Too Many Clients

He turned to her. "No retainer is necessary; I have none from Mr. Aiken. Whether I bill you or not, and for what amount, will depend. I wouldn't FR1;Too Many Clients 97 expect a substantial payment from two separate clients for the same services. And I would expect none at all from you if, for instance, I found that you killed your husband yourself." "You wouldn't get any. There was a time when I felt like killing him, but that was long ago when the children were young." She took the original from me and put on her glasses to read it. "This isn't right. When you find out who killed him you tell me and I decide what to do." "Nonsense. The People of the State of New York will decide what to do. In the process of identifying him to my satisfaction and yours I will inevitably get evidence, and I can't suppress it. Archie, give her a pen." "I'm not going to sign it. I promised my husband I would never sign anything without showing it to him." A corner ofWolfe's mouth went up--his version of a smile. He was always pleased to get support for his theory that no woman was capable of what he called rational sequence. "Then," he asked, "shall I rewrite it, for me to sign? Committing me to my part of the arrangement?" "No." She handed me the papers, the one Aiken had signed and the one she hadn't. "It doesn't do any good to sign things. What counts is what you do, not what you sign. How much do you want as a retainer?" He had just said he didn't want one. Now he said. "One dollar." Apparently that struck her as about right. She opened her bag, put the checkfold in it, took out a purse, got a dollar bill from it, and left the chair to �ri i'-'.'aft.iKs, '^ '. .y;r.?; ^ .^ .a/yf^o ;h^ ^^^'^''y-h- ^?i.f.Arr1.;,. . ll^i^^^^^'"^^.^^^ ^'"�^;;