Three For The Chair (9 page)

'Yes, sir. First I have a report. About three-quarters of a mile downstream I found Secretary Leeson against a boulder near the bank, his feet out of the water and the rest of him in. He had been there some time; his armpits were good and cold.'

'Good heavens.' Wolfe was scowling at me. 'You would. Drowned?'

'I don't know. I -'

'You have told Mr. Bragan.'

'No, sir. I'm reporting to you. I removed it from the water to the bank. His skull was smashed in, back of the right ear and above it, by a blow or blows, I would say with a rock or a heavy club. Not from a fall, not a chance, unless he climbed to the top of a high tree to fall from, and there's none there high enough. Somebody clobbered him. So I thought you should be present when I announce it, preferably with your eyes open.'

'Pfui. You think he was murdered.'

'Twenty to one, at least.'

His lips tightened and the scowl deepened. 'Very well. They'll find him soon. They thought he was being stubborn about filling his creel and decided to go and look for him after lunch. Since he was mostly under water you didn't have to see him ' no, confound it, you took him out. Even so, get those things off and dress. We are leaving. I don't intend -'

'No, sir.' I was firm. 'As you say, I took him out. They know I fished that stretch. We probably wouldn't even get home. We'd get stopped somewhere around Albany and brought back, and then where would we spend the night'One guess.'

He took in air, a sigh that filled him clear down to his waistline. When it was out again he blurted savagely, 'Why the devil did you have to go fishing?' He sighed again. 'Go and tell Mr. Bragan.'

'Yes, sir. You're coming along?'

'No! Why should I'I am not concerned. Go!'

I was sweating under the waders, so I peeled them off and slipped my shoes on before I went. When I got to the veranda three of the men ' Bragan, Ferris, and Papps ' had left it and were crossing the clearing to the trail, and I sung out, 'Bragan! You three come back here please?'

He called, astonished, 'What for'We're going to find Leeson!'

'I already found him. Come here and I'll tell you.'

'Found him where?'

'I said come here.'

Wolfe may not have cared about seeing their faces as I gave them the news, but I did. All of them. I ignored Bragan's demands until the three of them had mounted the steps and were facing me in a group that included Ambassador Kelefy and the two women.

'I did see Secretary Leeson,' I told them. 'I went to tell Mr. Wolfe first because I thought he might want to tell you, but he leaves it to me. Leeson is dead.' I stopped.

Spiros Papps, standing next to Sally Leeson, took hold of her arm. She just stared at me. Adria Kelefy's mouth fell open. Ferris and Ambassador Kelefy made noises, and Bragan demanded, 'Dead'How'Where?'

'I found his body on the river bank with most of him in the water, including his head. I lifted him out, but he had been dead some time.' I focused on Bragan. 'You'll get a doctor of course, but also you'll have to get the police, and the body must not be moved again until they come, because -'

Sally Leeson pulled away from Papps and made a dash for the steps. I jumped and grabbed her and got my arms around her. 'Hold on a minute,' I told her, 'and I'll take you there if you have to go. Just hold on.'

'Why the police?' Bragan demanded.

'His skull is smashed. Don't argue with me, save it for them. I'm going back to the body and stay there till they come. Shall I call them first?'

'No. I will.'

'And a doctor.'

'Yes.'

'Good. It's at the double bend two hundred yards below the number four stake.' I loosened my grip on the widow, and she was stiff and straight. 'You'd better stay here, Mrs. Leeson.'

'No. I must& take me.'

'Then I'd just as soon have someone along. Ferris?'

'No.'

'Kelefy?'

'I think not.'

'Papps?'

'Certainly,' he said politely, and the three of us went.

TWO HOURS LATER, at a quarter to four, it was a convention.

Two state troopers had been the first to arrive, and Bragan had brought them down to us at the double bend. Soon after, the doctor came, and, while he was no metropolitan medical examiner, he did have his head along. When he asked me why I had put my handkerchief under Leeson's head, and I said because I thought the water might not have washed away all evidence of what it was that had smashed the skull, he said that was very sensible and it was too bad he didn't have a good glass with him. But his main contribution was to make it official that Leeson was dead, and to insist that Mrs. Leeson let Papps take her back to the lodge. The body couldn't be moved until the sheriff came.

