That was silly, I told myself. I didn’t have enough extra money to be cheated out of anything substantial. And if Tom planned anything as corny as trying to sell me fake stock, he hardly would have let me witness his larcenous ways.
I decided that even though I was no longer so sure of my friendship for Tom, he must have been sincere in his proclamation of friendship for me.
It was close to one-thirty when I got home. Again Evelyn was in bed, but not asleep. When I switched on the bedroom light, she smiled as me.
“Hi, hon,” she said. “Have fun?”
“I lost four dollars and drank too much beer, but I guess you could call it fun. Just sleepy now.”
“How did Tom do?” she asked casually.
I hung my coat in the closet. “He broke the crap game and left early. Another guy brought me home. Incidentally, I’m not so sure we ought to get thick with Tom.”
“Why not?” she asked in a surprised voice.
I started to take off my tie. “He’s changed since high school. He wasn’t the nicest guy in the world even then, as a matter of fact. I just don’t think he’s our kind of people.”
“Fiddle flap,” Evelyn said. “I think he’s very nice.”
I stood still for several seconds, but I didn’t say anything. Then I finished undressing, put on my pyjamas and climbed into bed.
The next morning I left at my usual time to call on clients. Our life went on as normally as ever.
The thing which makes me think Evelyn suspects is that when Tom’s murder was announced in the paper, she never even mentioned it.