3: Strawberry Blonde
IT WAS FOUR o'clock when Nikolls went into the office. He stood just inside the doorway, a look of mild surprise on his face. He said:
'Jeez! They had a sweet game around here, those boys!'
Effie Thompson said: 'Well, it's no good looking at it. What shall I do?'
Nikolls said: 'Does the boss know about this?'
'I don't know where he is,' she said. 'I've rung upstairs. He's not there. He telephoned to me last night, but I don't know where from. I tried to check with the Exchange. All I could discover was that it was outside the London area. Shall I telephone to the police?'
Nikolls began to laugh.
'Be your age Effie,' he said. 'He'd just love that, wouldn't he? What a line! "Ace Investigator asks police to discover office thieves"...' He sucked at his cigarette. '
