The Rubber Band

by Rex Stout

  Wolfe put in, "Is Mr. Muir a fool?"

  "Why… yes, I suppose he is."

  "I mean as a businessman. A man of affairs. Is he a fool?"

  "No. Not that way. In fact, he's very shrewd."

  "Well, you are." Wolfe sighed. "You are quite an amazing fool, Miss Fox. You know that Mr. Muir, who is a shrewd man, is prepared to swear out a warrant against you for grand larceny. Do you think that he would consider himself prepared if preparations had not actually been made? Why does he insist on immediate action? So that the preparations may not be interfered with, by design or by mischance. As soon as a warrant is in force against you, the police may search any property of yours, including that item of it where the thirty thousand dollars will be found. Couldn't Mr. Muir have taken it himself from his desk and put it anywhere he wanted to, with due circumspection?"

  "Put it…" She stared at him. "Oh, no." She shook her head. "That would be too low. A man would have to be a dirty scoundrel to do that."

  "Well? Who should know better than you, an ex-adventuress, that the race of dirty scoundrels has not yet been exterminated? By the eternal, Miss Fox, you should be tied in your cradle! Where do you live?"

  "But, Mr. Wolfe… you could never persuade me…"

  "I wouldn't waste time trying. Where do you live?"

  "I have a little flat on East Sixty-first Street."

  "And what other items? We can disregard your desk at the office, that would not be conclusive enough. Do you have a cottage in the country? A trunk in storage? An automobile?"

  "I have a little car. Nothing else whatever."

  "Did you come here in it?"

  "No. It's in a garage on Sixtieth Street."

  Wolfe turned to me. "Archie. What two can you get here at once?"

  I glanced at the clock. "Saul Panzer in ten minutes. If Fred Durkin's not at the movies, him in twenty minutes. If he is, Orrie Gather in half an hour."

  "Get them. Miss Fox will give you the key to her apartment and a note of authority, and also a note to the garage. Saul Panzer will search the apartment thoroughly. Tell him what he's looking for, and if he finds it bring it here. Fred will get the automobile and drive it to our garage, and when he gets it there go through it, and leave it there. This alone will cost us twenty dollars, twenty times the amount of Miss Fox's retainer. Everything we undertake nowadays seems to be a speculation."

  I got at the telephone. Wolfe opened his eyes on Clara Fox. "You might learn if Miss Lindquist and Mr. Walsh will care to wash before dinner. It will be ready in five minutes."

  She shook her head. "We don't need to eat. Or we can go out for a bite."

  "Great hounds and Cerberus!" He was about as dose to a tantrum as he ever got. "Don't need to eat! In heaven's name, are you camels, or bears in for the winter?"

  She got up and went to the front room to get them.

  VI

  MY DINNER was interrupted twice. Saul Panzer came before I had finished my soup, and Fred Durkin arrived while we were in the middle of the beet and vegetables. I went to the office both times and gave them their instructions and told them some hurry would do.

  Wolfe made it a rule never to talk business at table, but we got a little forward at that, because he steered Hilda Lindquist and Mike Walsh into the talk and we found out things about them. She was the daughter of Victor Lindquist, now nearly eighty years old and in no shape to travel, and she lived with him on their wheat farm in Nebraska. Apparently it wasn't coffee cups she snapped in her fingers, it was threshing machines. Clara Fox had finally found her, or rather her father, through Harlan Scovil, and she had come east for the clean-up on the chance that she might get enough to pay off a few dozen mortgages and perhaps get something extra for a new tractor, or at least a mule.

  Walsh had gone through several colors before fading out to his present dim obscurity. He had made three good stakes in Nevada and California and had lost all of them. He had tried his hand as a building contractor in Colorado early in the century, made a pile, and dropped it when a sixty-foot dam had gone down the canyon three days after he had finished it. He had come back east and made a pass at this and that, but apparently had used up all his luck. At present he was night watchman on a constructing job up at 54th and Madison, and he was inclined to be sore on account of the three dollars he was losing by paying a substitute in order to keep this appointment with Clara Fox. She had found him a year ago through an ad in the paper.

