The Father Hunt

A cop inside the house is a very different problem from one outside. Once he's inside legally, and I had opened the door, about all you can do is sit down and write a letter to the Supreme Court. Even if I could beat them to the plant rooms, and I couldn't, since the elevator was up there, what good would it do? I went to the kitchen to tell Fritz what had happened and that I was going up to join the party, and then took my time mounting the three flights.

To go through those three rooms, the cool, the moderate, and the warm, down the aisles between the benches, without being stopped by a color or a shape that you didn't know existed, your mind must be fully occupied with something else. That time mine was. In the middle room I could already hear a voice, and when I opened the door to the warm room I could name it. Cramer. I walked the aisle and opened the door to the potting room, and there they were. Wolfe, in a yellow smock, was on his stool at the big bench. Theodore was standing over by the pot racks. Stebbins was off to the right. Cramer, in the center of the room, had his felt hat off and in his hand, I don't know why. Facing Wolfe, he was telling him, louder than necessary, "… and hold you as material witnesses until we get warrants and then, by God, you go to a cell. All right, talk or move."

Wolfe stayed on the stool. His eyes came to me. "Any complaint, Archie?"

"Only their bad manners. Next time they'll talk through a crack."

His eyes moved. "Mr. Cramer. As I said, I will not talk business in this room. Not a word. If you'll wait in my office I'll be down at eleven o'clock. If you put hands on me, and Mr. Goodwin, and take us elsewhere, we'll stand mute and communicate with our lawyer. When he comes we'll confer with him privately, and the afternoon paper, the Gazette, and tomorrow morning's papers, will publish the news that Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin have discovered the identity of the murderer of Elinor Denovo and have delivered satisfactory evidence to the police. Also, that in recognition of that public service they have been arrested and are behind bars, and their lawyer is arranging to secure their release on bail. Archie, here,

please. This Miltonia charlesworthi germination card has conflicting entries. We'll have to check it."

I went and took the card and scowled at it.