She had two shots of her special formula—gin, vermouth, grenadine, and Pernod—before dinner, and then quit. No more. Also she wore a nice simple blue dress and went easy with cosmetics. Also, most important, she could dance much better than Sue Dondero. On the whole, while she was not something for the Bobolink to stare at, she certainly needed no excuses, and she made the Bobolink band seem even better than it was. By ten o’clock I would have been perfectly willing to split the check with our client. But I was there on business. When we went back to our table after I had fancied up a samba all I could and she had kept with me as though we had done it a hundred times, and I insisted that with dinner only a memory it was time for a drink, she refused. “Look,” I objected, “this isn’t going right. All I’m getting out of it is a good time, when I’m supposed to be working. The idea was to get you lit enough to loosen up, and you’re drinking water. How can I get you babbling if you won’t drink?”
What do You think about Rex Stout - Nero Wolfe 19?
