Plot It Yourself

Wolfe nodded. “But that was before her manuscript had been found and we learned that it had been written by her, not by the person who wrote the others. He may or may not know about that; probably he does. In any case, even if it is likely that she would scorn any inducement we can offer her, he may not think so. He is bold and ruthless, and he is now close to panic. If he thinks her as great a menace as Jane Ogilvy he won’t hesitate. Saul and Fred and Orrie, and Miss Bonner and Miss Corbett, have full instructions. Anyone who approaches Alice Porter is to be suspected. If possible he is to be stopped before he strikes, but of course he can’t be challenged until it is apparent that he intends to strike.”

“Yeah.” I was looking at it. “It’s a problem. Fred or Orrie is there, in broad daylight, and someone drives up to the house and goes in. There’s no decent cover within a hundred yards of the house. He can’t possibly get close enough to see if it’s just a lightning-rod salesman or a friend, without being seen. All he can do is wait until the company goes and then wait for Alice Porter to show, or go to a phone and dial her number and see if she answers. If it’s X, she’s a goner. I admit we’ll have him.”

He grunted. “Can you do better?”

“No, sir. I’m not complaining. What about Kenneth Rennert? If X is in a panic he might do him next.”

“That’s possible, but I doubt it. Rennert may not even know who X is; he may merely have imitated him. He wrote not a story but a play outline, and we haven’t seen it.”

“Okay.” I glanced at the clock: eleven-twenty-three. “I suppose Saul will call when he goes on at midnight, and Orrie will call after he is relieved?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll expect them. What else for me? Have I a program?”

“No.”

“Then I have a suggestion. I don’t like it, but I have it. Across the street from Rennert’s address is a tailor shop with a nice clean window. For five bucks a day the owner would let me use it to look through, with a chair to sit on. After dark I could move across the street, to be closer. I am almost as good as Saul Panzer at remembering faces. When Rennert’s body is discovered and they decide when he was killed, I would know who had been there. If it was someone I recognized, for instance a member of the Joint Committee on Plagiarism, I could even name him. I can start right now. I hate that kind of a job, who doesn’t, but I’ve been sent twice now to see people who were already dead, and that’s enough.”