by Rex Stout
“Yes?”
“I told the police. I often phoned her in the evening, if there was anything to report or ask about. That morning she told me she would be at the Wadsworth number that evening, and about half past eight, a little after half past, I dialed that number, but there was no answer.”
“The number of the apartment on One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Street?”
“Yes.”
Wolfe grunted. “The police probably assume she hadn’t arrived. I assume she was dead. Then you didn’t know of her call to the office at five-fifteen?”
“No.”
“You, Miss Tiger?”
Now it was in order to look at her straight, and that was a relief. I had never seen a package, anywhere, more glomable. With my eyes, which are good, free to stick, I decided that her long lashes were home-grown. She told Wolfe, in a tight low-pitched voice, “I saw the message. There on his desk. When I took some letters for him to sign.”
Wolfe’s eyes, on her, were precisely the same as when they were on Maud Jordan. Yet he’s a man. “Indeed,” he said. “Then you might as well tell me where you spent the next three hours.”
She didn’t object. “I was there until half past six, with the letters he had signed. Then I ate something in a restaurant. Then I went home and studied.”
“Studied?”
“Economics. I ‘m going to be an economist. Do you know where I live?”
“No. Where?”
“In that same building on One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Street. I have a room on the fourth floor. When Susan Brooke wanted to find an apartment in Harlem she asked me if I knew of any, and that one on the third floor happened to be vacant. If I had known…
“Yes?”
“Nothing.”
“You were in your room alone that evening?”
“Yes. From eight o’clock on. For a while the police thought I killed her. I didn’t. I never left the room, even after the police came. They wanted to take me somewhere to be questioned, but I refused to go unless they arrested me, and they didn’t. I know the rights of a citizen. I went to the district attorney’s office the next day. I want to ask you something. I have asked Mr. Oster but I’m not sure he’s right, and I want to ask you. If a person says she committed a murder she can’t be convicted just because she says she did it. There has to be some evidence. Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll be a witness and say I killed her. Mr. Oster says I would be cross-examined and discredited, but I don’t believe it. I can answer any question they ask me. Then he wouldn’t be convicted, and I couldn’t be. Isn’t that true?”
Wolfe’s lips were tight. He took a deep breath. Henchy and Oster both said something, but he ignored them. He took another breath. “You deserve a frank answer, madam. You are either a female daredevil or a jenny. If you killed her you would be risking disaster; if you didn’t kill her, you would be inviting derision. If you killed her, I advise you to say nothing to anyone, particularly me; if you didn’t, help me find the man who did. Or woman.”
“I didn’t kill her.”
“Then don’t be a lackwit. Is that apartment on the third floor directly below your room?”
“No, it’s in the rear. I’m at the front.”
“Did you hear any unusual sounds that evening between eight and nine o’clock?”
“No. The first unusual sounds were after the police came.”
“I presume Mr. Whipple knew that you lived there, on the floor above. He told me that he stayed in the apartment until the police arrived-more than half an hour after he discovered the body. It might be thought that at that crisis the impulse to confer with an associate, a friend, so near at hand, would be irresistible. But he didn’t?”
“No, he didn’t. I’m glad he didn’t.”
“Why glad?”
“Because I know-I think I would have gone down and put my fingerprints on the club.”
“Pfui. You think he would have let you?”
“He wouldn’t have known. He would have stayed in my room.”
“Then I’m as glad as you are that he didn’t go to you. This job is knotty enough without that. Archie, the giasses are empty.”
