Cramer turned from me rudely and said, "Gather up, Murphy. We're leaving." He shoved his chair back, stood up, and shook his ankles to get his pants legs down. Levy came back in, and Cramer addressed him. "We're leaving. Everybody out. To my office. Tell Stebbins one man out front will be enough--no, 111 tell him--"
"There's one more, sir."
"One more what?"
"In the front room. A man."
"Who?"
"His name is Nicholson Morley. He's a psychiatrist."
"Let him go. This is a goddam joke."
"Yes, sir."
Levy went. The shorthand dick had collected note Curtains for Three 191
and other papers and was putting them into a briefcase. Cramer looked at Wolfe. Wolfe back at him.
"A while ago," Cramer rasped, "you said something occurred to you." I^Did I?" Wolfe inquired coldly. |Their eyes went on clashing until Cramer broke the tion by turning to go. I restrained an impulse to |ck their heads together. They were both being sh. If Wolfe really had something, anything at all, new damn well Cramer would gladly trade the on the office doors for it sight unseen. And ner knew damn well he could make the deal him* with nothing to lose. But they were both too sore ^stubborn to show any horse sense.
amer had circled the end of the table on his way I when Levy re-entered to report, "That man Morllnsists on seeing you. He says it's vital." ICramer halted, glowering. "What is he, a screw
r"
pi don't know, sir. He may be." gf Oh, bring him in." Cramer came back around the to his chair.
VII
was my first really good look at the middle-aged with the mop of black hair. His quick-darting i were fully as black as his hair, and the appearance chin and jowls made it evident that his beard have been likewise if he gave it half a chance. ; down and was telling Cramer who and what he
192 Rex Stout
Cramer nodded impatiently. "I know. You have something to say, Dr. Morley?"
"I have. Something vital."
"Let's hear it."
Morley got better settled in his chair. "First, I assume that no arrest has been made. Is that correct?"
"Yes--if you mean an arrest with a charge of murder." "Have you a definite object of suspicion, with or without evidence in support?"
"If you mean am I ready to name the murderer, no. Are you?"
"I think I may be."
Cramer's chin went up. "Well? I'm in charge here."
Dr. Morley smiled. "Not quite so fast. The suggestion I have to offer is sound only with certain assumptions." He placed the tip of his right forefinger on the tip of his left little finger. "One: that you have no idea who committed this murder, and apparently you haven't." He moved over a finger. "Two: that this was not a commonplace crime with a commonplace discoverable motive." To the middle finger. "Three: that nothing is known to discredit the hypothesis that this girl--I understand from Mrs. Orwin that her name was Cynthia Brown--that she was strangled by the man who strangled Doris Hatten on October seventh last year. May I make those assumptions?"
"You can try. Why do you want to?"
Morley shook his head. "Not that I want to. That if I am permitted to, I have a suggestion. I wish to make it clear that I have great respect for the competence of the police, within proper limits. If the man who murdered Doris Hatten had been vulnerable to police techniques and resources, he would almost certainly have been caught. But he wasn't. You failed utterly. Why?"
Curtains for Three 193
|"You're telling me."
|;"Because he was out of bounds for you. Because exploration of motive is restricted by your onceptions." Morley's black eyes gleamed. "You're Syman, so I won't use technical terms. The most Irerful motives on earth are motives of the personal |vwhich cannot be exposed by any purely objective stigation. If the personality is twisted, distorted, is with a psychotic, then the motives are twisted | As a psychiatrist I was deeply interested in the shed reports of the murder of Doris Hatten--es ally the detail that she was strangled with her own f. When your efforts to find the culprit--thorough, Poubt, and even brilliant--ended in complete fail I would have been glad to come forward with a sstion, but I was as helpless as you." et down to it," Cramer muttered. fes." Morley put his elbows on the table and all his fingertips. "Now today. On the basis of |assumptions I began with, it is a tenable theory, fry to be tested, that this was the same man. If so made a mistake. Apparently no one got in here without having his name checked; the man at the was most efficient. So it is no longer a question of ig him among thousands or millions; it's a mere or so, and I am willing to contribute my ser I don't think there are more than three or four t in New York qualified for such a job, and I am one item. You can verify that." tie black eyes flashed. "I admit that for a psychia- \ this is a rare opportunity. Nothing could be more atic than a psychosis exploding into murder. I i't pretend that my suggestion is entirely unselfish, ju have to do is to have them brought to my office ae at a time, of course. With some of them ten min 194 Rex Stout
utes will be enough, but with others it may take hours. When I have--"
"Wait a minute," Cramer put in. "Are you suggesting that we deliver everyone that was here today to your office for you to work on?"
"No, not everyone, only the men. When I have finished I may have nothing that can be used as evidence, but there's an excellent chance that I can tell you who the strangler is, and when you once know that--"
"Excuse me," Cramer said. He was on his feet. "Sorry to cut you off, Doctor, but I must get downtown." He was on his way. "I'm afraid your suggestion wouldn't work. I'll let you know--"
He went, and Levy and Murphy with him.
Dr. Morley pivoted his head to watch them go, kept it that way a moment, and then came back to us. He looked disappointed but not beaten. The black eyes, after resting on me briefly, darted to Wolfe.
"You," he said, "are intelligent and literate. I should have had you more in mind. May I count on you to explain to that policeman why my suggestion is the only hope for him?"
"No," Wolfe said curtly.
"He's had a hard day," I told Morley. "So have I. Would you mind closing the door after you?"
He looked as if he had a notion to start on me as a last resort, so I got up and circled around to the door, which had been left open, and remarked to him, 'This way, please."
He arose and walked out without a word. I shut the door, had a good stretch and yawn, crossed to open a window and stick my head out for a breath of air, closed the window, and looked at my wrist watch.
"Twenty minutes to ten," I announced.
Wolfe muttered, "Go look at the office door."
Curtains for Three 195
"I just did, as I let Morley out. It's sealed. Malefic e."
"See if they're gone and bolt the door. Send Saul ae and tell him to come at nine in the morning. Tell I want beer."
obeyed. The hall and front room were uninhab , Saul, whom I found in the kitchen with Fritz, said made a complete tour upstairs and everything in order. I stayed for a little chat with him while took a tray to the dining room. When I left him went back Wolfe, removing the cap from a bottle er with the opener Fritz had brought on the tray, naking a face, which I understood. The opener he ays used, a gold item that a satisfied client had him years ago, was in the drawer of his desk in ffice. I sat and watched him pour beer.
isn't a bad room to sit in," I said brightly, i! I want to ask you something." Shoot."
I want your opinion of this. Assume that we ac without reservation the story Miss Brown told By the way, do you?" In view of what happened, yes." lien assume it. Assume also that the man she had i, knowing she had recognized him, followed ^downstairs and saw her enter the office; that he I that she intended to consult me; that he post1 joining her in the office either because he knew in there with her or for some other reason; She saw you come out and go upstairs; that he took tunity to enter the office unobserved, got her I, killed her, got out unobserved, and returned s. All of those assumptions seem to be required, we discard all that and dig elsewhere." take it that way."