The Second Confession (7 page)

It was a dark night, with no stars on account of the clouds, but the wind was down. As I drove to Chappaqua I let my mind drift into a useless habit, speculating on who Saul’s tail had been-state or city employees, or an A, B, C, or D. After I got to a booth in a drugstore and called Saul at the office and had a talk with him, it was still nothing but a guess. All Saul knew was that it had been a stranger and that it hadn’t been too easy to shake him. Since it was Saul Panzer, I knew I didn’t have to check any on the shaking part, and since he had no news to report except that he had acquired a tail, I told him to make himself comfortable in one of the spare rooms if he got sleepy, treated myself to a lemon coke, and went back to the car and drove back to Stony Acres.

Madeline had joined the pair in the living-room, or maybe I should just put it that she was there when I entered. When she came to intercept me the big dark eyes were wide open, but not for any effect they might have on me. Her mind was obviously too occupied with something else for dallying.

'Where have you been?' she asked.

I told her to Chappaqua to make a phone call. She took my arm and eased me along through the door into the reception hall, and there faced me to ask, 'Have you seen Gwenn?' 'No. Why, where is she?' 'I don’t know. But I think-' She stopped. I filled in, 'I supposed she was off in a corner making up her mind.' 'You didn’t go out to meet her?' 'Now I ask you,' I objected. 'I’m not even a worm, I just work for one. Why would she be meeting me?' 'I suppose not.' Madeline hesitated. 'After dinner she told Dad she would let him know as soon as she could, and went up to her room. I went in and wanted to talk to her, but she chased me out, and I went to Mother’s room. Later I went back to Gwenn’s room and she let me talk some, and then she said she was going outdoors. I went downstairs with her. She went out the back way. I went back up to Mother, and when I came down again and found you had gone out I thought maybe you had me her.' 'Nope.' I shrugged. 'She may have had trouble finding the answer in the house and went outdoors for it. After all, she said before bedtime and it’s not eleven yet. Give her time. Meanwhile you ought to relax. How about a game of pool?' She ignored the invitation. 'You don’t know Gwenn,' she stated.

'Not very well, no.' 'She has a good level head, but she’s as stubborn as a mule. She’s a little like Dad. If he had kept off she might have had enough of Louis long ago. But now-I’m scared. I suppose your Nero Wolfe did the best he could, but he left a hole. Dad hired him to find out something about Louis that would keep Gwenn from marrying him. Is that right?' 'Right.' 'And the way Nero Wolfe put it, one of four things had to happen. Either he had to quit the job, or Dad had to fire him, or Gwenn had to believe what he said about Louis and drop him, or he had to keep on and get proof. But he left out something else that could happen. What if Gwenn went away with Louis and married him'That would fix it too, wouldn’t it'Would Dad want Wolfe to go on, to keep after Louis if he was Gwenn’s husband'Gwenn wouldn’t think so.' Madeline’s fingers gripped my arm. 'I’m scared! I think she went to meet him!' 'I’ll be damned. Did she take a bag?' 'She wouldn’t. She’d know I’d try to stop her, and Dad too-all of us. If your Nero Wolfe is so damn smart, why didn’t he think of this?' 'He has blind spots, and people running off to get married is one of them. But I should have-my God, I am thick. How long ago did she leave?' 'It must have been an hour-about an hour.' 'Did she take a car?' Madeline shook her head. 'I listened for it. No.' Then she must have-' I stopped to frown and think. 'If that wasn’t it, if she just went out to have more air while she decided, or possibly to meet him here somewhere and have a talk, where would she go'Has she got a favourite spot?' 'She has several.' Madeline was frowning back at me. 'An old apple tree in the back field, and a laurel thicket down by the brook, and a-' 'Do you know where there’s a flashlight?' 'Yes, we keep-' 'Get it.' She went. In a moment she was back, and we left by the front door. She seemed to think the old apple tree was the best bet, so we circled the house half-way, crossed the lawn, found a path through a shrubbery border, and went through a gate into a pasture. Madeline called her sister’s name but no answer came, and when we got to the old apple tree there was no one there. We returned to the vicinity of the house the other way, around the back of the barn and kennels and other outbuildings, with a halt at the barn to see if Gwenn had got romantic and saddled a horse to go to meet her man, but the horses were all there. The brook was in the other direction, in the landscape towards the public road, and we headed that way. Occasionally Madeline called Gwenn’s name, but not loud enough to carry to the house. We both had flashlights. I used mine only when I needed it, and by that time our eyes had got adjusted. We stuck to the drive until we reached the bridge over the brook and then Madeline turned sharp to the left. I admit she had me beat at cross-country going in the dark. The bushes and lower limbs had formed the habit of reaching out for me from the sides, and while Madeline hardly used her light at all, I shot mine right or left now and then, as well as to the front.