When the sheriff arrived he had two county detectives along. Then more troopers, including a lieutenant. Then the district attorney, a bouncy bald guy named Jasper Colvin, with rimless spectacles that he had to shove back on his nose every time he took a step. He had two underlings with him. Then a couple of journalists, one with a notebook and one with a camera. They all got around to me, and they all seemed to have the idea that I was leaving something out, but that was nothing new. Any officer of the law would rather be caught dead than admit he believes that you're telling him the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but.

When a stretcher finally came for the remains most of the public servants were scattered around looking for the weapon or other relevant items, and my offer to help carry was accepted. It was quite a load and quite a portage. After we had lifted the stretcher into an ambulance that had squeezed onto the edge of the crowded parking space back of the lodge, I circled around to the veranda and found no one there but a trooper standing biting his lip. Inside, in the big room, Ferris and Papps were on chairs by a window having a conversation, and a stranger was at a table using the phone.

Papps called to me. 'Anything new?'

'Not with me,' I told him, and crossed to the inner hall.

Wolfe was in his room, in the chair with rainbow rugs, with a book. He shot me a glance as I entered and then went back to the book. I stood. 'Do you want a report?'

His eyes stayed on the page. 'Not unless it bears upon our leaving here.'

'It doesn't. Any questions or instructions?'

'No.'

'You know damn well,' I said pleasantly, 'that you approved of my going fishing. Where are my trout?'

'In the kitchen in the large refrigerator. Cleaned.'

'Thank you very much.' I left him and went to my room.

I was there an hour later when a trooper came to tell me I was wanted. I supposed it was for more of the same, but Wolfe was in the hall outside his door, and started off as I approached, and led the way to the big room, with the trooper in the rear.

It looked as if something was stewing. The five guests were in a group, seated, in the middle of the room, and Bragan was standing nearby talking with District Attorney Colvin. The sheriff and two troopers were over near the door, and one of the pair the DA had brought with him was seated at a little table with an open notebook before him. Three paces in Wolfe stopped and raised his voice. 'You sent for me, Mr. Bragan?'

Colvin answered. 'I did. I'm Jasper Colvin, district attorney of this county.' He pushed his specs back up on his nose. 'You're Nero Wolfe, a private detective?'

'Yes.'

'You will sit here, please. You too, Goodwin. I have something to say to all of you.'

I wouldn't have been surprised if Wolfe had about-faced and marched out, since he had had three provocations: first, Colvin's tone of voice; second, his saying 'a private detective,' not 'the private detective'; and third, the size of the chair indicated, at the rear of the group of guests. But after a second's hesitation he went and sat, and I took the other vacant chair next to him.

The DA stood facing his audience. He cleared his throat. 'I am sure, ladies and gentlemen, I don't need -'

'Want me to take this?' It was the man at the table with the notebook.

Colvin turned his head to snap, 'Yes, everything!' and turned back. He pushed the specs back and cleared his throat again. 'I don't need to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, how painful I find my duty today. But just as Assistant Secretary of State Leeson, at his high level, always put his duty as diplomat and statesman first, so must I, in my much humbler capacity, do likewise. I know you all appreciate that.'

They didn't say. He went on. 'When I arrived here on this tragic mission, two hours ago, I found that Sheriff Dell and Lieutenant Hopp were already here, and I consulted with them. We agreed that there was no point in harassing you until certain lines of investigation had been tried, and you were merely asked a few routine questions and requested to remain on the premises for possible further inquiry. In that connection I wish to convey the sincere thanks of myself personally, and of the people of the state of New York, to Ambassador Kelefy. He and his wife, and Mr. Spiros Papps of his staff, are protected by diplomatic immunity from arrest or detention, but they have made no objection to our request. I may say that I have phoned the State Department in Washington for advice in this matter.'

