"Then genius is all that's left. Unless you have an idea
for another card I could take to Mrs. Sorell. I wouldn't
mind. I like the way she says very."
"No doubt. Could you do anything with her?"
"I could try. She might possibly make another
decision—for instance, to sign a statement. Or if she has
decided to hire you I could bring her, and you could
have a go at her yourself. She has marvelous eye-
lashes."
He grunted. "It may come to that. We'll see after
lunch. It may be that after they have talked with Mr.
Otis—yes, Fritz?"
"Lunch is ready, sir."
Chapter 7
I never got to check an alibi, but it was a close shave.
Who made it close was Inspector Cramer.
Since Wolfe refuses to work either his brain or
his tongue on business at table, and a murder case is
business even when he has no client and no fee is in
prospect, no progress was made during lunch, but when
we returned to the office he buckled down and tried to
think of something for me to do. The trouble was that
the problem was too damn simple. We knew that one of
three men had committed murder, and how and when.
Okay, which one? Eeny meeny murder mo. Even the
why was plain enough; Mrs. Sorell had hooked him with
an offer, either of a big slice of the thirty million she was
after or of more personal favors. Any approach you
could think of was already cluttered with cops, except
Mrs. Sorrell, and even if I got to her again I had nothing
to use for a pry. What it called for was a good stiff dose
of genius, and apparently Wolfe's was taking the day
off. Sitting there in the office after lunch I may have got
a little too personal with him or he wouldn't have bel-
lowed at me to go ahead and check their alibis. "Glad
to," I said, and went to the hall for my hat and coat, and
saw visitors on the stoop, not strangers. I opened the
door just as Cramer pushed the bell button, and in-
quired, "Have you an appointment?"
"I have in my pocket," he said, "a warrant for your
arrest as a material witness. Also one for Wolfe. I
warned you."
There were two ways of looking at it. One was that he
didn't mean to shoot unless he had to. If he had really
wanted to haul us in he would have sent a couple of
dicks after us instead of coming himself with Sergeant
The Homicide Trinity 55
Purley Stebbins. The other was that here was a good
opportunity to teach Wolfe a lesson. A couple of the
right kind of impolite remarks would have made
Cramer sore enough to go ahead and serve the war-
rants, and spending several hours in custody, and pos-
sibly all night, would probably cure Wolfe of leaving
neckties on his desk. But I would have had to go along,
which wouldn't have been fair, so I wheeled and
marched to the office, relying on Purley to shut the
door, and told Wolfe: "Cramer and Stebbins with war-
rants. An inspector to take you and a sergeant to take
me, which is an honor." He glared at me and then
transferred it to them as they entered.
Cramer said, "I warned you last night," draped his
coat on the arm of the red leather chair, and sat.
Wolfe snorted. "Tommyrot."
Cramer took papers from his pocket. "I'll serve these
only if I have to. If I do I know what will happen, you'll
refuse to talk and so will Goodwin, and you'll be out on
bail as soon as Parker can swing it. But it will be on your
record and that won't close it. Held as a material wit-
ness is one thing, and charged with interfering with the
operation of justice is another. In the interest of justice
we were withholding the contents of the statements
you and Goodwin gave us, and you knew it, and you
revealed them. To men suspected of murder. Frank
Edey has admitted it. He phoned an assistant district
attorney."
The brilliant idea man again.
"He's a jackass," Wolfe declared.
"Yeah. Since you told them in confidence."
"I did not. I asked for no pledges and got none. But I
made it plain that if I put my finger on the murderer
before you do I'll protect that law firm from injury as
far as possible. If Mr. Edey is innocent it was to his
interest not to have me interrupted by you. If he's
guilty, all the worse."
"Who's your client? Otis?"
"I have no client. I am going to avenge an affront to
my dignity and self-esteem. Your threat to charge me
Rex Stout
with interference with the operation of justice is puer-
ile. I am not meddling in a matter that does not concern
me. I cannot escape the ignominy of having my necktie
presented in a courtroom as an exhibit of the prosecu-
tion; I may even have to suffer the indignity of being
called to the stand to identify it; but I want the satisfac-
tion of exposing the culprit who used it. In telling
Mr. Otis and his partners what Miss Aaron said to Mr.
Goodwin, in revealing the nature of the menace to their
firm, I served my legitimate personal interest and I
violated no law."
"You knew damn well we were withholding it!"
