Over My Dead Body

When Fritz left I followed him, to hang my coat in the hall and shoot the bolt on the front door. As I returned I flipped the light switch, and in a moment Fritz returned with the required articles on a tray. Wolfe told him to stand by and then attacked the loaf of bread with the knife, which, of course, was like a razor, as Fritz's knives always were. He described a circle four inches in diameter in the centre of the loaf, and then dug in, excavating a neat round hole clear to the bottom crust, but leaving the crust intact. Next he picked up the col de mort with the tips of his fingers, placed it on the palm of the glove, rolled the glove up tight, wrapped it in some waxed paper, and stuffed it into the hole in the loaf. He filled the extra space with wads of paper, and spread a sheet of paper smoothly over the top. With his swift and dexterous fingers, the entire operation consumed not over three minutes.

He told Fritz, "Make a chocolate icing, at once, and cover this well. Put it in the refrigerator. Dispose of the bread scraps."

"Yes, sir." Fritz picked up the tray and departed.

I said sarcastically, "Bravo! It's wonderful how your mind works. If that had been me I would just have gone up and chucked it in my bureau drawer. Of course, it's more picturesque to disguise it as a cake, but it's an awful waste of chocolate, and who do you think is going to come looking for it? Do you think I'd have brought it here if anyone had any suspicion that I had it?"

"I don't know. But someone knows that you had it, and that you brought it away-the person who put it there. Who had an opportunity to do that?"

"Everybody. They were all there in the office. While I was on guard at the street door."

"When you removed the coat from the rack and started off with it, were you looking at people's faces?"

"No, I was being nonchalant. There were two cops there and I had to get out of the room with it."

"You say Miss Tormic was supposed to be fencing with Mr Ludlow. Why supposed? Isn't it known whether she was or not?"

"It may be known, but not by me. I was down in the office with Mr and Mrs Miltan when the porter found the body and started a squawk. After that I had no chance to talk with Miss Tormic or anybody else."

The telephone rang. I plugged in the kitchen extension and we heard faintly Fritz's voice taking the call.

Wolfe leaned back and sighed. "Very well," he muttered. "Tell me about it. From the moment you got there until you left. No omissions."

I did so.

Chapter Five