As I went to the bar for a bottle of beer and took it to him, a couple of them made remarks that can be skipped, and Miss Kallman got up to help. They all took refills except Miss Tiger. Her glass was still two-thirds full, with the ice gone, but she didn’t even want more ice. By the time the others had been served, Henchy had downed most of his refill, and I put the bourbon bottle on the stand between him and Oster, and he emptied his glass, picked up the bottle, and poured. It was twelve-year-old Big Sandy, which is worth stealing a little time for. As for me, I went to the kitchen and got a glass of milk. I would like to be loyal to Miss Tiger and say that what she didn’t want I didn’t want, but the truth is that ever since the time I missed an important point because I had had four martinis to be sociable I have limited myself to one dose when I’m working. When I returned to the office with the milk, Oster was speaking:
“… so I didn’t object, but it was immaterial. What does it matter who knew of the phone call or the message? Say I saw the message on Whipple’s desk. I would know that he probably wouldn’t be at the apartment until nine o’clock, but I would also know that Susan wouldn’t either. Therefore I wouldn’t go there at eight o’clock, to see her or kill her before Whipple came. Therefore it’s immaterial.”
Wolfe nodded and put his glass down. “Obviously, if it were that simple, but it isn’t. The telling point is that if you saw the message you knew it was fairly certain that Whipple wouldn’t arrive until around nine o’clock. During the two hours between six and eight you might have learned-no matter how, there are various possibilities-that Miss Brooke had changed her plans and would get there earlier. You might even have met her, by design or accident, and gone to the apartment with her on some pretext.”
“Possible.” Oster pursed his lips, considering it, then jerked his chin up, and I thought he had decided to take charge. But he only said, “Are you going to ignore the fact that someone besides Miss Tiger knew about the message?”
“No. I was keeping that for later, but if you want it now…” Wolfe’s eyes went right. “He means you, of course, Miss Jordan. You left the office at five-thirty. How did you spend the next three hours?”
There was a flash in her eyes that I didn’t know she had. “I didn’t spend it killing anybody,” she snapped.
“Good. Nor, I hope, at any other mischief. You must have told the police; why not tell me? Miss Tiger did.”
“Oh, I’ll tell you. What I told them. I stopped at three places on the way home to buy some things-a book, and stockings, and cream and bread and pickles-and went home and cooked my supper, and ate it, and read the book until I went to bed.”
“What book?”
“The Group. By Mary McCarthy.”
Wolfe made a face. He had read two chapters and ditched it. “Where do you live?”
“I have a little apartment on Forty-seventh Street near Lexington Avenue. I’m alone in the world.”
“At least you’re aware of it. Many people aren’t. Now, madam, a point we haven’t dealt with yet. What is your feeling about a Negro marrying a white woman?”
The flash again. “That’s none of your business.”
“My personal business, no. But it’s of urgent concern to me as the man hired by Mr. Whipple to find out who killed Susan Brooke. If you have a reason to refuse to answer, I-”
“I have no reason. It’s impertinent, that’s all. Everyone at the ROCC knows how I feel about it, and other people too. Anyone has a right to marry anyone. It’s a right. Marrying the woman of your choice or the man of your choice is a God-given right.”
“Then you didn’t resent the relationship between Mr. Whipple and Miss Brooke?”
“It was none of my business. Except I thought if she married him all her money would be devoted to the cause, an
d that would be wonderful.”
“We all thought that,” Cass Faison said. “Or nearly all.”
“Not me,” Adam Ewing said. “I’m the exception. From the public-relations viewpoint, I thought it would be unwise. I knew it would be. I can say here exactly how I feel, I’ve said it to bigger crowds than this, and some of them mixed. Sex and money are at the bottom of all the opposition to civil rights, just as they’re at the bottom of everything else. Black and white marrying is like a red rag to a bull.” He gestured. “But I wouldn’t kill a woman to stop it. I’m not a killer. Let the opposition do the killing.”
“I’m an exception too,” Beth Tiger said. “I didn’t think it would be wonderful.”
“You agree with Mr. Ewing?”
“That’s not it. I just say I didn’t think it would be wonderful. That’s all I’m going to say.”
“Miss Kallman?”
Rae Kaliman shook her head but didn’t open her mouth.
“Does that mean you disapproved?”
“No. It means I said to Susan what I had to say. She was the only one I had any right to say it to, and she’s dead. The police couldn’t drag it out of me, and neither can you.”
“Then I won’t try. Mr. Henchy?”
