Over My Dead Body

"A.G."

I grinned at the employee to show there was no hard feeling; and indeed there wasn't. "May I have an envelope?"

She got one and handed it to me, and I inserted the note and licked the flap and sealed it. "Here," I said, "take this to Mr Driscoll, there's a good girl, and don't argue. Do I look like a man who would come all this way to see him unless I knew he was here?"

Without saying a word, she pressed a button. A boy entered from a door on the left, and she gave him the envelope and told him to deliver it to Mr Driscol's desk. I said, "Deliver it to him." And then, as the boy disappeared, I went to the entrance door and opened it and stood there where I could see the hall in both directions. There were several passers-by, but no sign of any frantic dash for freedom. I must have stood there for all of three minutes before I saw, about fifty feet down the hall, the top of a head and then a pair of eyes protruding beyond the edge of a door-jamb. I called in a tone of authority:

"Hey, back in there!"

The head disappeared. It had not shown again when I heard the employee's voice calling my name. I turned. The boy was there holding a door open. He said, "This way, sir," and I followed him into an inner corridor and past three doors to one at the end, which he opened.

The room I entered was at least five times as big as the ante-room and six times as prosperous. I realized that in my one swift glance as I started to where Nat Driscoll stood at the corner of a large and elegant desk, telling him, "If you sneaked her out while I was coming in here, the cops will have her inside of a minute."

With one hand gripping the edge of the desk hard enough to bleach the knuckles, he said, "Unh." He looked as bewildered and terrified as a corpulent uncle who had been inveigled into taking a ride on the Ziparoo at Coney Island.

I looked around. "Where is she?"

He said, "Unh."

There were two doors besides the one I had entered by. I trotted across and opened one, and saw only gleaming tiles and a washbowl and sittery. I closed that and went and opened the other one, and looked into a small room with filing cabinets, a bookcase, and a de luxe secretary's desk. The secretary sat there staring at me with big round blue eyes, and a more glittering stare was bestowed on me from a chair in a corner occupied by Carla Lovchen.

She didn't say anything, just goggled at me. My elbow was grabbed from behind, and I was agreeably surprised to find that Nat Driscoll could grip like that. I pulled away, and we were both inside the small room, and I shut the door.

I demanded, "What did you figure on doing? Keeping her here till after the funeral?"

Carla asked in a low, tense voice, without altering her stare, "Where's Neya?"

"She's all right. For a while, anyhow. You were tailed to this building-"

"Tailed?"

"Shadowed. Followed by policemen. There are a dozen of them downstairs now, covering all the elevators and exits."

Driscoll dropped on to a chair and groaned. The blue-eyed secretary inquired in a cool, business-like tone:

"Are you Archie Goodwin of Nero Wolfe's office?"

"I am. Pleased to meet you." I met Carla's stare. "Did you kill Rudolph Faber?"

"No." A shiver ran over her, and she controlled it and sat rigid again.

Driscoll mumbled at me, "You mean Ludlow. Percy Ludlow."

"Do I? I don't." I fired at the secretary, "What time did Driscoll get here this morning?"

"Ask him," she said icily.

"I'm asking you. Let me tell you folks something. I may not be your best and dearest friend, but I'm quite a pal compared to the guys downstairs I mentioned. Otherwise I would have brought them up here. That can be done at any moment. What time did Driscoll get here this morning?"

"About half past eleven."

"That was his first appearance here to-day?"

"Yes."

"What time did he leave?"

"He didn't leave at all. He had some lunch brought in on account of Miss Lovchen."

"She got here at eleven-twenty."

"Yes." The secretary was getting no warmer. "How did you know that? How did you know she was here?"

"Intuition. I'm an intuitive genius." I shifted to Driscoll. "So you didn't kill Faber, huh?"

He stammered, "You mean. you must mean Ludlow-"

"I mean Rudolph Faber. A little before noon to-day he was found in the apartment occupied by Neya Tormic and Carla Lovchen lying on the floor, dead. Stabbed. Miss Tormic and I went there looking for Miss Lovchen, and found him."

The secretary looked impressed. Driscoll's eyes widened and his mouth stood open. I snapped at Carla:

"He was there when you went there. Either alive or dead, or alive and then dead."

"I didn't-I wasn't there-"

"Can it. What do you think this is-hide and seek? They were tailing you. You went in there at eleven-five and came out again at eleven-fifteen. Faber was there."

She shivered again. "I didn't kill him."

"Was he there?"

She shook her head and took a deep, jerky breath. "I'm not. going to say anything. I am going away, away from America." She clasped her hands at me. "Pliz, you must help me! Mr Driscoll would help me! Oh, you must, you must-"

Driscoll demanded in an improved voice, "You say Faber was there in her apartment stabbed to death?"

"Yes."

"And she had just been there?"

"She left there about thirty minutes before the body was found."

"Good God." He stared at her. The secretary was staring at her, too.

I said briskly, "She says she didn't do it. I don't know. The immediate point is that Nero Wolfe wants to see her before the cops get hold of her. What were you going to do-help her get away?"

Driscoll nodded. Then he shook his head. "I don't know. Good God-she didn't tell me about Faber. She said. " He flung out his hands. "Damn it, she appealed to me! She swore she had nothing to do with-Ludlow-but she didn't need to! She has been damn fine with me down there-that fencing-greatest pleasure I ever had in my life-she has been damn fine and understanding! She is a very fine young woman! I would be proud to have her for a sister, and I've told her so! Or daughter! Daughter would be better! She came here and appealed to me to help her get away from trouble; and, by God, I was doing it; and I didn't consult any lawyer either! And, by God, I'll still do it! Do you realize that she appealed to me? I don't care if her apartment was as full of dead bodies as the morgue, that young woman is no damn murderess!"

"I understand," said the secretary with ice still in her voice-box, "that it is perfectly legal to help anyone go anywhere they want to, provided they have not commited a crime."

"I don't give a damn," Driscoll declared, "whether it's legal or not! To hell with legal!"

"Okay." I pushed a palm at him. "Don't yell so loud. The point-"

"I want you to understand-"

"Pipe down! I understand everything. You're a hero. Skip it. Here's the way it stands. You can't go ahead and send her on a world cruise, because to begin with you don't stand a chance of getting her out of here and away, and to end with I won't let you. Nero Wolfe wants to see her. Whatever Nero Wolfe wants he gets, or he has a tantrum and I get fired. I have no idea whether she's a very fine young woman or a murderess or what, but I do know that the next thing on her programme is a talk with Nero Wolfe, and I'm in charge of the programme."

"I suppose," said the secretary crushingly, "that you stand a chance of getting her out of here."

