Is there something I can do for you?

Would you do me a very small favor?

I don't know. It depends on the favor.

Do you know Geiger's bookstore across the street?

I think I may have passed it.

Do you know Geiger by sight?

Well, I ...

What does he look like?

Wouldn't it be easy enough to go across the street and ask to see him?

I've already done that...Do you know anything about rare books?

You could try me.

Would you happen to have a Ben-Hur 1860, Third Edition with a duplicated line on page one-sixteen? Or a Chevalier Audubon 1840?

Nobody would. There isn't one.

The girl in Geiger's bookstore didn't know that.

Oh, I see. You begin to interest me - vaguely.

I'm a private dick on a case. Perhaps I'm asking too much, although it doesn't seem too much to me somehow.

Well, Geiger's in his early forties, medium height, fattish, soft all over, Charlie Chan mustache, well-dressed, wears a black hat, affects a knowledge of antiques and hasn't any, and, oh yes, I think his left eye is glass.

You'd make a good cop. [A heavy rain begins to fall, he pulls out a bottle of rye] I'd rather get wet in here.

[pulling the shade, letting her hair down, and removing her glasses]

It looks like we're closed for the rest of the afternoon.

Hello!