“You're not committed to Lew Frost to dig holes for anybody?”
“If I understand you-I think I do-I am not.”
Cramer stared at his worn-out cigar for a minute, then reached out and put it in the ashtray and felt in his pocket for a new one. He bit off the end and got the shreds off his tongue, socked his teeth into it again, and lit it. He puffed a thick cloud around him, got a new grip with his teeth, and settled back.
He said, “As conceited as you are, Wolfe, you told me once that I am better equipped to handle nine murder cases out of ten than you are.”
“Did I.”
“Yeah. So I've been keeping count, and this Lauck case is the tenth since that rubber band guy, old man Perry. It's your turn again, so I'm glad you're already in it without me having to shove you. I know; you don't like to tell people things, not even Goodwin here. But since you've been up there, you might be willing to admit that you know how it happened. I understand that you've talked with McNair and the two girls who saw her eat it.”
Wolfe nodded. “I've heard the obvious details.”
“Okay. Obvious is right. I've gone over it ten times with those two. I've had sessions with everybody in the place. I've had twenty men out chasing after everyone who was there at the fashion show that day, and I've seen a couple of dozen of them myself. I've had half the force checking up all over town on sales of two-pound boxes of Bailey's Royal Medley during the past month, and the other half trying to trace purchases of potassium cyanide. I've sent two men out to
Darby, Ohio, where Molly Lauck's parents live. I've had shadows on ten or twelve people where it looked like there was a chance of a tie-up.”
“You see,” Wolfe murmured, “as I said, you are better equipped.”
“Go to hell. I use what I've got, and you know damn well I'm a good cop. But after these eight days, I don't even know for sure whether Molly Lauck was killed by poison that was intended for someone else. What if the Frost girl and the Mitchell girl did it together? You couldn't beat it for a set-up, and maybe they're that clever. Knowing Molly Lauck liked to play jokes, maybe they planted it for her to swipe, or maybe they just gave it to her and then told their story. But why? That's another item, I can't find anyone who had any reason at all to want to kill her. It seems she was mellow in the pump about this Perren
Gebert and he couldn't see her, but there's no evidence that she was making herself a nuisance to him.”
Wolfe murmured, “Mellow where?”
I put in, “Okay, boss. Soft-hearted.”
“Gebert was there that day, too,” Cramer went on, “but I can't get anywhere with him on that. There hasn't been another single nibble on motive, if the stuff was intended for Molly Lauck. In my opinion, it wasn't. It looks like she really did swipe it. And the minute you take that theory, what have you got? You've got the
ocean. There were over a hundred people there that day, and it might have been intended for any one of them, and any of them might have brought it. You can see what a swell lay-out that is. We've traced over three hundred sales of two-pound boxes of Bailey's Royal Medley, and among that bunch of humans that was there at the show we've uncovered enough grudges and jealousies and bad blood and billiousness to account for twenty murders. What do we do with it now? We file it.”
He stopped and chewed savagely on his cigar. I grinned at him: “Did you come here to inspect our filing system, Inspector? It's a beaut.”
He growled at me, “Who asked you anything? I came here because I'm licked. What do you think of that? Did you ever hear me say that before? And no one else.” He turned to Wolfe. “When I heard you were up there today, of course I didn't know for who or what, but I thought to myself, now the fur's going to fly. Then I thought I might as well drop in and you might give me a piece as a souvenir.
I'll take anything I can get. This is one of those cases that can't cool off, because the damn newspapers keep the heat turned on indefinitely, and I don't mean only the tabloids. Molly Lauck was young and beautiful. Half of the dames that were there at the show that day are in the Social Register. H. R. Cragg was there himself, with his wife, and so on. The two girls that saw her die are also young and beautiful. They won't let it cool off, and every time I go into the
Commissioner's office he beats the arm of his chair. You've seen him do that right here in your own office.”
Wolfe nodded. “Mr. Hombert is a disagreeable noise. I'm sorry I have nothing for you, Mr. Cramer, I really am.”
“Yeah, I am too. But you can do this, anyhow: give me a push. Even if it's in the wrong direction and you know it.” “Well…let's see.” Wolfe leaned back with his eyes half closed. “You are blocked on motive. You can find none as to Miss
Lauck, and too many in other directions. You can't trace the purchase either of the candy or the poison. In fact, you have traced or found nothing whatever, and you are without a starting-point. But you do really have one; have you used it?”
Cramer stared. “Have I used what?”
“The one thing that is indubitably connected with the murder. The box of candy.
What have you done about that?”
“I've had it analyzed, of course.”
“Tell me about it.”
Cramer tapped ashes into the tray. “There's not much to tell. It was a two-pound box that's on sale pretty well all over town, at druggists and branch stores, put up by Bailey of Philadelphia, selling at a dollar sixty. They call it Royal
Medley, and there's a mixture in it, fruits, nuts, chocolates and so on. Before
I turned it over to the chemist I got Bailey's factory on the phone and asked if all Royal Medley boxes were uniform. They said yes, they were packed strictly to a list, and they read the list to me. Then for a check I sent out for a couple of boxes of Royal Medley and spread them out and compared them with the list.
Okay. By doing the same with the box Molly Lauck ate from, I found that three pieces were gone from it: candied pineapple, a candied plum, and a Jordan almond. That agreed with the Mitchell girl's story.”
Wolfe nodded. “Fruits, nuts, chocolates-were there any caramels?”
“Caramels?” Cramer stared at him. “Why caramels?” “No reason. I used to like them.”
Cramer grunted. “Don't try to kid me. Anyhow, there aren't any caramels in a
Bailey's Royal Medley. That's too bad, huh?”
“Perhaps. It certainly decreases the interest, for me. By the way, these details regarding the candy-have they been published? Has anyone been told?”
“No. I'm telling you. I hope you can keep a secret. It's the only one we've got.”
“Excellent. And the chemist?”
“Sure, excellent, and what has it got me? The chemist found that there was nothing wrong with any of the candy left in the box, except four Jordan almonds in the top layer. The top layer of a Royal Medley box has five Jordan almonds in it, and Molly Lauck had eaten one. Each of the four had more than six grains of potassium cyanide in it.”
“Indeed. Only the almonds were poisoned.”
“Yeah, it's easy to see why they were picked. Potassium cyanide smells and tastes like almonds, only more so. The chemist said they would taste strong, but not enough to scare you off if you liked almonds. You know Jordan almonds?