“There wasn't any. It wasn't wrapped.”
“Who put it on your desk?”
“I don't know. Twenty-five or thirty people had been in and out of there before
11:30, looking at some Crenuit models I didn't want to show publicly.”
“Who do you think put it there?”
“I haven't any idea about it.”
“Who do you think might want to kill you?”
“No one would want to kill me. That's why I'm sure it was meant for someone else and was left there by mistake. Anyway, there's no more reason to suppose-”
“I'm not supposing.” Wolfe sounded disgusted. “You are certainly on solid ground when you say you're not clever. But surely you're not halfwitted. Consider what you're telling me: you found the box on your desk, you have no suspicion as to who put it there, you are convinced it was not intended for you and have no idea who it was meant for, and yet you have carefully concealed from the police the fact that you saw it there. I have never heard such nonsense; a babe in arms would laugh at you.” Wolfe sighed deeply. “I shall have to have beer. I imagine this will require all my patience. Will you have some beer?”
McNair ignored the invitation. He said quietly, “I'm a Scotsman, Mr. Wolfe. I've admitted I'm a fool. In some vital ways I'm weak. But maybe you know how stubborn a weak man can be sometimes? I can be stubborn.” He leaned forward a little and his voice got thinner. “What I've just told you about that box of candy is what I'm going to tell until I die.”
“Indeed.” Wolfe surveyed him. “So that's it. But you don't seem to realize that while nothing more formidable than my patience may confront you, something more disagreeable is sure to. If I do not clear this thing up reasonably soon I shall have to tell what I know to the police; I shall owe that to Mr. Cramer, since I have accepted his cooperation. If you stick to the absurd rigamarole you have told me, they will assume you are guilty; they will torment you, they will take you to their dungeon and harass you endlessly, they may even beat you with their fists, though that is not likely with a man of your standing, they will destroy your dignity, your business, and your digestion. In the end, with luck and perseverance, they might even electrocute you. I doubt if you're fool enough to be as stubborn as all that.”
“I'm stubborn enough,” McNair asserted. He leaned forward again. “But look here.
I'm not fool enough not to know what I'm doing. I'm tired and I'm worn out and
I'm all in, but I know what I'm doing. You think you've forced me to admit something by getting Helen here and bullying her, but I would just as soon have admitted that to you anyhow. Then here's another thing. I've just practically told you that part of my story about that box isn't true, but that I'm going to stick to it. I didn't need to do that, I could have told you the story and made you think I expected you to believe it. I did it because I didn't want you to think I'm a bigger fool than I am. I wanted you to have as good an opinion of me as possible under the circumstances, because I want to ask you to do me a very important favor. I came here to see Helen, that's true, and to see how…how she was, but I also came to ask this favor of you. I want you to accept a legacy in my will.”
Wolfe didn't surprise easily, but that got him. He stared. It got me too; it sounded offhand, as if McNair was actually going to try to bribe Nero Wolfe to turn off the heat, and that was such a novel idea that I began to admire him. I focused my lamps on him with renewed interest.
McNair went on, “What I want to leave you is a responsibility. A…a small article, and a responsibility. It's astonishing that I have to ask this of you.
I've lived in New York for twelve years, and I realized the other day, when I had occasion to consider it, that I have not one friend I can trust. Oh, trust ordinarily, sure, several of them, but not trust with something vital, something more important than my life. But today at my lawyer's I had to name such a person, and I named you. That's astonishing, because I've only met you once, for a few minutes yesterday morning. But you seemed to me to be the kind of man that…that will be needed if I die. Last night and this morning I made some inquiries, and I think you are. It has to be a man with nerve, and one that can't be made a fool of, and he has to be honest clear through. I don't know anyone as good as that, and it had to be done today, so I decided to take a chance and name you.”
McNair slid forward in his chair and put both hands on the edge of Wolfe's desk, gripping it, and I saw the muscles in his neck moving again. “I made provision for you to get paid for it, and it will be a fair-sized estate, my business is in good shape, and I've been careful with investments. For you it will just be another job, but for me, if I'm dead, it will be of the most vital importance.
If I could only be sure…sure…Mr. Wolfe, that would let my spirit rest. I went to my lawyer's office this afternoon and made my will over, and I named you. I left you…this job. I should have come to you first, but I didn't want to take any chance of not having it down in black and white and signed. Of course I can't leave it that, way without your consent. You've got to give it, then I'll be all right.” His shoulder began to jerk, and he gripped the edge of the desk tighter. “Then let it come.”
Wolfe said, “Sit back in your chair, Mr. McNair. No? You'll work yourself into a fit. Then let what come? Death?”
“Anything.”
Wolfe shook his head. “A bad state of mind. But apparently your mind has practically ceased to function. You are incoherent. Of course you have now made completely untenable your position in regard to the poisoned candy. Obviously-”
McNair broke in, “I've named you. Will you do it?”
“Permit me, please.” Wolfe wiggled a finger at him. “Obviously you know who poisoned the candy, and you know it was meant for you. You are obsessed with fear that this unfriendly person will proceed to kill you in spite of the fatal bungling of that effort. Possibly others are in danger also; yet, instead of permitting someone with a little wit to handle the affair by giving him your confidence, you sit there and drivel and boast to me of your stubbornness. More than that, you have the gall to request me to agree to undertake a commission although I am completely ignorant of its nature and have no idea how much I shall get for it. Pfui!-No, permit me. Either all this is true, or you are yourself a murderer and are attempting so elaborate a gullery that it is no wonder you have a headache. You ask, will I do it. If you mean, will I agree to do an unknown job for an unknown wage, certainly not.”
