“And how about Edward Harold?” Clane said.
“Well, now, if the conversation with Nevis turns out the way I think it’s going to, I’m going to get in touch with the district attorney and the governor, and there’s just a chance a pardon might come through for Mr. Harold.”
“In which event,” Clane said, “I think you will agree that it’s only fair Cynthia Renton should be the one who takes the news to him.”
“We’ll do it together,” Cynthia said.
Clane smiled. “I think you’ll find two would be company and three would be a crowd. But I think you’ll agree, Malloy, that Miss Renton is entitled to go to police headquarters and wait there until you have some definite information.”
“She is for a fact,” Malloy agreed.
“And you?” Cynthia asked. “Where are you going?”
Clane said, “As far as I’m concerned, I’ve got to go hunt up Yat T’oy, and I think it’s only fair I should tell Chu Kee what has happened.”
“That’s the old Chinese party you were with?” Malloy asked.
Clane nodded.
“A pretty good friend, I’d say,” Malloy said. “Damn it, Clane, we sewed up Chinatown. I mean we really had men parked all around it, and damned if you didn’t slip through our fingers. And also what I want to know is how it happened you went in a door at the east end of Chinatown and made your next appearance in the hotel where Mrs. Taonon had hid herself — more than two blocks away, with every street corner guarded? Will you kindly tell me how the hell you did that?”
“That,” Clane said, “is a matter of concentration, my dear Inspector...”
“Yeah, I know,” Malloy said. “You go into the fourth dimension and wrap yourself in a robe of invisibility or something. All right, Clane, we’ll let it go this time, but you might tell this Chu Kee person that if things like that keep up, the police are apt to make a raid on Chinatown and look around a little. We may not be able to find the secret doorways, but a sledgehammer will accomplish a lot.”
“Thanks,” Clane said dryly, “I’ll tell him.”
“And in this particular instance,” Malloy went on, “you might give him my thanks, and that good-looking Chinese-American girl, too.”
“I’ll tell her.”
Cynthia Renton followed him out. “Owl,” she said, “you’re leaving me just when I... damn it, just when I want you more than I ever wanted you in my life.”
Clane said, “You have a duty to perform, Cynthia. Edward Harold has lost faith in everything. You’ve got to tell him the news in such a way that he feels that justice can triumph in the world.”
“When you’re around to help it triumph,” Cynthia said. “Where would he have been if you hadn’t shown up?”
“Don’t put it to him that way,” Clane said, “or you’ll undo all the good you want to accomplish.”
“What will I tell him?”
“Tell him he’s been exonerated and they’re rushing through a pardon for him as soon as the red tape can be unwound. That’s about all you need to do.”
“And you? Where will you be?”
“Oh, I’ll be around.”
“Owl, are you trying to... Owl... are you in love with that Chinese girl?”
Clane said, “She’s just a dear friend, Cynthia.”
“You play around with that stuff and you’ll find out something about friendship you never knew before,” she told him. “Owl — come here.”
He moved closer to her. Suddenly her arms were around his neck and her lips, salty with tears, were against his. “Oh, Owl, I need you so much,” she sobbed, “and you’re going away.”
“Not very far away.”
She watched him wistfully. “One can never tell about you, Terry Clane. I...”
Inspector Malloy opened the door. “Men are bringing Nevis down here,” he said. “You’ll have to get out of sight, Miss Renton. And you, Clane, are...”
“Just leaving,” Clane said.
Cynthia Renton stood in the doorway with Malloy, watching Clane walk away into the darkness.
Inspector Malloy said musingly, “A remarkably talented young man.”
“A rank amateur,” Cynthia said, so savagely that Malloy turned to her in surprise. “The things that a really smart man should know, he doesn’t know a damn thing about!”
Malloy raised his eyebrows, then stepped back inside the warehouse and softly closed the door.