"Chance is right," I agreed grimly. "May I use your phone?"

She pushed it across the desk and I asked the ante-room employee to get me a number. In a moment I had the connexion.

"Hallo. Hotel Alexander? Let me talk to Ernie Flint, the house detective."

In two minutes I had him.

"Hallo, Ernie? Archie Goodwin. That's right. How's about things? Fine, thanks, everything rosy. I'm studying to be a detective. Not on your life. Say, listen, I'm pulling a stunt and I want you to do me a favour. Send a bellboy in uniform over to the Maidstone Building, Room 3259. Wait, get this: a small one, about five foot three, and not a fat one. With a cap on, don't forget the cap. With a dark complexion if you've got one like that. Yep, dark hair and eyes. Good. Have him bring a parcel with him containing all his own clothes, everything, including hat. Right. Oh, not long. He can be back there within an hour, only you'll have to give him another uniform. Oh, no. Just a stunt I'm pulling. I'm playing a trick on a feller. I'll describe it when I see you. Make it snappy, will you, Ernie?"

I rang off, took the expense roll from my pocket, peeled off a ten, and tendered it to the secretary. "Here, run down to the nearest store and get a pair of black, low-heeled oxfords that will fit her. Like what a bellboy might wear. Step on it."

She looked critically at Carla's feet. "Five?"

Carla nodded. Driscoll told the secretary:

"Give him back that money." He got out his wallet and produced a twenty-dollar bill. "Here. Get a good pair."

She took it, handed me mine, and went. She may have been chilly, but she wasn't a goof.

Carla said, "I don't go."

"Oh." I looked at her. "You won't?"

"No."

"Would you rather go to police headquarters and entertain the homicide squad?"

"I won't-I want to go away. I must go away. Mr Driscoll said he would help me."

"Yeah. Well, he wasn't quick enough on his feet. Even after all his fencing lessons. Anyway, you would have been nabbed downstairs. Do you realize at all the kind of spot you're inhabiting right now?"

"I realize-" She stopped to make her voice work, "I'm in a terrible fix. Oh-terrible! You don't know how terrible!"

"Wrong again. I do know. Would I be staging a damn fool stunt like this to get you to Nero Wolfe if I didn't?"

"It won't do any good to take me to Nero Wolfe. I won't talk to him. I won't talk to anybody."

Driscoll went over and stood in front of her. "Look here, Miss Lovchen," he said, "I don't think that's a sensible attitude. If you don't want to talk to the police, I can understand that. You may have a reason that's absolutely commendable. But sooner or later you'll have to talk to somebody, and if you're not careful it will be a lawyer, and then you are up against it. From what I have heard of this Nero Wolfe. "

He was still jabbering away when the phone announced that the bellboy was in the ante-room.

I shooed Driscoll and Carla into Driscoll's room and had the bellboy sent in to me. He looked about right, maybe an inch taller than her, but not too skinny or too husky. He was grinning because he could see it was a good joke. I opened the parcel for him while he took his uniform off, and handed him a couple of dollars and told him:

"Put your clothes on and sit here. It's a nice view from the window. Maybe twenty minutes. A blue-eyed girl will come and tell you when to go. Return to the hotel and they'll give you another uniform to work in. That two bucks was just for your trouble. Here's a finiff if its effect will be to keep your trap entirely closed regarding the fun we're having. Okay?"

He said it was, and sounded believable. I gave him the five-spot, gathered up the uniform and cap and wrapping paper, and went to the other room, shutting him in.

Carla, on the edge of a chair, and the secretary, kneeling on the rug in front of her, were busy getting her shoes changed, while Driscoll, with his lips screwed up and his hands in his pockets, gazed down at the operation. Carla stood up and stamped, and said they were all right. I handed the uniform to her and said go ahead, but she would have to take off her clothes or it would look bunchy, and told Driscoll:

"Turn your back "

He blushed rosy. "I. I can go in there-"

"I forgot you're modest. Suit yourself. Back-turning will do me."

He went and looked through a window, and I, facing the same way, regarded him suspiciously. It was getting dark outdoors and the lights were on in the room, and under those circumstances a windowpane is a fairly good mirror. I admit I may have been doing him an injustice. I spread the wrapping paper out on his desk and, when the secretary handed me Carla's clothes, including coat and hat, made a bundle and got it tied up.

The secretary said, "Look, it's tight around under the arms."

I looked. "Naturally. What would you expect? I think it'll do. Walk to the door and back." Carla walked. I frowned. "The hips are bad. I mean they're good, but you understand me. Put the cap on. No, you'll have to stuff the hair under better than that. There by the left ear. That's it. I believe we'll make it. What do you think?"

The secretary said coldly, "I hope so. It's your idea."

Driscoll crabbed, "It's no good. I'd know her across the street."

"Oh," I said sarcastically, "we wouldn't try to fool you. There's hundreds of people going and coming in that lobby, and why should they be interested in a bellboy? Anyway, we'll take a shot at it." I got the parcel under my arm and confronted Carla. "Now, we have nothing to fear on this floor. We'll go down in the same elevator. You'll leave the elevator before me at the main floor. Walk straight to the Lexington Avenue entrance and on out, and don't look behind or around. I'll be following you all right. Turn right and keep going on across 43rd Street. Between 43rd and 42nd there'll be taxis at the kerb. Hop into one and tell the driver to take you to 37th Street and Tenth Avenue-"

The secretary put in an oar: "You'll be with her-"

"I'll be behind her in another taxi. There's a chance that one of those birds in the lobby knows me and will be curious enough to follow me out, in which case I don't want to be seen going for a ride with a bellboy, especially a bellboy with hips. 37th Street and Tenth Avenue. Got that?"

Carla nodded.

"Okay. Stay there in the taxi till I come. I'll probably be right behind you, but you stay there. If you try a trick, you're done. Every cop in New York is looking for you. Understand?"

"Yes, but I want-I must-"

"What you want is a different matter entirely, like the guy that fell out of the airplane. Will you go to that corner and stay there in the taxi?"

"Yes."

"Right. Good-bye, folks. In ten minutes, not sooner, send the bellboy home. I'll take you on with the йpйe some day, Driscoll."

He looked as if he was about ready to cry as he shook hands with her. The secretary looked as arctic as ever, but I noticed her voice was a little husky as she wished Carla good luck.

We departed. As she went along the corridor ahead of me on the way to the elevator, she looked kind of preposterous, but of course I saw not only what I saw, but also what I knew. The other passengers in the elevator gave her a glance or two but nothing alarming. At the main floor she preceded me out and marched through the lobby, dodging as necessary in the crowd, and it began to look like everything was jake when a call came from my right:

"Hey, Goodwin! Archie!"