We were about twenty paces from the drive when I flashed my light to the left and caught a glimpse of an object on the ground by a bush that stopped me. The one glimpse was enough to show me what it was-there was no doubt about that-but not who it was. Madeline, ahead of me, was calling Gwenn’s name. I stood. Then she called to me, 'You coming?' and I called back that I was and started forward. I was opening my mouth to tell her that I was taking time out and would be with her in a minute, when she called Gwenn’s name again, and an answer came faintly through the trees in the night. It was Gwenn’s voice.

'Yes, Mad, I’m here!' So I had to postpone a closer inspection of the object behind the bush. Madeline had let out a little cry of relief and was tearing ahead, and I followed. I got tangled in a thicket before I knew it and had to fight my way out, and nearly slid into the brook; then I was in the clear again, headed towards voices, and soon my light picked them up at the far side of an open space. I crossed to them.

'What’s all the furore?' Gwenn was asking her sister. 'Good Lord, I came outdoors on a summer night, so what'That’s been known to happen before, hasn’t it'You even brought a detective along!' 'This isn’t just a summer night,' Madeline said shortly, 'and you know darned well it isn’t. How did I know-anyway, you haven’t even got a jacket on.' 'I know I haven’t. What time is it?' I aimed the light at my wrist and told her. 'Five past eleven.' 'Then he didn’t come on that train either.' 'Who didn’t?' Madeline asked.

'Who do you suppose?' Gwenn was pent up. 'That dangerous criminal! Oh, I suppose he is. All right, he is. But I wasn’t going to cross him off without telling him first, and not on the phone or in a letter, either. I phoned him to come here.' 'Sure,' Madeline said, not like a loving sister. 'So you could make him tell you who X is and make him reform.' 'Not me,' Gwenn declared. 'Reforming is your department. I was simply going to tell him we’re through-and good-bye. I merely preferred to do it that way, before telling Dad and the rest of you. He was coming up on the nine twenty-three and taxi from the station and meet me here. I thought he had missed it-and now I guess he didn’t get the next one either-but there’s a-what time is it?' I told her. 'Nine minutes after eleven.' 'There’s a train at eleven thirty-two, and I’ll wait for that and then quit. I don’t usually wait around for a man for two hours, but this is different. You admit that, don’t you, Mad?' 'If you could use a suggestion from a detective,' I offered, 'I think you ought to phone him again and find out what happened. Why don’t you girls go and do that, and I’ll wait here in case he shows up. I promise not to say a word to him except that you’ll soon be back. Get a jacket, too.' That appealed to them. The only part that didn’t appeal to me was that they might wave flashlights around on their way to the drive, but they went in another direction, a short cut by way of the rose garden. I waited until they were well started and then headed towards the drive, used the light to spot the object on the ground by the bush, and went to it.

First, was he dead'He was. Second, what killed him'The answer to that wasn’t as conclusive, but there weren’t many alternatives. Third, how long ago had he died'I had a guess for that one, with some experience to go by. Fourth, what was in his pockets'That took more care and time on account of complications.

For instance, when I had frisked him at the roadside Sunday night, after Ruth Brady had prepared him for me, I had used a fair amount of caution, but now fair wasn’t good enough. I gave his leather wallet a good rub with my handkerchief, inside and out, put prints from both his hands all over it but kept them haphazard, and returned it to his pocket. It contained a good assortment of bills, so he must have cashed a cheque since I had cleaned him. I wanted very much to repeat the performance on the Communist Party membership card and its cellophane holder, but couldn’t because it wasn’t there. Naturally that irritated me, and I felt all the seams and linings to make sure. It wasn’t on him.

