Wolfe’s eyes came half open, slowly. “Pfui,” he said scornfully.
“But it is the only thing! Let me tell you what Archie—”
“I heard him.” The open eyes saw an unfinished glass of beer, and he picked it up and drank. He looked at me. “There was a flaw. You assume that if we withhold this information from the police, and Mrs. Whitten gets killed, we’ll be in a pickle. Why? Technically it is not murder evidence; it has no necessary connection with a committed crime. Legally we are clear. Morally we are also clear. What if we accept and credit Mrs. Whitten’s explanation as she gives it? Then there is no menace to her from the members of her family.”
“You mean you buy it?” I demanded. “That she couldn’t even tell whether it was a man or a woman?”
“Why not?”
I got up, threw up my hands, and sat down again.
“But this is not logical,” Marko protested earnestly. “Your questions indicated that you thought she had lied to the doctor. I don’t see why—”
“Nuts,” I said in disgust. “He knows damn well she lied. If he liked to bet he would give you odds that it was one of the family that cut her up, either in the house or out, and she knows who it was and so do the rest of them. I know him better than you do, Marko. If he did leave his damn house and ride at night through the dangerous streets, when he got there he would have to work like a dog, put all he’s got into it, to nail the one that has it coming. If instead of that he goes to bed and sleeps well, something may happen to simplify matters. That’s all there is to it.”
“Is that true, Nero?” Marko demanded.
“It contains truth,” Wolfe conceded big-heartedly. “So does this. Patently Mrs. Whitten is in danger. Anyone who cuts a five-inch gash in the territory of the eighth rib may be presumed to have maleficent intentions, and probably pertinacity to boot. But though Archie is normally humane, his exasperation does not come from a benevolent passion to prevent further injury to Mrs. Whitten. She is much too old for him to feel that way. It comes from his childish resentment that his coup, which was unquestionably brilliant, will not be immediately followed up as he would like it to be. That is understandable, but I see no reason—”