ed. "Who was it?"

"Wouldn't I like to know," Mike exclaimed redly. "Wouldn't I just like
to know!" He made a grasping gesture with his two big fists,
indicating what he would do to the party if he did know.

Mort had put down the newspaper and had been listening to Mike's
explosion.

"Don't bust your buttons, Mike," Mort advised. "It's probably just one
of our customers having a gag."

"Bum gag, I say. If they wanta gag whyn't they gag funny?" Mike
snorted angrily. "Talk to Hitler and Mussolini, eh? Huh!"

And at that juncture, the telephone rang again. Mort looked up, then
looked at me and winked. He turned to Mike, who'd started wrathfully
for the booth.

"Hold it, chumly," Mort said. "I'll answer this one. If it's the joker
again I can handle him better than you can."

* * * * *

Mort walked nonchalantly over to the booth, took down the receiver,
and turned to wink again at me.

"Hello," Mort said.

Obviously the voice on the other end of the wire said something. Mort
grinned.

"They ain't here," Mort said, grinning more widely. "No. Not either of
'em. Adolf sleeps late and don't get down until noon. Benito is out
having himself a milkshake. Who'll I tell 'em called? Huh? What's
that? You call back? But who'll I tell 'em called? Huh? Gab--Gabby?
What?"

Mort put the receiver back on the hook and turned back to us, stepping
out of the booth.

"The joker said to tell Adolf and Benito he'd call back later. I
didn't get his name, but it sounded like Gabby. Smart joe, this
Gabby."

Mike was glaring. "Gabby, eh? Gabby, Gabby, Gabby," he scratched his
red head frowningly. "Who do I know named Gabby?"

"Skip it," Mort advised smilingly. "It wouldn't be the right monicker,
anyway."

Mike muttered dourly, moving back behind the counter. Suddenly he
stopped.

"You see the morning paper?" he asked his partner in sudden
recollection. "You see about that louse State's Att--"

"Yeah, I read it," Mort cut him off. "It'll blow over, even if they
get away with it. But they might not even get away with it. It's
illegal."

Mike beamed for the first time since I'd seen him that morning.
Obviously he was pleased to have his own legal judgment upheld by his
partner.

"You think so? That's what I thought." He turned to me. "Isn't that
what I thought?" he demanded.

"Did you call for the morning line check on the tracks yet?" Mort
asked, changing the subject.

Mike shook his h