"Oh, it's not that important. But I'm curious about Cal's rope. I don't see why--"
Cal Barrow was there. He had come from the rear and was suddenly there in front of me. He spoke, in his low easy voice. "Can I see you a minute, Archie?"
"Where have you been?" Laura demanded.
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3 at Wolfe's Door
"I been around."
I stood up. "Find your rope?"
"I want to show you. You stay hitched, Laura." She had started up. "You hear me?" It was a command, and from her stare I guessed it was the first one he had ever given her. "Come along, Archie," he said, and moved.
He led me around the corner of the penthouse. On that side the terrace is only six feet wide, but in the rear there is space enough for a badminton court and then some. The tubs of evergreens that had been removed from the front were there, and Cal went on past them to the door of a shack which Lily used for storage. The grouse had been hung there Saturday afternoon. He opened the door and entered, and when I was in shut the door. The only light came from two small windows at the far end, so it was half dark coming in from broad daylight, and Cal said, "Look out, don't step on him."
I turned and reached for the light switch and flipped it, turned back, and stood and looked down at Wade Eisler. As I moved and squatted Cal said, "No use taking his pulse. He's dead."
He was. Thoroughly. The protruding tongue was purple and so were the lips and most of the face. The staring eyes were wide open. The rope had been wound around his throat so many times, a dozen or more, that his chin was pushed up. The rest of the rope was piled on his chest.
"That's my rope," Cal said. "I was looking for it and I found it. I was going to take it but I thought I better not."
"You thought right." I was on my feet I faced him and got his eyes. "Did you do it?"
"No, sir."
I looked at my wrist: twelve minutes to six. "I'd like to believe you," I said, "and until further notice I do. The last I saw you in there you were taking a glass of champagne. More than half an hour ago. I haven't seen you since. That's a long time."
"I been hunting my rope. When I drank that one glass I asked Miss Rowan if she minded if I looked and she said no. We had already looked inside and out front. Then when I come in here
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and found him I sat on that box a while to think it over. I decided the best thing was to get you."
"Wasn't this door locked?"
"No, sir. It was shut but it wasn't locked."
That was possible. It was often left unlocked in the daytime. I looked around. The room held all kinds of stuff--stacks of luggage, chairs, card tables, old magazines on shelves--but at the front, where we were, there was a clear space. Everything seemed to be in place; there was no sign that Eisler had put up a fight, and you wouldn't suppose a man would stand with his hands in his pockets while someone got a noose around his neck and pulled it tight. If he had been conked first, what with? I stepped to a rack against the wall on the left and put a hand out, but pulled it back. One of those three-foot stainless-steel rods, for staking plants, would have been just the thing, and the one on top was lying across the others. If I had had gloves and a glass with me, and there had been no rush, and Cal hadn't been there with his eyes boring at me, I would have given it a look.
I opened the door, using my handkerchief for the knob, and stepped out. There were six windows in the rear of the penthouse, but except for the two near the far corner, which belonged to the maid's room and bathroom, their view of the shack and the approach to it was blocked by the evergreens. That had been a break for the murderer; there had certainly been someone in the kitchen. I went back inside, shut the door, and told Cal, "Here's how it is. I have to get the cops here before anyone leaves if I want to keep my license. I don't owe Wade Eisler anything, but this will be a sweet mess for Miss Rowan and I'm a friend of hers, so I'm curious. When did you first miss the rope?"
He opened his mouth and closed it again. He shook his head. "I guess I made a mistake," he said. "I should have took that rope off and found it somewhere else."
"You should like hell. It would have been a cinch for the police lab to prove it had been around his neck. When did you first miss it?"
"But I had told you about last night and how I was worked up
140 3 at Wolfe's Door
and you had promised to keep it in, and I figured I couldn't expect you to be square with me if I wasn't square with you, so I went and got you. Now the way you take it, I don't know."
"For God's sake." I wasn't as disgusted as I sounded. "What did you think, I'd bring you a bottle of champagne? Wait till you see how the cops take it. When did you first miss the rope?"
"I don't know just what time. It was a while after you left, maybe twenty minutes. With people coming and putting things in that closet I thought I'd get it and hang onto it."
"Had you put it in the closet yourself?"
"Yeah. On the shelf with my hat on top. The hat was there but the rope was gone."
"Did you tell someone right away?"
"I looked all over the closet and then I told Laura and she told Miss Rowan. Miss Rowan asked everybody and she helped Laura and me look some, but people started coming."
"At the time you missed the rope had anybody already come? Was anyone here besides those who ate lunch with us?"
"No, sir."
"You're sure?"
"I'm sure enough to put a no on it. They ain't much a man can be dead sure of. It might be someone came I didn't see, but I was right there and I'd have to--"
"Save it." I glanced at my watch: five minutes to six. "At the time you missed the rope where was Wade Eisler?"
"I don't know."
"When did you see him last?"
"I can't say exactly. I wasn't riding herd on him."
"Did you see him after you missed the rope? Take a second. This is important. Take ten."
He screwed up his lips and shut his eyes. He took the full ten seconds. His eyes opened. "No, sir, I didn't."
"Sure enough to put a no on it?"
"I already did."
"Okay. Do you know if anyone else was worked up about Wade Eisler?"
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"I wouldn't say worked up. I guess nobody wanted him for a pet."
"As it looks now, someone who ate lunch with us killed him. Have you any idea who?"
"No, sir. I don't expect to have none."
"That's noble. Don't be too noble. There's plenty more, but it will have to wait. If I leave you here while I go in and tell Miss Rowan and call the cops will you stay put and keep your hands off of that rope?"
"No, sir. I'm going to see Laura. I'm going to tell her if they ask her anything she better leave it out about last night."
"You are not." I was emphatic. "You've got no brand on her, you said so. You may think you know how she'll take a going-over by experts, but you don't. Every move anybody makes from now on will get on the record, and if you go and call her away from that baboon she's sitting with, what does she say and what do you say when they ask you why? She'll either leave it out or she won't, and you'll only make it worse if you tell her to. If you won't promise you'll stick here I'll just open the door and yell for Miss Rowan, and she can call the cops."
His jaw was working. "You said you believed me."
"I do. If I change my mind I'll let you know first. What you told me and what you asked me to do, I said I'd keep it in and I will, provided you do too. We were discussing the saddle. Well?"
"I figure to keep everything in. But if I could just tell her--"
"No. She probably won't spill it, but if she does and says she told you about it that won't break any bones. You left it out because you didn't want to cause her trouble. Everybody leaves things out when cops ask questions. Do I yell for Miss Rowan?"
"No. Ill stay hitched."
"Come outside and stand at the door. You've already touched the knob twice and that's enough. If anyone comes keep them off." Using my handkerchief again, I opened the door. He stepped out and I pulled the door shut as I crossed the silL"Be seeing you," I said, and went.