I prefer, Wolfe said, to speak with you separately, but first I must make sure that there is no misunderstanding. I intend to badger you, but you dont have to submit to it. Before I start, or at any moment, you may get up and leave. If you do, you will be through with me; thenceforth you will deal with the police. I make that clear because I dont want you bouncing up and down. If you want to go now, go.
He took a deep breath. He had just come in from the dining-room, having had his coffee there while I reported on the summit conference at Toms Joint.
We were forced to come here by a threat, Byne said.
Certainly you were. And I am detaining you by the same threat. When you prefer that to this, leave. Now, madam, I wish to speak privately with Mr Byne. Saul, take Mrs Usher to the front room.
Dont go, Byne told her. Stay here.
Wolfe turned to me. You were right, Archie. He is incorrigible. It isnt worth it. Get Mr Cramer.
No, Elaine Usher said. She left the chair. Ill go.
Saul was up. This way, he said, and went and opened the door to the front room and held it for her. When she had passed through he followed and closed the door.
Wolfe levelled his eyes at Byne. Now, sir. Dont bother to raise your voice; that wall and door are sound-proofed. Mr Goodwin has told me how you explained being in that restaurant with Mrs Usher. Do you expect me to accept it?
No, Dinky said.
Of course. He had had time to realize that it wouldnt do. If he had gone to see her because her daughter was at Grantham House, how had he learned that she was Faiths mother? Not from the records and not from Mrs Irwin. From one of the other girls? It was too tricky.
What do you substitute for it? Wolfe asked.
I told Goodwin that because the real explanation would have been embarrassing for Mrs Usher. Now I cant help it. I met her some time ago, three years ago, and for about a year I was intimate with her. Shell probably deny it. Im pretty sure she will Naturally she would.
No doubt. And your meeting her this evening was accidental?
No, Dinky said. He had also had time to realize that that was too fishy. He went on, She phoned me this morning and said she was at the Christie Hotel , registered as Edith Upson. She had known that I was Mrs Robilottis nephew, and she said she wanted to see me and ask me about her daughter who had died. I told her I hadnt been there Tuesday evening, and she said she knew that, but she wanted to see me. I agreed to see her because I didnt want to offend her. I didnt want it to get out that I had been intimate with Faith Ushers mother. We arranged to meet at that restaurant.
Had you known previously that she was Faith Ushers mother?
I had known that she had a daughter, but not that her name was Faith. She had spoken of her daughter when wewhen I had known her.
What did she ask you about her daughter this evening?
She just wanted to know if I knew anything that hadnt been in the papers. Anything about the people there or exactly what had happened. I could tell her about the people, but I didnt know any more about what had happened than she did.
Do you wish to elaborate on any of this? Or add anything?
Theres nothing to add.
Then Ill see Mrs Usher. After I speak with her Ill ask you in again, with her present. Archie, take Mr Byne and bring Mrs Usher.
He came like a lamb. He had thrown away his discard and made his draw and his bets, and was ready for the show-down. I opened the door for him, held it for Mrs Usher to enter, closed it, and returned to my desk. She went to the red leather chair, so Wolfe had to swivel to face her. Another item of Sauls report on her had been that she liked men, and there were indications that men probably liked herthe way she handled her hips when she walked, the tilt of her head, the hint of a suggestion in her eyes, even now, when she was under pressure and when the man she was looking at was not a likely candidate for a frolic. And she was forty. At twenty she must have been a treat.
Wolfe breathed deep again. Exertion right after a meal was pretty rugged. Of course, madam, he said, my reason for speaking with you and Mr Byne separately is transparent: to see if your account will agree with his. Since you have had no opportunity for collusion, agreement would be, if not conclusive, at least persuasive.
She smiled. You use big words, dont you? Something in her tone and her look conveyed the notion that for years she had been wanting to meet a man who used big words.
Wolfe grunted. I try to use words that say what I mean.
So do I, she declared, but sometimes its hard to find the ones I want. I dont know what Mr Byne told you, but all I can do is tell you the truth. You want to know how I happened to be with him there tonight, isnt that it?
Thats it.
Well, I phoned him this morning and said I wanted to see him and he said he would meet me there at Toms Joint, I had never heard of it before, at a quarter past seven. So I went. Thats not very thrilling, is it?
Only moderately. Have you known him long?
I dont really know him at all. I met him somewhere about a year ago, and I wish I could tell you where, but Ive been trying to remember and I simply cant . It was a party somewhere, but I cant remember where. Anyhow, it doesnt matter. But yesterday I was sitting at the window thinking about my daughter. My dear daughter Faith. She stopped to gulp, but it wasnt very impressive. And I remembered meeting a man named Byne, Austin Byne, and someone telling me, maybe he told me himself, that he was the nephew of the rich Mrs Robilotti who used to be Mrs Albert Grantham. And my daughter had died at Mrs Robilottis house, so maybe he could tell me about her, and maybe he could get Mrs Robilotti to see me so I could ask her about her. I wanted to learn all I could about my daughter. She gulped.
It didnt look good. In fact, it looked bad. Byne had been smart enough to invent one that she couldnt be expected to corroborate; he had even warned that she would probably deny it; and what was worse, it was even possible that he hadnt invented it. He might have been telling the truth, like a gentleman. The meeting of Wolfes two bright ideas at Toms Joint, which had looked so rosy when Saul told me they were together, might fizzle out entirely. Maybe he wasnt a genius after all.
If he was sharing my gloom it didnt show. He asked, Since your rendezvous with Mr Byne was innocuous, why were you alarmed by his threat to call the police? What were her words, Archie?
Not the cops. My God, not the cops.
Yes. Why, Mrs Usher?
I dont like cops. I never have liked cops.
Why did you leave your home and go to a hotel and register under another name?
Because of how I felt, what my daughter had done. I didnt want to see people. I knew newspapermen would come. And cops. I wanted to be alone. You would too if
The doorbell rang, and I went. Sometimes I let Fritz answer it when I am engaged, but with her there and Byne in the front room I thought I had better see who it was, and besides, I was having a come-down and felt like moving. It was only Orrie Gather. I opened up and greeted him, and he crossed the sill, and I shut the door. When he removed his coat there was disclosed a leather thing, a zippered case, that he had had under it.
Whats that? I asked. Your week-end bag?
No, he said. Its Mrs Ushers sec
My hand darted to clap on his mouth. He was startled, but he can take a hint, and when I headed down the hall and turned right to the dining-room he followed.