Do you mean the Commissioner?
Yes. He said it was unofficial and off the record, and made an offensive proposal which Mr Goodwin was to refer to me. I dont complain of that to you, since he is your superior and you presumably didnt know about it.
I didnt.
But it was another thorn for me, and I have had enough. I would like to put an end to it. All this hullabaloo has been caused by Mr Goodwins conviction, as an eye-witness, that Faith Usher did not kill herself, and I intend to satisfy myself on the point independently. If I decide he is wrong I will deal with him. If I decide he is right it will be because I will have uncovered evidence that may have escaped you. I notify you of my intention because in order to proceed I must see all of the people involved, I must invite them to my office, and I thought you should know about it. I thought you might choose to be present, and if so you will be welcome, but in that case you should get them here. I will not ask people to my office for a conference and then confront them with a police inspector. Tomorrow morning at eleven oclock would be a good time.
Cramer made a noise, something like Wmgzwmzg. Then he found words. So youve got your teeth in something. What?
Its other peoples teeth that are in something. In me. And Im annoyed. The situation is precisely as I have described it and I have nothing to add.
You wouldnt have. Tomorrow is Sunday.
Yes. Since three of them are girls with jobs that is just as well.
You want all of them?
Yes.
Are any of them with you now?
No.
Is Commissioner Skinner in this?
No.
Ill call you back in an hour.
That wont do, Wolfe objected. If I am to invite them I must start at once, and its late.
Not only that, but he knew darned well that if he gave him an hour Cramer would probably ring our bell in about ten minutes and want in. Anyway, it was a cinch that Cramer would buy it, and after a few more foolish questions he did.
We hung up, and Wolfe turned to Byne, who had returned to his chair. Now for you, he said, and Mrs Usher. I do not intend to let you communicate with anyone, and there is only one way to insure against it. She will spend the night here; there is a spare room with a good bed. It is a male household, but that shouldnt disconcert her. There is another room you may use, or, if you prefer, Mr Panzer will accompany you home and sleep there, and bring you here in the morning. Mr Cramer will have the others here at eleven oclock.
You can go to hell, Byne said. He stood up. Im taking Mrs Usher to her hotel.
Wolfe shook his head. I know your mind is in disorder, but surely you must see that that is out of the question. I cant possibly allow you an opportunity to repair any of the gaps I have made in your fences. If you scoot I shall move at once, and youll find you have no fences left at all. Only by my sufferance can you hope to get out of this mess without disfigurement, and you know it. Archie, bring Saul and Mrs Usherno. First ring Mr Bynes apartment and tell Orrie to come. Also tell him not to be disappointed at not finding the agreement; it isnt there. If he has found any items that seem significant he might as well bring them.
You goddamn snoop, Dinky said, merely repeating himself.
I turned to the phone.
Chapter 15
For an hour and a half Sunday morning Fritz and I worked like beavers, setting the stage. The idea wasthat is, Wolfes ideato reproduce as nearly as possibly the scene of the crime, and it was a damn silly idea, since you could have put seven or eight of that office into Mrs Robilottis drawing-room. Taking the globe and the couch and the television cabinet and a few other items to the dining-room helped a little, but it was still hopeless. I wanted to go up to the plant rooms and tell Wolfe so, and add that if a play-back was essential to his programme he had better break his rule never to leave the house on business and move the whole performance uptown to Mrs Robilottis, but Fritz talked me out of it. To get fourteen chairs we had to bring some down from upstairs, and then it developed later that some of them werent really necessary. The bar was a table over in the far corner, but it couldnt be against the wall because there had to be room for Hackett behind it. One small satisfaction I got was that the red leather chair had been taken to the dining-room with the other stuff, and Cramer wouldnt like that a bit.
Furniture-moving wasnt all. Mrs Usher kept buzzing on the house phone from the South Room, for more coffee, for more towels, though she had a full supply, for a section she said was missing from the Sunday paper I had taken her, and for an additional list of items I had to get from the drugstore. Then at ten-fifteen here came Austin Byne, escorted by Saul, demanding a private audience with Wolfe immediately, and to get him off my neck I had Saul take him up the three flights to the vestibule of the plant rooms, where they found the door locked, and then Saul had to get physical with him when he wanted to open doors on the upper floors trying to find Mrs Usher.
I expected more turmoil when, at ten-forty, the bell rang and Inspector Cramer was on the stoop, but it wasnt Wolfe he had come early for. He merely asked if Mrs Robilotti had arrived, and, when I told him no, stayed outside. Theoretically, in a democracy, a police inspector should react just the same to a dame with a Fifth Avenue mansion as to an unmarried mother, but a job is a job, and facts are facts and one fact was that the Commissioner himself had taken the trouble to make a trip to the mansion. So I didnt chalk it up against Cramer that he waited out on the sidewalk for the Robilotti limousine; and anyway, he was there to greet the three unmarried mothers when Sergeant Purley Stebbins arrived with them in a police car. The three chevaliers, Paul Schuster, Beverly Kent, and Edwin Laidlaw, came singly, on their own.
I had promised myself a certain pleasure, and I didnt let Cramers one-man reception committee interfere with it. When the limousine finally rolled to the curb, a few minutes late, and he convoyed Mrs Robilotti up the stoop steps, followed by her husband, son, daughter, and butler, I held the door for them as they entered and then left them to Fritz. My objective was the last one in, Hackett. When he had crossed the sill I put my hands ready for his coat and hat, in the proper manner exactly.
Good morning, sir, I said. A pleasant day. Mr Wolfe will be down shortly.
It got him. He darted a glance at the others, saw that no eye was on him, handed me his hat, and said, Quite. Thank you, Goodwin.
That made the day for me personally, no matter how it turned out professionally. I took him to the office and then went to the kitchen, buzzed the plant rooms on the house phone, and told Wolfe the cast had arrived.
Mrs Usher? he asked.
Okay. In her room. Shell stay put.
Mr Byne?
Also okay. In the office with the others, with Saul glued to him.
Very well. Ill be down.
I went and joined the mob. They were scattered around, some seated and some standing. I permitted myself a private grin when I saw that Cramer, finding the red leather chair gone, had moved one of the yellow ones to its exact position and put Mrs Robilotti in it, and was on his feet beside it, bending down to her. As I threaded my way through to my desk the sound of the elevator came, and in a moment Wolfe entered.
No pronouncing of names was required, since he had met the Robilottis and the Grantham twins at the time of the jewellery hunt. He made it to his desk, sent his eyes around, and sat. He looked at Cramer.
You have explained the purpose of this gathering, Mr Cramer?