Gambit by Rex Stout Page B

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    “If you please.” Wolfe snapped it. “This isn’t a court, and I’m not a prosecutor trying to convict your father. I’m merely asking if Kalmus knew that inquiry would reveal circumstances that could be regarded as a possible motive for your father. I take it that he did. Yes?”
    “Well… yes.”
    “That will do. So much for the facts. I call them facts because if one or more of them can be successfully challenged my theory is untenable. Now the surmises,
    two of them. They can’t be tested, merely stated. They are desirable but not essential. First, Kalmus knew that your father would himself take the chocolate to Jerin. Ideally, he suggested it, but I’ll take less than the ideal. Second,
    when Mr. Yerkes brought word that Jerin was indisposed, Kalmus suggested to your father that it might be well to dispose of the pot and cup. Since Kalmus was a messenger, he had had opportunity to observe that Jerin had drunk most of the chocolate. And he ran no risk of arousing suspicion of his good faith. Since Jerin had been taken ill suddenly, it was a natural precaution to suggest. You said yesterday that your father told you and your mother exactly what had happened. Did he say that anyone had suggested that he see to the pot and cup?”
    “No.” Sally’s fists were so tight I could see the white on her knuckles. “I don’t believe it, Mr. Wolfe. I can’t believe it. Of course Archie was right, I thought Dan Kalmus might want… I thought he wouldn’t do everything he could,
    everything he ought to do … but now you’re saying he killed Paul, he planned it, so my father would be arrested and convicted. I can’t believe it!”
    “You need not. As I said, I specified Kalmus only to avoid verbal complexities.
    It could have been one of the others - Hausman, Yerkes, Farrow - or even the cook or steward, though they are less probable. He must fit my three facts, and he should be eligible for my two surmises. Above all, he must meet the most obvious requirement, that he had a compelling reason to wish to ruin your father, to take his liberty if not his life. Do any of the others qualify'
    Hausman, Yerkes, Farrow, the cook, or steward?”
    She shook her head. Her mouth opened and shut, but no words came.
    “One of them might, of course, without your knowledge. But that was another reason for specifying Kalmus; you had yourself supplied a possible inducement for him. And now, with this theory, I must of course see him in any case. If he is guiltless and is proceeding on the assumption that the death of Jerin was the sole and final objective of the murderer, unless I intervene your father is doomed. It may be that the fact known only to Kalmus and your father, mentioned in the note to your mother which Mr. Goodwin read, is relevant, but speculation on that would be futile. I must see Mr. Kalmus, peccant or not, and for that I need your help.” He swiveled. “Your notebook, Archie!”
    I got it, and my pen. “Shoot.”
    “Just a draft for Miss Blount. Any paper, no carbon. She will supply the salutation. I suppose my mother has told you that I am at Nero Wolfe’s house,
    comma, and I am going to stay here until I am sure I have done all I can for my father. Period. Mr. Wolfe has a theory you should know about, comma, and you must come and talk with him tomorrow, comma, Wednesday. Period. He will be here all day and evening, comma, but is not available from nine to eleven in the morning and from four to six in the afternoon. Period. If you haven’t come by noon Thursday I shall see a newspaper reporter and tell him why I came here and why I don’t trust you to represent my father effectively.”
    He turned to her. “From you to Mr. Kalmus, handwritten. On my letterhead or plain paper, as you prefer. Mr. Goodwin will take it to his office after lunch.”
    “I won’t,” she said positively. “I couldn’t tell a reporter that. I couldn’t, I won’t.”
    “Certainly you won’t. You won’t have to.