He turned to Zoltan. 'You say you watched as the plates were taken, and each of them took only one. Did one of them come back and take another?'
Zoltan looked fully as unhappy as Fritz. 'I'm thinking, Mr. Wolfe. I can try to think, but I'm afraid it won't help. I didn't look at their faces, and they're all dressed alike. I guess I didn't watch very close.'
'Fritz?'
'No, sir. I was at the range.'
'Then try this, Zoltan. Who were the first ones to take plates-- the first three or four?'
Zoltan slowly shook his head. 'I'm afraid it's no good, Mr. Wolfe. I could try to think, but I couldn't be sure.' He moved his eyes right to left and back again, at the girls. 'I tell you, I wasn't looking at their faces.' He extended his hands, palms up. 'You will consider, Mr. Wolfe, I was not thinking of poison. I was only seeing that the plates were carried properly. Was I thinking which one has got arsenic? No.'
'I took the first plate,' a girl blurted--another whose name I didn't know. 'I took it in and gave it to the man in my chair, the one at the left corner at the other side of the table, and I stayed there. I never left the dining room.'
'Your name, please?'
'Marjorie Quinn.'
'Thank you. Now the second plate. Who took it?'
Apparently nobody. Wolfe gave them ten seconds, his eyes moving to take them all in, his lips tight. 'I advise you,' he said, 'to jog your memories, in case it becomes necessary to establish the order in which you took the plates by dragging it out of you. I hope it won't come to that.' His head turned. 'Felix, I have neglected you purposely, to give you time to reflect. You were in the dining room. My expectation was that after I had learned who had served the first course to Mr. Pyle you would corroborate it, but now that there is nothing for you to corroborate I must look to you for the fact itself. I must ask you to point her out.'
In a way Wolfe was Felix's boss. When Wolfe's oldest and dearest friend, Marko Vukcic, who had owned Rusterman's restaurant,
Poison & la Cane 19
had died, his will had left the restaurant to members of the staff in trust, with Wolfe as the trustee, and Felix was the maitre d'h6tel. With that joh at the hest restaurant in New York, naturally Felix was both bland and commandingj but now he was neither. If he felt the way he looked, he was miserable.
'I can't,' he said.
'Pfui! You, trained as you are to see everything?'
'That is true, Mr. Wolfe. I knew you would ask me this, but I can't. I can only explain. The young woman who just spoke, Marjorie Quinn, was the first one in with a plate, as she said. She did not say that as she served it one of the blinis slid off onto the table, but it did. As I sprang toward her she was actually about to pick it up with her fingers, and I jerked her away and put it back on the plate with a fork, and I gave her a look. Anyway, I was not myself. Having women as waiters was bad enough, and not only that, they were without experience. When I recovered command of myself I saw the red-headed one, Choate, standing back of Mr. Pyle, to whom she had been assigned, with a plate in her hand, and I saw that he had already been served. As I moved forward she stepped to the right and served the plate to you. The operation was completely upset, and I was helpless. The dark-skinned one, lacono, who was assigned to you, served Mr. Kreis, and the--'
'If you please.' Wolfe was curt. 'I have heard them, and so have you. I have always found you worthy of trust, but it's possible that in your exalted position, maitre d'hdtel at Rusterman's, you would rather dodge than get involved in a poisoning. Are you dodging, Felix?'
'Good God, Mr. Wolfe, I am involved!'
'Very well. I saw that woman spill the blini and start her fingers for it, and I saw you retrieve it. Yes, you're involved, but not as I am.' He turned to me. 'Archie. You are commonly my first resort, but now you are my last. You sat next to Mr. Pyle. Who put that plate before him?'
Of course I knew that was coming, but I hadn't been beating my brain because there was no use. I said merely but positively, 'No.' He glared at me and I added, 'That's all, just no, but like Felix I can explain. First, I would have had to turn around to see
2O
3 at Wolfe's Door
her face, and that's bad table manners. Second, I was watching Felix rescue the blini. Third, there was an argument going on about flowers with spots and streaks, and I was listening to it and so were you. I didn't even see her arm.'
Wolfe stood and breathed. He shut his eyes and opened them again, and breathed some more. 'Incredible,' he muttered. 'The wretch had incredible luck.'
'I'm going home,' Fern Faber said. 'I'm tired.'
'So am I,' another one said, and was moving, but Wolfe's eyes pinned her. 'I advise you not to,' he said. 'It is true that Miss Faber is eliminated as the culprit, and also Miss Quinn, since she was under surveillance by Felix while Mr. Pyle was being served, but I advise even them to stay. When Mr. Pyle dies the doctors will certainly summon the police, and it would be well for all of you to be here when they arrive. I had hoped to be able to present them with an exposed murderer. Confound it! There is still a chance. Archie, come with me. Fritz, Felix, Zoltan, remain with these women. If one or more of them insist on leaving do not detain them by force, but have the names and the times of departure. If they want to eat feed them. I'll be--'
'I'm going home,' Fern Faber said stubbornly.
'Very well, go. You'll be got out of bed by a policeman before the night's out. I'll be in the dining room, Fritz. Come, Archie.'
He went and I followed, along the pantry corridor and through the two-way door. On the way I glanced at my
