Yes,' Spade growled. 'And when you're slapped you'll take it and like it.' He released Cairo's wrist and with a thick open hand struck the side of his face three times savagely.

I said: ‘All right, talk, but do you mind putting the gun away? My wife doesn't care, but I'm pregnant.

Nora was eating a piece of cold duck with one hand and working on a jig-saw puzzle with the other when I got home."I thought you'd gone to live with her," she said. "You used to be a detective: find me a brownish piece shaped something like a snail with a long neck.""Piece of duck or puzzle?...

...Our friend Nunheim was filled full of .32s just about an hour after he copped the sneak on us - deader'n hell. The pills look like they come from the same gun that cut down the Wolf dame. The experts are matching 'em up now. I guess he wishes he'd stayed and talked to us.

She tilted her head to the right. "You didn't even tell me you had taken the case.""I had done what? Oh, I see what you mean. Well, I hadn't and haven't. My getting shot ought to prove I was an innocent bystander.""Does it hurt much?""It itches. I forgot to have the dressing changed this afternoon.""Wasn't Nora utterly terrified?""So was I and so was the guy that shot me. There's Halsey. I haven't spoken to him yet.