they were worse than useless to him.'
Assa nodded. 'I considered that, of course, but still thought it impossible. Another reason I didn't mention my coming to my associates was that I realize you can't acknowledge what you did to save us. I don't expect you to acknowledge it even to me, and you certainly wouldn't if one or two of them had come along, especially Hansen. We wouldn't want you to acknowledge it anyhow, because we've hired you, and the legal position would probably be that we did it ourselves, and that would be disastrous. So you see why I didn't put it baldly.'
'Thank you for your forbearance,' Wolfe said drily. 'But why must the meeting be called off?'
'Because it can't do any good and may do harm. What good can it do?'
Wolfe's eyes were still half closed. 'It can help me to earn a fee. I accepted Mr. Hansen's definition of my job: 'to find out who took the wallet and got the paper.' It remains to be performed.'
'It doesn't have to be performed, not now, since the contest problem is solved. You've earned your fee and you'll get it.'
'You've admitted, Mr. Assa, that you're speaking only for yourself.'
The red tip of his tongue showed again, flicking his lips. 'I'll guarantee the fee,' he said.
Wolfe shook his head. 'I'm afraid that's not acceptable. My responsibility is to my client, and his reciprocal responsibility, to pay me, is not transferable. As for canceling the meeting, that's out of the question. If such a request came unanimously from Messrs. Buff, O'Garro, Hansen, Heery--and you, and cogent reasons were given, I might consider it, but would probably refuse. As it is,--I won't even consider it.'
Assa looked at me. He glanced at the refreshment table, came back to me, and said, 'There's a bottle of Pernod there. That's my drink. Could I have some?'
I said certainly and asked if he wanted ice, and he said no. I took him the Pernod and an Old- Fashioned glass, and he poured two fingers as plump as his own, and darned if he didn't toss it off as if it were a jigger of bourbon. I'm not a Pernod drinker, but there is such a thing as common sense. Not only that, he poured again, this time only one finger, and then, without taking a sip, put the glass down on the little table at his elbow, beside the bottle.
He swallowed a couple of times for a chaser. 'That's a highhanded attitude, Mr. Wolfe,' he said. He paused to collect more words. 'Frankly, I don't see what you expect to accomplish. You'll get your fee, and from our standpoint, as far as the contest is concerned, it no longer matters who got the wallet. Of course it may still be a factor in the murder, but you weren't hired to investigate the murder. That's up to the police. Why do you insist on this meeting?'
'To finish my job. What I engaged to do.'
'But you're more apt to undo what you've already done. The police know now--they were told on your advice--that you have had a copy of the answers in your possession since last Wednesday. How far the discretion of the police can be trusted I don't know, but it's conceivable that one or more of the contestants have learned about it, and if so, God only knows what would happen at the meeting. You might even find yourself backed into a corner where you had to admit you had mailed the answers to them, and LBA would be responsible, and we'd be in a deeper hole than ever.'
'You would indeed,' Wolfe conceded. 'But if that's your fear, dismiss it There will be no such admission by me.'
'What will there be?'
'I couldn't tell you if I would. I have formed certain conjectures and I intend to explore them. That's what the meeting is for, and I shall not abandon it.'
Assa regarded him in silence, steadily, for a full half a minute. At length he broke it. 'When your man Goodwin came to our oflice on Friday and got the word for you to go ahead, he wanted it unanimous. He polled us, and I voted yes with the others. Now I don't, so it's no longer unanimous. I ask you to suspend operations until I have conferred with my associates--say until tomorrow noon. I not only ask you, I direct you.'
Wolfe was shaking his head. 'I'm afraid I can't oblige you, Mr. Assa. Time's important now, now that the spark has been struck and the fire started. It's too late.'
'Too late for what?'
'To stop.'
Assa's eyes dropped. He gazed at his right palm, saw nothing there to encourage him, tried the left, and there was nothing there either. 'Very well,' he said, and arose, in no haste, and started for the door. Considering the turn things had taken, I wouldn't have been astonished if Wolfe had told me to fasten onto him and lock him in the front room until nine o'clock, but he didn't, so I got up and followed the guest into the hall. I didn't resent his not thanking me for holding his topcoat and opening the door, since he was obviously preoccupied.
Back in the office, I stood and looked down at Wolfe. 'I suppose,' I observed, 'it doesn't matter who struck the spark as long as it caught.'
'Yes. Get Mr. Cramer.'
I sat at my desk and dialed. It was a bad time of day to get Cramer ordinarily, but when something big was stirring, or refusing to stir, he sometimes ate at his desk instead of going home for what he called supper. That was one of the times. From the way he growled at me, it was very much one of the times.
Wolfe took it. 'Mr. Cramer? I thought you might be interested in a meeting at my office this evening. We're going to discuss the Dahlmann case. It will--'
'Who's going to discuss it?'
'Everyone concerned--that is, everyone I know about. It will of course be confined to the theft of the wallet, since that's what I'm investigating, but it will inevitably touch upon points that affect you, so I'm inviting you to come--as an observer.'
