The Father Hunt

We hadn't wiped a pad. You can't think of everything. I got one from a drawer, and a pencil, and went with them, and he took them, probably because he was uncertain what to do with his tongue and so was glad to have something to do with his hands.

"As you see," Wolfe said, "I have-since you fancy cliches-an embarrassment of riches." His head tilted; I hadn't sat. "Beer, please, Archie?"

"Yes, sir." I took a step and stopped. "Something wet, Mr. Vance?"

He shook his head and said emphatically, "No." I started out, foiled because a glass or bottle is a "best bet, and as I neared the door Ms voice stopped me. "What the hell. Scotch and water. And ice."

Fritz, having been told that he wouldn't be needed, had gone out. In the kitchen I put Wolfe's beer and glass on a tray, and on another tray a wiped glass, a bowl which I wiped before putting icecubes in it, a pitcher which I wiped before putting water in it, and a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black which I also wiped. That took a while and made me miss something. When I got to the office with the trays Vance had used his hands some more and had a cigar lit, so I didn't know if he carried them loose or in a case, or if he had used the matches on the stand. The cigar was a long panatela, nothing like a Gold Label Bonita, but that didn't bother me; if he had left that case in the hit-and-run car it would have been common prudence to switch. After serving the trays I went back to the kitchen for a glass of milk and when I returned to the office Vance had Ms glass in his hand and Wolfe was talking.

"… for I have no intention or desire to make any demand or indictment, and I don't think my client has either. I want only what I have been hired to get, information. I can't name my client, but if my questions reveal her identity to you, that in itself would answer my basic

question. The advertisement plainly implied that the woman once known as Carlotta Vaughn was later known as Elinor Denevo, but if you prefer to tell me nothing about Elinor Denovo we'll restrict it to Carlotta Vaughn. By the way…"

He opened a drawer and took out the two photographs. I had cautioned him not to handle them in a way that would make it obvious that he was taking care not to leave prints-the Police Department files already had samples of his-and he did all right, perfectly normal as he handed them to me and I passed them on to Vance.