Death of a Doxy (Crime Line)

"Yes and no," I said. "A job for someone, yes. A customer who can be properly billed, no. You heard me mention Orrie's name, so you might as well know that he's in a hole and we're going to pull him out. How do you say in French 'the brotherhood of man'?"

"There is no such thing in French. So that's what your personal errand was Saturday. I'm glad it's Orrie instead of Saul or Fred, but all the same -"

The phone rang. I got it. "Nero Wolfe's office -"

"Jill Hardy again, Mr. Goodwin. I've fixed it. I'll be there in about an hour."

"Good for you. Do you mind giving me your address and phone number? Just to have."

She didn't mind. The address was 217 Nutmeg Street, in the Village. When I had finished the coffee and went to the office, I wrote it on a slip of paper, and the phone number, and considered a problem: should it go in Orrie's folder? Deciding against it, I got out a new folder and marked it Cather, Orrie, client. In ten minutes Wolfe would be taking the elevator for his morning session, nine to eleven, with the orchids, and I buzzed his room on the house phone. He took his time to answer.

"Yes?"

"Good morning. I thought you would want to know that it's possible that Jill Hardy will still be here when you come down. She'll arrive in about an hour, probably less."

"You have already found her?"

"Oh, sure. It's easy when you know how."

"Swagger," he said, and hung up.

As I dusted desks and chairs, removed yesterday's sheets from the desk calendars, changed the water in the vase on Wolfe's desk, and opened the mail, I decided that Jill Hardy would be tall and stiff with quick, sharp eyes, the sergeant type, but the corners of her eyes would slant up a little because some Oriental had got mixed in somewhere along the line. It would have taken something unusual like that to hook Orrie so hard, but there was another reason why she had to be like that. Since we had ruled Orrie out, the sooner we found a replacement for him the better, and of course Jill Hardy was a candidate, and it would simplify it if she looked the part.