Free Rex Stout - Nero Wolfe 45 by Please Pass the Guilt

long, steady look, and then cocked it at Wolfe. “I don’t believe,” she said, “that you have really decided to tell the police about it. If you had, you wouldn’t have phoned Miss Haber and—”
    “I haven’t said I have decided. I said, to Miss Haber, ‘Unless you tell me what and who induced you to tell that lie.’”
    “ I’ll tell you. I induced her.”
    “When?”
    “Three days ago. Saturday evening. And Sunday morning, before I called Goodwin. What induced her was money. She needs money. She has a younger brother who has got himself into—but that doesn’t matter, what she needs it for. And anyway, I think Browning put that bomb there. I’m sure he did. I don’t know how he knew Peter was going to open that drawer, but I’m sure he did. Maybe Peter told somebody. You didn’t know Peter, you don’t know what a wonderful man he was. He married me for my money, but he was a wonderful husband. And Browning killed him, and with all the money I have, now there’s only one thing I want to do with it. I don’t think the police will ever get him, and you know something they don’t know. Can you handle Goodwin?”
    “No.” He was scowling at her. “No one can ‘handle’ Mr. Goodwin. But he handles himself reasonably well, and he wouldn’t divulge information he got as my agent without my consent. My problem is handling me. Your fatuous attempt to hoodwink me relieves me of my commitment, but I too am a licensed private detective. If Mr. Cramer learns that those seven people were here last evening, as he probably will, and if he comes to see me, as he almost certainly will, I’ll be in a pickle. I have many times refused to disclose information on the ground that it was not material, but the fact that your husband went to that room and opened that drawer in order to put LSD in the whisky is manifestly material. Confound it, they even have the LSD—that is, you say they have it.”
    “They do. They showed it to me.” She opened her bag and took out the checkfold. “I’ve made one idiotic mistake with you and I don’t intend to make another one. I’m going to give you a check for one hundred thousand dollars, but I have sense enough to know that I have to be careful how I do it. If you think that I think I can pay you and Goodwin for not telling the police about the LSD, I don’t. I know I can’t. But I do think they will never get Browning, and I think you might. I think the only chance of getting him is if you do it. I don’t care what it costs. The hundred thousand dollars is just to start. You may have to give somebody twice that much for something.” She slid the pen out and started to write on the check stub.
    “No,” Wolfe said. “You can’t pay me at all on the terms you imply. I certainly would not engage to demonstrate that Mr. Browning killed your husband. I might engage to try to learn who killed your husband and to get evidence that would convict him. As for withholding information from the police, that must be left to my discretion. Mr. Goodwin and I are disinclined to share with others information that gives us an advantage.”
    “It was Browning. Why do you think it wasn’t?”
    “I don’t. He is as likely a candidate as anyone—much the most likely, if he knew of your husband’s intention to drug the whisky.” He swiveled to face the red leather chair. “Miss Haber. You didn’t tell Mr. Browning about it, but whom did you tell?”
    “Nobody.” It came out louder than she intended, and she repeated it, lower. “Nobody.”
    “This is extremely important. I must know. This time you are expected to tell me the truth.”
    “I am telling you the truth. I couldn’t have told anyone because I didn’t know myself. I didn’t know what the LSD was for until last Saturday evening, three days ago, when Mrs. Odell told me … When she asked me …”
    Wolfe turned to Mrs. Odell with his brow up.
    “ I believe her,” she said, and he turned back to the