Murder by the Book

I felt that I was fairly safe from exposure. I had of course done nothing actionable, but if it became known that I had informed on my partner in an anonymous letter the effect on my career and reputation would have been disastrous. It was not so much anything O'Malley himself could or might do as the attitude of others, particularly two of my present partners and certain other associates. Actually I would have been a ruined man. But I felt fairly safe. If Dykes was telling the truth, and I believed he was, all copies of the manuscript had been destroyed. He gave me the most solemn assurances that he would never speak of the matter to anyone, but my chief reliance was in the fact that it was to his own self-interest to keep silent. His own future depended on the future welfare of the firm, and if he spoke the firm would certainly be disrupted.

I saw Dykes several times at his room in the evening, and on one of those occasions I did a foolish and thoughtless thing, though at the time it seemed of no consequence. No, that's wrong-this occasion was not at his room but at the office after hours. I had taken from the file the letter of resignation which he had written months previously, and it was on my desk. I asked him, for no special reason that I remember, if the title "Put Not Your Trust" was from Shakespeare, and he said no, that it was in the 3rd verse of the, 146th Psalm, and I scribbled it in a corner of his letter of resignation, "Ps 146-3."

The phone was ringing, but I finished the paragraph before I answered it. It was Louis Kustin. He didn't sound as if his eyes were looking sleepy. He wanted to speak to Wolfe, and I told him he wouldn't be available until eleven o'clock.

"I suppose he's available to you?" he asked curtly.

"Sure, I live here."

"My associates and I are conferring, and I am speaking on their behalf as well as my own. I'm at my office. Tell Wolfe I want to speak to him as soon as possible. Tell him that the suicide of our senior partner is an irreparable blow to us, and if it can be established that Wolfe willfully and maliciously drove him to it he will be held accountable. Tell him that?"

"It'll ruin the day for him."

"I hope to ruin all his days."

The connection went. I wanted to resume my reading but thought I'd better pass it on and buzzed the plant rooms on the house phone. Wolfe answered. I reported the conversation.

"Pfui," he said shortly and hung up. I went back to Cor-rigan.