'Maybe I'm holding an auction,' I said easily.
'Umph! You're wasting your time; this pair hasn't two cents to rub together.'
Katherine Halstead said cuttingly, 'I always thought you bought your reputation, Professor Fallon. And what you can't buy, you steal.'
Fallon whirled. 'Goddammit! Are you calling me a thief, young lady?'
'I am,' she said calmly. 'You've got the Vivero letter, haven't you?'
Fallon went very still. 'What do you know about the Vivero letter?'
I know it was stolen from us nearly two years ago -- and I know that you have it now.' She looked across at me. 'What conclusions would you draw from that, Mr. Wheale?'
I looked at Fallon speculatively. The chemicals were mixing nicely and maybe they'd brew a little bit of truth. I was all for stirring up the broth. I said, 'Do you have this letter?'
Fallon nodded reluctantly. 'I do -- I bought it quite legally in New York, and I have a receipt to prove it. But, hell, these are a fine pair to talk about theft. What about the papers you stole from me in Mexico, Halstead?'
Halstead's nostrils pinched in whitely. 'I stole nothing from you that wasn't mine. And what did you steal from me -- just my reputation, that's all. There are too many thieving bastards like you in the profession, Fallon; incompetents who build their reputations on the work of others.'
'Why, you son of a bitch!' roared Fallon. 'You had your say in the journals and no one took any notice of you. Do yon think anyone believes that poppycock?'
They were facing each other like fighting cocks and in another minute would have been at each other's throats had I not yelled at the top of my voice, 'Quiet!' They both turned, and I said in a calmer voice, 'Sit down both of you. I've never seen a more disgraceful exhibition by two grown men in my life. You'll behave yourselves in my house or I'll turn the lot of you out -- and neither of you will ever get to see this bloody tray.'
Fallon said sheepishly, 'I'm sorry, Wheale, but this man got my goat.' He sat down.
Halstead also seated himself; he glared at Fallon and said nothing. Katherine Halstead's face was white and she had pink spots in her cheeks. She looked at her husband and tightened her lips and, when he maintained his silence, she said, 'I apologize for our behaviour, Mr. Wheale.'
I said bluntly, 'You do your own apologizing, Mrs. Halstead; you can't apologize for others -- not even your husband.' I paused, waiting for Halstead to say something, but he maintained a stubborn silence, so I ignored him and turned to Fallon. 'I'm not particularly interested in the ins-and-outs of your professional arguments, although I must say I'm surprised at the charges that have been made here this afternoon.'
Fallon smiled sourly. 'I didn't start the mud-throwing.'
'I don't give a damn about that,' I said. 'You people are incredible. You're so wrapped up in your tuppenny- ha'penny professional concerns that you forget a man' has been murdered because of that tray. Two men are already dead, for God's sake!'
Katherine Halstead said, 'I'm sorry if we appear so heartless; it must seem peculiar to you.'
'By God, it does! Now, listen to me carefully -- all of you. I seem to have been dealt a high card in this particular game -- I've got the tray that's so damned important. But nobody is going to get as much as a sniff at it until I'm told the name of the game. I'm not going to operate blindfolded. Fallon, what about it?'
He stirred impatiently. 'All right, it's a deal. I'll tell you everything you want to know- -- but privately. I don't want Halstead in on it.'
'Not a chance,' I said. 'Anything you want to tell me, you do it here and now in this room -- and that applies to you, Halstead, too.'
Halstead said in a cold rage, This is monstrous. Am I to give away the results of years of research to this charlatan?'
'You'll put up or you'll shut up.' I stuck out a finger. The door's open and you can leave any time you like. Nobody is keeping you here. But if you go, that leaves Fallon with the tray.'
Indecision chased over his face and his knuckles whitened as he gripped the arms of the chair. Katherine Halstead took the decision from him. She said firmly, 'We accept your conditions. We stay.' Halstead looked at her with a sudden air of shock, and she said, 'It's all right, Paul; I know what I'm doing.'
'Fallon -- what about you?'
'I guess I'm stuck with it,' he said, and smiled slowly. 'Halstead talks about years of research. Well, I've put in quite a few years myself. It wouldn't surprise me if we both know all there is to know about the problem. Heaven knows, I've been falling over this pair in every museum in Europe. I doubt if the pooling of information is going to bring up anything new.'
'I might surprise you,' said Halstead sharply. 'You have no monopoly on brains.'
'Cut it out,' I said coldly. This confessional is going to be run under my rules, and that means no snide comments from anyone. Do I make myself quite clear?'
Fallon said, 'You know, Wheale, when I first met you I didn't think much of you. You surprise me,'
I grinned. 'I surprise myself sometimes.' And so I did! Whatever had happened to the grey little man?
Three
It was an astonishing, incredible and quite preposterous story, and, if I did not have a queer and inexplicable photograph up in the darkroom, I would have rejected it out of hand. And yet Fallon was no fool and he believed it -- and so did Halstead, although I wouldn't have bet on the adequacy of his mental processes.
I ruled the proceedings firmly while the story was being told. Occasionally there were outbursts of temper, mostly from Halstead but with a couple of bitter attacks from Fallon, and I had to crack down hard. It was quite apparent that, while none of them liked what I was doing, they had no alternative but to comply. My possession of
