I stepped onto the grass and started alongside the right branch of the fork. It was uphill a little, and I had to duck under branches. I hadn’t gone far when Doyle tugged at my sleeve, and when I turned he pointed to the left. “That bunch of bushes there,” he whispered. “The big one in the middle. That’s where he went, but I can’t see him.”
My sight is twenty-twenty, and my eyes had got adjusted to the night, but for a minute I couldn’t pick him up. When I did the huddled hump under the bush was perfectly plain. A ripple ran up my spine. Since Saul was still there, Heath was still there too, under his eye, and almost certainly the woman with the dog was there also. Of course I couldn’t see them, on account of the bushes. I considered what to do. I wanted to confront them together, before they separated, but if Saul was close enough to hear their words I didn’t want to bust it up. The most attractive idea was to sneak across to Saul’s bush and join him, but I might be heard, if not by them by the dog. Standing there, peering toward Saul’s bush, concentrated, with Doyle beside me, I became aware of footsteps behind me, approaching along the path, but supposed it was just a late park stroller and didn’t turn — until the footsteps stopped and a voice came.
“Looking for tigers?”
I wheeled. It was a flatfoot on park patrol. “Good evening, officer,” I said respectfully. “Nope, just getting air.”
“The air’s the same if you stay on the path.” He approached on the grass, looking not at us but past us, in the direction we had been gazing. Suddenly he grunted, quickened his step, and headed straight for Saul’s bush. Apparently he had good eyes too. There was no time to consider. I muttered fast at Doyle’s ear, “Grab his cap and run — jump, damn it!”
He did. I will always love him for it, especially for not hesitating a tenth of a second. Four leaps got him to the cop, a swoop of his hand got the cap, and away he scooted, swerving right to double back to the path. I stood in my tracks. The cop acted by reflex. Instead of ignoring the playful prank and proceeding to inspect the object under the bush, or making for me, he bounded after Doyle and his cap, calling a command to halt. Doyle, reaching the path and streaking along it, had a good lead, but the cop was no snail. They disappeared.
All that commotion changed the situation entirely. I made it double quick to the left across the grass until I reached the other fork of the path, and kept going. Around a bend, there they were — Heath seated on a bench with a woman, a big collie lying at their feet. When I stopped in front of them the collie rose to its haunches and made a noise, asking a question. I had a hand in a coat pocket.
“Tell the dog it’s okay,” I suggested. “I hate to shoot a dog.”
“Why should you—” Heath started, and stopped. He stood up.
“Yeah, it’s me,” I said. “Representing Nero Wolfe. It won’t help if you scream, there’s two of us. Come on out, Saul. Watch the dog, it may not wait for orders.”
There was a sound from the direction of the bushes, and in a moment Saul appeared, circling around to join me on the right. The dog made a noise that was more of a whine than a growl, but it didn’t move. The woman put a hand on its head. I asked Saul, “Could you hear what they said?”
“Most of it. I heard enough.”
“Was it interesting?”
“Yes.”
“This is illegal,” Heath stated. He was half choked with indignation or something. “This is an invasion—”
“Nuts. Save it; you may need it. I have a cab parked at the Eighty-sixth-Street entrance. Four of us with the dog will just fill it comfortably. Mr. Wolfe is expecting us. Let’s go.”
“You’re armed,” Heath said. “This is assault with a deadly weapon.”
“I’m going home,” the woman said, speaking for the first time. “I’ll telephone Mr. Wolfe, or my husband will, and we’ll see about this. I brought my dog to the park, and this gentleman and I happened to get into conversation. This is outrageous. You won’t dare to harm my dog.”
She got up, and the collie was instantly erect by her, against her knee.
“Well,” I conceded, “I admit I hate to shoot a dog. I also admit that Mr. Wolfe likes himself so well that he’ll steal the throne on the Day of Judgment if they don’t watch him. So you go on home with Towser, and Saul and I will call on the police and the FBI, and I’ll tell them what I saw, and Saul will tell them what he saw and heard. But don’t make the mistake of thinking you can talk them out of believing us. We have our reputations just as you have yours.”
They looked at each other. They looked at me and back at each other.
“We’ll see Mr. Wolfe,” the woman said.
Heath looked right and then left, as if hoping there might be someone else around to see, and then nodded at her.
“That’s sensible,” I told them. “You lead the way, Saul. Eighty-sixth-Street entrance.”
VIII
We left the collie in Herb’s taxi, parked at the curb in front of Wolfe’s place. There has never been a dog in that house, and I saw no point in breaking the precedent for one who was on such strained terms with me. Herb, on advice, closed the glass panels.
I went ahead up the stoop to open the door and let them in, put them in the front room with Saul, and went through to the office.
“Okay,” I told Wolfe, “it’s your turn. They’re here.”
Behind his desk, he closed the book he had been reading and put it down. He asked, “Mrs. Rackell?”
“Yes. They were there on a bench, with dog, and Saul was behind a bush and could hear, but I don’t know what. I gave them their choice of the law or you, and they preferred you. She probably thinks she can buy out. You want Saul first?”
“No. Bring them in.”
“But Saul can tell you—”
“I don’t need it. Or if I do — we’ll see.”
“You want him in too?”
“Yes.”
I went and opened the connecting door and invited them, and they entered. As Mrs. Rackell crossed to the red leather chair and sat her lips were so tight there were none. Heath’s face had no expression at all, but it must be hard to display feeling with that kind of round pudgy frontispiece even if you try. Saul took a chair against the far wall, but Wolfe told him to move up, and he transferred to one at the end of my desk.
Mrs. Rackell grabbed the ball. She said it was absolutely contemptible, spying on her and threatening her with the police. It was infamous and treacherous. She wouldn’t tolerate it.
Wolfe let her get it out and then said dryly, “You astonish me, madam.” He shook his head. “You chatter about proprieties when you are under the menace of a mortal peril. Don’t you realize what I’ve done? Don’t you know where we stand?”
“You’re chattering yourself,” Heath said harshly. “We were brought here under a threat. By what right?”
“I’ll tell you.” Wolfe leaned back. “This is no pleasure for me, so I’ll hurry it — my part of it. But you need to know exactly what the situation is, for you have a vital decision to make. First let me introduce Mr. Saul Panzer.” His eyes moved. “Saul, you followed Mr. Heath to a clandestine meeting with Mrs. Rackell?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then I’ll risk an assumption. I assume that his purpose was to protest against her supplying funds to inculpate Miss Goheen, and to demand that the attempt be abandoned. You heard much of what they said?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did it impeach my assumption?”
“No, sir.”
“Did it support it?”
“Yes, sir. Plenty.”
Wolfe went to Heath. “Mr. Panzer’s quality is known, though not to you until now. I think a jury will believe him, and I’m sure the police and the FBI will. My advice, sir, is to cut the loss.”