garage antechamber, was gone forever. After a glance at the cylinder I dropped the Grisson in my side pocket and as I did so lifted my head to the audience. As if they had all been on one circuit, the six pairs of eyes left me and went to Wolfe.
“I don't like this, Archer said in a tight voice. “I am here officially, and I don't like it. I want to speak to you privately.
Wolfe shook his head. “It's much better this way, Mr Archer, believe me. We're not in your county, and you're free to leave if it gets too much for you, but-
“I don't want to leave. I want a talk with you. If you knew, that night, who had killed Mrs Rackham, I intend to-
“It is, Wolfe said cuttingly, “of no importance what you intend. You have had five months to implement your intentions, and where are you? I admit that up to three days ago I had one big advantage over you, but not since then-not since I told you of the package I got with a cylinder of tear gas in it, and of the phone call from Mr Zeck. That brought you even with me. It was after noon on a
Friday that Mrs Rackham left here after hiring me. It was the next morning,
Saturday, that I received that package and the phone call from Zeck. How had he learned about it? Apparently he even knew the amount of the cheque she had given me. How? From whom?
I was not really itching to shoot anybody. So I got up and unobtrusively moved around back of them, to the rear of the chair that was occupied by Calvin Leeds.
Wolfe was proceeding.
“It was not inconceivable that Mrs Rackham had told someone else about it, her daughter-in-law or her secretary, or even her husband, but it was most unlikely, in view of her insistence on secrecy. She said she had confided in no one except her cousin, Calvin Leeds. Wolfe's head jerked right and he snapped, “That's correct, Mr Leeds?
Being back of Leeds, I couldn't see his face, but there was no difficulty about hearing him, since he spoke much too loud.
“Certainly, he said. “Up to then-before she came to see you-certainly.
“Good, Wolfe said approvingly. “You're already drawing up your lines of defence. You'll need them.
“What you're doing, Leeds said, still too loud, “if I understand you-you're intimating that I told Zeck about my cousin's coming here and hiring you. You're intimating that in front of witnesses.
“That's right, Wolfe agreed. “But it's not vital to me; I mention it chiefly to explain why I suspected you of duplicity, and of being involved in some way with
Arnold Zeck even before Mr Goodwin left here that day to go up there. It draws attention to you, no doubt of that; but it is not primary evidence that you murdered your cousin. The proof that it was you who killed her was given to me on the phone that night by Mr Goodwin.
There were stirrings and little noises. Leeds ignored them.
“So, he said, not so loud now, “you're actually accusing me before witnesses of murdering my cousin?
“I'm accusing you of that, yes, sir, but also I'm accusing you of something much worse than that. Wolfe spat it at him. “I'm accusing you of deliberately and ruthlessly, to protect yourself from the consequences of your murder of your cousin for the money you would inherit from her, thrusting that knife into the belly of a dog that loved you and trusted you!
Leeds started up, but hadn't got far when my hands were on his shoulders, and with plenty of pressure. He let down. I moved my hands to the back of his chair.
Wolfe's voice was cold and cutting. “No one could have done that but you, Mr
Leeds. In the woods at night, that trained dog would not have gone far from its mistress. Someone else might possibly have killed the dog first and then her, but it wasn't done that way, because the knife was left in the dog. And if someone else, permitted to get close to her, had succeeded in killing her with a sudden savage thrust and then defended himself against the dog's attack, it is not believable that he could have stopped so ferocious a beast by burying the knife in its side without himself getting a single tooth mark on him. You know those dogs; you wouldn't believe it; neither will I.
“No, Mr Leeds, it could have been only you. When Mr Goodwin went on to your house and you stayed out at the kennels, you joined your cousin on her walk in the woods. I doubt if the dog would have permitted even you to stab her to death in its presence; I don't know; but you didn't have to. You sent the dog away momentarily, and, when the knife had done its work on your cousin, you withdrew it, stood there in the dark with the knife in your hand, and called the dog to come. It came, and despite the smell of fresh blood, it behaved itself because it loved and trusted you. You could have spared it; you could have taken it home with you; but no. That would have put you in danger. It had to die for you, and by your hand.
Wolfe took a breath. “To this point I know I am right; now conjecture enters.
You stabbed the dog, of course, burying the blade in its belly, but did you leave the knife there intentionally, to prevent a gush of blood on you, or did the animal convulsively leap from you at the feel of the prick, jerking the knife from your grasp? However that may be, all you could do was make for home, losing no time, for you must show yourself to Mr Goodwin as soon as possible. So you did that. You said good night and went to bed. I don't think you slept; you may even have heard the dog's whimpering outside the door, after it had dragged itself there; but maybe not, since it was beneath Mr Goodwin's window, not yours. You pretended sleep, of course, when he came for you.
Leeds was keeping his head up, but I could see his hands gripping his legs just above the knees.
“You used that dog, Wolfe went on, his voice as icy as Arnold Zeck's had ever been, “even after it died. You were remorseless to your dead friend. To impress
Mr Goodwin, you were overcome with emotion at the thought that, though you had given the dog to your cousin two years ago, it had come to your doorstep to die.
