The Rubber Band

WOLFE and the inspector exchanged greetings. Cramer sat down and got out a cigar and bit off the end, and held a match to it. Wolfe got a hand up and pinched his nostrils between a thumb and a forefinger to warn the membranes of the assault that was coming. I was in my chair with my notebook on my knee, not bothering to camouflage.

Cramer said, "You know, you're a slick son-of-a-gun. Do you know what I was trying to decide on my way over here?"

Wolfe shook his head. "I couldn't guess."

"I bet you couldn't. I decided it was a toss-up. Whether you've got that Fox woman here and you're playing for time or waiting for daylight to spring something, or whether you've sent her away for her health and you're kidding us to make us think she's here so we won't start nosing for her trail. For instance, I don't suppose it could have been this Goodwin here that phoned my office at half past eleven?"

"I shouldn't think so. Did you, Archie?"

"No, sir. On my honor I didn't."

"Okay." Cramer got smoke in his windpipe and coughed it out. "I know there's no use trying to play poker with you, Wolfe. I quit that years ago. I've come to lay some cards on the table and ask you to do the same. In fact, the Commissioner says we're not asking, we're demanding. We're taking no chances-"

"The Police Commissioner? Mr. Hombert?" Wolfe's brows were up.

"Right. He was in my office when I phoned you. I told you, this is more important than you think it is. You've stepped into something."

"You don't say so." Wolfe sighed. "I was sure to, sooner or later."

"Oh, I'm not trying to impress you. I've quit that too. I'm just telling you. As I told the Commissioner, you're tricky and you're hard to get ahead of, but I've never known you to slip in the mud. By and large, and of course making allowances, you've always been a good citizen."

"Thank you. Let us go on from there."