and nine Sunday evening, since she was able to reach him, to con front him with her knowledge and her threat. Therefore it was a sound assumption that this collection contained an item or items on which her identification of that person was based.' He pointed to the tassels. 'Two such items are there: the pictures of Mr. Yeager's wife and son, with their names. I rejected them because they did not meet the specifications. The person who went there Sunday evening with a gun and shot Yeager with it must have had keys and known how to use them, and he must have known that Miss McGee intended to arrive at nine o'clock, since otherwise he could not have expected to find Yeager alone. It was conceivable that either the wife or son Too Many Clients 195 met those requirements, but it was highly improbable.'
He picked up the remaining item. 'Adopting that reasoning, at least tentatively, I was left with this. This is a picture, reproduced in a magazine, of a gathering in the ballroom of the Churchill Hotel, a banquet of the National Plastics Association. Mr. Yeager is at the microphone. The caption gives the names of the men on the dais with him, including you. No doubt you are familiar with the picture?' 'Yes. I have it framed on the wall of my office.' 'Well.' Wolfe dropped it on his desk. 'I asked myself, what if it was you whom Miss Perez saw in the hall on your way to the elevator Sunday evening between seven and nine? What if, having this picture in her collection, she recognized you? What if, later, having learned that Yeager had been killed up in that room--for she must have seen her father and mother transporting the body--she guessed that you had killed him, decided to make you pay for her silence, communicated with you, made an appointment to meet you, and kept it? You will concede that those were permissible questions.'
'Permissible? Yes.' Aiken was disdainful. 'You don't need permission to ask preposterous questions.'
Wolfe nodded. 'Of course that was the point. Were they preposterous? To answer that, further questions had to be asked. One, could you have had keys? Two, could you have known Yeager would be there alone? Three, had you a motive?' Wolfe stuck a finger up. 'One. You could have borrowed Miss McGee's keys, but if so you would have had to return them to her before nine o'clock 196 Rex Stout r.. so she could let herself in. That did seem prepos- t terous, that you would return the borrowed keys so 1 she could enter, find Yeager's body, and inevitably ? assume that you had killed him. Not tenable.' 'Do you expect me to sit here and listen to this ; nonsense?' : ?' i w 'I do. We have arrived at the urgency and you ''is know it.' Another finger up. 'Two. Yes. You could g have known Yeager would be there alone. Miss McGee says she told no one of her nine o'clock appointment, but that was to be expected if it was you she told.' Another finger. 'Three. When I first asked that question, had you a motive, I knew nothing about it, but I do now. Yesterday I made some inquiries on the telephone?I assure you they were discreet?and last evening Mrs. Yeager sat for an hour in the chair you now occupy and gave me many details. For five years, since he became executive vice-president, Yeager has been a threat to your leadership of the corporation, and in the last year the threat has become ominous and imminent. The best you could expect was that you would be made chairman of the board, removed from active control, and even that was doubtful. Since you had dominated the corporation's affairs for more than ten years, that prospect was intolerable. You can't very well challenge this, since the situation is known to many people.' Wolfe's fingers came down, and his hand dropped to the desk. 'But what chiefly concerned me when you and Miss McGee left this room twenty-four hours ago was not your motive; a motive, however deeply hidden, can be exposed. The problem was the keys, and there was an obvious possibility, that you had borrowed Miss i Too Many Clients 197 McGee's keys, not last Sunday, but at some previous date, had had duplicates made, and had returned them to her. Testing that possibility would have been hopeless if they had been ordinary keys, but Rabsons are peculiar and there aren't many of them. I decided to try. I sent for three men who help me on occasion and gave them this picture and the keys I got from Miss McGee yesterday. They had copies made of the picture and duplicates of the keys, and returned these to me. They were to start with the locksmiths nearest your home and office. Only a little more than an hour ago, just before I phoned you, one of them, Mr. Saul Panzer, turned the possibility into a fact. This is of course the crux of my report.' He pushed a button on his desk. 'This begot the urgency.' His eyes went to the door, and Saul appeared with Arthur Wenger. They came to th-e front of Wolfe's desk and turned to face Aiken. Wolfe said to Aiken, 'This is Mr. Arthur Wenger. Do .you recognize him?' Aiken was staring at Wenger- He moved the stare to Wolfe. 'No,' he said. 'I've never seen him.' 'Mr. Wenger, this is Mr. Benedict Aiken. Do you recognize him?' The locksmith nodded. 'I recognized him from the picture. It's him all right.' 'Where and when have you seen him. before?' 