Trio For Blunt Instruments (6 page)

Mercer gawked at him. 'One of us?'

'Yes, sir. That's my working hypothesis, based on a supportable conclusion. You may reject it with disdain and go, or you may stay and discuss it, as you please.'

'You don't mean it. You can't mean it!'

'I can and do. That's what I'm going to investigate. The only way to stop me would be to satisfy me that I'm mistaken.'

'Of course you're mistaken!'

'Satisfy me.'

Mercer looked at Philip Horan and Frances Cox. They looked back and at each other. Miss Cox said, loud, 'It is blackmail.' Horan said, 'We should have brought the lawyer.' Miss Cox said, 'He wouldn't come.' Mercer looked at Wolfe and said, 'How do you expect us to satisfy you?'

Wolfe nodded. 'That's the question.' He sat, brought the chair forward, and swiveled. 'Conceivably you can, and speedily; there's only one way to find out. Mr. Horan. Did Mr. Vassos ever shine your shoes?'

The doorbell rang. I got up and detoured around the yellow chairs to the hall, and switched on the stoop light. There facing me, his blunt nose almost touching the glass, was Inspector Cramer. From the expression on his big round red face, he hadn't come to bring the million dollars.

IT WAS SOMETIMES NECESSARY, when we had company, to use an alias when announcing a caller who might or might not be welcome, and any name with two Ds in it meant Cramer. I stepped into the office and said, 'Mr. Judd.'

'Ah?' Wolfe cocked his head at me. 'Indeed.' His brows went up. He turned to the company. 'It's a question. Mr. Cramer of the police is at the door. Shall we have him join us'What do you think?'

They just looked. Not a word.

'I think not,' Wolfe said, 'unless you want him.' He pushed his chair back and rose. 'You will excuse me.' He headed for the door. I stepped aside to let him by and followed him to the front. He slipped the bolt in, opened the door the two inches the chain would allow, and spoke through the crack. 'I'm busy, Mr. Cramer, and I don't know when I'll be free. Miss Frances Cox, Mr. John Mercer, and Mr. Philip Horan are with me. I came to tell you instead of sending Mr. Goodwin because it seemed-'

'Open the door!'

'No. I wouldn't object to your presence while I talk with these people, but you would-'

'I want to see Elma Vassos. Open the door.'

'That's it.' Wolfe turned his head, and so did I, at a noise from behind. Philip Horan's head was sticking out at the office door. Wolfe turned back to the crack. 'That's the point. Miss Vassos will not see you. As I have said before, a citizen's rights vis-a-vis an officer of the law are anomalous and nonsensical. I can refuse to let you into my house, but once I admit you I am helpless. You can roam about at will. You can speak to anyone you choose. I dare not touch you. If I order you to leave you can ignore me. If I call in a policeman to expel an intruder I am laughed at. So I don't admit you-unless you have a warrant?'

'You know damn well I haven't. Elma Vassos has filed a complaint against me at your instigation, and I'm going to discuss it with her.'

'Discuss it with her attorney.'

'Bah. Nat Parker. You call the tune and he plays it. Are you going to open this door?'

'No.'

'By God, I will get a warrant.'

'On what ground'I advise you to watch the wording. You can't claim the right to enter my house in search of evidence. Evidence of what'You can't charge an attempt to obstruct justice; if you say I'm hindering an official investigation, I ask what investigation'Not of the death of Dennis Ashby; from the published accounts and from what you said to Mr. Goodwin yesterday morning, I understand that that is closed. As for a warrant to search my house for Miss Vassos, that's absurd. In your official capacity you can assert no right to see her or touch her. She has violated no law by bringing a civil action against you. I advise-'

'She's a material witness.'

'Indeed. In what matter'The People of the State of New York versus Peter Vassos for the murder of Dennis Ashby'Pfui. Peter Vassos is dead. Or have you abandoned that theory'Do you now think that the one who killed Ashby is still alive'If so, who are the suspects and how can Miss Vassos be a material witness against one or more of them'No, Mr. Cramer; it's no good; I'm busy; the cold air rushes through this crack; I'm shutting the door.'

'Wait a minute. You know damn well she can't get me for damages.'

'Perhaps not. But there's a good chance she can get you put under oath and asked who told you that she had improper relations with Dennis Ashby. Mr. Goodwin asked you that yesterday and you were amused. Offensively. Will you tell me now, not for quotation?'

'No. You know I won't. Are you saying that she didn't'That Vassos didn't kill Ashby?'

'Certainly. That's why I got those people here. That's what I'm going to discuss with them. The actions brought-'

'Damn it, Wolfe, open the door!'

'I'm shutting it. If you change your mind about answering my question, you know my phone number.'

