Gambit

faintness, depression, and some nausea, and those symptoms can come from a variety of causes. It was only when he complained of intense thirst, and his mouth was dry, that I considered the possibility of poison, specifically arsenic, but the clinical picture of arsenical poisoning is by no means always the same. As a precaution I sent to a nearby drugstore for mustard, tinctura ferri chloridi, and magnesium oxide, and when they came I administered mustard water, but not the tincture. That's the official arsenic antidote, and it should be used only after gastric lavage and a test of the washings. Of course there was no equipment at the club for that, and, when the symptoms became more acute, I sent for an ambulance and he was taken to a hospital. St Vincent's.' 'You continued in attendance at the hospital?' Avery nodded. 'With members of the staff. They took over, actually.' 'But you were present?' 'Yes. Until he died.' 'At what point did he know he had been poisoned?' 116 'That's hard to say.' Avery pursed his lips. 'When I went to him he thought there had been something wrong with the chocolate, naturally, since he had taken nothing else, and of course anything swallowed by a man that makes him ill is toxic, but it was only after he had been at the hospital for some time that he voiced a suspicion that he had been poisoned deliberately. You asked when he knew. He never did know, but he suspected it.' 'Did he name anyone? Accuse anyone?' 'I prefer not to say.' 'Pfui. Did he name someone only in your hearing?' 'No.' 'Did he name someone in the hearing of yourself and another?' 'Yes. Others.' 'Then the police know about it, and presumably Mr Kalmus. Why shouldn't I know?' Avery turned, slowly, to look at Sally. 'I haven't told you. Sally,' he said, 'nor your mother. But of course the police have been told?a doctor and two nurses were there and heard it. You asked me to come to see Wolfe, so I suppose you want him to know. Do you?' 'Yes,' Sally said, 'I want him to know everything.' Avery regarded her a moment, opened his mouth and closed it, turned to Wolfe, and said, 'He named Blount.' 117 'What did he say?' 'He said?these were his words: 'Where's that bastard Blount? He did this, he did it. Where is he? I want to see him. Where is the bastard?' Of course he was raving. It meant absolutely nothing. But he said it, and the police know it.' Back to Sally: 'Don't tell your mother. It wouldn't do any good, and it's hard enough for her without that.' Sally, staring at him, was shaking her head. 'Why would he...' She looked at me, and I had to say something. 'Nuts,' I said. 'He was off the rails.' Having already swallowed a full-grown camel, though it was tough keeping it down, I wasn't going to strain at a gnat. Wolfe, focused on Avery, asked, 'Did he elaborate on that?' 'No. That was all.' 'Or repeat it?' 'No.' 'Was he questioned about it? By you or another?' 'No. He was not in a condition to be questioned.5 'Then as information it has no value. To go back to the club. You said that when you went to him he thought there had been something wrong with the chocolate, and naturally you shared that suspicion. Did you make any inquiry?' 'Yes, but it was fruitless because none of the chocolate that he had taken was left. The pot 118 and cup had been taken?but you know about that. I went down to the kitchen and questioned the cook and steward and looked around some. However, I didn't do the one thing I should have done, and I regret it; I regret it deeply. I should have asked Jerin if he had put anything in the chocolate that he had brought with him. At the time that possibility didn't occur to me, since he was saying there must have been something wrong with the chocolate as it was served. It only occurred to me later, two days later, when it developed that Blount was seriously suspected of deliberate murder. If I had been fully alert to the possibilities of the situation then and there, at the club, I would have questioned Jerin insistently. I would even have searched him, his pockets. I regret it deeply.' 'Are you suggesting that he committed suicide? And then, at the point of death, accused Blount?' 'Not necessarily suicide. That's conceivable, but more likely, he put something in the chocolate which he believed to be innocuous but wasn't. It could have been some stimulant, either powder or liquid, or it could even have been some special form of sugar he fancied. And either by mistake or through the malign purpose of some other person, arsenic in one of its many forms had been substituted for the harmless substance. Of course it would have had to be in some kind of container, and I went 119 to the club to search and inquire, but two days had passed and the police had already made a thorough inspection. The library had been put in order by the steward Tuesday night and the wastebasket emptied. I have been told by the police that there was no container on Jerin's person, but they don't really know, since he was undressed soon after his arrival at the hospital.' Wolfe grunted. 'So all you have is a conjecture that can't be supported.' 'I'm not so sure, and I'm sorry you say that.' Avery was leaning forward. 