"I suppose I will. But you said I am threatened by something more dangerous than a contest. That trap Nero Wolfe is setting. What's that like?" I grinned at her and shook my head. The maid came with the liquids, and after Miss Karn's Borrand water was poured and iced I took a sip of roy milk. It was a little too cold, and I wrapped the r WHERE THERE'S A WILL 47 t glass with my palms, grinned again, and said, "It certainly is nice and cool here. I'm enjoying myself. Are you?" "No," she said, with a sudden and surprising sharpness in her tone, "I am not enjoying myself. A good friend of mine has died--just three days ago. Mr. Noel Hawthorne. Another man whom I regarded as my frSnd to a certain extent--at least not an enemy--is acting abominably. Mr. Glenn Prescott. He came here last evening and informed me of the terms of the will with a manner and tone that were inexcusable. Now he is openly conspiring with Mr. Hawthorne's family against me. He sent that Stauffer here to threaten me. He sent you here with your childish babble about traps and treachery. Bah! Is your milk all right?" "Yes. Excuse me, but like hell you're not enjoying yourself. Shall we discuss it seriously?'* "I have no desire to discuss it at all. The one sensible thing you've said was that it has been handled incompetently. To send Ossie here to threaten me! I can make him stammer by looking at him! Incidentally, I can't do that with you." - ' "No, but you came close to it." I grinned at her. "Also you have an idea that another twenty minutes will do the trick; that's why you invited me to sit down. You may be right, but I can assure you I'm no Ossie. The fact is, I'm just killing time. FR1;48 WHERE THERE'S A WILL My boss asked me to bring you to his house, down on 3 5th Street, at ten to six, but I'd prefer not to get you there until ten after. He needs a lesson about what to expect and what not to expect." I glanced at my wrist. "We ought to be leaving fairly soon, at that. I had to park over east of Third Avenue."
"I told you, Mr. Goodwin, that I'm not enjoying myself. I see you have finished your milk." "No more, thank you. So you don't intend to come?" "Certainly not." "What are you going to do, just refuse to say boo till you're served with a summons and complaint?"
"I'm not refusing to say boo." Her voice got sharp again. "I tell you, what I resent is the way they've gone about it. I know that nothing rational could be expected of Mrs. Hawthorne, but couldn't Mrs. Dunn have come to see me, or asked me to come to see her, and talk it over? Couldn't she have said simply that they regarded it as unjust and asked me to consider an adjustment? Couldn't she have condescended to say that she and her sisters felt they had a natural right to some share in their brother's estate?" "But they didn't. That wasn't it. It's Daisy that's raising hell." WHERE THERE'S A WILL 49 "I don't believe it. I think Glenn Prescott started it, and they helped him prevail upon Mrs. Hawthorne. They think the way to do it is to browbeat me. First they sent that Stauffer here, and then they hired a detective, Nero Wolfe, whose specialty is catching murderers. You might think I was a murderer myself. It won't work. They may be perfectly correct in thinking they should have a slice of Noel's--Mr. Hawthorne's wealth, but if they get it now it will be because a court awards it to them." "Okay," I agreed. "I'm with you. Absolutely. They're a bunch of wolverines, Prescott is a twofaced shyster, and Stauffer is Ossie. But may I ask you a hypothetical question?" "It would take more than a hypothetical question to make me budge, Mr. Goodwin." ? -_----s-- "I'll ask it anyway. It'll be good exercise for us and pass the time. Let's say, of course just as a hypothesis, that Nero Wolfe is ruthless, unscrupulous, and quite cunning; that you get him sore by refusing even to go and discuss it with him; that he's out to do you; that he gets the bright idea of basing the attack on the will, not on the ground that it's unfair, but on the ground that it's phony; that he is able--" "^ ^. >--/- <? "So that's it." Miss Karn*s eyes were going through me. "That's the new threat, is it? It's no FR1;50 WHERE THERE'S A WILL better than the other one, not even as good. Didn't Mr. Prescott himself draw the will? Wasn't it in his possession?'* "Sure it was. That's the point. It's your own idea that he's conspiring against you, isn't it? Since he drew the will and had it in his possession, isn't he in an ideal position to support White's contention that there has been a substitution and the will's a phony?" "No. He couldn't. He is on record as accepting the will's authenticity." "On record with who? Wolfe and the Hawthornes. His fellow conspirators." "But--" She chopped it off. Her eyes had narrowed and she sat motionless. In a moment she said slowly, "Mr. Prescott wouldn't do that. After all, he is an attorney of high standing and reputation--"