Trouble In Triplicate by Rex Stout Read Free Book Online

opened, and a man in uniform came out and toward me, a doorman or elevator man. I saw that the one coming down the sidewalk was a cop, so I got upright, called out, 'Doctor!' and dived into the apartment house. The lobby was empty, and so was the elevator, with its door standing open. I found the switchboard, plugged in, pushed a button, and dialed a number, trying to remember if I had left it connected to the extension in Wolfe's room, which I certainly should have done from force of habit.
    I had. Finally his voice came. 'Nero Wolfe speaking.'
    'Archie. I took her home. We were standing on the sidewalk in front of the apartment house on Seventy-eighth Street. A guy came along in a car and started shooting, and then got away. She is dead. Tell Fritz-'
    'Are you hurt?'
    'I'll tell the world I'm hurt, but not with bullets. That bastard Perrit decided to get her and to use us for proof of something, and you can figure out what while I spend the night as a quiz Idd. Tell Fritz-'
    A voice came at me from behind. 'Get offa that phone! Now!'

Nero Wolfe 14 - Trouble in Triplicate
    VIII
    Lieutenant Rowcliff of Homicide was one of the reasons why I doubted if the world would ever reach the point of universal brotherhood. It didn't seem feasible as long as opinions were still loose like mine of Rowcliff.
    At ten minutes to three in the morning, in a torture chamber at the 19th Precinct on East Sixty-seventh Street, where he had established emergency headquarters, Rowcliff said to me, 'Very well.' He never used vulgar expressions like okay. 'Very well, we'll lock you up.'
    I was yawning, and had to wait till it was finished before answering him. Then I remarked, 'You've said that four times. I don't like the idea, and neither will Mr. Wolfe or his lawyer, but I prefer it to more of this. Proceed.'
    He merely sat and scowled at me, but no vulgar scowl, a Rowcliff scowl.
    'Let me summarize it,' I offered. 'Dazy Perrit came to see Mr. Wolfe, to consult him. If I had information for you on that, which I haven't, it would be only secondhand. The place for you to get that is from Mr. Wolfe.'
    'I have told you,' Rowcliff said coldly, 'that I have sent a man to see Wolfe, twice, two men, and they were not allowed to enter. The door is bolted, as usual. That man Brenner talked through a crack and said that Wolfe was asleep and he wouldn't disturb him. That is the impudent and arrogant attitude to be expected.'
    'Try him after breakfast,' I suggested. 'Say, eleven o'clock.' I was pleased to learn that my undelivered message to Fritz had not been necessary. 'Of course I won't be there to let you in if I'm in a cell. Then, at eleven-forty, twenty minutes before midnight, Perrit's daughter arrived, apparently to consult Mr. Wolfe about the same thing as her father. You can get that from Mr. Wolfe too. When they were through I escorted Miss Perrit home, with her driving her car. We arrived about twelve-thirty. I glanced at both my wristwatch and the dash clock at Columbus Circle, and it was twelve-twenty-six. We were standing-'
    'That's all down.'
    'Okay, and so is this. The man in the car had a handkerchief tied-'
    'How do you know it was a handkerchief?'
    'Oh, my God, we're off again. Something white then, possibly torn from his shirttail, which is why I wouldn't know him from Adam, because most of his face was behind it. I don't know whether he was after her or me or both, though I admit it was her he hit. There was a license plate on the car but I couldn't make it out, or didn't, which is unimportant since I understand it was hot, having been liberated less than a mile away an hour or so earlier. And found less than six blocks away, near the Eighty-sixth Street subway station. I would like to know if any of my bullets-'
    'Where's Dazy Perrit?'
    'You mean now?'
    'Now.'
    'I have no idea.'
    'Is he holed up in Wolfe's house?'
    'Good lord, no. It makes my teeth chatter just to think of it.'
    'Did your teeth chatter yesterday, when he was there