Homicide Trinity Read online

"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.