only one that ever did that and lived to tell it. And now he thinks he can get most of it back through you with this lousy runaround!'
    She pronounced the word with which she had declared her position at the start.
    Wolfe made another face. 'But Miss Murphy.' His tone was even. 'You'll have to think this through. Though my assurance that Mr. Perrit and I didn't cook this up is worthless to you, I do give that assurance. The point is that even if you are ninety-nine percent convinced that Mr. Perrit arranged for me to take this line, dare you risk that one percent'What if I'm acting on my own hook'You would discover it too late. To me you're no asset at all unless you get money from Mr. Perrit and give most of it to me. I have no stake in you; your fate is of no concern to me. If you get money from Mr. Perrit and don't give me my share, you'll never know what minute or where you'll feel that hand on your shoulder.'
    'I wouldn't be there,' Violet said harshly.
    Wolfe sighed. 'You're not thinking straight. Certainly you'd be there. You'll have to be, if you go on chousing Mr. Perrit. Incidentally, it will be useless for you to repeat this conversation to him. Naturally I have prepared for that, and he won't believe a word of it.'
    'The hell he won't. He told you to say it.'
    'No. He didn't.' Wolfe pushed his chair back from the desk. 'If you knew me better, Miss Murphy, you would believe me when I say that this is strictly my own idea. This is my own scheme, conceived and executed by me alone, and I expect to profit from it. So will you; I'm not trying to freeze you out. Mr. Perrit makes a lot of money. You can keep ten thousand out of every hundred thousand you get.'
    Wolfe arose and walked past her to the door. There he turned. 'A word of caution, Miss Murphy. Your natural impulse would be to get all you can and disappear. Mr. Perrit might possibly decide not to find you, for obvious reasons. I wouldn't. I would find you. I am fully as vain as Mr. Perrit. I will not be diddled.' He went.
    Violet had not turned around to see him out. She now sat with her eyes on his chair as if he were still in it. A corner of her lips was screwed around and up.
    She didn't seem to be in anything like a panic, merely trying to think straight.
    Finally she turned her eyes to me and spoke, not as to an enemy: 'My God, he's fat.'
    I nodded at her approvingly. 'You're a brave little woman and I admire you. Luckily you don't have to toss in or boost the pot now and here. You've got time to sleep on it, which is a good idea. Shall I take you home and tuck you in?'
    She smiled at me and I grinned back.
    'You don't look like a grifter,' she said. 'You look healthy and handsome.'
    'Inside,' I said, 'I am clean but mean.' I stood up. 'I don't offer to drive you home because I noticed you've got your own car. But I can go along just for the air.' She left her chair, crossed to me, put four fingers carefully and precisely at the top of my forehead, and