The Father Hunt

of it ourselves. We got those fingerprints late last evening and delivered them to you early this morning, and we have made no use of them and don't intend to. I have no other information that you might be able to use, in my judgment.'

'To hell with your judgment. If you think you can decide-'

'If you please. You told me to talk. As I told you, my client was, and is, a young woman who hired me to find her father. We found one likely prospect but investigation

conclusively eliminated him. We found another, but he too was eliminated. I was inclined to return the retainer and withdraw, and persisted only because I am what I call tenacious and Mr. Goodwin calls pigheaded. Do you recognize the name Raymond Thome?'

'Raymond Thome? No.'

'Doubtless some of your staff would. Elinor Denovo spent most of her adult life working for him. Raymond Thome Productions. Television. He came at my request last Thursday evening and answered questions for more than four hours, and one of the many things I learned was that a man named Floyd Vance had tried several times last May to see Elinor Denovo, and she had refused to see him. His last attempt to see her was on the twenty-second of May, only four days before she died. If you had questioned the receptionist at Raymond Thome Productions with sufficient perseverance you might have solved that case long ago. We made long and laborious inquiries about Floyd Vance and discovered that he had known Elinor Denovo in nineteen forty-four, when she was Car-lotta Vaughn, and had seen her frequently for several months. It was possible that he was the father I was trying to find, and we tackled him. He is a self-styled public-relations counselor-one of the various modem activities that are an insult to the dignity of man. Mr. Goodwin got him here last evening. Preparations had been made. His attempts to see Elinor Denovo shortly before her death prompted the surmise that he had killed her, and, knowing that you had fingerprints, Mr. Goodwin and Mr. Panzer made proper arrangements. That was forturfate, but not for me, for you. Without that you would probably never have found him. And here you come-'

'I'm supposed to pin a medal on you?'

'I don't like medals. The fingerprints didn't help me any. He denied that he had fathered a child by Carlotta Vaughn. He could have been lying, certainly, but I was helpless. And am. Even if he is the man I'm looking for there is no conceivable way to establish it. Can you suggest one?'

'I handle homicides, not paternity suits.'

'So you do. Now, with those fingerprints, you can handle this one. You said you want to know why he killed

lifer. So do I. I haven't the slightest notion. I have told you everything I know about him. I have seen him only once, here last evening, and I asked him no questions pertaining to Elinor Denovo's death. I asked him nothing about his attempts to see her in May. Now, of course, you will, because you need a motive, and it's possible that you will uncover one that will have a bearing on my problem. If you do, and if you can share it with me without hazard to your case, I'll try to erase from memory this morning's outrageous performance. It won't be easy -especially the sight of that creature at Mr. Goodwin's desk, deranging his and my belongings, while you stood and applauded.'

'I did not applaud. Your usual exaggeration.'

'You permitted.'

'Oh, skip it. A cop gets habits like everybody else. He was looking for information, not evidence. Even if he had found Goodwin's signed confession that he had killed Elinor Denovo it wouldn't have been admissible evidence; ask the Supreme Court.' Cramer looked at his watch and then at me. 'How long has he been gone?'

'Maybe fifteen minutes,' I told him. 'When you get up don't put your hand on the right chair arm. It has four Floyd Vance prints on it.'

'Thanks for telling me.' He put both palms on the right chair arm and twisted around as he got to his feet. He faced Wolfe. 'I want to be there when he brings him in. I admit you sound good, but you nearly always do sound good. I'm buying nothing, at least not until I see this Floyd Vance. If it goes one way you may hear from me, and if it goes another way you will hear from me. Have I ever thanked you for anything?'

'No.'

'And I'm not thanking you now. Not yet.' He turned and went. I stayed put.

Wolfe opened his desk drawer to take another look, and I attacked the mess Stebbins had made. Vandalism. There was no danger that he had taken anything important because no classified items were ever left in an unlocked drawer, and after getting things in order and back where they belonged I decided that he had taken nothing, except possibly a few of my calling cards. That suggested

the question, if it's illegal for a private detective to impersonate a cop why isn't it illegal for a cop to impersonate a private detective? I would ask Wolfe. He had shut the drawer and was leaning back, looking thoughtful but not concentrated. When I turned to him he nodded and said, 'Phalaenopsis Aphrodite sanderiana.'

I said, 'If this is a quiz: rose, brown, purple, and yellow.'

'We'll send some to that Dorothy Sebor, and I'll go up and get them now. I intended to bring them down but those intruders came. Also I brought none for my desk.' He pushed his chair back.

'Instructions?'

'No. There is nothing you can do.'

'Saul is standing by. So are Fred and Orrie.'

'Release them. There is nothing. Our next step is obvious, but it must wait until Mr. Cramer learns