“You know very well what will happen,” I told Wolfe. “Some day, maybe next week, maybe next year, they’ll be confronted and they’ll be in trouble. Being in trouble, they will come to me, because Carl likes me and because I rescued them—”
Wolfe snorted. “You did!”
“Yes, sir. I had already noticed that magazine there several times, and it just happened to catch your eye. Anyhow, I am secretly infatuated with Tina, so I’ll try to help them and will get my finger caught, and you’ll have to butt in again because you can’t get along without me. It will go on like that year after year. Why not try to do something about it now? There are people in Washington you know — for instance, Carpenter. He might be able to help Tina and Carl. It will cost a measly buck for a phone call, and I can get that from the fifty they have earmarked for us. I have Carpenter’s home number, and I might as well get him now.”
No comment.
I put my hand on the phone. “Person to person, huh?”
Wolfe grunted. “I got my naturalization papers twenty-four years ago.”
“I wasn’t discussing you. You’ve caught it from Janet,” I said coldly, and then lifted the phone and dialed.