In the short story Mr Eastwood's Adventure, writer Anthony Eastwood receives a phone call from a stranger, a woman calling herself "Carmen" who told him that it was a matter of life and death and asked him to meet her at 320 Kirk Street, the address of the second hand glassware shop of Mother Gibson. There he must use codeword "cucumber" which would access to a private room. On meeting Eastwood, Carmen told Eastwood that a "fiend" named Boris was after her. Feeling heroic or gallant, Eastwood promised that he would soon "settle Boris".
Eastwood later learned that he had been the victim of an elaborate hoax by The Patterson gang. The person "Boris" was probably made up by Carmen as part of the deception.