Chapter Seventeen It was Sergeant Purley Stebbins coming at me.

The danger was Carla, but for once she acted as if she had some brains. She certainly heard my name called, but she didn't scream or stop and turn around or break into a run. She just kept on going to the entrance. I saw that out of the corner of my eye as I greeted Purley with a hearty grin.

"Well, wellllllll!"

"It may be," he growled. "What are you doing here?"

I looked around stealthily to guard against eavesdroppers, put my mouth within two inches of his big red ear, and whispered into it, "None of your goddam business."

He grunted, "It's quite a coincidence."

"What is?"

"Your being here in this building."

I tapped him on the chest. "Now, that's funny."

"What's funny?"

"Your saying it's quite a coincidence. It's funny, because that's exactly what I was going to say. Mind if I say it? It's quite a coincidence."

"Go to hell."

"Same to you, and many of them. May I ask, what are you doing in this building?" I glanced around. "You and all your playmates."

"Go to hell."

"How's the roads?"

"Whatta you got in the bundle?"

"Revolvers, daggers, narcotics, smuggled jewels, and a bottle of blood. Want to look at it?"

"Go to hell."

I shrugged politely, told him I'd meet him at the corner of Fire and Brimstone, and left him.

That was okay. But the danger was with Carla having such a fixed idea about going away from America, that she might be keeping her promise and she might not. Even so, I didn't jump into a taxi at the entrance. I hoofed it to the corner and dropped into Bigger's drugstore and stood there. Since it had another exit on 43rd, anyone Purley sent on my tail would either have to pop in after me or make it to the turn in a hurry where he could see both doors. No one did that. I left by 43rd, crossed the street and entered Grand Central the back way, did another manoeuvre in the smoking-room to make doubly sure, went out to Madison Avenue, jumped into a taxi, and sat on the edge of the seat with my fingers crossed and sweat on my brow until we got to the rendezvous and I saw she was there.

I dismissed my taxi, went to hers and opened the door and beckoned her out, paid the driver and sent him off, and waited until he had rounded the corner out of sight before I steered her down the sidewalk to where I had parked the roadster. She wasn't having anything to say. I told her to climb in, and handed her the bundle.

It was only a matter of three minutes across to Ninth down to 34th, and west to the middle of the block. The day was gone and I stopped at a distance from a street light, shut off the engine, and told her:

"There's an assortment of cops in front of Wolfe's house, so we're going in the back way. Follow me and don't say anything after we get inside the house. Just stay behind me."

"I must know. " Her voice quavered and she stopped. In a moment she went on: "I must know one thing. Is Neya there?"

"I don't know. She wasn't when I left."

"Where was she?"

"Police headquarters. Not under arrest. They were questioning her and she wasn't answering. They may have brought her to Wolfe's house or they may not. I don't know. Inspector Cramer is here with Wolfe."

"But you said I would only have to see Mr Wolfe-"

"I said Wolfe wants to talk with you first. Come on."

I got out and went around to her side and opened the door. She had her teeth sunk into her lip. She sat that way a minute, then climbed out and followed me. I let her down the sidewalk to the entrance to the passageway between a warehouse building and a garage, and along the dark passage until we came to the door in the board fence. It was the door Zorka had used after her trip down the fire escape, only from the inside she had only needed to turn the knob of the spring lock, whereas I had to use my key. I guided her across the court and up the steps to the little porch, and used another key, and entered the kitchen ahead of her. No one was in there but Fritz.

He stared at me. "Now, Archie, you ought to tap-"

"Okay. I forgot. No cause for alarm. Keep Miss Lovchen here on the quiet for about four minutes till I get back."

He stared again, at her. "Miss Lovchen?"

"Right. You'd better hide her in the pantry."

I put the parcel on a chair, went out the way I had come, through the door in the fence and along the passage to 34th Street, got in the roadster and drove around two corners into 35th Street, and rolled to the kerb in front of the house. The police car there had been joined by another one, and the taxi was still parked down a ways, and as I crossed the sidewalk to the stoop I saw the dick there with his foot on the running-board, chinning with Cramer's chauffeur. I was in too much of a hurry to toss them anything, because I had one more lap to go. I let myself in, shed my coat and hat, and went to the office.

"Oh," I said. "Hallo."

There was the explanation of the second police car. Over in a corner was a dick looking bored, and on one of the yellow leather chairs sat Neya Tormic, not looking bored. The way her eyes darted at me, I had to control an impulse to side-step to get out of the line of fire.

The dart was a question, and I knew what it was, but I ignored it and spoke to Fred Durkin, who was seated at my desk:

"Get out of my chair, you big bum, and come out here and help me a minute."

He arose and lumbered across, and I steered him into the hall and shut the office door.

"Are Wolfe and Cramer upstairs?"

"Yes."

"Anyone in the front room?"

"No."

"Stand here and hold this door-knob, in case that dick should get a sudden notion to stretch his legs."

He got his paw on it, and I went to the kitchen. Fritz put down a pan he was stirring and came close to me and whispered, "In the pantry." I pushed the swinging door and there she was, on a chair he had put there for her, with the parcel at her feet. I got the parcel and told her to follow me and keep quiet. In the hall Fred was hanging on to the door-knob and I winked at him as we passed. Up one flight of stairs, down the hall six paces, through a door-and I closed it behind us, turned on the light, put the parcel on a table, and shut the window curtains.

"Hvala Bogu," I said. "This is Mr Wolfe's room. Don't leave it. If you open a window, bells ring all over the house. It's five thirty-five, and he will be here shortly after six. You might as well put your own clothes on. That door there is a bathroom. Okay?"

She just looked at me, and I saw she was concentrating so hard on keeping a stiff jaw that she couldn't even nod her head, so I went on out. At the head of the stairs I called down, "All right, Fred, go back in and try another chair," and then proceeded to the next flight up. Two of them took me to the narrow door at the top which opened into the plant-rooms. I had to go all the way through to the potting-room to find Wolfe. He was at the bench with Theodore, inspecting some recent sprouts with a magnifying glass, and Cramer was on a stool with his back propped against the wall, chewing on a cigar.

I hoisted myself on to the free end of the bench and sat swinging my legs. In a few minutes Wolfe came out of a coma, shook his head disapprovingly at something he saw through the glass, sighed, and muttered at me, "Did you get the goose?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good."

