Final Deduction

"Wait a minute, Althea," Frost commanded her. "I must speak with you privately. This is dangerous business, extremely dangerous. You should have told me Monday when you got that note. As your counselor, I instruct you to say nothing more to anyone until you have talked with me. And I don't- Where are you going?"

She had left the couch and was heading for the door. She said over her shoulder, "I'll be back," and kept going, on out. Jimmy moved. He went halfway to the door, stopped and stood, his back to us, and then came back to the fireplace. Ralph Purcell, Mrs Vail's brother, said something to Frost and got no response. I had never seen Purcell and knew next to nothing of him, either hearsay or personal knowledge. Around fifty, take a couple of years either way, with not much hair left and a face as round as his sister's, he had a habit I had noticed: when someone started to say something he looked at someone else. If he was after an effect he got it; it made you want to say something to him and see if you could keep his eye.

Noel Tedder, who was leaning against George Washington, asked me, "What's this about suspecting her? Suspecting her of what?" The lawyer shook his head at him, and Margot said, "What's the difference now? She's dead." Purcell was looking at me, and I was deciding what to say to him and try to hold his eye when Mrs Vail came in. She had an envelope in her hand. She came back to the couch, sat on the edge, and took papers from the envelope. Frost demanded, "What have you got there? Althea, I absolutely insist-"

"I don't care what you insist," she told him. "You're a good lawyer, Andy, Harold thought so and so do I, and I trust your advice on things you know about, you know I do, but this is different. I told you about it because you could tell me about the legal part of it, but now I don't need just legal advice, now that I know Dinah was killed there on Iron Mine Road. I think I need something more than legal advice, I think I need Nero Wolfe." She turned to me. "Would he come here? He wouldn't, would he?"

I shook my head. "He never leaves the house on business. If you want to see him he'll be available at six-"

"No. I don't feel like-no. I can tell you. Can't I?"

"Certainly." I got my notebook and pen from a pocket, went to a chair near the end of the couch, and sat.

She looked around. "I want you to hear it, all of you. You all knew Dinah. I'm sure you all thought of her as highly as I did-I don't mean you all liked her, that's not it, but you thought she was very competent and completely reliable. But apparently she-but wait till you hear it." She fingered in the papers, extracted one, handed it to me, and looked around again. "I've told you about the note I got Monday morning, saying they had Jimmy and I would get a phone call from Mr Knapp. Nero Wolfe has it. And I've told you, haven't I-yes, I did-that when the phone call came Monday afternoon Dinah listened in and took it down. Later she typed it from her notes, and that's it. Read it aloud, Mr Goodwin."

A glance had shown me that the typing was the same as the note, the same faint letters, but on a better grade of paper and a different size, 8« by 11. I read it to them:

MRS VAIL: This is Althea Vail. Are you-

KNAPP: I'm Mr Knapp. Did you get the note?

MRS VAIL: Yes. This morning. Yes.

KNAPP: Is anyone else on the wire?

MRS VAIL: No. Of course not. The note said-

KNAPP: Keep it strictly to yourself. You had better if you want to see your Jimmy again. Have you got the money?

MRS VAIL: No, how could I? I only got the note-

KNAPP: Get it. You've got until tomorrow. Get it and put it in a suitcase. Five hundred thousand dollars in used bills, nothing bigger than a hundred. You understand that?

MRS VAIL: Yes, I understand. But where is my husband? Is he-

KNAPP: He's perfectly all right. Safe and sound, not a scratch on him. That's absolutely straight, Mrs Vail. If you play it straight, you can count on us. Now listen. I don't want to talk long. Get the money and put it in a suitcase. Tomorrow evening, Tuesday, put the suitcase in the trunk of your blue sedan, and don't forget to make sure the trunk's locked. Take the Merritt Parkway. Leave it at the Westport exit, Route 33. You know Route 33?

MRS VAIL: Yes.

KNAPP: Do you know where Fowler's Inn is?

MRS VAIL: Yes.

KNAPP: Go to Fowler's Inn. Get there at ten o'clock tomorrow evening. Don't get there much before ten, and not any later than five after ten. Take a table on the left side and order a drink. You'll get a message. Understand?

MRS VAIL: Yes. What kind of a message? How will I know-

KNAPP: You'll know. You're sure you understand?

MRS VAIL: Yes. Fowler's Inn at ten o'clock tomorrow evening. But when-

KNAPP: Just do as you're told. That's all.

I looked up. "That's all."

"But my God, Mom," Noel Tedder blurted, "if you had told me!"

"Or me," Andrew Frost said grimly.