Three For The Chair (10 page)

'True,' Colvin agreed. 'Quite true. But it must have been premeditated, and Secretary Leeson must have been a chosen target. As I said, four trained men are exploring that possibility. But the laws of probability compel us to center our attention on this place and the people here. By no means exclusively on you and your five guests; there are five others. Wolfe, Goodwin, and your three servants. The three servants have been questioned, and we're certainly not through with them. I want to ask you about them. The cook's name is Michael Samek?'

'Yes. This is ridiculous. Mike has been with me for fifteen years ' at my home in New York, in Florida in the winter. The other -'

'Isn't that a Russian name'Is he a Russian?'

'No. He's an American. You certainly are seeing things, Colvin. He was born in Buffalo. The other two men are from an agency in New York and I have used them many times. For years. Do you want the name of the agency?'

'We got it from them. Have you any reason whatever to suppose that one of those three might be involved in this?'

'I have not. I have every reason to suppose they aren't.'

'All right, but you understand they have to be thoroughly checked. Now about Wolfe and Goodwin. The newspaper article said that Wolfe was coming to cook trout for Ambassador Kelefy. Is that correct?'

'Yes.'

'Did you arrange that?'

'No. Secretary Leeson did.'

'When did they get here?'

'Late yesterday afternoon, just before dinner.'

'Why did Goodwin come along?'

'I suppose to drive the car. Ask him.'

'I intend to. But first please tell me ' to your knowledge, was there anything behind that arrangement'Some other reason for getting Wolfe and Goodwin here?'

'No. Not to my knowledge.'

'Then if there was some secret reason, some ulterior motive, for the arrangement, it was known only to Secretary Leeson, who is now dead?'

'I can't say. It wasn't known to me.'

Colvin's eyes went to Wolfe, and he raised his chin and his voice. 'I ask you, Wolfe. Goodwin says that the arrangement for your coming here was made on the telephone with Secretary Leeson. Have you any record other than your own memory of what was said on the telephone?'

If he had worked at it for a week he couldn't have thought up a worse approach.

WOLFE, BESIDE ME, sat slowly moving his head from side to side, and I thought he was simply going to clam up and let it go at that. But no. He spoke. 'It's too bad, Mr. Colvin.'

'What's too bad?'

'That you're spoiling it. You people have investigated promptly and efficiently, and you have expounded the situation admirably ' though I think 'assumptions' would be a better word than 'conclusions' at this stage. You even show -'

'I asked you a question! Answer it!'

'I shall. You even show commendable spunk in dealing with two billionaires and an ambassador, and I can't blame you for wanting to impress them by using a sharper tone and a more pugnacious manner for me. Though I don't blame you, I would certainly tell you to go to the devil but for the fact that my one desire is to leave here and go home. So I suggest a modus operandi. I will make a statement ' you have a stenographer there. When I'm through you may ask questions, and I may answer them.'

'I've asked one. You can answer that.'

Wolfe shook his head patiently. 'I've offered a statement. Isn't that accepted procedure?'

The sheriff, who had returned to the group by the door, called over, 'Maybe he'd like it better at the courthouse!'

The DA ignored it. He pushed his specs back up. 'Go ahead and make your statement.'

'Yes, sir.' Wolfe was trying not to be smug. He did want to go home. 'Eleven days ago I had a telephone call from Washington and was told that Mr. David M. Leeson, Assistant Secretary of State, wished to speak with me. Mr. Leeson, whom I had never met, told me that a fishing party was being arranged for Ambassador Kelefy, newly arrived in this country, and that the ambassador had expressed a desire to eat fresh trout cooked by Nero Wolfe, and would I oblige him. Mr. Leeson said it would be deeply appreciated. I was engaged on a difficult job and reserved my decision. Mr. Leeson phoned me again two days later, and again three days later, and I agreed to go, and he gave me the necessary information. No other matter was mentioned by either of us in any of the conversations.'

'Did Leeson write you about it?'

'No. It was all arranged on the phone. Yesterday morning Mr. Goodwin and I left my house in New York and drove here in my car, arriving around six o'clock. He accompanied me because he always does, and I had so stipulated with Mr. Leeson. He and I dined in this room with the others, and went to our rooms and to bed about ten o'clock. Neither of us had ever before met any of the people here, and neither of us had any private conversation with any of them yesterday or during the night. This morning we arose rather late and breakfasted together in this room at half past nine; we were told that the others, the five men, had all gone fishing before eight o'clock. After breakfast I went to the kitchen to start preparations for cooking lunch, and Mr. Goodwin got himself outfitted for fishing. From that point the account of Mr. Goodwin's movements will come from him; no doubt he has already furnished it. I stayed in the kitchen until luncheon had been cooked and served; I ate mine in the kitchen; and a little after one o'clock I went to my room and remained there until Mr. Goodwin arrived and told me he had found Mr. Leeson's body.'

