'You will inherit?'
Her eyes flashed. 'Mr. Wolfe, this is ridiculous! I don't want anything from him!'
'I am merely examining your position. You will in- herit?'
'Yes. He told me I would.'
'Didn't he know you despised him?'
'He was incapable of believing that anyone could despise him. I suppose he was a psychopath. I looked up psychopathy in the dictionary.'
'No doubt that was a help.' He looked up at the wall clock. 'I presume you will now go home. Since you must tell the police that you were here you might as well say that you learned of your husband's death from my radio; it will save you the bother of feigning surprise and shock.' He eyed her. 'I said you would be in a pickle, and you are. When I asked what you wanted of me, I shall say that you consulted me in confidence and I will reveal nothing of your conversation. It will be a little ticklish, but until and unless you are arrested on a charge of murder the pressure will not be intolerable. So you may tell them as much about your visit here, or as little, as you please.'
She opened her bag. 'I'm going to write a check. You must take it. You must!'
'No. You may not be in jeopardy. They may get the murderer today or tomorrow. If they do I may send you a bill for the extra hour; it will depend on my mood. If they don't, and you wish to engage my services, and Mr. Goodwin's guess has not been discredited, we'll see.' He pushed his chair back and stood up.
She rose to her feet, steady this time, and I went and held her coat for her.
Chapter 3
When I returned to the office after letting her out, Wolfe had straightened up in his chair to lean forward, and, with his head cocked, was sniffing the air. For a second I thought he was pretend- ing that our ex-client had polluted the atmosphere with perfume, but then I realized that he was merely trying to catch an odor from the kitchen, where Fritz was baking scallops in shells-or probably, since I could catch the odor without sniffing, he was deciding whether Fritz had used only shallots in the sauce or had added an onion. By the time I got to my chair he had settled it; anyway, he turned to me.
'I do not intend,' he stated, 'to serve the conve- nience of a murderer. What about her face? I was at one side.'
'One will get you fifty,' I said. 'You heard her stut- ter that I was m-m-making it up. Then when I said no, he had been shot dead and it hit her as a fact, she went white, all white, in three seconds. Maybe she can wiggle her ears, but she can't do that. No one can.'
'Very well. Call Mr. Cohen and get details.'
'Anything in particular?'
'Whatever he has, but I want to know if the weapon has been found, or a bullet.'
'He would appreciate a major scoop, such as that the widow of the deceased visited the office of Nero Wolfe this morning. Why not, since she's going to report it?'
'Very well.'
I got at the phone and dialed the number of the Gazette, and soon had Lon Cohen. When I tossed him the bone about Mrs. Hazen coming to see Wolfe, natu- rally he wanted the whole skeleton, not to mention meat, but I told him that would be all for now and how about some reciprocity? He obliged, and gave me the crop, and I thanked him and hung up and turned to Wolfe.
'The body was found by a truck driver at ten- eighteen a.m. It was stiff, so he must have been dead at least five hours and probably more. He was fully dressed, including an overcoat, and his hat was there on the ground. The usual items in his pockets, including a couple of dollars in change, except that there were no keys, and no wallet and no watch. Of course they could have been taken by someone who found him earlier and forgot to mention it. His name was on letters in his pocket, so the wallet wasn't taken to delay identifica- tion. Shot once, in the back, and a rib stopped the bullet and they have it. A thirty-two. Weapon not found. If the police have any leads or notions they're saving them, but of course it was found less than three hours ago.' I glanced at my wrist. 'Two hours and forty-nine min- utes. Lon says he would have paid me five grand if I had kept Mrs. Hazen here until he could send a man to take her picture and ask her who shot her husband, and I told him I'll bear that in mind next time.'
'They have the bullet?'
'Right.'
'When will a policeman come?' 'It will probably be Cramer in person. You know how he'll react when he leams she was here. Say two hours, possibly sooner.'
'Will she report what she told me?'
'No.'
A comer of his mouth twitched. 'That's why I put up with you; you could have answered with fifty words and you did it with one.'
'I've often wondered. Now tell me why I put up with
you.'
