Black Orchids

"Then the police will be doubly suspicious. They will suspect that you were after him for his aunt's money. And speaking of money, some of you must know that Miss Huddleston's brother was getting money from her and dissatisfied with what he got. Yet you refuse to tell me-"

"I wasn't dissatisfied," Daniel broke in. His face flushed and his voice rose. "You have no right to make insinuations-"

"I'm not making insinuations." Wolfe was crisp. "I am showing you the sort of thing the police will get their teeth into. They are quite capable of supposing you were blackmailing your sister-"

"Blackmail!" Daniel squealed indignantly. "She gave it to me for research-"

"Research!" his nephew blurted with a sneer. "Research! The Elixir of Life! Step right up, gents…"

Daniel sprang to his feet, and for a second I thought his intention was to commit mayhem on Larry, but it seemed he merely was arising to make a speech.

"That," he said, his jaw quivering with anger, "is a downright lie! My motivation and my methods are both strictly scientific. Elixir of Life is a romantic and inadmissible conception. The proper scientific term is 'catholicon.' My sister agreed with me, and being a woman of imagination and insight, for years she generously financed-"

"Catholicon!" Wolfe was staring at him incredulously. "And I said you were capable of using your brains!"

"I assure you, sir-"

"Don't try. Sit down." Wolfe was disgusted. "I don't care if you wasted your sister's money, but there are some things you people know that I do care about, and you are foolish not to tell me." He wiggled a finger at Brady. "You, doctor, should be ashamed of yourself. You ought to know better. It is idiotic to withhold facts which are bound to be uncovered sooner or later. You said you had nothing to tell me with any bearing on any aspect of this business. What about the box of stable refuse you procured for the stated purpose of extracting tetanus germs from it?"

Daniel made a noise and turned his head to fix Brady with a stare. Brady was taken aback, but not as much as might have been expected. He regarded Wolfe a moment and then said quietly, "I admit I should have told you that."

"Is that all you have to say about it? Why didn't you tell the police when they first started to investigate?"

"Because I thought there was nothing to investigate. I continued to think so until this morning, when you phoned me. It would have served no useful purpose-"

"What did you do with that stuff?"