The Rubber Band

PERRY glanced at me as 1 got into my chair and opened my notebook. He was saying, "I don't remember that anything ever irritated me more. I suppose I'm getting old. You mustn't think I bear any ill will; if you preferred to represent Miss Fox, that was your right. But you must admit I played your hand for you; so far as I know there wasn't the faintest shred of evidence with which you could have enforced your threat." He smiled. "You think, of course, that my personal- er- respect for Miss Fox influenced my attitude and caused me to bring pressure on Muir. I confess that had a great deal to do with it. She is a charming young lady and also an extremely competent employee."

Wolfe nodded. "And my client. Naturally, I was pleased to leam that the charge had been dropped."

"You say you heard it from the police? I hoped I was bringing the good news myself."

"I got it from Inspector Cramer." Wolfe had got his beer. He poured some, and resumed, "Mr. Cramer told me that he had been advised of it by a Mr. Frisbie, an Assistant District Attorney. It appears that Mr. Frisbie is a friend of Mr. Muir."

"Yes. I am acquainted with Frisbie. I know Skinner, the District Attorney, quite well." Perry coughed, watched Wolfe empty his glass, and resumed, "So I'm not the bearer of glad tidings. But," he smiled, "that wasn't the chief purpose of my call."

"Well, sir?"

"Well… I think you owe me something. Look at it this way. By threatening me with a procedure which would have meant most distasteful publicity for my corporation, you forced me to exert my authority and compel Muir to drop his charge. Muir isn't an employee; he is the highest officer of the corporation after myself and he owns a fair proportion of the stock. It wasn't easy." Perry leaned forward and got crisper. "I surrendered to you. Now I have a right to know what I surrendered to. The only possible interpretation of your threat was that Miss Fox had been framed, and you wouldn't have dared to make such a threat unless you had some sort of evidence for it." He sat back and finished softly, "I want to know what that evidence is."

"But, Mr. Perry." Wolfe wiggled a finger. "Miss Fox is my client. You're not."

"Ah." Perry smiled. "You want to be paid for it? I'll pay a reasonable amount."

"Whatever information I have gathered in the interest of Miss Fox is not for sale to others."