Gambit (14 page)

This is satisfactory, Archie.” He breathed deep again. “An analeptic for my self-esteem. Has it any flaws?”

That showed how hard he had been taking it, asking me if it had any flaws instead of telling me. As I reported he had been so busy enjoying the feel of the pressure going that he hadn’t concentrated, though he had got the main point.

“None that I can see,” I said. “Of course his killing Kalmus is what settles it.

With Kalmus and Blount out, and with your inexpressible relief that we can forget the other three messengers, what else is there'The arsenic got in him somehow. Of course there’s plenty to guess about, for instance what Kalmus said or did that told him that Kalmus had figured it out, but that’s not a flaw, it’s only a gap. The only flaw I see is that there’s no possible way you can ever prove that he killed Jerin. He’s absolutely airtight. On Kalmus there may be a chance. He goes to Kalmus’s apartment, maybe invited and expected, maybe not.

Anyhow Kalmus lets him in, no doorman or hallman, and the elevator is do-it-yourself. He catches Kalmus off guard, knocks him out with the ash tray,

gets the cord and uses it, and leaves. Fingerprints were no problem; they’re no problem any more for anyone with an ounce of brains. The only chance would be if someone saw him enter or leave, and naturally the cops are working on that,

though not with him in mind. In order to get motive you’d have to prove that he killed Jerin and Kalmus knew it or suspected it, and that’s hopeless. As for his motive for killing Jerin, why not your theory, to get Blount because he wanted his wife. He had had more contacts with her person and personality than any of the others. As for taking some arsenic with him when he went to the club that night, that’s easy. He knew what Blount was going to do because Kalmus had asked him what to use to get the effect Blount wanted. He would be the natural one for Kalmus to ask.”

I nodded. “Perfect. Not a flaw except the one little detail that you and Homicide and the FBI all put together will never hang it on him. He was a sap to kill Kalmus because they might possibly tag him for that if they find someone who saw him enter or leave, and no matter how well Kalmus had it mapped, his killing Jerin, he couldn’t possibly have had any evidence to back it up. There just couldn’t be any. He could have told Kalmus to go soak his head.”

Wolfe grunted. “An adequate exposition.”

“I like it.”

“Adequate as far as it goes. But granting that Kalmus had no evidence that would convince the police, even if he revealed the fact that Blount was determined to keep secret, his knowledge or suspicion presented another threat. What if he convinced Blount'Or, more to the point, Mrs. Blount?”

I raised a brow. “Yeah. Sure. That would have been a nuisance, no matter what happened to Blount. But while that may explain why he killed Kalmus, it doesn’t alter the main -“

I stopped. He had leaned back and closed his eyes and started his lips going,

out and in, out and in. As I said before, the lip exercise is not to be interrupted, and I crossed my legs and got comfortable for a two-minute wait,

maybe three, glancing at my watch.

It was nearer thirty than three. Twenty-one minutes and ten seconds had passed when he opened his eyes and straightened up, setting a record. As always, I had exercised my mind by trying to decide where and what he was headed for, and as usual, I ended up with an assortment of possibilities, worth a dime a dozen.

What he did that time was not in my assortment. No wonder he had taken a while to make up his mind; he had decided he had to call a woman on the phone.

“I must speak with Mrs. Blount,” he said. “What’s her number?”

I swiveled and reached for the phone, but he snapped, “No. The number. I’ll dial it. You aren’t here.”

I turned. “Where am I?”

“I don’t know. You have been dismissed, discharged by me for dereliction of duty immediately after you reported to me on your conversation with Mr. Blount. Don’t leave the house. Don’t answer the telephone or doorbell. Tell Fritz that if anyone asks for you, you have gone out - that’s all he knows. I’ll give you instructions after I have spoken with Mrs. Blount. What’s her number?”

I told him, and sat and watched him dial it. As I said, that had not been in my assortment, getting fired just after I had brought him inexpressible relief.

Three hours later, at twenty minutes to ten, I stood in the alcove at the end of the hall next to the kitchen, observing, through the hole in the wall, the cast that had been assembled for what I consider one of the best charades Wolfe has ever staged.

