Wolfe shook his head. “I haven’t got that far yet. But it isn’t the objection you raise that’s bothering me; that can be overcome; it’s something else.” He leaned forward and was earnest. “Look here, Mr. Cramer. It would not have been impossible for me to see this through alone, deliver the murderer and the evidence to you, and flap my wings and crow. But first, I have no ambition to expose you as a zany, since you’re not; and second, I need your help. I am not now prepared to prove to you that Mion was murdered; I can only assure you that he was and repeat that I won’t have to eat it — and neither will you. Isn’t that enough, at least to arouse your interest?”
Cramer stopped chewing the cigar. He never lit one. “Sure,” he said grimly. “Hell, I’m interested. Another first-class headache. I’m flattered you want me to help. How?”
“I want you to arrest two people as material witnesses, question them, and let them out on bail.”
“Which two? Why not all six?” I warned you his sarcasm was hefty.
“But” — Wolfe ignored it — “under clearly defined conditions. They must not know that I am responsible; they must not even know that I have spoken with you. The arrests should be made late this afternoon or early evening, so they’ll be kept in custody all night and until they arrange for bail in the morning. The bail need not be high; that’s not important. The questioning should be fairly prolonged and severe, not merely a gesture, and if they get little or no sleep so much the better. Of course this sort of thing is routine for you.”
“Yeah, we do it constantly.” Cramer’s tone was unchanged. “But when we ask for a warrant we like to have a fairly good excuse. We wouldn’t like to put down that it’s to do Nero Wolfe a favor. I don’t want to be contrary.”
“There’s ample excuse for these two. They are material witnesses. They are indeed.”
“You haven’t named them. Who are they?”
“The man and woman who found the body. Mr. Frederick Weppler, the music critic, and Mrs. Mion, the widow.”
This time I didn’t goggle, but I had to catch myself quick. It was a first if there ever was one. Time and again I have seen Wolfe go far, on a few occasions much too far, to keep a client from being pinched. He regards it as an unbearable personal insult. And here he was, practically begging the law to haul Fred and Peggy in, when I had deposited her check for five grand only the day before!