He got busy with the glass again. I swung my legs. After a while the phone rang. Theodore went to his desk to answer it and told Cramer it was for him. The inspector went and grunted into it for three or four minutes, then hung up and returned to the stool. I knew he was glaring at me, but I was interested in the tips of my number nines swinging back and forth.

He said, and I knew what it must be costing him to restrain himself like that, "You, Goodwin." There was even a suggestion of a tremble in his voice. "When did they move the Washington Market to the Maidstone Building?"

"Why," I said in a friendly tone, "that must have been Sergeant Stebbins on the phone! How's that for deduction?"

"Fine." Cramer threw his cigar at the trash basket, missed, went and picked it up and dropped it in, and returned to the stool. "Don't think I'm going to blow up, because I'm not. I'm beyond that. Ten minutes after you left I told Wolfe that Carla Lovchen was trailed to the Maidstone Building this morning and was holed up there, but that was after you left, as I say. All I'm going to do is ask a simple question: Why did you go to the Maidstone Building?"

I grinned at him. "Here's the first answer that occurs to me: There was a phone call here at noon from a certain party, and it was traced to a public phone at that building. All right?"

"No."

I shrugged. "Get Mr Wolfe to tell you one."

Wolfe, going on with his work, paid no attention. Cramer said, "I still am not going to blow up. I have planted myself here on two assumptions: The first is that Wolfe has got something on this case that I stand damn little chance of getting unless and until the break comes and he loosens up. The second is, inasmuch as I have never yet found him picking up pieces for a murderer, that he's not doing that now. If my first assumption is wrong, I'm just out of luck. If my second one is, you are. Both of you. That's all. Now you can take the Maidstone Building and stick it up your chimney. But in case you don't already know it, Carla Lovchen went in that place on 38th Street at eleven o'clock this morning and came out again in ten minutes. I want her, and I want her plenty. I'm telling you. So if it turns out that she has actually pulled a getaway and you helped her do it. "

"The man's mad," I declared.

"Shut up. That's all "

I continued to admire my feet.

At five minutes to six Wolfe put the magnifying glass away in the drawer, gave Theodore a few instructions regarding the sprouts, and announced that it was time to descend. Never having felt full confidence in the capacity of the elevator as posted on its wall, I left it to him and took to the stairs and Cramer joined me. Two flights down we saw that the elevator had stopped there and Wolfe was emerging. We halted as he approached us.

"I'll go to my room and clean up a little. Archie, will you come with me? We'll be with you in the office shortly, Mr Cramer. Miss Tormic is there, you know "

Cramer hesitated, looked at him suspiciously, and then tramped to the stairs and started down. We waited till we heard the office door close behind him and then went to the door of Wolfe's room and entered. Carla was in a straight-backed chair by the wall, her shoulders hunched over, her hands clenched in her lap, her chin down; but she was wearing her own clothes. The bellboy's outfit, neatly folded, was on the table.

Wolfe stopped in front of her and said, "How do you do, Miss Lovchen "

She looked up at him for an instant, then let her head fall again and made no reply.

Wolfe said, "I have no time now because I am expected downstairs. Mr Goodwin told me he brought a goose. He did. Whether you killed Mr Ludlow and Mr Faber or not, you are pure imbecile. Most people are, under great stress, but that merely gives you company. I don't know how or where Mr Goodwin found you, but you must have been making an awful fool of yourself or he wouldn't have found you at all Even though he is fairly good at finding things. If you think I am severe, it is because I have no sympathy to waste on people who come and ask my help and tell me nothing but lies. For the present you will stay in this room. I'll come back pretty soon and ask you some questions "

Carla raised her head again, moved it once from side to side and said, "I won't answer any questions. I've decided that. I won't say anything. Not to you or anybody "

"Oh. You won't?"

"No. Nothing. No matter what happens. If I don't say anything, what can anybody do? What can they prove if I don't say anything? Maybe you think I haven't enough will-power for it, but I have "

"You might have, for a while. Try it, by all means. It would be an improvement on your conduct so far " Wolfe turned to go. "I'll be back to see you, anyway, or send for you. Come, Archie "

With his hand on the knob he asked, "Are you hungry? Could you eat something?"

"No, thank you."

We went.

The trio in the office was now four: with us, six. The dick was still bored. Fred, the bum, had reoccupied my chair against my express orders, but as I entered he moved to another one. Cramer stood over by the big globe, twirling it. Neya Tormic's eyes fastened on Wolfe as he appeared in the door and followed him as he crossed to his desk, sat, and reached for the button. I realized that he was in about as bad a humour as I could remember, because he issued no invitation for anyone to have beer. Neya Tormic said, with her eyes boring holes through him:

"I want to see you alone-to ask you something "

Wolfe nodded. "I know what you want. That will have to wait. You didn't get to finish your errand. Isn't that it?"

"I-" She stopped and wet her lips. "You promised "

"No, Miss Tormic, I didn't. I know you've had a hard afternoon, but surely you remember why you and Mr Goodwin were looking for Miss Lovchen. And you didn't find her "

"She's gone."

"How do you know that?"

"This-Inspector Cramer just told me they can't find her "

"Where has she gone to?"

"I don't know "

Wolfe uncapped a bottle of beer and poured. "Anyway," he declared, "that will have to wait. Confound it, everything will have to wait!" He drank until the glass was empty. "Mr Cramer, you have been hanging around here since two o'clock. You have shown admirable patience and restraint-for instance, regarding Archie's presence at the Maidstone Building-and of course I know why. You want something and you think you can get it here and nowhere else. I tell you frankly, it isn't here. I don't suppose you contemplate spending the night in my house. "

I didn't hear the rest of the build-up for sending the inspector out into the night, because the door-bell rang and I went to answer it. Usually I performed that service anyway from six to eight, when Fritz was busy getting dinner, and on this occasion, considering the goose I had left in Wolfe's room, I had a special interest in the possibility of invading hordes. But what I found on the stoop wasn't a horde at all, but merely a youth in a snappy uniform with a little flat package he wanted to deliver to Nero Wolfe. I put out a hand for it, but he said he had instructions to put it into the hands of Nero Wolfe and no one else's. So I took him to the office. He marched across to the desk like a West Point cadet ready for his commission, stood with his heels together and asked politely:

"Mr Nero Wolfe?"

"Yes, sir "

"From Seven Seas Radio. Sign here, please. The bill, sir Twenty-six dollars, please."

Wolfe, reaching for his pen, told me to fork over the dough. I did so. The youth uttered thanks, stowed away the cash and the receipt, and preceded me to the hall. I let him out and put the chain on, and went back in.

