Free Trouble In Triplicate by Rex Stout Page A

south room opened and Morton was there.
    'Where's Miss Page?' he demanded. 'What's going on?'
    'She's up looking at orchids,' I told him en route. 'Relax. Lunch in ten minutes.'
    Down in the office Wolfe was sitting at his desk, looking harassed.
    I crossed to mine, sat, and told him, 'They want a shoulder to cry on, but with her fianc9'under the same roof I didn't think it would be fitting. Morton is pacing-'
    The phone rang. I answered it, and heard a voice I had been expecting to hear all day. I told Wolfe Inspector Cramer would like to speak to him. He got on and I stayed on.
    'Nero Wolfe speaking, Mr. Cramer. How are you?'
    'I'm fine. You?'
    'The way I always am just before lunch. Hungry.'
    'Well, enjoy it. This is just a friendly call. I wanted to let you know you were right as usual when you decided to keep it all to yourself and tell Rowcliff only one thing that was worth a damn, about Perrit's daughter being wanted in Salt Lake. We got onto her through the Washington fingerprint files, as you knew we would. I don't think she was his daughter at all. Her name was Angelina Murphy, though of course she used others. She had about ten years coming. I just wanted to tell you that, but I suppose I might as well ask if you have anything to add.'
    'No-no, I think not.'
    'Nothing at all'About the job you took on for Perrit?'
    'Nothing.'
    'Okay, I didn't expect it. Enjoy your lunch.'
    I pushed the phone back. I turned to Wolfe and spoke with feeling. 'At least I heard that before I died. Cramer knowing you've got things he could use and merely telling you to enjoy your lunch! No pressure, no hard words, nothing! Not even bothering to drop in on us! And you know why'He's religious and he thinks it would be out of place! He thinks the only guy that belongs here now is a priest for the last rites!'
    'Quite right,' Wolfe agreed. 'It was in effect an obituary. If I were a sentimentalist I would be touched. Mr. Cramer has never before shown the slightest interest in my enjoyment of a meal. He thinks I haven't long to live.'
    'Including me.'
    'Yes, you too, of course.'
    'And what do you think?'
    'I haven't given it-'
    The phone rang again. With a suspicion that it was Cramer, who had decided he had been too sentimental, I got it and spoke. The voice was as familiar as Cramer's but it wasn't his. 'Saul Panzer,' I told Wolfe, and, since he didn't give me the sign to keep off, I kept on. But it was brief and didn't fill in any gaps for me.
    'Saul?'
    'Yes, sir.'
    'Have you had lunch?'
    'No, sir.'
    'How soon can you get here?'
    'Eight to ten minutes.'
    'There is a change or two in the program, dictated by circumstances. I'll need you here earlier than I thought. Come and join us at luncheon-Miss Beulah Page, Mr. Morton Schane, Archie, and me.'
    'Yes, sir. Probably eight minutes.'

Nero Wolfe 14 - Trouble in Triplicate
    XII
    Whether Wolfe enjoyed his lunch or not, I didn't. It is my habit to make big discounts anyhow, and that day I reached my all-time peak in skepticism. I didn't think he had any program whatever. I thought his line that he needed Saul, and he knew what for, was unadulterated guff. I was sure that Cramer had laid off because he had all the stuff he wanted, through the flock of stools the police always know where to find, and he regarded Wolfe and me as bad company even for an inspector. I thought the only reason Wolfe asked Saul to lunch was to have someone to talk to about something pleasant.
    The last thought proved to be sound. It was not a meal full of sparkle. Morton was aloof and not a bit intimate. Beulah, who showed no traces of the recent irrigation, was trying to pretend she wasn't somewhere else, without great success. I was so firmly convinced that it was a hell of a time for a man to sit and eat that I had to grit my teeth to stay in my chair, and you can neither chew nor talk very well with your teeth gritted. So the conversation was almost exclusively confined to Wolfe and Saul. Saul, in a suit that didn't