Calamity Town

Council of War

The whole weekend stood between them and Monday. So on Saturday night Nora invited Roberta Roberts and Judge Eli Martin to dinner to “talk things over” with the family.

Hermione wanted Nora to stay in bed, because of her “condition”; but Nora said: “Oh, Mother, it will do me lots more good to be up on my feet and going through some motions!” So Hermy wisely did not press the point.

Nora was beginning to thicken noticeably about the waist; her cheeks were puffy and unhealthy-looking suddenly, and she walked about the house as if her legs were stuffed with lead. When Hermione questioned Dr. Willoughby anxiously, he said that “Nora’s getting along about as well as we can expect, Hermy.” Hermy didn’t dare ask him any more questions. But she rarely left Nora’s side, and she would go white if she saw Nora try to lift so much as a long biography.

After dinner, which was tasteless and uneasy, they all went into the living room. Ludie had tightly flapped the blinds and lit a fire.

They sat before it with the uncomfortable stiffness of people who know they should say something but cannot think of what. There was no solace anywhere, not even in the friendly flames. It was impossible to relax¯Nora was too much there.

“Mr. Smith, you haven’t said much tonight,” remarked Roberta Roberts at last.

Nora looked at Ellery beseechingly, but he avoided her eyes.

“There hasn’t been too much to say, has there?”

“No,” the newspaperwoman murmured. ”I suppose not.”

“As I see the problem before us, it’s not intellectual or emotional, but legal. Faith isn’t going to acquit Jim, although it may bolster his spirits. Only facts can get him off.”

“And there aren’t any!” cried Nora.

“Nora dearest,” moaned Hermy, “please. You heard what Dr. Willoughby said about getting upset.”

“I know, Mother, I know.” Nora glanced eagerly at Judge Eli Martin, whose long fingers were bridged before his nose as he glowered at the fire. ”How does it look, Uncle Eli?”

“I wouldn’t want to deceive you, Nora.” The old jurist shook his head. ”It looks just as bad as it possibly can.”

“You mean Jim hasn’t got a chance?” she wailed.

“There’s always a chance, Nora,” said Roberta Roberts.

“Yes,” sighed the Judge. ”You can never tell about a jury.”

“If there was only something we could do” said Hermy helplessly.

John F. burrowed more deeply into his smoking jacket.

“Oh, you people!” cried Lola Wright. ”Moaning the blues! I’m sick of this sitting around, wringing our hands¯” Lola flung her cigarette into the flames with disgust.

“So am I,” said Pat between her teeth. ”Sick as the devil.”

“Patricia darling,” said Hermy, “I’m sure you’d better stay out of this discussion.”

“Of course, Momsy,” said Lola with a grimace. ”Your baby. You’ll never see Pat as anything but a long-legged brat who wouldn’t drink her nice milk and kept climbing Emmy DuPre’s cherry tree!”

Pat shrugged. Mr. Ellery Queen regarded her with suspicion. Miss Patricia Wright had been acting peculiarly since Thursday. Too quiet. Over-thoughtful for a healthy extrovert. As if she were brewing something in that fetching skull-pan of hers. He started to say something to her but lit a cigarette instead. The Gold Rush of ‘49, he thought, started with a battered pan in a muddy trickle of water. Who knows where the Fact may be found?

“Ellery, what do you think?” pleaded Nora.

“Ellery’s been mulling over the case looking for a loophole,” Pat explained to Judge Martin.

“Not legally,” Ellery hastened to explain as the Judge’s brows went up. ”But I’ve been handling crime facts so long in fiction that I’ve¯uh¯acquired a certain dexterity in handling them in real life.”

“If you juggle these with any success,” growled the old lawyer, “you’re a magician.”

“Isn’t there anything?” Nora cried.

“Let’s face it, Nora,” said Ellery grimly. ”Jim’s in a hopeless position. You’d better prepare yourself . . . I’ve gone over the whole case. I’ve sifted every grain of evidence in the hopper. I’ve weighed every known fact. I’ve reexamined each incident a dozen times. And I haven’t found a loophole. There’s never been so one-sided a case against a defendant. Carter Bradford and Chief Dakin have built a giant, and it will take a miracle to topple it over.”

“And I,” said Judge Eli dryly, “am no Goliath.”

“Oh, I’m prepared all right,” said Nora with a bitter laugh. She twisted about violently in her chair and dropped her face on her arms.

