Miss Duday took a sip of her bourbon and water, which was half gone. When she swallowed, a ripple ran down her scrawny neck. There was no sign of lipstick on her. 'I think I'll take a chance on the danger,' she said in her clear, pleasant voice, 'though I doubt if I'll need half an hour. I don't suppose you know, Mr. Wolfe, that in my case the motive was much less weighty than with the others. It is true that I'll get a large block of stock, as they will, but they can outvote me and push me out if they feel like it. Whereas if Priscilla had lived I would soon have been the active head of the corporation, in complete control. That seems pertinent?'
Wolfe nodded. 'Mr. Goodwin told me of your comment to him, and Mrs. Jaffee was told by Miss Eads that she intended to make you president. Did you know that Mrs. Fomos was to be a director?'
'Yes. That was because Priscilla wanted all the directors to be women, and we wanted five. She and I and Sarah Jaffee would be three, and a Miss Drescher, a superintendent at the factory, a fourth, and we wanted another, and Margaret had been with Priscilla a long time and was very devoted to her, and we thought it could do no harm and would be a nice gesture.'
'That was the only reason?'
'Yes. I will say that I was not enthusiastic about it. Important matters, trade secrets and plans for future operations, are discussed at directors' meetings, and if Margaret attended them naturally she would hear everything. Priscilla trusted her completely, and I had no reason to doubt her, but I wanted to know more about her relations with her husband. Women who are reliably discreet in all other respects will blab anything and everything to their husbands. That was why I went to Margaret's home one evening last week, to meet her husband and talk with both of them and see how they were together. There was nothing secret-'
'No!' Andy was loose again. He came tearing over, declaiming en route. I met him. He decided to come right on through me, and I had either to dive to keep from being trampled or dispose of him, and, choosing the latter, I overestimated his momentum and weight. The result was that my arm twist and hip lift not only repulsed him, they tumbled him and sent him rolling. By the time he got up and started for me I had a chair between us and was displaying the silencer in my hand.
'Hold it, Junior,' I told him. 'I don't want to bust a knuckle on you, but I think it's time for your nap. Sit down and stay sat, or else.' Keeping a corner of an eye on him, I asked Wolfe, 'Do you want to let him recite?'
'Not now. We'll see later. Go on, Miss Duday.'
She waited for Fomos to return to his chair, then resumed. 'My call on Margaret Fomos and my talk with her had no significance whatever other than what I have said. I was talking about motive. Should I deal further with that?'
'Whatever you think might help.'
'It will be difficult without giving a false impression, but I'll try. I don't want to give the impression that I think it probable that one of my business associates is a murderer, but facts are facts. Although Priscilla was not fond of me personally, she had great confidence in my intelligence and ability. Also she thought that women should have more positions of power in all fields. And in addition, when she decided some eighteen months ago to take an interest in the affairs of Softdown and learn the ropes, she resented it that the men-and especially the four men present here-treated her with what she regarded as servility but did not conceal-'
Two of them made noises. She halted. Wolfe darted a glance at them. They subsided.
'But did not conceal their doubt of her ability to understand the mysterious process of making and selling towels. If I shared their doubt at all I had brains enough not to show it, and Priscilla appreciated that. More and more she came to me, and only to me, for her lessons and experience. The result was that I had reason to expect great personal advantage from her approaching assumption of ownership and active control. As for what these men had to expect, they can tell you that.'
She twisted her lips, considering. 'I might add this. In nineteen forty-one when Mr. Eads was alive and I was assistant to the president, my salary was forty thousand dollars. Last year, nineteen fifty-one, with Mr. Helmar in control as trustee, it was eighteen thousand. Priscilla told me that my beginning salary as president would be fifty thousand. Mr. Brucker's is sixty-five.'
Wolfe grunted, a little peevishly I thought, possibly at the news that a mere towel merchant was making half as much as him. He asked, 'Did these gentlemen know that Miss Eads intended to put you in charge?'
'I'd rather let them answer that. Except-if they say no, may I speak to it?'
'Yes. Go on, Miss Duday.'
'Well-as for opportunity, I understand that the theory is that the same person killed both of them, and that Margaret Fomos was killed after half-past ten, and Priscilla was killed before two o'clock. During those three and a half hours I-'
'If you please,' Wolfe cut in. 'We won't spend time on that.'
'No?' Her brows went up.
'No. If one of you has an invulnerable alibi and it has been checked by the police, he can afford to tell me to go to the devil and will surely do so. Moreover, an alibi would convince me of nothing. Consider the crimes. Mrs. Fomos was waylaid on a street at night, dragged or propelled into a vestibule, strangled, and her bag taken. In the bag were keys. Using one of them, the murderer gained access to the apartment of Miss Eads, lay in ambush, and upon her entry struck her and strangled her. Looking at you, Miss Duday, I would think it highly doubtful that you committed those crimes as described, but there is no reason why you shouldn't have contrived them. What would you have to pay? Ten thousand? Twenty? No, I'll leave your alibi or lack of one to the police.'
He frowned at her. 'As you see, we're severely circumscribed. Motive requires no scrutiny; it blares and brandishes. Means is no problem-a piece of cord two feet long. Opportunity offers no path to a conclusion, since the murders may well have been vicarious, with enough at stake to make them worth planning and paying for. How can I harass you or devise a trap? The best I can do is induce you to talk, and hope for something. How are Mr. Helmar and Mr. Brucker getting along with Miss O'Neil?'
That started a minor commotion. Brucker, who had been letting himself sprawl some, jerked up straight. Pitkin emitted a sound that seemed to be the start of a giggle, but he stopped it. Helmar's jaw fell and then closed and clamped.
Miss Duday kept her composure. 'I really don't know,' she said. 'Of course this has changed the