My mind was completely on getting the job done right and in time, before the girls returned, but when I finally gave up on the membership card I felt my stomach suddenly go tight, and I stood up and backed off. It will happen that way sometimes, no matter how thick and hard you think your shell is, when you least expect it. I turned to face the other way, made my chest big, and took some deep breaths. If that doesn’t work the only thing to do is lie down. But I didn’t have to, and anyhow I would have had to pop right up again, for in between two breaths I heard voices. Then I saw that I had left the flashlight turned on, there on the ground. I got it and turned it off, and made my way back to the clearing beyond the thicket in the dark, trying not to sound like a charging moose.

I was at my post, a patient sentinel, when the girls appeared and crossed the open space to me, with Madeline asking as they approached, 'Did he come?' 'Not a sound of him,' I told them, preferring the truth when it will serve the purpose. 'Then you didn’t get him?' 'I got a phone-answering service.' That was Gwenn. 'They said he would be back after midnight and wanted me to leave a message. I’m going to stay here a little while, to see if he came on the eleven thirty-two, and then quit. Do you think something happened to him?' 'Certainly something happened to him, if he stood you up, but God knows what.

Time will tell.' The three of us were making a little triangle. 'You won’t need me, and if he comes you won’t want me. I’m going in to Mr Wolfe. His nerves are on edge with the suspense, and I want to ease his mind. I won’t go around the house shouting it, but I want to tell him he’ll be going home soon.' They didn’t care for that much but had to admit it was reasonable, and I got away. I took the short-cut as they directed, got lost in the woods twice but finally made it to the open, skirted the rose garden and crossed the lawn, and entered the house by the front door. In the room upstairs Wolfe was still reading the book. As I closed the door behind me he started to scorch me with an indignant look for being gone so long, but when he saw my face, which he knows better than I do, he abandoned it, 'Well?' he asked mildly.

'Not well at all,' I declared. 'Somebody has killed Louis Rony, I think by driving a car over him, but that will take more looking. It’s behind a bush about twenty yards from the driveway, at a point about two-thirds of the distance from the house to the public road. It’s a rotten break in every way, because Gwenn had decided to toss him out.' Wolfe was growling. 'Who found it?' 'I did.' 'Who knows about it?' 'No one. Now you.' Wolfe got up, fast. 'Where’s my hat?' He looked around. 'Oh, downstairs. Where are Mr and Mrs Sperling'We’ll tell them there is nothing more for us to do here and we’re going home-but not in a flurry-merely that it’s late and we can go now-come on!' 'Flurry hell. You know damn well we’re stuck.' He stood and glared at me. When that didn’t seem to be improving the situation any he let himself go back on to the chair, felt the book under him, got up and grabbed it-and for a second I thought he was going to throw it at something, maybe even me. For him to throw a book, loving them as he did, would have been a real novelty. He controlled himself in time, tossed the book on to a handy table, got seated again, and rasped at me, 'Confound it, sit down! Must I stretch my neck off?' I didn’t blame him a particle. I would have been having a tantrum myself if I hadn’t been too busy.

