The Rubber Band

"But he had an unpleasant surprise here. He was sitting in that chair, the one he is in now, when a man walked into the room and said, 'My name's Harlan Scovil.' And the man stared at Mr. Perry. We cannot know whether he definitely recognized him as Rubber Coleman or whether Mr. Perry merely suspected that he did. In any event, it was enough to convince Mr. Perry that something more drastic than a framed-up larceny charge was called for without delay; for obviously it would not do for any living person to have even the remotest suspicion that there was any connection between Anthony D. Perry, corporation president, bank director, multi-millionaire, and eminent citizen, and the Rubber Band. Lord Clivers tells me that forty years ago Rubber Coleman was headstrong, sharp of purpose, and quick on the trigger. Apparently he has retained those characteristics. He went to his office and at once phoned Mr. Goodwin to come there. At five-twenty he went to the directors' room. A moment later he excused himself to his associates, left by the door to the public hall, descended to the ground floor and telephoned Harlan Scovil, saying what we can only guess at but certainly arranging a rendezvous, went to the street and selected a parked automobile and took it, drove to where Scovil was approaching the rendezvous and shot him dead, abandoned the car on Ninth Avenue, and returned to the Seaboard Building and the directors' room. It was an action admirably quick-witted, direct and conclusive, with probably not one chance in a million of it's being discovered but for the fact that Miss Fox had happened to pick me to collect a fantastic debt for her."

Wolfe paused to open and pour beer. Skinner said, "I hope you've got something, Wolfe. I hope to heaven you've got something, because if you haven't…"