Wolfe was undoing the package, and Cramer was standing across from him, right against the desk, looking down at it. It certainly was an exhibition of bad manners. Wolfe said:

"You make me nervous, Mr Cramer. Sit down "

"I'm all right "

"But I'm not. Take a chair "

Cramer grunted, backed into the chair I had ready and lowered himself. Wolfe got the wrapping paper opened up and helped himself to an exclusive look at what was inside. Then he gave a little grunt, folded the paper over it again, and handed it to me.

"Put it in the safe, Archie "

I did so, closed the door and spun the knob, and returned to my chair Wolfe heaved a deep sigh and then muttered irritably, "That was the break we were waiting for, Mr Cramer "

The inspector growled, "The break?"

Wolfe nodded. "A minute ago I said that what you want wasn't here. It is now "

Chapter Eighteen Cramer, slowly and carefully as if he wanted to be sure of not sitting on an egg, got more comfortable in his chair, resting his back, and lifted a forefinger to rub the side of his nose. Wolfe also was leaning back. His eyes were closed, and his lips began to work in and out. In the silence, the dick in the corner suddenly coughed and I glared at him.

"Hell," Cramer said mildly, "I'm in no hurry "

Apparently everyone took him at his word, for the silence continued for another three minutes, and then Wolfe said without opening his eyes:

"Of your two assumptions, Mr Cramer, the first at least is correct. I doubt if you could get what I've got. Or, considering the attitude of your official superiors, if you did get it I doubt if you'd be able to use it "

"You'll get no argument from me on that," the inspector asserted. "What have I been saying? And while I know you can handle your affairs without the help of any gratitude from me, still and all-"

"I know. You're being tactful and adroit. You're dripping honey. Pfui. I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll give you what you want, on condition that you agree without reservation to let me do it my way, without interference or protest "

"Well " Cramer regarded him with narrowed eyes, but it was one-sided, because Wolfe's eyes were still shut. "That's sort of vague. That you'll give me what I want. Who decides what I want?"

"Nonsense. I'm not quibbling. You want the identity of the murderer and the motive. I'll give you those."

"Any evidence?"

"Enough to satisfy you. And some of it I don't think you'll ever get unless you get it here and soon "

"Is it that thing in the safe?"

"Oh, no, you could get that yourself in about twenty-four hours. It took me twenty-five. I'll have to pry off a lid to get the evidence I'm speaking of."

Cramer eyed him a moment longer and said, "Shoot."

"Without reservation, no interference or protest from you."

"Right. Shoot."

Wolfe opened his eyes at me. "Archie, get Mr Barrett on the phone."

"Donny or Dad?"

"Mr Barrett Senior."

Neya Tormic blurted, "You mustn't-"

As I got at the phone Wolfe shushed her, and he had to keep on shushing her while I fiddled around with three different numbers before I finally reached the desired party at the Thistle Club. She subsided when Wolfe got on the phone:

"Mr Barrett? This is Nero Wolfe. I'm calling to fulfil a promise. I told you that if I should find it necessary to interfere with your business I'd let you know in advance. I'm afraid I'm not giving you much notice; I'm going ahead now. No, please, please, that won't help matters any. At my office. Yes. Yes, I'll consent to that. No! If your son is there with you, you'd better bring him along. Yes. We'll be expecting you within fifteen minutes."

He pushed the phone away and got to his feet, and moved in the direction of the door.

Neya Tormic jumped up and grabbed at him. She got his sleeve. "Where-I'll go with you-"

"No, Miss Tormic. I'll be back in a moment. Archie!"

I arose and started over, but before I got there she let him go, and he went on out. I had no idea what her status was, or her intentions either, so I ambled to the door and stood there with my back against it. She didn't go back and sit down, but stood pat, with her eyes levelled at me, or maybe at the door, since I don't like to flatter myself. We had held the tableau perhaps three minutes, not more than four, when I felt the door pressing against me, and stood aside to let Wolfe re-enter. He halted to hand me an envelope, sealed, with For Neya Tormic on it in his writing, and then went on to his desk.

He looked at Cramer and indicated with a thumb the dick in the corner. "What is that man's name?"

"That? Charlie Heath."

"Tell him to obey the instructions I give him."

Cramer twisted his neck. "Here, Heath. Follow orders."

"Thank you." Wolfe regarded the dick, approaching. "Have you a car, Mr Heath?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Take that envelope from Mr Goodwin and put it in your pocket. No, your inside pocket. Take Miss Tormic in your car and drive-"

Neya was at him: "No! I don't-I'm not going-"

"That will do," Wolfe snapped. "You are going. I do this my way. Have you any cash with you?"

"But I won't-"

"You will! Confound it, how much cash have you?"

"I. have a little."

"How much?"

"A few dollars."

"Archie, give Miss Tormic a hundred dollars."

I produced the expense roll and peeled it off, making the roll look pretty sick, and handed it to her, and she took it.

Wolfe said to the dick. "Drive to the corner of Fifth Avenue and 35th Street, let Miss Tormic out, give her the envelope, leave her there, and return straight here immediately. You are not to loiter to see what she does or which way she goes. Nor are you to communicate in any way with any other person, either going or returning."

I said grimly, "Send Fred along or let me go."

"Will that be necessary, Mr Cramer?"

"No. I'm not a complete damn fool. Follow instructions, Heath."

"Yes, sir. I take her to Fifth, drop her, give her the envelope, and come straight back."

Wolfe nodded. "Will you do that?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good." He turned. "Au revoir, Miss Tormic."

"Ah," she said. Her black eyes were piercing him. "You think so?"

"Well. a conjecture. It wouldn't surprise me any."

"You. you fat fool!"

"Yes, I'm fat. And, of course, we're all fools. I'm sorry you won't be here to see the end of this. A silly little victory, but it's mine."

"Victory!"

"Yes."

Her lip curled. She turned and started off. I got to the door and opened it, but before she passed through she halted to fling back at him, "Teega mee bornie roosa" or at least that was what it sounded like. Then she went on, don't-touch-me all over, with the dick at her heels. I let them out, followed them into the November night air, and stood on the stoop to overlook the departure. As well as I could see in the dim light, the dick didn't pass any signal to any colleague, and when they rolled off in the police car they certainly weren't followed.

I stayed on the stoop long enough to be absolutely sure of that, knowing as I did the lengths a cop will sometimes go to on account of his passion for law and order, and was about to check it off and go back in when a big black town car rolled to the kerb there below me. A chauffeur jumped out and opened the door, and touched his cap when one of the two men who emerged said something to him. They started up the steps, and I recrossed the threshold and turned to welcome two generations of Barretts. I asked them to wait there a minute and went to the office and told Wolfe:

"Father and son."

