Rex Stout - Homicide Trinity (Crime Line)

"Did I?" I was polite. "I only work here. I only do what Mr. Wolfe tells me to. Ask him."

"I'm not asking, I'm telling." He returned to Wolfe. "I want to know what is in that statement. Mr. Otis is an old man and his heart is weak. He was under shock when he came here, from the tragic news of the death of his secretary, who was murdered here in your office, in circumstances which as far as I know them were cer- tainly no credit to you or Goodwin. It must have been obvious that he was under shock, and it was certainly obvious that he is an old man. To show him that state- ment was irresponsible and reprehensible. As his asso- ciate, his partner, I want to know what is in it."

Wolfe had leaned back and lowered his chin. "Well. When cheek meets cheek. You are manifestly indomi- table and I must buckle my breastplate. I choose to deny that there is any such statement. Then?"

"Poppycock. I know there is."

"Your evidence?" Wolfe wiggled a finger. "Mr. Jett. This is fatuous. Someone has told you the statement exists or you would be an idiot to come and bark at me. Who told you, and when?"

"Someone who-in whom I have the utmost confi- dence."

"Mr. Otis himself?"

"No."

"Her name?"

Jett set his teeth on his lower lip. After chewing on it a little he shifted to the upper lip. He had nice white teeth.

"You must be under shock too," Wolfe said, "to sup- pose you could come with that demand without disclos- ing the source of your information. Is her name Ann Paige?"

"I will tell you that only in confidence."

"Then I don't want it. I will take it as private infor- mation entrusted to my discretion, but not in confi- dence. I am still denying that such a statement exists."

"Damn you!" Jett hit the arm of his chair. "She was here with him! She saw Goodwin hand it to him! She saw him read it!"

Wolfe nodded. "That's better. When did Miss Paige tell you about it? This morning?"

"No. Last night. She phoned me."

"At what hour?"

"Around midnight. A little after."

"Had she left here with Mr. Otis?"

"You know damn well she hadn't. She had climbed out a window."

"And phoned you at once." Wolfe straightened up. "If you are to trust my discretion you must give it ground. I may then tell you what the statement contains, or I may not. I reject the reason you have given, or implied, for your concern-solicitude for Mr. Otis. Your expla- nation must account not only for your concern but also for Miss Paige's flight through a window. You-"

"It wasn't a flight! Goodwin had locked the door!"

"He would have opened it on request. You said your business is urgent. How and to whom? You are trying my patience. With your trained legal mind, you know it is futile to feed me inanities."

Jett looked at me. I set my jaw and firmed my lips to show him that I didn't care for inanities either. He went back to Wolfe.

"Very well," he said. "I'll trust your discretion, since there is no alternative. When Otis told Miss Paige she had to leave, she suspected that Miss Aaron had told Goodwin something about me. She thought-"

"Why about you? There had been no hint of it."

"Because he said to her, 'I couldn't trust you on this.' She thought he knew that she couldn't be trusted in a matter that concerned me. That is true-I hope it is true. Miss Paige and I are engaged to marry. It has not been announced, but our mutual interest is probably no secret to our associates, since we have made no effort to conceal it. Added to that was the fact that she knew that Miss Aaron might have had knowledge, or at least suspicion, of a certain-uh-episode in which I had been involved. An episode of which Mr. Otis would have violently disapproved. You said my explanation must account both for my concern and for Miss Paige's leav- ing through a window. It does."

"What was the episode?"

Jett shook his head. "I wouldn't tell you that even in confidence."

"What was its nature?"

"It was a personal matter."

"Did it bear on the interests of your firm or your partners?"

"No. It was strictly personal."

"Did it touch your professional reputation or integ- rity?"

"It did not."

"Was a woman involved?"

"Yes."

"Her name?"

Jett shook his head. "I'm not a cad, Mr. Wolfe."

"Was it Mrs. Morton Sorell?"

Jett's mouth opened, and for three breaths his jaw muscles weren't functioning. Then he spoke. "So that was it. Miss Paige was right. I want-I demand to see that statement."

"Not yet, sir. Later, perhaps-or not. Do you main- tain that the episode involving Mrs. Sorell had no rela- tion to your firm's interests or your professional integrity?"

"I do. It was purely personal, and it was brief."

"When did it occur?"

"About a year ago."

"When did you last see her?" "About a month ago, at a party. I didn't speak with her."

"When were you last with her tete-a-tete?"

"I haven't been since-not for nearly a year."

"But you are still seriously perturbed at the chance that Mr. Otis has learned of the episode?"

"Certainly. Mr. Sorell is our client, and his wife is our opponent in a very important matter. Mr. Otis might suspect that the episode is-was not merely an episode. He has not told me of the statement you showed him, and I can't approach him about it because he has or- dered Miss Paige not to mention it to anyone, and she didn't tell him she had already told me. I want to see it. I have a right to see it!"

"Don't start barking again." Wolfe rested his elbows on the chair arms and put his fingers together. "I'll tell you this: there is nothing in the statement, either ex- plicit or allusive, about the episode you have described. That should relieve your mind. Beyond that-"

The doorbell rang.

Chapter 5

I was wrong about them. As soon as I got a look at them through the one-way panel I guessed who they were, but I had the labels mixed. My guess was that the big broad-shouldered one in a dark blue chesterfield tailored to give him a waist, and a homburg to match, was Edey, fifty-five, and the compact little guy in a brown ulster with a belt was Heydecker, forty-seven, but when I opened the door and the ches- terfield said they wanted to see Nero Wolfe, and I asked for names, he said, "This gentleman is Frank Edey and I am Miles Heydecker. We are-" "I know who you are. Step in." Since age has priority I helped Edey off with his ulster, putting it on a hanger, and let Heydecker man- age his chesterfield, and then took them to the front room and invited them to sit. If I opened the connecting door to the office Jett's voice could be heard and there was no point in his trusting Wolfe's discretion if he couldn't trust mine, so I went around through the hall, crossed to my desk, wrote "Edey and Heydecker" on my memo pad, tore the sheet off, and handed it to Wolfe. He glanced at it and looked at Jett.

"We're at an impasse. You refuse to answer further questions unless I tell you the contents of the state- ment, and I won't do that. Mr. Edey and Mr. Heydecker are here. Will you stay or go?"