Plot It Yourself

Wolfe shook his head. “Mr Imhof used the right word for you. Miss Wynn. ‘Incredible.’ Apparently you have performed prodigies of sagacity and finesse without knowing it. Not surely by inadvertence; it must be that your singular faculties operate below the level of consciousness-or above it. Perhaps the psychologists should add a new term, superconscious. When Miss Porter came to your apartment on Friday afternoon did she tell you that she had been followed?”

“No. But I was afraid that maybe she had been.”

“That makes it even better. Brilliant. So you telephoned Mr Imhof and told him Miss Porter was there with an offer to settle her claim, and asked his advice. You don’t call that brilliant?”

“Of course not.” She meant it. “It was just common sense.”

Wolfe shook his head again. “You are beyond me. Added to your other achievements, you committed three murders in an emergency with such resourcefulness and dexterity that a highly skilled police force is completely at sea. I offer a suggestion. I suggest that you request the District Attorney to arrange for your brain to be turned over to competent scientists. I shall myself suggest it to Mr Cramer of the police. Will you do that?”

A sound came from Cora Ballard, half gasp and half moan. It was the first sound from any of them except Imhof since Dol Bonner had reported. No one looked at her. No one was looking at anyone but Amy Wynn.

“You’re just being polite,” Amy Wynn said. “If I had any brains this wouldn’t be happening. It’s crazy to say I didn’t make any mistakes.”

“You made one,” Wolfe said. “Only one of any consequence. You shouldn’t have allowed the committee to hire me. I don’t know how you could have managed it, but I don’t know how you have managed any of your miracles, and you don’t either. If it had occurred to you, you would have done it somehow. I am not crowing; I merely say that it is unlikely that anyone else would have hit upon the combination of maneuvers by which you have been exposed. You wanted to talk. Have you anything else to say?”

Her nose twitched. “You have never shaken hands with me.”

“I rarely shake hands with anyone. I beg you not to offer yours.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t expect you to now.” She stood up. “No, there’s nothing else. I had some things to do before I-I have some things to do.” She was moving.