“All right,” I told her, “we’re going to run up some mileage on your car.”
“Breckinridge?” she asked.
I nodded.
“I think he’s quite irritated.”
“Probably,” I said.
“What do we do?”
“We un-irritate him if possible. I’m sticking my neck way out on this thing and I hope he’s willing to ride along. Come on, let’s go.”
“Could we get something to eat afterwards? I’m starved.”
“Afterwards,” I promised her, “we’ll get eats.”
We drove Elsie Brand’s car. While we were working our way through traffic, I said, “This is a swank neighborhood, Elsie.”
“I don’t want to go in with you, Donald. I’ll sit in the car.”
“Nonsense,” I told her. “You met me at the airport, you’ll go on in with me.”
We drove to an imposing, Spanish-type house with an old-fashioned splendor of trees, grass and a wide porch. To be sure, the lawn was narrow, the trees were closely trimmed, but the house sat back from the street and there was an atmosphere of luxury about it.
I rang the bell.
Breckinridge himself came to the door.
“Well, well, Donald,” he said, shaking hands, “you’ve had quite a day, I guess. And this is your secretary, Elsie Brand? I’ve talked, with her over the phone.
“Come in, come in.”
His manner was very cordial.
We entered the house, were escorted into a living room and seated.
Breckinridge didn’t sit down. He stood by the fireplace facing me, his hands thrust deep into the side pockets of the cashmere sport coat he was wearing.
“Donald,” he said, “I gather that you’re rather impulsive, rather quick on the trigger, and once you start work on a case you become very loyal and intensely partisan.”
“Is that bad?” I asked.
“But by that same token,” Breckinridge went on, “those qualities keep you from following instructions.
“Now, your partner, Mrs. Cool, is pretty much worked up about this quality you have. I’m not nearly so concerned about it because I understand your motivation. However, this case should have been settled by this time. As it is, following your suggestions, we are going to wait until tomorrow. You’re now the pitcher responsible for the game. If we lose it’s your loss.
“Now, I have no fault with what you’ve done as far as factual investigation is concerned, but I permitted myself to be swayed by your importunities into holding this case open for another day.
“I’m sorry I did that.
“I’ve been in this business long enough so I have a sixth sense in such matters, and I just knew that this was the time to make a settlement and that we should have bought our way out of it, no matter what it cost — that is, within reason, of course.”
“All right,” I said, “the responsibility is mine. I talked you out of settling. I’m responsible. I don’t have any sixth sense in such matters, but I’ve batted around a bit and there’s something fishy about this case.”
Breckinridge said, “Even so, Donald, I don’t think there’s anything we can prove. Unless you uncover something before noon tomorrow, I’m going to make a settlement. That’s final.”
I said, “Apparently you wanted to talk with me just so you could tell me you didn’t like the way I’d been doing things?”
He smiled. “Now, Donald, you’re getting a chip on your shoulder. Don’t be like that. I wanted to tell you how much I appreciated your vigor, your determination, your attempt to get at the bottom of things. In a case where there was any real possibility of a margin of error, all this would have been very commendable but in the present case it simply isn’t. You’ll have to learn about the insurance business.
“Now, when you see your partner, Bertha Cool, I want you to tell her that you’ve had a talk with me, that we understand each other perfectly, and that what you have done in this case isn’t going t affect our relations with the firm in the least. We’re going to keep right on employing you.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “That’s mighty generous of you. Now, what makes you so certain that this man, Bruno, is on the level?”
Breckinridge pursed his lips. “Don’t misunderstand me. Whether he’s on the level or not, the fact that he showed up at that guest ranch complaining of his injuries and getting around in a wheel chair is the determining factor. We can’t afford to gamble in a case of that sort.”
I said, “You baited one trap and he didn’t walk into it. That doesn’t make him a saint.”
“He walked into the trap,” Breckinridge said, “but he walked in limping and he didn’t take the bait.”
I said, “How carefully have you inquired into accident from your insured— What’s his name?”
“Foley Chester.”
“How carefully have you inquired into the facts with him?”
“Carefully enough so that I know we will have to admit liability.”
I said, “Don’t you suppose that this man, Bruno, could have been driving, looking in the rearview mirror, watching the car be’ hind him, and the minute he saw the driver look to the side of the road he braked his car to an immediate stop so that Chester had to hit him?”
Breckinridge thought that over for a moment and said, “Well, of course that’s possible. It would be a rather ingenious way of establishing a claim.”
“It would be a foolproof way,” I said. “There’s an attraction on the side of the road, a shop window or whatever it was, that has an unusual display. Bruno knows his onions. He realizes this will make drivers look. He drives around and around the block, keeping his eye on the rearview mirror, just waiting for an opportune moment. He sees someone in his rearview mirror who turns to glance at the side and Bruno promptly puts on his brakes.
“There’s not much chance of his getting injured very seriously. He’s prepared for everything. He gets a bump, he gets out and is affable and good-natured and shows the man behind him his driving license, and the man behind him says, ‘I’m sorry. It was my fault. I just took my eyes from the road for a tenth of a second, and there you were stopped right ahead of me.’
“Bruno says, ‘Gosh, the fellow in front of me stopped and I had to stop, but I gave a signal and just about the time I came to a stop, wham, you hit me.’
“Everything is nice and good-natured and the people get along swell. If Bruno had been abusive, Chester would probably have told him to go jump in the lake, but Bruno is nice, and Chester is very much the magnanimous gentleman and says, ‘It’s all my fault. You aren’t hurt, are you?’ And Bruno says, ‘No, I’m not hurt.’ ”
“I don’t know much about the accident,” Breckinridge admitted. “Chester bought an automobile and insured it with us. He ran into the rear of another car. That’s prima-facie negligence per se. Then he admits he wasn’t watching the road ahead. That clinches it.”
I said, “I’d like to talk with Chester and get his version of what happened, just what Bruno said at the time.”
Breckinridge said, “Donald, forget this thing. Good heavens, we’re an insurance company. We charge premiums. The premiums go into a sinking fund to cover the payment of losses. We expect to payout hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. You act as though this was coming out of your own pocket.”
I said, “It’s the principle of the thing.”
Breckinridge frowned. “You mean you’re not ready to give up yet despite the fact that I’ve tried to be patient with you?”
“I’m not ready to give up yet.”
He looked at me and flushed, then suddenly laughed a short, harsh laugh. “Donald,” he said, “I’m going to prove to you that in this business you can’t adopt that attitude. We expect to use you more and more. We’ve had glowing reports on you from the guest ranch. You have comported yourself with dignity; you’ve kept in the background, yet you’ve made people like you. Apparently, you know a good deal about riding a horse, yet you aren’t a show-off. You’re just exactly the type of person we can use.