  Wolfe was the gracious host. He saw that Mike Walsh got two rye highballs and the women a bottle of claret, and like a gentleman he gave Walsh two extra slices of the beef, smothered with sauce, which he would have sold his soul for. But he wouldn't let Walsh light his pipe when the coffee came. He said he had asthma, which was a lie. Pipe smoke didn't bother him much, either. He was just sore at Walsh because he had had to give up the beef, and he took it out on him that way.

  We hadn't any more than got back to the office, a little after nine o'clock, and settled into our chairs-the whole company present this time- when the doorbell rang. I went out to the front door and whirled the lock and slid the bolt, and opened it. Fred Durkin stepped in. He looked worried, and I snapped at him, "Didn't you get it?"

  "Sure I got it."

  "What's the matter?"

  "Well, it was funny. Is Wolfe here? Maybe he'd like to hear it too."

  I glared at him, fixed the door, and led him to the office. He went across and stood in front of Wolfe's desk.

  "I got the car, Mr. Wolfe. It's in the garage. But Archie didn't say anything about bringing a dick along with it, so I pushed him off. He grabbed a taxi and followed me. When I left the car in the garage just now and walked here, he walked too. He's out on the sidewalk across the street."

  "Indeed." Wolfe's voice was thin; he disliked after-dinner irritations. "Suppose you introduce us to the dick first. Where did you meet him?"

  Fred shifted his hat to his other hand. He never could talk to Wolfe without getting fussed up, but I must admit there was often enough reason for it. Fred Durkin was as honest as sunshine, and as good a tailer as I ever saw, but he wasn't as brilliant as sunshine. Warm and cloudy today and tomorrow. He said, "Well, I went to the garage and showed the note to the guy, and he said all right, wait there and he'd bring it down. He went off and in a couple of minutes a man with a wide mouth came up and asked me if I was going for a ride. I'd never saw him before, but I'd have known he was a city feller if I'd had my eyes shut and just touched him with my finger. I supposed he was working on something and was just looking under stones, so I just answered something friendly. He said if I was going for a ride I'd better get a horse, because the car I came for was going to remain there for the present."

  Wolfe murmured, "So you apologized and went to a drug store to telephone here for instructions."

  Fred looked startled. "No, sir, I didn't. My instructions was to get that car, and I got it. That dick had no documents or nothing, in fact he didn't have nothing but a wide mouth. I went upstairs with him after me. When the garage guy saw the kind of an argument it might be he just disappeared. I ran the car down on the elevator myself and got into the street and headed east. The dick jumped on the running board, and when I reached around to brush a speck off the windshield I accidentally pushed the dick off. By that time he was at Third Avenue and he hopped a taxi and followed me. When I got to Tenth Avenue, inside your garage, I turned the car inside out, but there was nothing there but tools and an old lead pencil and a busted dog leash and a half a package of Omar cigarettes and-"

  Wolfe put up a palm at him. "And the dick is now across the street?"

  "Yes, sir. He was when I come in."

  "Excellent. I hope he doesn't escape in the dark. Go to the kitchen and tell Fritz to give you a cyanide sandwich."

  Fred shifted his hat. "I'm sorry, sir, if I-"

  "Go! Any kind of a sandwich. Wait in the kitchen. If we find ourselves getting into difficulties here, we shall need you."

  Fred went. Wolfe l
eaned back in his chair and got his fingers laced on his belly; his lips were moving, out and in, and out and in. At length he opened his eyes enough for Clara Fox to see that he was looking at her.

  "Well. We were too late. I told you you were wasting time."

  She lifted her brows. "Too late for what?"

  "To keep you out of jail. Isn't it obvious? What reason could there be for watching your car except to catch you trying to go somewhere in it? And is it likely they would be laying for you if they had not already found the money?"

  "Found it where?"

  "I couldn't say. Perhaps in the car itself. I am not a necromancer. Miss Fox. Now, before we-"

  The phone rang, and I took it. It was Saul Panzer. I listened and got his story, and then told him to hold the wire and turned to Wolfe.