He cleared his throat. If I had been with him on the bourbon, I would have had to clear mine twice. “On the whole, I approved. Marriage is a very personal matter, but insofar as the interests of the organization were concerned I was in agreement with Mr. Faison. I thought the advantages would outweigh the disadvantages. In my position I must be realistic. Miss Brooke was a very wealthy woman.” He reached for his glass.
“And you, Mr. Oster?”
The lawyer cocked his head. “You know, Wolfe, I’m sitting here taking it in. I’m giving you all the rope you want. But asking me how I feel about a Negro marrying a white woman-how remote can you get? I’ll send you a copy of a magazine with an article I wrote four years ago. Every civilized strain of mankind on earth is the result of interbreeding. Evidently nature approves of it, so I do. I’m not going to indict nature.”
“You had no special feeling about this particular instance?”
“Certainly not.”
Wolfe poured beer, emptying the bottle. He put it down and looked left and right. “I admit,” he said, “that much of what has been said has probably been a waste of time. I hope it has, for in spite of Miss Jordan’s conviction I will not discard the guess that the telephone call was not made by Miss Brooke. I like it; its attractions are many and manifest.” His eyes settled on my assistant bartender. “Miss Kailman, you said that Miss Brooke had a five-o’clock meeting that day. Do you know where it was to be held?”
“It was at NYU, but I don’t know which building or room.”
“Can you find out?”
“Yes, easily.”
“And the names of some of the people who were there?”
“I can tell you one name now. Bill Magnus. William Magnus. I have his address and phone number at the office. He could give you other names. I saw him last week. Many people have wanted to see me, since Susan-”
“The meeting took place and Miss Brooke was there?”
“Yes.”
“Can Mr. Goodwin call you in the morning and get Mr. Magnus’s address?”
“I had better call him. I’m never sure just when I’ll be there.”
“Will you do so?”
“Yes, of course.”
“I’ve talked with Magnus,” Oster said. “So have the police, naturally. You won’t get anything conclusive, one way or the other.”
Wolfe was swallowing beer. It was turning into a big beer night, three bottles instead of the usual one or two. He put the glass down and licked his lips. “There’s always a chance of a hint, and Mr. Goodwin is good at hints. I can’t say about you, but the police were surely satisfied to have it that Miss Brooke made that call, and I am not. If there’s any-”
The phone rang, and I turned and got it. “Nero Wolfe’s resi-”
“Saul, Archie. I’ve got a slice of maybe bacon.”
“We could use some. We have company. Hold it.”
“Sure.”
I pressed a button, rose, detoured around the chairs, passing only eight inches from Miss Tiger’s shoulder, went to the kitchen, and got at the phone on my breakfast table.
“Goodwin speaking.”
“You sound more like Lieutenant Rowcliff.”
“I do not. I don’t stutter. Well?”
“It cost twenty bucks. Some garage attendants have delusions of grandeur. The Brookes have two cars, Herons; a sedan and a station wagon. Mr. Brooke uses the wagon every day, Monday to Friday; he drives to his laboratory in Brooklyn. He returned it to the garage that Monday evening, March second, around midnight. Mrs. Brooke came and got the sedan that evening between seven and eight. His guess is about a quarter to eight. She brought it back about an hour later, maybe an hour and a half.”
“Saul, I love you, except at the poker table. Will he tell her?”
“No. He would deny he told me. I had to swear he wouldn’t be quoted. I merely wanted the information, you know?”
“Yeah. How much chance is there that he made it up to give you your money’s worth?”
“Now listen. Wouldn’t I have said so?”
“I withdraw it. Of course you have the color and license number. How was she dressed?”
“He didn’t notice.”
With Saul you don’t ask silly questions, such as was she alone going and coming. “All right,” I said, “she may not be a murderer, but she’s a damn liar. He’s finishing up a three-bottle session with an integrated audience. One of them is a brown girl, golden brown, whom you’d better never meet if you don’t want to be glued. I don’t want to be rude, but I have to get back in there. Where are you?”
