was more practical than Tina. He didn't work as hard as she had trying to remember Wallen's exact words, and I must say I couldn't blame him.
Wolfe gave up trying to get what they didn't have. He leaned back, compressed his lips, closed his eyes, and tapped with his forefingers on the ends of his chair arms. Carl and Tina looked at each other a while, then she got up and went to him, started combing his hair with her fingers, saw I was looking, began to blush, God knows why, and went back to her chair.
Finally Wolfe opened his eyes. 'Confound it,' he said peevishly, 'it's impossible. Even if I had a move to make I couldn't make it. If I so much as stir a finger Mr. Cramer will start yelping, and I have no muzzle for him. Any effort to--'
The doorbell rang. During lunch Fritz had been told to leave it to me, so I arose, crossed to the hall, and went front. But not all the way. Four paces short of the door I saw, through the one-way glass panel, the red rugged face and the heavy broad shoulders. I wheeled and returned to the office, not dawdling, and told Wolfe, 'The man to fix the chair.'
'Indeed.' His head jerked up. 'The front room.'
'I could tell him-'
'No.'
Carl and Tina, warned by our tone and tempo, were on their feet. The bell rang again. I moved fast to the door to the front room and pulled it open, telling them, 'In here quick. Step on it.' They obeyed without a word, as if they had known me and trusted me for years, but what choice did they have? When they had passed through I said, 'Relax and keep quiet,' shut the door, glanced at Wolfe and got a nod, went to the hall and to the door, opened it, and said morosely, 'Hello. What now?'
'It took you long enough,' Inspector Cramer growled, crossing the threshold.
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}olfe can move when he wants to. I have seen him prove it more than once, as he did then. By the time I was back in the office, following Cramer, he had scattered in front of him on his desk pads of paper, pencils, and a dozen folders of plant germination records for which he had had to go to the filing cabinet. One of the folders was spread open, and he was scowling at us above it. He grunted a greeting but not a welcome. Cramer grunted back, moved to the red leather chair, and planted himself in it.
I got myself at my desk. I was wishing I wasn't involved so I could just enjoy it. If Wolfe succeeded in keeping Cramer's claws off of the Vardas family and at the same time kept himself out of jail I would show my appreciation by not hitting him for a raise for at least a month.
Fritz entered with a tray, so Wolfe had found time to push a button too. It was the fixed allotment, three bottles of beer. Wolfe, getting the opener from his drawer, told Fritz to bring ; another glass, but Cramer said no thanks.
Suddenly Cramer looked at me and demanded, 'Where did you go when you left die barber shop?'
My brows went up. 'Just like that?'
'Yes.'
'Well, then. If you really cared you could have put a tail on me. If you didn't care enough to put a tail on me you're just being nosy, and I resent it. Next question.'
'Why not answer that one?'
'Because some of the errands I get sent on are confidential, and I don't want to start a bad habit.'
Cramer turned abruptly to Wolfe. 'You know a police officer was killed this morning there in that shop.'
'Yes.' Wolfe halted a foaming glass on its way to his mouth. 'Archie told me about it.'
'Maybe he did.'
'Not maybe. He did.'
'Okay.' Cramer 'cocked his head and watched Wolfe empty the glass and use his handkerchief on his lips. Then he said, 'Look. This is what brought me here. I have learned over a stretch of years that when I find you within a mile of a murder, and Goodwin is a part of you, something fancy can be expected. I don't need to itemize that; your memory is as good as mine. Wait a second, let me finish. I don't say there's no such thing as a coincidence. I know you've been going to that shop for two years, and Goodwin for six years. It wouldn't be so remarkable if he happened in there this particular day, two hours after a murder, if it wasn't for certain features. He told Graboff, his barber, that he needed an emergency shave to go to an appointment. Incidentally, it couldn't have been much of an emergency, since he waited nearly half an hour while Graboff finished with a customer, but I might concede that. The point is that Graboff and Fickler both say that in the six years Goodwin has been going there he has never gone just for a shave. Not once. He goes only for the works, haircut, scalp massage, shampoo, and shave. That makes it too remarkable. Just one day in six years an emergency sends him there for a shave, and this is the day. I don't believe it.'
Wolfe shrugged. 'Then you don't. I'm not responsible for your credulity quotient, Mr. Cramer. Neither is Mr. Goodwin. I don't see how we can help you.'
'Nobody would believe it,' Cramer said stubbornly, refusing to get riled. 'That's why I'm here. I do believe that Goodwin went to that shop because he knew a man had been murdered there.'
'Then you believe wrong,' I told him. 'Your credulity quotient needs an overhaul. Until I got there I hadn't the slightest idea or suspicion that a man had been murdered, there or anywhere else.'
'You have been known to lie, Goodwin.'
'Only within limits, and I know what they are. I will state that in an affidavit. Write it out, and there's a notary at the corner drugstore. That would be perjury, which I'm allergic to.' 90
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'Your going there had nothing whatever to do with the i 4 murder?'