Wolfe's shoulders went up an eighth of an inch. "I am
not bound to respect your tactics, either by statute or
by custom. You and I are not lawyers; ask the District
Attorney if a charge would hold." He upturned a palm.
"Mr. Cramer. This is pointless. You have a warrant for
my arrest as a material witness?"
"Yes. And one for Goodwin."
"But you don't serve them, for the reason you have
given, so they are only cudgels for you to brandish. To
what end? What do you want?"
A low growl escaped Sergeant Purley Stebbins, who
had stayed on his feet behind Cramer's chair. There is
one thing that would give Purley more pleasure than to
take Wolfe or me in, and that would be to take both of
us. Wolfe cuffed to him and me cuffed to Wolfe would be
perfect. The growl was for disappointment and I gave
him a sympathetic grin as he went to a chair and sat.
"I want the truth," Cramer said.
"Pfui," Wolfe said.
Cramer nodded. "Phooey is right. If I take Goodwin's
statement as it stands, if he put nothing in and left
nothing out, one of those three men—Edey, Hey-
decker, Jett—one of them killed Bertha Aaron. I don't
have to go into that. You agree?"
"Yes."
"But if a jury takes Goodwin's statement as it stands,
it would be impossible to get one of those men con-
victed. She got here at 5:20, and he was with her in this
The Homicide Trinity
room until 5:39, when he went up to you in the plant
rooms. It was 6:10 when he returned and found the
body. All right, now for them. If one of them had a talk
with her yesterday afternoon, or if one of them left the
office when she did, or just before or just after, we can't
pin it down. We haven't so far and I doubt if we will.
They have private offices; their secretaries are in other
rooms. Naturally we're still checking on movements
and phone calls and other details, but it comes down to
this. That list, Purley."
Stebbins got a paper from his pocket and handed it
over and Cramer studied it briefly. "They had a confer-
ence scheduled for 5:30 on some corporation case, no
connection with Sorell. In Frank Edey's office. Edey
was there when Jett came in a minute or two before
5:30. They were there together when Heydecker came
at 5:45. Heydecker said he had gone out on an errand
which took longer than he expected. The three of them
stayed there, discussing the case, until 6:35. So even if
you erase Edey and Jett and take Heydecker, what
have you got? Goodwin says he left her here, alive, at
5:39. They say Heydecker joined the conference at 5:45.
That gives him six minutes after tailing her here to
phone this number, come and be admitted by her, kill
her, and get back to that office more than a mile away.
Phooey. And one of them couldn't have come and killed
her after the conference. On that I don't have to take
what Goodwin says; he phoned in and reported it at
6:31, and the conference lasted to 6:35. How do you like
it?"
Wolfe was scowling at him. "Not at all. What was
Heydecker's errand?"
"He went to three theaters to buy tickets. You might
think a man with his income would get them through an
agency, but he's close. We've checked that. He is. They
don't remember him at the theaters."
"Did neither Edey nor Jett leave the office at all
between 4:30 and 5:30?"
"Not known. They say they didn't, and no one says
58 Rex Stout
they did, but it's open. What difference does it make,
since even Heydecker is out?"
"Not much. And of course the assumption that one of
them hired a thug to kill her isn't tenable."
"Certainly not. Here in your office with your necktie?
Nuts. You can take your pick of three assumptions.
One." Cramer stuck a finger up. "They're lying. That
conference didn't start at 5:30 and/or Heydecker didn't
join them at 5:45. Two," Another finger. "When Bertha
Aaron said 'member of the firm' she merely meant one
of the lawyers associated with the firm. There are
nineteen of them. IfGoodwin's statement is accurate I
doubt it. Three." Another finger. "Goodwin's statement
is phony. She didn't say 'member of the firm.' God
knows what she did say. It may be all phony. I admit
that can never be proved, since she's dead, and no
matter what the facts turn out to be when we get them
he will still claim that's what she said. Take your pick."
Wolfe grunted. "I reject the last. Granting that Mr.
Goodwin is capable of so monstrous a hoax, I would
have to be a party to it, since he reported to me on his
conversation with Miss Aaron before she died—or
while she died. I also reject the second. As you know, I
talked with Mr. Otis last night. He was positive that she
would not have used that phrase, 'member of the firm,'
in any but its literal sense."
"Look, Wolfe." Cramer uncrossed his legs and put his
feet flat. "You admit you want the glory of getting him
before we do."
