“The hell you do.”
Wolfe nodded. “I do. That is one change in the situation. The other is that an attempt has been made to murder Miss Nichols. — Please! There is no cause for alarm. The attempt was frustrated—”
“When?” Brady demanded. “What kind of an attempt?”
“To murder Janet!” Maryella exclaimed incredulously.
Wolfe frowned at them. “This will go more quickly and smoothly with no interruptions. I’ll make it as brief as possible; I assure you I have no wish to prolong the unpleasantness. Especially since I find less than enjoyable the presence in this room of an extremely unattractive person. I shall call that person X. As you all know, X began with an effort to injure Miss Huddleston by sending anonymous letters—”
“Nothing of the sort!” Larry blurted indignantly. “We don’t know that one of us sent those letters! Neither do you!”
“Put it this way, Mr. Huddleston.” Wolfe wiggled a finger at him. “I make statements. You suspect belief. In the end there will be a verdict, and you will concur or not. X sent those letters. Then he — I am forced thus to exclude women, at least temporarily, by the pronominal inadequacy of our language — then he became dissatisfied with the results, or something happened, no matter which. In any case, X decided on something more concrete and conclusive. Murder. The technique was unquestionably suggested by the recent death of Miss Horrocks by tetanus. A small amount of material procured at the stable, immersed in water, furnished the required emulsion. It was strained and mixed with argyrol, the mixture was put in a bottle with an iodine label, and the bottle was substituted for the iodine bottle in the cabinet in Miss Huddleston’s bathroom. But—”
“Her bathroom?” Maryella was incredulous again.
“Yes, Miss Timms. But X was not one to wait indefinitely for some accidental disjunction in Miss Huddleston’s skin. He carried the preparations further, by smashing her bottle of bath salts and inserting a sliver of glass among the bristles of her bath brush. Beautifully simple. It would be supposed that the sliver lodged there when the bottle broke. If she saw it and removed it, no harm done, try again. If she didn’t see it, she would cut herself, and there was the iodine bottle—”
“Nuts!” Larry exploded. “You can’t possibly—”