That’s Why I Sewed You Up
It was half-past five. I walked around a few blocks until I came to an unlighted electric sign that said “Hotel Crawford,” climbed a flight of steps to the second floor office, registered, left a call for ten o’clock, was shown into a shabby room, moved some of the Scotch from my flask to my stomach, and took old Elihu’s ten-thousand-dollar check and my gun to bed with me.
At ten I dressed, went up to the First National Bank, found young Albury, and asked him to certify Willsson’s check for me. He kept me waiting a while. I suppose he phoned the old man’s residence to find out if the check was on the up-and-up. Finally he brought it back to me, properly scribbled on.
I sponged an envelope, put the old man’s letter and check in it, addressed it to the Agency in San Francisco, stuck a stamp on it, and went out and dropped it in the mailbox on the corner.
Then I returned to the bank and said to the boy:
“Now tell me why you killed him.”
He smiled and asked:
“Cock Robin or President Lincoln?”
“You’re not going to admit offhand that you killed Donald Willsson?”
“I don’t want to be disagreeable,” he said, still smiling, “but I’d rather not.”