“Sudden movements!” said Hermy in an alarmed voice. ”Nora, you’ve got to be careful!” Nora nodded without raising her head.

And silence entered, to fill the room to bursting.

“Look here,” said Ellery at last. He was a black man against the flames. ”Miss Roberts, I want to know something.”

The newspaperwoman said slowly: “Yes, Mr. Smith?”

“You’ve lost your column because you chose to buck public opinion and fight for Jim Haight.”

“This is still a free country, thank God,” said Roberta lightly. But she was sitting very still.

“Why have you taken such a remarkable interest in this case¯even to the point of sacrificing your job?”

“I happen to believe Jim Haight is innocent.”

“In the face of all the evidence against him?”

She smiled. ”I’m a woman. I’m psychic. That’s two reasons.”

“No,” said Ellery.

Roberta got to her feet. ”I’m not sure I like that,” she said clearly. ”What are you trying to say?”

The others were frowning. There was a something in the room that crackled more loudly than the burning logs.

“It’s too beautiful,” mocked Mr. Queen. ”Too, too beautiful. Hard-boiled newspaperwoman renounces livelihood to defend total stranger who¯all the facts and all the world agree¯is guilty as Cain. There’s an excuse for Nora¯she’s in love with the man. There’s an excuse for the Wrights¯they want their son-in-law cleared for the sake of their daughter and grandchild. But what’s yours?”

“I’ve told you!”

“I don’t believe you.”

“You don’t. What am I supposed to do¯care?”

“Miss Roberts,” said Ellery in a hard voice, “what are you concealing?”

“I refuse to submit to this third degree.”

“Sorry! But it’s plain you do know something. You’ve known something from the time you came to Wrightsville. What you know has forced you to come to Jim’s defense. What is it?”

The newspaperwoman gathered her gloves and silver-fox coat and bag. ”There are times, Mr. Smith,” she said, “when I dislike you very much . . . No, please, Mrs. Wright. Don’t bother.” She went out with a quick step.

Mr. Queen stared at the space she had just vacated. ”I thought,” he said apologetically, “I might be able to irritate it out of her.”

“I think,” said Judge Martin reflectively, “I’ll have a heart-to-heart talk with that female.”

Ellery shrugged. ”Lola.”

“Me?” said Lola, surprised. ”What did I do, teacher?”

“You’ve concealed something, too.”

Lola stared. Then she laughed and lit a cigarette. ”You are in a Scotland Yard mood tonight, aren’t you?”

“Don’t you think the time has come,” smiled Mr. Queen, “to tell Judge Martin about your visit to the back door of Nora’s house just before midnight New Year’s Eve?”

“Lola!” gasped Hermy. ”You were there?”

“Oh, it’s nothing at all, Mother,” said Lola impatiently. ”It hasn’t a thing to do with the case. Of course, Judge, I’ll tell you. But as long as we’re being constructive, how about the eminent Mr. Smith getting to work?”

“At what?” asked the eminent Mr. Smith.

“My dear Smarty-Pants, you know a lot more than you’ve let on!”

“Lola,” said Nora, in despair. ”Oh, all this wrangling¯”

“Don’t you think,” cried Pat, “that if there were something Ellery could do, he’d do it?”

“I dunno,” said Lola critically, squinting at the culprit through her cigarette smoke. ”He’s a tough ‘un to figure.”

“Just a minute,” said Judge Martin. ”Smith, if you know anything at all, I want to put you on the stand!”

“If I thought going on the stand for you would help, Judge,” protested Ellery, “I’d do it. But it won’t. On the contrary, it would hurt¯a lot.”

“Hurt Jim’s case?”

“It would just about cement his conviction.”

John F. spoke for the first time. ”You mean you know Jim is guilty, young man?”

“I didn’t say that,” growled Ellery. ”But my testimony would make things look so black against him¯it would establish so clearly that no one but Jim could have poisoned that cocktail¯that you wouldn’t be able to shake it with the Supreme Court to help you. I mustn’t take the stand”

“Mr. Smith.”

Chief Dakin, alone . . .

“Sorry to bust in this way, folks,” said the police chief gruffly, “but this was one subpoena I had to serve myself.”

“Subpoena? On me?” asked Ellery.

“Yes, sir. Mr. Smith, you’re summoned to appear in court Monday morning to testify for the People in the case of People Against James Haight.”

PART FIVE