Three at Wolfe's Door

by Rex Stout

  Wolfe grunted. "Can there be any doubt that it was Miss Arden on the phone? Both times?"

  "Not the slightest. I couldn't possibly mistake her voice."

  Method Three for Murder 101

  "What time was it when you left Mr. Prosch and went down to the street?"

  "About half past eight. I told the police I couldn't be exact about that, but I could about when I started home. It was exactly nine o'clock." Reams' hands moved. Back to normal. "Now I'll hear what you have to say."

  "In a moment. Miss Bram was to come at eight o'clock. Why didn't you phone her?"

  "Because I thought I would be back. Probably a little late, but she would wait. I didn't phone her after Miss Arden phoned that she was delayed because she would be gone."

  "Where was she to drive you?"

  "To Long Island. A party. What does that matter?" He was himself again. "You talk now, and I want the truth!"

  Wolfe picked up his glass, emptied it, and put it down. "Possibly you are entitled to it, Mr. Kearns. Unquestionably a man of your standing would feel keenly the ignominy of having a wife in jail the woman to whom you have given your name, though she doesn't use it. You may know that she came to this house at twenty minutes past nine last evening."

  "I know nothing. I told you she won't see me."

  "So you did. She arrived just as Mr. Goodwin was leaving the house on an errand and they met on the stoop. No doubt you know that Mr. Goodwin is permanently in my employ as my confidential assistant--permanently, that is, in the sense that neither of us has any present intention of ending it or changing its terms."

  Kearns was fidgeting again. I was not. He spoke. "The paper said he had left your employ. It didn't say on account of my wife, but of course it was."

  "Bosh." Wolfe's head turned. "Archie?"

  "Bosh," I agreed. "The idea of quitting on account of Miss Holt never entered my head."

  Kearns hit the chair arm. "Mrs. Kearns!"

  "Okay," I conceded. "Mrs. Waldo Kearns."

  "So," Wolfe said, "your wife's first contact was with Mr. Good win. They sat on the stoop and talked. You know, of course, that

  io2 3 "* Wolfe's Door

  Miss Dram's cab was there at the curb with Miss Arden's body in it."

  "Yes. What did my wife say?"

  "I'll come to that. Police came along in a car and discovered the body, and reported it, and soon there was an army. A policeman named Cramer talked with Mr. Goodwin and your wife, I went to the door and invited them to enter--not Mr. Cramer--and they did so. We talked for half an hour or so, when Mr. Cramer came with Miss Bram, and they were admitted. Mr. Cramer, annoyed by the loquacity of Miss Bram, and wishing to speak with your wife privately, took her away. You demanded the truth, sir, and you have it. I add one item, also true: since your wife had engaged Mr. Good win's services, and through him mine also, what she told us was confidential and can't be divulged. Now for--"

  Kearns bounced out of the chair, and as he did so the doorbell rang. Since a man who might have stuck a knife in a woman might be capable of other forms of violence, I was going to leave it to Fritz, but Wolfe shot me a glance and I went to the hall for a look. On the stoop was a tall guy with a bony face and a strong jaw. Behind me Kearns was yapping but had drawn no weapon. I went to the front and opened the door.

  "To see Mr. Wolfe," he said. "My name is Gilbert Irving."

  The temptation was too strong. Only twelve hours ago I had seen a confrontation backfire for Cramer, when he had brought Judy Bram in to face Mira, but this time the temperament was already in the office, having a fit, and it would be interesting to see the reaction, and possibly helpful. So I told him to come in, took his Homburg and put it on the shelf beside the floppy black number, and steered him to the office.

  Kearns was still on his feet yapping, but when Wolfe's eyes left him to direct a scowl at me he turned his head. I ignored the scowl. I had disregarded another rule by bringing in a visitor without consulting Wolfe, but as far as I was concerned Mira was still my client and it was my case. I merely pronounced names. "Mr. Gilbert Irving. Mr. Wolfe."

