Wives and bridge-playing friends can lie, but there was Monday too, and for us that was the one we really wanted. He looked at the wall clock. Eight minutes past eleven. I'm short on sleep, he said. Are you going to see the District Attorney? Ackerman shook his head. You heard what they said, especially Judd. He agrees with you; all we have is hearsay-from you. I'll be short on sleep too. I'd like to make the midnight to Washington. Then you'll excuse me. Wolfe pushed his chair back and rose. I'm going to bed. He headed for the door. Ackerman got up, told me, He's a goddam freak, and walked out. 10 When Wolfe came down to jewelry store the office at eleven o'clock Friday morning, Roman Vilar was sitting in the red leather chair. It had been a busy morning-for me-starting with the routine phone calls from the hired hands. I told them about the party we had had-that nothing had been learned to change the program, they were to carry on, Saul on Judd and Fred on Vilar. Orrie's day at Rusterman's had been a blank; no one had seen a stranger in the dump room Monday, day or night. Having been instructed by Wolfe-summoned on the house phone when I went to the kitchen for breakfast-I sicked Orrie on Benjamin Igoe. There had been three phone calls. jewelry store From Lon Cohen to say that they had been sorry not to get my usual contribution at the poker game-which was libel, since I win as often as he does and nearly as often as Saul Panzer-and to ask when I would spill a bean. From Bill Wengert of the Times to insinuate that he might let me have a short paragraph on page 84 if I would bring it gift-packaged, addressed to him personally. From Francis Ackerman in his Washington office to say that if Wolfe wanted to see him again, tell him a day in advance, and to warn us that our phone might be tapped or our jewelry store office bugged. Watergate had certainly got on lawyers nerves. Not a peep from Cramer or the DA's office. I had got Roman Vilar the third try, a little before ten, and he said he would have to cancel two appointments to come at eleven, and he would. I had also done the chores, including drawing a check for three grand for Wolfe to sign because the fifteen hundred had about cleaned out the reserve cash box, and clipping November 1 coupons from some municipal bonds-in the tidy pile in the upper compartment of the safe with its own lock. I made a face as I clipped, because the rate on th.