The Rodeo Murder

V

Somehow when two women tie into each other it’s harder to separate them than it is two men. It’s not just that you don’t want to hurt a woman if you can help it; they’re actually more wriggly and you’re more apt to get scratched or bit; and when it’s two active cowgirls it’s a real problem. However, I had help. Roger and Mel were closer than I was, and Roger had Laura’s shoulders, and Mel had Nan around the waist, when I reached them. They yanked them apart, and I merely stepped in between. Laura wriggled free from Roger, but I was there. Mel had Nan wrapped up.

“Pfui,” Wolfe said. “Miss Jay, your talent for turmoil is extraordinary. Archie, put her—”

“She’s a liar,” Nan said. She was panting a little, and her eyes were blazing. “I knew it was her. I knew she—”

“Hold it, Nan,” Mel commanded her. His eyes were narrowed at Wolfe. “So you had it rigged good, huh? So you had her all primed, huh?”

“I did not.” Wolfe was emphatic. “This is becoming farcical. You were right, up to a point, Miss Karlin. Miss Jay, concerned on account of Mr. Barrow, came to see Mr. Goodwin, to tell him of your experience at Eisler’s apartment. She stated that you made her promise not to tell Mr. Fox, and that she had kept the promise. Thinking it well to have her at hand, I had her shown to a room upstairs and told her to stay there. Her abrupt entry surprised me as much as you. Miss Jay, did you tell Mr. Goodwin that you had not told Mr. Fox?”

“Yes.” Laura’s chin was up.

“But you now say you had?”

“Yes.”

“Precisely where and when?”

“Yesterday morning at the hotel. In the lobby after breakfast.”

“You had breakfast with Mr. Barrow. Was he present?”

“No. He went to buy some cigarettes, and I saw Mel there and went and told him.”

“Look here, Laura,” Mel said. “Look at me.”

Her head came around, slowly, and she met his eyes, straight.

“You know darned well that ain’t so,” he said. “This slicker talked you into it. He told you that was the way to get Cal out of trouble. Didn’t he?”

“No.”

“You mean you can stand there and look me in the eye and he like that?”

“I don’t know, Mel, I never tried.”

“Listen, Laura,” Roger Dunning said, to her back. “If it’s on account of Cal, I don’t think you have to. I’ve got a lawyer on it and he’ll soon have him out on bail, thirty thousand dollars. He may be out already. They can’t charge him with murder unless they can show some reason why he wanted to kill Eisler, and there wasn’t any.”

“It’s not just her,” Mel said. He had backed Nan up and moved in front of her. He turned to me. “You’re slick too, huh?”

“Not very,” I said. “I manage somehow.”

“I bet you do. I bet you’re pretty good at answering questions. What if I asked you where you was yesterday while someone was killing Eisler?”

“That’s easy. I was driving a car. Driving Mr. Wolfe home and then back to Sixty-third Street.”

“Was anybody else along?”

“Nope. Just us two.”

“Did you see anybody on the way that knows you?”

“No.”

“Did anybody here see you except Wolfe?”

“No, I didn’t come in. I wanted to get back in time for the roping — I mean the contest, not roping Eisler. You’re asking pretty good questions, but you’ll hit the same snag with me as with Cal Barrow. You’ll have to show some reason why I wanted to kill Eisler.”

“Yeah. Or why Wolfe would want you to, the man you work for. Or why that Miss Rowan would, the woman that’s hired him.” He turned to Wolfe. “You better look out with this Laura Jay. She ain’t cut out for a liar.” He turned to Laura. “I’ll be having a talk with you, Laura. Private.” He turned to Roger Dunning. “This lawyer you got to get bail for Cal, is he any good?”

Roger’s long narrow face was even longer. “I think he’s all right. He seems to know his way around.”

“I want to see him. Come on, Nan. You come along. We’re not going to get—”

The doorbell rang. Mel had Nan under control, so I went. A glance through the glass of the front door showed me a hundred and ninety pounds of sergeant out on the stoop — Sergeant Purley Stebbins of Homicide. I proceeded, put the chain bolt on, opened the door to the two-inch crack the chain permitted, and said politely, “No clues today. Out of stock.”

“Open up, Goodwin.” Like a sergeant. “I want Nan Karlin.”

“I don’t blame you. She’s very attractive—”

“Can it. Open up. I’ve got a warrant for her and I know she’s here.”

