Homicide Trinity by Rex Stout

Author:Rex Stout [Stout, Rex]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
ISBN: 978-0-307-75599-5
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2010-07-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

When you mount the seven steps to the stoop and enter the hall of the old brownstone on West 35th Street, the first door on your left is to what we call the front room, with the office door farther along on that side. The walls and doors of the front room and office are soundproofed. After convoying the company to the front room and telling them they wouldn’t have to wait long, I returned to the hall, put my hat and coat on the rack, proceeded to the office, and put the box on Wolfe’s desk pad.

“Good timing,” I said. “In another hour or two they would probably have found it.”

He reached to pass his fingertips along its edge. “You haven’t opened it.”

“No. It’s a good lock. They’re in the front room, all four. I gave them their pick, you or the cops, and they preferred you. There’s nothing to add to what I told you on the phone. Before I open it I want to register a guess. Not that it’s what Hazen had on them, that’s a cinch. My guess is specifically what he had on Mrs. Oliver. She murdered her husband. Wait till you see her.”

He made a face. “This will be distasteful. Bring keys.”

I went to the cabinet at the far wall, opened a drawer, and made selections. Although I couldn’t qualify on the witness stand as a lock expert, I know a Hotchkiss from a Euler, and I can open your suitcase with a paper clip if you’ll be patient. Moving the box to my desk, I sat and started in. I had selected four types, little boxes of assortments. In three minutes I eliminated the first type, and in another three the second one. The third seemed more promising, and I was getting hot when Wolfe growled, “Get a hammer and screwdriver.”

As he spoke it clicked and I had it. I raised the lid. The box was empty. I upended it for Wolfe to see. “Yeah,” I said. “It sure is distasteful.”

He took in air, about a bushel, and let it out again. “It’s just as well. It would probably have presented us with a problem. More than one. I presume he decided it was a mistake to tell his wife of it and removed the contents. Elsewhere in the house?”

“I doubt it.”

“So do I.” He leaned back, closed his eyes, and pushed his lips out. In a moment he pulled them in, and then out and in, out and in. He was working. A minute passed, two minutes, three.… He opened his eyes and straightened up. “Lock the box and leave it on your desk. Put the keys away. Have a gun in your hand when you admit them, and go to your desk and stay there. Proceed.”

I proceeded. After locking the box and returning the keys to the cabinet, I moved four of the yellow chairs up, in a row facing Wolfe’s desk, got the gun out, opened the door to the front room, and invited them to enter.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.