"Not the glory. The satisfaction."
"Okay. I understand that. I can imagine how you felt
when you saw her lying there with your necktie around
her throat. I know how fast your mind works when it
has to. It would take you two seconds to realize that
Goodwin's report of what she had told him could never
be checked. You wanted the satisfaction of getting him.
It would take you maybe five minutes to think it over
and tell Goodwin how to fake his report so we would
spend a couple of days chasing around getting nowhere.
With your goddamn ego that would seem to you per-
The Homicide Trinity 59
fectly all right. You wouldn't be obstructing justice; you
would be bringing a murderer to justice. Remembering
the stunts I have seen you pull, do you deny you would
be capable of that?"
"No. Given sufficient impulse, no. But I didn't. Let
me settle this. I am convinced that when Mr. Goodwin
came to the plant rooms and told me what Miss Aaron
had said to him he reported fully and accurately, and
the statement he signed corresponds in every respect
with what he told me. So if you came, armed with
warrants, to challenge it, you're wasting your time and
mine. Archie, get Mr. Parker."
Since the number of Nathaniel Parker, the lawyer,
was one of those I knew best and I didn't have to consult
the book, I swiveled and dialed. When I had him Wolfe
got on his phone.
"Mr. Parker? Good afternoon. Mr. Cramer is here
waving warrants at Mr. Goodwin and me. . . . No.
Material witnesses. He may or may not serve them.
Please have your secretary ring my number every ten
minutes. If Fritz tells you that we have gone with Mr.
Cramer you will know what to do. . . . Yes, of course.
Thank you."
As he hung up Cramer left his chair, spoke to Steb-
bins, got his coat from the chair arm, and tramped out,
with Purley at his heels. I stepped to the hall to see that
both of them were outside when the door shut. When I
returned, Wolfe was leaning back with his eyes closed,
his fists on his chair arms, and his mouth working.
When he does that with his lips, pushing them out and
pulling them in, out and in, he is not to be interrupted,
so I crossed to my desk and sat. That can last anywhere
from two minutes to half an hour.
That time it wasn't much more than two minutes. He
opened his eyes, straightened up, and growled, "Did he
omit the fourth assumption deliberately? Has it oc-
curred to him?"
"I doubt it. He was concentrating on us. But it soon
will."
"It has occurred to you?"
"Sure. From that time-table it's obvious. When it
60 Rex Stout
does occur to him he'll probably mess it up. It's not the
kind he's good at."
He nodded. "We must forestall him. Can you get her
here?"
"I can try. I supposed that was what you were work-
ing at. I can make a stab at it on the phone, and if that
doesn't work we can invent another card trick. When do
you want her? Now?"
"No. I must have time to contrive a plan. What time is
it?" He would have had to twist his neck to look up at
the wall clock.
"Ten after three."
"Say six o'clock. We must also have the others, in-
cluding Mr. Otis."
Though the Churchill number wasn't as familiar to
me as Parker's I knew it, and got at the phone and
dialed. I asked for Mrs. Morton Sorell, and after a wait
had a voice I had heard before.
"Mrs.
Sorell's apartment. Who is it, please?"
"This is Archie Goodwin, Mrs. Sorell. I'm calling from
Nero Wolfe's office. A police inspector was here for a
talk with Mr. Wolfe and just left. Before that three men
you know were here—Edey and Heydecker and Jett.
There have been some very interesting developments,
and Mr. Wolfe would like to discuss them with you
before he makes up his mind about something. You
were asking this morning if he would work for you, and
that's one possibility. Would six o'clock suit you? You
have the address."
Silence. Then her voice: "What are the develop-
ments?"
"Mr. Wolfe would rather tell you himself. I'm sure
you'll find them interesting."
"Why can't he come here?"
"Because as I told you, he never leaves his house on
business."
"You do. You come. Come now."
"I would love to, but some other time. Mr. Wolfe
wants to discuss it with you himself."
Silence. Then: "Will the policeman be there?"
The Homicide Trinity 61
"Certainly not."
Silence, then: "You say six o'clock?"
"That's right."
"Very well. I'll come."
I hung up, turned, and told Wolfe, "All set. She wants
me to come there but that will have to wait. You have
less than three hours to cook up a charade, and for two
of them you'll be with the orchids. Anything for me?"
"Get Mr. Otis," he muttered.
Homicide Trinity Page 8
