hour. She was alone on this floor. You know what
greeted him when he returned. He has given the police
a statement which includes his conversation with her.”
His head turned. “Archie, give Mr. Otis a copy of the
statement.”
I got it from my desk drawer and went and handed it
to him. I had a notion to stand by, in case Bertha Aaron
had been right about the effect it would have on him and
he crumpled, but from up there I couldn’t see his face,
so I returned to my chair; but after half a century of
practicing law his face knew how to behave. All that
happened was that his jaw tightened a little, and once a
muscle twitched at the side of his neck. He read it clear
through twice, first fast and then taking his time. When
he had finished he folded it neatly, fumbling a little, and
was putting it in the breast pocket of his jacket.
“No,” Wolfe said emphatically. “I disclose the infor-
mation at my discretion, but that’s a copy of a state-
ment given the police. You can’t have it.”
Otis ignored him. He looked at his associate, and his
neck muscle twitched again. “I shouldn’t have brought
you, Ann,” he said. “You’ll have to leave.”
Her eyes met his. “Believe me, Mr. Otis, you can
trust me. On anything. Believe me. If it’s that bad you
shouldn’t be alone with it.”
“I must be. I couldn’t trust you on this. You’ll have to
leave.”
22 Rex Stout
I stood up. “You can wait in the front room, Miss
Paige. The wall and door are soundproofed.”
She didn’t like it, but she came. I opened the door to
the front room and turned the lights on, and then went
and locked the door to the hall and put the key in my
pocket. Back in the office as I was crossing to my desk
Otis asked, “How good is the soundproofing?”
“Good for anything under a loud yell,” I told him.
He focused on Wolfe. “I am not surprised,” he said,
“that Miss Aaron thought it would kill me. I am sur-
prised that it hasn’t. You say the police have this state-
ment?”
“Yes. And this conversation is ended unless you re-
turn that copy. Mr. Goodwin has no corroboration. It is
a dangerous document for him to sign except under
constraint of police authority.”
“But I need—”
“Archie. Get it.”
I stood up. The heart was certainly getting tested.
But as I took a step his hand went to his pocket, and
when I reached him he had it out and handed it over.
“That’s better,” Wolfe said. “I have extended my
apology and regret, and we have given you all the
information we have. I add this: first, that nothing in
that statement will be revealed to anyone by Mr. Good-
win or me without your consent; and second, that my
self-esteem has been severely injured and it would give
me great satisfaction to expose the murderer. Granted
that that’s a job for the police, for me it is my job. I
would welcome your help, not as my client; I would
accept no fee. I realize that at the moment you are
under shock, that you are overwhelmed by the disaster
in prospect for the firm you head; and when your mind
clears you may be tempted by the possibility of mini-
mizing the damage by dealing with your intramural
treachery yourself, and letting the culprit escape his
doom. If you went about it with sufficient resourceful-
ness and ingenuity it is conceivable that the police could
be cheated of their prey, but not that I could be.”
The Homicide Trinity 23
“You are making a wholly unwarranted assumption,”
Otis said.
“I am not making an assumption. I am merely telling
you my intention. The police hypothesis, and mine, is
the obvious one: that a member of your firm killed Miss
Aaron. Though the law does not insist that the testi-
mony against him in court must include proof of his
motive, inevitably it would. Will you assert that you
won’t try to prevent that? That you will not regard the
reputation of your firm as your prime concern?”
Otis opened his mouth and closed it again.
Wolfe nodded. “I thought not. Then I advise you to
help me. If you do, I’ll have two objectives, to get the
murderer and to see that your firm suffers as little as
possible; if you don’t, I’ll have only one. As for the
police, I doubt if they’ll expect you to cooperate, since
they are not nincompoops. They will realize that you
have a deeper interest than the satisfaction of justice.
Well, sir?”
Otis’s palms were cupping his knees and his head was
tilted forward so he could study the back of his left
hand. His eyes shifted to his right hand, and when that
too had been properly studied he lifted his head and
spoke. “You used the word ‘hypothesis,’ and that’s all it
is, that a member of my firm killed Miss Aaron. How did
he know she was here? She said that nobody knew.”
“He could have followed her. Evidently she left your
office soon after she talked with him. Archie?”
“She probably walked,” I said. “Between fifteen and
twenty-five minutes, depending on her rate. At that
time of day empty taxis are scarce, and crosstown they
crawl. It would have been a cinch to tail her on foot.”
“How did he get in?” Otis demanded. “Did he sneak in
unseen when you admitted her?”
“No. You have read my statement. He saw her enter
and knew this is Nero Wolfe’s address. He went to a
phone booth and rang this number and she answered.
Here.” I tapped my phone. “With me not here that
would be automatic for a trained secretary. I had not
pushed the button so it didn’t ring in the plant rooms. It
24 Rex Stout
would ring in the kitchen, but Fritz wasn’t there. She
answered it, and he said he wanted to see her at once
and would give her a satisfactory explanation, and
she told him to come here. When he came she was at the
front door and let him in. All he was expecting to do was
stall for time, but when he learned that she was alone on
this floor and she hadn’t seen Mr. Wolfe he had another
idea and acted on it. Two minutes would have been
plenty for the whole operation, even less.”
“All that is mere conjecture.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t present. But it fits. If you have one
that fits better I do shorthand.”
“The police have covered everything here for finger-
prints.”
“Sure. But it was below freezing outdoors and I
suppose the members of your firm wear gloves.”
“You say that he learned she hadn’t seen Wolfe, but
she had talked with you.”
“She didn’t tell him that she had told me. It wouldn’t
take many words for him to learn that she was alone
and hadn’t seen Mr. Wolfe. Either that, or she did tell
him but he went ahead anyhow. The former is more
probable and I like it better.”
He studied me a while, then he closed his eyes and his
head tilted again. When his eyes opened he put them at
Wolfe. “Mr. Wolfe. I reserve comment on your sugges-
tion that I would be moved by personal considerations
to balk justice. You ask me to help you. How?”
“By giving me information. By answering questions.
Your mind is trained in inquiry; you know what I will
ask.”
“I’ll know better when I hear you. Go ahead and we’ll
see.”
Wolfe looked at the wall clock. “It’s nearly an hour
past midnight, and this will be prolonged. It will be a
tiresome wait for Miss Paige.”
“Of course,” Otis agreed. He looked at me. “Will you
ask her to step in?”
I got up and crossed to the door to the front room. As
I entered, words were at the tip of my tongue, but that
The Homicide Trinity 25
was as far as they got. She wasn’t there. Through a
wide-open window cold air was streaming in. As I went
to it and stuck my head out I was prepared to see her
lying there with one of my neckties around her throat,
though I hadn’t left one in the room. It was a relief to
see that the areaway, eight feet down, was unoccupied.
Chapter 3
A roar came from the office. “Archie! What the
devil are you up to?”
I shut the window, glanced around to see if
there were any signs of violence or if she had left a note,
saw neither, and rejoined the conference.
“She’s gone,” I said. “Leaving no message. When
I—”
“Why did you open a window?”
“I didn’t. I closed it. When I took her in there I locked