  The reaction was interesting enough, though not helpful, since

  Method Three for Murder 103

  it was no news that Kearns and living were not pals. Perhaps Kearns didn't actually spit at him hecause it could have been merely that moisture came out with his snort. Two words followed immediately. "You bastard!"

  living must have had lessons or practice, or both. His uppercut, with his right, was swift and sure, and had power. It caught Kearns right on the button and sent him straight up a good six inches before he swayed against the corner of Wolfe's desk.

  vm

  To do him justice, Kearns handled it as well as could be expected, even better. He surprised me. He didn't utter a peep. The desk saved him from going down. He stayed propped against it for three seconds, straightened with his hand on it for support, moved his head backward and forward twice, decided his neck was still together, and moved. His first few steps were wobbly, but*by the time he reached the door to the hall they were steadier, and he made the turn okay. I went to the hall and stood, as he got his hat from the shelf and let himself out, pulling the door shut without banging it, and re-entered the office as Irving was saying, "I should beg your pardon. I do. I'm sorry."

  "You were provoked," Wolfe told him. He gestured at the red leather chair. "Be seated."

  "Hold it." I was there. "I guess I should beg your pardon, Mr. Irving, for not telling you he was here, and now I must beg it again. I have to tell Mr. Wolfe something that can't wait. It won't take long." I went and opened the door to the front room. "If you'll step in here."

  He didn't like the idea. "My business is pressing," he said.

  "So is mine. If you please?"

  "Your name is Archie Goodwint1"

  "Yes."

  He hesitated a second, and then came, and crossed the sill, and

  104 3 at Wolfe's Door

  1 dosed the door. Since it and the wall were soundproofed, I didn't have to lower my voice to tell Wolfe, "I want to report. I saw his wife."

  "Indeed. Will a summary do?"

  "No." I sat. "It will for one detail, that eighty feet from where the cab was parked there is a stoneyard that would be perfect cover, you couldn't ask for better, but you must have my talk with Mrs. Irving verbatim."

  "Go ahead."

  I did so, starting with a description of her. It had been years since he had first told me that when I described a man he must see him and hear him, and I had learned the trick long ago. I also knew how to report conversations word for word--much longer ones than the little chat I had had with Mrs. Irving.

  When I had finished he asked one question. 'Was she lying?"

  "I wouldn't bet either way. If so she is good. If it was a mixture I'd hate to have to sort it out."

  "Very well." He closed his eyes. In a moment they opened. "Bring him."

  I went and opened the door to the front room and told him to come, and he entered, crossed to the red leather chair, sat, and aimed his eyes at Wolfe. "I should explain," he said, "that I am here as a friend of Miss Mira Holt, but she didn't send me."

  Wolfe nodded. "She mentioned your name last evening. She said you are an intelligent man."

  "I'm afraid she flatters me." Evidently it was normal for him to sit still. "I have come to you for information, but I can't pretend I have any special right to it. I can only tell you why I want it When I learned on the radio this morning that Miss Holt was in custody I started downtown to see her, to offer my help, but on the way I decided that it wouldn't be advisable because it might be misconstrued, since I am merely a friend. So I called on my lawyer instead. His name is John H. Darby. I explained the situation and asked him to see Miss Holt, and he arranged to see her and has talked with her, but she won't tell him anything. She even refused to authorize him to arrange bail for her. She says that Archie Good fe;

  win and Nero Wolfe are representing her, and she
will say nothing and do nothing without their advice." y I touched my lips with a fingertip, the lips that Mira had kissed. I was blowing the kiss back to her. Not only had she put my name first, but also she had improved on my suggestion by combining method three and method one. She was a client in a thousand. She had even turned down two offers to spring her.

  Tin not a lawyer," Wolfe said, "and neither is Mr. Goodwin."

  Tm aware of that. But you seem to have hypnotized Miss Holt. With no offense intended, I must ask, are you acting in her interest or in Waldo Reams'?"

  Wolfe grunted. "Hers. She hired us."

  I put in, "You and Kearns agree. He thinks we hypnotized her too. Nuts."

