“Is that all?”
“It’s all for now. I’m not a brain, I’m a typist. I’ve got to finish this damn report.”
I tossed the art back to him and returned to work.
At 12:28 I handed him the finished report, and he dropped D.D. and started on it. I went to the kitchen to tell Fritz I would take on the phone again, and as I re-entered the office it was ringing. I crossed to my desk and got it. My daytime formula was, “Nero Wolfe’s office, Archie Goodwin speaking,” but with our license gone it was presumably illegal to have an office, so I said, “Nero Wolfe’s residence, Archie Goodwin speaking,” and heard Saul Panzer’s husky voice.
“Reporting in, Archie. No trouble at all. Koven is served. Put it in his hand five minutes ago.”
“In the house?”
“Yes. I’ll call Parker—”
“How did you get in?”
“Oh, simple. The man that delivers stuff from that Furnari’s you told me about has got the itch bad, and it only took ten bucks. Of course after I got inside I had to use my head and legs both, but with your sketch of the layout it was a cinch.”
“For you, yes. Mr. Wolfe says satisfactory, which as you know is as far as he ever goes. I say you show promise. You’ll call Parker?”