Inspector Queen’s Own Case by Ellery Queen Page B

who got Michael——”
    â€œOne step at a time,” Richard Queen said. “We’ll go into the city in the morning. Meanwhile, you’re going to bed.”
    He got up and took her hand.
    Jessie giggled. “You make me feel like a little girl. Don’t I have any say about things like where I’m going to stay?”
    â€œNot a word,” he said firmly. “You’re staying at my apartment in town.”
    â€œ Inspector Queen,” Jessie murmured. “I’m going to do no such thing.”
    Even his neck reddened. “I mean I’ll go to the Y or some place. Ellery isn’t due back from abroad for a long time yet——”
    â€œSilly. I’m hardly at the age when I’m worried about my reputation.” Jessie giggled again, enjoying his embarrassment. “But I wouldn’t dream of putting you out of your own home.”
    â€œI’d come up every morning and have breakfast with you——”
    â€œNo, Richard,” Jessie said softly. “I have loads of friends in New York, nurses who live alone in little apartments and don’t particularly like it. But … thank you. So much.”
    He looked so forlorn that Jessie impulsively squeezed his hand. Then she ran upstairs.
    For some reason he felt very good suddenly. He walked about the cottage with long strides, smiling at his thoughts and occasionally glancing at the ceiling, until the Pearls came home.
    Jessie spent nearly an hour Thursday morning on the telephone, running up New York City toll calls.
    â€œI’m in luck,” she told Richard Queen. “Belle Berman, she’s a supervisor I know, wants me to move right in with her. And Gloria Sardella, a nurse I took my training with, is leaving tomorrow on her vacation. She’s going on a six-week cruise, and she’s offered me her apartment.”
    â€œWhere are the two places?”
    â€œBelle’s down in the Village—West 11th Street. Gloria’s place is on 71st Street off Broadway, in a remodeled walkup.”
    â€œThe Sardella apartment,” he said promptly.
    â€œThat’s my thought, because I’ll get Gloria to sublet it to me for whatever her rent is, whereas Belle wouldn’t hear of my sharing expenses.” Jessie looked at him. “What’s your reason, Richard?”
    â€œGeography,” he said sheepishly. “I’m on West 87th. We’d be less than a mile apart.”
    â€œYou want to watch this man, Jessie,” Beck Pearl said. “He’s a regular wolf.”
    â€œDon’t I know it!”
    He mumbled something about having to pack, and beat a retreat.
    Jessie phoned her friend again to arrange for her stay in the West 71st Street apartment, paid for the calls over Mrs. Pearl’s protests, and at last they were off in Jessie’s car, Beck Pearl waving from her doorway like a happy relative.
    â€œShe’s such a lamb,” Jessie said, turning into the Taugus road that led to the Merritt Parkway. “And so is Abe Pearl. Do you know what he said to me this morning before he left?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œHe said you were a changed man since—well, since the Fourth of July. He seemed tickled to death, Richard. The Pearls have been very worried about you.”
    He seemed flustered and pleased. “A man needs an interest in life.”
    â€œYes. This case——”
    â€œWho’s talking about the case?”
    â€œYou know, I do believe you are a wolf!”
    They chattered happily all the way into New York.
    Jessie had decided to take her coupé into the city because Richard Queen had no car, and his son’s car was in summer storage. “What good is an assistant without a car?” she had said. “It isn’t as if you still had a police driver at your disposal, Richard. My jalopy may come in handy.”
    â€œAll right, if you’ll let me pay the garage