Cramer has his points. Knowing that it would be silly to try to stop the door with his foot, since Wolfe and I together weigh 450 pounds, he didn't. Knowing that if he stood there and shook his fist and made faces we would see him through the one-way glass, he didn't. He turned and went. Wolfe and I about-faced. Horan was no longer peeking; he had stepped into the hall and was standing there. As we approached he turned and moved inside, and as we entered the office he was speaking.

'It was Inspector Cramer. Wolfe shut the door on him. He's gone.'

Frances Cox said, loud, 'You don't shut the door on a police inspector.'

'Wolfe does. He did.' Horan was back in his chair. Wolfe and I went to ours. Wolfe focused on Horan.

'To resume. Did Peter Vassos ever shine your shoes?'

Horan's quick-moving eyes darted to Mercer, but the president was frowning at a corner of Wolfe's desk and didn't meet them. They went back to Wolfe. 'No, he didn't. I suppose what you're getting at is did I tell Vassos about Ashby and his daughter'I didn't. I have never seen Vassos. I understand he always came around ten-thirty, and I am never there at that time. I'm out calling on customers. I was there Monday morning and was with Ashby a few minutes, but I left before ten o'clock.'

Wolfe grunted. 'Your observed presence there Monday morning is immaterial. Anyone could have got into Ashby's room unobserved by the door from the hall, including you. I'm not after-'

'Then why pick on us, if anyone could have got in?'

'I have two reasons: a weaker one, the attack on Miss Vassos' character, and a stronger one, which I reserve. I'm not after who told Vassos about Ashby and his daughter; I don't think anybody did; I'm after who told the police. Did you?'

'I answered their questions. I had to.'

'You know better than that if you're not a nincompoop. You did not have to. Telling them even about yourself and your movements was at your discretion; certainly you were under no compulsion to jabber about others. Did you?'

'I don't jabber. What I told the police is on record. Ask them.'

'I have. You just heard me ask Mr. Cramer. You have more than once asked a female employee of your firm to find out about the relations between Mr. Ashby and Miss Vassos. What did she tell you?'

'Ask her.'

'I'm asking you.'

'Ask her.'

'I hope I won't have to.' Wolfe's eyes went right. 'Miss Cox. What terms were you on with Mr. Vassos?'

'I wasn't on any terms with him.' Her head was up and her chin was pushing. It was a nice chin when she left it to itself. 'He was the bootblack.'

'He was also the father of one of your fellow employees. Of course you knew that.'

'Certainly.'

'Did you like him'Did he like you?'

'I never asked him. I didn't like him or dislike him. He was the bootblack, that's all.'

'Affable exchanges even with a bootblack are not unheard of. Did you speak much with him?'

'No. Hardly any.'

'Describe the customary routine. He would appear in the anteroom where you were stationed, and then?'

'He would ask me if it was all right to go in. He always went to Mr. Mercer's room first. If someone was in with Mr. Mercer, it depended on who it was. Sometimes he wouldn't want to be disturbed, and Pete would go to Mr. Busch first. Mr. Busch's room is across the hall from Mr. Mercer's.'

'Are the two doors directly opposite?'

'No. Mr. Mercer's door comes first on the left. Mr. Busch's door is nearly at the end of the hall on the right.'

'After he had finished with Mr. Mercer and Mr. Busch, Mr. Vassos would go to Mr. Ashby?'

'Yes, but that took him past the reception room and he would ask me on his way. If Mr. Ashby had an important customer with him he wouldn't want Pete butting in.'

'Are there any others in that office whom Mr. Vassos served?'

'No.'

'Never?'

'No.'

'Was the routine followed on Monday morning?'

'Yes, as far as I know. When Pete came there was no one in with Mr. Mercer and he went on in. Then later he came and put his head around the corner and I nodded, and he went on to Mr. Ashby's room.'

'How much later?'

'I never timed it. About fifteen minutes.'

'Did you see him enter at Mr. Ashby's door?'

'No, it's down the other hall. Anyway, I couldn't see him enter any of the doors because my desk is in a corner of the reception room.'

'What time was it when he put his head around the corner and you nodded him on to Mr. Ashby's room?'

'It was ten minutes to eleven, or maybe eight or nine minutes. The police wanted to know exactly, but that's as close as I could come.'

'How close could you come to the truth about Mr. Ashby and Miss Vassos?'

It took her off balance, but only for two seconds, and she kept her eyes at him. She raised her voice a little. 'You think that's clever, don't you?'

'No. I'm not clever, Miss Cox. I'm either more or less than clever. What did you tell the police about Mr. Ashby and Miss Vassos?'

'I say what Mr. Horan said. Ask them.'

'What did you tell them about Mr. Ashby and yourself'Did you tell them that you and he were intimate'Did you tell them that Mrs. Ashby once asked an officer of the corporation to discharge you because you were a bad influence on her husband?'

