Three For The Chair (12 page)

'Excellent,' Wolfe declared. 'I'm ready, and it shouldn't take long. But not privately. If I am to disclose the murderer of Mr. Leeson, as I now intend, it must be in the presence of everyone concerned. If you'll please have them gathered here?'

They goggled at him. The sheriff said something. Colvin's specs slipped to the tip of his nose, but he ignored them.

Jessel was confronting Wolfe. 'Will you repeat that, please?'

'It was clear, I thought. I am prepared to identify the murderer. I will do so only in the presence of the others. I will say nothing whatever, answer no questions, except with them present. And when they are here, all of them, and of course you gentlemen too, I must first speak to the Secretary of State on the telephone. If he is not in Washington he must be located. I assure you, gentlemen, it is useless to start barking at me or haul me off somewhere; I'll be mute. There is no acceptable way to proceed other than the one I suggested.'

The sheriff and the DA looked at each other. Jessel looked at Wolfe. 'I've met you once before, Mr. Wolfe. You've probably forgotten.'

'No, sir, I haven't.'

'And I know your record, of course. You say you can identify the murderer. With evidence?'

'To convict, no. To indict, yes. To convince all who hear me, including you, beyond question.'

'What's this about the Secretary of State?'

'I must begin by speaking to him. The reason will be apparent when you hear me.'

'All right. We can reach him. But I have a must too. I must first hear from you privately what you're going to say.'

'No, sir.' Wolfe's tone was final. 'Not a word.'

'Why not?'

'Because I have a score to pay, and if I told you first you might somehow interfere with the payment.' Wolfe turned a palm up. 'What is so difficult'Get them in here. Get the Secretary of State on the phone. I speak to him. You can stop me at any point, at any word. Stand beside me, ready to snatch it from me. Station a policeman behind me with a club.'

'I'll take it as a great personal favor if you'll talk with me first.'

Wolfe shook his head. 'I'm sorry, Mr. Jessel. I'm far too pigheaded. Give it up.'

The attorney general looked around. If for suggestions, he got none. He shoved his hands in his pockets, wheeled, and walked toward the fireplace. Halfway there he turned abruptly and came back, and asked Colvin, 'They're all here?'

'Yes, certainly.'

'Send for them, please. I'll put in the call.'

ATTORNEY GENERAL JESSEL, standing, was speaking into the phone. 'Then you understand the situation, Mr. Secretary. One moment. Here is Mr. Wolfe.'

He handed the instrument to Wolfe, who was seated. Bragan and the ambassador and Mrs. Kelefy were on a divan that had been turned around. Mrs. Leeson was on a chair at the end of the divan. Spiros Papps, the man of guile and malice and simple candor, was perched on a big fat cushion in front of Mrs. Leeson. Ferris and the sheriff had chairs a little to one side, with Lieutenant Hopp and two of his colleagues standing back of them. District Attorney Colvin stood by the table, practically at Wolfe's elbow, and Jessel, after handing Wolfe the phone, stayed there at the other elbow. I was on my feet too, at Wolfe's back. I hadn't a glimmer of an idea where he was headed for, but he had said he was going to identify a murderer, so while they were arranging things I had gone to my room, got my gun, and put it in my side pocket.

Wolfe's tone was easy. 'This is Nero Wolfe, Mr. Secretary. I should have asked Mr. Jessel to say that this will take some time, ten minutes or more, I'm afraid, so I trust you are comfortably seated& Yes sir, I know; I won't prolong it beyond necessity. You already know the details of the situation, so I'll go straight to my personal predicament. I know who killed Mr. Leeson. It would be pointless to denounce him to officers of the law. But I want to denounce him; first, because if I don't I'll be detained and harassed here interminably; and second, because he has foolishly wounded my self-esteem& Yes sir, but if I tell it at all I have to tell it my way, and I think you should hear it first& '

'Today I was to cook trout for lunch. Four creels, tagged with the names of the fishermen, were brought to me. The fish in three of the creels were perfectly fresh and sweet, but those in Ambassador Kelefy's creel were not. They were not stiff or discolored, nothing so obvious; indeed, the cook apparently saw nothing wrong with them; but they had not been caught this morning. It would take too long to explain how an expert tells exactly how long a fish has been dead no matter how carefully it has been handled, but I assure you I can do it infallibly. Of course I decided not to include them in my dish. The cook asked why, but I didn't explain, not wishing to embarrass the ambassador. Naturally, I supposed either his luck or his skill had failed him this morning, and he had somehow procured those dead trout to cover his deficiency.

