Рекс Стаут - Gambit

I was back at my desk. “Pass,” I told him. “If he’s a liar he’s good. If he’s straight Sally’s a goof, and I told her Monday evening that I’m with her all the way, so I’m prejudiced. I pass.”

He grunted. To her, “You heard me. I told him I would have to be satisfied about the direction. What do you want, Miss Blount? Did you hire me to discredit Mr. Kalmus or to clear your father?”

“Why... my father, of course.”

“Then don’t interfere. If there really is an important fact known only to Kalmus and your father I may soon learn what it is, before I commit myself to Kalmus, and then I’ll decide what to do. He has by no means convinced me of his integrity, and I’m going to spend some of your money in an effort to verify or impeach your opinion of him. He is a widower?”

“Yes. His wife died ten years ago.”

“He has children?”

She nodded. “Four. Two sons and two daughters. They’re all married.”

“Do any of them live with him? Or he with them?”

“No. He has an apartment on Thirty-eighth Street in a remodeled house that he owns. When the children got married and left he had it turned into apartments, one to a floor.”

“Does he live alone?”

“Yes. He doesn’t—”

“Yes is enough. Does he have servants? A servant?”

“Not to sleep in. A daily cleaning woman is all. He only eats breakfast—”

“If you please. Have you a key to his apartment?”

Her eyes widened. “Of course not. Why would I have a key?”

“I couldn’t say. I merely ask.” He turned. “Archie. Get Saul and Fred and Orrie. After lunch. Two-thirty if possible.”

I swiveled and got the phone and dialed. Getting them in the middle of the day was doubtful, but Saul had an answering service, Fred had a wife, and for Orrie I had three different numbers, two of which were strictly his affair; and for Wolfe any and all of them would leave a job he happened to be on unless it was really hot.

I was at the phone off and on until lunchtime, and my meal was interrupted twice by call-backs from Fred and Orrie, but I wouldn’t have minded if I had got no meal at all if necessary in order to get a ball rolling, though it did seem that Wolfe was piling it on. If all he had in mind was a tour of Kalmus’s apartment, as was indicated by the questions he had asked Sally, why the platoon? Why not just send me? I had a suspicion and I didn’t care for it. He wanted me around on account of Sally. With me not there to keep an eye on her, she might try to tell Fritz how to cook, or put tacks in Wolfe’s bed, or change the furniture around. If that was it, if having her as a house guest meant that I would be sent on no errand if and when there was one, I was inclined to agree with Yerkes and Kalmus, at a time like this the place for her was home.

Bones were dwelt upon again at lunch, but not Voltaire’s; these had been found in some gorge somewhere in Africa, and they proved that the chief difference between me and the galoots who put them there a million years ago was that I can use a typewriter; I think that was it. The kidneys were fully appreciated, and, as I was chewing my last one, Fritz stepped in after answering the doorbell to say that Mr. Panzer was there. If Sally hadn’t been present he would of course have said Saul. By the time we finished with the salad and coffee Fred and Orrie had also come.

I had told them on the phone that Sally Blount would be present, and, when we entered the office and I introduced them to her, it was interesting, as it always is, to see how true they ran to form. Saul Panzer, five-feet-seven, 140 pounds, with a big nose and flat ears, not a good design for beauty, apparently looked casually in her direction only to be polite, but you could safely give a thousand to one that he had every little detail of her on file for good. Fred Durkin, five-feet-ten, 190 pounds, bald and burly, looked at her, then away, then back at her. He doesn’t know he does that. Ever since the time, years ago, when he fell temporarily for a pretty little trick with ample apples, and his wife caught on, he doesn’t trust himself with females under thirty. Orrie Cather, six-feet-flat, 180 pounds, good design from tip to toe, gave her a straight, honest, inquisitive, and acquisitive eye. He was born with the attitude toward all attractive women that a fisherman has toward all the trout in a stream, and has never seen any reason to change it.

Their three chairs lined up before Wolfe’s desk didn’t leave much space, and the red leather chair had had time to cool off from Kalmus, so Sally took it. Wolfe, after performing as usual with that trio, shaking hands with all of them because he wanted to with Saul, sat, moved his eyes left to right and back again, and spoke. “If it was troublesome for you to arrange to come I should thank you, and I do. I suppose you know what I’m concerned with — Matthew Blount, charged with the murder of Paul Jerin. You have just met his daughter. I won’t describe the situation because for the present I have a single specific assignment for you. You probably know the name of Blount’s lawyer: Daniel Kalmus.”

Nods.

“There is reason to suspect that at some time-prior to Tuesday evening, January thirtieth, he procured some arsenic somewhere; I have no slightest hint of where or how or when, but it was probably not more than a week or two before January thirtieth; it may well have been only a day or two. Note that I said ‘reason to suspect’; that’s all it is. Usually when I ask you to find something I have concluded that it exists; this time it’s not a conclusion, merely a surmise. But you will spare no pains, and if you find it your fees will be doubled. Saul will be in charge and will direct you, but report here to Archie as usual.”

He focused on Saul. “On such an operation you know how to proceed better than I do. I offer no suggestions. Evidence that he actually procured or possessed arsenic in some form would be most satisfactory, but even to establish that he had access to it would help substantially. Make no undue sacrifice to discretion; if he learns of your inquiries no harm will be done, for of course he has already taken all possible precautions. But you will exclude his doctor and his apartment. His doctor, Victor Avery, is his old and intimate friend; I have talked with him; and any approach to him or his office should be discussed with me beforehand. As for his apartment, it will be visited and inspected this evening by Archie, accompanied by Miss Blount. Miss Blount is an excellent source of information regarding his habits, haunts, associates — all about him. Get all you can from her first.” He turned to her. “There are comfortable seats in the front room. If you please?”

She had fists again, her knuckles white. “But I told you... I just don’t believe it...”

“You’re not required to. I neither believe it nor reject it; I’m investigating. That’s what you hired me for.”

“You said I would go to his apartment with Archie. I couldn’t .”

“We’ll consider that later. In talking with Mr. Panzer, Mr. Durkin, and Mr. Cather, you need not disclose any matter which you wish to reserve. Mr. Goodwin will be with you.” He turned. “Have your notebook, Archie.”

I got it, arose, and headed for the door to the front room, and the trio got up and came, but stood aside at the door to let Sally go first. Ops appreciate a chance to be polite, they get so few. As I pulled the door shut a glance at Wolfe showed him reaching for African Genesis. Now that he was hard at work he could read again.

At ten minutes past ten that evening Sally and I got out of a taxi at the corner of Park Avenue and Thirty-eighth Street, walked a block and a half east with a gusty winter wind at our backs shoving us along, stood at the curb, and looked across the street at the windows of the fourth floor, the top, of a brick house painted gray with green trim. Seeing no sign of light, we crossed over, entered the vestibule, and inspected the row of names and buttons on the panel, and I pushed the button marked Kalmus, expecting no response, since I had dialed his phone number only a quarter of an hour ago and got no answer. After a thirty-second wait I pushed the button at the bottom, marked SUPERINTENDENT, and as I did so Sally gripped my arm.