Wolfe’s brows went slightly up. “This thing?”
“This – up at Miltan’s. Ludlow. It’s murder, you know.”
“I believe it is. You were among those present.”
“Yes, I was, damn it. Of course you got that from this fellow you sent up there.”
“Excuse me,” Wolfe murmured. “I thought you two had met. Mr. Barrett, this is Mr. Goodwin, my assistant.”
“Oh, we met. We spoke a few words. He was guarding the door and I asked him to let a young lady through to keep an important appointment and he wouldn’t do it.”
Wolfe nodded. “That was Miss Reade.”
“Oh? He told you that too?”
“Mr. Goodwin tells me everything.”
“I suppose he would. Naturally. He was damn bullheaded about letting Miss Reade out. He said the worst thing she could do was to leave the place and start the cops looking for her, and then, by God, he gets out himself somehow and starts them looking for him!”
“I know. He goes by whim.” Wolfe was sympathetic. “Is that what you came to see me for? To reproach me for Mr. Goodwin’s behavior?”
Barrett looked at him suspiciously, but Wolfe’s expression was bland. “No,” he said, “I just mentioned it. He was damn bullheaded. There was no reason in the world why Miss Reade should have been kept there. As far as I myself was concerned, I was perfectly willing to stand the inconvenience. But I came to see you regarding another … well, another angle. This fellow that you sent up there – you sent him to represent Miss Tormic, didn’t you?”
“What fellow?”
“Your assistant, damn it!” His head went sidewise in my direction. “Goodwin.”
“Yes. I’m not really obtuse, Mr. Barrett, only I like the custom of designating people by their names; it’s so handy. Yes, Mr. Goodwin was there in the interest of Miss Tormic.”
“That’s what he said.”
“She agreed, didn’t she?”
“Sure. That was all right. But that was about that business of Driscoll’s diamonds – the damn fool. What I want to know is, are you still representing her? I mean, in connection with the murder.”
“Do you ask that question as a curious friend?”
“Why, I – a friend, yes. It’s not just curiosity.”
“Well, I am representing Miss Tormic. What moved you besides curiosity?”
“Oh, just …” He hesitated. He put his hand up to smooth his straggled hair, shifted in his chair, and cleared his throat. “Frankly, just that I’m a little interested in Miss Tormic and I should hate it … you know? Such a frightful stink? I only met her a couple of months ago, and I got her and Miss Lovchen their jobs at Miltan’s – and I feel some responsibility about that too. She’s a stranger in New York, and I wanted to be sure she has proper and competent advice. Of course, if you’re representing her …”
“I am.”
“That ought to settle it.”
“Thank you.”
“Provided you …” He smoothed his hair, and cleared his throat again. It was plain that he was having trouble getting the cork out. “Provided you appreciate that it’s important that she shouldn’t be tangled up in the thing at all. For instance, take that rumor that she was seen putting something in that fellow – in Goodwin’s overcoat pocket. If that got to the police it would start a hell of a row. Although I don’t believe she did any such thing. I doubt if anybody did.” He turned to me. “You ought to know. Did you find anything in your overcoat pocket?”
“Sure.” I grinned at him. “Driscoll’s diamonds.”
“No, damn it –”
“Permit me,” Wolfe said brusquely. “If we are in possession of any secrets which we think should remain secret in the interest of Miss Tormic, we certainly aren’t going to disclose them. Neither to the police nor to anyone else. Including you, sir. If you came here for information of that kind you may expect a famine.”
“I am a friend of Miss Tormic.”
“Then you should be glad that she has discreet advisers.”
“That’s all right. Certainly. But sometimes you fellows like to stand in with the police. You know? And it would be bad if they got hold of that talk about her putting something in Goodwin’s pocket. They’d go after her plenty and they’d turn her inside out. It was bad enough that she had been in there fencing with Ludlow, and this would make it ten times worse. I wanted to be sure you appreciate –”
“We do, Mr. Barrett. We haven’t much native subtlety, but a long experience has taught us things – for instance, never to toss ammunition to the enemy except under compulsion or in exchange for something better.” Wolfe’s tone was a soothing purr, which made me wonder when and why he was getting ready to pounce. He went on with it: “By the way, I don’t suppose you happened to meet Miss Tormic on your way down here just now?”
“No, I didn’t. Why? Where was she?”
“She was here for a little talk. She and her friend, Miss Lovchen. They left shortly before you arrived and I wondered if by any chance you had seen them.”
“No.”
“Have you had an opportunity to talk this thing over with her in much detail?”
“Not much of one. You might say none, really. They questioned the men first up there, and they let me go around eight o’clock. She was still there. I don’t know how long they kept her.”
“Indeed. Since you are a sufficiently good friend of hers to bother to come down here, it might be thought that you wouldn’t have gone off and left her there.”
“I couldn’t get at her. The place was full of cops and there was one for everybody. Anyway, that’s my business. Meaning it’s none of yours. You know?”
“Yes, excuse me. You’re quite right.” Then Wolfe pounced. As usual, there was no change whatever in his tone as his forefinger traced a tiny circle on the polished mahogany of his chair arm. “But I think you’ll have to concede that this is my business: where have you hid Madame Zorka?”
Chapter 10
Donald Barrett wasn’t especially good; not much above the average man when he is suddenly and abruptly faced with a question which he isn’t supposed to know the answer to but does. His jaw loosened, his eyes widened, and his breathing stopped. The first two may be the result of innocent surprise, but not the third. But he was fairly quick on the recovery. He stared at Wolfe and made folds in his smooth handsome brow and demanded:
“Where have I hid who?”
“Madame Zorka.”
He shook his head. “If it’s a joke you’ll have to explain it to me. I don’t get it.”
Wolfe said patiently, “I’ll explain it. Madame Zorka phoned here this evening and said she saw Miss Tormic put something in Mr. Goodwin’s pocket and she was going to report it to the police immediately.”
“The devil she did!”
“Please don’t interrupt. It’s wasted. Mr. Goodwin persuaded her to postpone informing the police until he could take Miss Tormic to Madame Zorka’s apartment for a discussion of the matter. When he and Miss Tormic arrived some time later, they found the apartment empty; and they learned that Madame Zorka had departed fifteen minutes previously, in a hurry, with a bag and suitcase. Mr. Goodwin then brought Miss Tormic and Miss Lovchen here to see me.”
“Well, that –”
“Please. The two young ladies have a talk with me and leave. Soon you arrive. You reveal that you possess knowledge of three facts: that someone says that Miss Tormic was seen putting something in Mr. Goodwin’s pocket, that that information has not yet reached the police, and that it has reached me. The first two you might have got hold of in several conceivable ways, but not the third. You couldn’t possibly have known that the information had reached me unless Madame Zorka communicated with you after she phoned here.”
Barrett was standing up, apparently with the idea that it was time to go. “Rubbish,” he snorted. “If that’s the kind of deduction –”
Wolfe shook his head and his tone got sharp. “I won’t have it, sir. I won’t spend an hour working it into your skull that I know what I know. Madame Zorka told you what she had told me. Don’t try dodging; you’ll only annoy me.”
“It would be too damn bad if I annoyed you.” He looked and sounded nasty. “What if Zorka did tell me about it? What if that’s why I came down here? What’s wrong with that?”
“Did she?”
“What if she did?”
“Did she?”
“Yes!”
“On the telephone?”
“Yes.”
“And you, being a friend of Miss Tormic, saw that the only way to make sure that her story would not reach the police was to hustle her away somewhere – and you somehow persuaded her. Then you thought of the possibility that I might pass it on to the police, and came here to plug that hole. Where is Madame Zorka, Mr. Barrett?”