His eyes opened. 'Pfui. I can say satisfactory, and I do. Satisfactory. But you could have proceeded. You could have had that woman here this afternoon instead of this evening.'
I nodded. 'You're not only bored, your connections are jammed. You said we prefer by far the second alternative, so we certainly want to know if there is any chance of getting it. Sarah Dacos was there in the house, if not when he was shot, soon after. It's possible she can settle it, one way or the other. If you want-'
The door opened, and Pierre entered with a loaded tray. I glanced at my watch: 7:15. So he had told Felix a quarter past seven; by gum, he was hanging on to one rule at least, and he would certainly hang on to another one, no business talk at the table. He got up and left the room to wash his hands. By the time he got back Pierre had the mussels served and was waiting to hold his chair. He sat, forked a mussel to his mouth, used his tongue and teeth on it, swallowed, nodded, and said, 'Mr Hewitt has bloomed four crosses between Miltonia sanderae and Odontoglossum pyramus. One of them is worth naming.'
So they had found time to visit the orchid house.
Around half past eight Felix came and asked if he could have a minute to discuss the problem of shipping langoustes from France by air. It developed that what he really wanted was Wolfe's approval of frozen langoustes, and of course he didn't get it. But he was stubborn, and they were still at it when Pierre ushered Sarah Dacos in. She was right on time. As I took her coat she accepted my offer of coffee, so I put her in a chair at the table and waited until Felix had gone to tell Wolfe her name.
He sizes a man up, but not a woman, because of his conviction that any opinion formed of any woman is sure to be wrong. He looked at Sarah Dacos, of course, since he was to talk to her. He told her that he supposed Mrs Bruner had told her of her conversation with me.
She wasn't as chipper as she had been in her office; the hazel eyes weren't so lively. Mrs Bruner had said that she had just talked; perhaps, sent to tell Nero Wolfe about it, she was feeling that she had just talked too much. She said yes, Mrs Bruner had told her.
Wolfe blinked at her. The light there wasn't like the office, and besides, his eyes had had a hard day. 'My interest is centered on Morris Althaus,' he said. 'Did you know him well?'
She shook her head. 'Not really, no.'
'You lived under the same roof.'
'Well… that doesn't mean anything in New York, you know that. I moved there about a year ago, and when we met in the hall one day we realized we had met before-at Mrs Bruner's office, the day he was there with that man, Odell. After that we had dinner together sometimes-maybe twice a month.'
'It didn't progress to intimacy.'
'No. No matter how you define 'intimacy.' We weren't intimate.'
'Then that's settled and we can get to the point. The evening of Friday, November twentieth. Did you dine with Mr Althaus that evening?'
'No.'
'But you were out?'
'Yes, I went to a lecture at the New School.'
'Alone?'
She smiled. 'You're like Mr Goodwin, you want to prove you're a detective. Yes, I was alone. The lecture was on photography. I'm interested in photography.'
'What time did you get back to your apartment?'
'A little before eleven o'clock. About ten minutes to eleven. I was going to listen to the eleven-o'clock news.'
'And then? Be as precise as possible.'
'There isn't much to be precise about. I went in and went upstairs-it's one flight-and into my apartment. I took my coat off and got a drink of water, and I was starting to undress when I heard footsteps out on the stairs. It sounded as if they were trying to be quiet, and I was curious. There are only four floors, and the woman on the top floor was away-she had gone to Florida. I went to the window and opened it enough to put my head out, and three men came out and turned left, and they turned at the corner, walking fast.' She gestured. 'That was all.'
'Did they, one or more of them, hear you open the window and look up?'
'No. I had the window open before they came out.'
'Did they speak?'
'No.'
'Did you recognize them? Any of them?'
'No. Of course not.'
'Not necessarily 'of course.' But you didn't.'
'No.'
'Could you identify them?'
'No. I didn't see their faces.'
'Did you notice any peculiarities-size, manner of walking?'
'Well… no.'
