The Second Confesion

Instead of swallowing his drink, Mr Rony poured it into the ice bucket. I am still giving reasons why I assumed that he was not killed by accident, and that's one of them: his drink had been drugged and he either knew it or suspected it. Mr Goodwin was mortified, and he is not one to take mortification lightly; also he wanted to see the object. The next day, Sunday, he arranged to have Mr Rony return to New York in his car, and he also arranged for a man and woman-both of them have often worked for me-to waylay them and blackjack Mr Rony.” That got a reaction from practically everybody. The loudest, from Purley Stebbins, reached me through the others from twenty feet off. “Jeez! Can you beat him?” Wolfe sat and let them react. In a moment he put up a hand.

That's a felony, I know, Mr Archer. You can decide what to do about it at your leisure, when it's all over. Your decision may be influenced by the fact that if it hadn't been committed the killer of Mr Rony wouldn't have been caught.” He took in the audience, now quiet again. “All they took from him was the money in his wallet. That was necessary in order to validate it as a hold-up-and by the way, the money was spent in my investigation of his death, which I think he would regard as fitting. But Mr Goodwin did something else. He found on Mr Rony the object he had been guarding, and took some photographs of it, not taking the object itself. It was a membership card, in the name of William Reynolds, in the American Communist Party.” Then I was right!” Sperling was so excited and triumphant that he yelled it. “I was right all the time!” He glared indignantly, sputtering, “Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't-” “You were as wrong,” Wolfe said rudely, “as a man can be. You may be a good business man, Mr Sperling, but you had better leave the exposure of disguised Communists to competent persons. It's a task for which you are disqualified by mental astigmatism.” “But,” Sperling insisted, “you admit he had a membership card-” “I don't admit it, I announce it. But it would have been witless to assume that William Reynolds was necessarily Louis Rony. In fact, I had knowledge of Rony that made it unlikely. Anyway, we have the testimony of three persons that the card was in his possession-you'll find that a help in the courtroom, Mr Archer.