  He regarded me. "I prefer to deal with Mr. Wolfe. This is his office."

  "You're dealing with both of us," Wolfe told him. "Professionally we are indiscrete. What information do you want?"

  "I want to know why you are taking no steps to get her released and what action you intend to take in her interest. I also want you to advise her to accept the services of my lawyer. He is highly" qualified."

  Wolfe rested his palms on the chair arms. "You should know better, Mr. Irving; you're a man of affairs. Before I gave you an inch, let alone the mile you ask for, I would have to be satisfied that your interest runs with hers."

  "Damn it, I'm her friend! Didn't she say I am? You said she mentioned me."

  "She could be mistaken." Wolfe shook his head. "No. For instance, I don't even know what you have told the police."

  "Nothing. They haven't asked me anything. Why should they?"

  "Then you haven't told them that Miss Holt told you on the phone Sunday evening that she was going to drive Judith Bram's cab?"

  It got him. He stared. He looked at me and back at Wolfe. "No," he said. "Even if she had, would I tell the police?"

  KMethod Three for Murder 105

  io6 3 at Wolfe's Door

  "Do you -deny that she did?" "I neither" deny it nor affirm it."

  Wolfe upturned a palm. "How the devil can you expect cando from me? D<9 you want me to suspect that Miss Holt lied when <&* told us of that phone call?" e "When did she tell you?" "Last everwng. Here. Not under hypnosis." He considered. "All right. She told me that." "And whcfni did you tell?" "No one." "You're certain?" "Of course? I'm certain."

  "Then it v^on't be easy to satisfy me. Assuming that Miss Holt fulfilled her Intention and took the cab, and arrived with it at Mr. Reams' address at eight o'clock, and combining that assumption with the fact that at twenty minutes past nine the cab was standing in front of my house with a dead body in it, where are you? Miss Bram states that she told no one of the arrangement. Miss Holt states that she told no one but you. Is it any wonder that I ask where you ar^? And, specifically, where you were last evening from eight o'clock on?"

  "I see." Irving took a breath, and another. "It's utterly preposterous. You actually suspect me of being involved in the murder of Phoebe Aider*-" "I do indeed."

  "But it's preposterous! I had no concern whatever with Miss Arden. She meant nothing to me. Not only that, apparently whoever killed her managed to get Miss Holt involved--either managed it or pemiittect it. Would I do that?" He made his hands fists and raised them, s-took them. "Damn it, I have to know what happened! You kriow. Miss Holt told you. I have to know!"

  "There are things I have to know," Wolfe said drily. "I mentioned one: yc*ur movements last evening. We have it from your wife, but I prefer it from you. That's the rule, and a good one: get the best available evidence."

  Irving was staring again. "My wife? You have seen my wife?" "Mr. GoodWin has. He called at your home this morning to see

  Method Three for Murder 107

  [ you had gone. Your wife wished to be helpful. You know,

  what she told him."

  [ she tell him--" He stopped and started over. "Did she tell at a phone call she made yesterday afternoon?" nodded. "And one she received. She received one from ad made one to Miss Arden."

  inclined his head forward to look at his right hand. Its i bent, slowly, to make a fist. Apparently something about Operation was unsatisfactory, for he repeated it several times, at it At length his head came up. "My lawyer wouldn't ijfbis," he said, "but I'm going to tell you something. I have to ct you to tell me anything. If I told you what I told my you would check it, and it won't check. I know Miss Holt Yjudy Bram's cab there last evening. I know she got there at nutes to eight and left at ten minutes to nine. I saw her." I. Where were you?"

  in a cab parked on Carmine Street, around the corner (Ferrell Street. I suppose you know what her purpose was in ; Judy's cab?"

  , To talk with her husband." I had tried to persuade her not to. Did she tell you that?"

  a't like it. There isn't much that Kearns isn't capable of. I K mean violence; just some trick like getting her out of the cab I going off with it. I decided to be there, and I phoned my wife |;I would have to spend the evening with a business associate. I afraid if I took my car Miss Holt might recognize it, so I got jti with a driver I know. Carmine Street is one-way, and we 1 where we would be ready to follow when she came out of 1 Street. We were there when she arrived, at five minutes to When she came back, nearly an hour later, she was alone, i was no one in the cab. I supposed Kearns had refused to let !;drive him, and I was glad of it."

