“You’re scaring me stiff,” Fifi Goheen said. “I’m frail and I may collapse.” She stood up. “Come on, Leddy, I’ll buy you a drink.”
Leddegard reached for her elbow and gave it a little shake. “Hold it, Fee,” he told her gruffly. “This guy has been known to do flips. Let’s see. Sit down.”
“Blah. You are scared. You’ve got a reputation.” She jerked her arm loose and took two quick steps to the edge of Wolfe’s desk. Her voice rose a little. “I don’t like the atmosphere here. You’re too fat to look at. Orchids, for God’s sake!” Her hand darted to the bowl of Miltonias, and with a flip of the wrist she sent it skidding along the slick surface and off to the floor.
There was some commotion. Mrs. Rackell jerked her feet back, away from the tumbling bowl. Carol Berk said something. Leddegard left his chair and started for Fifi, but she whirled away to Henry Jameson Heath, pressed her palms to his cheeks, and bent to him. She implored him, “Hank, I love you! Do you love me? Take me somewhere and buy me a drink.”
Delia Devlin sprang up, hauled off, and smacked Fifi on the side of the head. It was not merely a tap, and Fifi, off balance, nearly toppled. Heath came upright and was between them. Delia stood, glaring and panting. They held the tableau long enough for a take, then Fifi broke it up by addressing Delia past Heath’s shoulder.
“That won’t help any, Del. Can he help it when he’s with you if he wishes it was me? Can I help it? This only makes it worse. If he’ll buy a new suit and quit bailing out Commies and stay out of jail, I may make him happy.” She touched Heath’s cheek with her fingertips. “Say when, Hank.” She swerved around him to the desk and told Wolfe, “Look, you buy me a drink.”
I was there, retrieving the bowl. The water wouldn’t hurt the rug. Taking her arm firmly, I escorted her across to the table by the big globe, which Fritz and I had outfitted, and told her to name it. She said Scotch on the rocks, and I made it ample. The others, invited, stated their preferences, and Carol Berk came to help me. Rackell, who had been between Delia and Fifi, decided to move and went to Carol’s chair, so when we had finished serving she took his.
Throughout the interlude two had neither moved nor spoken — Mrs. Rackell and Wolfe. Now Wolfe sent his eyes from left to right and back again.
“I trust,” he said sourly, “that Miss Goheen has completed her impromptu performance. I was trying to make it clear that you five people are in a fix. I’m not going to pester you about your positions and movements at the restaurant that evening, what you saw or didn’t see; if there was anything in that to point or eliminate the police would have already acted on it and I’m too far behind. I might spend a few hours digging at you, trying to find a reason why one or more of you wanted Arthur Rackell dead, but the police have had four days on that too, and I doubt if I could catch up. Since you were good enough to come here at Mrs. Rackell’s request, I suppose you would be willing to answer some questions, but there doesn’t seem to be any worth asking. Have you people been together at any time since Saturday evening?”
Glances were exchanged. Leddegard inquired, “Do you mean all five of us?”