He has no signed paper and no idea of getting one. Shall I tell him you're busy?'
I was sure he would say yes, but he didn't. Instead, he decoded it. 'Is it Mr. Cramer?'
'Yes, sir.' He knew darned well it was, since I had started years ago calling Cramer that.
'He wants to speak with Mrs. Whitten?'
'One of his men did, probably about some trifle, and found out she was here. What he really wants is to see if you're getting up a charade.'
'He's barely in time. If he engages to let me proceed without interruption until I've finished, admit him.'
'I don't like it. He's got Pompa.'
'He won't have him long. We're waiting for you. I want a record of this.'
I didn't like it at all, but when Wolfe has broken into a gallop what I like has about the weight of an undersized feather from a chicken's neck.
I returned to the front and opened to a crack again and told the inspector, 'Mrs. Whitten is in the office with him, chatting. So is Miss Julie Alving, toy buyer at Meadow's, who was formerly on good terms with the late Whitten. You may have heard of her.'
'Yeah, I have. What the hell is he trying to pull?'
'You name it. I'm just the stenographer. You have a choice. Being an inspector, you can go somewhere for lunch and then take in a ball game, or you can give me your sacred word of honor that you'll absolutely keep your mouth shut until and unless Wolfe hands you the torch. If you choose the latter you're welcome, and you can have a chair to sit on. After all, you have no ticket even for standing room, since neither of those females is under a charge.'
'I'm a police officer. I'm not going to tie myself -'
'Don't haggle. You know damn well where you stand. I'm needed in there to take notes. Well?'
'I'm coming in.'
'Under the terms as I stated?'
'Yes.'
'Strictly clam?'
'Yes.'
'Okay. Otherwise you'd better bring a bulldozer if you ever want in again.' I swung the door open.
Wolfe greeted him curtly and left it to me to introduce him to the ladies. It wasn't surprising that he hadn't met Mrs. Whitten, since his men had settled on Pompa as a cinch after a few hours' investigation and therefore there had been no occasion for their superior officer to annoy the widow. He acknowledged the introductions with stingy nods, gave Wolfe a swift keen glance that would have liked to go on through his hide to the interior, and indicated that he intended to keep his vow by taking a chair well out of it, to the rear and right of Mrs. Whitten.
Wolfe spoke to him. 'Let's put it this way, Mr. Cramer. You're here merely as a caller waiting to see me.'
'That will do,' Cramer growled.
'Good. Then I'll proceed. I was just starting to explain to these ladies the manner and extent of my progress in an investigation I'm on.'
'Go ahead.'
From there on Wolfe ignored Cramer completely. He looked at Julie and Mrs. Whitten. 'What persuaded me,' he said conversationally, 'of Mr. Pompa's innocence, and who engaged me to prove it, are details of no importance. Neither is it important why, when Mr. Goodwin wanted to contrive an entree to Mrs. Whitten, he hit on the stratagem of saying he wished to speak with her on behalf of Miss Alving.'
Julie made a sound.
'Oh, it was a lie,' he told her. 'We use a great many of them in this business, sometimes calculated with great care, sometimes quite at random. This one was extremely effective. It got Mr. Goodwin admitted to Mrs. Whitten at once, though she was in bed with a gash in her side, having just narrowly escaped from an attempt on her life.'
Cramer let out a growl, no doubt involuntary, and stood up. Wolfe ignored him and went on to his female audience.
'That, of course, is news to Mr. Cramer, and there will be more for him, but since he's merely waiting to see me I'll finish with you ladies. The success -'
'You not only lie,' Mrs. Whitten said harshly, 'you break your promise. You promised that if we answered your questions you wouldn't report the attack on me to the police.'
'No,' Wolfe said curtly. 'I do not break promises. It was implied, not explicit, and it was without term, and assuredly not for eternity. Certainly I could not be expected to keep that information to myself if and when it became necessary evidence for the disclosure of a murderer. It has now become necessary.'
'It has?' She wasn't so harsh.
'Yes.'
'Then – go on.'
