And Four to Go

Wolfe read it, frowned at it for three seconds, turned his head and called, “Fritz!”

Fritz appeared at the door. “Yes, sir?”

“Put the chain-bolt on and tell those people they will be admitted shortly. Stay there.”

“Yes, sir.” Fritz went.

Wolfe looked at Cramer. “Mr. Gallant, his sister, Miss Prince, Miss Thorne, and Mr. Drew have arrived, uninvited and unexpected. You’ll have to leave without being seen. In the front room until they have entered. I’ll communicate with you later.”

“Like hell I’ll leave.” Cramer was on his feet. “Like hell they’re unexpected.” He was moving, toward the hall, his intention plain-taking over as receptionist.

“Mr. Cramer!” It snapped at his back, turning him. “Would I lie so clumsily? If they had been expected would I have let you in? Would I have sat here bickering with you? Either you leave or I do. If you admit them you’ll have them to yourself, and I wish you luck.”

Cramer was glaring. “You think I’m going to sneak out and sit on your goddam stoop until you whistle?”

“That would be unseemly,” Wolfe conceded. “Very well.” He pointed at a picture on the wall to his left behind him-a pretty waterfall. “You know about that. You may take that station, but only if you engage not to disclose yourself unless you are invited. Unequivocally.”

The waterfall covered a hole in the wall. On the other side, in a wing of the hall across from the kitchen, the hole was covered by nothing, and you could not only see through but also hear through. Cramer had used it once before, a couple of years ago.

Cramer stood, considering. Wolfe demanded, “Well? They’re waiting. For you or for me?”

Cramer said, “Okay, we’ll try it your way,” turned and marched to the hall, and turned left.

Wolfe told me, “All right, Archie. Bring them in.”

Chapter 5

LORD BYRON, ALIAS Alec Gallant, and the red leather chair went together fine. He sat well back, unlike most people I have seen there. Usually they are either too mad or too upset. Any of the other four probably would have been; they looked it. They were on yellow chairs that I had moved up to make a row facing Wolfe, with Emmy Thorne nearest me, then Anita Prince, then Carl Drew, then Flora Gallant. That put Flora nearest her brother, which seemed appropriate.

Wolfe was turned to Gallant. “You ask me, sir, why I sent Mr. Goodwin to ask you people about Sarah Yare. Of course I’m under no compulsion to reply, and I’m not sure that I am prepared to. Instead, I may ask why his questions, certainly not provocative, so disturbed you. Apparently they have even impelled you to call on me in a body. Why?”

“Talk,” Gallant said. “Vent. Wind.” There was an ashtray on the little table at his elbow, but not a heavy one.

Anita Prince put in, “The police have insisted on knowing why he was there, what he wanted.”

Wolfe nodded. “And you refused to say. Why?”

“Because,” Emmy Thorne declared, “it was none of their business. And we have a right to know why you sent him, whether his questions were provocative or not.” That girl was strong on rights.

Wolfe’s eyes went from right to left and back again. “There’s no point,” he said, “in dragging this out. I’ll grant your question priority and we’ll go on from there. I sent Mr. Goodwin to see you because I suspected I had been gulled and wanted to find out; and further, because I had guessed that there was a connection between Sarah Yare, and her death, and the murder of Bianca Voss. By coming here en masse you have made that guess a conviction, if any doubt had remained.”

“I knew it,” Flora Gallant mumbled.

“Tais-toi,” her brother commanded her. To Wolfe: “I’ll tell you why we came here. We came for an explanation. We came-”

“For an understanding,” Carl Drew cut in. “We’re in trouble, all of us, you know that, and we need your help, and we’re ready to pay for it. First we have to know what the connection is between Sarah Yare and what happened to Bianca Voss.”

Wolfe shook his head. “You don’t mean that. You mean you have to know whether I have established the connection, and if so, how. I’m willing to tell you, but before I do so I must clarify matters. There must be no misunderstanding. For instance, I understand that all of you thought yourselves gravely endangered by Miss Voss’s presence. You, Miss Prince, you, Miss Thorne, and you, Mr. Drew-your dearest ambitions were threatened. Your future was committed to the success and glory of that enterprise, and you were convinced that Miss Voss was going to cheapen it, and perhaps destroy it. Do you challenge that?”

“Of course not.” Emmy Thorne was scornful. “Everybody knew it.”

“Then that’s understood. That applies equally to you, Miss Gallant, but with special emphasis. You also had a more intimate concern, for your brother. You told me so. As for you, Mr. Gallant, you are not a man to truckle, yet you let that woman prevail. Presumably you were under severe constraint. Were you?”

Gallant opened his mouth and closed it. He looked at his sister, returned to Wolfe, and again opened