I should, yes. I haven’t. I shall when I can name X.
Then you’re withholding evidence?
I’m doing something much worse; I’m conspiring to obstruct justice. So are Mr. Goodwin and Mrs. Valdon. That’s why you must be detained until I can name X.
You sit there and calmly… Upton let it hang. It’s unbelievable. Why me? Why are you telling me?
I needed to discuss it with you. I talked with Bingham and Krug and Haft on Saturday, and I wanted to talk with you. One of them advanced the opinion, not explicitly but by implication, that you had killed Carol Mardus. His point was that you would not have let her take a six months’ vacation unless she confided in you the compelling reason for it, that you knew she was pregnant, and that therefore she had probably had your help in disposing of the baby. Hence the conclusion that you are X. Surely not wanton. When I said I wanted to discuss the likelihood that you’re a murderer you said blah. I don’t think you can dismiss it so cavalierly.
I still say blah. And I’m not going to conspire to obstruct justice. He stood up. I am going to see if you’ll actually… He headed for the door.
Not having any great desire to dangle him, I merely beat him to the door and put my back to it. He made a grab for my arm, but missed and got the front of my jacket, and started pulling. That isn’t good for a jacket, especially a light summer weight, and I got his wrists and twisted, maybe a little harder than necessary. He let go, so I did too, and the damn fool hauled off and swung. I sidestepped, whirled him around, pinned his arms from behind, hustled him across to a chair, and put him in it. That chair had been meant for him anyway. As I went to mine a ring came from the phone in the cabinet at the end of the room, but I ignored it.
Wolfe grunted. Very well, you’ve established that you’re under duress. So you’re not conspiring. We’ll assume that you are not X. But surely Miss Mardus told you why she had to have six months off. You knew she was pregnant and intended to give birth. Didn’t she tell you later, when she returned, who had helped her dispose of the baby? You must see, Mr. Upton, that that is a question you must answer.
He was panting and glaring, at me. He moved the glare to Wolfe. Not to you, he said. I’ll answer it to someone who has a right to ask it. And you’ll have questions to answer, plenty of them. He stopped for breath. I haven’t mentioned the baby to the police because I didn’t know it had any connection with her murder, and I don’t know it yet. I have told them about the anonymous letters, and about your wanting lists of names of women who knew Dick Valdon, and that you probably got them from Krug and Haft and Bingham. If you think you can crawl There was a knock at the door, and I went and opened it enough to see out. Lucy was there. She whispered, Saul Panzer, and 1 nodded, shut the door, and told Wolfe, Phone for you, and he got up and came. I opened the door for him and shut it after him, returned to my chair, and sat.
You were interrupted, I said politely. You were saying something about crawling. If you want to go on I’ll be glad to listen.
Apparently he didn’t. He didn’t even want to glare, and I knew why. His wrists were hurting and he didn’t want to give me the satisfaction of seeing him rub them, and had to concentrate. When a wrist gets that particular twist it hurts for a while. I happened to know that there was a tube of salve in a cabinet upstairs that would have helped, but I wasn’t going to take him up to get it. It wasn’t my house, and anyway he shouldn’t have jerked my jacket out of shape. Let him suffer. He did so, for a good fifteen minutes.
The door opened and Lucy entered, followed by Wolfe. She stopped and he advanced. Upton left the chair and started to speak, but Wolfe cut in. Keep your seat. Mrs. Valdon is going to make a phone call, and you may as well hear her. He turned to me. Tell her Mr. Cramer’s number.
I did so, and she repeated it and headed for the cabinet at the end of the room. Upton moved in that direction but came up against me, and he told her back that Wolfe was a liar and a charlatan and so forth. When she got her number and spoke, he shut up and stood and listened. So did I. From the trouble she had getting Cramer, even though she gave her name, I guessed Lieutenant Rowcliff was on. I will never understand why Cramer keeps him around. But finally Lucy got him.
Inspector Cramer? Yes, Lucy Valdon. I’m at home, my house on Eleventh Street. I have decided to tell you some things about the baby and about Carol Mardus…. Yes, Carol Mardus…. No, I don’t want to tell the District Attorney, I want to tell you…. No, I don’t know where Nero Wolfe is. I’ve decided I have to tell you, but I’m going to do it my way. I want to tell some other people too, at the same time…. Willis Krug and Leo Bingham and Julian Haft, and I want you to bring them or have them come…. That’s right…. No, I won’t do that, I want them to hear me telling you…. No, I won’t, and I can be stubborn, you know I can, they have to be here with you…. No, Manuel Upton is here with me now…. That’s all right, I’m all right…. Yes, I know exactly what I’m doing…. Of course, come right away if you want to, but I’m not going to tell you anything until they’re all here…. Yes, certainly…. All right, I won’t.
She hung up and turned. Was that all right?
No, Wolfe said. You shouldn’t have told him Mr. Upton is here. He’ll come first and want to see him. It’s not important; you’ll tell him he has gone. Archie, take him to the fourth floor and keep him quiet.
In all the years I have been with Nero Wolfe that was the first and only time, to my knowledge, that he has been alone with a woman in a bedroom. The room was the one on the fourth floor he bad slept in, and the woman was Anne Tenzer. I’m merely reporting, not insinuating; the door of the room was standing open, and not far away was another open door, to the room where I was keeping Manuel Upton quiet but that gives a false impression. He was keeping himself quiet, needing no help from me. After hearing Lucy invite Inspector Cramer to call he hadn’t uttered more than twenty words, and half of them had been to decline the offer of a ham sandwich and a glass of milk, brought up by Wolfe. I had accepted. Perfectly scrambled eggs are a fine dish, but they digest away on you.
Saul Panzer was downstairs helping Lucy receive and seat the guests, following instructions from Wolfe on the arrangement. He told me later that it was Leo Bingham, coming last, who held it up. It was twenty-five minutes to two when I heard footsteps and looked out and saw Saul at the door of the other room. He spoke to Wolfe, turned to me and said, All set, and went to the stairs and started down. I ushered Upton out and into the elevator, and in a moment we were joined by Wolfe and Anne Tenzer. There would have been room for a couple more provided they weren’t Wolfe’s size. He pushed the button himself and cocked his head as we descended, listening for a creak or a groan, and hearing none. I suspected that before long I would be told to find out how much one like it would cost.
I have never thought that Inspector Cramer was a sap, and still don’t. Take his reaction when he twisted his head around and saw us enter. He jumped up, opened his mouth, and shut it. He realized instantly that Wolfe wouldn’t have dared to stage that charade if he hadn’t had a line he was sure of, and if he blew his top in front of witnesses he might be just making it sweeter for Wolfe in the end. As we crossed to the group his face got redder and his mouth tighter, but he didn’t let out a peep.
Saul had placed them as instructed. Lucy was off to the left, and near her was a chair for Anne Tenzer. Willis Krug and Julian Haft were on the couch, and Leo Bingham was on a chair at its right end. Cramer’s chair was midway of the couch, facing it, and Saul was to his left. The roomiest chair, for Wolfe, was where I had put it earlier, near the left end of the couch, where there was space for Upton and me, putting Upton next to Haft and me not far from Wolfe.