Роберт Голдсборо - Murder in E Minor

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Nero Wolfe, the brilliant orchid-growing gourmet detective, and his inimitable confidential assistant, Archie Goodwin, are America’s most beloved detection team. Now they are back in a splendid new murder mystery that takes up where Rex Stout left off. In the perfect Stout tradition, author Robert Goldsborough has ingeniously rendered every detail of character and place with such uncanny accuracy that fans will savor every page to its surprising and immensely satisfying conclusion.
Threatening notes have been sent to Milan Stevens, celebrated conductor of the New York Symphony. His niece, Maria, fears for her uncle’s life and travels to the Thirty-fifth Street brownstone of Nero Wolfe. Archie can barely conceal his surprise when Wolfe agrees to investigate — Archie has just spent two spectacularly unsuccessful years trying to pry his employer out of retirement. But Wolfe has his own reasons for taking the case, reasons that have nothing to do with helping a pretty young woman in distress. For while the world knows Milan Stevens as a brilliant conductor, Wolfe knows him as Milos Stefanovic, the brave freedom fighter who saved Wolfe’s life many years ago. It is a debt that must be paid.
But Maria has come to the big detective too late. Milan Stevens is soon found dead, and Maria’s musician boyfriend, Gerald, is in police custody. Despite Maria’s cries that Gerald could not have possibly committed such a bloody act, there are plenty of witnesses who overheard Stevens screaming at Gerald that marrying his niece was out of the question. To make matters worse, Gerald also happened to be the only person seen entering Stevens’s apartment on the night when the final curtain was pulled on his brilliant life.
The juicy public scandal of it all enthralls the city, which is anxious for the next development and the climax of the case. With precious little to go on, and not sold on Gerald’s guilt, Wolfe and Archie begin compiling a list of suspects, discovering very soon that the problem isn’t where to start — it s where to stop. But when the scanty clues finally arrange themselves like notes on a score, Wolfe recognizes a dark melody that only a talented murderer could perform.

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“Did you find the security adequate?” Wolfe asked.

Maria nodded. “I suppose so, although again, Mr. Remmers said we should be in a building with better protection. But there was always a hallman on duty, and in the daytime, a doorman too.”

“Is someone in your apartment during the day?”

“We have a maid who comes Mondays through Fridays, from about ten in the morning until three,” Maria said.

“Do you have a cook as well?” Wolfe asked.

“No, we usually eat out, although sometimes I make something for the two of us.”

Wolfe grimaced. The thought of anyone not having a cook always disturbs him. “I have another appointment,” he said, glancing at the wall clock, “but before we conclude, you should know that Mr. Milner has been charged with murder.”

Maria stiffened, but otherwise showed little emotion; the last two days had probably sucked most of the emotion out of her, and she looked to be on the ragged edge. “I must see him — I haven’t talked to him since... since before it happened.” She turned to me and back to Wolfe again.

“I plan to post bond for Mr. Milner,” Wolfe said. “You will be able to see him then. However, it is also imperative that I see him — here. Will I need your help to convince him to come?”

“Jerry will do anything I ask of him,” Maria said.

“Good,” Wolfe said. “One more question before you leave: Would you have married Mr. Milner against your uncle’s wishes?”

Maria looked steadily at Wolfe. “I was prepared for once to defy Uncle Milos,” she said.

“Very well. Mr. Goodwin and I will keep you apprised of developments.” For the second time that afternoon, Wolfe rose in a woman’s presence.

“I’ll get you a cab,” I said as I helped her on with her coat in the hall. “Is anyone staying with you?”

Maria said no. “Some friends have asked me to move in with them for a few days, but... I haven’t really wanted to be around anybody.”

“You shouldn’t be in that place alone. I know a woman with a large apartment, and she’d be glad to have you stay with her for a while. She’s in and out a lot, and you’d have plenty of privacy.”

Maria balked, but I persuaded her that she’d be happier away from the murder scene. “I’ll stop back there with you later, and you can pick up some clothes,” I said as I put her in a cab and gave her Lily Rowan’s name and address. When I got back inside, Wolfe was standing in the hall.

“Call Mr. Parker,” he said. “Tell him to get Mr. Milner out of jail as soon as possible. I want him here tonight, after dinner. Draw the necessary amount from the bank for bail.” Having fulfilled his role as resident order-giver, he rode the elevator up for his two-hour afternoon commune with the orchids, leaving me with the mundane responsibility of carrying out those orders.

