The Second Confesion

Madeline was concentrating hard. She had a question. “What did you stay here all evening for?” “A good question, Miss Sperling, but my conduct can be left to me. I refused to leave here without the money or a firm commitment on it.” “What about Gwenn's phoning Louis to come up here?” Wolfe looked at Gwenn. “What did you tell him?” “This is awful,” Gwenn whispered. She was gazing at Wolfe as if she couldn't believe he was there. She repeated aloud, “This is awful!” Wolfe nodded. “No one will contradict you on that. Do you remember what you said to him?” “Of course I do. I just told him I had to see him, and he said he had some appointments and the first train he could make was the one that leaves Grand Central at eight-twenty. It gets to Chappaqua at nine twenty-three.” “You told him nothing of what had happened?” “No,-I didn't intend to, I was just going to tell him I had decided to call it off.” “Then that's what you'll tell the police.” Wolfe returned to Madeline. “You have an orderly mind, Miss Sperling, and you want to get this all neatly arranged. It can't be done that way; there's too much of it. The one vital point, for all of you, is that the conversation in the library consisted exclusively of our argument about paying for the damage to my plant rooms. Except for that, you will all adhere strictly to fact. If you try anything else you're sunk. You probably are anyway, if a strong suspicion is aroused that one of you deliberately murdered Mr Rony, and if one of the questioners happens to be a first-rate man, but that's unlikely and we'll have to chance it.” “I've always been a very poor liar,” Mrs Sperling said forlornly.

“Damn it,” Sperling said, not offensively. “Go up and go to bed!” “An excellent idea,” Wolfe assented. “Do that, madam.” He turned to Sperling.

“Now, if you will-” The Chairman of the Board went to the telephone.

CHAPTER Ten