"Here!" I ululated. "You deserve that. Not as a souvenir as I had planned, but as a decoration honoring your new and traitorous alliance with the police!" "How charming," she said, picking it up, then stepping forward and swinging a sharp uppercut that caught me square on the jaw. "And that is your decoration for mistrusting your wife. Release the creature." I dropped, stunned, as the restraining hands let go. Angelina throws a mean punch. When the whirling constellations had vanished, and vision returned, I saw her handing the badge back to the policeman at her side.
"This is Captain Kretin," she said, "who tried to speak to you earlier this evening. Are you ready to listen now?" I muttered something that even I couldn't understand and stumbled to the nearest chair, rubbing my jaw and feeling immensely sorry for myself. The captain spoke.
"As I have been explaining to your charming wife, Mr. diGriz, we merely want you to aid in an investigation. A man has been found, brutally murdered..." "I didn't do it! I was out of town at the time! I want my lawyer..." "Jim, darling, listen to the nice policeman." It was the way she said darling that sent ice water through my veins. I shut up. My Angelina can be deadly when provoked.
"You misunderstand; no one is accusing you of the crime. We just need your aid in attempting to solve this hideous felony. This is the first murder we have had on Blodgett in a hundred and thirteen years, so we are kind of out of practice with this sort of thing." The captain took out his notebook to refresh his memory, then carried on in a boring and monotonous voice.