must be quite a thing, he remarked, not growling. “That ad in the paper. The plants gone. Fritz and Theodore gone. Vukcic listing the house for sale. I'm going to miss it, I am, never dropping in to see him sitting there thinking he's smarter than God and all His angels. Quite a thing, it must be. What is it?
I said slowly and wearily, “Either I don't know what it is, or I do know but-
“What about the sausage that turned into tear gas? Any connection?
I am always ready for Inspector Cramer, in the light of experience guided by intelligence, and therefore didn't bat an eye. I merely cocked my head a little, met his gaze, and considered the matter until I was satisfied. “I doubt if it was Fritz, I stated. “Mr Wolfe has him too well trained. But in the excitement
Sunday morning, Mr Wolfe being gone, Fritz told Theodore, and you got it out of
Theodore. I nodded. “That must be it.
“Did the tear gas scare him out of his skin? Or out of his house, which is the same thing. Was that it?
“It might have, mightn't it? A coward like him?
“No. Cramer put the cigar between his teeth, tilted up. “No, there are plenty of things about Wolfe I can and do object to, but he's not a coward. There might have been something about that tear gas that would have scared anybody. Was there?
“As far as I know, it was just plain tear gas, nothing fancy. I decided to shove a little. “You know, it's nice to have you here any time, just for company, but aren't you spreading out some? Your job is homicide, and the tear gas didn't even make us sick, let alone kill us. Also your job is in the County of New York, and Mrs Rackham died in Westchester. I enjoy talking with you, but have you got credentials?
He made a noise that could have been a chuckle. “That's more like it, he said, not sarcastically. “You're beginning to sound natural. I'll tell you. I'm here at the request of Ben Dykes, who would give all his teeth and one ear to clear up the Rackham case ahead of the state boys. He thinks that Archer, the D.A., may have swallowed the idea that you and Leeds are lying too deep, and he came to me as an expert on Nero Wolfe, which God knows I am. He laid it all out for me and wanted my opinion.
He shifted the cigar to a new angle. “The way it looked to me, there were three possibilities. First, the one that Archer has sold himself on, that you and
Leeds are lying, and that what Mrs Rackham really told Wolfe when she came here, together with her getting murdered the next day, somehow put Wolfe on a spot that was too hot for him, and he scooted, after fixing with you to cover as well as you could. I told Dykes I would rule that out, for various reasons-chiefly because neither you nor Wolfe would risk that much on a set-up that depended on a stranger like Leeds sticking to a lie. Shall I analyse it more?
“No, thanks, that'll do.
“I thought so. Next, the possibility that when you phoned Wolfe right after the body was found you told him something that gave him a line on the murderer, but it's tricky and he had to go outdoors to get his evidence, preparing to grandstand it for the front page.I told Dykes I would rule that out too. Wolfe is quite capable of a play like that, sure he is, but if that's all it amounted to, why move the plants out and put Fritz to work in a restaurant and list the house for sale? He's colourful, but not that colourful. Mrs Rackham only paid him ten thousand, about what I make a year. Why should he spend it having his orchids carted around?
Cramer shook his head. “Not for my money. That leaves the third possibility: that something really did scare him. That there was something about Mrs Rackham's murder, or anyhow connected with it, that he knew he couldn't handle sitting there in that chair, but for some reason he had to handle it. So he scooted. As you say, you either don't know where he is or you know and won't tell-and that's no help either way. Now I've got a lot to say about this possibility. You got time to listen?
“I've got all day but Fritz isn't here to get our lunch.
“We'll go without. He clasped his hands behind his head and shifted his centre of gravity. “You know, Archie, sometimes I'm not as far behind as you think I am.
“Also sometimes I don't think you're as far behind as you think I do.
That's possible. Anyhow, I can add. I think he got word direct from Arnold Zeck.
Did he?
“Huh? Who's Arnold Zeck? Did you just make it up?
I knew that was a mistake the instant it was out of my mouth. Then I had to try to keep it from showing on my face, the realisation that I had fumbled it, but whether that was a success or not-and I couldn't very well look in a mirror to find out-it was too late.
Cramer looked pleased. “So you've been around all these years, a working detective, meeting the people you do, and you've never heard of Arnold Zeck.
Either I've got to believe that, or I touched a tender spot.
“Sure I've heard of him. It just didn't click for a second.
“Oh, for God's sake. It's affecting you already, having Wolfe gone. That wasn't just a shot in the dark. One day two years ago I sat here in this chair. Wolfe sat there. He nodded at Wolfe's chair. “You were where you are now. A man named
Orchard had been murdered, and so had a woman named Poole. In the course of our long talk Wolfe explained in detail how an ingenious and ruthless man could operate a blackmail scheme, good for at least a million a year, without sticking his neck out. Not only could; it was being done. Wolfe refused to name him, and since he wasn't behind the murders it was out of my territory, but a thing or two I heard and a couple of things that happened gave me a pretty clear idea.
Not only me-it was whispered around: Arnold Zeck. You may perhaps remember it.
“I remember the Orchard case, certainly, I conceded. “I didn't hear the whispering.
“I did. You may also remember that a year later, last summer, Wolfe's plant rooms got shot up from
