Archie Goes Home

Chapter 32

After breakfast the next day, I immediately went to the phone and called the Trumpet office. I was put through to Katie, who was less than enthused to hear my voice. “Yes?” she said with an arctic tone.

“I thought you would be interested to know that tonight Nero Wolfe is going to reveal the murderer of Logan Mulgrew.”

“Just what are you trying to pull, Archie?” she said.

“Not a thing, other than the truth. I thought you might like to be present when my boss, genius that he is, does the pulling — as in a name, out of a hat — you might say.”

“Well, I already know who the killer is, as you are aware. And I assume Nero Wolfe and I have the same individual in mind.”

“I cannot answer that. My boss does not let me in on his thought processes, so I don’t know who he has in mind.”

“I’m sorry, but I have a difficult time believing that.”

“Believe it or not, as you choose. Anyway, he plans to share his thoughts tonight, here in my mother’s house, at nine.”

“Who else will be there?”

“Assuming they all come, everyone who has an interest in the case. They will all be invited.”

“Does that include those who might be considered suspects?” Katie asked.

“It does.”

“Including Carrie Yeager?”

“Do you feel she might be considered a suspect?”

That drew a dry laugh that contained no humor. “Of course.”

“Then you have answered your own question. By the way, I never did ask what happened when you telephoned Donna Newman to ‘smooth things over’ after my less-than-successful visit with her.”

“She did seem a little upset when I talked to her later that same day, but since then I think she has softened as regards any anger she had toward you.”

“The reason I ask is because I feel you are in a better position than me to invite her to come here tonight. I would be happy to go out to Selkirk and pick her up.”

“I’ll give her a call, but I don’t think you picking her up will be necessary. She does have her own car. Anything you want me to tell her about what to expect tonight — assuming she can make it?”

“Pretty much the same thing I said to you.”

“In other words, she should expect Nero Wolfe to finger Carrie Yeager?”

“Those are your words, not mine. Let me know what you find out from Miss Newman of Selkirk.” I then turned the telephone over to Saul, whose assignment was to call both Miss Yeager in Charleston and Lester Newman in Waverly.

“All right, Archie,” he told me fifteen minutes later. “I got hold of both of them, and they are coming tonight, but it wasn’t easy. The Yeager woman couldn’t see the point of the ‘exercise,’ as she called it. She is still in that same apartment building where you visited her, and she is also still angry about the visit she had from Katie Padgett and ‘some photographer,’ as she put it. She said Katie was quite rude and that her questions were somewhat ‘suggestive and insulting,’ to use her words.”

“As that ‘some photographer’ Carrie Yeager referred to, I would agree that Katie was aggressive in her questioning. How did you persuade her to come tonight?”

“I told her Mr. Wolfe was an eminently fair man, and that he was determined to establish once and for all the circumstances of Logan Mulgrew’s death and put all rumors to rest. She seemed to like that approach.”

“And what about Lester Newman?”

“He didn’t want to come, either,” Saul said. “He is a bitter man, as I’m sure you learned when you spent time with him. But when I told him Nero Wolfe, a famous New York detective, was going to find Mulgrew’s murderer, he brightened up and said, ‘By God, if he does that, I’ll want to pin one of my medals on that man. Whoever killed my miserable brother-in-law deserves an award.’”

“That sounds like Newman, all right,” I said.

“There’s something else, Archie. As much as this old guy hated Mulgrew, he seems to hate the Yeager woman just as much. I think it would be a big mistake for me to drive them up here in the same car.”

“You’re right, and I should have realized that,” I told him. “If you are willing to go all the way to Charleston for Carrie Yeager, I’ll drive down and pick up Newman. It will be bad enough when they’re in the same room here at Mom’s house. Because of the distance down to West Virginia, you’ll have to leave here early this afternoon.”

“I don’t mind, and that’s new territory for me. I love driving.”

“I do, too. Now I’ve got to be calling the rest of our audience and hope that Katie Padgett can talk Miss Newman into showing up.”

I was able, with some verbal arm-twisting, to get both Charles Purcell and Harold Mapes to make an appearance tonight, but I ran into a stone wall with my old sparring partner, Eldon Kiefer. “Why in the hell should I show up for some detective’s performance?” he demanded. “I’m just glad Mulgrew is dead, that miserable bastard.”

I tried further to persuade Kiefer, even giving him Mom’s address, but if anything, he got more hostile as the conversation went on. “Listen, Goodwin, I saw all that I ever want to of you in that bar the other night. You can go straight to hell, as far as I’m concerned. And that goes for anybody else who ever had anything to do with Logan Damned Mulgrew.”

I started to tell him I never had anything to do with Mulgrew myself, but I realized I was wasting my breath on Kiefer, and we slammed down our receivers simultaneously. Not thirty seconds had passed when the telephone rang. Mom was upstairs, so I answered it.

“Archie,” Katie Padgett said in a tense tone, “Donna Newman told me she would come tonight, and she is as anxious as I am to see how this all plays out, although I think I know, and so does she, exactly what will happen. I gave her the address.”

“Good. Do you have a ride yourself?”

“Donna said she would pick me up, so we’ll be coming together. I’ll see you just before nine.”

I went upstairs and gave Wolfe my report. “So Mr. Kiefer claims he won’t come tonight, but for once, Archie, I will give you odds on something, rather than the other way around,” he said. “Three-to-one he shows up. He cannot afford to stay away.”

“I won’t take the bet, in part because I hope you’re right,” I said. “What about the police chief?”

“Confound it, I had better speak to him. Is there a telephone on this floor?”

When I told him no, he made a face, rose, and trudged down the stairs. I found the number of the police department in the directory and made the call, handing him the receiver. I wished we were at home in New York so I could listen on another phone, but no such luck here.

“This is Nero Wolfe. I would like to speak to Chief Blankenship. Yes... I will wait... Hello, sir... Yes, I am telephoning from the home of Mr. Goodwin’s mother... Yes, I... Pardon my interruption, sir, but I have a message for you. Tonight at nine o’clock, I will be gathering those individuals most identified with Mr. Mulgrew and his death, and I will be naming a murderer... Unorthodox? I suppose so, sir, and... Mr. Blankenship, if you please, let me finish! I am breaking no laws, nor do I intend to take any public credit for unmasking the killer of Mr. Mulgrew.”

Wolfe sighed and held the phone away from his ear as Blankenship went on with what seemed to be a rant. Gradually he ran down like an alarm clock, and Wolfe began speaking:

“Sir, before you interrupted me, I was about to suggest you might like to be present here tonight. And you might also want to bring an associate... No, I certainly am not trying to tell you how to conduct your business; far be it from me to suggest such... No, sir, I will not change my mind. The evening is already planned and the invitations have been issued... No, sir, I do not think I am behaving in a high-handed manner. And in answer to your question, I am not representing a client in this endeavor... Believe what you will, sir, but that happens to be the truth... Yes, nine o’clock.” Wolfe handed me the receiver, which I cradled. “The man may not be an imbecile, but he certainly carries some of the traits of one.”

“He is out of his depth here, as I’m sure has become obvious to you,” I remarked. “Early on, he got it in his head that Mulgrew shot himself, and he can’t let go of that position, thinking that he will lose face.”

“We will do our best to show Mr. Blankenship the error of his ways,” Wolfe said. I wanted to ask him who he was going to finger for the murder, as I still hadn’t doped it out, but I decided to let him have his fun. Although he would deny it, Wolfe loves to orchestrate these revelatory evenings with a flair for the dramatic.