Wolfe could be peekayed into tackling it, it would be interesting to see how he went about it. It would also be interesting to collect his share if there was anything to share.
'I'll tell you,' I said. 'I doubt very much if Mr Wolfe will touch it. He's not only eccentric, he hates to work, and he seldom takes a case on a contingent basis. But I'm willing to put it up to him. You may come inside to wait.'
'If you can get inside,' he squeaked. That tenor didn't fit his make-up at all.
'I can try,' I said, and made for the stoop, and he followed me up. The chain-lock was on, so I had to push the button. If Fritz, letting us in, was surprised to see me bringing a customer who had been turned away twice, he didn't show it. Fritz shows only what he thinks it is proper to show. I took Tedder to the front room and left him, and went to the office by way of the hall instead of the connecting door. Wolfe, at his desk, had the middle drawer open and was fingering in it. Counting caps of beer bottles to see how much he had gained on the week's quota by being away twenty-four hours. I waited to speak until he shut the drawer and looked up.
'Regards from Mandel. I didn't see the DA. They probably won't bother us again unless and until they have to decide that Jimmy Vail didn't die by accident, which they would hate to do. You have seen the Gazette?'
'Yes.'
'Any comment?'
'No.'
'Then I'm still not fired. I'm taking a leave of absence without pay. Say a month, but it may be more.'
His lips tightened. He took a deep breath. 'Are you bent on vexing me beyond endurance?'
'No, sir. I want to grab an opportunity. When I arrived just now Noel Tedder was there on the sidewalk, vexed beyond endurance because you wouldn't see him. His mother told him Wednesday that he could have the money she paid the kidnaper if he could find it and get it, and he came to offer you a one-fifth share to help him. Of course you wouldn't be interested now that you only take cases where all you have to do is put a notice in the paper, so I'm going to tell him I'll take it on myself. I took the liberty of putting him in the front room. I thought I ought to tell you first. Of course it's long odds, but if I got it, the whole pile, my cut would be a hundred grand and I could quit vexing you and open my own office, maybe with Saul Panzer for a partner, and we could-'
'Shut up!'
'Yes, sir. That will be one advantage, you won't have to bellow-'
'Shut up.'
'Yes, sir.'
He regarded me, not with affection. 'So you expect to badger me into this fantastic gamble.'
'You might take a minute out to look at it. It would be satisfactory to find something that ten thousand cops and FBI men will be looking for. And each year when you top the eighty-per-cent bracket you relax. I admit it's a big if, but if you raked this in and added it to what you've already collected this year, you could relax until winter, and it's not May yet. If you missed, you would only be out expenses. As for my badgering you, we have nothing on and nothing in prospect, and if I take a month off Fritz can dust your desk and empty the wastebasket and you can open the mail.'
'That's bluster. You wouldn't.'
'The hell I wouldn't.'
He closed his eyes, probably to contemplate the rosy possibility of months and months with no work to do and no would-be customers admitted. In a minute he opened them and muttered, 'Very well, bring him in.'
CHAPTER 7
As Noel Tedder sat in the red leather chair and crossed his legs, showing blue and yellow socks beneath the striped slacks, Wolfe surveyed him. He had to adjust to the outfit. I have heard him say that men who wear conventional clothes are sheep, but I have also heard him say that men who wear unconventional clothes are popinjays. You can't win.
Tedder asked him if I had told him what he wanted, and Wolfe nodded. He spoke. 'The most unpromising enterprise I have ever been asked to undertake, if Mr Goodwin understood you and I understood him. Mrs Vail, your mother, told you that if you recovered the money she paid to ransom her husband, you could keep it; and if I help you, you will pay me one-fifth of what we recover if we're successful, and nothing if we fail. Is that it?'
'That's it. Of course I-'
'If you please. When did your mother tell you that?'
'Wednesday evening. And again this afternoon. With Jimmy gone-my stepfather-I thought I'd better ask her.'
'Wednesday evening, did she broach it or did you?'
' `Broach'?'
'Bring it up. Introduce the idea.'
'I don't remember. Does that matter?'
'It may. If you suggested it a conjecture enters. That you knew where the money was and you wanted to get it in a manner that would entitle you-don't interrupt-entitle you to keep it. You come to me for help because you can't very well just go and get it and produce it. You will give me hints, cannily of course, and guided by them Mr Goodwin, under my direction, will find the money. Even if your hints have made me smell a rat, I'll hold my nose and take my share. So who broached it, your mother or you?'
Tedder tittered. I don't want to give a false impression, especially since I have mentioned his tenor. Men do titter. 'Jesus,' he said, 'that would be pups. That would be sharp. But how would I know where it is?'
'You would know where you put it Tuesday night after you or your confederate took it from your mother on Iron Mine Road.'
