“As desperate as he could be, Lieutenant. And then Mr. Priam prides himself on being a judge of character. I was really glad of that, because to this day I’m not entirely sure what my character is.”
Ellery lit a cigaret. Wallace watched the flame of the match critically. When Ellery blew the flame out, Wallace smiled again. But immediately Ellery said, “How did you come to take the name Alfred Wallace if you remembered nothing about your past? Or did you remember that?”
“No, it’s just a name I plucked out of the ether, Mr. Queen. Alfred, Wallace ― they’re very ordinary names and more satisfying than John Doe. Lieutenant Keats, aren’t you going to check my story?”
“It’s going to be checked,” Keats assured him. “And I’m sure we’ll find it happened exactly as you’ve told it, Wallace ― dates, names, and places. The only thing is, it’s all a dodge. That’s something I feel in my bones. As one old bone-feeler to another, Mr. Queen, how about it?”
“Did this doctor in Las Vegas put you under hypnosis?” Ellery asked the smiling man.
“Hypnosis? No, Mr. Queen. He was just a general practitioner.”
“Have you seen any other doctor since? A psychiatrist, for example?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“Would you object to being examined by a psychiatrist of ― let’s say ― Lieutenant Keats’s choosing?”
“I’m afraid I would, Mr. Queen,” murmured Wallace. “You see, I’m not sure I want to find out who I really am. I might discover, for example, that I’m-an escaped thief, or that I have a bowlegged wife and five idiot children somewhere. I’m perfectly happy where I am. Of course, Roger Priam isn’t the easiest employer in the world, but the job has its compensations. I’m living in royal quarters. The salary Priam pays me is very large ― he’s a generous employer, one of his few virtues. Old, fat Mrs. Guittierez is an excellent cook, and even though Muggs, the maid, is a straitlaced virgin with halitosis who’s taken an unreasonable dislike to me, she does keep my room clean and polishes my shoes regularly. And the position even solves the problem of my sex life ― oh, I shouldn’t have mentioned that, should I?” Wallace looked distressed; he waved his muscular hand gently. “A slip of the tongue, gentlemen. I do hope you’ll forget I said it.”