'I am making this as brief as I can. The news of Mr. Leeson's death by violence put a different face on the matter. The inescapable presumption was that Ambassador Kelefy had killed him, and it was indeed premeditated. He had caught those eight trout yesterday in addition to what he brought in ' I haven't bothered to inquire about that ' and had secured them at the edge of a pool in the river, immersed in the water. Probably they were alive when he did that, but I am not sufficiently expert to name the precise hour when they died. Also he probably secured his weapon from the woodpile yesterday and hid it somewhere. So today, having to spend no time fishing in order to bring in a satisfactory creel, he had four hours for another matter ' the murder of Mr. Leeson. Getting through the woods unobserved presented no difficulty.

'That was my presumption, but I would have been an ass to disclose it. It was only a presumption, and I was the only witness of the condition of the trout in his creel. Officers of the law have examined them without seeing what I did ' though in fairness it must be considered that when I saw them they were supposed to have just come from freedom in the river, and the officers saw them some four hours later. Even so, when the district attorney asked me why I had not cooked the ambassador's trout I might have told him, privately, but for his gratuitous spleen.

'Now, however, it is more than a presumption. The ambassador has not explicitly confessed to me, but he might as well have. A little more than an hour ago he came to my room, with his wife, ostensibly to thank me, and asked why I had not cooked the trout he caught. From my reply, and the sequel, he understood what was in my mind. At his suggestion I concocted a bogus explanation. He asked me to commit myself to it, and I straddled. He then made another request, no matter what, which he knew quite well to be unnecessary, since we understood each other tacitly or he thought we did, and when I granted it freely without hesitation he offered me a token of his gratitude by taking an emerald ring from his finger and telling his wife to present it to me. She did so, and it is now in my vest pocket.

'That, Mr. Secretary, was the wound to my self-esteem. The emerald was not a token of gratitude for anything I had done; it was a bribe to keep my mouth shut. Had it measured up to my conceit ' had it been the Kohinoor or the Zabara ' it might have served its purpose; but it is merely a rather large emerald with a noticeable flaw. So naturally I was piqued. When the ambassador left me I sat and considered the matter. Not only was I piqued, I was menaced, and so were others. Unless the ambassador were exposed we would suffer prolonged harassment and probably lifelong suspicion, and only I could expose him. I decided I must act, but first I needed to know what was feasible and what was not, so I telephoned my lawyer in New York.

'From books in his library he supplied the information I wanted, and I wrote it in my notebook. To make this report complete I must read it to you.

'From Section Twenty-five of the Penal Code of New York State: 'Ambassadors and other public ministers from foreign governments, accredited to the President or Government of the United States, and recognized according to the laws of the United States, with their secretaries, messengers, families, and servants, are not liable to punishment in this State, but are to be returned to their own country for trial and punishment.'

'From Section Two-fifty-two of Title Twenty-two of the United States Code: 'Whenever any writ or process is sued out or prosecuted by any person in any court of the United States, or of a State, or by any judge or justice, whereby the person of any ambassador or public minister of any foreign prince or state, authorized and received as such by the President, or any domestic or domestic servant of any such minister, is arrested or imprisoned, or his goods or chattels are distrained, seized, or attached, such writ or process shall be deemed void.'

'From Section Two-fifty-three - I'll condense this: 'Anyone who obtains a writ or process in violation of Section Two-fifty-two, and every officer concerned in executing such writ or process, shall be deemed a violator of the law of nations and a disturber of the public repose, and shall be imprisoned for not more than three years and shall be fined at the discretion of the court.'

