The Doorbell Rang (The Rex Stout Library)

Wolfe nodded. "A natural reaction. Let's make an assumption. Let us assume, merely for discussion, that you are in fact agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Then you have a valid complaint, but not against me; against your colleagues who were gulled into thinking that this house was empty. You have nothing to apologize for."

He cleared his throat. "Now. Still on the assumption. I am going to keep your credentials as hostages. You can recover them, or your bureau can, only by an action at law which would disclose publicly how they got here, and I would of course have a counter action, since you entered my house illegally and were caught flagrante delicto, and I have four witnesses. I doubt if your superiors would want to pay the price. So the initiative is mine. You may go. All I wanted, still on the assumption, was incontestable evidence that members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation have committed a felony and can be prosecuted, and I have it here in my drawer. By the way, I haven't mentioned the gloves you're wearing. Of course we have all noticed them. That will be a corroborative detail if and when this gets to a courtroom. You may go, gentlemen."

"Goddamn you." Handsome. "It will be a federal courtroom. Those credentials are the property of federal officers."

"They may be. Even if they are I have a defense. Abandoning the assumption, I find it difficult to believe that federal officers of the law would enter my house illegally, and obviously I am justified in keeping the credentials until and unless their genuineness is established."

"How are you going to establish it?"

"I'll see. I shall await events. If they're genuine I might be paid a call by one of your superiors-even Mr Wragg."

"You fat sonofabitch," Skinny said. He seemed limited when under stress.

"Actually," Wolfe said, "I am being lenient. You forced entry into my house, and for all I know you are impersonating officers of the law. Two felonies. If you are armed we should take your weapons and also the tools you brought to open my door-and, no doubt, to open doors and drawers in this office. And the gloves you're wearing. I advise you to leave without delay. These four men are not fond either of burglars or of the FBI, and they would enjoy humiliating you. Confound it, go!"