Free Rex Stout - Nero Wolfe by Three at Wolfe's Door Page A

showed it to the hackie, and said, “Go get yourself a Coke and come back in ten minutes,” and he climbed out and went. Purley turned his head to glare at me.
    â€œI’ll pay for the Coke,” I offered.
    He ignored it. “Lieutenant Rowcliff,” he said, “is expecting us at Twentieth Street.”
    â€œFine. Even under arrest, one will get you five that I can make him start stuttering in ten minutes.”
    â€œYou’re not under arrest.”
    I leaned forward to look at the meter. “Ninety cents. From here on we’ll split it.”
    â€œGoddamn it, quit clowning! If you think I’m crawling you’re wrong. I just don’t see any percentage in it. If I deliver you in custody I know damn well what you’ll do. You’ll clam up. We won’t get a peep out of you, and in the morning you’ll make a phone call and Parker will come. What will that get us?”
    I could have said, “A suit for false arrest,” but it wouldn’t have been diplomatic, so I made it, “Only the pleasure of my company.”
    There was one point of resemblance between Purley and Carol Annis, just one: no sense of humor.“But,” he said, “Lieutenant Rowcliff is expecting you, and you’re a material witness in a homicide case, and you were up there working on the suspects.”
    â€œYou could arrest me as a material witness,” I suggested helpfully.
    He uttered a word that I was glad the hackie wasn’t there to hear, and added, “You’d clam up and in the morning you’d be out on bail. I know it’s after midnight, but the lieutenant is expecting you.”
    He’s a proud man, Purley is, and I wouldn’t go so far as to say that he has nothing to be proud of. He’s not a bad cop, as cops go. It was a temptation to keep him dangling for a while, to see how long it would take him to bring himself to the point of coming right out and asking for it, but it was late and I needed some sleep.
    â€œYou realize,” I said, “that it’s a waste of time and energy. You can tell him everything we said, and if he tried to go into other aspects with me I’ll only start making cracks and he’ll start stuttering. It’s perfectly useless.”
    â€œYeah, I know, but—”
    â€œBut the lieutenant expects me.”
    He nodded. “It was him Nora Jaret told about it, and he sent me. The inspector wasn’t around.”
    â€œOkay. In the interest of justice. I’ll give him an hour. That’s understood? Exactly one hour.”
    â€œIt’s not understood with me.” He was emphatic. “When we get there you’re his and he’s welcome to you. I don’t know if he can stand you for an hour.”
VII
    At noon the next day, Thursday, Fritz stood at the end of Wolfe’s desk, consulting with him on a major point of policy: whether to switch to another source of supply for water cress. The quality had been below par, which for them means perfection, for nearly a week. I was at my desk, yawning. It had been after two o’clock when I got home from my chat with Lieutenant Rowcliff, and with nine hours’ sleep in two nights I was way behind.
    The hour since Wolfe had come down at eleven o’clock from his morning session with the orchids had been spent, most of it, by me reporting and Wolfe listening. My visit with Rowcliff needed only a couple of sentences, since the only detail of any importance was that it had taken me eight minutes to get him stuttering, but Wolfe wanted my conversation with the girls verbatim, and also my impressions and conclusions. I told him my basic conclusion was that the only way she could be nailed, barring a stroke of luck, would be by a few dozen men sticking to the routine—her getting the poison and her connection with Pyle.
    â€œAnd,” I added, “her connection with Pyle may be hopeless. In fact, it probably is. If