Three at Wolfe's Door

by Rex Stout

  "I'll bet you are. I wish I got paid as much for being curious as Wolfe does. Okay. It was a dialed phone call to Canal six, two thousand. Probably a man, but it could have been a woman trying to sound like a man or the reverse. It said there was a taxi standing in front of nine-eighteen West Thirty-fifth Street with a dead woman in it. As you know, that address has been heard from before. The sergeant radioed a prowl car."

  "Has the call been traced?"

  "How? Modern improvements. But you'd better ask the DA."

  "A good idea. I will. Many thanks and I won't forget the front page." I hung up and swiveled. "I'll be damned. Where can we buy dunce caps? For a passerby to see it he would have had to open the door and lift the canvas."

  Wolfe's lips were tight. 'We should have done that hours ago."

  "Lon may not have known hours ago."

  "True. Even so. Get Mr. Cramer."

  I swiveled and dialed. It wasn't as simple as getting Lon Cohen had been. Cramer was in conference and couldn't be disturbed. I was hacking away at it when Wolfe took his phone and said, "This is Nero Wolfe. I have something that will not wait. Ask Mr. Cramer if he prefers that I deal with the District Attorney."

  In two minutes there was a bark. "What do you want?"

  "Mr. Cramer?" He knew darned well it was.

  "Yes. I'm busy."

  "So am I. Is it true that Miss Holt refuses to talk without advice from Mr. Goodwin or me?"

  "Yes it is, and I was just telling Stebbins to get Goodwin down here. And then I'm going--"

  "If you please. Mr. Goodwin and I have decided that it is now desirable for Miss Holt to answer any questions you care to ask--or that it will be after we have had a brief talk with her. Since I must be present and I transact business only in my own office, it will be

  Method Three for Murder in

  pointless for you to send for him. If you want her to talk hring her here."

  "You're too late, Wolfe. I don't need her to tell me that she drove that cab to your address. I already know it. Her prints are on the steering wheel and the door, and other places. You're too late."

  "Has she admitted it?"

  "No, but she will."

  "I doubt it. She's rather inflexible. I regret having called you to the phone to no purpose. May I make a request? Don't keep Mr. Goodwin longer than necessary. I am about to conclude a matter in which he has an interest and would like him present. I wanted Miss Holt here too, but since I'm too late I'll have to manage without her."

  Silence. Prolonged.

  "Are you there, Mr. Cramer?"

  "Yes. So you're going to conclude a matter."

  "I am. Soon afterwards Miss Holt and Mr. Goodwin and I will talk not by your sufferance but at our will."

  "Are you saying that you know who killed Phoebe Arden?"

  " 'Know' implies certitude. I have formed a conclusion and intend to verify it. It shouldn't take long. But I'm keeping you. Could you do without Mr. Goodwin until, say, four o'clock? It's half past twelve. By then we should have finished."

  Another silence, not quite so long. "I'll be there in fifteen minutes," Cramer said.

  "With Miss Holt?"

  "Yes."

  "Satisfactory. But not in fifteen minutes. I must get Judith Bram and Waldo Kearns. Do you know where they are?"

  "Kearns is at his home. He said he would be if we wanted him again. Judith Bram is here. I'll bring her along, and I'll send for Kearns. Now."

  "No. People have to eat. Will you lunch with us? And Miss Holt?"

  "I will not. Did you ever skip a meal in your life?"

  "Many times when I was younger, by necessity. Then I suggest that you arrive with Miss Holt at two o'clock, and arrange for Miss

  ii2 3 at Wolfe's Door

  Bram and Mr. Kearns to come at two-thirty. Will that be convenient?"

  "By God. Convenient!"

  A click. He was off. We hung up. I said, "Probably Irving eats too."

  "Yes. Bring him."

  I went and got him. He marched to Wolfe's desk and demanded, "Well?"

  Wolfe's head slanted back. "I forgot, sir, when I said possibly within the hour, that lunch would interfere. It will be a little longer. I have spoken with Inspector Cramer, and he will arrive with Miss Holt at two o'clock. We shall expect you and your wife to join us at two-thirty."

  His jaw was working. "Miss Holt will be here?"

  "Yes."

  "Why my wife?"

  "Because she has something to contribute. As you know, she had an appointment with Miss Arden which Miss Arden did not keep. That will be germane."

  "Germane to what?"

  "To our discussion."

  "I don't want a discussion. I certainly don't want one with a police inspector. I told you what I want."

  "And you'll get it, sir, but the method and manner are in my discretion. I give you my assurance without qualification that I am acting solely in the interest of Miss Holt, that I expect to free her of any suspicion of complicity in the murder of Phoebe Arden, and that I shall not disclose what you have told me of your movements last evening without your prior permission. Confound it, do I owe you anything?"

  "No." His jaw was still working. "I'd rather not bring my wife."

  "We'll need her. If you prefer, I'll arrange for Inspector Cramer to send for her."

  "No." He breathed. He looked at me and back at Wolfe. "All right. We'll be here." He wheeled and went.

  Method Three for Murder

  "3

  Five of the yellow chairs were in place facing Wolfe's desk, three in front and two behind, and Mira was in the one nearest to Cramer. I had intended the one at my end for her, but Cramer had vetoed it, and since she was his prisoner I hadn't insisted. Of course he was in the red leather chair, and the uninvited guest he had brought along, Sergeant Purley Stebbins, was seated at his right, with his broad, burly shoulders touching the wall.

  Mira looked fine, considering. Her eyes were a little heavy and the lids were swollen, and her jacket could have stood washing and ironing, and the corners of her mouth pointed down, but I thought she looked fine. Wolfe, seated behind his desk, was glowering at her, but the glower wasn't meant for her. It was merely that he had had to tell Fritz to advance the lunch hour fifteen minutes, and then had had to hurry through the corn fritters and sausage cakes and wild-thyme honey from Greece and cheese and blackberry pie with not enough time to enjoy it properly.

  "Was it bad?" he asked her.

  "Not too bad," she said. "I didn't get too much sleep. The worst was when the morning passed and I didn't hear from you." Her head turned. "Or you, Mr. Goodwin."

  I nodded. "I was busy earning my fee. I wasn't worried about you because you had promised you wouldn't forget method three."

  "I kept my promise."

  "I know you did. I'll buy you a drink any time you're thirsty."

  "Get on," Cramer growled.

  "Have you been told," Wolfe asked her, "that others will join us shortly?"

  "No," she said. "Here? Who?"

  "Miss Bram, Mr. Kearns, and Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Irving."

  Her eyes widened. "Why Mr. and Mrs. Irving?"

  "That will appear after they arrive. I thought you should know that they're coming. They'll soon be here, and we have two points

  ii4 3 at Wolfe's Door

  to cover. First I need a question answered. When you drove away from Pencil Street last evening, and meandered in search of a place to dispose of the corpse--don't interrupt me--and finally drove here, did you at any time suspect that you were being followed by another car?"

  Her mouth was hanging open. "But you--" she stammered. Her head jerked to me. "Did you know he was--what good did it do to keep my promise?"

  "A lot," I told her. "Yes, I knew he was. Everything is under control. Believe me, I would rather lose an arm than lose the right to ask you to promise me something. We know what we're doing. Shall I repeat the question?"

  "But-"

  "No buts. Leave it to us.
Shall I repeat the question?"

  "Yes."

  I did so, omitting the "don't interrupt me."

  "No," she said.

  "Proceed," Wolfe told me.

  I knew it would have been better to have her closer. She was six yards away. "This one is more complicated and more important During that drive, from Ferrell Street to here, are you certain that another car was not following you? There are various ways of making sure of that. Did you use any of them?"

  "No. I never thought of that. I was looking for a place--"

  "I know you were. All we want is this: if I told you that a car was following you, all the way, what would you say?"

  "I would want to know who it was."

  I wanted to go and pat her on the head, but it might have been misconstrued. "Okay," I said. "That's one point. The other one is simple. Tell Inspector Cramer what you told us last night, including the phone call to Gilbert Irving to tell him that you were going to drive Judy's cab." I looked at my wrist. "You only have fifteen minutes, so reel it off."

  "I won't," she said. "Not until you tell me why you're doing this."

  "Then I'll tell him. You'll know why after the others get here. I'll tell you this: someone tried to frame you for murder and this

  Method Three for Murder 115

  is payday. Anyway there's not much left, now that the inspector knows you drove the cab here with the corpse in it. Would we have spilled that if we didn't have a good hold? Go ahead."

  Wolfe put in, "Don't interrupt with questions, Mr. Cramer. They can wait. Yes, Miss Holt?"

  She still didn't like it, not a bit, but she delivered, starting with Sunday evening. She left gaps. She didn't say that Judy had given her permission to take the cab, merely that she had taken it, and she didn't mention the phone call to Irving; but since I had already mentioned it that didn't matter. The main thing was what had happened after she got to Ferrell Street with the cab, and she covered that completely; and when she got to where she and I had sat on the stoop and talked, Cramer began cutting in with questions. I will not say that he was more interested in tagging me for obstructing justice than he was in solving a murder case, since I don't like to brag, but it sounded like it. He was firing away at her, and Sergeant Stebbins was scrawling in his notebook, when the doorbell rang and I went to answer it. It was Waldo Kearns. When I took him to the office he went to Mira, without so much as a glance for the three men, and put out a hand.

  "My dear wife," he said.

  "Don't be ridiculous," Mira said.

  I can't report whether he handled that as well as he had handled the uppercut by Irving because the bell rang again and I had to leave them, to admit Judy Bram. She had an escort, a Homicide dick I only knew by sight, and he thought he was going to enter with her and I didn't, and while we were discussing it she slipped in and left it to us. We were still chatting when a taxi stopped out front and Mr. and Mrs. Irving got out and headed for the steps. The dick had to give them room to pass, and I was able to shut the door on him without flattening his nose. Since it was quite possible that Irving's appearance would start something I entered the office on their heels.

  Nothing happened. Mira merely shot him a glance and he returned it. Kearns didn't even glance at him. The newcomers stood while Wolfe pronounced their names for Cramer and Stebbins and told them who Cramer and Stebbins were, and then went to the

  n6 3 at Wolfe's Door

  two chairs still vacant, the two nearest my desk. Mrs. Irving took the one in front, with Judy between her and Mira, and her husband took the one back of her, which put him only a long arm's length from Waldo Kearns.

  As Wolfe's eyes moved from right to left, stopping at Mira, and back again, Cramer spoke. "You understand that this is not an official inquiry. Sergeant Stebbins and I are looking on. You also understand that Mira Holt is under arrest as a material witness. If she had been charged with murder she wouldn't be here."

  "Why isn't she out on bail?" Judy Bram demanded. "I want to know why--"

  "That will do," Wolfe snapped. "You're here to listen, Miss Bram, and if you don't hold your tongue Mr. Goodwin will drag you out. If necessary Mr. Stebbins will help."

  "But why-"

  "No! One more word and out you go."

  She set her teeth on her lip and glared at him. He glared back, decided she was squelched, and left her.

  "I am acting," he said, "jointly with Mr. Goodwin, on behalf of Miss Holt. At our persuasion she has just told Mr. Cramer of her movements last evening. I'll sketch them briefly. Shortly after seven-thirty she took Miss Bram's cab and drove it to Ferrell Street and parked at the mouth of the alley leading to Mr. Reams' house. She expected him to appear but he didn't. At eight-thirty she left the cab, went through the alley to the house, knocked several times, and looked in windows. Getting no response, she returned to the cab, having been gone about ten minutes. There was a dead body in the cab, a woman, and she recognized her. It was Phoebe Arden. I will not--"

  "You fat fool!" Judy blurted. "You're a fine-"

  "Archie!" he commanded.

  I stood up. She clamped her teeth on her lip. I sat down.

  "I will not," Wolfe said, "go into her thought processes, but confine myself to her actions. She covered the body with a piece of canvas and drove away. Her intention was to dispose of her cargo in some likely spot, and she drove around in search of one, but found none. I omit details--for instance, that she rang the

  Method Three for Murder 117

  number of Miss Bram from a phone booth and got no answer. She decided she must have counsel, drove to my house, met Mr. Goodwin on the stoop, and gave him a rigmarole about a bet she had made. Since he is vulnerable to the attractions of personable young women, he swallowed it."

  I swallowed that. I had to, with Cramer sitting there.

  "Now," Wolfe said, "a crucial fact. I learned it myself less than three hours ago. Only a few minutes after Miss Holt and Mr. Good win met on the stoop someone phoned police headquarters to say that a taxi standing in front of this address had a dead woman in it. That is-"

  "Where did you get that?" Cramer demanded.

  Wolfe snorted. "Pfui. Not from you or Mr. Stebbins. That is proof, to me conclusive, that the murderer of Phoebe Arden had no wish or need for her to die. Phoebe Arden was killed only because her corpse was needed as a tool for the destruction of another person--a design so cold-blooded and malign that even I am impressed. Whether she was killed in the cab, or at a nearby spot and the body taken to the cab, is immaterial. The former is more likely, and I assume it What did the murderer do? He, or she --we lack a neuter pronoun--he entered the cab with Phoebe Arden the moment Miss Holt disappeared in the alley, coming from their hiding place in the stoneyard across the street. Having stabbed his victim--or rather his tool--he walked up Ferrell Street and around the corner to where his car was parked on Carmine Street. Before going to his car he stood near the corner to see if Miss Holt, on returning to the cab, removed the body before driving away. If she had, he would have found a booth and phoned police headquarters immediately."

  Cramer growled, "What if Kearns had come out with Miss Holt?"

  "He knew he wouldn't. I'll come to that. You are assuming that Kearns was not the murderer."

  "I am assuming nothing."

  "That's prudent. When Miss Holt turned the cab into Carmine Street and drove on, he followed her. He followed her throughout her search for a place to get rid of the corpse, and on to her final

  n8

  3 at Wolfe's Door

  destination, this house. Some of my particulars are assumption or conjecture, but not this one. He must have done so, for when she stopped here he drove on by, found a phone booth, and made the call to the police. The only other possible source of the call was a passerby who had seen the corpse in the cab as it stood at the curb, and a passerby couldn't have seen it without opening the door and lifting the canvas." His eyes went to Cramer. "Of course that hadn't escaped you."

  Cramer grunted.<
br />
  Wolfe turned a hand over. "If his objective was the death of Phoebe Arden, why didn't he kill her in the stoneyard--they must have been there, since there is no other concealment near--and leave her there? Or if he did kill her there, which is highly unlikely, why did he carry or drag the body to the cab? And why, his objective reached, did he follow the cab in its wanderings and at the first opportunity call the police? I concede the possibility that he had a double objective, to destroy both Miss Arden and Miss Holt, but if so Miss Holt must have been his main target. To kill Miss Arden, once he had her in the stoneyard with a weapon at hand, was simple and involved little risk; to use her body as a tool for the destruction of Miss Holt was a complicated and daring operation, and the risks were great. I am convinced that he had a single objective, to destroy Miss Holt."

  "Then why?" Cramer demanded. 'Why didn't he kill her?"

  "I can only conjecture, but it is based on logic. Because it was known that he had reason to wish Miss Holt dead, and no matter how ingenious his plan and adroit its execution, he would have been suspected and probably brought to account. I have misstated it. That's what he did. He devised a plan so ingenious that he thought he would be safe."

  Purley Stebbins got up, circled around the red leather chair, and stood at Waldo Kearns' elbow.

  "No, Mr. Stebbins," Wolfe said. "Our poor substitute for a neuter pronoun is misleading. I'll abandon it. If you want to guard a murderer stand by Mrs. Irving."

  Knowing that was coming any second, I had my eye on her. She was only four feet from me. She didn't move a muscle, but

  Method Three for Murder 119

  her husband did. He put a hand to his forehead and squeezed. I could see his knuckles go white. Mira's eyes stayed fixed on Wolfe, but Judy and Kearns turned to look at Mrs. Irving. Steb bins did too, but he didn't move.

  Cramer spoke. "Who is Mrs. Irving?"

  "She is present, sir."

  "I know she is. Who is she?"

  "She is the wife of the man whom Miss Holt called on the phone Sunday evening to tell him that she was going to take Miss Bram's cab, and why. Mr. Irving has stated that he told no one of that call. Either he lied or his wife eavesdropped. Mr. Irving. Might your wife have overheard that conversation on an extension?"