'That wasn't necessary,' Kelefy assured him. 'Even diplomats are human occasionally.' His pronunciation was no better under stress, but I won't try to spell it.

Colvin nodded at him, and down came the specs. After pushing them up the DA resumed. 'But now it is my painful duty to tell you that we will have to go further than routine questions, on account of certain aspects the matter has taken on. We have had to reject the idea that Secretary Leeson's death was accidental. Two doctors agree that the injury to the skull could not have been caused by any conceivable accident at that spot. They also agree that it couldn't possibly have been self-inflicted. Therefore it was homicide.'

Since Wolfe and I were in the rear I couldn't see their faces, and the backs of their heads weren't very expressive. The only one that moved was James Arthur Ferris. He turned his head for a glance at Sally Leeson.

O. V. Bragan spoke up. 'I'd like to comment on that.'

'Go ahead, Mr. Bragan.'

'I told you when you got here it might be murder. I reminded you and the troopers that I've been bothered with poachers on my water, and I suggested that you immediately start your men investigating the possibility that Leeson came on one at the river and was attacked by him. Did you do that?'

Colvin cleared his throat and had to push the specs. 'We didn't overlook that possibility, Mr. Bragan, but permit me to finish. An examination of the skull wound with a magnifying glass disclosed three particles of wood bark that had not been dislodged by the water. That justified the assumption that the blow or blows had been struck with a wooden club. If so, where was it'It wasn't at or near the spot. It seemed unlikely that the assailant had carried it away. Probably he had thrown it from him, and most probably, he had thrown it in the river. And it has been found ' or I should say, a club has been found. Bring it here, Nate.'

The sheriff walked over to him and held it up. It was three feet long, maybe a little more, as thick as my arm.

'It was found,' Colvin said, 'in the river five hundred feet downstream from the bend, wedged between two rocks where the current had carried it. It's ash. The water was playing over it, but the bark wasn't soaked through, so it hadn't been there very long. As you see, it was sawed off at both ends. Near one end the bark is bruised for three or four inches as if it had hit something hard. It will take a microscope to find out if the water left any evidence in the bruised bark, but we think we are justified in assuming that that club was the weapon. And you must permit me, Mr. Bragan, you must permit me to say that if Secretary Leeson surprised a poacher on your water, I can conceive of no reason why the poacher was carrying such a club. Sheriff Dell and Lieutenant Hopp agree with me.'

'You don't have to conceive his reason,' Bragan rumbled. 'Find him and ask him.'

'That is a possibility,' the DA conceded. 'Two of the sheriff's men and two troopers are now exploring it. But one more fact. There are two large stacks of firewood outside on your premises. One of them is eight-foot logs for your big fireplace. The other is shorter and smaller logs for the smaller fireplaces in your other rooms, and in it are scores, hundreds, of pieces of ash similar to the one the sheriff has just shown you. There is no stack of wood like that within two miles or more. So believe me, Mr. Bragan, we have been forced to our conclusion, we don't like it, we don't like it at all, but duty is duty no matter how painful it is. Our conclusion is that Secretary Leeson was killed with that club by premeditation, that the club came from your woodpile, and that it was used by someone here at your place. Is that right, Nate?'

'That's the way I see it,' the sheriff declared.

'Right, Lieutenant?'

'It seems,' the trooper allowed, 'to fit the facts as a basis for inquiry.'

Bragan was leaning forward. 'You're actually saying that I or one of my guests murdered Secretary Leeson'And you know who my guests are?'

'I certainly do.' Colvin pushed the specs. I'll only mention it every fourth or fifth time. 'But there are two of them who may have reason to-' He stopped. 'No.' He turned to the man with the notebook. 'Strike that last sentence.'

'Okay.' The man scratched with his pen.

Colvin resumed. 'I am keenly aware of the situation, Mr. Bragan, but the inquiry must be proper and of course unprejudiced. It may be necessary later to talk with one or more of you privately, but I think it's better to start this way, with you first, naturally. For the record, I ask you, did you strike Leeson with that club or any other weapon?'

'No. Good God. No.'

'Have you any reason whatever to suspect any person present of having done so?'

