The Father Hunt

"Cramer: 'Yeah. I doubt if there's a man on earth as good at fielding questions as you are. So I'll ask another one. Saturday the nineteenth, a week ago, Goodwin rang Sergeant Stebbins and asked him about a hit-and-run three months ago that killed a woman named Elinor Denovo. Some crap about you and him discussing crime. Last Monday morning, I came and asked Goodwin why he had called Stebbins. He said he knew nothing about that hit-and-run except what he had read in the papers, and neither did you, and you hadn't been consulted about it, and your only client was a girl who wanted to find her father. I want the name of that girl. I wish Goodwin was here. Where is he?'

"Wolfe: 'Absent. Mr. Cramer. You may query me in that tone only when your questions are justified by your official function.'

"Cramer: 'Okay, I'll ask one that is justified. If you haven't been consulted about that hit-and-run why do you offer to pay five hundred dollars for information about Elinor Denovo? That also justifies my question about the girl-and about Goodwin. He told me a goddam lie.'

"Wolfe: 'No. I can repeat now what he told you a week ago, and I do, and it is true. I-' "

He broke off and demanded, "How the devil did he know that advertisement was mine?"

I turned my palms up. "Someone on some newspaper did a favor for some cop. If I find out who, you can write a letter to the publisher."

"Pah. To resume:

"Wolfe: '… and it is true. I am not investigating that hit-and-run. My client's concern with Elinor Denovo relates not to her death but to her life. You should have inferred that from the advertisement; it asks for information, not about her last day or even her last year, but about many years ago. The information-'

"Cramer: 'Who is Carlotta Vaughn?'

"Wolfe: 'You're not in good form, Mr. Cramer. The advertisement makes it obvious that Carlotta Vaughn is, or was, Elinor Denovo. The information my client has given me is confidential and has no bearing on the hit-and-run.'

"Cramer: 'You don't know that. When I'm investigating a homicide / decide what has a bearing and what hasn't.'

"Wolfe: 'Must we repeat ourselves? Must I remind you again that until events answer that question conclusively my judgment, for which I alone am responsible, need not bow to yours-nor yours to mine? Am I withholding information from an officer of the law? Yes. Is it pertinent to his investigation of a crime? No. You have never made me change that no to a yes. Do that and you'll have me.'