him a sympathetic grin as he went to a chair and sat.
“I want the truth,” Cramer said.
“Pfui,” Wolfe said.
Cramer nodded. “Phooey is right. If I take Goodwin’s
statement as it stands, if he put nothing in and left
nothing out, one of those three men—Edey, Hey-
decker, Jett—one of them killed Bertha Aaron. I don’t
have to go into that. You agree?”
“Yes.”
“But if a jury takes Goodwin’s statement as it stands,
it would be impossible to get one of those men con-
victed. She got here at 5:20, and he was with her in this
The Homicide Trinity
room until 5:39, when he went up to you in the plant
rooms. It was 6:10 when he returned and found the
body. All right, now for them. If one of them had a talk
with her yesterday afternoon, or if one of them left the
office when she did, or just before or just after, we can’t
pin it down. We haven’t so far and I doubt if we will.
They have private offices; their secretaries are in other
rooms. Naturally we’re still checking on movements
and phone calls and other details, but it comes down to
this. That list, Purley.”
Stebbins got a paper from his pocket and handed it
over and Cramer studied it briefly. “They had a confer-
ence scheduled for 5:30 on some corporation case, no
connection with Sorell. In Frank Edey’s office. Edey
was there when Jett came in a minute or two before
5:30. They were there together when Heydecker came
at 5:45. Heydecker said he had gone out on an errand
which took longer than he expected. The three of them
stayed there, discussing the case, until 6:35. So even if
you erase Edey and Jett and take Heydecker, what
have you got? Goodwin says he left her here, alive, at
5:39. They say Heydecker joined the conference at 5:45.
That gives him six minutes after tailing her here to
phone this number, come and be admitted by her, kill
her, and get back to that office more than a mile away.
Phooey. And one of them couldn’t have come and killed
her after the conference. On that I don’t have to take
what Goodwin says; he phoned in and reported it at
6:31, and the conference lasted to 6:35. How do you like
it?”
Wolfe was scowling at him. “Not at all. What was
Heydecker’s errand?”
“He went to three theaters to buy tickets. You might
think a man with his income would get them through an
agency, but he’s close. We’ve checked that. He is. They
don’t remember him at the theaters.”
“Did neither Edey nor Jett leave the office at all
between 4:30 and 5:30?”
“Not known. They say they didn’t, and no one says
58 Rex Stout
they did, but it’s open. What difference does it make,
since even Heydecker is out?”
“Not much. And of course the assumption that one of
them hired a thug to kill her isn’t tenable.”
“Certainly not. Here in your office with your necktie?
Nuts. You can take your pick of three assumptions.
One.” Cramer stuck a finger up. “They’re lying. That
conference didn’t start at 5:30 and/or Heydecker didn’t
join them at 5:45. Two,” Another finger. “When Bertha
Aaron said ‘member of the firm’ she merely meant one
of the lawyers associated with the firm. There are
nineteen of them. IfGoodwin’s statement is accurate I
doubt it. Three.” Another finger. “Goodwin’s statement
is phony. She didn’t say ‘member of the firm.’ God
knows what she did say. It may be all phony. I admit
that can never be proved, since she’s dead, and no
matter what the facts turn out to be when we get them
he will still claim that’s what she said. Take your pick.”
Wolfe grunted. “I reject the last. Granting that Mr.
Goodwin is capable of so monstrous a hoax, I would
have to be a party to it, since he reported to me on his
conversation with Miss Aaron before she died—or
while she died. I also reject the second. As you know, I
talked with Mr. Otis last night. He was positive that she
would not have used that phrase, ‘member of the firm,’
in any but its literal sense.”
“Look, Wolfe.” Cramer uncrossed his legs and put his
feet flat. “You admit you want the glory of getting him
before we do.”
“Not the glory. The satisfaction.”
“Okay. I understand that. I can imagine how you felt
when you saw her lying there with your necktie around
her throat. I know how fast your mind works when it
has to. It would take you two seconds to realize that
Goodwin’s report of what she had told him could never
be checked. You wanted the satisfaction of getting him.
It would take you maybe five minutes to think it over
and tell Goodwin how to fake his report so we would
spend a couple of days chasing around getting nowhere.
With your goddamn ego that would seem to you per-
The Homicide Trinity 59
fectly all right. You wouldn’t be obstructing justice; you
would be bringing a murderer to justice. Remembering
the stunts I have seen you pull, do you deny you would
be capable of that?”
“No. Given sufficient impulse, no. But I didn’t. Let
me settle this. I am convinced that when Mr. Goodwin
came to the plant rooms and told me what Miss Aaron
had said to him he reported fully and accurately, and
the statement he signed corresponds in every respect
with what he told me. So if you came, armed with
warrants, to challenge it, you’re wasting your time and
mine. Archie, get Mr. Parker.”
Since the number of Nathaniel Parker, the lawyer,
was one of those I knew best and I didn’t have to consult
the book, I swiveled and dialed. When I had him Wolfe
got on his phone.
“Mr. Parker? Good afternoon. Mr. Cramer is here
waving warrants at Mr. Goodwin and me. . . . No.
Material witnesses. He may or may not serve them.
Please have your secretary ring my number every ten
minutes. If Fritz tells you that we have gone with Mr.
Cramer you will know what to do. . . . Yes, of course.
Thank you.”
As he hung up Cramer left his chair, spoke to Steb-
bins, got his coat from the chair arm, and tramped out,
with Purley at his heels. I stepped to the hall to see that
both of them were outside when the door shut. When I
returned, Wolfe was leaning back with his eyes closed,
his fists on his chair arms, and his mouth working.
When he does that with his lips, pushing them out and
pulling them in, out and in, he is not to be interrupted,
so I crossed to my desk and sat. That can last anywhere
from two minutes to half an hour.
That time it wasn’t much more than two minutes. He
opened his eyes, straightened up, and growled, “Did he
omit the fourth assumption deliberately? Has it oc-
curred to him?”
“I doubt it. He was concentrating on us. But it soon
will.”
“It has occurred to you?”
“Sure. From that time-table it’s obvious. When it
60 Rex Stout
does occur to him he’ll probably mess it up. It’s not the
kind he’s good at.”
He nodded. “We must forestall him. Can you get her
here?”
“I can try. I supposed that was what you were work-
ing at. I can make a stab at it on the phone, and if that
doesn’t work we can invent another card trick. When do
you want her? Now?”
“No. I must have time to contrive a plan. What time is
it?” He would have had to twist his neck to look up at
the wall clock.
“Ten after three.”
“Say six o’clock. We must also have the others, in-
cluding Mr. Otis.”
Though the Churchill number wasn’t as familiar to
me as Parker’s I knew it, and got at the phone and
dialed. I asked for Mrs. Morton Sorell, and after a wait
had a voice I had heard before.
“Mrs. Sorell’s apartment. Who is it, please?”
“This is Archie Goodwin, Mrs. Sorell. I’m calling from
Nero Wolfe’s office. A police inspector was here for a
talk with Mr. Wolfe and just left. Before that three men
you know were here—Edey and Heydecker and Jett.
There have been some very interesting developments,
and Mr. Wolfe would like to discuss them with you
before he makes up his mind about something. You
were asking this morning if he would work for you, and
that’s one possibility. Would six o’clock suit you? You
have the address.”
Silence. Then her voice: “What are the develop-
ments?”
“Mr. Wolfe would rather tell you himself. I’m sure
you’ll find them interesting.”
“Why can’t he come here?”
“Because as I told you, he never leaves his house on