Bragan blurted back, “Why is it good?”
“Because I was coming to ask Wolfe and Goodwin for a little favor. I was going to ask them to come with me to your room and be present while I said something to you. I’ve learned from experience that it’s advisable to have witnesses present when I’m talking with you.”
“Oh, come off it.” Bragan was fed up. First Wolfe turning him down flat, and now this. “A diplomat has been murdered. On every radio and TV network, and tomorrow on the front page of a thousand papers. Pull in your horns!”
Ferris, not listening apparently, was squinting down at Wolfe. “If you don’t mind,” he said, “I’ll say it here. There’s no danger that you’ll ever have to testify to it or even furnish an affidavit, because Bragan hasn’t got the guts to lie when he knows it’s three to one. I’ll appreciate the favor.” He turned the squint on Bragan, and you wouldn’t think his thin little hyphen of a mouth was much to show hate with, but he certainly managed it. “I just want to tell you what I’m going to do, so you can’t say afterwards that it hit you without warning.”
“Go ahead.” Bragan’s head was tilted back to face the squint. “Let’s hear it.”
“As you know, the attorney general is on his way here. He’s going to ask about the status of our negotiations with Kelefy and Papps, and where Leeson stood. When he asks me I’m going to tell him the truth — how you had your Paris man working on Kelefy and Papps before they even left home; how you tried to get something on Papps; how you had two men I can name trying to put screws on Leeson, and—”
“Watch it, Ferris. We’re not alone. You’ve got your witnesses.”
“You bet I have. I’ll probably have more when I’m talking to the attorney general. I’m going to tell him how you tried to buy Papps — buy him with cash, your stockholders’ cash. How you finally swung Leeson and had him eating out of your hand. How you got him to arrange this little fishing party, here at your place, so you’d have Kelefy and Papps all to yourself. How Papps didn’t like that and got me invited. And then, after we got here, how I worked you into a corner with the dirty swindle you thought you had all set, and yesterday afternoon Leeson began to see the light. It didn’t need much more to cook you good — one more day would have done it. This is the day, but Leeson’s not here. That’s what I’m going to tell the attorney general, and I didn’t want to spring it on you without warning. Also, I didn’t want you to claim I had, with a big whine, so I wanted witnesses. That’s all.”
Ferris turned and was going. Bragan called to him but he didn’t stop. He went out the door, pulling it shut as he went. Bragan looked at me without seeing me, said, “And he bought Papps, himself!” and opened the door and was gone.
I closed it and asked Wolfe, “Do I go and warn somebody? Or wait a while and then go find the body?”
“Saber-toothed hyenas,” he growled.
“Okay,” I agreed, “but all the same I think you missed a bet. That gook might actually be able to talk us out of here. And, in addition, you could bill Bragan for at least ten grand. You could tell him—”
“Archie.”
“Yes, sir.”
“There’s a book on power politics on a shelf in that room. I’d like to have it.”
It had long been understood that at home he got his own books off of shelves, but I had to admit this was different, so I let him tell me what book he wanted. In the big room a trooper sat over by the door. I found the book with no trouble, and handed it to Wolfe.
“It occurs to me,” he said, “that a little later they may undertake to gather at a table for a meal. In the refrigerator are a third of a ham, half of a roast turkey milk, and beer. The bread is inedible, but in a cupboard there are some crackers, and in another cupboard a jar of blackberry jam. If you see anything else you think desirable, bring it.”
He opened the book and settled back in the armchair. I wasn’t through with him on the notion of letting Bragan spring us and commit himself to a fee, but I thought half an hour with a book might make him more receptive to the idea of a plane ride, so I went to the kitchen. The cook, Samek, was there. I said if he didn’t mind I’d cater with a pair of trays for Wolfe and me, and he said go ahead.
As I got out a bottle of milk I said casually, “By the way, I intended to take a look at the trout the Ambassador caught. Where are they?”
“They’re not here. The cops took ’em.”
The loaded trays called for two trips. The second trip, with mine, I met Papps in the hall and exchanged nods with him.
After we finished our meal I returned the trays to the kitchen and headed back for the room, all set to tackle Wolfe on Bragan’s proposition. My chances of selling him were about one in fifty, but I had to do something to pass the time, and why not that? Keeping him stirred up was one thing he paid me for. However, it had to be postponed. As I approached, I saw that the door was standing open, and as I entered I saw that we had more company. Adria Kelefy was sitting in the chair that I had moved up for Bragan, and the Ambassador was getting another for himself.
I got snubbed again. As I stepped around to a chair off to one side, Wolfe and Mrs. Kelefy merely glanced at me, and the Ambassador didn’t even bother to glance.
He pointed to the book in Wolfe’s hand. “I am well acquainted,” he said, “with the theory that in the atomic age we can no longer rely on industrial potential as the dominant factor in another world war, and I think the writer of your book makes his point, but he goes too far. In spite of that, it’s a good book.”
Wolfe placed a slip of paper in it to mark his place — he dog’s-ears his own books — and put it down. “In any event,” he said, “man is a remarkable animal, with a unique distinction. Of all the millions of species rendered extinct by evolution, we are the only one to know in advance what is going to destroy us. Our own insatiable curiosity. We can take pride in that.”
“Yes, indeed.” Evidently Kelefy wasn’t too upset at the prospect. “I had hoped, Mr. Wolfe, to offer you my thanks in happier circumstances. The death of Mr. Leeson has turned this little excursion into a tragedy, but even so, I must not neglect to thank you. It was most gracious of you to grant my request.”
“It was a privilege and an honor,” Wolfe declared. No diplomat was going to beat him at it. “To be chosen as an instrument of my country’s hospitality was my good fortune. I only regret, with you, the catastrophe that spoiled it.”
“Of course,” the Ambassador agreed. “I thought also to tell you how I happened to make the request of Mr. Leeson. There is a man who operates a restaurant in Rome, where I was once stationed, by the name of Pasquale Donofrio. I praised his sauce with grilled kidneys, and he said you originated it. I had a similar experience in Cairo, and one in Madrid. And from my friend Leeson, when he had a post in my own capital, I heard something of your exploits as a private detective. So when, here in your country, I was asked to express a personal desire, I thought of you.”
“I am gratified, sir.”
“And my wife joins me in my thanks.” He smiled at her.
Her dark eyes were as sleepy as ever. Apparently, it would take more than a murder to light them up. She spoke: “I insisted on coming with my husband to thank you, Mr. Wolfe. I, too, had heard much about you, and the trout was delicious. Really, the best I have ever tasted. And, another thing, I wanted to ask you, some more of our insatiable curiosity, why didn’t you cook the ones my husband caught?”
“Oh, yes,” Kelefy agreed. “I wanted to ask that, too.”
“Caprice,” Wolfe said. “Mr. Goodwin will tell you that I am a confirmed eccentric.”
“Then you really cooked none of mine?”
“That seems to be established.”