Trouble at the Brownstone

Chapter 36

Inspector Cramer and his men must have done a good job in their “going over” of the four men, because any original denials from them soon turned to admissions, and each of the quartet is in the process of facing trial, along with three of Halliwell’s crew members on the National Export docks who had taken an active role in the smuggling operation. In addition, according to the Gazette reporting, at least a score of former Nazis, many of them residents of the Elmont, has been rounded up.

To back up slightly, after we got back to the brownstone from the Lower East Side precinct that night, I telephoned Lon Cohen at the Gazette and gave him a general outline of what had transpired, along with a suggestion that he talk to Cramer. I also told him that Wolfe’s name was not to appear in any articles involving what had transpired.

Lon and the Gazette jumped all over the story, beating the competition from the start. The paper’s first headline in what was to be a continuing series read: ring that smuggled nazis into n.y. is smashed!

After all the hullabaloo, life began returning to normal in the brownstone, including one particularly positive note: Theodore Horstmann had at last emerged from his coma, and, according to Doc Vollmer, his mental functions appeared to be undiminished. For the first several weeks after his release from the hospital, he stayed with his sister over in New Jersey, but it was clear that he was itching to get back to the orchids. Speaking of Frieda, she tried to get Wolfe to accept more money from her for his efforts, but he flatly refused, saying simply, “I have accomplished what I set out to do.”

Theodore’s recovery was gradual and took many months. He started coming across the Hudson one day a week, and then two, being that Vollmer had prescribed for him a gradual reentry into his former work schedule.

Once he had fully recovered, Theodore related to us, and to Inspector Cramer, his memory of the beating he took. With him grumbling all the way, I drove Theodore to Rikers Island where, through a one-way glass, he identified William Hartz as one of the two men who had attacked him as he walked that fateful night a few blocks from the Elmont. He also viewed a death photograph of Emil Krueger and said that he “looked like” the other man in the attack, although he could not be positive.

As for Carl Willis, who had filled in as Wolfe’s orchid nurse, he was happy enough to begin relinquishing his temporary role. The two had managed to tolerate each other, although the relationship was never smooth and certainly far from amiable. Wolfe considered the new man to be marginally knowledgeable about the orchidaceous world. Willis, in turn, felt that his overseer was a martinet who criticized his every move. I know this, because I heard his complaints almost every time he came downstairs to give me the orchid germination material to enter into the files.

It was a sure thing that the “team” of Wolfe and Willis would soon be dissolved, and that Theodore would eventually be returning to the plant rooms on the top floor of the brownstone on a full-time basis. Where he would live was yet to be determined, but it definitely would not be in a certain five-story building on Tenth Avenue in the heart of Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen.