“A fairy godfather,” I said sourly.
“A fairy godfather?” He stared at me a second, then laughed, a high-pitch crackle. “A fairy godfather! That’s a corker. I got to remember that one.”
He was still laughing as I went out into the clean, fresh air of gasoline fumes and smog. I walked back to the Cadillac and drove uptown. I didn’t have any idea what I was going to do next and it was only the middle of the afternoon. Suddenly, on an impulse, I swung over to Sunset Boulevard and kept going until I reached the hotel where Harry Manfred was staying. I drove into the parking lot, then entered the hotel. I went to the house phones and asked for Lillian Cassidy.
My hunch had been right. The operator merely asked me to wait a minute. She was soon back. “Miss Cassidy left word that she’s at the p
