when they arrived, but you didn't believe them. At least you doubted them. I don't know why; you know them; I don't. And you suspected or feared that I had not only learned that they were there but had also secured evidence that they, one of them, had killed him. Talk sense.'
'You still haven't told me why you were investigating a homicide.'
'Isn't that obvious? Because I had learned that your men had been there.'
'How did you learn that?'
Wolfe shook his head. 'That's reserved.'
'Have you been in touch with Inspector Cramer?'
'No. I haven't seen or spoken with him for months.'
'Or the District Attorney's office?'
'No.'
'Are you going to continue the investigation?'
A corner of Wolfe's mouth went up. 'You know, Mr Wragg, I am both able and willing to relieve your mind, but first I must be assured that I have done my job. Have you accepted my offer? Do you assure me that from six o'clock this afternoon there will be no surveillance of any kind by your bureau of Mrs Bruner or anyone connected with her?'
'Yes. That's settled.'
'Satisfactory. Now I ask you to make another engagement. I want you to return here, when requested by me, and bring the bullet which one of your men picked up on the floor of Morris Althaus's apartment.'
It probably wasn't easy to faze Richard Wragg. You don't get to be the top G-man at the most important spot, next to Washington, if you faze easy. But that got him. His mouth came open. It took him only two seconds to close it, but he had been fazed.
'Now you're not talking sense,' he said.
'But I am. If you'll bring me that bullet when I ask for it, it is next to certain-I am tempted to say certain-that I can establish that Althaus was not killed by one of your men.'
'God, you're raw.' Wragg's mouth wasn't open now. His eyes were narrowed to slits. 'If I had such a bullet I might bring it just to call you.'
'Oh, you have it.' Wolfe was patient. 'What happened that night in Althaus's apartment? A person I'll call X-I could give a better name, for now X will do-shot him with his own gun. The bullet went through him to the wall and fell to the floor. X departed, taking the gun. Soon your three men arrived, entering just as they entered this house last night. Shall I go into detail?'
'Yes.'
'Here they didn't ring the bell because it was known, so they thought, that the house was empty. It had been under surveillance for a week. They rang Althaus's bell, and probably his telephone, but he didn't answer because he was dead. After they had searched the apartment and got what they had come for, it occurred to them that you would suspect that one of them had killed him, and as evidence that they hadn't they took the bullet, which was there on the floor. That violated a law of the State of New York, but they had already violated one, why not another? They took it and gave it to you with their report.'
He flipped a hand. 'Possibly their bringing the bullet, instead of convincing you of their innocence, had the opposite effect, but I won't speculate about your mental processes, why you didn't believe them. As I said, you know your men. But of course you still have the bullet, and I'm going to want it.'
Wragg's eyes had stayed narrow. 'Listen, Wolfe. You trapped us once, damn you. You trapped us good. But not again. If I had that bullet I wouldn't be sap enough to give it to you.'
'You will be a sap if you don't.' Wolfe made a face. There are a few slang words he likes and uses, but 'sap' isn't one of them, and he had uttered it. He straightened his face. 'I concern myself with this because I have an obligation-to the person from whom I learned that your men were there that night-and I don't like obligations. Exposing the murderer will cancel that debt and, incidentally, relieve your mind. Wouldn't you like it to be established that Althaus was not killed by one of your men? Bring me that bullet, and it will be. I make another offer: bring me that bullet, and if your men are not cleared within a month by disclosure of the murderer I'll give you those credentials. It shouldn't take a month, probably not even a week.'
Wragg's eyes were open. 'You'll return the credentials?'
'Yes.'
'You say 'disclosure.' Disclosed to whom?'
'To you. Disclosed sufficiently to convince you that your men are innocent-of murder, that is.'
'You make an offer. What guarantee would I have?'
'My word.'
'How good is your word?'
'Better than yours. Much better, if that book is to be believed. No man alive can say that I have ever dishonored my word.'
Wragg ignored the dig. 'When would you want the bullet-if I had it?'
'I don't know. Possibly later today. Or tomorrow. I would want to receive it from your hands.'
'If I had it.' Wragg stood up. 'I have some thinking to do. I'm promising nothing. I'll-'