  :then?"

  i went to my club. If you want to check I'll give you the cab rs name and address. I rang Judy Bram's number, and I rang ' Holt s number three or four times, but there was no answer.

  io8

  3 at Wolfe's Door

  I supposed they were out somewhere together. And this morning I heard the radio and saw the paper." He breathed. "I hope to heaven I won't have to regret telling you this. If it contradicts anything she told you she's right and I'm wrong. I could be lying, you know, for my own protection."

  I was thinking, if so you're an expert.

  Wolfe's eyes, at him, were half closed. "It was dark. How could you know there was no one in the cab?"

  "There's a light at that corner. I have good eyes and so has the driver. She was going slow, for the turn."

  "You didn't follow her?"

  "No. There was no point in following her if Kearns wasn't with her."

  "What would you say if I told you that Miss Holt saw you in your parked taxi as she drove by?"

  "I wouldn't believe it. When she drove by arriving I was flat on the seat. It was dark but I didn't risk her seeing me. When she left she didn't drive by. Carmine Street is one-way."

  Wolfe leaned back and shut his eyes, and his lips began to work Irving started to say something, and I snapped at him, "Hold it." Wolfe pushed his lips out and pulled them in, out and in, out and in. ... He was earning the twenty-five bucks I had paid him. I had no idea how, but when he starts that lip operation the sparks are flying inside his skull.

  Irving tried again. "But I want--"

  "Hold it."

  "But I don't-"

  "Shut up!"

  He sat regarding me, not warmly.

  Wolfe opened his eyes and straightened. "Mr. Irving." He was curt. "You will get what you came here for, but not forthwith. Possibly within the hour, probably somewhat later. Tell me where I can reach you, or you may--"

  "Damn it, no! I want--"

  "If you please. Confound it, I've been yelped at enough today. Or you may wait here. That room has comfortable chairs--or one at least. Mr. Goodwin and I have work to do."

  Method Three for Murder 109

  "I don't intend-"

  'Tour intentions have no interest or point. Where can we reach you?"

  Irving looked at me and saw nothing hopeful. He arose. Til wait here," he said, and headed for the front room.

  rx

  Having turned my head to see that Irving shut the door, I turned it hack again. "Fine," I said. "We're going to work."

  "I'm a dunce," he said. "So are you."

  "It's possible," I conceded. "Can you prove it?"

  "It's manifest. Wh
y did that policeman stop his car to look inside that cah?"

  "Cops do. That's what a prowl car is for. They saw it parked with the hackie gone, and while that's nothing strange they thought it was worth a look. Also it was parked in front of your house. He knew it was your house. He said so."

  "Nevertheless, we are dunces not to have questioned it. I want to know if that policeman had been prompted. At once."

  "It's a point," I admitted. "The papers haven't mentioned it. I doubt if Cramer would--"

  "No."

  "I could try Lon Cohen."

  "Do so."

  I swiveled and dialed the Gazette number, and got Lon. Wolfe lifted his receiver to listen in. I told Lon I wanted something for nothing. He said I always did and usually got it, but if what I was after this time was an ad under "Situations Wanted" I would have to pay.

  "That was just a dirty rumor," I said. "I am permanently in Mr. Wolfe's employ--permanently, that is, in the sense that I may still be here tomorrow. On our present job we're shy a detail. If you'll supply it I'll give you something for the front page if and when. We don't know whether the cop who stopped to uncover Phoebe

  no

  3 at Wolfe's Door

  Arden's body in the taxi had been steered or was just nosy. Do you?"

  "Yes, but I'm not supposed to. The DA is saving it. He may release it this afternoon. If he does I'll call you."

  "We need it now. Not for publication, and we wouldn't dream of quoting you. We're just curious."