Plot It Yourself

“It would take all night to tell you all we’ve gathered.”

“I don’t want it all. Half an hour should do it, maybe less.”

Cramer eyed him. “Forty-eight hours.”

Wolfe’s shoulders went up an eighth of an inch and down again. “I won’t haggle. Very well, forty-eight. First and most important, have you discovered anything that contravenes the theory?”

“No.”

“Have you discovered anything that suggests some other theory?”

“No.”

“Have you discovered anything that supports the theory?”

“Only that the members of that committee verify Goodwin’s statement. That doesn’t prove you were right in the conclusion you made from reading that stuff, and that’s why I want it. The widow knows nothing about it. She says. She also says that Jacobs had no enemies, that there couldn’t have been anybody who had a reason to kill him except maybe one person, and that was a man named Goodwin who came to see him last Thursday. Because Jacobs told her to shut the door on him if he came again. We haven’t asked Goodwin where he was Monday night from nine to eleven.”

“I’m sure he appreciates your forbearance. Mr Stebbins told Mr Goodwin the period was nine to twelve.”

“That was tentative. The stomach contents squeezed it a little. Nine to eleven.”

“Good. Mr Goodwin was here with me. Of course you have learned, or tried to, how many people knew of the plan to allure Jacobs. How many?”

“So far, forty-seven.”

“They have all been spoken with?”

“All but two who are out of town.”

“Do any of them merit attention?”

“They all do as long as we’re on this theory. None of them especially. We haven’t spotted anything that looks like a lead.”

Wolfe grunted. “No wonder you want to confirm my conclusion. What about the routine? Is it still assumed that the body was taken there in a motor car?”

“Yes. Or a helicopter or a wheelbarrow.”

Wolfe grunted again. “I am aware, Mr Cramer, that you are too canny to jump to conclusions. I’ll lump a hundred questions into one. Have you learned anything helpful from inspection of the scene, or examination of the body and clothing, or random inquiries?”

“Yes. That the blade of the knife was an inch wide and at least five inches long, that there was probably no struggle, and that he died between nine and eleven Monday night.”

“Nothing else?”

“Nothing worth mentioning. Nothing to chew on.”