“A booth. Sixty-fourth and Lexington.”
“Where will you be?”
“Home in bed. It’s nearly midnight.”
“If we don’t ring you tonight we will in the morning. Stand by, huh?”
He said he would. I cradled the phone and sat a minute looking at it. It was the kind of thing Wolfe hates and I’m not too fond of myself. Trying to find someone or ones who had seen that car in Harlem that evening, granting it had been there, was a job for an army. Facing her with it as a known fact without naming the source would be a waste of breath. I got up, said a word aloud that needn’t be in the record, went to the hall, and found that the party was over. Two of them were on their way to the front, and the others were filing out of the office, all but Paul Whipple, who was having a word with Wolfe at his desk.
I went to help with coats and hats, and deliberately selected Maud Jordan’s, letting one of the others serve Miss Tiger. I didn’t want to give her the impression that I was at her beck, let alone her call. Then Paul Whipple came, and I had his ready for him. He was the last one out.
When I went to the office Wolfe had his reading light on and had opened The Minister and the Choir Singer. That was as it should be; he would stay to keep me company while I took things out and straightened up. To go to bed, leaving the mess to me, would sort of imply that I was merely a menial, so he stayed to collaborate. As I entered he looked a question.
I nodded. “Saul. Mrs. Brooke forgets things. Monday evening, March second, around a quarter to eight, she got her car from the garage and brought it back an hour or more later. Saul shelled out twenty dollars to the garage attendant and promised not to reveal the source. No one with her.”
He growled. “Confound her.”
“Yes, sir. I told Saul we’d ring him tonight or in the morning. Any instructions?”
“It’s past bedtime. Ask Saul to come at eleven. If Miss Kallman hasn’t called by ten o’clock you should call her.”
“Right. Do you want to see Magnus?”
“No. You will.”
Meaning he only did the tricky ones. He raised his book, and I started collecting glasses. Miss Tiger’s was s
till two-thirds full. Wasting good gin, Follansbee’s.
9
A problem like Dolly Brooke’s lie is plain ornery. Even if we could get the garage man to play along and he said it to her face, a big if, she could say that he was mistaken, it had been another evening, or that she had gone on a personal errand which she preferred to keep to herself; and if she had actually driven to 128th Street and killed Susan Brooke it wouldn’t heip any to let her know we had caught her in a lie just to show her how smart we were. You might like to know how Nero Wolfe would handle such a problem, but I can’t tell you in this particular case because he didn’t handle it at all. Luck did. The luck rang the doorbell of the old brownstone at five minutes to ten Tuesday morning.
But first William Magnus. Rae Kallman phoned while I was at my breakfast table in the kitchen, on my fourth homemade Creole pork sausage and my third Creole fritter. She had discovered that she had Magnus’s phone number in a notebook at home, and she had called him early, to get him before he left. By now he had gone for a day at school. He would have no free time until four-thirty, and we could expect him a little before five. As I resumed with the sausage and fritters I considered the fact that Miss Kallman was cooperating beyond the call of duty; she had promised only to supply his address and phone number. Sometimes-not often, but it does happen-such a little detail has a point. Had she wanted to brief him, and if so, why? A corner of my mind was still considering it in the office as I opened the morning mail.
When luck rang the doorbell at 9:55 I didn’t know it was luck, even after I went to the hall and saw him on the stoop. Peter Vaughn was mereiy the long and lanky specimen who was still trying to hang onto the notion that he had been going to marry Susan Brooke after she got rid of her kink. As a candidate for the tag, at least 100 to 1. But when I opened the door and saw him closer, it was obvious that something really sharp was biting him. His bony face looked even narrower, and he had to unclamp his jaw to speak, to say that he knew Wolfe wasn’t available at that hour, but he would rather see me anyway. That was grease, or it wasn’t. I took him to the office and moved a chair up to face mine. He sat, clamped his jaw again, and rubbed his eyes, which were red and puffy, first with his fingertips and then with the heels of his palms.