Homicide Trinity

by Homicide Trinity (lit)

  Weed stood and glared at him. Wolfe finished a para-

  graph, inserted his marker, put the book down, and

  issued a command. "Sit down. I prefer eyes at my level.

  Sit down! When you arrived at the Hazens' for dinner

  Monday evening were the others already there?"

  "I want to know why you gave the gun—"

  "Bah. Are you a jackass? You must be, to suppose

  you can call me to account. Sit down! You said you

  The Homicide Trinity 125

  would give an arm to help Mrs. Hazen. Keep your arm;

  I want only some information. Must I repeat my ques-

  tion?"

  Five of the yellow chairs were there. Weed took the

  nearest one. He ran his fingers through his mop of hair,

  but only a comb and brush could have handled it. "Mrs.

  Oliver was there," he said. "And Khoury. Perdis and

  Mrs. Talbot came soon after I did. I don't see why—"

  "This is what I want to know. While you were there,

  was any one of them absent from the gathering long

  enough to go to Mr. Hazen's bedroom and back? Con-

  sider it. Dismiss your fatuous huff for the moment and

  put your mind on something pertinent."

  Weed tried to. To do so he had to take his eyes from

  Wolfe, so he tilted his head back and looked at the

  ceiling. He took his time, then lowered his head. "I don't

  think so. I'm pretty sure none of them left the room at

  all, either before we went to the dining room or after. Of

  course they were all there when I left, so—"

  The doorbell rang. I went to the hall, but Fritz was

  there opening the door. When the newcomer had

  crossed the sill I stepped back into the office and gave

  Wolfe a nod, and he asked, "Mrs. Talbot?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Mr. Weed to the hall, then bring them in, and Mr.

  Weed to the front room. We may need him later."

  "I'm staying right here," Weed declared, "until I—"

  "You are not. I have work to do and no time to bicker

  with you. Out. Out!"

  "But damn it—"

  "Out."

  Weed looked at me, standing at the door. What he

  met was a stony gaze. He got up and came, past me and

  into the hall. When he was four paces along I went and

  opened the door to the front room.

  Chapter 9

  I put Anne Talbot in the chair nearest me because

  from her face and the way she moved it seemed

  likely that she might need smelling salts any

  minute, and there were some in my drawer. Next to her

  was Jules Khoury, then Mrs. Oliver, and then Ambrose

  Perdis. I had expected remarks as they entered, espe-

  cially from Mrs. Oliver, who had been waiting more

  than three hours, but there hadn't been a peep from

  anyone. I felt like an usher at a funeral.

  Wolfe took them in. "Since you are here," he said, "I

  assume that you are prepared to act on my proposal.

  Mrs. Oliver?"'

  I had her in profile and couldn't see her deep-set

  yellow eyes, and from that angle her sagging jowl was

  even less attractive. She opened her bag and took out a

  slip of paper. "This is a cashier's check," she said, "on

  the Knickerbocker Trust Company for two hundred

  and fifty thousand dollars, made out to me. I'll endorse

  it. Or I won't."

  "That will of course depend. Mrs. Talbot?"

  Anne Talbot's lips parted but no sound came. She

  tried again and got it out. "I have a certified check for

  sixty-five thousand dollars and forty thousand dollars

  in cash. I'll pay the rest as soon as I can—I think I can

  pay it in a month, but it might take longer. Of course

  you'll want me to sign something, a note, whatever you

  say, I tried—" She had to swallow. "I tried—" Another

  swallow. "I did the best I could."

  "Mr. Perdis?"

  "I have a certified check for my share."

  "The full amount?"

  "Yes."

  The Homicide Trinity 127

  "Mr. Khoury?"

  "I have nothing."

  "Indeed. Then why are you here?"

  "I want to know what's in the box. If there's anything

  worth a quarter of a million to me, I'll buy it."

  "The deadline is midnight." Wolfe glanced at the

  clock. "You would have ninety minutes."

  "I don't think so. I don't think Mrs. Hazen knows

  about this. I think you're putting the screws on us

  without her knowledge. Whatever you're doing, I want

  to know what's in the box."

  "Well." Wolfe's eyes left him to take in the others.

  "This situation was not covered by the terms of my

  proposal. Two of you are prepared to comply with the

  terms and should not suffer for Mr. Khoury's dissent.

  As for you, Mrs. Talbot, I am willing to accept your

  declaration of good faith, that you have done your best.

  You will of course commit yourself in writing to pay the

  balance. As for you, Mr. Khoury, if you are willful so am

  I. Whatever the box contains that relates to you will be

  turned over to the police at midnight. Archie, get the

  box and the key." Back to them: "We have procured a

  key that will serve."

