brother-there has been no opportunity for that, and there won't be while they're playing cards. I think I ought to cultivate Corey Brigham.'
He nodded. 'You saw how it was there before dinner.'
'Sure. Also Foote and Dietz, not to mention your son. Your wife thinks she hypnotizes them.'
'You don't know what my wife thinks. You only know what she says she thinks. Then you discussed her with my wife?'
'Not at any length. I don't quite see when I'm going to discuss her at length with any of them. I don't see how this is going to work. As your secretary I should be spending my day in here with you and Miss Kent, and if they spend the evening at bridge?'
'I know.' He tapped ash off in a tray. 'You won't have to spend tomorrow in here. I'm taking a morning plane to Toledo, and I don't know when I'll be back. Actually my secretary has damn little to do when I'm not here. Nora knows everything, and I'll tell her to forget about you until I return. As I told you this afternoon, I'm certain that everybody here, every damn one of them, knows things about my daughter-in-law that I don't know. Even my daughter. Even Nora.' His eyes were leveled at me. 'It's up to you. I've told you about my wife, she'll talk your head off, but everything she tells you may or may not be so. Do you dance?'
'Yes.'
'Are you a good dancer?'
'Yes.'
'Lois likes to dance, but she's particular. Take her out tomorrow evening. Has Roger hit you for a loan yet?'
'No. I haven't been alone with him.'
'That wouldn't stop him. When he does, let him have fifty or a hundred. Give him the impression that you stand in well with me-even let him think you have something on me. Buy my wife some flowers-nothing elaborate, as long as it's something she thinks you paid for. She loves to have men buy things for her. You might take her to lunch, to Rusterman's, and tip high. When a man tips high she takes it as a personal compliment.'
I wanted to move my chair back a little to get less of his cigar, but vetoed it. 'I don't object to the program personally,' I said, 'but I do professionally. That's a hell of a schedule for a secretary. They're not halfwits.'
'That doesn't matter.' He flipped it off with the cigar. 'Let them all think you have something on me-let them think anything they want to. The point is that the house is mine and the money is mine, and whatever I stand for they'll accept whether they understand it or not. The only exception to that is my daughter-in-law, and that's what you're here for. She's making a horse's ass out of my son, and she's getting him away from me, and she's sticking a finger in my affairs. I'm making you a proposition. The day she's out of here, with my son staying, you get ten thousand dollars in cash, in addition to any fee Nero Wolfe charges. The day a divorce settles it, with my son still staying, you get fifty thousand. You personally. That will be in addition to any expenses you incur, over and above Wolfe's fee and expenses.'
I said that no man can stop a conversation the way a woman can, but I must admit that Otis Jarrell had made a darned good stab at it. I also admit I was flattered. Obviously he had gone to Wolfe just to get me, to get me there in his library so he could offer me sixty grand and expenses to frame his daughter-in-law, who probably wasn't a snake at all. If she had been, his itch to get rid of her would have been legitimate, and he could have left it as a job for Wolfe and just let me earn my salary.
It sure was flattering. 'That's quite a proposition,' I said, 'but there's a hitch. I work for Mr. Wolfe. He pays me.'
'You'll still be working for him. I only want you to do what I hired him to do. He'll get his fee.'
That was an insult to my intelligence. He didn't have to make it so damned plain. It would have been a pleasure to square my shoulders and lift my chin and tell him to take back his gold and go climb a tree, and that would have been the simplest way out, but there were drawbacks. For one thing,
He nodded. 'You saw how it was there before dinner.'
'Sure. Also Foote and Dietz, not to mention your son. Your wife thinks she hypnotizes them.'
'You don't know what my wife thinks. You only know what she says she thinks. Then you discussed her with my wife?'
'Not at any length. I don't quite see when I'm going to discuss her at length with any of them. I don't see how this is going to work. As your secretary I should be spending my day in here with you and Miss Kent, and if they spend the evening at bridge?'
'I know.' He tapped ash off in a tray. 'You won't have to spend tomorrow in here. I'm taking a morning plane to Toledo, and I don't know when I'll be back. Actually my secretary has damn little to do when I'm not here. Nora knows everything, and I'll tell her to forget about you until I return. As I told you this afternoon, I'm certain that everybody here, every damn one of them, knows things about my daughter-in-law that I don't know. Even my daughter. Even Nora.' His eyes were leveled at me. 'It's up to you. I've told you about my wife, she'll talk your head off, but everything she tells you may or may not be so. Do you dance?'
'Yes.'
'Are you a good dancer?'
'Yes.'
'Lois likes to dance, but she's particular. Take her out tomorrow evening. Has Roger hit you for a loan yet?'
'No. I haven't been alone with him.'
'That wouldn't stop him. When he does, let him have fifty or a hundred. Give him the impression that you stand in well with me-even let him think you have something on me. Buy my wife some flowers-nothing elaborate, as long as it's something she thinks you paid for. She loves to have men buy things for her. You might take her to lunch, to Rusterman's, and tip high. When a man tips high she takes it as a personal compliment.'
I wanted to move my chair back a little to get less of his cigar, but vetoed it. 'I don't object to the program personally,' I said, 'but I do professionally. That's a hell of a schedule for a secretary. They're not halfwits.'
'That doesn't matter.' He flipped it off with the cigar. 'Let them all think you have something on me-let them think anything they want to. The point is that the house is mine and the money is mine, and whatever I stand for they'll accept whether they understand it or not. The only exception to that is my daughter-in-law, and that's what you're here for. She's making a horse's ass out of my son, and she's getting him away from me, and she's sticking a finger in my affairs. I'm making you a proposition. The day she's out of here, with my son staying, you get ten thousand dollars in cash, in addition to any fee Nero Wolfe charges. The day a divorce settles it, with my son still staying, you get fifty thousand. You personally. That will be in addition to any expenses you incur, over and above Wolfe's fee and expenses.'
I said that no man can stop a conversation the way a woman can, but I must admit that Otis Jarrell had made a darned good stab at it. I also admit I was flattered. Obviously he had gone to Wolfe just to get me, to get me there in his library so he could offer me sixty grand and expenses to frame his daughter-in-law, who probably wasn't a snake at all. If she had been, his itch to get rid of her would have been legitimate, and he could have left it as a job for Wolfe and just let me earn my salary.
It sure was flattering. 'That's quite a proposition,' I said, 'but there's a hitch. I work for Mr. Wolfe. He pays me.'
'You'll still be working for him. I only want you to do what I hired him to do. He'll get his fee.'
That was an insult to my intelligence. He didn't have to make it so damned plain. It would have been a pleasure to square my shoulders and lift my chin and tell him to take back his gold and go climb a tree, and that would have been the simplest way out, but there were drawbacks. For one thing,
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