There were head shakings and a few muttered negatives. A woman with a double chin said in a loud voice, 'I was watching you, that spray in your face, it was like a scene in the movies, but if he'd done any throwing or anything like that I'm sure I'd have seen him because my eye takes in everything.'
There were a couple of nervous giggles and Barrow aban- doned his amateurs. He looked around, and I felt sorry for him. I still hadn't moved. There was no place within perhaps 6 feet where I could possibly have hidden anything. In the direction I faced were pots of orchid plants on the benches; behind me was the table of dahlia blooms in vases; both were way beyond my reach. I stood with my arms folded.
Barrow had pretty well regained his handsome and un- flinching dignity. He composedly wiped with his handkerchief behind his ears and under his chin and told me: 'Tm taking you to the courthouse for questioning in connection with the murder of Howard Bronson. If you're still trying to decide how to annoy me, it'll take me maybe twenty minutes to get a legal commitment as a material witness-'
'Permit me,' Wolfe put in, purring. 'We surely owe you some complaisance,.Captain, after this regrettable ac- cident. I don't believe I'd insist on a warrant, Archie. We really should cooperate.'
'Whatever you say, boss.'
'Go. After all, it is a little public here for a privy inter- view. I may join you later.-In the meantime, Mr. Waddell, if you can spare a few minutes, I'd like to tell you of a dis- covery I made last evening, touching both Clyde Osgood and Mr. Bronson. I questioned Bronson for nearly an hour, and I think you'll find it interesting.'
'Well… I was going with Captain Barrow…'
Wolfe shrugged. 'Now that Bronson has also been mur- dered, it is doubly interesting.'
'What about it, Captain?'
'Suit yourself,' Barrow told him. 'You're the district attorney, you're in charge. I can handle Goodwin.' He sounded as if all he required was a red-hot poker and a couple of thumbscrews. 'Shall I go on?'
Waddell nodded. 'I'll be along pretty soon.'
I told Wolfe, 'When the young lady comes for the orchids, tell her I've gone to pick huckleberries.'
Walking the length of the main exhibits building to the exit, and through the crowds beyond the end of the grand- stand, Barrow kept behind, with his left elbow about 10 inches back of my right one, proving that he had been to police school. A patrol car, with the top down and a trooper behind the wheel, was waiting there. I was instructed to get in with the driver and Barrow climbed in behind. His eyes weren't leaving me for a second, and I reflected that his hunch that I had something I would like to discard had probably been reinforced by Wolfe's performance with the sprayer.
In 5 minutes, in spite of the exposition traffic, we were pulling up at the courthouse. Instead of entering at the front, as with Osgood when calling on Waddell the day before, we went around to a side entrance that was on the ground level. The hall was dark and smelled of disinfectant and stale tobacco juice. The trooper preceding us turned the knob of a door marked SHERI F, with one F gone, and I followed him in with Barrow at my rear. It was a big dingy room with de- crepit desks and chairs, at one desk in a corner being the only occupant, a bald-headed gentleman with a red face and gold- rimmed specs who nodded at us and said nothing.
'We're going through you,' Barrow announced.
I nodded indifferently and struck a pose. I know that the whole included all its parts and that that was one of the parts, and it had been necessary for Wolfe to toss me to the dogs so that he could have a private interview with the dis- trict attorney's coat pocket. So I tolerated it, and got ad- ditional proof that they had been to police school. They did everything but rip my seams. When they had finished I re- turned the various items to their proper places, and sat down. Barrow stood and gazed down at me. I was surprised he didn't go and wash his face, because that nicotine and soap must have stung. Tough as they come, those weatherbeaten babies.
'The mistake you made,' I told him, 'was coming in there breathing fire. Nero Wolfe and I are respectable law-abiding detectives.'
He grunted. 'Forget it. I'd give a month's pay to know how you did it, and maybe I'll find out sometime, but not now. I'm not going to try any hammering. Not at present.' He glanced to see that the trooper was ready at a desk with notebook and pencil. 'I just want to know a few things. Do you maintain that you took nothing from Bronson at any time?'
'I do.'
'Did you suspect him of being implicated in the murder of Clyde Osgood?'
'You've got the wrong party. Mr. Wolfe does all the sus- pecting for the firm, ask him. I'm the office boy.'
'Do you refuse to answer?'
'No indeed. If you want to know whether I personally suspected Bronson of murder, the reply is no. No known motive.'
'Wasn't there anything in his relations with Clyde that might have supplied a motive?'
'Search me. You're wasting time. Day before yesterday at 2 o'clock the Osgoods and Pratts and Bronson were all com- plete strangers to Mr. Wolfe and me. Our only interest in any of them is that Osgood hired us to investigate the murder of his son. You started investigating simultaneously. If you're discouraged with what you've collected and want our crop as a handout, you'll have to go to Mr. Wolfe. You said you wanted to question me in connection with the murder of Howard Bronson.'
'That's what I'm doing.'
'Go ahead.'
He kicked a chair around and sat down. 'Wolfe inter- viewed Bronson last night. What was said at that interview?'