'What time was it -'

'If you please. A little more. You hinted at the possibility ' delicately, but you did hint it ' of a connection between the attack on Mr. Leeson and the contest for the oil rights which Ambassador Kelefy is negotiating. As the investigation gets hotter I suppose you'll return to that, in private interviews, and sooner or later someone will certainly mention an incident that occurred in this room last evening at the dinner table. Mr. Goodwin might, since he was casually involved. So I mention it now. Mr. Bragan placed the table, and arranged the seating, so that Mr. Ferris and Mr. Goodwin were toasted before our eyes. Their only alternatives were discourtesy or cremation, and they chose the former; they left the table and played billiards. I don't suggest that this has any bearing on the murder; I report it only because it was a notable incident and I don't want to be reproached later for leaving it out.'

Wolfe closed his eyes and opened them again. 'That's all, I think, except to add that I fully realize the pickle you're in. You are driven to the hypothesis that someone on these premises is a murderer. Eleven of us. The three servants are probably hopeless. Leaving eight. Mrs. Leeson seems highly unlikely. Leaving seven. Ambassador Kelefy, his wife, and Mr. Papps are beyond your reach even for inquisition, let alone indictment. Leaving four. Mr. Bragan and Mr. Ferris are mighty men of great wealth, dangerous to offend without the most conclusive grounds; you will provoke them at your peril. Leaving two, Mr. Goodwin and me. So I understand your eagerness to impeach us, but it's no good. Don't waste time and energy on us.'

'Are you through?'

'Yes. If you wish a statement from Mr. Goodwin also, he -'

'We already have Goodwin's story. Naturally it agrees with yours.' The DA's tone indicated no desire for peaceful coexistence. 'For the record, I deny your allegation that we are eager to impeach you, as you put it. We are eager for only one thing, the truth about the commission of this crime. You say you went to the kitchen, parting from Goodwin, immediately after breakfast?'

'Yes.'

'And that was around ten o'clock?'

'Almost precisely at ten.'

'When did you see him next?'

'Shortly before eleven o'clock he came to the kitchen and got sandwiches for his lunch, and left. The next time was when he came to my room and told me of finding Mr. Leeson's body.'

Colvin nodded. 'Around one-thirty.' Specs. 'Goodwin admits he was alone for forty minutes or more after you went to the kitchen. He says he was in this room, looking over the tackle and getting himself equipped, but he had ample time to slip out the side door, make his way to stretch four, find Secretary Leeson and deal with him, return, and proceed to the veranda to register his presence with Mrs. Kelefy and Mrs. Leeson. Or, as an alternative, he had reason to suppose that Secretary Leeson would stay out beyond the appointed hour, and, after starting south and meeting Mr. Papps and Ambassador Kelefy on the trail, he doubled back through the woods, detouring around the lodge, found Secretary Leeson, even possibly by previous arrangement, and killed him.'

Wolfe's brows were up. 'Had he gone mad'I grant that Mr. Goodwin sometimes acts impulsively, but that seems rather extreme.'

'Murder is extreme.' Colvin's voice went up a notch. 'You can save your sarcasm, Wolfe. I understand it goes over big in New York, but here upstate we don't appreciate it. If Goodwin did it he had a motive, sure, and I can't produce it now, but there are plenty of possibilities. You like money. What if Secretary Leeson was in somebody's way, and that somebody came and offered you a big sum to help dispose of him'He knew you had been asked to come here, and that would give you and Goodwin a perfect opportunity. So you decided to come, and you did. It doesn't have to be that Goodwin suddenly went mad, or you either.'

'Pfui.' Wolfe sighed. 'Wild conjectures have their place in an investigation, Mr. Colvin, no doubt of that, but it is better not to blab them until they are supported by some slender thread of fact. That's mere moonshine. You have my statement. You may indulge yourself in fantastic nonsense, but don't pester me with it. Let's be explicit. Are you calling me a liar?'

'I am!'

'Then there's no point in going on.' Wolfe left his chair, which had been supporting about 80 per cent of his fanny. 'I'll be in my room, with no interest in any further communication except word that I may leave for home. Since you already have Mr. Goodwin's story, you won't need him either. Come, Archie.' He moved.

'Wait a minute!' Colvin commanded. 'I'm not through with you! Is your statement absolutely complete?'

Wolfe, having taken a step, halted and turned his head. 'Yes.'

'You included a notable incident. That's what you called it. Was there any other notable incident that you didn't mention?'

