Three at Wolfe's Door

who couldn't claim a delivery, and that would tag her. I was rather hoping it wouldn't be the next one, for the girl with the throaty voice had been Adrian Dart's, and she had called me Archie and had given Helen lacono a nice tribute. Would she claim she had served Dart herself?

No. She answered without being asked. 'My name is Lucy Morgan,' she said, 'and I had Adrian Dart, and Carol got to him before I did. There was only one place that didn't have one, on Dart's left, the next but one, and I took it there. I don't know his name.'

I supplied it. 'Hewitt. Mr. Lewis Hewitt.' A better name for it than ring-around-a-rosy would have been passing-the-buck. I looked at Fern Faber, the tall self-made blonde with a wide lazy mouth who had been my first stop on my phone-number tour. 'It's your turn, Miss Faber,' I told her. 'You had Mr. Hewitt. Yes?'

'I sure did.' Her voice was pitched so high it threatened to squeak.

'But you didn't take him his caviar?'

'I sure didn't.'

'Then who did you take it to?'

'Nobody.'

I looked at Wolfe. His eyes were narrowed at her. 'What did you do with it, Miss Faber?'

'I didn't do anything with it. There wasn't any.'

'Nonsense. There are twelve of you, and there were twelve at the table, and each got a portion. How can you say there wasn't any?'

'Because there wasn't. I was in the John fixing my hair, and

i6

3 at Wolfe's Door

when I came back in she was taking the last one from the table, and when I asked where mine was he said he didn't know, and I went to the dining room and they all had some.'

'Who was taking the last one from the table?'

She pointed to Lucy Morgan. 'Her.'

'Whom did you ask where yours was?'

She pointed to Zoltan. 'Him.'

Wolfe turned. 'Zoltan?'

'Yes, sir. I mean, yes, sir, she asked where hers was. I had turned away when the last one was taken. I don't mean I know where she had been, just that she asked me that. I asked Fritz if I should go in and see if they were one short and he said no, Felix was there and would see to it.'

Wolfe went back to Fern Faber. 'Where is that room where you were fixing your hair?'

She pointed toward the pantry. 'In there.'

'The door's around the corner,' Felix said.

'How long were you in there?'

'My God, I don't know, do you think I timed it? When Archie Goodwin was talking to us, and Mr. Schriver came and said they were going to start, I went pretty soon after that.'

Wolfe's head jerked to me. 'So that's where you were. I might have known there were young women around. Supposing that Miss Faber went to fix her hair shortly after you left--say three minutes--how long was she at it, if the last plate had been taken from the table when she returned to the kitchen?'

I gave it a thought. 'Fifteen to twenty minutes.'

He growled at her, 'What was wrong with your hair?'

'I didn't say anything was wrong with it.' She was getting riled. 'Look, Mister, do you want all the details?'

'No.' Wolfe surveyed them for a moment, not amiably, took in enough air to fill all his middle--say two bushels--let it out again, turned his back on them, saw the glass of wine Fritz had left on a table, went and picked it up, smelled it, and stood gazing at it. The girls started to make noises, and, hearing them, he put the glass down and came back.

I

Poison a la Carte

*7

-f 'You're in a pickle,' he said. 'So am I. You heard me apologize %l-Mr- Brenner and avow my responsibility for his undertaking to Jj?k that meal. When, upstairs, I saw that Mr. Pyle would die, iad reached the conclusions I told you of, I felt myself under compulsion to expose the culprit. I am committed. When I came here I thought it would be a simple matter to learn who had '. poisoned food to Mr. Pyle, but I was wrong. It's obvious that I have to deal with one who is not only resourceful and ious, but also quick-witted and audacious. While I was clos in on her just now, as I thought, inexorably approaching the it where she would either have to contradict one of you or f that she had served the first course to anyone, she was fleering tt me inwardly, and with reason, for her coup had worked. She Hud slipped through my fingers, and--'

1 'But she didn't!' It came from one of them whose name I didn't have. 'She said she didn't serve anybody!'

> Wolfe shook his head. 'No. Not Miss Faber. She is the only one who is eliminated. She says she was absent from this room 'daring the entire period when the plates were being taken from jfcfe table, and she wouldn't