'Your attitude is the same as Kalmus's when I made the suggestion to him. Kalmus is an able lawyer, a brilliant lawyer, but naturally his approach to any problem is the legal approach. You're right, my idea is no good if it can't be supported, but that's just the point, perhaps it can be supported, and that's why I wanted to tell you about it, because it's a job for a detective, not a lawyer. I won't try to tell you the dozen different ways it might be supported because that's your profession, not mine. But I'll say this, if I were a detective trying to get evidence that would clear Blount of the murder he has been charged with, which he didn't commit, or at least raise a strong enough doubt, I certainly wouldn't ignore this as a conjecture that can't be supported. I don't want to be importunate, but you realize I'm deeply concerned.' 120 'Naturally.' Wolfe was patient. 'I concede that your suggestion is worth considering. It has the great merit that if it can be established it will clear not only Blount but also the others who had access to the chocolate?the four messengers. I said more of them later. A detective must consider them too. You have advanced a suggestion; now I offer one. One of those four men killed Jerin, not because of any malice toward him, but to destroy Blount. The malice was for Blount. That's why I asked how well you know them. If it can be shown?' 'Good lord.' Avery was gawking. 'That's tommyrot. You're not serious?' 'Why not? My suggestion is as worthy of consideration as yours and can be more easily investigated. Why is it tommyrot?' 'Why...' Avery turned his palms up. 'Perhaps I should have said... implausible. To kill a man like that, deliberately, a man who means nothing to you, in an attempt to injure another man... I may be naive for a man of my age and experience, but such depravity ... it's hard for me to believe. I can't deny that it's conceivable.' 'Then it's not tommyrot. But apparently it would be futile to ask if you have any knowledge or suspicion that would single out one of them.' 'It certainly would.' He was emphatic. 'Even if I had any I wouldn't?' He stopped abruptly, looked at Sally, and returned to Wolfe. 'No, 121 that isn't true. If I had any such knowledge or suspicion I'd tell you. Have you any?' Wolfe shook his head. 'If I have I'm reserving it. I have spoken with three of them? Hausman, Farrow, and Yerkes?and I expect to see Kalmus tomorrow. They all profess belief in Blount's innocence, which is gratifying but not helpful. I not only profess it, I am committed to it; and whether through your suggestion or mine, or by some device not yet conceived, I intend to demonstrate it.' Hooray. CHAPTER NINE Daniel Kalmus, counselor at law, arrived a little after noon Wednesday. It was a good thing he didn't put it off until after lunch, as some extra fine lamb kidneys, skewered to keep them open, doused in olive oil seasoned with salt, pepper, thyme, dry mustard, and mace, broiled five-and-three?five minutes on the skin side and three minutes on the cut side? and brushed twice with deviled butter, would have been practically wasted. I have said that Wolfe refuses to let anything whatever spoil a meal if the food is good, but that day, if there had been no reaction whatever, not even a phone call, to Sally's ultimatum to Kalmus, the kidneys would of course have been chewed and 122 swallowed, but they wouldn't have been appreciated. They might as well have been served to Voltaire. That was the first and only time Wolfe has given me instructions and then canceled them, without anything having happened to change his mind. While Sally and I were having breakfast, fresh-baked croissants and eggs poached in red wine and bouillon, he buzzed me on the house phone from his room and told me to call Saul Panzer, Fred Durkin, and Orrie Gather?the three good men he had mentioned to Yerkes?and ask them to come at six o'clock. That improved my appetite for breakfast. I hadn't the dimmest notion what he was going to have them do, but it couldn't be just to ask their opinion of Dr Avery's suggestion, since together they came to twentyfive bucks an hour. Then only ten minutes later he buzzed me again and told me to skip it. Absolutely unheard of. If there's one thing he never does it's toss and turn. A hell of a way to start a day. When he came down to the office at eleven o'clock and saw the client there, in a chair over by the filing cabinet, with the Times, he paused on the way to his desk to scowl at her for a couple of seconds, acknowledged her good morning with a curt nod, switched the scowl to me, went and put orchids in the vase, sat, removed the paperweight, a chunk of petrified wood, from the little pile of morning mail, and 123 picked up the first item, a letter from the president of a women's club in Montclair asking if and when about a hundred of the members could come and look at the orchids. I had considered withholding it and answering it myself, in view of his current acute feeling about club members, but had decided that if I could take it he could. He looked through the mail, put the paperweight back on it, and looked at me. 'Any phone calls?' He never asked that, knowing as he did that if there had been a call which he would want or need to know about I would report it without being asked. So I said, 'Yes, sir. Lon Cohen wants to send a man to interview Miss Blount.' 'Why did you tell him she's here?' 'I didn't. You know damn well I didn't. She went for a walk and some journalist probably saw her and tailed her. We can get Saul and Fred and Orrie and have them find out.' 'Archie. I am in no mood for raillery.' 'Neither am I.' His eyes went to his client. 'Miss Blount. When Mr Kalmus comes you will of course retire before he enters.' 'I'd rather stay,' she said. 'I want to.' 'No. Mr Goodwin will tell you later what was said. You will please withdraw.' She shook her head. 'I'm going to stay.' Not arguing, just stating a fact. If he had