1Mr. Pietro Palermo was sitting in a room which, except for a mahogany roll-top desk, a sacred triptych in gilt frames and a large ebony and ivory crucifixion, looked exactly like a Victorian parlor. It contained a horseshoe sofa and chairs with carved mahogany frames and antimacassars of fine lace. There was an ormolu clock on the gray green marble mantel, a grandfather clock ticking lazily in the corner, and some wax flowers under a glass dome on an oval table with a marble top and curved elegant legs. The carpet was thick and full of gentle sprays of flowers. There was even a cabinet for bric-a-brac and there was plenty of bric-a-brac in it, little cups in fine china, little figurines in glass and porcelain, odds and ends of ivory and dark rosewood, painted saucers, an early American set of swan salt cellars, stuff like that.

2Long lace curtains hung across the windows, but the room faced south and there was plenty of light. Across the street I could see the windows of the apartment where George Anson Phillips had been killed. The street between was sunny and silent.

3The tall Italian with the dark skin and the handsome head of iron gray hair read my card and said:

4"I got business in twelve minutes. What you want, Meester Marlowe?"

5"I'm the man that found the dead man across the street yesterday. He was a friend of mine."

6His cold black eyes looked me over silently. "That'sa not what you tell Luke."

7"Luke?"

8"He manage the joint for me."

9"I don't talk much to strangers, Mr. Palermo."

10"That'sa good. You talk to me, huh?"

11"You're a man of standing, an important man. I can talk to you. You saw me yesterday. You described me to the police. Very accurately, they said."

12"Si. I see much," he said without emotion.

13"You saw a tall blond woman come out of there yesterday."

14He studied me. "Not yesterday. Wasa two three days ago. I tell the coppers yesterday." He snapped his long dark fingers. "The coppers, bah!"

15"Did you see any strangers yesterday, Mr. Palermo?"

16"Is back way in and out," he said. "Is stair from second floor also." He looked at his wrist watch.

17"Nothing there then," I said. "This morning you saw Hench."

18He lifted his eyes and ran them lazily over my face. "The coppers tell you that, huh?"

19"They told me you got Hench to confess. They said he was a friend of yours. How good a friend they didn't know, of course."

20"Hench make the confess, huh?" He smiled, a sudden brilliant smile.

21"Only Hench didn't do the killing," I said.

22"No?"

23"No."

24"That'sa interesting. Go on, Meester Marlowe."

25"The confession is a lot of baloney. You got him to make it for some reason of your own."

26He stood up and went to the door and called out: "Tony."

27He sat down again. A short tough-looking wop came into the room, looked at me and sat down against the wall in a straight chair.

28"Tony, thees man a Meester Marlowe. Look, take the card."

29Tony came to get the card and sat down with it. "You look at thees man very good, Tony. Not forget him, huh?"

30Tony said: "Leave it to me, Mr. Palermo."

31Palermo said: "Was a friend to you, huh? A good friend, huh?"

32"Yes."

33"That'sa bad. Yeah. That'sa bad. I tell you something. A man's friend is a man's friend. So I tell you. But you don' tell anybody else. Not the damn coppers, huh?"

34"No."

35"That'sa promise, Meester Marlowe. That'sa something not to forget. You not forget?"

36"I won't forget."

37"Tony, he not forget you. Get the idea?"

38"I gave you my word. What you tell me is between us here."

39"That'sa fine. Okay. I come of large family. Many sisters and brothers. One brother very bad. Almost so bad as Tony."

40Tony grinned.

41"Okay, thees brother live very quiet. Across the street. Gotta move. Okay, the coppers fill the joint up. Not so good. Ask too many questions. Not good for business, not good for thees bad brother. You get the idea?"

42"Yes," I said. "I get the idea."

43"Okay, thees Hench no good, but poor guy, drunk, no job. Pay no rent, but I got lotsa money. So I say, Look, Hench, you make the confess. You sick man. Two three weeks sick. You go into court. I have a lawyer for you. You say to hell with the confess. I was drunk. The damn coppers are stuck. The judge he turn you loose and you come back to me and I take care of you. Okay? So Hench say okay, make the confess. That'sa all."

44I said: "And after two or three weeks the bad brother is a long way from here and the trail is cold and the cops will likely just write the Phillips killing off as unsolved. Is that it?"

45"Si." He smiled again. A brilliant warm smile, like the kiss of death.

46"That takes care of Hench, Mr. Palermo," I said. "But it doesn't help me much about my friend."

47He shook his head and looked at his watch again. I stood up. Tony stood up. He wasn't going to do anything, but it's better to be standing up. You move faster.

48"The trouble with you birds," I said, "is you make mystery of nothing. You have to give the password before you bite a piece of bread. If I went down to headquarters and told the boys everything you have told me, they would laugh in my face. And I would be laughing with them."

49"Tony don't laugh much," Palermo said.

50"The earth is full of people who don't laugh much, Mr. Palermo," I said. "You ought to know. You put a lot of them where they are."

51"Is my business," he said, shrugging enormously.

52"I'll keep my promise," I said. "But in case you should get to doubting that, don't try to make any business for yourself out of me. Because in my part of town I'm a pretty good man and if the business got made out of Tony instead, it would be strictly on the house. No profit."

53Palermo laughed. "That'sa good," he said. "Tony. One funeral—on the house. Okay."

54He stood up and held his hand out, a fine strong warm hand.