Before Midnight

"Thank you for your forbearance," Wolfe said drily. "But why must the meeting be called off?"

"Because it can't do any good and may do harm. What good can it do?"

Wolfe's eyes were still half closed. "It can help me to earn a fee. I accepted Mr. Hansen's definition of my job: 'to find out who took the wallet and got the paper.' It remains to be performed."

"It doesn't have to be performed, not now, since the contest problem is solved. You've earned your fee and you'll get it."

"You've admitted, Mr. Assa, that you're speaking only for yourself."

The red tip of his tongue showed again, flicking his lips. "I'll guarantee the fee," he said.

Wolfe shook his head. "I'm afraid that's not acceptable. My responsibility is to my client, and his reciprocal responsibility, to pay me, is not transferable. As for canceling the meeting, that's out of the question. If such a request came unanimously from Messrs. Buff, O'Garro, Hansen, Heery--and you, and cogent reasons were given, I might consider it, but would probably refuse. As it is,--I won't even consider it."

Assa looked at me. He glanced at the refreshment table, came back to me, and said, "There's a bottle of Pernod there. That's my drink. Could I have some?"

I said certainly and asked if he wanted ice, and he said no. I took him the Pernod and an Old-Fashioned glass, and he poured two fingers as plump as his own, and darned if he didn't toss it off as if it were a jigger of bourbon. I'm not a Pernod drinker, but there is such a thing as common sense. Not only that, he poured again, this time only one finger, and then, without taking a sip, put the glass down on the little table at his elbow, beside the bottle.

He swallowed a couple of times for a chaser. "That's a highhanded attitude, Mr. Wolfe," he said. He paused to collect more words. "Frankly, I don't see what you expect to accomplish. You'll get your fee, and from our standpoint, as far as the contest is concerned, it no longer matters who got the wallet. Of course it may still be a factor in the murder, but you weren't hired to investigate the murder. That's up to the police. Why do you insist on this meeting?"

"To finish my job. What I engaged to do."