think they've got an idea that I may have it in me to work up to an executive job-now that Nero Wolfe is gone. And they figure I must know that Christy plays with Brownie Costigan, and that Costigan is close to the top, so why not mention Zeck to me to make it glamorous? Anyhow, Roeder did. He said that what they wanted was a tail on you. They wanted it good and tight. They offered extra good pay. I was to use as many men as necessary. I took the job, got the men, and we started a week ago yesterday. Christy comes to my office every day for the reports. You know what's been in them; you know where you've been and what you've done.
Rackham was still frowning. That's all there is to it?
“That's the job as I took it and as I've handled it.
“You weren't told why?
“In a way I was. I gathered that they think you might be a bad influence on the
District Attorney, and they want to be sure you don't start associating with him. If you do they would probably make a complaint. I suppose you know what their idea is of making a complaint.
The frown was going. “You say you gathered that?
“I didn't put it right. I was told that in so many words.
“By Roeder?
“Yes.
The frown was gone. “If this is straight, Goodwin, I've made a good buy.
“It's straight all right, but don't trust me. I warned you. Those are the facts, but you can have a guess without any additional charge if you want it.
“A guess about what?
“About them and you. This guess is why I'm here. This guess is why I went into that bar so you would see me, and followed you out like a half-wit to give you a chance to flag me.
“Oh. So you staged this.
“Certainly. I wanted to tell you about this guess, and if you were in a mood to buy something first, why not?
He looked aloof. “Let's have the guess.
“Well- I considered. “It really is a guess, but with a background. Do you want the background first?
“No, the guess.
“Right. That Zeck is getting set to frame you for the murder of your wife.
I think Rackham would have thrown another glass if he had happened to have it in his hand, possibly at me this time. His blood moved fast. The colour came up in his neck and face, and he sort of swelled all over; then his jaw clamped.
“Go on, he mumbled.
“That's all the guess amounts to. Do you want the background?
He didn't answer. I went on. “It won't cost you a cent. Take the way I was approached. If it's a plain tailing job with no frills, why all the folderol?
Why couldn't Christy just put it to me? And why pay me double the market of the highest-priced agencies? Item. If Zeck has his friends at White Plains, which is far from incredible, and if the current furore is upsetting their stomachs, there's nothing they would appreciate more than having their toughest unsolved murder case wrapped up for them. Item. Hiring me is purely defensive, and Zeck and his staff don't function that way, especially not when the enemy is a former colleague and they've got a grudge.
I shook my head. “I can't see it with that background. But listen to this.
Roeder came up to my office and stayed an hour, and do you know what he spent most of it doing? Asking me questions about the evening of April eighth! What has that got to do with my handling a tailing job? Nothing! Why should they be interested in April eighth at all? I think they brought me this job, at double pay, just to start a conversation with me and soften me up. It has already been hinted that Zeck might like to meet me. I think that to frame you for murder they've got to have first-hand dope from someone who was there, and I'm elected.
I think they're probably sizing me up, to decide whether I'm qualified to be asked to remember something that happened that night which has slipped my mind up to now, at a nice juicy price.
I turned my palms up. “It's just a guess.
He still had nothing to say. His blood had apparently eased up a little. He was staring at my face, but I doubted if he was seeing it.
“If you care to know why I wanted you to hear it, I went on, “you can have that too. I have my weak spots, and one of them is my professional pride. It got a hard blow when Nero Wolfe scooted instead of staying to fight it out, with your wife's cheque for ten grand deposited barely in time to get through before she was croaked. If the ten grand is returned to her estate, who gets it? You. And it could be that you killed her. I prefer to leave it where it is and earn it.
Among other things, she was killed while I was there, and I helped find the body. That's a fine goddam mess for a good detective, and I was thinking I was one.
He found his tongue. “I didn't kill her. I swear to you, Goodwin, I didn't kill her.
“Oh, skip it. Whether you did or didn't, not only do I not want to help frame you, I don't want anyone to frame anybody, not on this one. I've got a personal interest in it. I intend to earn that ten grand, and I don't want Zeck to bitch it up by getting you burned, even if you're the right one, on a fix. Therefore I wanted you to know about this. As I told you, I haven't got it spelled out, it's only a guess with background, and I admit it may be
