'Every time I come here,' Hattie said, 'there you stand. What good does it do to open the door if you fill it up?'
I stood aside and she entered. She took off the gray woolen gloves and stuck them in her coat pocket, and unbuttoned her coat, and I certainly would have been
196 Rex Stout
no good if I hadn't helped her off with the coat, so I did, and put it on a hanger. By the time I had it on the rack she was at the office door, entering, and by the time I got to the office she was in the red leather chair and Wolfe was glowering at her.
'About that lawyer,' she said. 'I'm not going to pay him too, and I told him so. When I told Buster I could pay forty-two thousand dollars that includes every- thing.'
Wolfe looked at me. I nodded. 'All right. I told you I was under a spell. I scaled it down.'
He looked at her. 'Very well, madam, I'll pay the lawyer. You came to tell me that?'
'I told you before not to madam me. First I want to see that counterfeit money, then I'll know I can trust you. Show it to me.'
Wolfe looked at me. I have seen him handle many a crisis, but that was too tough for him. 'Archie?' he said.
I opened my desk drawer, took out three sheets of paper, and went and handed her one of them. 'A cop named Cramer brought that,' I said. 'Signed by a judge, ordering us to give him the bills and the wrap- per. Cramer knows Mr. Wolfe and me and doesn't like us. When he handed me that he sneered.'
'I thought so. You're no good. So you-'
'Wait a minute. We had been afraid that would hap- pen. The cop was too late.' I handed her another paper. 'A man had already come with that, signed by a Fed- eral judge, and I had turned the money over to him, so the cop was out of luck. I don't say we had arranged it, but facts are facts. The cop was so sore he marched out without a word.' I handed her the third paper. 'That's the receipt the man signed.'
She hadn't even glanced at any of the documents. She handed them back. 'I wish I had been here,' she said.
'So do I, Miss Annis. You would have enjoyed it.'
'Call me Hattie.'
'With pleasure.' I returned the papers to the drawer and sat. 'Did you have a hard night?'
'Not too hard. There was a couch and I got some
The Homicide Trinity 197
naps, but the woman that stayed with me wouldn't turn the lights out, and every two hours they came back and started in again. Cops are too mean to live, and they're too dumb. They might have known I wouldn't speak to a cop.'
'Didn't you speak at all?'
'No. Didn't I say I wouldn't?'
'Not a word?'
'No. The worst part was I was hungry. They brought some stuff twice last night and again this morning, but of course I wouldn't touch it. I don't know what kind of drug they had in it, something to make me talk.'
'You haven't eaten at all?'
'Of course not.'
Wolfe grunted. 'That's ridiculous. We have a spare room that is comfortable. Mr. Goodwin will take you to it, and my chef will take you a tray. After your fast you should eat with caution. Have you a preference?'
She cocked her head. 'You bet I have, Falstaff. Let the lady enjoy herself. I know about your chef. How about some lamb kidneys bourguignonne?'
Wolfe doesn't flabbergast easy, but that did it. He stared. 'That would take time, mad-Miss Annis. At least two hours.'
'I don't mind, I'll take a nap. Is there a bathroom?'
'Certainly.'
'Then I can wash the smell of the cops off. But the other thing I want to know, what about the reward? We want that reward.'
'That's problematical. I'll keep it in mind. We have a more urgent matter to deal with. After you are refreshed-'
'What matter?'
'The job you hired me for. Investigation of the mur- der committed in your house.'
'I hired you to make the cops eat dirt, and you already have. The one named Cramer, is he a big one with a big red face and little blue eyes like a pig?'
'Pigs' eyes are not blue. Otherwise the description fits.'