There was no use making an issue of it, since there had probably been an eye on the house ever since Cramer left. As for the warrant, of course the prints she had left at Eisler’s apartment had caught up with her. But Wolfe doesn’t approve of cops taking anyone in his house, no matter who. “What if you brought the wrong warrant?” I asked.

He got it from a pocket and stuck it through the crack, and I took it and looked it over. “Okay,” I said, “but watch her, she might bite.” Removing the chain, swinging the door open, and handing him the warrant as he crossed the sill, I followed him to the office. He didn’t make a ceremony of it. He marched across to Nan, displayed the paper, and spoke. “Warrant to take you as a material witness in the murder of Wade Eisler. You’re under arrest. Come along.”

My concern was Laura. As like as not, she would blurt out that he should take Mel too because she had told him about it, so I lost no time getting to her, but she didn’t utter a peep. She stood stiff, her teeth clamped on her lip. Wolfe let out a growl, but no words. Nan gripped Mel’s arm. Mel took the warrant, read it through, and told Stebbins, “This don’t say what for.”

“Information received.”

“Where you going to take her?”

“Ask the District Attorney’s office.”

“I’m getting a lawyer for her.”

“Sure. Everybody ought to have a lawyer.”

“I’m going along.”

“Not with us. Come on, Miss Karlin.”

Wolfe spoke. “Miss Karlin. You will of course be guided by your own judgment and discretion. I make no suggestion. I merely inform you that you are under no compulsion to speak until you have consulted an attorney.”

Stebbins and Mel Fox both spoke at once. Stebbins said, “She didn’t ask you anything.” Mel said, “You goddam snake.” Stebbins touched Nan’s elbow and she moved. I stayed with Laura as they headed out, Nan and Stebbins in front and Mel and Roger following; seeing them go might touch her off. She still had teeth on her lip. When I heard the front door close I went and took a look and came back.

I expected to find Wolfe scowling at her, but he wasn’t. He was leaning back with his eyes closed and his lips moving. He was pushing out his lips, puckered, and then drawing them in — out and in, out and in. He only does that, and always does it, when he has found a crack somewhere, or thinks he has, and is trying to see through. I am not supposed to interrupt the process, so I crossed to my desk, but didn’t sit, because Laura was still on her feet, and a gentleman should not seat himself when a lady or a wildcat is standing.

Wolfe opened his eyes. “Archie.”

“Yes, sir.”

“It would help to know whether Miss Jay had told Mr. Fox or not. Is there any conceivable way of finding out?”

I raised a brow. If that was the crack he had been trying to see through he was certainly hard up for cracks. “Not bare-handed,” I said. “It would take a scientist. I know where you can get one with a lie detector. Or you might try a hypnotist.”

“Pfui. Miss Jay, which is it now, now that Miss Karlin is in custody? Had you told Mr. Fox?”

“Yes.”

“Yesterday morning in the hotel lobby?”

“Yes.”

“I suppose you understand what that will let you in for — or rather, I suppose you don’t. You will be—”

The phone rang. I got it. “Nero Wolfe’s office, Archie Goodwin speaking.”

“This is Cal, Archie. Do you know where Laura is?”

“I might have an idea. Where are you?”

“I’m at the hotel. I’m out on bail. They say she went out this morning and she hasn’t been back, and she’s not at the Garden. I thought maybe she might have been to see you.”

“Hold the wire a minute. I’ll go to another phone.”

I got my memo pad, wrote on it, Cal Barrow out on bail looking for Laura, get him here & you can check her, tore off the sheet, and handed it to Wolfe. He read it and looked up at the clock. His afternoon date with the orchids was at four.

“No,” he said. “You can. Get her out of here. Of course you must see him first.”

I resumed at the phone. “I think I know where to find her. It’s a little complicated, and the best way—”

“Where is she?”

“I’ll bring her. What’s your room number?”

“Five-twenty-two. Where is she?”

“I’ll have her there in half an hour, maybe less. Stay in your room.”

I hung up and faced Laura. “That was Cal. He’s out on bail and he wants to see you. I’ll take—”

“Cal! Where is he?”

“I’ll take you to him, but I’m going to see him first. I don’t ask you to promise because you’d promise anything, but if you try any tricks I’ll show you a new way to handle a calf. Where’s your jacket?”

“It’s upstairs.”

“Go get it. If I went for it you might not be here when I came back.”