He stood at the foot of the seven steps. 'For what?' he demanded.
'May I ask,' Lament Otis asked, 'what this is for?'
'You may. An inspector named Cramer is in danger of losing an eye and that would be a shame. I'll appre- ciate it if you'll answer a simple question: were you asked to come here by either Mr. Wolfe or me?'
'Certainly not.'
'Was your coming entirely your own idea?'
'Yes. But I don't-'
'Excuse me. You heard him, Wylie? Include it in your report. It will save wear and tear on Cramer's nerves. Much obliged for-'
'Who is he?' the dick demanded.
I ignored it. Backing up, I invited them in, and when I shut the door I put the bolt on. Otis let me take his hat and coat, but Ann Paige kept hers. The house was cooling off for the night. In the office, sitting, she unfas- tened the coat but kept it over her shoulders. I went to the thermostat on the wall and pushed it up to 70, and then went to my desk and buzzed Wolfe's room on the house phone. I should have gone up to get him, since he might balk at seeing company until he had dealt with the pimple on his brain, but I had had enough for one day of leaving visitors alone in the office, and one of these had a bum pump.
Wolfe's growl came, 'Yes?'
'Mr. Lament Otis is here. With an associate, Miss Ann Paige, also a member of the bar. He thinks you will agree that his coming at this hour is justified by the circumstances.'
Silence. Nothing for some five seconds, then the click of his hanging up. You feel foolish holding a dead re- ceiver to your ear, so I cradled it but didn't swivel to face the company. It was even money whether he was coming or not, and I put my eyes on my wrist watch. If he didn't come in five minutes I would go up after him. I turned and told Otis, 'You won't mind a short wait.'
He nodded. 'It was in this room?'
'Yes. She was there.' I pointed to a spot a few inches in front of Ann Paige's feet. Otis was in the red leather chair near the end of Wolfe's desk. 'There was a rug but they took it to the laboratory. Of course they-I'm sorry, Miss Paige. I shouldn't have pointed.' She had pushed her chair back and shut her eyes.
She swallowed, and opened the eyes. They looked black in that light but could have been dark violet. 'You're Archie Goodwin,' she said.
'Right.'
'You were-you found her.'
'Right.'
'Had she been… Was there any…'
'She had been hit on the back of her head with a paperweight, a chunk of jade, and then strangled with a necktie that happened to be here on a desk. There was no sign of a struggle. The blow knocked her out, and probably she-'
My voice had kept me from hearing Wolfe's steps on the stairs. He entered, stopped to tilt his head an eighth of an inch to Ann Paige, again to Otis, went to his chair behind his desk, sat, and aimed his eyes at Otis.
'You are Mr. Lament Otis?'
'I am.'
'I owe you an apology. A weak word; there should be a better one. A valued and trusted employee of yours has died by violence under my roof. She was valued and trusted?'
'Yes.'
'I deeply regret it. If you came to reproach me, proceed.'
'I didn't come to reproach you.' The lines of Otis's face were furrows in the better light. 'I came to find out what happened. The police and the District Attorney's office have told me how she was killed, but not why she was here. I think they know but are reserving it. I think I have a right to know. Bertha Aaron had been in my confidence for years, and I believe I was in hers, and I knew nothing of any trouble she might be in that would lead her to come to you. Why was she here?'
Wolfe, rubbing his nose with a fingertip, regarded him. 'How old are you, Mr. Otis?'
Ann Paige made a noise. The veteran lawyer, who had probably objected to ten thousand questions as irrelevant, said merely, 'I'm seventy-five. Why?'
'I do not intend to have another death in my office to apologize for, this time induced by me. Miss Aaron told Mr. Goodwin that the reason she did not go to you with her problem was that she feared the effect on you. Her words, Archie?'
I supplied them.' 'He has a bad heart and it might kill him.''
Otis snorted. 'Bosh! My heart has given me a little trouble and I've had to slow down, but it would take more than a problem to kill me. I've been dealing with problems all my life, some pretty tough ones.'
'She exaggerated it,' Ann Paige said. 'I mean Miss Aaron. I mean she was so devoted to Mr. Otis that she had an exaggerated idea about his heart condition.'
'Why did you come here with him?' Wolfe de- manded.
