The Doorbell Rang (The Rex Stout Library)

"Well, we thought it possible that you didn't know that the contract is going to be canceled."

"A hundred people know that. What else?"

"Apparently the reason for the cancelation is that the security check on your senior vice-president uncovered certain facts about his personal life. That raises two questions: how accurate are the so-called facts, and do they actually make him or your company a security risk? Is he, and are you, getting a raw deal?"

"What else?"

"That's it. I should think that's enough, Mr Evers. If you don't want to discuss it with me, discuss it with Mr Wolfe himself. If you don't know about his standing and reputation, check on it. He told me to make it clear that if you get any benefit from anything he does he would expect no payment of any kind. He isn't looking for a client; he has one."

He was frowning at me. "I don't get it. The client-is it a newspaper?"

"No."

"A magazine? Time?"

"No." I decided to stretch my instructions a little. "I can only tell you it's a private citizen who thinks the FBI is getting too big for its britches."

"I don't believe it. And I damn well don't like it." He pushed a button on a slab. "Are you FBI?"

I said no and was going on, but the door opened and a woman was there, the one who had led me in, and Evers snapped at her, "See this man out, Miss Bailey. Into the elevator."

I objected. I said that if he discussed it with Nero Wolfe the worst that could happen would be losing his contract, and evidently it was lost anyway, and if there was any chance of saving it- But the look on his face showed me it was no good, as he reached for the slab to push another button. No sale and no hope for one. I got up and walked out, with the woman tagging, and found, out in the ante-room, that it just wasn't my day. As I entered, the elevator door opened and a man came out, and it wasn't a stranger. Working on a case about a year ago I had had dealings with a G-man named Morrison, and there he was. Our eyes met, and then we met. As he offered a hand he spoke. "Well, well. Is Nero Wolfe using electronics now?"

I gave him a friendly grip and a grin. "Oh," I said, "we try to keep up. We're going to bug a certain building on Sixty-ninth Street." I stepped to the elevator and pushed the button. "I'm getting the latest angles."