'He came to my shop one day last week with a couple of Rabson keys to get duplicates made. He waited while I made them. I thinl< it was Wednesday, but it could have been Thesday. He's a liar when he says he's never seen me.' 'How sure are you?' 'I couldn't be any surer. People are like keys; 198 Rex Stout they're a lot alike but they're all different. I don't know faces as well as I know keys, but well enough. I look at keys and I look at faces.' 'It's an excellent habit. That's all now, sir, but I'll appreciate it if you can spare another hour.' 'I said I could.' 'I know. I appreciate it.' Saul touched Wenger's arm, and they went. In the hall they turned left, toward the kitchen. Soon after Saul had phoned, Fritz; had got started on a chicken pie with forcemeat and truffles for their lunch, and it would soon be ready. Wolfe leaned back, cupped his hands over the ends of the chair arms, and spoke. 'Miss McGee. Manifestly Mr. Aiken is doomed. You shifted your loyalty from Mr. Yeager to him; now you must shift it from him to yourself. You're in a pickle. If he is put on trial you'll be a witness. If you testify under oath that you did not lend him your keys and thai you didn't tell him you would arrive at that house at nine o'clock Sunday evening you will be committing perjury, and it may be provable. More and worse: You may be charged as an accessory to murder. You lent him the keys, he had duplicates made, and hf used the duplicates to enter a house to kill a man. You made it possible for him to enter the house without hazard, ensuring that Yeager would b (alone, by arranging a nine-o'clock assignation?' 'I didn't arrange it!' Too loud again. 'Nineo'clock was the usual time! And I only told Mr. Aiken because?' 'Hold your tongue!' Aiken was on his fee-i- confronting her. 'He tricked you once and he'trying it again. We're going. I'm going, and you're going with me!' Too Many Clients 199 I was up. If she had left her chair I would have moved between them and the door, but she stayed put. She tilted her head back to look up at him, and I have never seen a stonier face. 'You're a fool,' she said. I have never heard a harder voice. 'A bungling old fool. I suspected you had killed him but I didn't want to believe it. If you had had any brains--don't stand there glaring at me!' He was in front of her, and she moved her chair to send her eyes to Wolfe. 'Yes, he borrowed my keys. He said he wanted to see the room. He had them two days. And I told him I was going there Sunday night at nine o'clock. I had promised to keep him informed. Informed! I was a fool too.' Her voice stayed hard but it was also bitter. 'God, what a fool.' Wolfe shook his head. ''Fool' doesn't do you justice, Miss McGee. Say rather harpy or lamia. I'm not judging you, merely classifying you. Pfui.' He turned to Aiken. 'So much for what is done; now what to do.' Aiken had returned to the red leather chair. With his hands, fists, on his thighs, and his jaw clamped, he was trying to pretend he wasn't licked, but he knew he was. Knowing what was ahead after Wolfe had dictated the draft of a document, I had got the Marley from the drawer and loaded it and slipped it in my pocket, but now I knew it wouldn't be needed. I sat down. Wolfe addressed him. 'I am in a quandary. The simplest and safest course would be to telephone Mr. Cramer of the police to come and get you. But under the terms of your employment of me on behalf of your corporation I am obliged to make every effort to protect the reputation and interests ?f the corporation, and to disclose no facts or 200 Rex Stout information that will harm the corporation's repi or prestige unless I am compelled to do so by i legal obligation as a citizen and a licensed privi detective. That is verbatim. Of course it isn't pi sible to suppress the fact that the corporatio president murdered its executive vice-preside that isn't discussible. You are doomed. With t evidence I already possess and the further evider the police would gather, your position is hopeles He opened a drawer and took out a paper. 'E it may be feasible to prevent disclosure of t existence of that room and Yeager's connection w it, and that was your expressed primary conce when you came here Tuesday night. I doubt if y care much now, but I do. I want to meet the ten of my engagement as far as possible, and with tl in mind I prepared a draft of a document for you sign. I'll read it to you.' He lifted the paper a read: '/, Benedict Aiken, make and sign this state ment because it has been made clear to me b^ Nero Wolfe that there is no hope a/preventing disclosure of my male/action. But I make it oj my own free will and choice, under the coer don not of Nero Wolfe but only of the circum stances. On the night of May 8, 1960, I killec Thomas G. Yeager by shooting him in the head. I transported his body to West 82nc Street, Manhattan, and put it in a hole in the street. There was a tarpaulin in the hole, am to postpone discovery of the body I covered v with the tarpaulin. I killed Thomas G. Yeagei because he threatened to supersede me in m^ office of president of Continental Plastu Too Many Clients 201 Products and deprive me of effective control of the affairs of the corporation. Since I was responsible for the development and progress of the
