Rex Stout - Homicide Trinity (Crime Line)

"Not a welcome option." He arose. "Gentlemen, I must ask you to excuse me. Come, Archie." He headed for the hall and I got up and followed. Turning left, he pushed the door to the kitchen. Fritz was there at the big table, chopping an onion. The door swung shut.

Wolfe turned to face me. "Very well. You know her. You have seen her and talked with her. What about it?"

"I'd have to toss a coin. Several coins. You have seen Jett and talked with him. It could be that she merely wanted to find out if we already knew who it was, and if so she might have named the right one and she might not. Or it might have been a real squeal; she decided that Jett killed Bertha Aaron, and either she loves justice no matter what it costs her, or she was afraid Jett might break and her spot would be too hot for comfort. I prefer the latter. Or it wasn't Jett, it was Edey or Heydecker, and she is trying to ball it up-and she may be sore at Jett on account of the episode. If it backfires, if we already know it was Edey or Hey- decker, what the hell. Telling me on the phone isn't swearing to it on the stand. She can deny she called me. Or she might-"

'That's enough for now. Have you a choice?"

"No, sir. I told you she's a gem."

He grunted. He reached for a piece of onion, put it in his mouth, and chewed. When it was down he asked Fritz, "Ebenezer?" and Fritz told him no, Elite. He turned to me. "In any case, she has ripped it open. Even if she is merely trying to muddle it we can't afford to assume that she hasn't communicated with him-or soon will."

"She couldn't unless he phoned her. They've been at the DA's office all morning."

He nodded. "Then we'll tell him first. You'll have to recant."

"Right. Do we save anything?"

"I think not. The gist first and we'll see."

He made for the door. In the hall we heard a voice from the office, Edey's thin tenor, but it stopped as we appeared. As I passed in front of Heydecker he stuck a foot out, but possibly not to trip me; he may have been merely shifting in his chair.

When Wolfe was settled in his he spoke. "Gentlemen, Mr. Goodwin and I have decided that you deserve can- dor. That was Mrs. Morton Sorell on the phone. What she said persuaded us-"

"Did you say Sorell?" Heydecker demanded. He was gawking and so was Edey. Evidently Jett never gawked.

"I did. Archie?"

I focused on Heydecker. "If she had called twenty seconds earlier," I told him, "I wouldn't have had to waste a lie. I did insist on knowing the nature of Bertha Aaron's case before I went to Mr. Wolfe, and she told me. She said she had accidentally seen a member of the firm in secret conference with Mrs. Morton Sorell, the firm's opponent in an important ease. She said that after worrying about it for a week she had told him about it that afternoon, yesterday, and asked for an explanation, and he didn't have one, so he was a traitor. She said she was afraid to tell Mr. Otis because he had a weak heart and it might kill him, and she wouldn't tell another firm member because he might be a traitor too. So she had come to Nero Wolfe."

I had been wrong about Jett. Now he was gawking too. He found his tongue first. "This is incredible. I don't believe it!"

"Nor I," Heydecker said.

"Nor I," Edey said, his tenor a squeak.

"Do you expect us to believe," Heydecker demanded, "that Bertha Aaron would come to an outsider with a story that would gravely damage the firm if it became known?"

Wolfe cut in. "No more cross-examination, Mr. Hey- decker. I indulged you before, but not now. If questions are to be asked I'll do the asking. As for Mr. Goodwin's bona fides, he has given a signed statement to the police, and he is not an ass. Also-"

"The police?" Edey squeaked. "Good God!"

"It's absolutely incredible," Jett declared.

Wolfe ignored them. "Also I allowed Mr. Otis to read a copy of the statement when he came here last night. He agreed not to divulge its contents when he came here last night. He agreed not to divulge its contents before ten o'clock tomorrow morning, to give me till then to plan a course-a course based on the natural assumption that Miss Aaron was killed by the man she had accused of treachery-an assumption I share with the police. Evidently the police have preferred to re- serve the statement, and so have I, but not now-since Mrs. Sorell has named the member of your firm she was seen with. On the phone just now. One of you."

"This isn't real," Edey squeaked. "This is a night- mare." Heydecker sputtered, "Do you dare to suggest-"

"No, Mr. Heydecker." Wolfe flattened a palm on his desk. "I will not submit to questioning; I will choose the facts I'm willing to share. I suggest nothing; I am reporting. I neglecting to say that Miss Aaron did not name the member of the firm she had seen with Mrs. Sorell. Now Mrs. Sorell has named him, but I am not satisfied of her veracity. Mr. Goodwin saw her this morning and found her devious. I'm not going to tell you whom she named, and that will make the pressure on one of you almost unendurable."

The pressure wasn't exactly endurable for any of them. They were exchanging glances, and they weren't glances of sympathy and partnership. In a spot like that the idea I mentioned might be expected to work, but it didn't. Two of them were really suspicious of their partners and one was only pretending to be, but it would have taken a better man than me to pick him;

better even than Wolfe, whose eyes, narrowed to slits, were taking them in.

He was going on. "The obvious assumption is that you-one of you-followed Miss Aaron when she left the premises yesterday after she had challenged you, and when you saw her enter my house your alarm was acute and exigent. You sought a telephone and rang this number. In Mr. Goodwin's absence she answered the phone, and consented to admit you. If you can-"

"It was pure chance that she was alone," Edey ob- jected. The idea man.

"Pfui. If I'm not answering questions, Mr. Edey, neither am I debating trifles. With your trained minds that is no knot for you. Speaking again to one of you: if you could be identified by inquiry into your where- abouts and movements yesterday afternoon the police would have the job already done and you would be in custody. All that they have been told by you and by the entire personnel of your office is being checked by an army of men well qualified for the task. But since they have reserved the information supplied by Mr. Good- win, I doubt if they have asked you about Monday evening of last week. Eight days ago. Have they?"

"Why should they?" It was Jett.

"Because that was when one of you was seen by Miss Aaron in conference with Mrs. Sorell. I'm going to ask you now, but first I should tell you of an understanding I had with Mr. Otis last night. In exchange for informa- tion he furnished I agreed that in exposing the mur- derer I would minimize, as far as possible, the damage to the reputation of his firm. I will observe that agree- ment, so manifestly, for two of you, the sooner this is over the better. Mr. Jett. How did you spend Monday evening, December twenty-ninth, say from six o'clock to midnight?"

Jett's eyes were still deep-set, but they weren't dreamy. They had been glued on Wolfe ever since I had recanted, and he hadn't moved a muscle. He spoke. "If this is straight, if all you've said is true, including the phone call from Mrs. Sorell, the damage to the firm is done and you can do nothing to minimize it. No one under heaven can."