Wolfe eyed her. “You have good nerves, Miss Mitchell.”
“I'm not a softy. I had a good cry after I got home that night, I cried it out.
But I didn't cry then. Helen stood against the wall and trembled and stared and couldn't move, shell tell you that herself. I ran to the elevator and yelled for help, and then I ran back and put the lid on the box of candy and held onto it until Mr. McNair came and then I gave it to him. Molly was dead, I could see that. She was crumpled up. She fell down dead.” She gulped again. “Maybe you could tell me. The doctor said it was some kind of acid, and it said in the paper potassium cyanide.”
Lew Frost put in, “Hydrocyanic. The police say-it's the same thing. I told you that. Didn't I?”
Wolfe wiggled a finger at him. “Please, Mr. Frost. It is I who am to earn the fee, you to pay it. – Then Miss Mitchell, you felt no discomfort from your two pieces, and Miss Lauck ate only one.”
“That's all.” The blonde shivered. 'It's terrible, to think there's something that can kill you that quick. She couldn't even speak. You could see it go right through her, when she shook all over. I held onto the box, but I got rid of it as soon as I saw Mr. McNair.”
“Then, I understand, you ran away.”
She nodded. “I ran to the washroom.” She made a face. 1 had to throw up. I had eaten two pieces.”
“Indeed. Most efficient.” Wolfe had opened another bottle, and was pouring. “To go back a little. You had not seen that box of candy before Miss Lauck took it from under the coat?”
“No. I hadn't.”
“What do you suppose she meant when she said she had swiped it?”
“Why-she meant-she saw it somewhere and took it.”
Wolfe turned. “Miss Frost. What do you suppose Miss Lauck meant by that?”
“I suppose she meant what she said, that she swiped it. Stole it.”
“Was that customary with her? Was she a thief?”
“Of course not. She only took a box of candy. She did it for a joke, I suppose.
She liked to play jokes-to do things like that.”
“Had you seen the box before she produced it in that room?”
“No.”
Wolfe emptied his glass in five gulps, which was par, and wiped his lips. His half-shut eyes were on the blonde. “I believe you went to lunch that day with
Miss Lauck. Tell us about that.”
“Well-Molly and I went together about one o'clock. We were hungry because we had been working hard-the show had been going on since eleven o'clock-but we only went to the drug store around the corner because we had to be back in twenty minutes to give Helen and the extras a chance. The show was supposed to be from eleven to two, but we knew they'd keep dropping in. We ate sandwiches and custard and came straight back.”
“Did you see Miss Lauck swipe the box of candy at the drug store?”
“Of course I didn't. She wouldn't do that.”
“Did you get it at the drug store yourself and bring it back with you?”
Miss Mitchell stared at him. She said, disgusted, “For the Lord's sake. No.”
“You're sure Miss Lauck didn't get it somewhere while out for lunch?”
“Of course I'm sure. I was right with her.”
“And she didn't go out again during the afternoon?”
“No. We were working together until half past three, when there was a let-up and she left to go upstairs, and a little later Helen and I came up and found her here. There in the restroom.”
“And she ate a piece of candy and died, and you ate two and didn't.” Wolfe sighed. “There is of course the possibility that she had brought the box with her when she came to work that morning.”
The blonde shook her head. “I've thought of that. We've all talked about it. She didn't have any package. Anyway, where could it have been all morning? It wasn't in the restroom, and there wasn't any place else…”
Wolfe nodded. “That's the devil of it. It's recorded history. You aren't really telling me your fresh and direct memory of what happened last Monday, you're merely repeating the talk it has been resolved into. – I beg you, no offense; you can't help it. I should have been here last Monday afternoon-or rather, I shouldn't have been here at all. I shouldn't be here now.” He glared at
Llewellyn Frost, then remembered the beer, filled his glass, and drank.
He looked from one girl to the other. “You know, of course, what the problem is.
Last Monday there were more than a hundred people here, mostly women but a few men; for that show. It was a cold March day and they all wore coats. Who brought that box of candy? The police have questioned everyone connected with this establishment. They have found no one who ever saw the box or will admit to any knowledge of it. No one who saw Miss Lauck with it or has any idea where she got it. An impossible situation!”
