Rex Stout - Murder by the Book

he arranged to meet her. He may have thought he intended her no harm-the confession says so-but when she spoke of the resemblance of the novel's plot to an event in real life, and even came close to remembering his name, that, as the confesion says, was more than enough for him. Five hours later she was dead."

There was a noise from the rear of the room, the sound of a chair scraping. John R. Wellman was on his feet and moving. Eyes went to him. Wolfe stopped speaking, but Wellman came on tiptoe, off to one side, around the corner and along the wall to the chair which Purley Stebbins had vacated. It had an unobstructed view of the lawyers.

"Excuse me," he said, apparently to everyone, and sat.

There were murmurs from the women. Cramer shot a glance at Wellman, evidently decided that he was not getting set as a nemesis, and looked at Wolfe.

"There remained," Wolfe resumed, "only one source of possible danger, Rachel Abrams. O'Malley had probably been told about her by Dykes, but whether he had or not, he had found the receipts she had given Baird Archer when he searched Dykes's apartment. I'll read a few lines from the confession." He fingered the sheets, found the place, and read:

"My inner being could not permit me to feel any moral repulsion at the thought of killing Joan Wellman, certainly not enough to restrain me, for if killing her was morally unacceptable how could I justify the killing of Dykes? By killing Joan Wellman the process was completed. After that, given adequate motive, I could have killed any number of people without any sign of compunction. So in contemplating the murder of Rachel Adams my only concerns were whether it was necessary and whether it could be performed without undue risk. I decided it was necessary."

.Wolfe looked up. "This is indeed a remarkable document. There we have a man relieving his mind, perhaps even soothing his soul, by coolly expounding the stages of his transformation into a cold-blooded killer, but avoiding the consequent penalty by ascribing the deeds and the onus to another person. It was an adroit and witty stratagem, and it would have triumphed if Mr. Wellman had not engaged my services and

remained resolute in spite of repeated checks and disappointments.

"But I'm ahead of myself. This confession is all right as far as it goes, but it leaves gaps. By the day he went for Rachel Abrams, the twenty-sixth of February, two weeks ago today, she was more than a remote threat. He knew-"

"You still mean O'Malley?" Kustin cut in.

"Yes."

"Then you're talking too fast. O'Malley was in AtlaJM two weeks ago today."

Wolfe nodded. "I'll get to that. By that day he knew tfiat I was on the case and was concentrating on Baird Archer and the manuscript, and the possibility that I might find Rachel Abrams certainly did not escape him. He had to deal with her first, and he did-a scant two minutes before Mr. Goodwin reached her. And there he was. The preliminaries were completed. He was ready for what had always been his real objective: the murder of Corrigan. To abandon it was unthinkable, but now it was not so simple. Needing to learn how much I knew, he phoned Corrigan to suggest that all of you should come here and invite my questions, and you came. It may be that my asking to see Dykes's letter of resignation first gave him the idea of putting it all onto Corrigan; that's of no moment; in any case, he contrived to put that notation in Corrigan's hand on the letter before it reached me, as the first step."

Wolfe paused to glance at Wellman, but our client was merely gazing at O'Malley, with no apparent intention of taking part. He went on. "When the police confronted you with the notation, of course O'Malley had to join you in your claim of ignorance and your charge that I must have made the notation myself. Then came the letter from Mrs. Potter, and naturally that suited him admirably. He knew it was a decoy, either mine or Mr. Cramer's, for he was confident that all copies of the manuscript had been destroyed. I have had no report of your conference that day, but I would give odds that he maneuvered with all his dexterity to arrange that Corrigan should be the one to go to California. The result met his highest expectations. On Corrigan's return you came together to see me again and, as it seemed to O'Malley, I played directly into his hand by refusing to say anything except that I was about ready to act That made the threat, to-whoever was its

object, ominous and imminent; that made it most plausible that Corrigan, granting he was the object, would prefer self-destruction and would choose that moment for it; and O'Malley moved swiftly and ruthlessly. It was only ten hours after he left here with you that he dialed my number to let me hear the shot that killed Corrigan."

"You foresaw that?" Kustin demanded.

"Certainly not. At the time you left here I had added only one presumption to my scanty collection: that Corrigan had never seen the manuscript and didn't know what was in it. Regarding the rest of you I was still at sea. I was still merely trying to prod you into movement, and it can't be denied that I succeeded. Are you ready to say something, Mr. O'Malley?"

"No. I'm still listening."

"As you please. I'm about through." Wolfe looked at Kustin. "You said that O'Malley was in Atlanta the day Rachel Abrams was killed. Can you certify that, or do you only mean that he was supposed to be?"

"He was there on business for the firm."

"I know. In fact it is not true that my eye on you gentlemen has been totally impartial until two days ago. The first time you came here O'Malley managed to get it on the record with me that he had returned to New York only that morning after a week in Georgia, and I noted it. I don't suppose you know Saul Panzer?"

"Saul Panzer? No."

"That is Mr. Panzer, there at the end of Mr. Goodwin's desk. If he ever wants to know anything about you, tell him; you might as well. Four days ago I aked him to investigate O'Malley's movements during the week in question, and he has done so. Saul, tell us about it."

Saul got his mouth open but no words out, because Cramer suddenly came to life. He snapped, "Hold it, Panzer!" To Wolfe: "Is this what you got on the phone this morning?"

"Yes."

"And you're going to hand it to him like this? Just dump the bag for him? You are not!"

Wolfe shrugged. "Either I go on or you do. This morning you said you would take a hand and I said no. Now you're welcome. Take it if you want it."

"I want it." Cramer was on his feet. "I want that letter and envelope. I want Panzer. I want statements from the three

women. Mr. O'Maliey, you'll go downtown with Sergeant Stebbins for questioning."

O'Malley was not impressed. "On what charge, Inspector?"

"I said for questioning. If you insist on a charge you'll get one."

"I would want my counsel present."

"You can phone him from the District Attorney's office."

"Luckily I don't have to phone him. He's here." O'Malley turned his head. "Louis?"

Kustin, meeting his former associate's eye, didn't hesitate. "No," he said flatly. "I'm out, Con. I can't do it."

It put O'Malley off balance, but it didn't floor him. He didn't try to press, Kustin's tone having settled it. He turned back to Cramer, but his view was obstructed. John R. Well-man had left his chair and was standing there facing him, and spoke.