'That last, Mr. Secretary, explains why I insisted on speaking to you. If I had reported to the officers of the law who are here, and if in their zeal for justice they had maltreated the ambassador, not only would they have been subject to prosecution under federal law, but so would I. I don't want to be imprisoned for three years, or even to risk any hazard of it, and I chose the expedient of reporting directly to you. I am of course leaving one question unanswered: What was his motive'Why did he kill'I haven't the answer, but I do have a conjecture. You will like to know, I think, that it is unlikely that his motive had any relation to his public mission or the negotiations he was engaged in.

'As I told you, he didn't give me the emerald himself; he had his wife present it. His exact words were, 'I think, my dear, it would be fitting for you to present this to Mr. Wolfe,' and not only were the words suggestive, but so were his tone and manner. He was giving me the emerald as a bribe not to divulge my surmise that he had murdered Mr. Leeson. Then why was it fitting for his wife to present it to me'Because she had herself been involved'Because she had supplied either the impulse or the motive'Because, in short, she was responsible for his having resorted to the extremity-'

So it was Wolfe, not I, who found out what it took to light up Adria Kelefy's eyes. She came off the couch and through the air like a wildcat, and with a sweep of her hand knocked the phone, the whole works, off the table onto the floor. Colvin and Jessel dived for the phone. I took on the wildcat, grabbing her arms from behind, and she tugged and twisted and kicked my shins. Jessel got the phone and was telling it hello hello hello, when another voice broke in.

'Yes, she was responsible.' It was Sally Leeson. She had left her chair and circled around Papps to come within arm's length of Adria Kelefy. I tightened up on Adria's arms. Sally went on, in an even, dead, flat tone that froze the air and all of us breathing it. 'You're not even a snake, Adria. I don't know what you are. You seduced my husband in your own home, your husband's home. I knew about it. He told me he couldn't tear away from you, so I tore him away and got him called back home. I suppose you told your husband about it ' I think you would. After we had left, I suppose, in one of your big fits. Then he was sent over here, and the day you got here you were after my husband again. I knew it and I tried to stop you, and I failed. Your husband hasn't failed. He has succeeded. He killed Dave. Why didn't he kill you?' She tightened her fists, hanging at her sides, stiffened, and then started to tremble. 'Oh God,' she cried, 'why didn't he kill you?'

She stopped trembling, turned to the district attorney, and was stiff again. 'I told you a lie,' she said. 'When I said I didn't suspect anyone. Of course I did. But I knew you couldn't arrest him ' and I didn't want to tell you what a fool my husband had been ' and what good would it do'What good will anything do now?' She started to tremble again.

The ambassador had left the couch to come to us, and for a second I thought he was actually going to answer her. But he spoke, not to her, but to his wife. He put a hand on Adria's shoulder, and I stepped back. 'Come, my dear,' he said. 'This is distressing.' She moved, and he turned his head and called sharply, 'Spiros!'

That was a sight I had never expected to see and don't expect to see again. Standing there were an attorney general, a district attorney, a sheriff, and three state troopers in uniform, not to mention, a pair of private detectives; and none of them moved a muscle while a murderer calmly walked out of the room, taking with him his wife, who had driven him to murder, and a member of his staff, who had certainly known he was guilty.

But Wolfe moved his jaw muscles. He spoke sharply to their backs. 'Mr. Kelefy! If you please. A purely personal point. Was it also a stab at my self-esteem that you arranged for me to be here'For the added fillip of gulling me?'

'No, Mr. Wolfe.' The ambassador had turned at the door. 'When I expressed a desire to eat a trout cooked by you I had not yet contemplated an action that might arouse your professional interest. I had not forgotten the past, but I had accepted it. When events caused me to contemplate such an action it would have been imprudent, I thought, to ask you not to come.'

Turning, he touched his wife's elbow and they disappeared into the hall, with Spiros Papps at their heels.

The tableau broke up. Jessel muttered something about the Secretary of State and went at the phone. Colvin pushed his specs back. The sheriff and the lieutenant exchanged words. The troopers stood looking dazed.

Wolfe, on his feet, took the emerald ring from his pocket and handed it to the DA. 'Dispose of this as you see fit, Mr. Colvin. You were right about the notable incident, of course. Mr. Goodwin and I will be packed and ready to go in five minutes. If you will kindly pass the word'Come, Archie.'

He headed for the hall and I followed.