Rex Stout - The Second Confesion

Paul and Connie Emerson were in the living-room looking at television, and Webster Kane was on the terrace, apparently just walking back and forth. I exchanged greetings with them on the fly and proceeded.

It was a dark night, with no stars on account of the clouds, but the wind was down. As I drove to Chappaqua I let my mind drift into a useless habit, speculating on who Saul's tail had been-state or city employees, or an A, B, C, or D. After I got to a booth in a drugstore and called Saul at the office and had a talk with him, it was still nothing but a guess. All Saul knew was that it had been a stranger and that it hadn't been too easy to shake him. Since it was Saul Panzer, I knew I didn't have to check any on the shaking part, and since he had no news to report except that he had acquired a tail, I told him to make himself comfortable in one of the spare rooms if he got sleepy, treated myself to a lemon coke, and went back to the car and drove back to Stony Acres.

Madeline had joined the pair in the living-room, or maybe I should just put it that she was there when I entered. When she came to intercept me the big dark eyes were wide open, but not for any effect they might have on me. Her mind was obviously too occupied with something else for dallying.

“Where have you been?” she asked.

I told her to Chappaqua to make a phone call. She took my arm and eased me along through the door into the reception hall, and there faced me to ask, “Have you seen Gwenn?” “No. Why, where is she?” “I don't know. But I think-” She stopped. I filled in, “I supposed she was off in a corner making up her mind.” “You didn't go out to meet her?” “Now I ask you,” I objected. “I'm not even a worm, I just work for one. Why would she be meeting me?” “I suppose not.” Madeline hesitated. “After dinner she told Dad she would let him know as soon as she could, and went up to her room. I went in and wanted to talk to her, but she chased me out, and I went to Mother's room. Later I went back to Gwenn's room and she let me talk some, and then she said she was going outdoors. I went downstairs with her. She went out the back way. I went back up to Mother, and when I came down again and found you had gone out I thought maybe you had me her.” “Nope.” I shrugged. “She may have had trouble finding the answer in the house and went outdoors for it. After all, she said before bedtime and it's not eleven yet. Give her time. Meanwhile you ought to relax. How about a game of pool?” She ignored the invitation. “You don't know Gwenn,” she stated.

“Not very well, no.” “She has a good level head, but she's as stubborn as a mule. She's a little like Dad. If he had kept off she might have had enough of Louis long ago. But now-I'm scared. I suppose your Nero Wolfe did the best he could, but he left a hole. Dad hired him to find out something about Louis that would keep Gwenn from marrying him. Is that right?” “Right.” “And the way Nero Wolfe put it, one of four things had to happen. Either he had to quit the job, or Dad had to fire him, or Gwenn had to believe what he said about Louis and drop him, or he had to keep on and get proof. But he left out something else that could happen. What if Gwenn went away with Louis and married him? That would fix it too, wouldn't it? Would Dad want Wolfe to go on, to keep after Louis if he was Gwenn's husband? Gwenn wouldn't think so.” Madeline's fingers gripped my arm. “I'm scared! I think she went to meet him!” “I'll be damned. Did she take a bag?” “She wouldn't. She'd know I'd try to stop her, and Dad too-all of us. If your Nero Wolfe is so damn smart, why didn't he think of this?” “He has blind spots, and people running off to get married is one of them. But I should have-my God, I am thick. How long ago did she leave?” “It must have been an hour-about an hour.” “Did she take a car?” Madeline shook her head. “I listened for it. No.” Then she must have-” I stopped to frown and think. “If that wasn't it, if she just went out to have more air while she decided, or possibly to meet him here somewhere and have a talk, where would she go? Has she got a favourite spot?” “She has several.” Madeline was frowning back at me. “An old apple tree in the back field, and a laurel thicket down by the brook, and a-” “Do you know where there's a flashlight?” “Yes, we keep-” “Get it.” She went. In a moment she was back, and we left by the front door. She seemed to think the old apple tree was the best bet, so we circled the house half-way, crossed the lawn, found a path through a shrubbery border, and went through a gate into a pasture. Madeline called her sister's name but no answer came, and when we got to the old apple tree there was no one there. We returned to the vicinity of the house the other way, around the back of the barn and kennels and other outbuildings, with a halt at the barn to see if Gwenn had got romantic and saddled a horse to go to meet her man, but the horses were all there. The brook was in the other direction, in the landscape towards the public road, and we headed that way. Occasionally Madeline called Gwenn's name, but not loud enough to carry to the house. We both had flashlights. I used mine only when I needed it, and by that time our eyes had got adjusted. We stuck to the drive until we reached the bridge over the brook and then Madeline turned sharp to the left. I admit she had me beat at cross-country going in the dark. The bushes and lower limbs had formed the habit of reaching out for me from the sides, and while Madeline hardly used her light at all, I shot mine right or left now and then, as well as to the front.

We were about twenty paces from the drive when I flashed my light to the left and caught a glimpse of an object on the ground by a bush that stopped me. The one glimpse was enough to show me what it was-there was no doubt about that-but not who it was. Madeline, ahead of me, was calling Gwenn's name. I stood. Then she called to me, “You coming?” and I called back that I was and started forward. I was opening my mouth to tell her that I was taking time out and would be with her in a minute, when she called Gwenn's name again, and an answer came faintly through the trees in the night. It was Gwenn's voice.

“Yes, Mad, I'm here!” So I had to postpone a closer inspection of the object behind the bush. Madeline had let out a little cry of relief and was tearing ahead, and I followed. I got tangled in a thicket before I knew it and had to fight my way out, and nearly slid into the brook; then I was in the clear again, headed towards voices, and soon my light picked them up at the far side of an open space. I crossed to them.

“What's all the furore?” Gwenn was asking her sister. “Good Lord, I came outdoors on a summer night, so what? That's been known to happen before, hasn't it? You even brought a detective along!” “This isn't just a summer night,” Madeline said shortly, “and you know darned well it isn't. How did I know-anyway, you haven't even got a jacket on.” “I know I haven't. What time is it?” I aimed the light at my wrist and told her. “Five past eleven.” “Then he didn't come on that train either.” “Who didn't?” Madeline asked.

“Who do you suppose?” Gwenn was pent up. “That dangerous criminal! Oh, I suppose he is. All right, he is. But I wasn't going to cross him off without telling him first, and not on the phone or in a letter, either. I phoned him to come here.” “Sure,” Madeline said, not like a loving sister. “So you could make him tell you who X is and make him reform.” “Not me,” Gwenn declared. “Reforming is your department. I was simply going to tell him we're through-and good-bye. I merely preferred to do it that way, before telling Dad and the rest of you. He was coming up on the nine twenty-three and taxi from the station and meet me here. I thought he had missed it-and now I guess he didn't get the next one either-but there's a-what time is it?” I told her. “Nine minutes after eleven.” “There's a train at eleven thirty-two, and I'll wait for that and then quit. I don't usually wait around for a man for two hours, but this is different. You admit that, don't you, Mad?” “If you could use a suggestion from a detective,” I offered, “I think you ought to phone him again and find out what happened. Why don't you girls go and do that, and I'll wait here in case he shows up. I promise not to say a word to him except that you'll soon be back. Get a jacket, too.” That appealed to them. The only part that didn't appeal to me was that they might wave flashlights around on their way to the drive, but they went in another direction, a short cut by way of the rose garden. I waited until they were well started and then headed towards the drive, used the light to spot the object on the ground by the bush, and went to it.