Wolfe, at his desk, frowned at us. “How do you do, Mr. Huddleston. Archie. Where have you been?”
“I know,” I said, “it’s about lunch time, so I’ll make it brief. First cast a glance at this.” I took the knife, the trowel, and the paper bags from my pockets and put them on his desk.
Daniel stared and muttered something.
“What is this flummery?” Wolfe demanded.
“No flummery,” I asserted. “Tools. It still didn’t rain last night. So I went to Riverdale to get the piece of turf where the orangutan poured the iodine. Brother Daniel had the same idea. He was just ahead of me. He’s got it in that newspaper. I thought he might be going to toss it in the river, so I tailed him and he led me here. So I look foolish but not dumb. Now you can laugh.”
He didn’t. He looked at Daniel. “Is that what you have in that package, Mr. Huddleston?”
“It is,” Daniel said. “I want—”
“Why did you bring it to me? I’m not a chemist. You are.”
“Because I want to authenticate it. I want—”
“Take it to the police.”