If Death Ever Slept by Rex Stout Read Free Book Online

for inspection, and had ended by springing up automatically to follow her out of the room like a lapdog, and the worst of it was I didn't know why. I am perfectly willing to be attracted by a woman and to enjoy the consequences, but I want to know what's going on. I am not willing to be pulled by a string without seeing the string. Not only that; my interest in this particular specimen was supposed to be strictly professional.
    I had an impulse to go to the library and tell Jarrell he was absolutely right, she was a snake. I had another impulse to go find her and tell her something. I didn't know what, but tell her. I had another one, to pack up and go home and tell Wolfe we were up against a witch and what we needed was a stake to burn her at. None of them seemed to be what the situation called for, so I found the stairs and went up to bed.

Nero Wolfe 29 - If Death Ever Slept
    Chapter 4
    BY WEDNESDAY NIGHT, forty-eight hours later, various things had happened, but if I had made any progress I didn't know it.
    Tuesday I took Trella to lunch at Rusterman's. That was a little risky, since I was well known there, but I phoned Felix that I was working on a case incognito and told him to pass the word that I mustn't be recognized. When we arrived, though, I was sorry I hadn't picked another restaurant. Evidently everybody, from the doorman on up to Felix, knew Mrs. Jarrell too, and I couldn't blame them for being curious when, working on a case incognito, I turned up with an old and valued customer. They handled it pretty well, except that when Bruno brought my check he put a pencil down beside it. A waiter supplies a pencil only when he knows the check is going to be signed and that your credit is good. I ignored it, hoping that Trella was ignoring it too, and when Bruno brought the change from my twenty I waved it away, hoping he wouldn't think I was setting a precedent.
    She had said one thing that I thought worth filing. I had brought Susan's name into the conversation by saying that perhaps I should apologize for being indiscreet the day before, when I had mentioned the impression I had got that Jarrell felt cool about his daughter-in-law, and she said that if I wanted to apologize, all right, but not for being indiscreet, for being wrong. She said her husband wasn't cool about Susan, he was hot. I said okay, then I would switch from cool to hot and apologize for that. How about what'
    'What do you think?' Her blue eyes widened. 'About her. She slapped him. Oh, for God's sake, quit trying to look innocent! Your first day as his secretary, and spending the morning on the terrace with Lois and taking me to Rusterman's for lunch! Secretary!'
    'But he's away. He said to mark time.'
    'He'll get a report from Nora when he comes back, and you know it. I'm not a fool, Alan, really I'm not. I might be fairly bright if I wasn't so damn lazy. You probably know more about my husband than I do. So quit looking innocent.'
    'I have to look innocent, I'm his secretary. So does Steck, he's his butler. As for what I know, I didn't know Susan had slapped him. Were you there?'
    'Nobody was there. I don't mean slapped him with her hand, she wouldn't do that. I don't know how she did it, probably just by looking at him. She can look a man on or look him off, either way. I wouldn't have thought any woman could look him off, I'd think she'd need a hatpin or a red-hot poker, but that was before I had met her. Before she moved in. Has she given you a sign yet?'
    'No.' I didn't know whether I was lying or not. 'I'm not sure I'm up with you. If I am, I'm innocent enough to be shocked. Susan is his son's wife.'
    'Well. What of it?'
    'It seems a little undignified. He's not an ape.'
    She reached to pat the back of my hand. 'I must have been wrong about you. Look innocent all you want to. Certainly he's an ape. Everybody knows that. Since I'm in walking distance I might as well do a little shopping. Would you care to come along?'
    I declined with