'No. None that I know about.'

'None whatever?'

'No.'

'Then you don't call it notable that you came here to cook trout for Ambassador Kelefy, that's what you came for, and when they brought in their creels today and you and the cook cleaned the trout, you did not include the trout in Ambassador Kelefy's creel'The trout he had caught himself'You don't call that notable?'

Wolfe's shoulders went up a quarter of an inch and down again. 'Not especially.'

'Well, I do.' Colvin was bearing down, quite nasty. 'The cook, Samek, says that the creels were tagged with the names. You selected the fish from them. Bragan's had ten and you used nine of them. Ferris's had nine and you used six. Papps's had seven and you used five. Ambassador Kelefy's had eight, all of good size, and you didn't use one of them. They were still there in the kitchen and Samek showed them to me. Nothing wrong with them as far as I could see. Do you deny this?'

'Oh no.' I caught a little gleam in Wolfe's eye. 'But will you tell me how it relates to the crime you're investigating?'

'I don't know. But I call it a notable incident and you didn't mention it.' Colvin's head moved. 'Ambassador Kelefy, if you will permit me, did you know that Wolfe didn't cook any of the fish you caught?'

'No, Mr. Colvin, I didn't. This is rather a surprise.'

'Do you know of any reason for it'Does any occur to you?'

'I'm afraid not.' Kelefy swiveled his head for a glance at Wolfe, and back to the DA. 'No doubt Mr. Wolfe can supply one.'

'He certainly can. What about it, Wolfe'Why?'

Wolfe shook his head. 'Relate it to the murder, Mr. Colvin. I shouldn't withhold evidence, of course, but I'm not; the trout are there; scrutinize them, dissect them, send them to the nearest laboratory for full analysis. I resent your tone, your diction, your manners, and your methods; and only a witling would call a man with my conceit a liar. Come, Archie.'

I can't say how it would have developed if there hadn't been a diversion. As Wolfe made for the door to the hall with me at his heels, the sheriff, the lieutenant, and the other trooper came trotting across to head us off, and they succeeded, since Wolfe had neither the build nor the temperament to make a dash for it. But only two of them blocked the doorway because as they came the phone rang and the lieutenant changed course to go to the table and answer it. After a word he turned to call to the DA. 'For you, Mr. Colvin. Attorney General Jessel.'

Colvin went to get it, leaving the two groups ' the six on chairs in the middle of the room, and us four standing at the door ' stuck in tableaux. The conversation wasn't long, and he had the short end of it. When he hung up he turned, pushed back the specs, and announced, 'That was Mr. Herman Jessel, attorney general of the state of New York. I phoned him just before calling you together here and described the situation. He has talked with Governor Holland, and is leaving Albany immediately to come here, and wants me to postpone further questioning of you ladies and gentlemen until he arrives. That will probably be around eight o'clock. Meanwhile we will pursue certain other lines of inquiry. Lieutenant Hopp has established a cordon outside to exclude intruders, especially representatives of the press. You are requested to remain inside the lodge or on the veranda.'

He pushed the specs back up.

WOLFE SAT IN THE rainbow chair in his room, leaning back, his eyes closed, his lips compressed, his fingers folded at the apex of his middle mound. I stood at a window, looking out. Fifty paces away, at the edge of the woods, a trooper was standing, gazing up at a tree. I focused on it, thinking a journalist might be perched on an upper branch, but it must have been a squirrel or a bird.

Wolfe's voice sounded behind me. 'What time is it?'

'Twenty after five.' I turned.

'Where would we be if we had left at two o'clock?'

'On Route Twenty-two four miles south of Hoosick Falls.'

'Bosh. You can't know that.'

'That's what I do know. What I don't know is why you didn't let the ambassador eat his trout.'

'Thirty-four were caught. I cooked twenty. That's all.'

'Okay, save it. What I don't know won't hurt me. I'll tell you what I think. I think the guy that sent us here to kill Leeson was sending you messages by putting them inside trout and tossing the trout in the river, and some of them were in the ones Kelefy caught, and you had to wait for a chance to get them out when the cook wasn't looking, and when -'

There was a knock at the door and I went and opened it, and O. V. Bragan, our host, stepped in. No manners. When I shut the door and turned he was already across to Wolfe and talking. 'I want to ask you about something.'

Wolfe opened his eyes. 'Yes, Mr. Bragan'Don't stand on ceremony. Indeed, don't stand at all. Looking up at people disconcerts me. Archie?'

I moved a chair up for the burly six-footer, expecting no thanks and getting none. There are two kinds of executives, thankers and non-thankers, and I already had Bragan tagged. But since Wolfe had taken a crack at him about ceremony I thought I might as well too, and told him not to mention it. He didn't hear me.

