Before Midnight

To make sure whether your taxi is being followed in midtown traffic takes a lot of maneuvering, which takes time, and Younger and I decided we didn't really give a damn, so except for a few backward glances out of curiosity we skipped it. At the curb in front of the old brownstone on West Thirty-fifth I paid the driver, got out, led the way up the steps to the stoop, and pushed the button. In a moment the door was opened by Fritz, who, as I was taking Younger's coat, made sure I saw his extended forefinger, meaning that a visitor was in the office with Wolfe. Acknowledging it with a nod, I ushered Younger across the hall into the front room, told him it would be a short wait, and, instead of using the connecting door to the office, which was soundproofed, went around by way of the hall.

Wolfe was in his chair, with half a dozen books hi front of him on his desk, but he wasn't reading. He was frowning at Mrs. James R. Wheelock of Richmond, Virginia, who was in the red leather chair, frowning back at him. The frowns switched to me as I approached. I was a little slow meeting them because it took me a second to get the title of the book on top of the pile: The Letters of Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple. With that, which was enough, I told Mrs. Wheelock good morning, informed Wolfe that Fritz wanted him in the kitchen for something, and walked out.

When he joined me in the kitchen the frown was gone and there was a gleam hi his eye. I spoke first. "I just wanted to ask you if she has any idea who mailed her the answers."

It got him for half a second. Then he said, "Oh. Mr. Younger got them too?"

"He did. That's what he wanted to see me about. He's in the front room. He wanted to find out if the answers are the real thing, and I told him he could use your library, but I see Mrs. Wheelock had the same idea."

"No. She merely wished to tell me, and consult me. I suggested looking at the books; luckily I had all of them. I hadn't hoped for anything as provocative as this. Very satisfactory."

"Yeah. Worth waiting for. A slight comedown for me, to bring home a slab of bacon and find you're already slicing one just like it, but anyhow we've got it. Shall I send mine back?"

"By no means." He pursed his lips, and in a moment continued, "I'll tell her. You tell him. Bring him in in three minutes." He was gone.