  "Saul. From a pay station at Sixty-second and Madison. There was a dick playing tag with himself in front of Miss Fox's address. Saul went through the apartment and drew a blank. Now he thinks the dick is sticking there, but he's not sure. It's possible he's being followed, and if so should he shake the dick and then come here, or what?"

  'Tell him to come here. By no means shake the dick. He may know the one Fred brought, and in that case they might like to have a talk."

  I told Saul, and hung up.

  Wolfe was still leaning back, with his eyes half closed. Mike Walsh sat with his closed entirely, his head swaying on one side, and his breathing deep and even in the silence. Hilda Lindquist's shoulders sagged, but her face was flushed and her eyes bright. Clara Fox had her lips tight enough to make her look determined.

  Wolfe said, "Wake Mr. Walsh. Having attended to urgencies- in vain- we may now at our leisure fill in some gaps. Regarding the fantastic business of the Rubber Band. Mr. Walsh, a sharp blow with your hand at the back of your neck will help. A drink of water? Very well. Did I understand you to say, Miss Fox, that you have found George Rowley?"

  She nodded. "Two weeks ago."

  "Tell me about it."

  "But Mr. Wolfe… those detectives…"

  "To be sure. You remember I told you you should be tied in your cradle? For the present, this house is your cradle. You are safe here. We shall return to that little problem. Tell me about George Rowley."

  She drew a breath. "Well… we found him. I began a long while ago to do what I could, which wasn't much. Of course I couldn't afford to go to England, or send someone, or anything like that. But I gathered some information. For instance, I learned the names of all the generals who had commanded brigades in the British Army during the war, and as well as I could from this distance I began to eliminate them. There were hundreds and hundreds of them still alive, and of course I didn't know whetner the one I wanted was alive or not. I did lots of things, and some oЈ them were pretty bright if I am a fool. I had found Mike Walsh through an advertisement, and I got photographs of scores of them and showed them to him. Of course, the fact that George Rowley had lost the lobe of his right ear was a help. On several occasions, when I learned in the newspapers that a British general or ex-general was in New York, I managed to get a look at him, and sometimes Mike Walsh did too. Two weeks ago another one came, and in a photograph in the paper it looked as if the bottom of his right ear was off. Mike Walsh stood in front of his hotel all one afternoon when he should have been asleep, and saw him, and it was George Rowley."

  Wolfe nodded. "That would be the Marquis of Clivers."

  "How do you know that?"

  "Not by divination. It doesn't matter. Congratulations, Miss Fox."

  "Thank you. The Marquis of Clivers was going to Washington the next day, but he was coming back. I tried to see him that very evening, but couldn't get to him. I cabled a connection I had made in London, and learned that the marquis owned big estates and factories and mines and a yacht. I had been communicating with Hilda Lindquist and Harlan Scovil for some time, and I wired them to come on and sent them money for the trip. Mr. Scovil wouldn't take the money. He wrote me that he had never- taken any woman-money and wasn't going to start." She smiled at Wolfe and me too. "I guess he was afraid of adventuresses. He said he would sell some calves. Saturday morning I got a telegram that he would get here Monday, so I telephoned your office for an appointment. When I saw him this noon I showed him two pictures of the Marquis of Clivers, and be said it was George Rowley. I had a hard time to keep him from going to the hotel after the marquis right then."

  Wolfe wiggled a finger at her, "But what made you think you needed me? I detect no lack of confidence in your operations to date."

  "Oh, I always thought we'd have to have a lawyer at the windup. I had read about you and admired you."

  "I'm not a lawyer."

  "I shouldn't think that would matter. I only know three lawyers, and if you saw them you would know why I chose you."

  "You sound like a fool again." Wolfe sighed. "Do you wish me to believe that I was selected for my looks?"

  "No, indeed. That would be… anyhow, I selected you. When I told you what your fee might be, I wasn't exaggerating. Let's say his estates and mines and so on are worth fifty million-"

  "Pounds?"

  "Dollars. That's conservative. He agreed to pay half of it. Twenty-five million. But there are two of the men I can't find. I haven't found a trace of Rubber Coleman, the leader, or the man called Turtle-back. I have tried hard to find Rubber Coleman, because be had the papers, but I couldn't. On the twenty-five million take off their share, one-third, and that leaves roughly sixteen million. Make allowances for all kinds of things, anything you could think of-take off, say, just for good measure, fifteen million. That leaves a million dollars. That's what I asked him for a week ago."