'The first thing,' I said, 'is this: have I seen it or not'If I have, there’s the phone, and any arrangements to be made before company comes will have to be snappy. If I haven’t, take your time. It’s behind the bush on the side away from the drive and might not be noticed for a week, except for dogs. So?' 'I don’t know enough about it,' Wolfe said peevishly. 'What were you doing there?' I told him. That first question was too urgent, for me personally, to fill in with details such as stopping at the barn to count the horses, but I didn’t skip any points that mattered, like Madeline’s reason for being upset over Gwenn’s trip outdoors, or like my handling of the fingerprint problem on the wallet. I gave it to him compact and fast but left out no essentials. When I finished he had only three questions: 'Have you had the thought, however vaguely, with or without evidence to inspire it, that Miss Sperling took you past that spot intentionally?' 'No.' 'Can footprints be identified in the vicinity of the body?' Tm not sure, but I doubt it.' 'Can your course be traced, no matter how, as you went from the thicket to the body and back again?' 'Same answer. Davy Crockett might do it. I didn’t have him in mind at the time, and anyhow it was dark.' Wolfe grunted. 'We’re away from home. We can’t risk it. Get them all up here-the Sperlings. Go for the young women yourself, or the young one may not come. Just get them; leave the news for me. Get the young women first, and the others when you’re back in the house. I don’t want Mr Sperling up here ahead of them.' I went and wasted no time. It was only a simple little chore, compared with other occasions when he had sent me from the office to get people, and this time my heart was in my work. Evidently the answer to the question whether I had seen the body was to be yes, and in that case the sooner the phone got used the better. Wolfe would do his part, that was all right, but actually it was up to me, since I was old enough to vote and knew how to dial a number. On the long list of things that cops don’t like, up near the top is acting as if finding a corpse is a purely private matter.

It was simple with the girls. I told Gwenn that Wolfe had just received information which made it certain that Rony would not show up, and he wanted to see her at once to tell her about it, and of course there was no argument. Back at the house, the others were just as simple. Jimmy was downstairs playing ping-pong with Connie, and Madeline went and got him. Mr and Mrs Sperling were in the living-room with Webster Kane and Paul Emerson, and I told them that Wolfe would like to speak with them for a minute. Just Sperlings.

There weren’t enough chairs for all of us in the bedroom, so for once Wolfe had to start a conversation with most of his audience standing, whether he liked it or not. Sperling was obviously completely fed up with his long wait, a full seven hours now, for an important decision about his affairs to be made by someone else, even his own daughter, and he wanted to start in after Gwenn, but Wolfe stopped him quick. He fired a question at them.

'This afternoon we thought we were discussing a serious matter. Didn’t we?' They agreed.

He nodded: 'We were. Now it is either more serious or less, I don’t know which.

It’s a question of Mr Rony alive or Mr Rony dead. For he is now dead.' There’s a theory that it’s a swell stunt to announce a man’s death to a group of people when you think one of them may have killed him, and watch their faces. In practice I’ve never seen it get anybody to first base, let alone on around, not even Nero Wolfe, but it’s still attractive as a theory, and therefore I was trying to watch all of them at once, and doubtless Wolfe was too.

They all made noises, some of them using words, but nobody screamed or fainted or clutched for support. The prevailing expression was plain bewilderment, all authentic as far as I could tell, but as I say, no matter how popular a theory may be, it’s still a theory.

Gwenn demanded, 'You mean Louis?' Wolfe nodded. 'Yes, Miss Sperling. Louis Rony is dead. Mr Goodwin found his body about an hour ago, when he was out with your sister looking for you. It is on this property, behind a bush not far from where they found you. It seems-' 'Then-he did come!' I doubt if it was as heartless as it looks. I would not have called Gwenn heartless. In the traffic jam in her head caused by the shock, it just happened that that little detail got loose first. I saw Madeline dart a sharp glance at her. The others were finding their tongues for questions. Wolfe pushed a palm at them, 'If you please. There is no time-' 'What killed him?' Sperling demanded.

'I was about to tell you. The indications are that a car ran over him, and the body was dragged from the drive for concealment behind the bush, but of course it requires further examination. It hadn’t been there long when it was found, not more than two hours. The police must be notified without delay. I thought, Air Sperling, you might prefer to do that yourself. It would look better.' Gwenn was starting to tremble. Madeline took her arm and led her to a bed and pushed her on to it, with Jimmy trying to help. Mrs Sperling was stupefied.

'Are you saying-' Sperling halted. He was either incredulous or doing very well.

