'Is Talbott there?'
'No, he hasn't been in today.'
I glanced at my wrist and saw twenty minutes past one. I stood up. 'Rye with mustard?'
'No. White bread and nothing on it--no butter.'
'Okay. On one condition, that you promise not to phone Mr. Wolfe. If you did you'd be sure to tell him that you got what he's after, and I want to surprise him with it.'
He said he wouldn't, and that he wanted two sandwiches and plenty of coffee, and I departed. Two men and a woman who were standing in the corridor, talking, inspected me head to foot as I passed but didn't try to trip me, and I went on out to the elevators, descended, and got directed to a phone booth in the lobby.
Orrie Gather answered again, and I began to suspect that he and Saul were continuing the pinochle game with Wolfe.
'I'm on my way,' I told Wolfe when he was on, 'to get corned-beef sandwiches for Pohl and me but I've got a plan. He promised not to phone you while I'm gone, and if I don't go back he's stuck. He has installed himself in Keyes' room, which you ought to see, against Dorothy's protests, and intends to stay. Been there all day. What shall I do, come home or go to a movie?'
'Has Mr. Pohl had lunch?'
'Certainly not. That's what the sandwiches are for.'
Curtains for Three 113
'Then you'll have to take them to him:'
I remained calm because I knew he meant it from I his heart, or at least his stomach. He couldn't bear the | idea of even his bitterest enemy missing a meal.
'All right,' I conceded, 'and I may get a tip. By the |, way, that trick you tried didn't work. Right away he I found a record of Talbott's travels in Keyes' desk and I copied it off on a sheet from Keyes' memo pad. I've got I it in my pocket.'
'Read it to me.'
'Oh, you can't wait.' I got the paper out and read I the list of towns and dates to him. Twice he said I was going too fast, so apparently he was taking it down. ijiWhen that farce was over I asked, 'After I feed him, Mfcen what?'
'Call in again when you've had your lunch.'
I banged the thing on the hook.
They were good sandwiches. The beef was tender and full of hot salty sap, with just the right amount of fat, and the bread had some character. I was a little short on milk, having got only a pint, but stretched it out. In
s between bites we discussed matters, and I made a mis; take. I should of course have told Pohl nothing whatever, especially since the more I saw of him the less I
liked him, but the sandwiches were so good that I got careless and let it out that as far as I knew no attack had been made on the phone girl and the waiter at the Hotel Churchill. Pohl was determined to phone Wolfe immediately to utter a howl, and in order to stop him I had to tell him that Wolfe had other men on the case
|,and I didn't know who or what they were covering.
114 Rex Stout
I was about to phone myself when the door opened and Dorothy Keyes and Victor Talbott walked in.
I stood up. Pohl didn't.
'Hello hello,' I said cheerfully. 'Nice place you have here.'
Neither of them even nodded to me. Dorothy dropped into a chair against a wall, crossed her legs, and turned her gaze on Pohl with her chin in the air.
Talbott marched over to us at the ebony desk, stopped at my elbow, and told Pohl, 'You know damn well you've got no right here, going through things and trying to order the staff around. You have no right here at all. I'll give you one minute to get out.'
'Youll give me?' Pohl sounded nasty and looked nasty. 'You're a paid employee, and you won't be that long, and I'm part owner, and you say you'll give me! Trying to order the staff around, am I? I'm giving the staff a chance to tell the truth, and they're doing it. Two of them have spent an hour in a lawyer's office, getting it on paper. A complaint has been sworn against Broadyke for receiving stolen goods, and he's been arrested by now.'
Talbott said, 'Get out,' without raising his voice.
Pohl, not moving, said, 'And I might also mention that a complaint has been sworn against you for stealing the goods. The designs you sold to Broadyke. Are you going to try to alibi that too?'
Talbott's jaw worked a couple of seconds before it let his lips open for speech. His teeth stayed together as he said, 'You can leave now.'
'Or I can stay. I'll stay.' Pohl was sneering, and it made his network of face creases deeper. 'You may have noticed I'm not alone.'
I didn't care for that. 'Just a minute,' I put in. 'I'll hold your coats, and that's all. Don't count on me, Mr.
Curtains for Three 115
'ft
Pohl. I'm strictly a spectator, except for one thing, you haven't paid me for your sandwiches and coffee. ; Ninety-five cents before you go, if you're going.'
