I could take my time. No one would be coming back.

I didn’t note the time when I let myself into Ilona’s place, but it was just past midnight when I left it. I walked over to Third Avenue to catch a cab headed uptown, and sprinted the last twenty yards to snag one cruising across the intersection.

“Running yet,” Max Fiddler said. “Can’t be the herbs. How could they work so fast? He makes miracles, this Chinaman, but even miracles take a little time to work. When did I see you, three, four nights ago?”

“Something like that.”

“No, it was two nights ago. I know it for a fact, because right after I dropped you off the second time I picked up the woman with the monkey. Where to?”

“Seventy-first and West End.”

“Right where I dropped you and then picked you up again. And then we took the Transverse and I dropped you at-gimme a minute-”

“Take all the time you want,” I said.

“-Seventy-sixth and Lexington,” he said triumphantly. “Am I right or am I right?”

“You’re right.”

“Some memory, eh?”

“I’m impressed.”

“Ginkgo.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Ginkgo biloba,” he said. “An herb! Comes from the ginkgo trees, you see ’em around town, got a funny little leaf shaped like a fan. I take these pills, my Chinaman told me about them, you get ’em in any health food store. I used to have a memory like Swiss cheese, now I got a memory like a hawk.”

“That’s wonderful.”

“You want to test me on state capitals, names of the presidents, be my guest.”

“No, that’s all right.”

“Or New York streets, anywhere in the five boroughs. Or something else. Go ahead, try and stump me.”

“Well, here’s an easy one. Did I happen to leave my attaché case in your cab the other night?”

“No,” he said without hesitation. “You want to know how I remember? I got this picture in my mind, you’re limping away from the cab, the case is knocking against your leg with each step you take.”