Black Orchids

"Put it this way, Mr. Huddleston." Wolfe wiggled a finger at him. "I make statements. You suspect belief. In the end there will be a verdict, and you will concur or not. X sent those letters. Then he-I am forced thus to exclude women, at least temporarily, by the pronominal inadequacy of our language-then he became dissatisfied with the results, or something happened, no matter which. In any case, X decided on something more concrete and conclusive. Murder. The technique was unquestionably suggested by the recent death of Miss Horrocks by tetanus. A small amount of material procured at the stable, immersed in water, furnished the required emulsion. It was strained and mixed with argyrol, the mixture was put in a bottle with an iodine label, and the bottle was substituted for the iodine bottle in the cabinet in Miss Huddleston's bathroom. But-"

"Her bathroom?" Maryella was incredulous again.

"Yes, Miss Timms. But X was not one to wait indefinitely for some accidental disjunction in Miss Huddleston's skin. He carried the preparations further, by smashing her bottle of bath salts and inserting a sliver of glass among the bristles of her bath brush. Beautifully simple. It would be supposed that the sliver lodged there when the bottle broke. If she saw it and removed it, no harm done, try again. If she didn't see it, she would cut herself, and there was the iodine bottle-"

"Nuts!" Larry exploded. "You can't possibly-"

"No?" Wolfe snapped. "Archie, if you please?"

I took it from my pocket and handed it to him, and he displayed it to them between his thumb and forefinger. "Here it is. The identical piece of glass."

They craned their necks. Brady stretched clear out of his chair, demanding, "How in the name of God-"

"Sit down, Dr. Brady. How did I get it? We'll come to that. Those were the preparations. But chance intervened, to make better ones. That very afternoon, on the terrace, a tray of glasses was upset and the pieces flew everywhere. X conceived a brilliant improvisation on the spot. Helping to collect the pieces, he deposited one in Miss Huddleston's slipper, and, entering the house on an errand, as all of you did in connection with that minor catastrophe, he ran upstairs and removed the sliver of glass from the bath brush, and got the bogus bottle of iodine, took it downstairs, and placed it in the cupboard in the living room, removing the genuine one kept there. For an active person half a minute, at most a minute, did for that."