'Miss Rowan. I will not impose-'
'Now listen. You're used to having people at your mercy; now you're at mine. My car will not be available. Have you had dinner?'
'I have eaten, yes. There will be a bill to pay at that place.'
I said I'd see to it and went and talked with the hackie. He didn't like the idea of another round trip, but agreed that that would be better than sticking there until his fare was ready to return when I said it might be long after midnight, and I gave him money for the motel bill. When he had turned around and rolled down the lane I entered the cabin by the door to the long hall, kept going, found the last door standing open, and entered. Wolfe was sitting in a chair by the open window with his chin down and his eyes closed. Lily had switched the light on. I stopped three paces in and looked at him. He was probably, at that moment, the only man in Monroe County wearing a vest, which of course was the same dark blue as the jacket and trousers. He had changed at the motel; the cuffs and collar of the yellow shirt were smooth and clean. The blue four-in-hand was a little darker than the suit, and so was the homburg there on the table. There was barely enough room for his hips between the arms of the wicker chair.
I asked, 'Have a nice trip?'
He said, 'There's a brook out there,' and opened his eyes.
'Berry Creek. If we had known you were coming there could have been trout for breakfast. Are you staying long?'
'Pfui.'
There were two other chairs in the room and I went to one of them and sat. 'That's my mount's name. Miss Rowan named her mare Cat because she moves like one, and I named my horse, mine when I'm here, Pfui, because he's a little tricky. The natives pronounce it Fee. If you're going to do some mountain riding I recommend a palomino named Spotty, because with your bulk-'
'Shut up.'
I didn't intend to, but I did, because Lily entered with a tray, and I got up to take it. On it were two glasses, a bottle of beer, an opener, a pitcher of milk, and paper napkins. 'I saw to towels,' she said. 'I brought only one bottle of beer because I suppose he likes it cold. Do you need anything?'
'If we do I'll get it. We may need you, so don't wander off.'
She said she wouldn't, and left. I put the tray on a table that Wolfe could reach, and he picked up the bottle, inspected the label-Mountain Brewery, Butte-took the opener and used it, and poured.
'It isn't bad,' I said. 'There's another brand that I think they put copper in.'
He held the glass until the bead was down just right, took a sip, made a face, took a healthy swig, and licked foam from his lips. 'I would prefer,' he said, 'to go to bed. I doubt if my brain will function properly, but I'll try. I received your letter.'
'I suspected you had when I saw you get out of the car.'
'It came Monday, day before yesterday. It didn't adequately describe the situation. I needed to know more about it, and I telephoned three men. The third one, Mr Oliver McFarland-you remember him.'
'Certainly.'
'He was able and willing to oblige me. He has extensive banking and mining interests in this area. At his instigation I received, late yesterday afternoon, a telephone call from the Montana Attorney General. If the facts are as he reported them, you might as well return with me in the morning.'
I nodded. 'I expected this too when I saw you get out of the car. This is going to take a while, and there's a bigger and better chair in another room. If you'll vacate that one I'll take it and make a trade. I'm as uncomfortable looking at you as you are in it.'
He started to stand, but his hips caught between the arms and lifted the chair. He pushed it down and was free and up, and I took the chair and went, out, the length of the hall, and into the big room. Lily was there with Diana and Wade Worthy over by the fireplace, probably telling them that another guest had arrived. Seeing me, she said, 'I should have suggested that. The one over there?'
It was the one I would have picked, over by the bookshelves. I moved it, put the one I had brought in its place, picked up the bigger one, which had a seat pad covered with what had once been the hide on a deer's belly, upturned it to put it on top of my head, and went back to the room. In that short time the beer bottle had been emptied, and after depositing the chair I went to the kitchen and brought another one; and I poured a glass of milk and went to my chair with it. Wolfe looked better, and of course felt better, in the roomier seat.
'I'll give you just the skeleton,' I said, 'and the flesh and skin can be added as required. If I'm more outspoken than usual it's probably because I'm on leave of absence without pay. First, I do not think you came to haul me back. You know me almost as well as I know you. I wrote you that one will get you fifty that Harvey's clean, and you know I don't give those odds unless I'm dead sure. I think you came to get my facts and then hurry it up by telling me what to do. I suppose you know, from the Attorney General, that Harvey's daughter had a baby this spring, and she told Harvey and Carol, his wife, that the father was Philip Brodell, a dude who was here last summer at a nearby ranch, and before long everybody knew it.'
'Yes. Those are facts?'
'Sure. Then Brodell came again this summer, on Monday, July twenty-second. Three days later-'
'I interrupt. You're on leave without pay, but permit me. About three o'clock Thursday afternoon he went up a hill alone to pick berries. When he didn't return, even for the evening meal, there was concern, and when dark approached a search was begun. His favourite area for berries was known. Around nine-thirty his body was found by a man named Samuel Peacock on a boulder near the top of the hill. He had been shot twice, in the shoulder and in the neck. No bullets were found, but the wounds indicated a high-powered gun. The medical evidence was that he had died between three and six o'clock. The first limit was of course established, since he had been seen alive by four people around three o'clock; the second limit is probably correct. Do you challenge any of that?'
