Rex Stout - Murder by the Book

I reported with details. I told him about Corrigan's visit with Mrs. Potter, his call on Finch at the hotel ending in a little mild violence, his second trip to Glendale, finding Finch there ahead of him, and Finch's phone call to me. I continued, "When Finch phoned me that Corrigan had left, licked, naturally I figured him to come back to the hotel to get into Finch's room to look for the manuscript. Covering the door of the room from the outside wasn't feasible, since he knew me. I decided to sit tight and welcome him if he came. He did so, with a key. His seeing me here jolted him, as expected. I invited him to talk, but he wanted to be alone, and nothing was said that would help you any. I phoned Dolman, and he sent

two men and an ape with a sense of humor, and when Corrigan left, an hour and ten minutes ago, the three were on his tail. That's the status quo."

"There's man with Mrs. Potter?"

"Yes, I thought I said so. Finch."

"Then there are no new instructions. Stay there."

"I would like to stick another pin in him."

"You have none to stick. How is the albacore?"

"Marvelous."

"It should be. Call me as necessary."

"Yes, sir."

He hung up. That shows that everything is relative. If I had admitted that Corrigan's walking in on me had been a surprise he might have made remarks. Going to the window for a look at the rain, I was reflecting on that point when the phone rang.

It was Buratti. "We're at the airport," he reported. "He came straight here. You said we could keep close, so I was standing right by him when he asked for a seat on the first plane to New York. The best he could do was the TWA that leaves at five o'clock, and he bought a ticket. He's in a phone booth now, making a call. Do we go to New York with him?"

"No, I guess not. I'd like to take Gibson along, but he's probably needed here. Get me a seat on the same plane and wait there for me. I have some errands to do, so don't get impatient. There's a faint chance he's pulling something, so keep an eye on him."

I hung up and then called the Glendale number. Apparently I wouldn't get to see Mrs. Potter again, but at least I could chat with her on the phone.

17

OOMEWHERE over New Mexico, or maybe Oklahoma, I O decided it hadn't been too brainy to take the same plane as Corrigan. A later one would have done just as well. As it was, with me in Seat Five and him back of me in Fourteen, I would get no sleep. In such a situation logic is not enough. It certainly wouldn't have been logical for him to wander by in

that crowded plane and jab a knife in me, especially as I had no briefcase or other receptacle big enough to hold the manuscript of a novel, but I wasn't going to sleep, and I didn't like his being at my rear. I had a notion to ask him to trade seats but voted it down.

It was a long and weary night.

At La Guardia Airport, where we landed in the morning on schedule, he was in a bigger hurry than me. He grabbed his bag and trotted out to a taxi. Before getting my suitcase I went to a booth and phoned Fritz to expect me for breakfast in thirty minutes and mix plenty of batter. As my taxi crossed Queensboro Bridge I saw the sun for the first time in four days.

Wolfe never came downstairs in the morning until after he finished in the plant rooms at eleven o'clock, but Fritz welcomed me home as if I had been gone a year. He met me at the front door, took my suitcase, hung up my hat and coat, escorted me to the kitchen, and put the griddle on. I was perched on a stool drinking orange juice when I heard the elevator, and a moment later Wolfe entered. He was actually breaking a rule. I thought it deserved some recognition and accepted his offer of a handshake. We made appropriate remarks. He sat. The kitchen is the only place on earth where he doesn't mind a chair that lets his fanny lap over the sides. I went to my seat at my breakfast table as Fritz flapped the first cake onto my hot plate.

"He looks skinny," Fritz told Wolfe. Fritz is convinced that without him we would both starve to death in a week.

Wolfe nodded in agreement and told me, "Two flowers are open on a Cypripedium Minos."

"Wonderful," I said with my mouth full. When the bite was down, "I assume you want a report. There's-"

"Eat your breakfast."

"I am. Unlike you, I don't mind business with meals. There's nothing but fill-in to add to what you already know, except that I came on the same plane as Corrigan, as arranged. At the airport he took his bag and scooted. I presume that with what you've collected here we're about ready to jump?"

He snorted. "Where? On whom?"

"I don't know."

"Neither do I. When.Mr. Wellman first came to see me, eighteen days ago, I assumed that Dykes had written that novel, that he and two women were killed on account of their knowledge of it, and that someone in that law office wasinvolved. We have validated that assumption, and that's all. We know nothing new."

I swallowed food. "Then my trip to rainy California was a washout."

"By no mean. All we could do was force him or them to become visible by movement. All we can do now is continue the process. We'll contrive it."

"Right after breakfast? I've had no sleep."

"We'll see. Movement once started is hard to stop." He glanced at the wall clock. "I'm late. We'll see. It is satisfactory to have you back." He got up and went.

I finished breakfast and looked through the morning paper and went to the office. I wouldn't have been surprised to see a stack of unopened mail, but apparently he had worked his head off during my absence. Bills and other items, out of their envelopes, were neatly arranged on my desk, and the exposed sheet of my desk calendar said March ninth, today. I was touched. I looked over things a little and then took my suitcase and mounted to my room. It was glad to see me back. When I'm up there I always turn the phone extension on, but that time I forgot to. I had unpacked and stripped and showered, and was using my electric shaver,– when Fritz appeared at the bathroom door, panting.

"The phone," he said. "Mr. Corrigan wants to speak to Mr. Wolfe."

"Okay. I forgot to turn it on. I'll get it."

I went and flipped the switch and lifted the receiver. "This is Archie Goodwin."

I expected Mrs. Adams, but it was Corrigan himself. He said curtly that he wished to speak to Wolfe, and I told him Wolfe wouldn't be available until eleven. He said they wanted an appointment with him, and I asked who wanted it.

"I and my associates."

"Would eleven o'clock suit you? Or it could be eleven-thirty."

"We would prefer eleven o'clock. We'll be there."

Before I went to finish shaving I buzzed Wolfe on the house phone and told him, "Right you were. Movement once started is hard to stop. The law firm will be here at eleven."

"Ah," he said. "Contrivance may not be needed."

It was only ten-thirty, and I took my time completing my personal chores. I can dress fast, but I don't like to have to.

When I went downstairs I was ready for anything, including a two-hour nap, but that would have to wait.