there, discussing the case, until 6:35. So even if you erase Edey and Jett and take Heydecker, what have you got? Goodwin says he left her here, alive, at 5:39. They say Heydecker joined the conference at 5:45. That gives him six minutes after tailing her here to phone this number, come and be admitted by her, kill her, and get back to that office more than a mile away. Phooey. And one of them couldn't have come and killed her after the conference. On that I don't have to take what Goodwin says; he phoned in and reported it at 6:31, and the conference lasted to 6:35. How do you like it?'
Wolfe was scowling at him. 'Not at all. What was Heydecker's errand?'
'He went to three theaters to buy tickets. You might think a man with his income would get them through an agency, but he's close. We've checked that. He is. They don't remember him at the theaters.'
'Did neither Edey nor Jett leave the office at all between 4:30 and 5:30?'
'Not known. They say they didn't, and no one says they did, but it's open. What difference does it make, since even Heydecker is out?'
'Not much. And of course the assumption that one of them hired a thug to kill her isn't tenable.'
'Certainly not. Here in your office with your necktie? Nuts. You can take your pick of three assumptions. One.' Cramer stuck a finger up. 'They're lying. That conference didn't start at 5:30 and/or Heydecker didn't join them at 5:45. Two,' Another finger. 'When Bertha Aaron said 'member of the firm' she merely meant one of the lawyers associated with the firm. There are nineteen of them. IfGoodwin's statement is accurate I doubt it. Three.' Another finger. 'Goodwin's statement is phony. She didn't say 'member of the firm.' God knows what she did say. It may be all phony. I admit that can never be proved, since she's dead, and no matter what the facts turn out to be when we get them he will still claim that's what she said. Take your pick.'
Wolfe grunted. 'I reject the last. Granting that Mr. Goodwin is capable of so monstrous a hoax, I would have to be a party to it, since he reported to me on his conversation with Miss Aaron before she died-or while she died. I also reject the second. As you know, I talked with Mr. Otis last night. He was positive that she would not have used that phrase, 'member of the firm,' in any but its literal sense.'
'Look, Wolfe.' Cramer uncrossed his legs and put his feet flat. 'You admit you want the glory of getting him before we do.'
'Not the glory. The satisfaction.'
'Okay. I understand that. I can imagine how you felt when you saw her lying there with your necktie around her throat. I know how fast your mind works when it has to. It would take you two seconds to realize that Goodwin's report of what she had told him could never be checked. You wanted the satisfaction of getting him. It would take you maybe five minutes to think it over and tell Goodwin how to fake his report so we would spend a couple of days chasing around getting nowhere. With your goddamn ego that would seem to you per-
fectly all right. You wouldn't be obstructing justice; you would be bringing a murderer to justice. Remembering the stunts I have seen you pull, do you deny you would be capable of that?'
'No. Given sufficient impulse, no. But I didn't. Let me settle this. I am convinced that when Mr. Goodwin came to the plant rooms and told me what Miss Aaron had said to him he reported fully and accurately, and the statement he signed corresponds in every respect with what he told me. So if you came, armed with warrants, to challenge it, you're wasting your time and mine. Archie, get Mr. Parker.'
Since the number of Nathaniel Parker, the lawyer, was one of those I knew best and I didn't have to consult the book, I swiveled and dialed. When I had him Wolfe got on his phone.
'Mr. Parker? Good afternoon. Mr. Cramer is here waving warrants at Mr. Goodwin and me… No. Material witnesses. He may or may not serve them. Please have your secretary ring my number every ten minutes. If Fritz tells you that we have gone with Mr. Cramer you will know what to do… Yes, of course. Thank you.'
As he hung up Cramer left his chair, spoke to Steb- bins, got his coat from the chair arm, and tramped out, with Purley at his heels. I stepped to the hall to see that both of them were outside when the door shut. When I returned, Wolfe was leaning back with his eyes closed, his fists on his chair arms, and his mouth working. When he does that with his lips, pushing them out and pulling them in, out and in, he is not to be interrupted, so I crossed to my desk and sat. That can last anywhere from two minutes to half an hour.
That time it wasn't much more than two minutes. He opened his eyes, straightened up, and growled, 'Did he omit the fourth assumption deliberately? Has it oc- curred to him?'
'I doubt it. He was concentrating on us. But it soon will.'
'It has occurred to you?'
'Sure. From that time-table it's obvious. When it does occur to him he'll probably mess it up. It's not the kind he's good at.'
He nodded. 'We must forestall him. Can you get her here?'
'I can try. I supposed that was what you were work- ing at. I can make a stab at it on the phone, and if that doesn't work we can invent another card trick. When do you want her? Now?'
'No. I must have time to contrive a plan. What time is it?' He would have had to twist his neck to look up at the wall clock.
'Ten after three.'
'Say six o'clock. We must also have the others, in- cluding Mr. Otis.'
Though the Churchill number wasn't as familiar to me as Parker's I knew it, and got at the phone and dialed. I asked for Mrs. Morton Sorell, and after a wait had a voice I had heard before.
'Mrs. Sorell's apartment. Who is it, please?'
'This is Archie Goodwin, Mrs. Sorell. I'm calling from Nero Wolfe's office. A police inspector was here for a talk with Mr. Wolfe and just left. Before that three men you know were here-Edey and Heydecker and Jett. There have been some very interesting developments, and Mr. Wolfe would like to discuss them with you before