She was smiling, a corner of her mouth turned up. 'That sounds like Andy Busch,' she said. 'You don't care who you listen to, do you, Mr. Wolfe'Maybe you're less than clever.'

'But I'm persistent, madam. The police let up on you because they thought their problem was solved; I don't, and I won't. I shall harass you, if necessary, beyond the limit of endurance. You can make it easier for both of us by telling me now of your personal relations with Mr. Ashby. Will you?'

'There's nothing to tell.'

'There will be.' Wolfe left her. He swiveled to face John Mercer in the red leather chair. 'Now, sir. I applaud your forbearance. You must have been tempted a dozen times to interrupt and you didn't. Commendable. As I told you, the only way to stop me would be to satisfy me that I'm mistaken, and Mr. Horan and Miss Cox have made no progress. I invite you to try. Instead of firing questions at you-you know what they would be-I'll listen. Go ahead.'

When Mercer had finished his study of the corner of Wolfe's desk he had turned his attention not to Wolfe, but to his salesman and receptionist. He had kept his eyes at Horan while Wolfe was questioning him, and then at Miss Cox, and, since I had him full-face past the profiles of the other two, I didn't have to be more than clever to tell that his immediate worry wasn't how to satisfy Wolfe but how to satisfy himself. And from his eyes when he moved them to Wolfe, he still wasn't sure. He spoke.

'I want to state that I shouldn't have said that my attorney thinks this is a blackmailing trick and I agree with him. I want to retract that. I admit it's possible that Miss Vassos has persuaded you-that you believe she has been slandered and you're acting in good faith.'

Wolfe said, 'Ummf.'

Mercer screwed his lips. He still wasn't sure. He unscrewed them. 'Of course,' he said, 'if it's just a trick, nothing will satisfy you. But if it isn't, then the truth ought to. I'm going to disregard my attorney's advice and tell you exactly what happened. It seems to me-'

Two voices interrupted him. Horan said, 'No!' emphatically, and Miss Cox said, 'Don't, Mr. Mercer!'

He ignored them. 'It seems to me that's the best thing to do to stop this-this publicity. I told the police about Miss Vassos'-uh-her association with Mr. Ashby, and Mr. Horan and Miss Cox corroborated it. All three of us told them. It wasn't slander. You may be right that we weren't legally compelled to tell them, but they were investigating a murder, and we regarded it as our duty to answer their questions. According to my attorney, if you go on with it and the case gets to court, it will be dismissed.'

Wolfe's palms were flat on his desk. 'Let's make it explicit. You told the police that Miss Vassos had been seduced by Mr. Ashby?'

'Yes.'

'How did you know that'I assume that you hadn't actually witnessed the performance.'

'Spontaneously'Voluntarily?'

'No. I asked him. There had been complaints about his conduct with some of the employees, and I had been told specifically about Miss Vassos.'

'Told by whom?'

'Mr. Horan and Miss Cox.'

'Who had told them?'

'Ashby himself had told Miss Cox. Horan wouldn't say where he had got his information.'

'And you went to Ashby and he admitted it?'

'Yes.'

'When?'

'Last week. Wednesday. A week ago yesterday.'

Wolfe closed his eyes and took in air, through his nose, all the way down, and let it out through his mouth. He had got more than he had bargained for. No wonder the cops and the DA had bought it. He took on another load of air, held it a second, let it go, and opened his eyes. 'Do you confirm that, Miss Cox'That Ashby himself told you he had seduced Miss Vassos?'

'Yes.'

'Who told you, Mr. Horan?'

Horan shook his head. 'Nothing doing. I didn't tell the police and I won't tell you. I'm not going to drag anyone else into this mess.'

'Then you didn't regard it as your duty to answer all their questions.'

'No.'

Wolfe looked at Mercer. 'I must consult with Miss Vassos and her attorney. I shall advise her either to withdraw her action, or to pursue it and also to prefer a criminal change against you three, conspiracy to defame her character-whatever the legal phrase may be. At the moment I don't know which I shall advise.' He pushed back his chair and arose. 'You will be informed, probably by her attorney through yours. Meanwhile-'

'But I've told you the truth!'

'I don't deny the possibility. Meanwhile, I am not clear about the plan of your premises, and I need to be. I want Mr. Goodwin to inspect them. I wish to discuss the situation with him first, and it is near the dinner hour. He'll go after dinner, say at nine o'clock. I presume the door will be locked, so you will please arrange for someone to be there to let him in.'

'Why'What good will that do'You said yourself that anyone could have got into Ashby's room by the other door.'

'It's necessary if I am to be satisfied. I need to understand clearly all the observable movements of people-particularly of Mr. Vassos. Say nine o'clock?'