In the Best Families

by Rex Stout

  Wolfe’s eyes swept the arc.

  This, he said, “is a little awkward for me. I have met none of you before except Mr Leeds. I must be sure I have you straight. His eyes went along the line again. “I think I have. Now if you’ll tell me what you want-you, Mrs Frey, it was you who phoned me.

  Annabel looked at the D.A. “Shouldn’t you, Mr Archer?

  He shook his head. “No, you tell him.

  She concentrated, at Wolfe. “Well, as I said, there are two problems. One is that it seems to be supposed that Barry Rackham killed his wife, but it hasn’t been proved, and now that he is dead how can it be proved so that everyone will know it and the rest of us will be entirely free of any suspicion? Mr Archer says there is no official suspicion of us, but that isn’t enough/

  “It is gratifying, though, Wolfe murmured.

  “Yes, but it isn’t gratifying to have some of the people who say they are your friends looking at you as they do. Annabel was earnest about it. “Then the second problem is this. The law will not allow a man who commits a murder to profit by it. If Barry Rackham killed his wife he can’t inherit property from her, no matter what her will said. But it has to be legally proved that he killed her, and unless that is done her will stands, and what she left to him will go to his heirs.

  She made a gesture. “It isn’t that we want it-the rest of us. It can go to the state or to charity-we don’t care. But we think it’s wrong and a shame for it to go to his people, whoever will inherit from him. It’s not only immoral, it’s illegal. It can’t be stopped by convicting him of murder, because he’s dead and can’t be tried. My lawyer and Mr Archer both say we can bring action and get it before a court, but then we’ll have to have evidence that he killed her, and Mr

  Archer says he hasn’t been able to get it from you, and he hasn’t got it. But surely you can get it, or anyhow you can try. You see, that would solve both problems, to have a court rule that his heirs can’t inherit because he murdered her.

  “You have stated it admirably, Archer declared.

  “We don’t want any of it, Lina blurted.

  “My interest, Pierce put in, “is only to have the truth fully and universally known and acknowledged.

  That, Wolfe said, “will take more than me. I am by no means up to that. And not only my capacities, but the circumstances themselves, restrict me to a much more modest ambition. I can get you one of the things you want, removal of all suspicion from the innocent, but the other, having Mrs Rackham’s bequest to her husband set aside, is beyond me.

  They all frowned at him, in their various fashions. Hammond, the banker, protested, “That doesn’t seem to make sense. What accomplishes one accomplishes the other. If you prove that Rackham killed his wife-

  “But I can’t prove that. Wolfe shook his head. “I’m sorry, but it can’t be done. It is true that Rackham deserved to die, and as a murderer. He killed a woman here in New York three years ago, a woman named Delia Montrose-one of Mr

  Cramer’s unsolved cases; Rackham ran his car over her. That was how Zeck originally got a noose on Rackham, by threatening to expose him for the murder he did commit. As you know, Mr Archer, I penetrated some distance-not very far, but far enough-into Zeck’s confidence, and I learned a good deal about his methods. I doubt if he ever had conclusive evidence that Rackham had killed

  Delia Montrose, but Rackham, conscious of his guilt, hadn’t the spine to demand a showdown. Murderers seldom have. Then Rackham got a spine, suddenly and fortuitously, by becoming a millionaire; he thought then he could fight it; he defied Zeck; and Zeck, taking his time, retorted by threatening to expose

  Rackham for the murder of his wife. The threat was dangerous and effective even without authentic evidence to support it; there could of course be no authentic evidence that Rackham killed his wife, because he didn’t.

  They all froze, still wearing the frowns. Knowing Wolfe as I did, I had suspected that was coming, so I was taking them all in to get the impact, but there wasn’t much to choose. After the first shock they all began to make noises, then words came, and then, as the full beauty of it hit them, the words petered out.

  All but Archer’s. “You have signed a statement, he told Wolfe, “to the effect that Zeck told Rackham he could produce evidence that would convict him of murder, and that Rackham thereupon shot Zeck. Now you say, in contradiction—

  There is no contradiction, Wolfe declared. “The fact of Rackham’s innocence would have been no defence against evidence manufactured by Zeck, and Rackham knew it. Innocent as he was-of this murder, that is-he knew what Zeck was capable of.

  “You have said that you think Rackham killed his wife, but that you have no proof.

  “I have not, Wolfe snapped. “Read your transcripts.

  “I shall. And you now say that you think Rackham did not kill his wife?

  “Not that I think he didn’t. I know he didn’t, because I know who did. Wolfe flipped a hand. “I’ve known that from the beginning. That night in April, when

  Mr Goodwin phoned me that Mrs Rackham had been murdered, I knew who had murdered her. But I also knew that the interests of Arnold Zeck were involved and I dared not move openly. So I-but you know all about that. Wolfe turned to me. “Archie.

  Precautions may not be required, but you might as well take them.

  I opened a desk drawer and got out the Grisson.38. My favourite Colt, taken from me in Zeck’s garage antechamber, was gone forever. After a glance at the cylinder I dropped the Grisson in my side pocket and as I did so lifted my head to the audience. As if they had all been on one circuit, the six pairs of eyes left me and went to Wolfe.

  “I don’t like this, Archer said in a tight voice. “I am here officially, and I don’t like it. I want to speak to you privately.

  Wolfe shook his head. “It’s much better this way, Mr Archer, believe me. We’re not in your county, and you’re free to leave if it gets too much for you, but-

  “I don’t want to leave. I want a talk with you. If you knew, that night, who had killed Mrs Rackham, I intend to-

  “It is, Wolfe said cuttingly, “of no importance what you intend. You have had five months to implement your intentions, and where are you? I admit that up to three days ago I had one big advantage over you, but not since then-not since I told you of the package I got with a cylinder of tear gas in it, and of the phone call from Mr Zeck. That brought you even with me. It was after noon on a

  Friday that Mrs Rackham left here after hiring me. It was the next morning,

  Saturday, that I received that package and the phone call from Zeck. How had he learned about it? Apparently he even knew the amount of the cheque she had given me. How? From whom?

  I was not really itching to shoot anybody. So I got up and unobtrusively moved around back of them, to the rear of the chair that was occupied by Calvin Leeds.

  Wolfe was proceeding.

  “It was not inconceivable that Mrs Rackham had told someone else about it, her daughter-in-law or her secretary, or even her husband, but it was most unlikely, in view of her insistence on secrecy. She said she had confided in no one except her cousin, Calvin Leeds. Wolfe’s head jerked right and he snapped, “That’s correct, Mr Leeds?

  Being back of Leeds, I couldn’t see his face, but there was no difficulty about hearing him, since he spoke much too loud.

  “Certainly, he said. “Up to then-before she came to see you-certainly.

  “Good, Wolfe said approvingly. “You’re already drawing up your lines of defence. You’ll need them.

  “What you’re doing, Leeds said, still too loud, “if I understand you-you’re intimating that I told Zeck about my cousin’s coming here and hiring you. You’re intimating that in front of witnesses.

  “That’s right, Wolfe agreed. “But it’s not vital to me; I mention it chiefly to explain why I suspected you of duplicity, and of being involved in some way with

  Arnold Zeck even before Mr Goodwin left here that day to go up there. It draws attentio
n to you, no doubt of that; but it is not primary evidence that you murdered your cousin. The proof that it was you who killed her was given to me on the phone that night by Mr Goodwin.

  There were stirrings and little noises. Leeds ignored them.

  “So, he said, not so loud now, “you’re actually accusing me before witnesses of murdering my cousin?

  “I’m accusing you of that, yes, sir, but also I’m accusing you of something much worse than that. Wolfe spat it at him. “I’m accusing you of deliberately and ruthlessly, to protect yourself from the consequences of your murder of your cousin for the money you would inherit from her, thrusting that knife into the belly of a dog that loved you and trusted you!

  Leeds started up, but hadn’t got far when my hands were on his shoulders, and with plenty of pressure. He let down. I moved my hands to the back of his chair.

  Wolfe’s voice was cold and cutting. “No one could have done that but you, Mr

  Leeds. In the woods at night, that trained dog would not have gone far from its mistress. Someone else might possibly have killed the dog first and then her, but it wasn’t done that way, because the knife was left in the dog. And if someone else, permitted to get close to her, had succeeded in killing her with a sudden savage thrust and then defended himself against the dog’s attack, it is not believable that he could have stopped so ferocious a beast by burying the knife in its side without himself getting a single tooth mark on him. You know those dogs; you wouldn’t believe it; neither will I.