'No. None.'

Colvin's eyes moved. Specs back. 'Those two questions are pro forma for each and all of you. You have heard them and will please answer them. Mrs. Leeson?'

'No.' Her voice was low but firm. 'To both.'

'Mrs. Kelefy?'

'One moment,' Ferris put in. 'To put such questions to the wife of a distinguished foreign ambassador is highly improper.'

I would have liked to ask if it would be okay to put them to the wife of an undistinguished foreign ambassador, but skipped it. Anyway, the distinguished ambassador was speaking. 'This is no time to seek refuge in propriety. Answer, my dear.'

'But of course,' she said. I would have liked to see her eyes. 'Certainly no to both questions.'

'Ambassador Kelefy, if you wish to answer?'

'I do. I answer no.'

'Mr. Papps?'

'No and no.'

'Mr. Ferris?'

'No to both.'

'Nero Wolfe?'

'No.'

'To both?'

'Yes.'

'Goodwin?'

'I've been asked before. No again, twice.'

Colvin's eyes went right and left. 'You were asked previously when and where you last saw Secretary Leeson alive, but under the present circumstances I would like to verify it. Ambassador Kelefy and Mr. Papps, whose stretches were south, upstream, last saw him when they parted from him on the veranda shortly before eight o'clock this morning. Mrs. Leeson last saw him when he left their room this morning to go to breakfast. Mrs. Kelefy last saw him last evening when she and her husband left this room to go to bed. Mr. Ferris last saw him on the trail, when Mr. Ferris left the trail to strike the river and start fishing his stretch, number three, upstream. Secretary Leeson and Mr. Bragan continued on the trail, and Mr. Bragan last saw him when he left the trail for the river at the beginning of his stretch, number four. Mr. Bragan continued on the trail to the boundary of his water, to fish stretch number five. Wolfe and Goodwin last saw him last evening in this room. That's the way we have it, that's what you've told us. I now ask each and all of you, is that correct in every particular'Correct not only as regards yourself, but as regards the others'If not, tell me.'

Not a peep. Colvin took a breath. Specs. 'Mr. Bragan, it is necessary to ask you this. There was a piece in the paper day before yesterday, a dispatch from Washington, about this fishing party at your lodge. Naturally I read it with interest, since this is my county. It said that Ambassador Kelefy's chief purpose in his new post would be to carry on negotiations regarding oil rights in his country, that vast sums were involved, and that he had brought Mr. Spiros Papps with him for that purpose; that Assistant Secretary Leeson was included in the party because he knew Ambassador Kelefy, having formerly been secretary of our embassy in the ambassador's country; and that the negotiations might be brought to a conclusion on the bank of this trout stream, since the two chief bidders for the rights were both here. The article named them: O. V. Bragan of the Hemisphere Oil Company and James Arthur Ferris of the Universal Syndicate.'

'Well, what about it?'

'It was an Associated Press dispatch, so it went all over the country. It said the rivalry between Hemisphere and Universal was intense and bitter ' yes, it said bitter. I don't imply anything, anything at all, but you must see that this is going to cause immediate and widespread speculation. Do you want to comment on that?'

'I do not.'

'It might be helpful for you to give me some idea, privately if you prefer, of the state of the negotiations. Of the nature of the relationships of all those concerned. It might help to eliminate that as ' uh ' as a factor.'

'It's already eliminated. You're beyond your depth, Colvin.'

'You certainly are.' Ferris was supporting his bitter rival. 'This is preposterous. Go find the poacher.'

'If I may,' Ambassador Kelefy put in diplomatically. 'I agree with Mr. Bragan and Mr. Ferris. Americans do not fight even for millions with clubs.'

I could have named him an American who had used a blackjack on a fellow citizen to relieve him of $2.38, but of course he wasn't an oil tycoon.

'You're not only beyond your depth,' Bragan told the DA, 'but you're too free with conclusions. Even if that club was the weapon and it came from my woodpile, and therefore it was premeditated, why was it one of us'Anyone could sneak in through the woods and get a stick from the woodpile.'