Rex Stout - Champagne for One

"Nonsense. Why should your aunt ‘cross Faith off’? Why should she refuse to have Miss Usher in her house? Granting that there were many possible explanations, there was one suggested by the known facts: that she would not receive as a guest the natural daughter of her former husband. And I had just learned that Faith Usher was Albert Grantham’s natural daughter, and that you were aware of it. So I had the implication, and I arranged to test it. If Mrs Robilotti, suddenly confronted by Faith Usher’s mother extending a friendly hand, took the hand and betrayed no reluctance, the implication would be discredited. I expected her to shrink from it, and I was wrong. I may learn some day that what a woman will do is beyond conjecture. Instead of shrinking, she struck. I repeat, Mrs Usher, I regret it. I did not foresee it."

"You can’t have it both ways," Byne said. "You say my aunt wouldn’t have Faith Usher in her house because she knew she was her former husband’s natural daughter. But she did have her in her house. She knew she had been invited, and she let her come."

Wolfe nodded. "I know. That’s the point. That’s my main reason for assuming that your aunt killed her. There are other-"

"Hold it," Cramer snapped. His head turned. "Mrs Robilotti, I want you to know that this is as shocking to me as it is to you."

Her pale grey eyes were on Wolfe and she didn’t move them. "I doubt it," she said. "I didn’t know any man could go as low as this. This is incredible."

"I agree," Wolfe told her. "Murder is always incredible. I have now committed myself, madam, before witnesses, and if I am wrong I shall be at your mercy. I wouldn’t like that. Mr Cramer. You are shocked. I can expound, or you can attack. Which do you prefer?"

"Neither one." Cramer’s fists were on his knees. "I just want to know. What evidence have you that Faith Usher was Albert Grantham’s daughter?"

"Well." Wolfe cocked his head. "That is a ticklish point. My sole concern in this is the murder of Faith Usher, and I have no desire to make unnecessary trouble for people not implicated in it. For example, I know where you can find evidence that the death of Faith Usher meant substantial financial profit for a certain man, but since he wasn’t there and couldn’t have killed her, I’ll tell you about it only if it becomes requisite. To answer your question: I have statements of two people, Mrs Elaine Usher and Mr Austin Byne." His eyes moved. "And, Mr Byne, you have trimmed long enough. Did your aunt know that Faith Usher was the daughter of Albert Grantham?"

Dinky’s jaw worked. He looked left, at Mrs Usher, but not right, at his aunt. Wolfe had made it plain: if he came through, Wolfe would not tell Cramer about the agreement and where it was. Probably what decided him was the fact that Mrs Robilotti had already given it away by slapping Mrs Usher.

"Yes," he said. "I told her."

"When?"

"A couple of months ago."

"Why?"

"Because-something she said. She had said it before, that I was a parasite because I was living on money my uncle had given me before he died. When she said it again that day I lost my temper and told her that my uncle had given me the money so I could provide for his illegitimate daughter. She wouldn’t believe me, and I told her the name of the daughter and her mother. Afterwards I was sorry I had told her, and I told her so-"

A noise, an explosive noise, came from his aunt. "You liar," she said, a glint of hate in the pale grey eyes. "You sit there and lie. You told me so you could blackmail me, to get more millions out of me. The millions Albert had given you weren’t enough. You weren’t satisfied-"

"Stop it!" Wolfe’s voice was a whip. He was scowling at her. "You are in mortal peril, madam. I have put you there, so I have a responsibility, and I advise you to hold your tongue. Mr Cramer. Do you want more from Mr Byne, or more from me?"

"You." Cramer was so shocked he was hoarse. "You say that Mrs Robilotti deliberately let Faith Usher come to that party so she could kill her. Is that right?"

"Yes."

"And that her motive was that she knew that Faith Usher was the illegitimate child of Albert Grantham?"

"It could have been. With her character and temperament that could have been sufficient motive. But she has herself just suggested an additional one. Her nephew may have been using Faith Usher as a fulcrum to pry a fortune out of her. You will explore that."

"I certainly will. That show you put on. You say that proved that Mrs Robilotti could have done it?"

"Yes. You saw it. She could have dropped the poison into the glass that had been standing there for three or four minutes. She stayed there at the bar. If someone else had started to take that glass she could have said it was hers. When her son came and picked up the two glasses, if he had taken the poisoned one in his right hand, which would have meant-to her, since she knew his habits-that he would drink it himself, again she could have said it was hers and told him to get another one. Or she could even have handed it to him, have seen to it that he took the poisoned one in his left hand; but you can’t hope to establish that, since neither she nor her son would admit it. The moment he left the bar with the poisoned glass in his left hand Faith Usher was doomed; and the risk was slight, since an ample supply of cyanide was there on a chair in Miss Usher’s bag. It would unquestionably be assumed that she had committed suicide; indeed, it was assumed, and the assumption would have prevailed if Mr Goodwin hadn’t been there and kept his eyes open."

"Who told Mrs Robilotti that Miss Usher had the poison? And when?"

"I don’t know." Wolfe gestured. "Confound it, must I shine your shoes for you?"

"No, I’ll manage. You’ve shined enough. You say the risk was slight. It wasn’t slight when she got Miss Usher’s bag and took out the bottle and took some of the poison."

"I doubt if she did that. I doubt if she ever went near that bag. If she knew that the poison Miss Usher carried around was cyanide, and several people did, she probably got some somewhere else, which isn’t difficult, and had it at hand. I suggest that that is worth inquiry, whether she recently had access to a supply of cyanide. You might even find that she had actually procured some." Wolfe gestured again. "I do not pretend that I am showing you a ripened fruit which you need only to pick. I undertook merely to satisfy myself whether Mr Goodwin was right or wrong. I am satisfied. Are you?"

Cramer never said. Mrs Robilotti was on her feet. I had the idea then that what moved her was Wolfe’s mentioning the possibility that she had got hold of cyanide somewhere else, and learned a few days later that I had been right, when Purley Stebbins told me that they had found out where she got it, and could prove it. Anyhow, she was on her feet, and moving, but had taken only three steps when she had to stop. Cramer and Purley were both there blocking the way, and together they weigh four hundred pounds and are over four feet wide.

"Let me pass," she said. "I’m going home."

I have seldom felt sorry for that pair, but I did then, especially Cramer.

"Not right now," he said gruffly. "I’m afraid you’ll have to answer some questions."

Chapter Seventeen