Rex Stout - In the Best Families

Washington on gambling and rackets, and the resulting enthusiasm in the office of the New York County District Attorney, had started an epidemic of jitters, and it was quite possible that if one of my typed reports had told of a visit by

Rackham to the D.A.'s office, or of one by an assistant D.A. to Rackham's suite,

Rackham would have had a bad accident, like getting run over or falling into the river with lead in him. That was why Wolfe had given me careful and explicit instructions about what I should report and what I shouldn't.

I had no sight or sound of Wolfe. He was to let me know if and when there was something stirring, and I had been told how to reach him if I had to.

Meanwhile I had my schedule, and on the ninth day, a Friday, the first of

September, it called for a move. Things looked right for it. Saul, on instructions, had let himself get spotted once, and Orrie twice, and Fred, without instructions, at least three times. I too had co-operated by letting myself be seen at the entrance of the Crooked Circle one night as Rackham emerged with companions. So Friday at five o'clock, when Saul phoned that the subject had entered the Romance Bar on Forty-ninth Street, I went for a walk, found Saul window-shopping, told him to go home to his wife and children, moseyed along to the Romance Bar entrance, and went on in.

Business was rushing, with as many as five at a table the size of a dish-pan.

Making no survey, I found a place at the long bar where two customers were carelessly leaving enough room for a guy to get an elbow through, and took the opening. After a while the bartender admitted I was there and let me buy a highball. I took a casual look around, saw Rackham at a table with a pair of males, turned my back that way, and got his range in the mirror.

I did not really expect a bite at the very first try; I thought it might take two or three exposures. But evidently he was ripe. I was in the middle of my second highball when my mirror view showed me the trio getting up and squeezing through the mob to the clear. I dropped my chin and looked at my thumb. They went on by, towards the door, and I turned to watch their manly backs. As soon as they were out I followed, and, on the sidewalk, immediately turned right, thinking to reconnoitre from the shop entrance next door. But I was still two paces from it when there was a voice at my elbow.

“Here I am, Goodwin.

I turned to face him, looking mildly startled. “Oh, hallo.

“What's the idea? he demanded.

“Which one? I asked politely. “There's so many around.

“There are indeed. You and three others that I know of. Who wants to know so much about me?

“Search me. I was sympathetic. “Why, are you being harassed?

Colour had started to show in his face, and the muscles of his jaw were called upon. His right shoulder twitched.

“Not here on the street, I suggested. “A crowd will collect, especially after I react. See that man turning to look? You're standing like Jack Dempsey.

He relaxed a little. “I think I know, he said.

“Good for you. Then I'm not needed.

“I want to have a talk with you.

“Go ahead.

“Not here. At my place-the Churchill.

“I think I have a free hour next Tuesday.

“Now. We'll go there now.

I shrugged. “Not together. You lead the way, and I'll tag along.

He turned and marched. I gave him twenty paces and then followed. It takes the strain off tailing a man to have a date with him, and since we had only a few blocks to go it would have been merely a pleasant little stroll if he hadn't been in such a hurry. I had to use my full stride to keep my distance. As we neared the Churchill I closed in a little, and when he entered an elevator I was there ready for the next one.

He had a corner suite at the setback, which gave him a terrace and also a soundbreak for the street noises. It was cool and quiet in his big sitting-room, with light blue summer rugs and pretty pictures and light blue slipcovers on the furniture. While he adjusted Venetian blinds I glanced around, and when he was through I told him, “Very nice. A good place for a heart-to-heart talk.

“What will you have to drink?

“Nothing, thanks. I had my share at the bar, and anyway I don't drink with people I'm tailing.

I was in a comfortable chair, and he pulled a smaller one around to face me.

“You've got your own office now, he stated.

I nodded. “Doing pretty well. Of course, summer's the slack season. After Labour

Day they'll start coming back and bringing their troubles along.

“You didn't take on that job for Mrs Frey.

“How could I? I upturned a palm. “No one would speak to me.

“You can't blame them. He got out a cigarette and lit it, and his hands were almost steady but not quite. “Look, Goodwin. There on the street I nearly lost my head for a second. You're merely doing what you're paid for.

“Right, I said approvingly. “People resent detectives more than they do doctors or plumbers. I don't see why. We're all trying to make it a better world.

“Certainly. Who are you working for?

“Me.

“Who pays you to work for you?

I shook my head. “Better start over. Show a gun or a steak knife or something.

Even if I'm not hard to persuade, I must keep up appearances.

He licked his lips. Apparently that was his substitute for counting ten, but if so it didn't work, for he sprang up, towering over me, making fists. I moved nothing but my head, jerking it back to focus on his face.

“It's a bad angle, I assured him. “If you swing from up there I'll duck and hit your knees, and you'll lose your balance.

He held it a second, then his fists became hands, and he stooped to use one of them to recover the cigarette he had dropped on the rug. He sat down, took a drag, inhaled, and let it out.

“You talk too much, Goodwin.

“No, I disagreed, “not too much, but too frankly maybe. Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned a steak knife, but I was irritated. I might name my client if you stuck needles under my nails or showed me a dollar bill, but your being so damn' casual annoyed me.

“I didn't kill my wife.

I smiled at him. “That's a straightforward categorical statement, and I appreciate it very much. What else didn't you do?

He ignored it. “I know Annabel Frey thinks I did, and she would spend all the money my wife left her-well, say half of it-to prove it. I don't mind your taking her money, that's your business, but I hate to see her waste it, and I don't like having someone always behind me. There ought to be some way I can satisfy you and her that I didn't do it. Can't you figure one out? If it's arranged so you won't lose anything by it?

“No, I said flatly.

“Why not? I said satisfy you.

“Because I'm getting irritated again. You don't care a damn what Mrs Frey thinks. What's eating you is that you don't know who is curious enough about you to spend money on it, and you're trying to catch a fish without bait, which is unsportsmanlike. I'll bet you can't worm it out of me.