'Do you mean he was murdered?' 'I don’t know. Murder requires premeditation. If after inquiry the police decide it was murder they’ll still have to prove it. That, of course, will start the routine hunt for motive, means, opportunity-I don’t know whether you’re familiar with it, but if not, I’m afraid you soon will be. Whom are you going to notify, the county authorities or the State Police'You have a choice. But you shouldn’t postpone it. You will-' Mrs Sperling spoke for the first time. 'But this is-this will be terrible! Here on our place! Why can’t you take it away-away somewhere for miles-and leave it somewhere-' No one paid any attention to her. Sperling asked Wolfe, 'Do you know what he was doing here?' 'I know what brought him. Your daughter phoned him to come.' Sperling jerked to the bed. 'Did you do that, Gwenn?' There was no reply from Gwenn. Madeline furnished it. 'Yes, Dad, she did. She decided to drop him and wanted to tell him first.' 'I hope,' Wolfe said, 'that your wife’s suggestion needs no comment, for a dozen reasons. He took a cab here from the station-' 'My wife’s suggestions seldom need comment. There is no way of keeping the police out of it'I know a doctor-' 'None. Dismiss it.' 'You’re an expert. Will they regard it as murder?' 'An expert requires facts to be expert about. I haven’t got enough. If you want a guess, I think they will.' 'Shouldn’t I have a lawyer here?' That will have to come later. You’ll probably need one or more.' Wolfe wiggled a finger. 'It can’t be delayed longer, sir. Mr Goodwin and I are under an obligation, both as citizens and as men holding licences as private detectives.'

'You’re under obligation to me too. I’m your client.' 'We know that. We haven’t ignored it. It was eleven o’clock when Mr Goodwin found a corpse with marks of violence, and it was his legal duty to inform the authorities immediately. It is now well after midnight. We felt we owed you a chance to get your mind clear. Now I’m afraid I must insist.' 'Damn it, I want to think!' 'Call the police and think while they’re on the way.' 'No!' Sperling yanked a chair around and sat on its edge, close to Wolfe, facing him. 'Look here. I hired you on a confidential matter, and I have a right to expect you to keep it confidential. There is no reason why it should be disclosed, and I certainly don’t want it to be. It was a privileged-' 'No, sir.' Wolfe was crisp. 'I am not a member of the bar, and communications to detectives, no matter what you’re paying them, are not privileged.' 'But you-' 'No, please. You think if I repeat the conversation I had with you and your family this afternoon it will give the impression that all of you, except one, had good reason to wish Mr Rony dead, and you’re quite right. That will make it next to impossible for them to regard his death as something short of murder, and, no matter what your position in this community may be, you and your family will be in a devil of a fix. I’m sorry, but I can’t help it I have withheld information from the police many times, but only when it concerned a case I was myself engaged on and I felt I could make better use of it if I didn’t share it.

Another-' 'Damn it, you’re engaged on this case!' 'I am not. The job you hired me for is ended, and I’m glad of it. You remember how I defined the objective'It has been reached-though not, I confess, by my-' 'Then I hire you for another job now. To investigate Rony’s death.' Wolfe frowned at him. 'You’d better not. I advise against it.' 'You’re hired.' Wolfe shook his head. 'You’re in a panic and you’re being impetuous. If Mr Rony was murdered, and if I undertake to look into it, I’ll get the murderer. It’s conceivable that you’ll regret you ever saw me.' 'But you’re hired.' Wolfe shrugged. 'I know. Your immediate problem is to keep me from repeating that conversation to the police, and, being pugnacious and self-assured, you solve your problems as they come. But you can’t hire me today and fire me tomorrow. You know what I would do if you tried that.' 'I know. You won’t be fired. You’re hired.' Sperling arose. 'I’ll phone the police.' 'Wait a minute!' Wolfe was exasperated. 'Confound it, are you a dunce'Don’t you know how ticklish this is'There were seven of us in that conversation- 'We’ll attend to that after I’ve phoned.' 'No, we won’t. I’ll attend to it now.' Wolfe’s eyes darted around. 'All of you, please. Miss Sperling?' Gwenn was face down on the bed and Madeline was seated on the edge.

'Do you have to bark at her now?' Madeline demanded.

