'What would I think? That's what I want!'
'Surely not,' Wolfe objected. 'Surely you would be employing a jackass. I have never seen you before. Your name may be Perry Helmar, or it may be Eric Hagh; I have only your word for it. All that you have told me may be true, or none of it. I would like Mr. Goodwin to call on you at your office, and I would like him to visit your ward's apartment and talk with her maid. I am capable of boldness, but not of temerity. If you want the kind of detective who will dive in heedlessly on request from a stranger, Mr. Goodwin will give you some names and addresses.'
Helmar was fairly stubborn and had objections and suggestions. For his identity and bona fides we could phone Richard A. Williamson. For visiting his ward's apartment and talking with her maid, tonight would do as well as tomorrow. But according to Wolfe I couldn't possibly be spared until morning because we were jointly considering an important problem, and the sooner Helmar left and let us do our considering, the better. Finally he went. He returned the photographs to the briefcase before tucking it under his arm, and in the hall he let me get his hat from the rack and open the door for him.
I went back to the office but didn't get inside. As I was stepping over the sill Wolfe barked at me, 'Bring her down here!'
I stopped. 'Okay. But do I brief her?'
'No. Bring her here.'
I hesitated, deciding how to put it. 'She's mine, you know. My taking her up and locking her in was a gag, strictly mine. You would have tossed her out if I had consulted you. You have told me to refund her dough and get rid of her. She is mine. With the dope that Helmar has kindly furnished, you will probably be much too tough for her. I reserve the right, if and when I see fit, to go up and get her luggage and take her to the door and let her out.'
He chuckled audibly. He doesn't do that often, and after all the years I've been with him I haven't got the chuckle tagged. It could have been anything from a gloat to an admission that I had the handle. I stood eying him for three seconds, giving him a chance to translate if he wanted it, but apparently he didn't, so I turned and strode to the stairs, mounted the two flights, inserted the key in the hole, turned it, and knocked, calling my name. Her voice told me to come in, and I opened the door and entered.
She was right at home. One of the beds had been turned down, and its coverlet, neatly folded, was on the other bed. Seated at a table near a window, under a reading lamp, doing something to her nails, she was in the blue negligee and barefooted. She looked smaller than she had in the peach-colored dress, and younger.
'I had given you up,' she said, not complaining. 'In another ten minutes I'll be in bed.'
'I doubt it. You'll have to get dressed. Mr. Wolfe wants you down in the office.'
'Now?'
'Now.'
'Why can't he come up here?'
I looked at her. In that getup, to me she was a treat; to Wolfe, in his own house, she would have been an impudence. 'Because there's no chair on this floor big enough for him. I'll wait outside.'
I went to the hall, pulling the door to. I was not prancing or preening. True, it was I who had hooked onto something that had turned out to be worth ten grand to us, but I saw no acceptable way of cashing it in, and I had no idea what line Wolfe was going to take. I had stated my position, and he had chuckled.
It didn't take her long to dress, which scored another point for her. When she emerged, back in the peach color, she came to me, asking, 'Is he very mad?'
I told her nothing alarming. The stairs are wide enough for two abreast, and we descended side by side, her fingers on my arm. That struck me as right and appropriate. I had told Wolfe that she was mine, thereby assuming a duty as well as claiming a privilege.
I may have stuck out my chest some as we entered the office together, though it was involuntary.
She marched across to his desk, extended a hand, and told him cordially, 'You look exactly right! Just as I thought! I would-'
She broke it off because she was getting a deep freeze. He had moved no muscle, and the expression on his face, while not belligerent, was certainly not cordial. She drew back.
He spoke. 'I don't shake hands with you because you might later think it an imposition. We'll see. Sit down, Miss Eads.'
She did all right, I thought. It's not a comfortable spot, having an offered hand refused, whatever the explanation may be. After drawing back, she flushed, opened her mouth and closed it, glanced at me and back at Wolfe, and, apparently deciding that restraint was called for, moved toward the red leather chair. But short of it she suddenly jerked around and demanded, 'What did you call me?'
'Your name. Eads.'
Flabbergasted, she stared. She transferred the stare to me. 'How?' she asked, 'Why didn't you tell me? But how?'
'Look,' I appealed to her, 'you had a jolt coming, and what did it matter whether from him or me? Sit down and take it.'
'But you couldn't possibly…' It trailed off. She moved and sat. Her remarkable eyes went to Wolfe. 'Not that it makes much difference. I suppose I'll have to pay you more, but I was willing to anyhow. I told Mr. Goodwin so.'
Wolfe nodded. 'And he told you that he was taking the money you gave him tentatively, conditional on my approval. Archie, get it, please, and return it to her.'
I had expected that, naturally, and had decided not to make an issue of it. If and when I took a stand I wanted to be on the best ground in sight. So I arose and crossed to the safe and opened it, got the seven new fifties, went to Priscilla, and proffered them. She didn't lift a hand.
