Free Rex Stout - Nero Wolfe 27 by Three Witnesses Page A

“Very well. You will answer to the contempt charge later. Proceed, Mr. Mandelbaum.”
    Mandelbaum approached the chair. “Please tell the jury your name, occupation, and address.”
    Wolfe turned to the jury box. “I am Nero Wolfe, a licensed private detective, with my office in my house at nine-eighteen West Thirty-fifth Street, Manhattan, New York City.”
    “Have you ever met the defendant in this case?” Mandelbaum pointed. “That gentleman.”
    “Yes, sir. Mr. Leonard Ashe.”
    “Where and under what circumstances did you meet him?”
    “He called on me at my office, by appointment, at eleven o’clock in the morning of Tuesday, July thirteenth, this year.”
    “What did he say to you on that occasion?”
    “That he wished to engage my professional services. That he had, the preceding day, arranged for an answering service for the telephone at his residence onSeventy-third Street in New York. That he had learned, upon inquiry, that one of the employees of the answering service would be assigned to his number and would serve it five or six days a week. That he wanted to hire me to learn the identity of that employee, and to propose to her that she eavesdrop on calls made during the daytime to his number, and report on them either to him or to me—I can’t say definitely which, because he wasn’t clear on that point.”
    “Did he say why he wanted to make that arrangement?”
    “No. He didn’t get that far.”
    Donovan was up. “Objection, Your Honor. Conclusion of the witness as to the intention of the defendant.”
    “Strike it,” Mandelbaum said amiably. “Strike all of his answer except the word ‘No.’ Your answer is ‘No,’ Mr. Wolfe?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Did the defendant suggest any inducement to be offered to the employee to get her to do the eavesdropping?”
    “He didn’t name a sum, but he indicated that—”
    “Not what he indicated. What he said.”
    I allowed myself a grin. Wolfe, who always insisted on precision, who loved to ride others, especially me, for loose talk, and who certainly knew the rules of evidence, had been caught twice. I promised myself to find occasion later to comment on it.
    He was unruffled. “He said that he would make it worth her while, meaning the employee, but stated no amount.”
    “What else did he say?”
    “That was about all. The entire conversation wasonly a few minutes. As soon as I understand clearly what he wanted to hire me to do, I refused to do it.”
    “Did you tell him why you refused?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “What did you say?”
    “I said that while it is the function of a detective to pry into people’s affairs, I excluded from my field anything connected with marital difficulties and therefore declined his job.”
    “Had he told you that what he wanted was to spy on his wife?”
    “No, sir.”
    “Then why did you mention marital difficulties to him?”
    “Because I had concluded that that was the nature of his concern.”
    “What else did you say to him?”
    Wolfe shifted in the chair. “I would like to be sure I understand the question. Do you mean what I said to him that day, or on a later occasion?”
    “I mean that day. There was no later occasion, was there?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Are you saying that you had another meeting with the defendant, on another day?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    Mandelbaum held a pose. Since his back was to me I couldn’t see his look of surprise, but I didn’t have to. In his file was Wolfe’s signed statement, saying among other things that he had not seen Leonard Ashe before or since July 13. His voice went up a notch. “When and where did this meeting take place?”
    “Shortly after nine o’clock this morning, in this building.”
    “You met and spoke with the defendant in this building today?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Under what circumstances?”
    “His wife had arranged to see and speak with him, and she allowed me to accompany her.”
    “How did she arrange it? With whom?”
    “I