Trouble In Triplicate by Rex Stout Page B

mention him to me. I presume Mr. Schane calculated that the highest expectations, in the long run, would be realized through the real daughter and not the counterfeit one. I assume that although Mr. Perrit knew what Mr. Schane was doing, Miss Murphy didn't, or something would have popped. I also assume that Mr. Perrit had got onto Mr. Schane quite recently, since Mr. Schane had continued his program without interference. I also assume that the reason Mr. Perrit didn't mention Mr. Schane to me was because he was confident of being able to handle that himself, By his own methods.'
    'You assume,' Morton sneered.
    Wolfe nodded. 'I agree. These presumptions and assumptions are merely embroidery and really not needed.' He kept his eyes on Morton. 'Their only purpose is to answer the question, why'Why did you shoot and kill Miss Murphy and Mr. Perrit'Merely to clear the track, to get them out of the way, since the daughter was betrothed to you'Possibly, but I doubt it. More probably, something had happened; you had become aware of some deadly threat. One more assumption-'
    Morton stood up. 'You'll eat all this, you fat, lying, son-of-a-bitch! I'm going!'
    Fabian stood up.
    Meeker stood up.
    Morton Schane didn't move.
    Fabian asked, 'You got anything else?'
    'Nothing but proof,' Wolfe told him, but his eyes stuck to Schane. 'Last evening Mr. Perrit's daughter and this young man dined with us. One or two remarks he made stirred a faint suspicion in me. It was very faint, the merest breath, but it was simple to test him. He was in his last year at law school. I asked him if he had learned to draft torts, and he said he had. A tort is an act, not a document, as any law student would know. You can't draft a tort any more than you can draft a burglary. That settled him. I had my chef save his wineglass, and after Mr. Schane had left I got in touch with Mr. Panzer and made various arrangements. One resulted in our learning, through the FBI and their fingerprint files, of Mr. Schane's background and record. Another arrangement, that Mr. Panzer should pick up Mr. Schane last evening in front of the building where Mr. Perrit's daughter lives, and keep on his trail-'
    Morton still had his temerity. His hand went for his hip like a frog for a fly.
    He did get his gun out, because Fabian's first bullet missed, and he even pulled the trigger, but all he hit was plaster. Then he splashed back on the couch, pulling the trigger again. By that time Meeker was shooting too, which I have never understood, but it was something never seen before and surely never will be again-Fabian and Thumbs Meeker blazing away at the same target. Morton slithered off of the couch onto the floor. That was his last move.

Nero Wolfe 14 - Trouble in Triplicate
    XIII
    Six days later, Monday again, Wolfe came down from the plant rooms at six o'clock, negotiated himself into his chair behind his desk, and rang for beer. I turned away from my typewriter and spoke. 'The evening paper says that the District Attorney has decided not to charge Meeker or Fabian because a man has a right to defend himself, and all witnesses agree that Schane shot first.'
    'Perfectly sound,' Wolfe murmured.
    'Sure. But that reminds me. So far you have refused to loosen up. I would like to make it clear that I do not believe that Saul was on Schane's tail that night. He damn well didn't tail him through Seventy-eighth Street, nor later through our street, either, when Schane was in his hot taxicab. I think you put that in because you knew it was the one thing that was sure to make Schane go for his gun.'
    'Not sound at all. Mere conjecture.'
    'I like it. Another thing. I now think you did have a program. I think you invited Schwartz to come at two o'clock because you wanted a witness, not me who works for you, to what you said to Fabian. You intended to tell Fabian a good deal, maybe everything, about Schane, but do it in such a way that you couldn't be charged with incitement to crime. You could be