'I’ll try not to bark. But I do have to speak to her-all of you.' Gwenn was sitting up. 'I’m all right,' she said. 'I heard every word. Dad hired you again, to-oh, my God.' She hadn’t been crying, which was a blessing since it would have demoralized Wolfe, but she looked fairly ragged. 'Go ahead,' she said.

'You know,' Wolfe told them curtly, 'what the situation is. I must first have a straight answer to this: have any of you repeated the conversation we had in the library, or any part of it, to anyone?' They all said no.

'This is important. You’re sure?' 'Connie was-' Jimmy had to clear his throat. 'Connie was asking questions. She was curious.' He looked unhappy.

'What did you tell her?' 'Oh, just-nothing much.' 'Damn it, how much?' Sperling demanded.

'Not anything, Dad, really. I guess I mentioned Louis-but nothing about X and all that tosh.' 'You should have had more sense.' Sperling looked at Wolfe. 'Shall I get her?' Wolfe shook his head. 'By no means. We’ll have to risk it. That was all'None of you has reported that conversation?' They said no again.

'Very well. The police will ask questions. They will be especially interested in my presence here-and Mr Goodwin’s. I shall tell them that Mr Sperling suspected that Mr Rony, who was courting his daughter, was a Communist, and that-' 'No!' Sperling objected. 'You will not! That’s-' 'Nonsense.' Wolfe was disgusted. 'If they check in New York at all, and they surely will, they’ll learn that you hired Mr Bascom, and what for, and then what'No; that much they must have. I shall tell them of your suspicion, and that you engaged me to confirm it or remove it. You were merely taking a natural and proper precaution. I had no sooner started on the job, by sending Mr Goodwin up here and putting three men to work, than an assault was made on my plant rooms in the middle of the night and great damage was done. I thought it probable that Mr Rony and his comrades were responsible for the outrage; that they feared I would be able to expose and discredit him, and were trying to intimidate me.

'So today-yesterday now-I came here to discuss the matter with Mr Sperling. He gathered the family for it because it was a family affair, and we assembled in the library. He then learned that what I was after was reimbursement; I wanted him to pay for the damage to my plant rooms. The whole time was devoted to an argument between Mr Sperling and me on that point alone. No one else said anything whatever-at least nothing memorable. You stayed because you were there and there was no good reason to get up and go. That was all.' Wolfe’s eyes moved to take them in. 'Well'‘ 'It’ll do,' Sperling agreed.

Madeline was concentrating hard. She had a question. 'What did you stay here all evening for?' 'A good question, Miss Sperling, but my conduct can be left to me. I refused to leave here without the money or a firm commitment on it.' 'What about Gwenn’s phoning Louis to come up here?' Wolfe looked at Gwenn. 'What did you tell him?' 'This is awful,' Gwenn whispered. She was gazing at Wolfe as if she couldn’t believe he was there. She repeated aloud, 'This is awful!' Wolfe nodded. 'No one will contradict you on that. Do you remember what you said to him?' 'Of course I do. I just told him I had to see him, and he said he had some appointments and the first train he could make was the one that leaves Grand Central at eight-twenty. It gets to Chappaqua at nine twenty-three.' 'You told him nothing of what had happened?' 'No,-I didn’t intend to, I was just going to tell him I had decided to call it off.' 'Then that’s what you’ll tell the police.' Wolfe returned to Madeline. 'You have an orderly mind, Miss Sperling, and you want to get this all neatly arranged. It can’t be done that way; there’s too much of it. The one vital point, for all of you, is that the conversation in the library consisted exclusively of our argument about paying for the damage to my plant rooms. Except for that, you will all adhere strictly to fact. If you try anything else you’re sunk. You probably are anyway, if a strong suspicion is aroused that one of you deliberately murdered Mr Rony, and if one of the questioners happens to be a first-rate man, but that’s unlikely and we’ll have to chance it.' 'I’ve always been a very poor liar,' Mrs Sperling said forlornly.

'Damn it,' Sperling said, not offensively. 'Go up and go to bed!' 'An excellent idea,' Wolfe assented. 'Do that, madam.' He turned to Sperling.

'Now, if you will-' The Chairman of the Board went to the telephone.