Death of a Doxy (Crime Line)

'No, sir, I don't know. I could offer guesses, but not in the hearing of an officer of the law. Slander. I might guess Orrie Cather, but that's out because he's in the can, and unless -'

Cramer said a word, loud, which I omit because I suspect that some of the readers of these reports are people like retired schoolteachers and den mothers.

'Nor do I know,' Wolfe said. 'Mr. Cramer. Why not be forthright? You came here last Monday in the pretense that you hoped to get information that would strengthen your case against Mr. Cather, though you knew you would get none. Not from Mr. Goodwin. What you really wanted was to learn if my support of Mr. Cather was more than a gesture. What you want now is to learn if I have collected any evidence that will weaken your case against Mr. Cather. Why not be straightforward and ask me?'

'All right, I ask you. Have you?'

'Yes.'

'What evidence?'

'I'm not prepared to divulge it.'

'By God, you admit it. You admit you have evidence in a murder case and you withhold it.'

Wolfe nodded. 'It's a nice point. If I withhold evidence that would help to convict a man of murder I am obstructing justice, yes. But if I withhold evidence that would help to acquit a man, is that obstructing justice? I doubt if the point has ever arisen juridically. We could ask some -'

'Ask my ass. If you've got evidence that would help to clear Cather, it will help to convict someone else. I want it.'

'That's nonsense. Thousands of men have been cleared by alibis, with no bearing on another's guilt. I have no evidence, none whatever, that would help to convict anyone of the murder of Isabel Kerr. I have a suspicion, a surmise, but that isn't evidence. As for the guarding of Miss Jaquette and the shots fired at her, how does that concern your effort to indict Mr. Cather? As Mr. Goodwin said, they couldn't have been fired by him, he's in custody. Under suspicion of murder.'

'He hasn't been charged with homicide.'

'You're holding him without bail. Consider a hypothesis. Suppose that Miss Jaquette had a private reason to fear that someone might try to do her violence, a reason she would not reveal, and arranged for protection, and got shot at. Do you think you could force her to disclose her secret, or could force me to?'

'Balls.' Cramer was getting hoarse. He always did, with Wolfe. 'You try being forthright. Will you give me your word of honor that your guarding her and the shots fired at her had no connection with the murder of Isabel Kerr?'

'Of course not. I suspect there was a connection. If so I would like to establish it – with evidence.'

'You haven't already established it?'

'No.'

Cramer got a cigar from a pocket, rolled it between his palms, stuck it in his mouth, and sank his teeth in it. But the rolling had loosened the wrapper, and a flap of it pointed up and touched his nose. He removed it, glared at it, hurled it at my wastebasket, and came close. It hit the edge and bounced to the floor. He aimed the glare at me and blurted, 'All right, Goodwin. Where is she?'

I put a brow up. 'You could mean Miss Jaquette.'

'Yes, I could. You took her with you last night. And brought her here.'

I nodded. 'That's what Mr. Wolfe calls a surmise. You don't know I brought her here, just as I don't know who fired the shots. You're expecting me to stall, so I won't. She's up in the South Room. I was there chatting with her when you came.'

'Now I'll chat with her. I'll go up.' He left the chair. 'I know the way.'

'The door's bolted. We thought it might be better to hold off.' I rose. 'But you deserve a break. With a new Mayor and a new Commissioner, you probably need a break.' I moved.

In the hall he stopped at the elevator, but I kept on to the stairs and he came. Policemen should keep fit. By the time he got to the second landing I had called to her and she had opened the door. She had changed to the blue thing and put slippers on. I pronounced names and asked if she had enough coffee and left them.

Taking it for granted that Wolfe had gone to the kitchen, I turned right at the bottom. He was there, in the only chair Fritz allows in his kitchen, with a seat ample for me but not for him, and had opened a certain cupboard door and flipped the switch. Fritz was on one of the stools at the big table, slicing a shallot, preparing for the poached eggs Burgundian, and I got the other stool.

Cramer's voice was coming from the cupboard. 'I know that, I know you have. You made a full statement, and we appreciate that kind of cooperation. But that business last night is a new – element. Those two men were there, Archie Goodwin and Fred Durkin, for your protection, that right?'

Julie: Yes.

Cramer: You had arranged with Nero Wolfe for that protection?

Julie: Yes.

Cramer: When?

Julie: Oh… I guess it was Saturday.