He left the rest on, and a nurse brought me my clothes.
I put them on.
The guys on the stretcher came in and helped me to the elevator and out of the hospital.
There was a car waiting there, with a chauffeur.
The guy that had spent the night with me put me in, and we drove about two blocks.
Then he took me out, and we went in an office building, and up to an office.
And there was Katz with his hand stuck out and a grin all over his face.
“It’s all over.”
“Swell.
When do they hang her?”
“They don’t hang her.
She’s out, free.
Free as a bird.
She’ll be over in a little while, soon as they fix up some things in court.
Come in.
I’ll tell you about it.”
He took me in a private office and closed the door.
Soon as he rolled a cigarette, and half burned it up, and got it pasted on his mouth, he started to talk.
I hardly knew him.
It didn’t seem that a man that had looked so sleepy the day before could be as excited as he was.
“Chambers, this is the greatest case I ever had in my life.
I’m in it, and out of it, in less than twenty-four hours, and yet I tell you I never had anything like it.
Well, the Dempsey-Firpo fight lasted less than two rounds, didn’t it?
It’s not how long it lasts. It’s what you do while you’re in there.
“This wasn’t really a fight, though.
It was a four-handed card game, where every player has been dealt a perfect hand.
Beat that, if you can.
You think it takes a card player to play a bum hand, don’t you.
To hell with that.
I get those bum hands every day.
Give me one like this, where they’ve all got cards, where they’ve all got cards that’ll win if they play them right, and then watch me.
Oh, Chambers, you did me a favor all right when you called me in on this.
I’ll never get another one like it.”
“You haven’t said anything yet.”
“I’ll say it, don’t worry about that.
But you won’t get it, and you won’t know how the hand was played, until I get the cards straightened out for you.
Now first.
There were you and the woman.
You each held a perfect hand.
Because that was a perfect murder, Chambers.
Maybe you don’t even know how good it was.
All that stuff Sackett tried to scare you with, about her not being in the car when it went over, and having her handbag with her, and all that, that didn’t amount to a goddam thing.
A car can teeter before it goes over, can’t it?
And a woman can grab her handbag before she jumps, can’t she?
That don’t prove any crime.
That just proves she’s a woman.”
“How’d you find out about that stuff?”
“I got it from Sackett.
I had dinner with him last night, and he was crowing over me.
He was pitying me, the sap.