On the office side the hole is covered by a pretty picture of a waterfall on the wall five feet to the right of Wolfe’s desk. On the alcove side it is covered by a metal panel at eye level which slides open without a hint of a noise, and,

standing there, you find that the made-to-order waterfall is no obstruction to your view of the office or to your hearing. It wasn’t quite as clear for either my eyes or my ears as if I had been inside seated at my desk, but I couldn’t very well be there since I had been fired in disgrace, and besides, that chair won’t hold two and Saul Panzer was in it.

At twenty minutes to ten Wolfe entered, crossed to his desk, greeted them with three stingy nods - left, center, and right - and sat. All of them except Saul had come at the request of Mrs. Blount, after Wolfe’s phone call to her. She had been put in the red leather chair by Saul, as instructed by me. In the front row of yellow chairs Sally was on the left, Ernst Hausman in the center, and Dr Avery on the right, next to Saul at my desk. Behind them were Morton Farrow, the nephew, and Charles W. Yerkes, the banker.

Sally was the only one who had any idea what was up. Because she had had to be not only briefed, but rehearsed, thoroughly, she had come at seven-thirty and eaten dinner with me in the kitchen. In the kitchen for two reasons: so Wolfe could stick to his rule of no business at the table, and so Fritz could hear us.

One of them might possibly ask Fritz some question when he admitted them, a question that must be answered right, and he had to know what to say. The one thing Sally didn’t know was that I would be watching the performance through the hole. That was no part of it anyway; I was watching only to pass the time and to see and hear Wolfe tell a pack of lies; and Sally would probably have glanced so often at the picture of the waterfall that she might have attracted attention,

and Wolfe wanted all the attention.

He was getting it, from seven pairs of eyes. “I don’t thank you for coming,” he told them, “because you came to oblige Mrs. Blount, not me, and because I am not in a mood to feel gratitude for anything whatever. As you all know, three days ago, Monday, I was hired by Miss Blount to act in the interest of her father.

Yesterday he himself wrote me a note engaging my services, though I didn’t learn of it until this morning. I am now compelled to make an extremely humiliating admission, and I felt that I should make it to all of you - you who because of your concern have been good enough to come to see me and answer my questions.

True, one of you is twice a murderer, one of you killed both Paul Jerin and Daniel Kalmus, but I couldn’t exclude him because I can’t name him. I won’t keep you long. I merely -“

“That’s slander,” Hausman blurted. “That’s libel.” His lips parted to show his teeth. “Unless you can prove it. Can you prove it?”

“No.” I had Wolfe in profile and couldn’t see his eyes. “Nor do I expect to. I am withdrawing from the case. I shall return to Miss Blount the fee she paid me.

I have received none from her father.”

I can’t report the reactions of the others because I was focused on Sally. She did fine. She stared, and her mouth dropped open, and then she jumped up and cried, “But you can’t! You can’t! Where’s Archie?’ I could report on Mrs. Blount if there were anything to report, since her profile was almost on the line to Sally, but she didn’t move or speak.

“Sit down,” Wolfe commanded the former client. “Confound it, don’t interrupt.

This is the most galling moment of my long experience, and I don’t want to prolong it. Mr. Goodwin is not here and he will never be here. I owe this -“

“Why'Where is he?”

“I don’t know. Sit down! If you want him try Gehenna; if he isn’t there he should be. I owe this to him.” Wolfe’s head turned to Mrs. Blount. “I force myself to face you, madam. I told you today that yesterday my attention was centered on Mr. Kalmus, but I didn’t tell you what I had done about it.

Yesterday afternoon I put four men to work. One of them is present, at the desk that was Mr. Goodwin’s - Mr. Saul Panzer. Two of them were given certain errands pertaining to Mr. Kalmus. The other two, Mr. Panzer and Mr. Goodwin, were told to keep Mr. Kalmus under constant surveillance, dividing the hours. Late in the afternoon, by an unavoidable mischance, Mr. Panzer lost contact, and when he phoned to report it - ‘ He turned. “What time, Saul?”

“Five-thirty-nine,” Saul said.

