'I don't believe it,' Mrs. Oliver said. 'It's a trick.'
Wolfe nodded. 'I concocted a trick, that's true, but it's a fact that the box was empty. That's what you have
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a right to know, three of you. It's an understatement to say that you would like to know where the former contents are, but I have no idea and neither has Mr. Goodwin, and I'm sure Mrs. Hazen hasn't. The obvious conjecture is that Mr. Hazen transferred them to some other place which he preferred. If I could offer-'
'She has them,' Mrs. Oliver said harshly. 'Lucy Hazen. I suppose you don't know it or you wouldn't have had us come ready to pay. She took them after she killed him and now we'll have her. She'll be in prison but we'll have her the rest of our lives.'
'I don't believe it,' Anne Talbot said. She hadn't spoken since the box had been opened. 'Lucy wouldn't do that. But this is even worse than it was… Now we don't know… and I tried so hard…'
'I don't believe the box was empty,' Khoury told Wolfe. 'I think you're lying.'
'I don't,' Perdis said. 'Why would he? There's six hundred and five thousand dollars here ready for him.' His eyes went to Wolfe. 'But this Cramer-that's In- spector Cramer? You said he has to know about what you call our peculiar relations with Hazen. Why does
he?'
The doorbell rang. I was on post and could have let Fritz take it, but they were all in their chairs, so I opened the door to the hall and stepped through. I expected to see Cramer alone, since there hadn't been time for him to get Lucy from the jug, but she was there with him on the stoop, and at her elbow was Sergeant Purley Stebbins. He must have had her brought to 20th Street when Wolfe made his first phone call. And as I dropped the gun in my pocket and moved, the door to the front room opened and Theodore Weed darted out and to the front door. He couldn't possibly have heard through the soundproofed wall and door, so either he had been looking out a window or his feeling for her included some kind of a personal electronic receiver.
Seeing no reason to spoil his fun, I let him open the door. Cramer shot him a glance as he entered. Lucy crossed the threshold, saw him, and stopped. She
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stared, and he stared back. He lifted a hand and let it drop. Stebbins, back of her, growled, 'On in, Mrs. Ha- zen.' She looked at me, and back at Weed, and I said, 'Everything's under control, Mrs. Hazen,' and Weed backed up a step. I thought, and still think, that he had intended to warn her that Wolfe and I were a pair of Judases, but the mere sight of her paralyzed him. He stood and stared while Cramer and Stebbins got their coats off and I took hers and put it on a hanger. When we headed for the office he followed us, and there was no point in herding him back to the front room. Either Wolfe had the cards or he hadn't.
Three steps in, Cramer stopped to send his eyes around. I didn't envy him any. The four people there weren't a bunch of bums, anything but; they had posi- tion and connections and lawyers if necessary, and much wampum. And here he was, in the office of a private detective, with a woman charged with murder. Of course he had a good reason: he suspected he might have stubbed his toe. I hadn't been present when Wolfe had made his previous phone call, but presumably he had said that he expected soon to be ready to offer a substitute for Mrs. Hazen, and Cramer knew Wolfe only too well.
But naturally he didn't care to give that reason to that audience. He faced them. 'I'm here because Wolfe told me that you four people would be here and I wanted to know what he had to say to you. I brought Mrs. Hazen because from something Wolfe said I got the idea that it would be in the interest of justice for her to be here. I want to make it plain that as an officer of the law I don't rely on any private detective to do my job for me, and what's more no private detective is going to interfere.'
He went to the red leather chair and sat. Stebbins took Lucy to the extra chair, next to Perdis, and stood behind her. That way they had their murderer sur- rounded, with Cramer in front of her only three paces off. Weed went to a chair over by the big globe. As I circled around to get to my desk Wolfe spoke.
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'Mr. Stebbins. Mrs. Hazen is your prisoner, and of course it's your duty to guard her. But I doubt if she intends any outbreak. If you wish to stand by the mur- derer of Mr. Hazen I suggest that you move to Mr. Khoury.'
Silence. Not a sound. For the record, for how people react, four of them-Cramer, Lucy, Mrs. Oliver, and Anne Talbot-kept their eyes at Wolfe. Perdis and Sergeant Stebbins moved theirs to Khoury. Weed, over by the globe, got up, took a step, and stopped. Khoury's head tilted back, slowly, until his eyes were forced on Wolfe past the tip of his long thin nose. 'That's my name,' he said. 'I'm the only Khoury here.'
'You are indeed.' Wolfe's head turned. 'Mr. Cramer. As I said, I am prepared to offer a substitute for your consideration, but that's all. Not only have I no conclu- sive evidence, I have none at all. I have only some suggestive facts. First, Mr. Hazen was a blackmailer. He extorted large sums, not only from these four peo- ple, but also from others, using his public-relations business as a cover. He had in his possession-'
'You can't prove that,' Mrs. Oliver blurted.
'But I can,' he told her. 'Item, you have in your bag a check for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. For what? Account for it. I advise you, madam, to hold your tongue. I would prefer to tell Mr. Cramer only what I must to support my suggestion, and I'll go beyond that only if you force me to. You shouldn't have challenged me. Now that you have, were the amounts that you paid Mr. Hazen, ostensibly for professional services, actu- ally paid under coercion?'
She looked down at the bag in her lap, looked up again, and said, 'Yes.'
'Then don't interrupt me.' Wolfe returned to Cramer. 'Mr. Hazen had in his possession various ob- jects, I don't know what, to substantiate his demands. Last evening I told these four people that I had secured these objects and that I would surrender them for one million dollars, giving them twenty-four hours to meet my terms. They are here. Three of them-'
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'The objects are here?' Cramer demanded.
