so I said: “Well?”
He smiled courteously, like a well-satisfied blank wall, and murmured: “You have the essential facts now, I think. What do you advise?”
“Pay the money of course—first,” I replied, and then complained: “It’s a damned shame that’s the only way to handle a kidnapping. These Death and Co. birds are pretty dumb, picking that spot for the payoff. It would be duck soup to nab them there.” I stopped complaining and asked Chappell: “You can manage the money all right?”
“Yes.”
I addressed the Old Man: “Now about the police?”
Chappell began: “No, not the police! Won’t they—?”
I interrupted him: “We’ve got to tell them, in case something goes wrong and to have them all set for action as soon as Mrs. Chappell is safely home again. We can persuade them to keep their hands off till then.” I asked the Old Man: “Don’t you think so?”