  "You asked who for? Lord Clivers?"

  "Yes."

  "You said you were unable to see him."

  "That was before he went to Washington. When he came back I tried again. I had made an acquaintance… he has some assistants with him on his mission- diplomats and so on-and I had got acquainted with one two weeks ago, and through him I got to the marquis, thinking I might manage it without any help. He was very unpleasant. When he found out what I was getting at, he ordered me out. He claimed he didn't know what I was talking about, and when I wanted to show him the letter my father had written in 1918, he wouldn't look at it. He told the young man whom he called to take me away that I was an adventuress."

  She wasn't through. But the doorbell rang, and I went to answer it. I thought it just possible that a pair might rush me, and there was no advantage in a roughhouse, so I left the bolt and chain on until I saw it was Saul Panzer. Then I opened up and let him in, and shut the door and slid the bolt again.

  Saul is about the smallest practicing dick, public or private, that I've ever seen, and he has the biggest scope. He can't push over buildings because he simply hasn't got the size, but there's no other kind of a job he wouldn't earn his money on. It's hard to tell what he looks like, because you can't see his face for his nose. He had a big long cardboard box under his arm.

  I took him to the office. As he sidled past a chair to get to Wolfe's desk he passed one sharp glance around, and I knew that gave him a print of those three sitting there which would fade out only when he did.

  Wolfe greeted him. "Good evening, Saul."

  "Good evening, Mr. Wolfe. Of course Archie told you my phone call. There's not much to add. When I arrived the detective was there on the sidewalk. His name is Bill Purvil. I saw him once about four years ago in Brooklyn, when we had that Moschenden case. He didn't recognize me on the sidewalk. But when I went in at that entrance he followed me. I figured it was better to go ahead. There was a phone in the apartment. If I found the package I could phone Archie to come and get into the court from Sixtieth Street, and throw it to him from a back window. When the detective saw I was going into that apartment with a key, he stopped me to ask questions, and I answered what occurred to me. He stayed out in the hall and I locked the door on the inside. I went through the place. The package isn't there. I c
ame out and the detective foUowed me downstairs to the sidewalk. I phoned from a drug store. I don't think he tried to follow me, but I made sure it didn't work if he did."

  Wolfe nodded. "Satisfactory. And your bundle?"

  Saul got the box from under his arm and put it on the desk. "I guess it's Bowers. It has a name on it, Drummond, the Park Avenue florist. It was on the floor of the hall right at the door of the apartment, apparently been delivered, addressed Miss Clara Fox. My instructions were to search only the apartment, so I hesitated to open this box, because it wasn't in the apartment. But I didn't want to leave it there, because it was barely possible that what you want was in it. So I brought it along."

  "Good. Satisfactory again. May we open it. Miss Fox?"

  "Certainly."

  I got up to help. Saul and I pulled off the fancy gray tape and took the lid off. Standing, we were the only ones who could see in. I said, "It's a thousand roses."

  Clara Fox jumped up to look. I reached in the box and picked up an envelope and took a card from the envelope. I squinted at it-it was scrawly writing-and read it out, "Francis Horrocks?"

  She nodded. "That's my acquaintance. The man that ejected me for the Marquis of Clivers. He's a young diplomat with a special knowledge of the Far East. Aren't they beautiful? Look, Hilda. Smell. They are very nice."

  She carried them to Wolfe. "Aren't they a beautiful color, Mr. Wolfe? Smell." She looked at Mike Walsh, but he was asleep again, so she put the box back on the desk and sat down.

  Wolfe was rubbing his nose which she had tickled with the roses. "Saul. Take those to the kitchen and have Fritz put them in water. Remain there. You must see my orchids. Miss Fox, but that can wait. Mr. Walsh! Archie, wake him, please."

  I reached out and gave Walsh a dig, and he jerked up and glared at me. He protested, "Hey! It's too warm in here. I'm never as warm as this after supper."