"Bring them in."

I did that. John P., who hadn't changed his clothes, took the chair Neya had occupied. His face was all tightened up, and the glance that he shot first at Cramer and then at Wolfe was not what I would call conciliatory. I moved up another chair for Donald. He looked so fierce and truculent that I had a notion to go get him a hunk of raw meat. Nobody had seemed to have any inclination to shake hands like gentlemen.

Wolfe said, "Fred, wait in front."

Fred went.

"Archie, take your note-book."

I took it.

John P. asked, "Are you Police Inspector Cramer?"

"Yes, sir," Cramer told him. "Of the Homicide Bureau."

John P. said to Wolfe, "That's ridiculous. This is a confidential business matter. And telling your man to take his note-book."

Wolfe leaned back and pressed his five right finger-tips against his five left ones. "No," he said, "I wouldn't call it ridiculous. Mr Cramer's presence is surely appropriate, since one of the things you'll want to do is to try to arrange it so that your son will escape an indictment for first-degree murder."

Cramer's head jerked around. Donald gawked, and some of the colour leaving his face made him look a little less fierce. John P. betrayed no sign whatever of having heard anything more provocative than a remark about the weather. But he clipped off words and lunged with them:

"That's worse than ridiculous. And more dangerous. That's actionable."

"So it is." Wolfe's tone sharpened. "I'm coming right out with it, Mr Barrett. My dinner's in an hour, and I don't want to waste time flopping around in a mire of inanities. I hold the cards and I don't have to finesse. Your deal with the Donevitch gang is done for. Accept that. Swallow it. I want to go on from that-"

"I'd like to see you alone." John P. stood up. "Get them out of here, or take me-"

"No. Sit down."

"Sit down for what? You say the deal's done for. Whether it is or isn't, I'm not talking on that basis. There's nothing to talk about. Come, Donald."

He started off. Wolfe's words hit him in the back:

"Within an hour a warrant will issue charging your son with murder! It will be too late to talk to me then."

Donald was up and following his leader. But his leader suddenly wheeled, strode back to confront Cramer, and demanded:

"You're a responsible police officer. This blackmailing threat is made in your presence. Do you know who I am?. Well?"

That was a fizzle, in spite of the fact that Cramer hadn't the faintest idea of what was going on. I wouldn't have given an unconditional guarantee on his brains, but there was nothing wrong with his guts.

"Yeah, I know who you are," he said calmly. "Sit down and give him rope. He owns this house and about a million dollars' worth of orchids. It's a good thing you've got me here as a witness in case you try for damages."

Wolfe snorted irritably, "Get out if you want to and take the consequences. You're acting like a schoolgirl in a pet. Can't you see I've got something to say and the best of your alternatives is to sit down and listen to it? Do you take me for a maudlin blatherskite?"

Donald blurted, "He's a goddam bluffer-"

A look from his father cut him off, and a jerk of his father's head ordered him back to his chair. Donald sat down. John P. did the same and told Wolfe curtly:

"Say it."

"That's better." Wolfe got his finger-tips together again. "I'll make it as brief as I can, since you already know it and all Mr Cramer needs at present is the outline." He gave the inspector his eyes. "You might as well have the name of the murderess to begin with. I promised you that. The Princess Vladanka Donevitch."

Cramer grunted, "I don't know her."

"Yes, you do. We'll get to that. Her home is in Zagreb, Croatia-Yugoslavia. She is the wife of young Prince Stefan. They like the Nazis. Most Croats don't. The Donevitch family agree with other Croats in their hatred of Belgrade. Belgrade is trying to make up its mind whether to be dominated by Germany, Italy, France, or England. Germany, Italy, France, and England are doing all they can to hasten the process. The attitude of the Croats is Germany's biggest obstacle. She is trying to buy them, with the Donevitch gang as selling agents. The other countries are competing-"

Cramer growled, "I'm a New York cop."

"I know, and most of the money in the world is in New York, or controlled from here. That's why people come here from all directions with things like this." Wolfe reached into his breast pocket, pulled out a paper and extended it to Cramer. "Keep that. It's evidence. You can't read it. It is signed by Prince Stefan Donevitch and it empowers the princess, his wife, to conclude certain transactions in his name-"

John P.'s lips twitched. "Where did you get that?"

"That doesn't matter, Mr Barrett. Not now." Wolfe went on to Cramer, "Specifically, transactions regarding concessions in Bosnian forests and the transfer of credits held by a firm of international bankers, Barrett amp; De Russy. The princess came to New York incognito, under an alias, and started negotiations. Because secrecy was essential on account of American restrictions regarding the export of capital in the form of loans, and I suspect other skulduggery besides the violations of those restrictions, she even went to the trouble of pretending to be an immigrant and getting a job in a fencing school. I don't suppose many persons were aware of her true identity, but certainly three were: Mr Barrett here and his son, and a man named Rudolph Faber, who was assisting in the negotiations as a secret agent of the Nazi Government. You see, Barrett amp; De Russy have financial relations with the Nazis."

Donald began explosively, "We merely act-" But a glance from his father shut him up again.

Wolfe nodded. "I know. Money and morals don't speak. But a British agent named Ludlow got on to it. He not only got on to the princess and what she was up to, he even threatened-I don't know how, but possibly by informing the American Government-to ruin the deal. And that just at the moment when all details had been decided and it was ready for consummation. So she killed Ludlow. I want to make it plain that the princess did that herself. A friend, another young woman, had come from Zagreb with her, also under an alias, but she had no part in the murder. You understand that, Mr Cramer?"

Cramer muttered, "Go on."

"There isn't a lot to go on with. Rudolph Faber knew what the princess had done, and he blackmailed her. Up to last evening he had been merely a negotiator, a bidder; that made him boss. He imposed terms on her, and I imagine they weren't generous; he didn't strike me as a generous man. He forced her to tell where that paper was and he tried to get it. The paper was, of course, vital. I presume, Mr Barrett, it was to be attached to the agreement you were drawing up, to validate it?"

John P. didn't answer.

Wolfe shrugged. "So she killed Faber. She made an appointment to meet him in her own apartment and stabbed him. God only knows what she thought she was going to do next. There is no way of telling what goes on in that kind of a head. She seems to be as heedless and hare-brained as a lunatic. She may have counted on the taciturnity of governments and international financiers regarding their privy intrigues, but what the devil did she take me for-a goat on a chain? A creature like that is outside the realm of calculation. I wouldn't have been surprised if she had tried to stab me. Were you able to deal with her on a rational basis, Mr Barrett?"

John P. was regarding him steadily. "I'm waiting for you to say something."

