Free Rex Stout - Nero Wolfe 24 by Three Men Out

day, was unmoved.
    “I offered comments, not evidence,” Wolfe reminded them. “Here is one regarding the location and nature ofthe wound on Mr. Lewent’s head, and the direction of the blow. Suppose I am Mr. Huck; here I am in my wheelchair, in my study. It is shortly before five in the afternoon, and my brother-in-law, Mr. Lewent, is with me. I have decided that he must die because I believe that he is a deadly menace to me. He has engaged Nero Wolfe, a detective who does not waste his time or talent on inanities, to start an investigation in my household on a pretext so absurd that it is manifestly a fake. I not only know that my wife would not have left a sum of money secretly to be given to her brother; I also know that he knows she would not have done that. In addition, Wolfe’s assistant, Goodwin, in talking with my secretary and housekeeper and nurse, has dwelt on the possibility that one of them poisoned my wife, pretending that he is merely being facetious. One of them has told me about it. You might check that detail by inquiry.”
    “We have,” Cramer admitted. “It was Miss Riff.”
    “Good. So I am convinced that my brother-in-law has become suspicious about his sister’s death and therefore mortally threatens me. For the purpose of this comment, let us say the threat is possible disclosure of the fact that I poisoned his sister—my wife—by putting toxic material into a dish of artichokes. The inducement, which I realized, was inheritance of her wealth, amounting to millions. By the way, I don’t suppose Mr. Huck can prove that Mr. Lewent did not come to his study between four and five o’clock?”
    “No. He sent Miss Riff for him about half-past four. He says Lewent was with him about ten minutes and then left.”
    “Was Miss Riff present?”
    “No. She left the house on an errand.”
    Wolfe nodded. “Good again. And in fairness to you, Mr. Cramer and gentlemen, it should be said that I have had one big advantage which you lacked. You haven’t seen Mr. Huck propel himself in that vehicle, have you?”
    They said no.
    “I haven’t either, but I have heard Mr. Goodwin describe the operation and was impressed. It was my memory of that description that put me on the path of these comments. At present Mr. Huck does not look as if he wouldcare to demonstrate his machine, but you can manage that later. To go back: I am now Mr. Huck, here in my chair in my study, shortly before five o’clock.” Wolfe pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wadded it in his right hand. “This is a paperweight, a heavy ball of green marble with a segment sliced off. Actually it isn’t in my hand, not quite yet; I merely have it ready, here on a shelf of my chair, holding down some papers. Archie, you are Mr. Lewent. Stand there in front of me, please—of course you could be either standing or sitting. A little closer would be more natural. Now I lift the paperweight with my right hand, and with my left pick up a paper to show you, but it slips from my fingers and falls to the floor. It’s quite likely that before sending for you I practiced dropping that paper. Of course you bend over to retrieve it for me—that would be automatic, with me a cripple—and when you do so I strike with the paperweight.”
    I bent over, and he tapped me on the nape. I wasn’t in the mood to ham it by dropping dead, but it didn’t seem fitting to straighten up immediately, so I compromised by sinking to a knee.
    “God save us,” muttered Mrs. O’Shea, and there was no other sound. Wolfe went on. “In our relative positions, me sitting and you stooping, the impact would be upward on your skull. I must now move as fast as my disability will permit. Twenty seconds is enough to satisfy me that no second blow is needed; you are dead. I am sound and strong from the hips up, and in another twenty seconds I have you lifted and draped over my legs and covered with the shawl that I am never without. I push a button and grasp the