In the Best Families

“Yes. She paused. Her mouth worked. “I think I do. Provided it can be done safely-I mean, without anyone knowing about it. Her mouth worked some more. “I am bitterly ashamed-having at my age, for the first time in my life-having to go to a private detective with my personal affairs.

“Then you shouldn't have come, Leeds said mildly.

“Then you have come too soon, Wolfe told her.

“Too soon? Why?

“You should have waited until it became so urgent or so intolerable that it would cause you no shame to ask for help, especially from one as expensive as me. He shook his head. “Too soon. Come back if and when you must.

“Hear that, Sarah? Leeds asked, but not rubbing it in.

Ignoring him, she leaned forward and blurted at Wolfe, “No, I'm here now. I have to know! I have to know about my husband!

Wolfe's head jerked around to me, to give me a look intended to scorch. But I met his eyes and told him emphatically, “No, sir. If it is, she fibbed. I told her we wouldn't touch divorce or separation evidence, and she said it wasn't.

He left me and demanded, “Do you want your husband followed?

“I-I don't know. I don't think so-

“Do you suspect him of infidelity?

“No! I don't!

Wolfe grunted, leaned back in his chair, squirmed to get comfortable, and muttered, “Tell me about it.

Mrs Rackham's jaw started to quiver. She looked at Leeds. His brows went up, and he shook his head, not as a negative apparently, but merely leaving it to her.

Wolfe let out a grunt. She moved her eyes to him and said plaintively, “I'm neurotic.

“I am not, Wolfe snapped, “a psychiatrist. I doubt if-

She cut him off. “I've been neurotic as long as I can remember. I had no brother or sister and my mother died when I was three, and my father didn't enjoy my company because I was ugly. When he died-I was twenty then-I cried all during the funeral service, not because he was dead but because I knew he wouldn't have wanted me so close to him all that time-in the church and driving to the cemetery and there at the grave.

Her jaw started to quiver again, but she clamped it and got control. “I'm telling you this because it's no secret anyway, and I want you to understand why

I must have help. I have never been sure exactly why my first husband married me, because he had money of his own and didn't really need mine, but it wasn't long until he hated looking at me just as my father had. So I-

“That isn't true, Sarah, Calvin Leeds objected. “You imagined-