"That's about all there is."

"Bah. You've made a lot of loose accusations, with nothing to support them."

"There's that paper."

"You stole it."

"I didn't. But what if I did? There it is, for evidence."

"Damn flimsy evidence for two murders."

"I know." Wolfe wiggled a finger at him. "See here, Mr Barrett, you're making a blunder. I made a serious threat. I said that a warrant would issue charging your son with murder. I meant, of course, as accessory, which is the same thing. It's obvious that he knew the Princess Vladanka had killed Ludlow. You probably knew it too, but I have no proof that you tried actively to cheat the law. I have got proof that your son did, and three witnesses: Belinda Reade, Madame Zorka, and Mr Goodwin, my assistant-"

"That was only-"

"Quiet, son." John P. didn't move his eyes from Wolfe. "What else?"

"Nothing to stun you with, I'm afraid. Frankly, sir, I have no bomb to explode under you. But the point is this: Mr Cramer here doesn't like murder. He doesn't like to see it practised with impunity under any circumstances whatever, but in this case he was impeded by a wall of reluctance which he couldn't possibly have breached. By luck I had made a hole in the wall, and I've let him through, and if you knew him as I do you would realize that he can't be chased out again. He has it now, and he'll hang on to it, unless you can get him ditched, which I doubt. He has that paper, and he'll arrest the princess, so your deal's off anyway. He has enough to take your son as a material witness. With that paper, he can get a court order to examine your records and correspondence. But you know as well as I do what this will mean if you try to fight it. If you try to shield a murderess from the penalty she has earned. The fact is. "

I missed some then because I had to answer the doorbell. It was Charlie Heath. He started for the office as if he owned the place, but I blocked him off and demanded, "Would you mind explaining what it was that took so long?"

"I'll report to the inspector."

"He's busy, and you'll wait in here." I opened the door to the front room, where Fred Durkin was sitting with a magazine. "What used up all the time?"

"Nothing used it up. I mean I got back ten minutes ago. I've been out front."

"You have?"

"I have."

"Okay. Wait here."

I went back to the office and ran into a scowling match, and took advantage of it to report the return of Heath. All Cramer did was to favour me with five seconds of his share of the scowl. Wolfe didn't even look at me. Apparently he was still trying to undermine Barrett without a bomb and was finding it hard digging.

"No," he said, "I wouldn't expect that. We don't expect much from you, Mr Barrett, in any event. But you seem to have overlooked one thing, at least: You seem to be ignoring the existence of a person who knows as much about all this as the princess herself does. Including your part in it, and your son's part. I mean, of course, the friend who came here with the princess from Zagreb."

"Maybe he's ignoring it," Cramer put in, "but I'm not. And you let her go, and gave her money to go with. That was cute."

"No," Wolfe asserted, "I did not."

Cramer stared. Wolfe said, "Archie, get that package from the safe and give it to Mr Cramer."

I went and got it and handed it over. Cramer started to unfold it.

That," Wolfe said, "is the photograph of the Princess Vladanka Donevitch, radioed from London. If I had only got it this morning-"

Cramer jumped up, sputtering, "What kind of a goddam run-around-this is that Tormic-"

"Now, please!" Wolfe pushed a palm at him. "Yes, it is Miss Tormic. I agreed-"

"And she's-and, by God, you had one of my men take her and turn her loose-"

"I did. What else could I do? She was sitting here in my office, thinking she was my client, under my protection. I didn't agree to catch the murderer for you. I agreed to disclose the identity and the motive. If you'll take my advice, the simplest way to get her-"

But Cramer wasn't taking advice. He nearly knocked me out of my chair, getting at the phone. Father and son sat tight. Wolfe looked up at the clock and heaved a sigh. Cramer got his number and began spouting orders to someone. I picked up the radiophoto of the princess and laid it on Wolfe's desk, and gathered up the wrapping paper and put it in the waste-basket.

Cramer finished and stood up and yapped at Wolfe, "If we don't get her I'll-"

"It was a bargain," Wolfe snapped.

"One hell of a bargain." He moved for the door, turned, and spoke to the Barretts: "I'll want to see you. If you try setting a fire under me, I'll give you all I've got." He went and I was right behind him. While he grabbed his coat and hat I got Heath from the front room, always glad to get cops out of the house, from the flatfoots on up. I followed them out to the stoop, leaving the door ajar, and watched the army that had been surrounding the house being called into action. Cramer waved them in and gave them curt and crackling orders. His own car had to back up a few feet before it could nose around the rear of the Barrett town car. The taxi down the street rolled up, then it and Heath's car sped away. Cramer's car started, then stopped, and my name was called:

"Hey, Goodwin, come here!"

I trotted down the steps and past Barrett's car on over to him. Cramer leaned from the window:

"I want that picture. Understand?"

"Sure, we're through with it," I told him obligingly, and stood at the kerb and watched their tail light as they headed for the corner.

I watched them too long.

What happened, happened quick, but even so I might have headed her off if I had turned two seconds sooner. She came from inside the tonneau of Barrett's car, leaping out, and went like a bat out of hell across the sidewalk, up the steps and through the door I had left ajar. I was after her, and I am not old enough to be incapable of rapid movement. I was starting up the steps as she hurtled through the door, and by the light in the hall I saw a glittering streak from something she had in her hand. I gave it all I had then, but I couldn't catch lightning. When I was at the door she was swerving into the office. As I made the office she was half-way across it and her hand was up with the shining blade, and Wolfe was there in his chair with no time to move, and I had no gun, and all I could do was yell and keep going.

I do not know now how Wolfe did it, and I never will know, though he has kindly explained it to me several times. He says that when he heard the commotion in the hall he stiffened into attention, which is the most credible part of it; that when he saw her leaping in with the dagger flashing he grabbed a beer bottle with each hand; that when she was upon him he struck simultaneously with both hands, with his left at her descending wrist and with his right at anything at all. I don't know. I do know that something broke her right wrist and something cracked her skull.

When I reached them he was still sitting in his chair with a beer bottle in each hand and she was on the floor back of his chair, flat on the floor, with her legs twitching, spasmodically. I looked at him for blood and didn't see any. Fred Durkin busted in from the front room. Fritz came running from the kitchen. Father and son stood there white and speechless. I couldn't see anything wrong with Wolfe, but I asked him in a voice that sounded funny to me:

"Did she get you?"

"No!" he bellowed. He couldn't get up because her body against his chair kept him from shoving it back to make room.

I knelt down to take a look at her. Her legs had stopped twitching. I couldn't feel any heart. It was close quarters, with her there between Wolfe's chair and the wall, and I squirmed around to get on the other side of her. As I did so I heard a voice from the middle of the room:

"Excuse me for walking right in, Mr Wolfe, but the door was standing open. I was on my way uptown and I dropped in to say that we may expect a ruling from the attorney general on that point in about a week-the matter of registration as the agent of a foreign principal when the. "

I raised myself up enough to see the face of Stahl the G-man looking polite but stern. Then I sat back on my heels and howled with laughter.

Chapter Nineteen Wolfe said in a tone of exasperation, "Fritz tells me nothing on your tray was touched. Confound it, you have to eat something!"

Carla shook her head. "I can't. I'm sorry. I can't."

I had brought her down to the office. The clock on the wall said 11.20. The chairs were back in place.

Wolfe sighed. "It's nearly midnight. Mr Goodwin is yawning. You may go now whenever you want to. Or I'll ask one or two questions if you feel like telling the truth "

"I can tell the truth-now "

"It would have been just as well. " His massive shoulders went up a sixteenth of an inch and down again. "I would like to know if you were aware that that woman was a maniac "

"But she wasn't. " Carla stopped for repairs to her voice. "I never had any idea. " Her hand fluttered and dropped again to her lap.

"Were you, in fact, her friend?"

"Not-no, not her friend. It wasn't like that. When Mrs Campbell died I was left dependent on the Donevitch family. Then Prince Stefan married her and she came there, and in no time she was the head of things. She treated me as well as I could expect, since I was not a Donevitch. I didn't dislike her. I was a little afraid of her, and so was everybody else, even Prince Stefan. When she decided to come to America she selected me to come with her, and I thought then that the reason she did that was because she knew about you and she thought she might need to use you. One reason I thought that was because she told me to bring that adoption paper along-"

"Yes. Excuse me. Get it, Archie "

I went to the safe and dug it out and handed it to him. He unfolded it to glance at it, folded it up again, and passed it over to her. She looked at it a second as if she was afraid it might bite, and then reached out and took it.

"I came with her because I had to-and anyway I wanted to," she went on in a better voice. "It was an adventure to come to America. I knew all about-what she was coming for. She trusted me. I knew she would do dangerous things; but I never thought of anything like murder as a thing she would do. When Ludlow was killed I suspected she had done it, but I didn't know. I asked her last night, and she told me I was a fool. Then when I went there this morning and saw Faber, of course I knew she had done that and the other one too. I was frightened and I couldn't think. I couldn't answer questions about her-I couldn't betray her-but I couldn't lie for her any more either. I tried to run away-and I couldn't use my head-and in a strange country-and I was stupid-"

She stopped, and her hand fluttered and fell to her lap again.

In a moment Wolfe said gruffly, "It is faintly encouraging that you are aware that you were stupid "

She offered no comment. He demanded:

"What are you going to do?"

"I. " She shook her head. "I don't know."

"Well, I suppose you are legally my daughter. That puts some responsibilty on me."

Her chin went up. "I'm not asking any-"

"Pfui! Don't. I know. Confound it, you've been dependent on someone all your life, haven't you? Are you going back to Yugoslavia?"

"No."

"Oh, you're not?"

"No."

"What do you want to do-stay in America?"

"Yes."

"As a spy for the Donevitch gang?"

There was a flash in her eye. "No!"

"Where are you going to sleep to-night-in that apartment on 38th Street?"

"Why, I. " A shiver went over her. "No," she said, "I-I don't think I could. I couldn't go back there. Somewhere else. Anywhere. I have a little money " She got to her feet. "I can go-"

"Nonsense. You'd get run over or fall into a hole. You haven't eaten anything and your brain isn't working. I hope it turns out that you've got one. I'll have Fritz fix up another tray for you-"

"No, I couldn't, really I couldn't. "

"Well, you must sleep and in the morning you must eat. You are in no condition now, anyway, to make any sort of intelligent decision. We'll discuss it to-morrow. If you decide to stay in America and not to tear that paper up, I suppose your name will be Carla Wolfe. In that case-Archie, what the devil are you grinning about? Baboon! Take Miss-take my-take her upstairs to the south room! And tell her if she undertakes to use the fire escape not to tumble through my window as she goes by!"

I arose. "Come on, Miss my Carla "

Ten minutes later I went back to the office. I hadn't heard the elevator, so I knew he was still there. Not only was he still there, but he had just received a fresh consignment of beer.

I took a good stretch accompanied by a yawn. "Well," I observed good-naturedly, "that was a damn profitable case. You turned loose of about four centuries, not counting loss of brain tissue, and what you got out of it was one shapely responsibility and nothing else."

He put down his empty glass and said nothing.

"There is one thing," I announced, "that I would like to have cleared up now, once and for all. I was at fault in one respect, and only one. I should not have left the front door ajar when I went down to the sidewalk when Cramer called me. Aside from that, I couldn't help it. The nervy little devil had come along to the Barretts' chauffeur five minutes before weeeent out and told him she was supposed to meet his employer there, and he opened the door for her so she could wait inside the car. Two dicks saw it, though they didn't recognize her in the dim light, and they kindly said nothing about it. She was out of the car, behind my back, and starting up the steps before I knew she was there. There wasn't a chance in the world of catching her "

Wolfe shrugged. "I managed without you," he murmured in an absolutely insufferable tone.

I gritted my teeth, and as soon as I had got it swallowed, yawned. "Okay," I said sleepily. "There are, however, one or two little questions. What was in the envelope you gave that dick to give her?"

"Nothing. Only a sentence saying that she was not my client, and, under the terms as stated, never had been "

"And what was it she said as she eent out? 'Teega mee bornie roosa,' or something like that "

"That was her native tongue."

"Yeah. What does it mean?"

"'Over my dead body.'"

"Is that so?" I humphed. "She called the turn, then I guess that's all I need, except maybe one thing: Such items as her claiming your help by using Carla's adoption paper for herself-I get all that But I'll be darned if I can see why Ludlow said she eent to the locker-room to get his cigarettes. Him a British spy and her a Balkan princess. Why did he-"

"He didn't. She went to the locker-room to steal something from his coat Probably that paper which she sent here the next morning to be hid in a safe place, because he had previously stolen it from her And he was letting her know that he knew that "

Wolfe sighed, pushed back his chair, and manipulated himself to his feet. "I'm going to bed " He got half-way to the door, but stopped again "By the way, remind me to-morrow to ask Mr Cramer for that hundred dollars. I wish I could cure myself of those idiotic romantic gestures "

"Oh, that hundred?" I patted my pocket. "I've already got it. That was the first thing I did "