  “No, Mr Leeds, it could have been only you. When Mr Goodwin went on to your house and you stayed out at the kennels, you joined your cousin on her walk in the woods. I doubt if the dog would have permitted even you to stab her to death in its presence; I don’t know; but you didn’t have to. You sent the dog away momentarily, and, when the knife had done its work on your cousin, you withdrew it, stood there in the dark with the knife in your hand, and called the dog to come. It came, and despite the smell of fresh blood, it behaved itself because it loved and trusted you. You could have spared it; you could have taken it home with you; but no. That would have put you in danger. It had to die for you, and by your hand.

  Wolfe took a breath. “To this point I know I am right; now conjecture enters.

  You stabbed the dog, of course, burying the blade in its belly, but did you leave the knife there intentionally, to prevent a gush of blood on you, or did the animal convulsively leap from you at the feel of the prick, jerking the knife from your grasp? However that may be, all you could do was make for home, losing no time, for you must show yourself to Mr Goodwin as soon as possible. So you did that. You said good night and went to bed. I don’t think you slept; you may even have heard the dog’s whimpering outside the door, after it had dragged itself there; but maybe not, since it was beneath Mr Goodwin’s window, not yours. You pretended sleep, of course, when he came for you.

  Leeds was keeping his head up, but I could see his hands gripping his legs just above the knees.

  “You used that dog, Wolfe went on, his voice as icy as Arnold Zeck’s had ever been, “even after it died. You were remorseless to your dead friend. To impress

  Mr Goodwin, you were overcome with emotion at the thought that, though you had given the dog to your cousin two years ago, it had come to your doorstep to die.

  It had not come to your doorstep to die, Mr Leeds, and you knew it; it had come there to try to get at you. It wanted to sink its teeth in you just once. I say you knew it, because when you squatted beside the dog and put your hand on it, it snarled. It would not have snarled if it had felt your hand as the soothing and sympathetic touch of a trusted friend in its last agony; indeed not; it snarled because it knew you, at the end, to be unworthy of its love and trust, and it scorned and hated you. That snarl alone is enough to convict you. Do you remember that snarl, Mr Leeds? Will you ever forget it? Your old friend Nobby, his last words for you-Leeds’ head went forward, dropping, and his hands came up to cover his face.

  He made no sound, and no one else did either. The silence darted around us and into us, coming out from Leeds. Then Lina Darrow took in a breath with a sighing, sobbing sound, and Annabel got up and went to her.

  “Take him, Mr Archer, Wolfe said grimly. “I’m through with him, and it’s about time.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  I’m sitting at a window overlooking a fiord, typing this on a new portable I bought for the trip. In here it’s pleasant. It’s late in the season for outdoors in Norway, but if you run hard to keep your blood going you can stand it. I got a letter yesterday which read as follows:

  Dear Archie:

  The chickens came from Mr Haskins, Friday, four of them, and they were satisfactory. Marko came to dinner. He misses Fritz, he says. I have given

  Fritz a raise.

  Mr Cramer dropped in for a talk one day last week. He made some rather pointed comments about you, but on the whole behaved himself tolerably.

  I am writing this longhand because I do not like the way the man sent by the agency types.

  Vanda peetersiana has a raceme 29 in. long. Its longest last year was 22 in.

  We have found three snails in the warm room. I thought of mailing them to Mr

  Hewitt but didn’t.

  Mr Leeds hanged himself in the jail at White Plains yesterday and was dead when discovered. That of course cancels your promise to Mr Archer to return in time for the trial, but I trust you will not use it as an excuse to prolong your stay.

  We have received your letters and they were most welcome. I have received an offer of $315 for the furniture in your office but am insisting on $350. Fritz says he has written you. I am beginning to feel more like myself. My bestregards, N. W.

  I let Lily read it. “Darn him anyhow, she said. “No message, not a mention of me. My Pete! Huh. Fickle Fatty.

  “You’d be the last, I told her, “that he’d ever send a message to. You’re the only woman that ever got close enough to him, at least in my time, to make him smell of perfume.

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  Rex Stout

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