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And in a place like this where there's nothing goin' on but silly billiards, or that bridge auction, a feller's gotta find some amusement, ain't he? Saginaw they comes to the house 'most every night Hoffmeyer and Raditz and " "Yes, I know," breaks in Zosco. "So that was the plot, was it, Ellery?" Ellery registers scorn. "Huh!" says he. "Don't let him put over any such fish tale on you.
"Aw, if you must know, Andy, it it was pinochle," he growls. "It ain't a crime, is it, a little game?" "What about the butler, though, and the others?" insists Zosco. "Why," says Jake, "they was goin' to be in it, too. Can't play pinochle alone, can you?
"I can't get a word of sense out of it all," says he. "Not a word. Jake, let's hear from you. Where have you been since night before last after dinner?" Jake pries himself loose from the billowy embrace and advances sheepish. "Why why," says he, "I was locked in that fool lodge house." "You were, eh?" says Zosco. "But how did that happen? What did you go in there for?"
"If it was another bargain like that lot of army raincoats, he'd go in his pajamas," says Zosco. But Matilda shakes her head. She's sure something awful has happened to Jake. Now that she thinks it over she believes he must have had something on his mind. Hadn't they noticed how restless he'd been for the past few days? Yes, both the squatty women had.
"Slow poison!" echoes Zosco. "Jewel stealing! Murder plots! Boy, where did you get such stuff in your head?" But Ellery can only drop his chin and scrape his toe. "I expect I can clear up that mystery," says I. "As a movie fan Ellery is an ace." And then it was Zosco's turn to stare. I don't know whether it got clear home to him then or not.
"Oh, I never use the bracelets unless I have to," says I. "I expect he'll toddle along meek enough when he sees the two of us." I hadn't overstated the case much at that. Course, Jake Zosco has developed more or less of a grouch durin' his 36 hours of solitary confinement, but when Ellery orders him to march out with his hands up he comes right along.
He was just about to separate himself from some remark on the subject when Mrs. Jake cut loose with another squeal. "Why, Jake Zosco!" says she. "Look at you! Like a tramp you are." "Well, why not?" says Jake. "Didn't I sleep last night in a wheelbarrow?" And when the folks you're callin' on get to droppin' into intimate personal remarks like that it's time to back out graceful. I guess even Mrs.
Why, his poor foolish head seems to be filled with nothing but crime and crooks. I don't understand how he could get that way." "You would," says I, "if you'd take a full course of Zosco films." "I must say it listens kind of complicated," says I, after Vee has explained how I am to arrive at this country house weddin' fest. "Why, Torchy, it's perfectly simple," says she.
"I ain't told him how much I know. Let's get off where he can't hear. Back in the bushes there." And when we've circled the lodge and put some shrubbery between us and the road Ellery consents to open up. "They're tryin' to do away with Sister Maggie," says he. "You know who she is Mrs. Andres Zosco?" "But I thought she was Myrtle Mapes," says I. "Ah, that's only her screen name," says Ellery.
"Well, he's gone, anyway," says Zosco. "Disappeared. Since after dinner last night and " "Oh, Jake, Jake!" wails the billowy female with the pearl ropes. "There, there, Matilda!" put in Zosco. "Never mind the sob stuff now. He's all right somewhere, of course. He'll turn up in time. Bound to. It ain't as if he was some wild young sport. Steady as a church, Jake. No bad habits to speak of.
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