Sally Durke walked out of the apartment house with an overnight bag in her hand. She was tailored up to the minute in a blue skirt and jacket. The skirt was cut short, and her ankles were enough to make any man turn around. She wore a close-fitting blue hat tilted at an angle with a rakish little bow of blue velvet. Her flaxen hair, peeking out from under the hat, showed up soft and golden against the blue.

“What makes you think she’s peroxide?” Alma Hunter asked, as she started the motor.

“I don’t know. Something about the color of her hair. It’s—”

“She looks like a natural blonde from here—looks pretty.”

“Far be it from me to argue about feminine beauty with an expert,” I said. “Careful not to crowd too close. She’s headed for the boulevard. Let her get enough of a lead so she won’t look back and see us crawling along. That’ll make her suspicious.”

“I thought I’d run out into the street and then stop until we can see what she does.”

“Okay, good girl. Want me to drive?”

“If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like it a lot. I’m nervous.”

I said, “All right. Come out from behind the wheel, and I’ll slide under.”

She moved over from behind the wheel, raised herself, and I slid under. I slipped the gears into mesh, then kicked out the clutch, and let the machine inch along close to the curb.

Sally Durke walked to the corner and flagged a passing taxicab. I speeded the car and made the turn into the boulevard not over fifty feet behind the cab. Then I gradually dropped behind, waiting to see if she looked back.

She didn’t. Her head showed through the rear window in the cab, her eyes apparently fixed straight ahead.

“Looks like a cinch,” I said, and closed the distance between the car and the cab.

The cab rolled smoothly along, made no attempt to shake off pursuit, turned to the left when it got to Sixteenth Street and went to the Perkins Hotel. There wasn’t any parking place in sight. I said to Alma, “This is where you have to pinch-hit. Get in behind the wheel and keep driving around the block. I want to get in there right after she registers and see what room she gets. I’ll give her time enough to get out of the lobby and that’s all.”

Alma Hunter said, “Look here. I want to be in on this thing.”

“You’re in on it,” I said.

“No, not that way. I want to be in at the finish. What are you going to do?”

“Find out what room she has, and get a room directly across from it if possible.”

“I want to stay with you.”