Canadian fiction -- 20th century; Detective and mystery stories
"Well, I was on'y waiting a few minutes in Eighty-third Street when his
nibs come out of that house, you know, 311. He got in his cab and went
back home; through Eighty-third to Broadway, up Broadway to
Ninety-fourth and down to the Drive, me following. Well, while we was
going through Ninety-fourth, I see Blossom and a good-looking girl
coming along on the sidewalk. His nibs in front, he musta seen 'em
too, for he stops his cab and slips out and takes after them on foot.
They didn't see him. Well, I went on a little way, turned around, and
followed the whole bunch around to the Ninety-sixth Street subway
station.
"Blossom and the girl went down, his nibs follows them, and I follows
his nibs. We goes to the down-town platform. On the platform Blossom
gets wise to me, see? And when his nibs ain't looking I gives him a
little sign that that is his nibs, see? Blossom gets it all right.
Well, a train come along then and they all got in. But I couldn't
leave my cab. I went back to Stickney Arms, but his nibs ain't come
home yet. You told me to call you at nine. What do you want me to do
now?"
Greg considered a moment. "If his wife is alone in the apartment he's
pretty sure to be back soon. Better stay on watch where you are. Call
me up again in an hour."
Greg returned home in no little anxiety. It seemed like a gratuitous
stroke of ill luck that de Socotra should just have happened to run
into Blossom. Blossom was a good fellow and loyal without a doubt, but
he could scarcely be expected to prove a match for the astute de
Socotra. And almost two hours had passed. Greg would have given
something to know what had happened. But all he could do was wait.
A few minutes later Blossom walked in the kitchen door. Nina was with
him. One look in the man's face told Greg that nothing serious had
happened; on the contrary the morose and jejune Blossom looked fairly
rejuvenated.
"The little black book?" cried Greg. "Have you got it?"
By way of answer Blossom held it aloft. A cheer went up in the kitchen.
"Thank God!" cried Greg. "Now we're all right!"
Bessie was standing, arms akimbo, taking it all in like a comical
solemn child. The temptation was too much for Greg. Before she knew
what he was doing, Greg had seized her round the waist and waltzed
her--or rather swayed her, for it was impossible to move her from her
firmly planted stand. The men roared.
"Bessie! Bessie!" cried Greg. "Did you hear that, you dear little
thing. We have it!"
"Go along with you!" said Bessie, giving him a little push--and he went
along, flat against the wall.
He snatched the little black book out of Blossom's hands and hastily
turned the pages. It was all in Spanish, of course. He could not read
it.
"Hold your horses," said Blossom warningly. "There's maybe something
funny about that. Wait till I tell you."
"What happened?" asked Greg sobered. "It looks all right; letters,
affidavits, just what Estuban said."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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