His cold and sharp gray eyes were leveled at Wolfe. 'I liked the way you handled Colvin,' he stated.

Wolfe grunted. 'I didn't. I want to go home. When I talk with a man who is in a position to give me something I want, and I don't get it, I have blundered. I should have toadied him. Vanity comes high.'

'He's a fool.'

'I don't agree.' Obviously Wolfe was in no mood to agree with anyone or anything. 'I thought he did moderately well. For an obscure official in a remote community his stand with Mr. Ferris and you was almost intrepid.'

'Bah. He's a fool. The idea that anyone here would deliberately murder Leeson is so damned absurd that only a fool would take it seriously.'

'Not as absurd as the idea that a poacher, with a club from your woodpile as a cane, was struck with the fancy of using it as a deadly weapon. Discovered poachers don't kill; they run.'

'All right, it wasn't a poacher.' Bragan was brusque. 'And it wasn't anyone here. But God knows what this is going to mean to my plans. If it isn't cleared up in a hurry anything can happen. With Leeson murdered here at my lodge, the State Department could decide to freeze me out, and not only that, Ambassador Kelefy could decide he'd rather not deal with me, and that would be worse.'

He hit his chair arm with a fist. 'It has got to be cleaned up in a hurry! And God knows it won't be, the way they're going at it. I know your reputation some, Wolfe, and I just spoke on the phone with one of my associates in New York. He says you're straight, and you're good, and you charge exorbitant fees. To hell with that. If this thing drags along and ruins my plans I'll lose a thousand times more than any fee you ever charged. I want you to go to work on this. I want you to find out who killed Leeson, and damned quick.'

'Sitting here?' Wolfe was bored. 'Confined to the lodge and veranda'Another absurd idea.'

'You wouldn't be. Jessel, the attorney general, will be here in a couple of hours. I know him well, I made a little contribution to his campaign. After I talk with him and he reads your statement, and questions you if he wants to, he'll let you go. I've got a plane at a landing field twelve miles from here, and you and Goodwin will fly to Washington and get busy. I'll give you some names of people there that can help, and I'll phone them from here. The way it looks to me, somebody that wanted to finish Leeson decided to do it here. You find him and pin it on him, and quick. I'm not telling you how; that's your job. Well?'

'No,' Wolfe said bluntly.

'Why not?'

'It doesn't appeal to me.'

'To hell with appeal. Why not?'

'I am responsible for my decisions, Mr. Bragan, but to myself, not to you. However, I am your guest. I would ride in an airplane only in desperation, and I am not desperate. Again, I want to go home, and Washington is not my home. Again, even if your assumption regarding the murder were correct, it might take so long to find him and expose him that your plans would be beyond salvage. There is a fourth reason even more cogent than those, but I'm not prepared to disclose it.'

'What is it?'

'No, sir. You're an overbearing man, Mr. Bragan, but I'm a dogged man. I owe you the decent courtesy of a guest, but that's all, and I decline the job. Archie, someone at the door.'

I was on my way to answer the knock. This time, getting adapted to the etiquette of the place and not wanting to be trampled, I backed up with the door as I opened it, and sure enough, he breezed right in and on past me. It was James Arthur Ferris. Bragan was sitting with his back to the door. When Ferris got far enough to see who it was, he stopped and blurted, 'You here, Bragan'Good.'

Bragan blurted back, 'Why is it good?'

'Because I was coming to ask Wolfe and Goodwin for a little favor. I was going to ask them to come with me to your room and be present while I said something to you. I've learned from experience that it's advisable to have witnesses present when I'm talking with you.'

'Oh, for God's sake come off it.' Bragan was fed up. First Wolfe turning him down flat, and now this. 'There's been a murder. A statesman has been murdered. On every radio and TV network, and tomorrow on the front page of a thousand papers. Pull in your horns!'

Ferris, not listening apparently, was squinting down at Wolfe. 'If you don't mind,' he said, 'I'll say it here. There's no danger that you'll ever have to testify to it or even furnish an affidavit, because Bragan hasn't got the guts to lie when he knows it's three to one. I'll appreciate the favor.' He turned the squint on Bragan, and you wouldn't think his thin little hyphen of a mouth was much to show hate with, but he certainly managed it. 'I just want to tell you what I'm going to do, so you can't say afterwards that it hit you without warning.'

'Go ahead.' Bragan's head was tilted back to face the squint. 'Let's hear it.'