Wolfe turned back. “Mr. Goodwin told him he would meet him at Mr. Kalmus’s house and would take over for the evening. They met there a few minutes after six, and Mr. Panzer quit for the day, and Mr. Goodwin found a suitable post for watching the entrance to the house. Of course the one inviolable rule for such a job is that the surveillance must be constant. Otherwise -“

“But I don’t understand.” Mrs. Blount turned to Sally. “You went there with him - Mr. Goodwin. You told me you left at ten o’clock.”

That had been deliberately invited. That point had to be covered. Not only did millions of people, all who read murder news in the papers, know that Sally and I had entered the house together, and when, but also Sally had told me that she had told her mother that she had eaten dinner with Wolfe and me Wednesday evening. We had considered briefing and rehearsing Mrs. Blount along with Sally,

but had vetoed it as too risky. It wasn’t at all certain that Mrs. Blount would play, and even if she would she might flub it. And the point had to be covered.

Sally handled it perfectly. “I know I did,” she told her mother, not apologizing. “But I met him there. I didn’t want to tell you I went alone, to meet him and get Dobbs to let him into Dan’s apartment. I guess I - I was ashamed to. If he took me, if he made me go … that was different.” She jerked her head to Wolfe. “Mr. Wolfe, where is he?”

Wolfe ignored her. “I was saying,” he told Mrs. Blount, “that the surveillance must be constant, for otherwise its whole purpose may be nullified. Mr. Goodwin knew that, of course. But during the time he was at his post, or supposed to be,

a man he should have recognized, since it was one of those now in this room,

entered that house, and later he left it, and Mr. Goodwin did not see him. That was inexcusable nonfeasance, and this morning, when he returned from a night with the police and the District Attorney, I took him severely to task. But this afternoon, when he returned from his interview with your husband, I learned that it was worse than nonfeasance. He admitted that he had been absent from his post for nearly an hour. He refused to say where he had gone, but that was immaterial. If he had performed his duty, if he had not betrayed my trust, I would know who killed both Jerin and Kalmus, and I could complete the job both your daughter and your husband hired me for.”

His head turned to the right and back to the left. “I would know which one of you is a treacherous friend and twice a murderer, and I could proceed with assurance. Now I can’t proceed at all. As for Jerin, the chance of finding any cogent evidence is so remote that it’s hopeless; and as for Kalmus, if any evidence exists it will be found by the normal police routine, not by me. So I am withdrawing. This is the greatest humiliation I have ever had to suffer, and I felt that all of you should hear me acknowledge it. I owed you that, but not more than that, and I’ll leave.” He pushed his chair back and rose. “As I said,

I have discharged Goodwin, and I intend to see that he loses his license to function as a private detective. Pfui. He is not fit to function as anything whatever.” He took a step. “Miss Blount, Mr. Panzer has a check for you, for the amount you paid me… Saul, give it to her.” He headed for the door.

Again I can’t report reactions, and certainly not words, for I was concentrating on the man I expected to be speaking within an hour or so, Dr Avery. He handled his act fully as well as Sally had handled hers. As Wolfe marched out he got up and went to Mrs. Blount and bent over her and spoke, but others were speaking too and I couldn’t hear what he said; and when Hausman joined them he gave him place and a minute later went to Sally; and that was when I clamped my teeth,

when Avery took hold of Sally’s arm. She would pull back or tighten up when he touched her, but by gum she didn’t, and she managed her face as if she had been training it for years. Wonderful. Saul rescued her by coming with the check, and she could turn away to say she didn’t want to take it, but she finally did,

since that was in the script. As she was putting it in her bag I slid the panel shut and beat it to the kitchen. There was one chance in a million that when they left the office one of them would turn left instead of right, and round the corner to the alcove and bump into me, and that would have been regrettable. In the kitchen I went to the refrigerator for a carton of milk, and poured a glass.

My part was to come, and I needed some support. Fritz was out in the hall to help Saul speed the parting guests.

I could hear the sounds of their going, including, twice, the closing of the front door, but I stayed put even after Fritz came and told me the coast was clear. A couple of minutes later Saul stepped in, stopped, and stared at me, and demanded, “What are you doing here'This is your day of infamy, and anyway I like my new job. Fritz, help me bounce him.”

