CHAPTER 20Eight O’clock And All’s Well
DR. SUTTON had said that it would take more than Wiggins’s new antiseptic reputation to square either of them with Mrs. Purchas when she caught sight of Steve and Linda—and he was right. It took apologies and the whole story of the fresco and the Murillo. Captain Pel and Dr. Cobb sat in on the tale, too, and the three of them asked questions for the better part of an hour. Steve propped Linda’s “Dead Ship” on a chair and pointed out the patched planking that had sent Roberts into a tail spin and given the FBI man his first concrete evidence against the Shark.
“That picture played a stellar role in the performance,” he explained, “and you can give Linda all the credit. She earned it.”
“Of course, you didn’t put the ‘Dead Ship’ idea in my head, did y