  Thinking it desirable to keep up appearances, I first

  got a Marley from the drawer and loaded it. Then to the

  cabinet for the key, and then to the safe. As I worked

  the combination my back was to them, but as I opened

  the door and took out the box I had an eye on them, not

  only for appearances. It was conceivable that Perdis or

  Khoury, or both, had come with the idea of getting

  something for nothing if a chance offered. All four of

  them had twisted around in their chairs to follow me,

  and they twisted back as I circled around to Wolfe's

  desk. As I was putting the box down the phone rang. It

  would. I was going to tell Wolfe to take it, but didn't

  have to.

  He lifted the receiver. "Yes? . . . Yes, Saul . . .

  indeed . . . That isn't necessary. . . . Satisfactory. . . .

  No, stay there, Archie is here . . . How sure are

  128 Rex Stout

  you? . . . Very satisfactory. . . . No, call again in an

  hour or so."

  As he hung up there was a gleam in his eye. "Open it,"

  he said. I inserted the key, fiddled with it a little, got it,

  lifted the lid all the way, stared a second for effect, and

  said, "It's empty," and when Perdis bounced up and

  came, my hand jerked up with the gun, not having been

  told that that part of the performance was over. I

  slipped the gun in my pocket and turned the box on its

  edge so that all could see the shiny inside. Perdis

  blurted at Wolfe, "Damn you! You've got it! You had a

  key!" Mrs. Oliver squawked something. Anne Talbot

  lowered her head and covered her face with her hands.

  Jules Khoury stood up, vetoed whatever he had in-

  tended, and sat down again. He spoke. "Use your head,

  Perdis. He didn't even know it was empty. Why would

  he—"

  "You're wrong," Wolfe snapped. "I did know it was

  empty. I knew it last night when I made my proposal."

  The
y were speechless. Anne Talbot lifted her head.

  "I made the proposal," Wolfe said, "not out of caprice, to

  plague you, but for a purpose, and the purpose has been

  served. You have the gun, Archie? Go and stand at the

  door. No one is to leave."

  I obeyed. Perdis, still on his feet, was in the way, so I

  detoured around back of the chairs. He was yapping,

  and Khoury was up again. Of course I hadn't the dim-

  mest idea what was coming next as I shut the door and

  put my back to it, gun in hand, but apparently Wolfe

  had. Ignoring them, he had lifted the receiver and was

  dialing. Since he hadn't consulted the book and there

  were only three phone numbers he bothered to keep in

  his head, I knew who he must be getting, even before he

  spoke and asked for Mr. Cramer. In a moment he had

  him.

  "Mr. Cramer? The situation has developed as I ex-

  pected. How soon can you be here with Mrs.

  Hazen? . . . No. I will not. I told you more than half an

  hour ago that I would almost certainly call

  you. . . . No. I told you that her presence would be

  The Homicide Trinity 129

  essential. If you come without her you won't be

  admitted. . . . Yes. I am prepared to suggest a

  substitute. . . . Yes. . . . Yes!"

  Mrs. Oliver was on her feet too; they all were, except

  for Anne Talbot, and as Wolfe hung up Perdis said

  through his teeth, "Damn you, you gave it to the po-

  lice!"

  "No," Wolfe said. "Are you a dunce? Would I contrive

  such a hocus-pocus just to pass the time? Confound it,

  sit down! I have something to say that you would prefer

  to hear before Mr. Cramer arrives."

  "I'm leaving," Mrs. Oliver said. "This was all a trick

  and you'll regret it. I'm going."

  "No one is going. Mr. Goodwin wouldn't shoot you,

  but he wouldn't have to. Sit down."

  Khoury, with his chair right back of his knees, merely

  had to bend them. Perdis, going to his chair, jostled

  Mrs. Oliver and didn't apologize. She turned to face me

  at the door, decided that Wolfe was right, I wouldn't

  have to shoot, and sat.

  "You heard me on the phone," Wolfe told them. "Mr.

  Cramer will be here shortly, and Mrs. Hazen will be

  with him. The nature of your peculiar relations with Mr.

  Hazen will have to be divulged to him, that can't be

  helped, but he doesn't have to know of your invasion of

  that house yesterday evening. It's only fair—don't in-

  terrupt me, there isn't much time—"

  Perdis persisted. "You have no evidence of our rela-

  tions with Hazen."

  "Pfui. Your bid to Mr. Goodwin? It's only fair that

  three of you should know about the box. All that I told

  you about it last evening was true—Mr. Hazen showing

  it to his wife and telling her that if he died she should

  get it and bum the contents, and Mr. Goodwin getting it

  from beneath the drawer after sending you from the

  room. Asked by Mr. Perdis if I had opened it, I said no.

  But Mr. Goodwin had, and it was empty."

  "I don't believe it," Mrs. Oliver said. "It's a trick."

  Wolfe nodded. "I concocted a trick, that's true, but

  it's a fact that the box was empty. That's what you have

  130 Rex Stout

  a right to know, three of you. It's an understatement to

  say that you would like to know where the former

  contents are, but I have no idea and neither has Mr.

