“You don’t have to conceive his reason,” Bragan rumbled. “Find him and ask him.”
“That is a possibility,” the D.A. conceded. “Two of the sheriff’s men and two troopers are now exploring it. But one more fact: There are two large stacks of firewood outside on your premises. One of them is eight-foot logs for your big fireplace The other is shorter and smaller logs for the smaller fireplaces in your other rooms, and in it are scores, hundreds, of pieces of ash similar to the one the sheriff has just shown you. There is no stack of wood like that within two miles or more. So, believe me, Mr. Bragan, we have been forced to our conclusion. We don’t like it — we don’t like it at all — but duty is duty no matter how painful it is. Our conclusion is that Mr. Leeson was killed with that club by premeditation, that the club came from your wood-pile, and that it was used by someone here at your place. Is that right, Nate?”
“That’s the way I see it,” the sheriff declared.
Bragan was leaning forward. “You’re actually saying that I or one of my guests murdered Mr. Leeson? And you know who my guests are?”
“I certainly do,” Colvin said. “But there are two of them who may have reason to—” He stopped. “No.” He turned to the man with the notebook. “Strike out that last sentence.”
“Okay.” The man scratched with his pen.
Colvin resumed: “I am keenly aware of the situation, Mr. Bragan, but the inquiry must be proper and, of course, unprejudiced. It may be necessary later to talk with one or more of you privately, but I think it’s better to start this way, with you first, naturally. For the record I ask you, did you strike Leeson with that club or any other weapon?”
“No. Good heavens, man! No!”
“Have you any reason whatever to suspect any person present of having done so?”
“No. None.”
Colvin’s eyes moved. “Those two questions are pro forma for each and all of you. You have heard them and will please answer them... Mrs. Leeson?”
“No.” Her voice was low. “To both.”
“Mrs. Kelefy?”
“One moment,” Ferris put in. “To put such questions to the wife of a distinguished foreign ambassador is highly improper.”
I would have liked to ask if it would be okay to put them to the wife of an undistinguished foreign ambassador, but skipped it. Anyway, the distinguished ambassador was speaking:
“This is no time to seek refuge in propriety. Answer, my dear.”
“But of course,” she said. “Certainly no to both questions.”
“Ambassador Kelefy, if you wish to answer?”
“I do. I answer no”
“Mr. Papps?”
“No and no.”
“Mr. Ferris?”
“No to both.”
“Nero Wolfe?”
“No to both.”
“Goodwin?”
“I’ve been asked before. No again.”
Colvin’s eyes went right and left. “You were asked previously when and where you last saw Mr. Leeson alive, but in the present circumstances I would like to verify it. Ambassador Kelefy and Mr. Papps, whose stretches were south, upstream, last saw him when they parted from him on the veranda shortly before eight o’clock this morning. Mrs. Leeson last saw him when he left their room this morning to go to breakfast. Mrs. Kelefy last saw him last evening when she and her husband left this room to go to bed. Mr. Ferris last saw him on the trail, when Mr. Ferris left the trail to strike the river and start fishing his stretch, Number Three. Mr. Leeson and Mr. Bragan continued on the trail, and Mr. Bragan last saw Mr. Leeson when he left the trail for the river at the beginning of his stretch, Number Four. Mr. Bragan continued on the trail to the boundary of his water, to fish stretch Number Five. Wolfe and Goodwin last saw him last evening in this room.
“That’s the way we have it; that’s what you’ve told us. I now ask each and all of you, is that correct in every particular? Correct not only as regards yourself, but as regards the others? If not, tell me.”
Not a peep.
Colvin took a breath. “Mr. Bragan, it is necessary to ask you this? There was a piece in the paper day before yesterday, a dispatch from Washington, about this fishing party at your lodge. It said that Ambassador Kelefy’s chief purpose in his new post would be to carry on negotiations regarding oil rights in his country, that vast sums were involved, and that he had brought Mr. Nicholas Papps with him for that purpose; that Mr. Leeson was included in the party because he knew Ambassador Kelefy, having formerly been an attaché of our embassy in the Ambassador’s country; and that the negotiations might be brought to a conclusion on the bank of this trout stream, since the two chief bidders for the rights were both here. The article named them: O. V. Bragan of the Hemisphere Oil Company and James Arthur Ferris of the Universal Syndicate.”
“Well, what about it?”
“It said the rivalry between Hemisphere and Universal was intense and bitter — yes, it said ‘bitter.’ You must see that this is going to cause widespread speculation. Do you want to comment on that?”
“I do not,” Bragan replied.
“It might be helpful for you to give me some idea, privately if you prefer, of the state of the negotiations. Of the nature of the relationships of all those concerned. It might help to eliminate that as... uh... as a factor.”
“It’s already eliminated. You’re beyond your depth, Colvin.”
“You certainly are.” Ferris was supporting his bitter rival. “This is preposterous. Go find the poacher.”
“If I may,” Ambassador Kelefy put in diplomatically. “I agree with Mr. Bragan and Mr. Ferris. Americans do not fight, even for millions, with clubs.”
I could have named him an American who had used a blackjack on a fellow citizen to relieve him of $1.38, but of course he wasn’t an oil tycoon.
“You’re not only beyond your depth,” Bragan told the D.A., “but you’re too free with conclusions. Even if that club was the weapon and it came from my woodpile, and therefore it was premeditated, why was it one of us? Anyone could sneak in through the woods and get a stick from the woodpile.”
“True,” Colvin agree. “Quite true. But it must have been premeditated, and Mr. Leeson must have been a chosen target. As I said, four trained men are exploring that possibility. But the laws of probability compel us to center our attention on this place and the people here. By no means exclusively on you and your five guests; there are five others. Wolfe, Goodwin, and your three servants. The three servants have been questioned, and we’re certainly not through with them. I want to ask you about them. The cook’s name is Michael Samek?”
“Yes. This is ridiculous. Mike has been with me for fifteen years, and—”
“Isn’t that a Russian name? Is he a Russian?”
“No. He’s an American. You certainly are seeing things, Colvin. He was born in Buffalo. The other two men are from an agency in New York and I have used them many times. For years. Do you want the name of the agency?”
“We got it from them. Have you any reason whatever to suppose that one of those three might be involved in this?”
“I have not. I have every reason to suppose they aren’t.”
“All right, but you understand they have to be thoroughly checked... Now, about Wolfe and Goodwin. The newspaper article said that Wolfe was coming to cook trout for Ambassador Kelefy. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“Did you arrange that?”
“No. Mr. Leeson did.”
“Why did Goodwin come along?”