noble sentiment about humoring his client, especially when I was it, was pure guff. Something else was moving him, but what?
He was going on. 'However, eleven will be too early, as I'll be engaged. Shall we say twelve o'clock? Will that be convenient?'
'Yes, sir, that will suit fine. I'll come on up pretty soon and get things arranged, chairs and so on.'
'No.' He was emphatic. 'You will not. Fritz and I can manage. Your associates in the Police Department need you more than I do. Be here at twelve.' He hung up.
I cradled the phone and told my audience, 'Mr. Wolfe says okay. We're to be there at noon.'
I didn't add that I had a strong suspicion there were going to be some script revisions, not by any of us and not by any of the cast.
Chapter 16
The idea, I don't know whose, was to go in a body, after gathering at the Tenth Precinct station, and it was quite a cavalcade, with two limousines-Skinner's and Bowen's-and four PD sedans.
I was in Skinner's limousine, and at my suggestion it headed the procession. I thought I should be the first to enter, and intended, on crossing the threshold, to change over and become a host, but discovered that it had been planned differently. It was not Fritz who let us in, but Saul Panzer, and he greeted me as an arriving guest, offering to take my hat. He could kid me, and often did, but not in the presence of the Police Commissioner. Wolfe had told him to, no question about it. So I said, 'Thank you, sonny,' and handed him the hat, and he said, 'Don't mention it, officer.'
Wolfe and Fritz, with Saul's help evidently, had managed well enough. The chairs were placed exactly as they had been at the start of proceedings Thursday evening, and the portable bar was at its spot, fully equipped. There was some displacement when Purley and a dick came with the tape recorder and accessories and got it installed, but things were properly rearranged. Since I was being regarded as a guest I thought it was only polite to act like one, so I went to my desk and sat, which was where I belonged as a member of the cast. The other members likewise disposed themselves, and none of them needed any coaching. Nearest me was Viola Duday, then Oliver Pitkin, Jay Brucker, and Bernard Quest, and Perry Helmar in the red leather chair. The couch, to my right and rear as I faced Wolfe's desk, was not occupied. Sarah Jaffee had sat there Thursday. On a chair near it was Eric Hagh, and beyond him were the two lawyers, Irby and Parker. Andy Fomos was off by himself, over by the bookshelves.
Additional chairs, some of the smaller yellow ones, had been lined up along the wall on the other side of Wolfe's desk, for the audience. It seemed bad etiquette for VIPs like the Police Commissioner and the District Attorney and Inspector Cramer to be perched on those skimpy little numbers while Helmar, a mere Wall Street lawyer and murder suspect, had the red leather chair all to himself, but the occasion required it. Also in the row of audience were Assistant DA Mandelbaum, Captain Olmstead, and Purley Stebbins. The recorder was on a table at Purley's elbow.
Saul Panzer stood facing the cast, not the audience. There is nothing impressive about Saul. He is undersized, his nose and ears are too big, and his shoulders slant. With Saul a thousand wrongdoers had made the mistake of believing what they saw. He spoke. 'I believe this is the way it was Thursday evening when Mr. Wolfe entered. Does anyone disagree?'
No one did. He went on, 'I'll sit on the couch where Mrs. Jaffee was. I wasn't here, but it has been described to me, and if I do anything wrong it can be corrected. Archie, will you ring for Mr. Wolfe as you did Thursday?'
He passed between Viola Duday and me to get to the couch. I stepped to Wolfe's desk and pressed the button, one long and two short, and returned to my chair. Wolfe entered. On account of the row of audience he couldn't bear right along the wall, so he navigated through the cast to make his desk. Standing beside his chair, he took his time for a look from right to left, ending with those against the wall, the representatives of the People of the State of New York.
'You gentlemen don't look very comfortable,' he muttered.
They said they were all right. He sat. There was a tingle in my spine. I knew his look and manner as well as I did his voice, and there was no doubt about it, he was going to pull one, or try to.
He addressed the District Attorney. 'I assume, Mr. Bowen, that these people know why you have brought them here?'
Bowen nodded. 'Yes, it's been thoroughly explained to them, and they have all agreed to cooperate. Mr. Helmar, Mr. Parker, and Mr. Irby have made certain reservations about the use of the recording, and they have been covered in a memo. Do you want to see it?'
'Not if Mr. Parker has approved it. Then we may proceed?'
'Please do.'
Wolfe turned. 'Miss Duday and gentlemen. You understand that the purpose of this gathering is for us to iterate our words and movements of last Thursday evening. The first thing that happened after I entered the room was Mr. Goodwin's identification for me of Miss Duday and Messrs. Brucker, Quest, and Pitkin. Then I sat down. Then Mr. Helmar said he had a statement he would like to read, and that, I suppose, is where we should start, but before we do so I wish to make some remarks.'
A sound came from one person, not one of the cast. It was Inspector Cramer, and the sound was a cross between a growl and a snort. Cramer knew Wolfe better than anyone there except me.
Wolfe leaned back and got comfortable. 'I told you Thursday evening that my sole interest was investigation of the murder of Priscilla Eads, and that is still true, except that now the murder of Sarah Jaffee is joined to it. After you people left that evening I told Mr. Goodwin that I thought I knew who killed Miss Eads and Mrs. Fomos. That surmise, for that is all it was then, was based on two things: first, the impression I had got of you five people that evening; and second, the fact that Mrs. Fomos had been killed.
'The supposition that the attack on Mrs. Fomos was solely for the purpose of getting the keys to Miss Eads's apartment was clearly not acceptable if any alternative could be had. If that was all that was wanted it would only have been necessary to snatch her bag. A dozen women's bags are snatched every day in this city.