'As you know, the attorney general is on his way here. He's going to ask about the status of our negotiations with Kelefy and Papps, and where Leeson stood. He may not think that had any connection with the murder, but he's certainly going to ask about it, and not in a meeting like that Colvin, but each of us privately. When he asks me I'm going to tell him.'

'What are you going to tell him?'

'I'm going to tell him the truth. How you had your Paris man working on Kelefy and Papps before they even left home. How you tried to get something on Papps. How you had that woman on the plane with them to try to work on Mrs. Kelefy, only it didn't go. How you had two men I can name trying to put screws on Leeson, and -'

'Watch it, Ferris. I advise you to watch it. We're not alone. You've got your witnesses.'

'You bet I have. I'll probably have more when I'm talking to the attorney general. I'm going to tell him how you tried to buy Papps ' buy him with cash, your stockholders' cash. How you finally swung Leeson and had him eating out of your hand. How you got him to arrange this little fishing party, here at your place, so you'd have Kelefy and Papps all to yourself. How Papps didn't like that and got me invited. And then after we got here, how I worked you into a corner with the dirty swindle you thought you had all set, and yesterday afternoon Leeson began to see the light. It didn't need much more to cook you good ' one more day would have done it. This is the day. This is the day, but Leeson's not here. That's what I'm going to tell the attorney general, and I didn't want to spring it on you without warning. Also I didn't want you to claim I had, with a big whine, so I wanted witnesses. That's all.'

Ferris turned and was going. Bragan called to him but he didn't stop. Bragan got up and made for him, but by the time he reached the door Ferris was through it, pulling it shut as he went. Bragan looked at me without seeing me, said, 'By God, and he bought Papps himself!' and opened the door and was gone. I closed it and turned my back on it, and asked Wolfe, 'Do I go and warn somebody'Or wait a while and then go find the body?'

'Pleistocene,' he growled. 'Saber-toothed hyenas.'

'Okay,' I agreed, 'but all the same I think you missed a bet. That gook might actually be able to talk us out of here. If so, consider this. Driving time from here to Thirty-fifth Street, Manhattan, seven hours. Plane from here to Washington, three hours. I take a taxi to the city and start operating, and you hop a plane to New York. Flying to La Guardia, an hour and a quarter. Taxi from La Guardia to Thirty-fifth Street, forty-five minutes. Total traveling time, five hours. Two hours less than it would take to drive there, not to mention the fact that they won't let us. And in addition, bill Bragan for at least ten grand. You could tell him -'

'Archie.'

'Yes, sir.'

'There's a book on a shelf in that room ' Power and Policy, by Thomas K. Finletter. I'd like to have it.'

It had long been understood that at home he got his own books off of shelves, but I had to admit this was different, so I humored him. Going down the hall I kept my ears open for sounds of combat, but all was quiet. In the big room a trooper sat over by the door. I found the book with no trouble, and returned to Wolfe's room and handed it to him.

'It occurs to me,' he said, 'that a little later there'll probably be some fussing in the kitchen. They may even undertake to gather at a table for a meal. In the refrigerator are a third of a Ryder ham, half of a roast turkey, tree-ripened olives, milk, and beer. The bread is inedible, but in a cupboard there are some Caswell crackers, and in another cupboard a jar of Brantling's blackberry jam. If you see anything else you think desirable, bring it.'

He opened the book and settled back in the chair. I wasn't through with him on the notion of letting Bragan spring us and commit himself to a fee, partly because I had a suspicion that Bragan's slant on the murder was the best bet in sight, but I thought half an hour with a book might make him more receptive to the idea of a plane ride, so I took to the hall again and on through to the kitchen. The cook, Samek, was there, with an array of dishes and trays and assorted grub scattered around. I said if he didn't mind I'd cater with a pair of trays for Wolfe and me, and he said go ahead. As I got out a bottle of milk I asked casually, 'By the way, I intended to take a look at the trout the ambassador caught. Where are they?'

'They're not here. The cops took 'em.'

The loaded trays called for two trips. The second trip, with mine, I met Papps in the hall and exchanged nods with him. Our meal, in Wolfe's room, went down all right, except that Wolfe drank beer with it, which he seldom does at home, and ruined his palate for the blackberry jam, so he said. I had had milk and my palate let the jam by without a murmur.

After returning the trays to the kitchen I headed back for the room, all set to tackle Wolfe on Bragan's proposition. My chances of selling him were about one in fifty, but I had to do something to pass the time and why not that'Keeping him stirred up was one thing he paid me for. However, it had to be postponed. As I approached I saw that the door was standing open, and as I entered I saw that we had more company. Adria Kelefy was sitting in the chair that I had moved up for Bragan, and the ambassador was getting another for himself, to make it a trio.

I closed the door.