136 Rex Stout
proceeds of his genius, and immediately after talking with you on the phone today I put a man on it.'
Wolfe fumed to Cramer. 'The man was Saul Panzer. You know his capacities. He phoned me about an hour ago, just before I called you, and what he reported was the basis for my statement to Mrs. Hazen, that Khoury killed her father. I don't tell you what he reported because you will get it from him, and also because I don't want Mr. Khoury to know what has been uncov- ered, and neither do you. As I said, I am only offering a suggestion, but I trust it is cogent enough to persuade you to restrict Mr. Khoury's movements, and to put some men to work. He may have taken Hazen's keys on the chance that they might be useful, and he may still have them, though not on his person. Find them. Ran- sack his premises. He may even still have the object or objects he certainly took; find them. If you see his wife before he is allowed to communicate with her you may leam something about Gun P.' He flipped a hand. 'But this is superfluous; you know your job. If I have-'
Khoury had moved. No rush, he wasn't a bit dis- turbed, but he was on his feet. 'Really,' he said, 'there's a limit.' His straight line to the door was in front of Mrs. Oliver and Perdis and Lucy, but it would have been bad manners to cross their bows, so he started around. On past Mrs. Oliver, and Perdis, and Lucy, with Stebbins at her shoulder, before Cramer spoke. 'Stop him, Purley.' Khoury whirled, saying through his teeth, 'Don't touch me.'
'Nuts,' Purley said, and began going over him for a gun. Gun X, maybe. Anyway, Khoury couldn't have made it to the hall because Theodore Weed was there filling the door.
Chapter 10
I'll have to leave it with two loose ends. First, the object or objects pertaining to Anne Talbot, Mrs. Oliver, Perdis, and presumably other assorted Hazen clients. They have never turned up. At least, the cops never found them. If one of the clients did, he didn't announce it. So if the hints Hazen scat- tered around at the dinner party aroused your curios- ity, I can't satisfy it.
Second, the fee that Wolfe had certainly earned. Lucy refused to take any of Hazen's leavings; she wouldn't even take the house. That was noble, and even decent, considering how he had got it, but private de- tectives have to eat. Unquestionably Nero Wolfe has to eat. There's a chance that she'll get a chunk of Khoury's pile eventually, on account of the evidence Cramer dug up that Khoury had stolen a couple of Titus Postel's inventions, but Khoury, who is now in the death house while his lawyers hop around from court to court, has admitted nothing, and neither has his wife. So if you're curious as to how much Wolfe collected for his thirty- six hours' work I can't satisfy you on that either.
As for a third point you might be curious about, whether Lucy and Theodore Weed have found out how they feel about each other, you may have one guess. If you need more than one, what do you suppose makes the world go around?
COUNTERFEIT FOR MURDER
Chapter 1
My rule is, never be rude to anyone unless you mean it. But when I looked through the one- way glass panel of the front door and saw her out on the stoop, my basic feelings about the opposite sex were hurt. Granting that women can't stay young and beautiful forever, that the years are bound to show, at least they don't have to let their gray hair straggle over their ears or wear a coat with a button missing or forget to wash their face, and this specimen was guilty on all three counts. So, as she put a finger to the button and the bell rang, I opened the door and told her, 'I don't want any, thanks. Try next door.' I admit it was rude.
'I would have once, Buster,' she said. 'Thirty years ago I was a real treat.'
That didn't help matters any. I have conceded that the years are bound to show.
'I want to see Nero Wolfe,' she said. 'Do I walk right through you?'
'There are difficulties,' I told her. 'One, I'm bigger than you are. Two, Mr. Wolfe can be seen only by
appointment. Three, he won't be available until eleven o'clock, more than an hour from now.' 'All right, I'll come in and wait. I'm half froze. Are
you nailed down?' A notion struck me. Wolfe believes, or claims he does,
that any time I talk him into seeing a female would-be client he knows exactly what to expect if and when he sees her, and this would show him how wrong he was. 'Your name, please?' I asked her. 'My name's Annis. Hattie Annis.' 'What do you want to see Mr. Wolfe about?' 'I'll tell him when I see him. If my tongue's not
froze.'
'You'll have to tell me, Mrs. Annis. My name-'
