Before Midnight

"You never answered my question," she complained. "Must I show this to the police and let them take it?" Her sheet was in her hand, and Younger had his.

"As you please--or rather, as you will. If you don't, when they learn that you got it, as of course they will, they'll be ruffled, but they are already. Suit yourself."

I was up and halfway to the door, to escort them out, but they weren't coming. They wanted to know what was what, then and there. Younger was so stubborn that I finally had to take his arm and put a little pressure on, and by the time I got him to the front, with his hat and coat on, and over the threshold to the stoop, he was in no humor to offer me a drink. They left together, and I hoped Younger would give Mrs. Wheelock a lift back to the hotel. She didn't have the physique or the vigor for a midtown bus.

I returned to the office and told Wolfe, "I know you like to do your own digesting, but one thing occurs to me. As far as the contest is concerned, it no longer matters who lifted the wallet. They've all got the answers now and there'll have to be a new deal, so what's left of our job?" He grunted. "We still have it. You know what I was hired to do."

"Yes, sir. I ought to. But what if the client has lost interest in what you were hired to do?"

"We'll handle that contingency when we face it. For the immediate present there is enough to occupy us. I told you that with such tension something was sure to snap, though I must confess that I hadn't listed this among the possibilities. You will phone the others, all of them, and notify them of the meeting this evening, but from the kitchen or your room. I have to work. I haven't the slightest idea what course to take at the meeting, and I must contrive one. Now that this has happened we must move quickly, or you will be quite right--there will be no job left. I may need--confound it!"

The phone was ringing. I had it off the cradle automatically before remembering that my base of operations had been moved. An urgent male voice gave me not a request but an order, and I covered the transmitter and turned to Wolfe. "Buff. Exploding. You and only you." He reached for his receiver. I stayed with mine.

Chapter 15

"Nero Wolfe spea--"

"This is Buff. Is your wire tapped?"

"Not to my knowledge. I think we must assume it isn't, just as we assume an atom bomb won't interrupt us. Otherwise life becomes--"