Please Pass the Guilt

15

Saul and Fred and Orrie and I are still discussing what Wolfe said that Friday morning — or rather, what we didn’t say.

They came at ten o’clock and I played it back for them twice — the tape of the talk with Dennis Copes — and we considered two angles: one, Was it straight or had he hatched it to get Meer? and two, If it was straight, how were we going to wrap it up? By eleven o’clock, when Wolfe came down from the plant rooms, we hadn’t got very far with either one. He told us good morning, put a raceme of Dendrobium chrysotoxum in the vase on his desk, sat and sent his eyes around, and asked, “Have you a program?”

“Sure,” I said. “Just what you’re expecting, ask you for instructions.”

“One thing,” Saul said. “He comes first. How good is it?”

“Obviously. On that he said one thing that was strikingly suggestive. Have you considered it?”

We looked at one another. “Well,” Saul said, “that line about him being just a guy who happened to hear something. We agree that that sounds good. If he’s faking it that’s very good. A wonderful line.”

Wolfe shook his head. “I mean something quite different. One specific thing he said that suggests a possible answer to all questions. You haven’t considered it?”

“We considered everything,” I said. “What specific thing?”

He shook his head again. “Not now. Even if it means what it may mean, we must first decide about him. The detail which — as he said — we have to consider: if he didn’t learn about the LSD as he says he did, then how? Of course you have discussed that. And?”

“And nothing,” Orrie said. “We’ve talked with a lot of people these two weeks, and not the slightest hint of the LSD angle from anyone. You told us to keep that good and tight and we did.”

I said, “The only mention of it we have heard has been from Mrs. Odell and Falk, and he got it from her. Possibly he also got it from his cousin who is an assistant DA, but he didn’t say so. Apparently it is tight. Abbott evidently thinks Odell had a bomb in his pocket, not LSD.”

Wolfe nodded. “We’ll have to explore the possibilities. Orrie. You will try again with the CAN personnel, this time on the one question, could his knowledge of the LSD have come through anyone there? He need not have learned it a month or even a week ago; even yesterday would do. Take care not to divulge it yourself. Fred. Forget the Palestinians. You are on speaking terms with members of the police force. A dozen?”

“Only two in Homicide,” Fred said.

“That may be enough. Knowledge of the LSD may not be limited to the Homicide men. The first to arrive at the scene may have found it. You need not take pains to reserve our knowledge of it; Mr. Cramer knows that we know about it. Does one of them know Mr. Copes or anyone connected with him? — Saul. You will try the other possible source, Mrs. Odell and Miss Haber. I doubt if Mrs. Odell has mentioned it to anyone whatever, but Miss Haber procured the LSD for her, and Mr. Copes would have needed to know only that to make a plausible conjecture. Does Mr. Copes know anyone she knows and might have told? Probably you should try from his end, not hers, but that’s for you to decide. Have enough cash with you. If there is any urgent need for help, Archie will be here.”

Wolfe’s eyes went to Fred, to Orrie, and back to Saul. “We want this, messieurs. If you find another probable source for Mr. Copes’s knowledge of the LSD, it will be more than satisfactory. Ironically, it will probably get him sixty-five thousand dollars for supplying the required information. I wish you luck.”

As Saul stood he said, “I have a question. Might it help if we knew what he said that was strikingly suggestive? Could it hurt?”

“Yes, it could hurt. It could divert your interest. I shouldn’t have mentioned it. My tendency to strut. Display, like diffidence, is commendable only when it avails. Ignore it.”

Just fine. What else could they do? Not to mention me. So when they were gone, I ignored it. I sat and ignored it while he glanced through the little stack of mail I had put on his desk, and when he looked up I asked, “Do I do anything while I am being here?”

“Yes,” he said. “This is Friday.”

“Right.”

“I would like to see Miss Lugos and Mr. Meer, not together. And not today. It’s possible that today or this evening we’ll get something. Miss Lugos at eleven o’clock tomorrow and Mr. Meer at three?”

“It’s a June weekend and it may take pressure. I’m not objecting, I’m just asking. I would enjoy pressing somebody. Anybody.”

“So would I.”

I got at the phone and dialed.