Might as Well Be Dead

shoulder. “I hope to God he’s right, Selma. It’s certainly rough on you. Anything more I can do?”

She said no and thanked him, and I went to the hall to let him out. Back in the office, Saul had moved back to a seat up front, presumably by invitation, and Wolfe was lecturing Mrs. Molloy.

“… and I’ll answer your question, but only on condition that henceforth you confide in no one. You are to tell no one anything you may learn of my surmises or plans. If I suspected Mr. Degan, as I did and do, I now have better reason to suspect other friends of yours. Do you accept the condition?”

“I’ll accept anything that will help,” she declared. “All I asked was what he was doing-the man that was killed.”

“And I want to tell you because you may be of help, but first I must be assured that you will trust no one. You will repeat nothing and reveal nothing.”

“All right. I promise.”

Regarding her, he rubbed the end of his nose with a finger tip. It was a dilemma that had confronted him many times over the years. There were very few men whose tongues he had ever been willing to rely on, and no women at all, but she might have facts he needed and he had to risk it. So he did.

“Mr. Keems left here shortly after seven o’clock last evening with specific instructions, to see the three people who were with you at the theater the evening of January third. He was to learn-What’s the matter?”

Her chin had jerked up and her lips had parted. “You might have told me that you suspect me too. I suppose you did, when you said you suspect all of my husband’s associates.”

“Nonsense. His target was not your alibi. He was to learn all the circumstances of the invitation you got to use an extra theater ticket. That was what got you away from your apartment for the evening. Whoever went there to kill your husband certainly knew you were safely out of the way; and not only that, he may have arranged for your absence. That was what Mr. Keems was after. He had the names and addresses of Mr. Irwin and Mr. and Mrs. Arkoff, and he was to report to me at once if he got any hint that the invitation to you was designed. He didn’t report, but he must have got a hint or someone thought he did; and it must have been a betraying hint, since to suppress it someone stole an automobile and killed him with it. That is not palpable, but it’s highly probable, and it’s my assumption until it’s discredited.”

“But then-” She shook her head. “I just don’t believe-Did he see them? Who did he see?”

“I don’t know. As I say, he didn’t report. We’ll find out. I want all you can tell me about that invitation. It came from Mrs. Arkoff?”

“Yes. She phoned me.”

“When?”

“At half-past seven. I told all about it on the-at the trial.”

“I know you did, but I want it first-hand. What did she say?”

“She said that she and Jerry-her husband-had asked Tom and Fanny Irwin to dinner and a show, and she and Jerry were at the restaurant, and Tom had just phoned that Fanny had a headache and couldn’t come and he would meet them in the theater lobby, and Rita-that’s Mrs. Arkoff-she asked me to come, and I said I would.”

“Did you go to the restaurant?”

“No, there wasn’t time, and I had to dress. I met them at the theater.”

“At what time?”

“Half-past eight.”

“They were there?”

“Rita and Jerry were. We waited a few minutes for Tom, and then Rita and I went on in and Jerry waited in the lobby for Tom. Rita told him to leave the ticket at the box office, but he said no, he had told him they’d meet him in the lobby. Rita and I went on in because we didn’t want to miss the curtain. It was Julie Harris in The Lark.”

“How soon did the men join you?”

“It was quite a while. Almost the end of the first act.”

“When does the first act end?”

“I don’t know. It’s rather long.”

Wolfe’s head moved. “You’ve seen that play, Archie?”

“Yes, sir. I would say a quarter to ten, maybe twenty to.”

“Have you seen it, Saul?”

“Yes, sir. Twenty to ten.”

“You know that?”

“Yes, sir. Just my habit of noticing things.”

“Don’t disparage it. The more you put in a brain, the more it will hold-if you have one. How long would it take to get from One-seventy-one East Fifty-second Street to that theater?”

“After nine o’clock?”

“Yes.”

“With luck, if you were in a hurry, eight minutes. That would be a minimum. From that up to