If Death Ever Slept

That took a little doing. Nora Kent answered and said he was on another phone, long distance, and also someone was with him, and I told her to have him call Wolfe for a private conversation as soon as possible. While we waited Wolfe looked around for something to take his mind off his misery, settled on the big globe, and got up and walked over to it. Presumably he was picking a spot to head for, some remote island or one of the poles, if he decided to lam. When the phone rang and I told him it was Jarrell he took his time getting to it.

“Mr. Jarrell? I have in my hand a letter which Mr. Goodwin has just typed, dictated by me, which I intended to send you at once by messenger, but on second thought I’m going to read it to you first. Here it is.”

He read it. My notes were in the wastebasket, but my memory is good too, and not a word was changed. It was just as he had dictated it. He even finished the last sentence, which he had left hanging: ‘“In the unlikely event that you wish me to continue to act for you, let me know at once. Sincerely.’ That’s the letter. It occurs to me-”

“You can’t do that! What’s the circumstance?”

“No, sir. As I said in the letter, I’m not at liberty to reveal it, at least not in a letter, and certainly not on the telephone. But it occurs-”

“Get this straight, Wolfe. If you give anybody information about my private affairs that you got working for me in a confidential capacity, you’ll be sorry for it as long as you live!”

“I’m already sorry. I’m sorry I ever saw you, Mr. Jarrell. Let me finish, please. It occurs to me that there is a chance, however slim, that a reason can be found for ignoring the circumstance. I doubt it, but I’m willing to try. When I dictated the letter I intended to ask Mr. Cramer to visit me here at six o’clock, three hours from now. I’ll postpone it on one condition, that you come at that hour and bring with you everyone who was here on Friday-except Mr. Brigham, who is dead-with the-”

“What for? What good will that do?”

“If you’ll let me finish. With the understanding that you stay, all of you, until I am ready to adjourn, and that I will insist on answers to any questions I ask. I can’t compel answers, but I can insist, and I may learn more from refusals to answer than from the answers I get. That’s the condition. Will you come?”

“What do you want to ask about? They have already told you they didn’t take my gun!”