When the phone rang again a little before lunchtime I took it for granted it was one of them, so instead of using my formula I merely said, “Yep?” “Is this Nero Wolfe's office?” It was a voice I had never heard, a sort of an artificial squeak.
“Yes. Archie Goodwin speaking.” “Is Mr Wolfe there?” “Yes. He's engaged. Who is it, please?” “Just tell him rectangle.” “Spell it, please?” “R-e-e-t-a-n-g-1-e, rectangle. Tell him immediately. He'll want to know.” The connection went. I hung ut and turned to Wolfe.
“Rectangle.” “What?” “That's what he said, or rather squeaked. Just to tell you rectangle.” “Ah.” Wolfe sat up and his eyes came clear open. “Get the national office of the Communist Party, Algonquin four two two one five. I want Mr Harvey or Mr Stevens. Either one.” I swivelled and dialled. In a moment a pleasant feminine voice was in my ear.
Its being pleasant was a shock, and also I was a little self-conscious, conversing for the first time with a female Commie, so I said, “My name's Goodwin, comrade. Is Mr Harvey there? Mr Nero Wolfe would like to speak to him.”
“You say Nero Wolfe?” “Yes. A detective.” “I've heard the name. I'll see. Hold the wire.” I waited. Accustomed to holding the wire while a switchboard girl or secretary saw, I leaned back and got comfortable, but it wasn't long before a man told me he was Harvey. I signalled to Wolfe and stayed on myself.
“How do you do, sir,” Wolfe said politely. “I'm in a hole and you can help me if you want to. Will you call at my office at six o'clock today with one of your associates? Perhaps Mr Stevens or Mr Enright, if one of them is available.” “What makes you think we can help you out of a hole?” Harvey asked, not rudely.
He had a middle bass, a little gruff.
“I'm pretty sure you can. At least I would like to ask your advice. It concerns a man whom you know by the name of William Reynolds. He is involved in a case I'm working on, and the matter has become urgent. That's why I would like to see you as soon as possible. There isn't much time.” “What makes you think I know a man named William Reynolds?” “Oh, come, Mr Harvey. After you hear what I have to say you may of course deny that you know him if that's the way you want it. This can't be done on the telephone, or shouldn't be.” “Hold the wire.” That wait was longer. Wolfe sat patiently with the receiver at his ear, and I did likewise. In three or four minutes he started to frown, and by the time Harvey's voice came again he was tapping the arm of his chair with a forefinger.
“If we come,” Harvey asked, “who will be there?” “You will, of course, and I will. And Mr Goodwin, my assistant.” “Nobody else?” “No, sir.” “All right. We'll be there at six o'clock.” I hung up and asked Wolfe, “Does Mr Jones always talk with that funny squeak?
And did ‘rectangle’ mean merely that the letter from a friend had been received?
Or something more, such as which commissars had read it?”
CHAPTER Twenty-One
I never got to see the Albert Enright I had typed a letter to, because the associate that Mr Harvey brought along was Mr Stevens.
Having seen one or two high-ranking Commies in the flesh, and many published pictures of more than a dozen of them, I didn't expect our callers to look like wart hogs or puff adders, but even so they surprised me a little, especially Stevens. He was middle-aged, skinny, and pale, with thin brown hair that should have been trimmed a week ago, and he wore rimless spectacles. If I had had a daughter in high school, Stevens was the guy I would have wanted her to ask for directions in a strange neighbourhood after dark. I wouldn't have gone so far with Harvey, who was younger and much huskier, with sharp greenish-brown eyes and a well-assembled face, but I certainly wouldn't have singled him out as the Menace of the Month.
They didn't want cocktails or any other liquid, and they didn't sit back in their chairs and get comfortable. Harvey announced in his gruff bass, but still not rude, that they had an engagement for a quarter to seven.
“I'll make it as brief as I can,” Wolfe assured them. He reached in the drawer and got one of the pictures and extended his hand. “Will you glance at this?” They arose, and Harvey took the picture, and they looked at it. I thought that was carrying things a little too far. What was I, a worm? So when Harvey dropped it on the desk I stepped over and got an eye on it, and then handed it to Wolfe.
Some day he'll get so damn frolicsome that I'll cramp his style sure as hell. I was now caught up.
Harvey and Stevens sat down again, without exchanging a glance. That struck me as being overcautious, but I suppose Commies, especially on the upper levels, get the habit early and it becomes automatic.
Wolfe asked pleasantly, “It's an interesting face, isn't it?” Stevens stayed deadpan and didn't speak.
“If you like that kind,” Harvey said. “Who is it?” “That will only prolong it.” Wolfe was a little less pleasant. “If I had any doubt that you knew him, none was left after the mention of his name brought you here. Certainly you didn't come because you were grieved to learn that I'm in a hole. If you deny that you know that man as William Reynolds you will have had your trip for nothing, and we can't go on.” “Let's put it this way,” Stevens said softly. “Proceed hypothetically. If we say we do know him as William Reynolds, then what?” Wolfe nodded approvingly. “That will do, I think. Then I talk. I tell you that when I met this man recently, for the first time, his name was not Reynolds. I assume you know his other name too, but since in his association with you and your colleagues he has been Reynolds, we'll use that. When I met him, a little more than a week ago, I didn't know he was a Communist; I learned that only yesterday.” “How?” Harvey snapped.
Wolfe shook his head. “I'm afraid I'll have to leave that out. In my years of work as a private detective I have formed many connections-the police, the Press, all kinds of people. I will say this: I think Reynolds made a mistake.
It's only a conjecture, but a good one I think, that he became frightened. He apprehended a mortal peril-I was responsible for that-and he did something foolish. The peril was a charge of murder. He knew the charge could be brought only if it could be shown that he was a Communist, and he thought I knew it too, and he decided to guard against that by making it appear that while pretending to be a Communist he was actually an enemy of communism and wanted to help destroy it. As I say, that is only a conjecture. But-” “Wait a minute.” Apparently Stevens never raised his voice, even when he was cutting in. “It hasn't quite got to where you can prove a man committed murder just by proving he's a Communist.” Stevens smiled, and, seeing what he regarded as a smile, I decided to have my daughter ask someone else for directions. “Has it?” “No,” Wolfe conceded. “Rather the contrary. Communists are well advised to disapprove of private murders for private motives. But in this case that's how it stood. Since we're proceeding hypothetically, I may include in the hypothesis that you know about the death of a man named Louis Rony, run over by a car on the country estate of James U. Sperling, and that you know that William Reynolds was present. May I not?” “Go on,” Harvey rumbled.