handled it. Not to mention how I would handle it myself. So I told him I would stand by for a call from his Aunt Louise.
It came in less than half an hour. I had finished the oiling job and was putting the guns in their drawer in my desk when the phone rang. A voice I recognized said she was Mrs Robilotti’s secretary and Mrs Robilotti wished to speak with me, and I said, 'Is it jewellery again, Miss Fromm?' and she said, 'She will tell you what it is, Mr Goodwin.'
Then another voice, also recognized. 'Mr Goodwin?'
'Speaking.'
'My nephew Austin Byne says he phoned you.'
'I guess he did.'
'You guess he did?'
'The voice said it was Byne, but it could have been a seal trying to bark.'
'He has laryngitis. He told you so. Apparently you haven’t changed any. He says that he asked you to take his place at dinner at my home this evening, and you said you would if I invited you. Is that correct?'
I admitted it.
'He says that you are acquainted with the nature and significance of the affair.'
'Of course I am. So are fifty million other people-or more.'
'I know. I regret the publicity it has received in the past, but I refuse to abandon it. I owe it to my dear first husband’s memory. I am inviting you, Mr Goodwin.'
'Okay. I accept the invitation as a favour to your nephew. Thank you.'
'Very well.' A pause. 'Of course it is not usual, on inviting a dinner guest, to caution him about his conduct, but for this occasion some care is required. You appreciate that?'
'Certainly.'
'Tact and discretion are necessary.'
'I’ll bring mine along,' I assured her.
'And of course refinement.'
'I’ll borrow some.' I decided she needed a little comfort. 'Don’t worry, Mrs Robilotti, I understand the set-up and you can count on me clear through to the coffee and even after. Relax. I am fully briefed. Tact, discretion, refinement, black tie, seven o’clock.'
'Then I’ll expect you. Please hold the wire. My secretary will give you the names of those who will be present. It will simplify the introductions if you know them in advance.'
Miss Fromm got on again. 'Mr Goodwin?'
'Still here.'
'You should have paper and pencil.'
'I always have. Shoot.'
'Stop me if I go too fast. There will be twelve at table. Mr and Mrs Robilotti. Miss Celia Grantham and Mr Cecil Grantham. They are Mrs Robilotti’s son and daughter by her first husband.'
'Yeah, I know.'
'Miss Helen Yarmis. Miss Ethel Varr. Miss Faith Usher. Am I going too fast?'
I told her no.
'Miss Rose Tuttle. Mr Paul Schuster. Mr Beverly Kent. Mr Edwin Laidlaw. Yourself. That makes twelve. Miss Varr will be on your right and Miss Tuttle will be on your left.'
I thanked her and hung up. Now that I was booked, I wasn’t so sure I liked it. It would be interesting, but it might also be a strain on the nerves. However, I was booked, and I rang Byne at the number he had given me and told him he could stay home and gargle. Then I went to Wolfe’s desk and wrote on his calendar Mrs Robilotti’s name and phone number. He wants to know where to reach me when I’m out, even when we have nothing important on, in case someone yells for help and will pay for it. Then I went to the hall, turned left, and pushed through the swinging door to the kitchen. Fritz was at the big table, spreading anchovy butter on shad roes.
'Cross me off for dinner,' I told him. 'I’m doing my good deed for the year and getting it over with.'
He stopped spreading to look at me. 'That’s too bad. Veal birds in casserole. You know, with mushrooms and white wine.'
'I'll miss it. But there may be something edible where I’m going.'
'Perhaps a client?'
He was not being nosy. Fritz Brenner does not pry into other people’s private affairs, not even mine. But he has a legitimate interest in the welfare of that establishment, of the people who live in that old brownstone on West Thirty-fifth Street, and he merely wanted to know if my dinner engagement was likely to promote it. It took a lot of cash. I had to be paid. He had to be paid. Theodore Horstmann, who spent all his days and sometimes part of his nights with the ten thousand orchids up in the plant rooms, had to be paid. We all had to be fed, and with the kind of grub that Wolfe preferred and provided and Fritz prepared. Not only did the orchids have to be fed, but only that week Wolfe had bought a Coelogyne from Burma for eight hundred bucks, and that was just routine. And so on and on and on, and the only source of current income was people with problems who were