“Bah,” I said. “I could take both of you with one hand. She did all right, huh?”

“She sure did. So did he.”

“Why not'He’s had plenty of practice. You were magnificent. The way you have said five-thirty-nine - that was the high point.” I went to the house phone and pushed the button for Wolfe’s room, and his voice came: ‘Yes?”

“They’re gone, and I’m off. Any changes?”

“No. Proceed.”

“Okay. I’ll try not to betray your trust again.” I hung up, got my coat and hat from the chair where they were waiting and put them on, picked up my luggage, a packed bag also there waiting, told Saul he would hear from me soon, I hoped,

and left by the back door. The subject might have turned his ankle going down the steps and be sitting out front rubbing it. The back door leads to the small yard where Fritz grows herbs, or tries to, and at the far end there is a bolted door in the eight-foot fence. Fritz came along to bolt the door after me. A narrow passage between two buildings takes you to Thirty-fourth Street. It was a quarter past ten when I climbed into a taxi and told the hackie the Talbott Hotel, where I had a reservation, and it was a quarter to eleven when, in Room 914, having let the bellhop hang up my coat and tipped him and told him good night, I went to the telephone and asked the switchboard to get a certain number.

One of the million little things you get on to that you’ll probably never have any use for but you never know is how to tell the voice of an answering service filly from a maid or secretary. It would take a page to explain so I’ll skip it.

Since Dr Avery was a bachelor there was no question of a wife or daughter. What I got was an answering service, and she said Dr Avery wasn’t available but she would be in touch with him later and did I care to leave a message. I did. I gave her my name and number and room number and said I had to speak with Avery as soon as possible on an extremely urgent matter.

Answering services are often a damned nuisance. If you ring a number and get no answer you can keep trying, but when you get an answering service all you can do is wait, and you don’t know if your message will be relayed; and if you keep ringing back, say every ten minutes, she gets sore and you can give odds that it won’t be relayed. That time, though, I had no kick coming. I had decided to start fidgeting at a quarter to twelve and to get the number again at midnight,

so I was at ease in a chair with the Gazette when the phone rang at 11:20. I went and got it and told it hello.

“Who is this?’ a voice demanded.

A question in that tone doesn’t deserve an answer, so I said, “Who wants to know?”

“I’m Victor Avery. Are you Archie Goodwin?”

“Right. I need to be sure it’s you, doctor, as much for your protection as for mine. You may remember that Tuesday evening you told Nero Wolfe the name of the gambit you used against Paul Jerin. What was it - the gambit?”

Brief silence. “The Albin Counter Gambit.”

“Okay. Is there any chance that anyone is on an extension at your end?”

“No.”

“I want to see you. It’s a long story, and I’ll just sketch it. I am no longer with Nero Wolfe. He fired me this afternoon. At six o’clock yesterday afternoon he sent me to put my eye on the entrance to Daniel Kalmus’s house and keep it there. When I reported to him this morning, after spending the night with the cops, I told him that I had seen no one enter or leave that I recognized. This afternoon he tore into me and made me admit that I had been away from my post for about an hour. So he gave me the boot.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

“Yeah. But the point is, I lied to him. I wasn’t away from my post. I was right there all evening, and I did see someone I recognized, entering and leaving.

That’s what I want to discuss with you.”

“Why with me?”

“Well, you’ve had a lot of experience giving people advice. Doctors get asked about all sorts of things. I think I can get my job back if I go to Mr. Wolfe and tell him the truth, and I want to know if you would advise me to do that. I can’t put it off; if I do it at all I’ll have to do it tomorrow. So I’ll have to see you - say around noon'One o’clock?”

A longer silence. Then, and he managed his voice darned well: ‘I don’t believe a word of this. It’s some kind of clumsy trick. I’ll have nothing to do with it.”

“Okay. I’m sorry, but of course you’ll be sorrier than I am. Good night and pleasant dreams.”

I hung up, glanced at my watch, and went back to the chair and the paper. The only question was how long it would be. Half an hour'No. In exactly eighteen minutes the phone rang, and when I went and told it hello his voice came: