He finished putting in a letter, with precision, before he looked up. 'Is this flummery?'
'No, sir. It's them.'
'Indeed.' His brows went up a trifle. 'Bring them in.'
I went out and to the door, turned the knob, and pulled it open. 'Hello hello,' I said brightly. 'Mr. Wolfe was saying only a minute ago that he would like to see Mr. Cramer and Mr. Wengert, and here you are.'
Bright as it was, it didn't go over so well because they stepped in with the first hello and were well along the hall by the time I finished. I shut the door and followed. Entering the office, it struck me as encouraging that Wengert and Wolfe were shaking hands, but then I remembered the District Attorney who always shook hands with the defendant before he opened up, to show there was no personal feeling. Cramer usually took the red leather chair at the end of
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Wolfe's desk, but this time he let Wengert have it, and I moved up one of the yellow ones for him.
'I sent you my regards the other day by Goodwin,' Wengert said. 'I hope he remembered.'
Wolfe inclined his head. 'He did. Thank you.'
'I didn't know then I'd be seeing you so soon.'
'Nor did I.'
'No, I suppose not.' Wengert crossed his legs and leaned back. 'Goodwin said you had taken on a job for Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Rackell.'
'That's right.' Wolfe was casual. 'To investigate the death of their nephew. They said he had been working for the FBI. It would have been impolitic to wander into your line of fire, so I sent Mr. Goodwin to see you.'
'Let's cut the blah. You sent him to get information you could use.'
Wolfe shrugged. 'Confronted with omniscience, I bow. My motives are often obscure to myself, but you know all about them. Your advantage. If that was his errand, he failed. You told him nothing.'
'Right. Our files are for us, not for private operators. My coming here tells you that we've got a hand in this case, but that's not for publication. If you didn't want to get into our line of fire you certainly stumbled. But officially it's a Manhattan homicide, so I'm here to listen.' He nodded at Cramer. 'Go ahead, Inspector.'
Cramer had been holding in with difficulty. Holding in is a chronic problem with him, and it shows in various ways, chiefly by his big red face getting redder, with the color spreading lower on his thick muscular neck. He blurted at Wolfe, 'Honest to God, I'm surprised! Not at Goodwin so much, but you! Subornation of perjury. Attempting to bribe a witness to give false testimony. I've known you to take some fat risks, but holy saints, this ain't risking it, it's yelling for it!'
Wolfe was frowning. 'Are you saying that Mr. Goodwin and I have suborned perjury?'
'You've tried to!'
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'Good heavens, that's a serious charge. You must have warrants. Serve them, by all means.'
'Just give it to him, Inspector,' Wengert advised.
Cramer's head jerked to me. 'Did you go last evening to the apartment of Delia Devlin on Fifty-first Street?'
'It's hotter than yesterday,' I stated.
'I asked you a question!'
'This is infantile,' Wolfe told him. 'You must know the legal procedure with suspected felons. We do.'
'Just give it to him,' Wengert repeated.
Cramer was glaring at Wolfe. 'What you know about legal procedures. Okay. Yesterday you sent Goodwin to see Delia Devlin. In your name he offered her ten thousand dollars to testify falsely that she saw Fifi Goheen take the pillbox from the table, remove a capsule and replace it with another, and put the box back on the table. He said the money would be supplied by Mr. and Mrs. Rackell and would be handed her in currency after she had so testified. I shouldn't have said subornation of perjury, I should have said attempt. Now do I ask Goodwin some questions?'
'I'd like to ask him one myself.' Wolfe's eyes moved. 'Archie. Is what Mr. Cramer just said true?' lo, sir.
'Then don't answer questions. A policeman has no right to make an inaccurate statement to a citizen about his actions and then order him to answer questions about it.' He went to Cramer. 'We could drag this out interminably. Why not resolve it sensibly and conclusively?' He came to me. 'Archie, get Miss Devlin on the phone and ask her to come down here at once.'
I turned and started to dial.
'Cut it, Goodwin,' Wengert snapped. I went on dialing. Cramer, who can move when he wants to, left his chair and was by me, pushing down the button. I cocked my head to look up at him. He scowled down at me. I put it back in the cradle. He returned to his chair.
'Then we'll have to change the subject,' Wolfe said dryly. 'Surely your position is untenable. You want to bullyrag us
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for what Mr. Goodwin, as my agent, said to Miss Devlin; the first thing to establish is what was actually said; and the only satisfactory way to establish it is to have them both here. Yet you not only didn't bring her with you, you are even determined that we shall not communicate with her. Obviously you don't want her to know what's going on. It's quite preposterous, but I draw no conclusion. It's hard to believe that the New York police and the
