One. Two. Three.
Ye cannot see what I see:
His bloody head, his misery, his eyes
Dead but for terror and the wretched hope That this last blow, this finis, will not fall.
One. Two. Three.
Ye cannot hear what I hear:
His moan for pity, now his ^desperate breath To suck the air in through the bubbling blood. •A i • • And I hear, too, in me the happy rhythm, The happy boastful strutting of my soul.
Yes! Hear! It boasts:
One. Two. Three.
Ye should have killed me. ‹(I ask you, does that sound like business?' Cramer folded it up again.
'Did you ever see a guy that had been beaten around the head enough so that things were busted inside? Did you ever notice one? All right, get this: to suck the air in through the bubbling blood. Does that describe it? I'll say it does. The man that wrote that was looking at it, I'm telling you he was looking right at it.
That's why, as far as Andrew Hibbard is concerned, all I'm interested in is stiffs.
Chapin got Hibbard as sure as hell, and the only question is where did he put the leavings. Also, he got Dreyer, only with that one Elkus helped him.'
The inspector stopped for a couple of
Pulls at his pipe. When that had been attended to he screwed his nose up at me and demanded, 'Why, do you think it was suicide?'
'Hell no. I think Chapin killed him.
And maybe Harrison, and maybe Hibbard. I'm just waiting to see you and Nero Wolfe and the Epworth League prove it on him. Also I'm annoyed about Elkus. If you get Elkus wrong you may gum it.' | 'Uh-huh.' Cramer screwed his nose again. 'You don't like me after Elkus? I wonder if Nero Wolfe will like it. I hope not to gum it, I really do. I suppose you know Elkus has got a shadow on Paul Chapin? What's he suspicious about?'
I lifted my brows a little, and hoped that was all I did. 'No. I didn't know that.'
'The hell you didn't.'
'No. Of course you have one, and we • have…' I remembered that I never had* got hold of Del Bascom to ask him about the dick in the brown cap and pink necktie. 'I thought that runt keeping the boys company down there was one of Bascom's experts.'
'Sure you did. You didn't know I Bascom's been off the case since yesterday • morning. Try having a talk with the runt. | I did, last night, for two hours. He says he's got a goddam legal right to keep his goddam mouth shut. That's the way he talks, he's genteel. Finally I just shooed him away, and I'm going to find out who he's reporting to.' ^ 'I thought you said, Elkus.'
'That's my idea. Who else could it be?
Do you know?'
I shook my head. 'Hope to die.' r 'All right, if you do don't tell me, I j want to guess. Of course you realize that I'm not exactly a boob. If you don't, Nero Wolfe does. I arrested a man once and he turned out to be guilty, that's why I was made an inspector. I know Wolfe expects to open up this Mr. Chapin and get well paid for it, and therefore if I expected him to pass me any cards out of his hand I would be a boob. But I'll be frank with you, in the past six weeks I've made so many grabs at this cripple without getting anything that I don't like him at all and in fact I'd like to rip out his guts. Also, they're giving me such a riding that I'm beginning to get saddlesores.
I would like to know two things.
First, how far has Wolfe got? – Sure, I know he's a genius. Okay. But has he got enough of it to stop that cripple?'
I said, and I meant it, 'He's got enough to stop any guy that ever started.'
'When? I won't lose any sleep if he nicks Pratt for four grand. Can you say when, and can I help?'
I shook my head. 'No twice. But he'll | do it.'
'All right. I'll go on poking around myself.
The other thing, you might tell me this, and I swear to God you won't regret it. When Dora Chapin was here this . morning did she tell Wolfe she saw nitroglycerin tablets in her husband's pocket any time between September eleventh and September nineteenth?'
I grinned at him. 'There are two ways I I could answer that, inspector. One way would be if she had said it, in which case I would try to answer it so you couldn't tell whether she had or not. The other way is the one you're hearing: she wasn't asked about it, and she said nothing about it.
She just came here to get her throat cut.'
'Uh-huh.' Cramer got up from his chair. 'And Wolfe started working on her from behind. He would. He's the damnedest guy at getting in the back door .. well. So-long. I'll say much obliged some other day. Give Wolfe a Bronx cheer for me, and tell him that as far as I'm concerned he can have the money and the applause of the citizens in this Chapin case, and the sooner the better. I'd like to get my mind on something
