Julia McGee had been Yeager's secretary, and now that he was no longer there the operator didn't know where Miss McGee was. I finally got her and signed to Wolfe, and he took his phone. I stayed on. 'Miss McGee? I must see you as soon as possible. At my office.' 'Well--' She didn't sound enthusiastic. 'I leave at five. Will six o'clock do?' 'No, it's urgent. As soon as you can get here.' 'Can't you tell me on the phone--no, I suppose not. All right, I'll come.' 'Now.' 'Yes. I'll leave in a few minutes.' We hung up. Wolfe leaned back and closed his eyes. I gathered up the drawings and put them with the rest of Maria's collection. Getting a folder from the cabinet, I marked it yeager and put the collection in it, decided that the safe was the proper place for something that might some day be a people's exhibit, and took it there instead of the cabinet. When Wolfe's eyes opened I took him a check to sign, to Fred Durkin for three hundred fifteen & 00/100 dollars. We were now out about five Cs on the Yeager operation, and we had four clients and two bucks in retainers, plus a damn good chance of ending up in the coop for obstructing justice. As I put Fred's check on my desk the phone rang. It was Mrs. Yeager. She wanted to know when I was going to take her to see the room on 82nd Street. She also wanted to tell me that the daughter of the superin- 146 Rex Stout tendent of that house had been murdered, and she thought Wolfe and I should look into it. I could do that when I took her to see the room, saving a trip. If you think I should have stopped her because phones have extensions and someone might have been on one, you are correct. I tried to. I finally managed without hanging up on her. By then Fred was there, having been admitted by Fritz. I gave him his check, and Wolfe gave him his instructions, which he took without a blink. The difference in the way he takes Wolfe and the way he takes me is not based on experience. Up in the bower, getting it only from me, he had suspected that I was perching him far out on a limb and he didn't like it. Now, with Wolfe, there was no question of suspecting or not liking. He had got the idea somehow, long ago, that there was absolutely no limit to what Wolfe could do if he wanted to, so of course there was no risk involved. I would like to be present to see his face if and when Wolfe tells him to go to Moscow and tail Khrushchev. When the doorbell rang he got up and moved to a chair over by the bookshelves as I crossed to the hall. And got a surprise. It was Julia McGee on the stoop, but she wasn't alone. I stepped back in the office and told Wolfe Aiken was with her. He scowled at me, pursed his lips, and nodded, and I went and opened the door and they entered. For a president Aiken was polite. She was only the exsecretary of his ex-executive vice-president, but he let her precede him in, down the hall, and into the office. Wolfe stood until they were seated, him in the red leather chair and her in the one Fred had vacated. Aiken spoke. 'You sent for Miss McGee. If there E- SAaasSte'- i I' 11 Too Many Clients 147 has been a development, you should have notified me. I have had no word from you. If you have something to say to Miss McGee, I want to hear it.' Wolfe was regarding him. 'I told you Tuesday night, Mr. Aiken, that it may be that the less you know of the particulars of my performance the better. But it can't hurt for you to know about this; I would almost certainly have informed you of it before the day was out. Indeed, it is just as well to have you present.' His head turned. 'Fred?' Fred got up and came to the corner of Wolfe's desk. 'Look at Miss McGee,' Wolfe told him. Fred turned for a glance at her and turned back. 'I don't need to,' he said. 'You recognize her?' 'Sure. I ought to; she gave me this.' He pointed to his cheek. 'That was Tuesday evening. Had you seen her before that?' 'Yes, sir. I saw her Sunday evening when I was covering that house on Eighty-second Street. I saw her enter the house. At the basement door.' 'Did you see her leave?' 'No, sir. She could have left while I was at the corner , phoning in. I phoned in every hour, as instructed. Or after I left for the night.' 'Did you tell Archie, Tuesday evening, that you had seen her before?' 'No, sir. She came at me the second she saw me Tuesday evening, and it was a tangle. After Archie took her away I got to thinking. It was her I saw Sunday. I should have told you, but I knew what it would mean. It would make me a witness in a murder case, and you know how that is. But this rooming I decided I'd have to. You were paying me 148 Rex Stout and you were counting on me. So I came and told you.' 'How sure are you that you saw Miss McGee, the woman sitting there, enter that house Sunday evening?' 'I'm dead sure. I wouldn't have come and told you if I wasn't. I know what I'm in for now.' 'You deserve it. You had vital information, obtained while you were on an assignment from me, and you withheld it for thirty-six hours. I'll deal with that later. Go to the front room and stay there.' As Fred crossed to the door to the front room no eyes but Wolfe's followed him. Aiken's and mine were on Julia McGee. Hers were on a spot in the pattern of the rug, in front of her feet. When the door had closed behind Fred, Wolfe spoke. 'Miss McGee. Why did you kill him?' 'Don't answer,' Aiken commanded her. He turned to Wolfe. 'You're working for me. As you put it yourself, you are to make every effort to protect the reputation and interests of the corporation. What's that man's name?' 'Fred Durkin.' 'Why did you have him watching that house Sunday evening?' 'On behalf of a client. In confidence.' 'You have too many clients. You didn't mention it Tuesday evening. You said you had no engagement.'
