Pat Novak Says...

"A few minutes later, the cab pulled up in front of a hotel on Geary Street, and we walked in. One look at that lobby and you got the idea. The place was about as cozy as an abandoned mine shaft. Over by the wall, there was an old mohair couch, and the legs on it were so warped, pretty soon, it was going to look like period furniture. There were a few chairs, and over by the stairs, a faded calendar of a girl in tights holding a jar of mayonnaise and winking, whatever that meant. And there was a broken clock over the desk. But you knew it was all right, because nobody there cared about keeping track of time, it was something you got rid of in a hurry, like a bent quarter.

"Well, we went up to the second floor, we walked down a long hall that smelled like an anteroom to a sewer. When Feldman knocked on the door, she opened it right away. The room was full of taboo. She stood leaning there for a minute, the sort of a girl who moves when she stands still. She had blonde hair. And she was kind of pretty. Except you could see somebody had used her badly, like a dictionary in a stupid family. Feldman seemed to know her."

- Pat Novak for Hire, April 2, 1949 - "Father Lahey"