  Goodwin, and I'm sure Mrs. Hazen hasn't. The obvious

  conjecture is that Mr. Hazen transferred them to some

  other place which he preferred. If I could offer—"

  "She has them," Mrs. Oliver said harshly. "Lucy

  Hazen. I suppose you don't know it or you wouldn't

  have had us come ready to pay. She took them after she

  killed him and now we'll have her. She'll be in prison but

  we'll have her the rest of our lives."

  "I don't believe it," Anne Talbot said. She hadn't

  spoken since the box had been opened. "Lucy wouldn't

  do that. But this is even worse than it was. . . . Now

  we don't know . . . and I tried so hard. . . ."

  "I don't believe the box was empty," Khoury told

  Wolfe. "I think you're lying."

  "I don't," Perdis said. "Why would he? There's six

  hundred and five thousand dollars here ready for him."

  His eyes went to Wolfe. "But this Cramer—that's In-

  spector Cramer? You said he has to know about what

  you call our peculiar relations with Hazen. Why does

  he?"

  The doorbell rang. I was on post and could have let

  Fritz take it, but they were all in their chairs, so I

  opened the door to the hall and stepped through. I

  expected to see Cramer alone, since there hadn't been

  time for him to get Lucy from the jug, but she was there

  with him on the stoop, and at her elbow was Sergeant

  Purley Stebbins. He must have had her brought to 20th

  Street when Wolfe made his first phone call. And as I

  dropped the gun in my pocket and moved, the door to

  the front room opened and Theodore Weed darted out

  and to the front door. He couldn't possibly have heard

  through the soundproofed wall and door, so either he

  had been looking out a window or his feeling for her

  included some kind of a personal electronic receiver.

  Seeing no reason to spoil his fun, I let him open the

  door. Cramer shot him a glance as he entered. Lucy

  crossed the threshold, saw him, and stopped. She

  The Homicide Trinity 131

  stared, and he stared back. He lifted a hand and let it

  drop. Stebbins, back of her, growled, "On in, Mrs. Ha-

  zen." She looked at me, and back at Weed, and I said,

  "Everything's under control, Mrs. Hazen," and Weed

  backed up a step. I thought, and still think, that he had

  intended to warn her that Wolfe and I were a pair of

  Judases, but the mere sight of her paralyzed him. He

  stood and stared while Cramer and Stebbins got their

  coats off and I took hers and put it on a hanger. When

  we headed for the office he followed us, and there was

  no point in herding him back to the front room. Either

  Wolfe had the cards or he hadn't.

  Three steps in, Cramer stopped to send his eyes

  around. I didn't envy him any. The four people there

  weren't a bunch of bums, anything but; they had posi-

  tion and connections and lawyers if necessary, and

  much wampum. And here he was, in the office of a

  private detective, with a woman charged with murder.

  Of course he had a good reason: he suspected he might

  have stubbed his toe. I hadn't been present when Wolfe

  had made his previous phone call, but presumably he

  had said that he expected soon to be ready to offer a

  substitute for Mrs. Hazen, and Cramer knew Wolfe

  only too well.

  But naturally he didn't care to give that reason to

  that audience. He faced them. "I'm here because Wolfe

  told me that you four people would be here and I

  wanted to know what he had to say to you. I brought

&nb
sp; Mrs. Hazen because from something Wolfe said I got

  the idea that it would be in the interest of justice for her

  to be here. I want to make it plain that as an officer of

  the law I don't rely on any private detective to do my

  job for me, and what's more no private detective is

  going to interfere."

  He went to the red leather chair and sat. Stebbins

  took Lucy to the extra chair, next to Perdis, and stood

  behind her. That way they had their murderer sur-

  rounded, with Cramer in front of her only three paces

  off. Weed went to a chair over by the big globe. As I

  circled around to get to my desk Wolfe spoke.

  132 Rex Stout

  "Mr. Stebbins. Mrs. Hazen is your prisoner, and of

  course it's your duty to guard her. But I doubt if she

  intends any outbreak. If you wish to stand by the mur-

  derer of Mr. Hazen I suggest that you move to Mr.

  Khoury."

  Silence. Not a sound. For the record, for how people

  react, four of them—Cramer, Lucy, Mrs. Oliver, and

  Anne Talbot—kept their eyes at Wolfe. Perdis and

  Sergeant Stebbins moved theirs to Khoury. Weed, over

  by the globe, got up, took a step, and stopped. Khoury's

  head tilted back, slowly, until his eyes were forced on

  Wolfe past the tip of his long thin nose. "That's my

  name," he said. "I'm the only Khoury here."

  "You are indeed." Wolfe's head turned. "Mr. Cramer.

  As I said, I am prepared to offer a substitute for your

  consideration, but that's all. Not only have I no conclu-

  sive evidence, I have none at all. I have only some