'We were discussing the murder of Yeager, and I had no engagement to investigate that. I'm humoring you, Mr. Aiken. My other engagements are no concern of yours if there is no conflict of interest. Why did you kill Yeager, Miss McGee?' pounds oo Many Clients 149 Aiken jerked his head to tell her not to answer, and jerked it back to Wolfe. 'That's just a trick. Granting that Durkin saw her enter that house Sunday evening, that doesn't prove she killed Yeager. He may not have been there. Did Durldn see him enter?' 'No. But someone else did. Mr. and Mrs. Cesar Perez. The janitor and his wife. I would advise yo.u not to approach them. They are bereaved. Their daughter died last night. Since you don't want Yeager's connection with that house disclosed, you had better leave them to Mr. Goodwin and me.' 'What time did Yeager enter? Before Miss McGee or after?' 'Before. He arrived around seven o'clock. I am humoring you, sir.' 'I don't appreciate it. Granting that Durkin saw Miss McGee enter, he didn't see her leave. Are you accusing her of killing Yeager there in that house and carrying his body out to the street and dumping it in the hole?' 'No. I'm not accusing her; I am confronting her with a fact.' Wolfe cocked his head. 'Mr. Aiken. I'm not turning our association into a conflict instead of a concert; you are. I told you Tuesday evening that the only feasible way to try to protect the reputation and interests of your corporation with any hope of success would be to stop the police investigation of the murder by reaching an acceptable solution of it without involving that room. I dare contrive such a solution and offer it only if I know what actually happened. It is established that Yeager entered that room around seven o'clock that evening, and it is a reasonable assumption that he was still there when Miss McGee arrived. You say my asking her 150 Rex Stout why she killed him was a trick; certainly it was, and an ancient one; the Greeks used it two thousand years ago, and others long before. I'll withdraw that question and try another.' He turned. 'Miss McGee. Was Mr. Yeager in that room when you entered it Sunday evening?' She had finished studying the pattern of the rug some time back. Now her eyes left Wolfe to go to Aiken, and his met them. She said nothing, but he did. 'All right, answer it.' She looked at Wolfe, straight. 'Yes, he was there. His body was. He was dead.' 'Where was the body?' 'On the floor. On the carpet.' 'Did you touch it? Move it?' 'I only touched his hair, where the hole was. He was on his side with his mouth open.' 'What did you do?' 'I didn't do anything. I sat on a chair a few minutes and then left.' 'Exactly what time did you leave?' 'I don't know exactly. It must have been about half past nine. It was a quarter past when I got there.' 'Yeager expected you at a quarter past nine?' 'No, at nine o'clock, but I was fifteen minutes late.' 'You went to take dictation?' 'Yes.' 'At nine o'clock Sunday evening?' 'Yes.' Wolfe grunted. 'I think I'll ignore that, Miss McGee. It's a waste of time to challenge lies that are immaterial. It would be pointless to poke the fact at you that Mr. Yeager had arranged for the delivery Too Many Clients 151 of caviar and pheasant at midnight. Was there any indication that there had been a struggle?' 'No.' 'Did you see a gun?' 'No.' 'Did you take anything from the room when you left?' 'No.' 'Have you ever owned a gun?' 'No.' 'Or borrowed one?' 'No.' 'Have you ever shot one?' 'No.' 'Where did you go when you left the house?' 'I went home. My apartment. On Arbor Street.' 'Did you tell anyone of your experience?' 'No. Of course not.' 'You didn't tell Mr. Aiken?' 'No.' 'Then he didn't know until now that you were there Sunday evening?' 'No. Nobody knew.' 'Do you know what a hypothetical question is?' 'Certainly.' 'I submit one. You said Tuesday evening that you decided your loyalty should be to the corporation, not to Mr. Yeager, so you betrayed him. Then if--' 'I didn't betray him. I only thought Mr. Aiken should know.' Wolfe swiveled to the Webster's Unabridged on its stand, opened it, and found the page. 'Betray, verb, Definition Two: 'To prove faithless or treacherous to, as to a trust or one who trusts.'' He closed 152 Rex Stout the dictionary and wheeled back. 'Surely Yeager trusted you not to tell about that room, but you did. Then if--this is the hypothesis--if you went there Sunday evening, not to take dictation, but to participate in activities congenial to that decor, what am I to assume regarding your disposition at that time toward Mr. Yeager and Mr. Aiken? Had you reconsidered and decided your loyalty was to Mr. Yeager?' It didn't faze her. She didn't chew on it. 'My disposition had nothing to do with it. Mr. Yeager asked me to go there to take dictation, and I went.' She was darned good. If I hadn't seen that bower I might have had a sliver of doubt myself. She went on. 'That trick question you asked me, why I killed him, I want to ask you, why would I kill him? Would I go there to take dictation and take a gun to shoot him?' Wolfe's shoulders went up a fraction of an inch, and down. 'I said I'd ignore your purpose in going there, and I shouldn't
