The Doorbell Rang (The Rex Stout Library)

"By inference, yes. The police and the District Attorney know that Morris Althaus had been collecting material for an article about the FBI, but they found no such material in his apartment. Mr Yarmack. I believe you were involved in that project?"

Vincent Yarmack was more my idea of a senior editor than Timothy Quayle-round sloping shoulders, tight little mouth, and eyes so pale you had to guess they were there behind the black-rimmed cheaters.

"I was," he said in a voice that was close to a squeak.

"And Mr Althaus had collected material?"

"Certainly."

"Had he turned it over to you, or was it in his possession?"

"I thought it was in his possession. But I have been told by the police that there was nothing about the FBI in his apartment."

"Didn't you draw an inference from that?"

"Well… one inference was obvious, that someone had taken it. It wasn't likely that Morris had put it somewhere else."

"Mrs Althaus told Mr Goodwin this afternoon that you suspected it was the FBI. Is that correct?"

Yarmack turned his head for a glance at Mrs Althaus, and back to Wolfe. "I may have given her that impression in a private conversation. This conversation isn't very private, according to you."

Wolfe grunted. "I said the eavesdropping is possible but not verified. If you drew that inference, certainly the police would." His eyes moved. "Wouldn't they, Mr Fromm?"

The lawyer nodded. "Presumably. But that doesn't warrant a conclusion that they are obstructing justice."

"A conclusion, no. A surmise, yes. If not obstruction, at least nonfeasance. As a member of the bar, you are aware of the tenacity of the police and the District Attorney in an unsolved murder case. If they-"

"I don't practice criminal law."

"Pfui. Surely you are aware of what every child knows. If they were not satisfied with the assumption that the FBI is responsible for the disappearance of that material and therefore was probably involved in the murder, they would certainly he exploring other possibilities-for instance, Mr Yarmack. Are they, Mr Yarmack? Are they harassing you?"

The editor stared. "Harassing me? What about?"

"The possibility that you killed Morris Althaus and took that material. Don't erupt. Many murders have prompted less plausible theories. He told you of a discovery he had made and evidence he had obtained which, perhaps unknown to him, was in some way a mortal threat to you, and you removed him and the evidence. An excellent theory. Surely-"

"Tommyrot. Absolute tommyrot."