'Yes, sir?'
He took a leather fold from a pocket, flipped it open, and offered it. I took it, Treasury Department of the United States. Secret Service Division. Albert Leach. In the picture he had no hat on, but it was probably him. I handed it back.
'My name is Albert Leach,' he said.
'Check,' I said.
'I'd like to speak with Mr. Wolfe and Mr. Goodwin.'
'Mr. Wolfe isn't available. I'm Goodwin.'
'May I come in?'
It was a little ticklish. Of course I had smelled a rat the second I saw his credentials. The walls and doors on that floor were all soundproofed, but with Wolfe and Hattie in there together there was no telling, and I didn't want him inside. But it had started to snow and the stoop had no roof, and I certainly wanted to know what was on his mind.
I have him room and he stepped in. 'I'm sorry,' I said, 'but Mr. Wolfe is busy and I'm helping him with something, so if you'll tell me-'
'Certainly.' He had removed his hat. His hair was going, but it would be a couple of years before he could be called bald. 'I want to ask about a woman named Baxter. Tamiris Baxter or Tammy Baxter. Is she here?'
'No. Around twenty-five? Five feet four, light brown hair, hazel eyes, hundred and twenty pounds, fur coat and fuzzy turban?'
He nodded. 'That fits her.'
'She was here this morning. She came at twenty minutes past ten, uninvited and unexpected, and left at ten-thirty.'
'Has she been back?'
154 Rex Stout
'No.'
'Has she phoned?'
'No.'
'Another woman named Annis, Hattie Annis. Has she been here?'
I cocked my head. 'You know, Mr. Leach, I don't mind being polite, but what the hell. Mr. Wolfe is a licensed private detective and so am I, and we don't answer miscellaneous questions just to pass the time. I've heard of Hattie Annis because Miss Baxter asked if she had been here, and I told her no. She asked me to phone her if she came, but I probably won't. What if this Hattie Annis comes and hires Mr. Wolfe to do a job? She might not want anyone to know she had been here. So skip it.'
'I'm an officer of the law, Goodwin. I'm an agent of the United States government.'
'So you are. And?'
'I want to know if Hattie Annis has been here today.'
'Ask her. Miss Baxter gave me the phone number. Do you want it?'
'I have it.' He put his hat on. 'I know your reputa- tion, Goodwin, and Wolfe's. You may get away with fancy tricks with the New York Police Department, but I advise you not to try any with the Secret Service.' He turned and went, leaving the door open.
I shut the door and then went to the office. I got the best glass from a drawer of Wolfe's desk and a new twenty-dollar bill from the safe, and proceeded to the front room. Wolfe was still standing, scowling down at her, and she was talking. She broke off as I entered and turned to me. 'You're just in time, Buster. He's trying to tell me there may be no reward, and I never heard of-what are you doing?'
I had picked up the stack of bills and was going to a window. Putting the one on top side by side with the one I had taken from the safe, one minute with the glass settled it. I took the one from the bottom of the stack, and one from the middle, and used the glass on them.
The Homicide Trinity 155
The same. I stuck the good one in my pocket and crossed to them.
'There'll probably be an award,' I told her. 'Official. They're phonies. Counterfeit.'
Chapter 2
I told a friend of mine about this incident one day a few weeks later, and when I got this far I asked her to guess what Hattie's reaction had been. 'That's easy,' my friend said. 'She accused you of taking good bills from the package and substituting bad ones. You should have known she would.' My friend couldn't have been more wrong, but I admit it was my fault. I hadn't drawn Hattie true to life. What Hattie actually said was, 'Of course they're counterfeit. Why would he hide real money in my parlor? And why would I bring it to Nero Wolfe?'
