“That’s what I took it for,” I said to the first question, and, “Yeah,” to the second.

“Have you done any talking to her since then?” he asked.

“No. I was up that way this morning, but a young fellow named Thaler went into the house ahead of me, so I put off my visit.”

“Grease us twice!” His greenish eyes glittered happily. “Are you telling me the Whisper was there?”

“Yeah.”

He threw his cigar on the floor, stood up, planted his fat hands on the desk top, and leaned over them toward me, oozing delight from every pore.

“Man, you’ve done something,” he purred. “Dinah Brand is this Whisper’s woman. Let’s me and you just go out and kind of talk to the widow.”