9

I don’t think Nero Wolfe has ever properly appreciated my role as the fulfiller of his wishes. During the one hundred and twenty minutes he was puttering with his playthings up on the roof that afternoon, I was making hurried telephone calls, jumping into and out of taxis, and signing a cashier’s check for twenty-five thousand dollars. All so that when he rode the elevator down and walked into his office, I could turn in my chair and casually say, “Everything’s set; Milner’s out and will be here at nine.”

It’s not that my efforts were totally overlooked. After all, he did say “Very satisfactory” when he sat down, which is roughly equivalent to a lesser mortal clicking his heels, doing a cartwheel, and singing the first two verses of “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”

I’ve got to brag a little about those two hours, although I did get a few breaks. The instant the elevator doors closed behind Wolfe, I was on the phone to Lily, who was home. Break Number One. She was only mildly miffed at me for sending an unannounced houseguest her way, one who was en route to her Park Avenue palace even as we talked. Her interest increased when she learned it was the niece of the late Milan Stevens.

“Escamillo, am I to assume this has something to do with your preoccupation of the other evening?”

“You may assume whatever you wish, my love. I can’t give you any details right now, but I promise I will somewhere along the way. In the meantime, please make Maria feel at home, as only you can do. I don’t have to tell you the state she’s in, and that rest and privacy are what she needs more than anything. By the way, she’ll be coming without a suitcase.”

“I’m sure I can find things to fit her,” Lily said. “Worry no more, she’ll find a safe haven here. When will I hear from you again? And do I have any other instructions?”

I told Lily I’d call her again that day, and maybe even see her, then I dialed the number of Nathaniel Parker, who for years has been Wolfe’s lawyer and the only member of the bar that he trusts. He was in his office — Break Number Two.

“Archie! I haven’t heard from you in months. Is everything well with you and Wolfe?”

“More or less,” I told him. “I’m calling on business, of all things. Mr. Wolfe wants to post the bond for Gerald Milner, the man who’s been charged with Milan Stevens’s murder.”

“What! I just heard about that on the radio a little while ago. I... There are a dozen questions I’d like to ask. First, what’s the bond?”

“A quarter-million,” I said.

Parker made a sound somewhere between a whistle and a wheeze. “That means, depending on the judge, it’ll probably take twenty-five grand to get him out.”

“No problem,” I said. “Look, our bank closes in less than an hour, and we want Milner free right away. Can you meet me at the Thirty-fourth Street branch of the Metropolitan Trust Company in fifteen minutes?”

Parker sounded a little dazed, but said he’d cancel an appointment and be there. I told Fritz to cover the phone, and I was out the door in search of a cab, which I quickly found. Break Number Three. Traffic was unusually light for that time of day, so I got to the bank in ten minutes. I waited in front, and shortly another taxi pulled up: Nathaniel Parker, attorney-at-law, unfolded his six feet, four inches and stepped out. “Good to see you, Archie, despite the... unusual circumstances,” he said, holding out a big hand. “I just called the court, and as I suspected, it’s a ten-percent bail, so you’ve got to cough up twenty-five thousand.”

After that, things moved pretty fast. I went inside and talked to Mr. Tucker, the branch manager, with whom Wolfe and I had been dealing for years. Ten minutes later, Parker had a cashier’s check in his pocket and was in a cab on his way to get Gerald Milner out of the Biker’s Island Detention Center, while I was in a taxi of my own heading for Lily Rowan’s apartment.

Lily was surprised to see me so soon, and said Maria had checked in and was lying down. “You’re about to have another visitor, although not as a houseguest,” I told her, looking at my watch. “If all goes well, the man charged with Milan Stevens’s murder will be walking through that door in the next half-hour.”

It’s hard to shock Lily Rowan, but that time I managed. Her mouth dropped open, and her first words were, “I need a drink.” I said I’d have one myself, and after I mixed two Scotch-and-waters, we sat in Lily’s sunroom while I sketched in the situation, figuring I owed it to her. Lily’s not one to be fazed by anything for long, and I could see her eyes sparkle as she realized she was being drawn into the case. We had agreed on her role for the evening when the call came from downstairs: Mr. Nathaniel Parker and another gentleman were here to see Miss Rowan.

Lily was nervous as we waited for the elevator to bring them up. I’ll admit I was a little on edge myself, and particularly curious to see what kind of guy Gerald Milner was. I can hardly say he made a good first impression, but maybe part of the problem is that when two men enter a room together and one is eight inches taller than the other, the little guy is starting with a couple of strikes. After getting used to his height — he barely reached Parker’s shoulders — I began sizing Milner up: horn-rimmed glasses, sandy hair that fell over one eye, slightly stooped shoulders, and a glum expression, which was certainly understandable under the circumstances. He was wearing a blue suit and a white dress shirt open at the collar. And he looked totally lost.

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