fragment, and this smart elephant knows who did it and will have conclusive evidence within 24 hours. So he says.' Waddell suddenly jerked up his chin and whirled to Wolfe: 'Who knows it be- sides you? If Lake or any of his deputies have been holding out on me-'
'No,' Wolfe assured him. 'That's all right. They're in the boat with you and Captain Barrow, with no hooks and no bait.'
'Then when did you pick it up? Where have you been? Goodwin certainly didn't help any, since we collared him soon after Bronson's body was found. By God, if this is a stall…'
Wolfe shook his head. 'Please. I've known who killed Clyde Osgood since Monday night; I knew it as soon as I saw the bull's face; and I knew the motive. Your incredulous stare only makes you look foolish. Likewise with Mr. Bronson; the thing was obvious.'
'You knew all about it when you were sitting there in that chair Tuesday afternoon? Talking to me, the district attorney?'
'Yes. But there was no evidence-or rather, there was, but before I could reach it it had been destroyed. Now I must find a substitute for it, and shall.'
'What was the evidence that was destroyed?'
'Not now. It's nearly 11 o'clock, and Mr. Goodwin and I must be going. We have work to do. By the way, I don't want to be annoyed by surveillance. It will be futile, and if we're followed I shall consider myself released from the bargain.'
'Will you give me your word of honor that you'll do lust what you've agreed to do, with no reservations and no quib- bling?'
'Not a word of honor. I don't like the phrase. The word 'honor' has been employed too much by objecnoname people and has been badly soiled. I give you my word. But I can't sit here talking about it all day. I understand that my assistant has been legally committed, so the release must be legal too.'
Waddell sat and pulled at his ear. He frowned at Barrow, but apparently read no helpful hint on the captain's stony countenance. He reached for his telephone and requested a number, and after a little wait spoke into it: 'Frank? Ask Judge Hutchins if I can run up and see him for a minute. I want to ask him to vacate a warrant.'
19
I ASKED, 'Shall I go get him?' Wolfe said, 'No. We'll wait.'
We were in a room at the exposition offices, not the one where we had met Osgood Tuesday afternoon. This was small- er and contained desks and files and chairs and was cluttered with papers. It was noon. On leaving the courthouse with Wolfe I had been surprised to find that our sedan was parked out front; he explained that an Osgood employee had brought it from where I had left it the day before. He had instructed me to head for the exposition grounds, and our first stop had been the main exhibits building, where we gave the orchids an inspection and a spraying, and Wolfe arranged with an official for their care until Saturday, and the crating and shipping when the exposition closed. Then we had walked to the offices and been shown to Room 9. I was allowed to know that we expected to meet Lew Bennett there, but he hadn't arrived, and at noon we were still waiting for him.
I said, 'If you ask my opinion, I think the best thing we can do is disguise ourselves as well as possible and jump in the car and drive like hell for New York. Or maybe across the line to Vermont and hide out in an old marble quarry.'
'Stop that scratching.'
I stuck my hands in my pockets. 'You realize that I have been studying your face for 10 years, its lights and its shadows, the way it is arranged, and the way you handle it. And I say in all disrespect that I do not believe that the evidence which you mentioned to those false alarms is in existence.'
'It isn't.'
'I refer to the evidence which you promised to deliver within 24 hours.'
'So do I.'
'But it doesn't exist.'
'No.'
'But you're going to deliver it?'
'Yes.'
I stared. 'Okay. I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later, but it's so painful to see that I wish it had happened to me first. Once at my mother's knee, back in 1839 I think it was-'
'Shut up, I'm going to make it.'
'What? The bughouse?'
'The evidence. There is none. The bull was cremated. Noth- ing else remained to demonstrate the motive for murdering Clyde, and even if there had been other incriminating de- tails-and there were none-they would have been useless. As for Bronson, Mr, Lake reports a vacuum. No fingerprints, ex- cept yours on the wallet, no one who remembers seeing him enter the shed, no one who saw him in anybody's company, no one with any discoverable motive. From the New York end, tracing his phone calL so far nothing-and of course there can be nothing. A complete vacuum. Under the circum- stances there is only-ah! Good morning, sir.'
The Secretary of the National Guernsey League, having entered and shut the door behind him, approached. He looked like a man who has been interrupted, but nothing like as exasperated as he had been the preceding day. His greeting was affable but not frothy, and he sat down as if he didn't expect to stay long.
Wolfe said, 'Thank you for coming. You're busy of course. Remarkable, how many ways there are of being busy. I be- lieve Mr. Osgood told you on the phone that I would ask a favor in his name. I'll be brief. First the
