“Oh, then I began to be afraid that Joe wouldn’t play fair with me, so—so I asked Floyd Thursby to help me.”
“And he did. Well?”
“Well, we got it and went to Hong Kong.”
“With Cairo? Or had you ditched him before that?”
“Yes. We left him in Constantinople, in jail—something about a check.”
“Something you fixed up to hold him there?”
She looked shamefacedly at Spade and whispered: “Yes.”
“Right. Now you and Thursby are in Hong Kong with the bird.”
“Yes, and then—I didn’t know him very well—I didn’t know whether I could trust him. I thought it would be safer—anyway, I met Captain Jacobi and I knew his boat was coming here, so I asked him to bring a package for me—and that was the bird. I wasn’t sure I could trust Thursby, or that Joe or—or somebody working for Gutman might not be on the boat we came on—and that seemed the safest plan.”
“All right. Then you and Thursby caught one of the fast boats over. Then what?”
“Then—then I was afraid of Gutman. I knew he had people—connections—everywhere, and he’d soon know what we had done. And I was afraid he’d have learned that we had left Hong Kong for San Francisco. He was in New York and I knew if he heard that by cable he would have plenty of time to get here by the time we did, or before. He did. I didn’t know that then, but I was afraid of it, and I had to wait here until Captain Jacobi’s boat arrived. And I was afraid Gutman would find me—or find Floyd and buy him over. That’s why I came to you and asked you to watch him for—”