“What if she phones Amy Wynn and learns that you haven’t been told to make a settlement?”
“That’s why you’re going after her instead of phoning. She probably won’t; but if she does you’ll say that I am not making the offer on behalf of Miss Wynn. I am making it on behalf of my client, the committee. I would prefer not to have that said unless it’s necessary.”
“Okay.” I got up. “Would it help if I had some idea of what you
“No. It only occurred to me as I was coming down in the elevator. It should have occurred to me long ago. I am beginning to suspect that my mind is going. It should have occurred to you. A screw to use on that woman has been staring us in the face for a full week, and neither of us had the wit to see it. Now that I’ve told you it’s there, of course you will.”
But I didn’t. I had plenty of time to try to, going to the garage to get the car, and then a ninety- minute drive, but I simply couldn’t see it. You probably have, and if not you will now if you spend three minutes looking for it, and of course you‘ll think I’m as dumb as they come, but you’ve had it all in one package while with me it had been dragging along for two weeks and a lot of things had been on my mind, including three murders. Anyhow, dumb or not, I didn’t hit on it until just as I was turning off of Route 301 onto the blacktop. Then, suddenly seeing it, I braked the car, steered it onto the grass shoulder, stopped, and sat looking it over. No wonder Wolfe had suspected his mind was going. It was perfectly obvious. I fed gas, eased back onto the road, and went on. We had her.
But I had to get her first. If X had got there ahead of me and stuck a knife in her, I would reverse my stand on boiled cucumbers; I would eat nothing
I had seen her before I stopped the car. She was a couple of hundred yards off to the left, standing by a stone fence. The bicoloured mutt was there beside her, wagging his tail, and on the other side of the fence was the upper half of a man. Her raised voice came across the meadow. I got out and headed for them, and as I approached I could hear her words: “… and you can tell the sheriff I don’t need any protection and don’t want any! You get out of here and stay out! I’m not in any danger, and if I am I can handle it! I told that state trooper this morning that I don’t want-”
The man’s eyes left her to come to me, and she whirled around. “You here again?” she demanded.
I stopped at the fence and addressed the man on the other side. “Trespassing and loitering,” I said sternly. “Also disturbing the peace. A peeping Tom can get up to three years. Beat it.”
“You too,” Alice Porter said. “Both of you beat it.”
“I’m an officer of the law,” the man said, raising a hand to exhibit a medal. “Deputy Sheriff Putnam County.”
Everyone glared at everyone. “Tell Sergeant Stebbins,” I instructed the man, “that Archie Goodwin was here. It will please him.” I turned to her. “When I saw you ten days ago you said you wouldn’t talk, not a word, and evidently you haven’t changed your mind. But you also said you’d listen if I had come to make an offer. Okay, I have one.”
“What kind of an offer?”
“It’s just for you. I doubt if the deputy sheriff would be interested.”
When she looked straight at you her eyes seemed even closer together, and her little nose almost wasn’t there. “All right,” she said, I’ll listen.” She told the man, “You clear out of here and stay out.” She turned and headed for the house.
It was a procession across the meadow. First her, then the dog, then me; and what made it a procession was the deputy sheriff, who climbed the wall and tagged along behind, ten paces back of me. She didn’t look back until she reached the door of the house; then she saw him. He had stopped at my car and opened the door on the other side, the driver’s side. “That’s all right,” I told her, “let him inspect it. He needs something to do.” When she opened the door the dog trotted in, and I followed.
It was a bigger room than you would expect from the outside, and wasn’t bad at all. She said, “Sit down if you want to,” and went and deposited her 160 pounds on a long wicker bench. I pulled a chair around. “What kind of an offer?” she asked.
I sat, “I haven’t actually got it, Miss Porter. Nero Wolfe has it. If you’ll come with me to his house in New York he’ll tell you about it. It’s an offer to settle your claim against Amy Wynn.”
“An offer from her?”
“I don’t know all the details, but I think so.”
“Then you think wrong.”
“I often do. That’s just the impression I got. It could be that Mr Wolfe wants to make an offer on behalf of his client, the Joint Committee on Plagiarism of the National Association of Authors and Dramatists and the Book Publishers of America. But I think it’s from Amy Wynn.”
“You’re not very good at thinking. You’d better stop trying. I’m not going to New York to see Nero Wolfe. If he really has an offer and you don’t know what it is, call him on the phone and ask him. There’s the phone. Reverse the charges.”
She meant it. I had crossed my legs. Now I uncrossed them. Since the method Wolfe had suggested wouldn’t work, I would have to roll my own. “Look, Miss Porter. I drove all the way up here instead of phoning because I thought your line might be tapped. Why has that deptuy sheriff been hiding behind that stone fence all day? Why is another one in a car hiding behind some bushes near the road a mile from here? Why did a state cop come to see you this morning? Who started all the fuss? I can tell you. A man named Purley Stebbins of the New York police. He’s a sergeant on the Manhattan West Homicide Squad. He’s investigating three murders that have taken place in the past two weeks that you have probably heard about. That man out there said he’s here to
