“Then you don’t say that he had been?”
“I know nothing about it.”
“There’s nothing as safe as ignorance — or as dangerous.” Wolfe spread his gaze again. “To complete the list of what we know about the murderer. Seventh and last, his repugnance to Getz was so extreme that he even scorned the risk that by killing Getz he might be killing Dazzle Dan. How essential Getz was to Dazzle Dan—”
“I make Dazzle Dan!” Harry Koven roared. “Dazzle Dan is mine!” He was glaring at everybody. “I am Dazzle Dan!”
“For God’s sake shut up, Harry!” Pat Lowell said sharply.
Koven’s chin was quivering. He needed three drinks.
“I was saying,” Wolfe went on, “that I do not know how essential Getz was to Dazzle Dan. The testimony conflicts. In any case the murderer wanted him dead. I’ve identified the murderer for you by now, surely?”
“You have not,” Pat Lowell said aggressively.
“Then I’ll specify.” Wolfe leaned forward at them. “But first let me say a word for the police, particularly Mr. Cramer. He is quite capable of unraveling a tangle like this, with its superficial complexities. What flummoxed him was Mr. Koven’s elaborate lie, apparently corroborated by Miss Lowell and Mr. Hildebrand. If he had had the gumption to proceed on the assumption that Mr. Goodwin and I were telling the truth and all of it, he would have found it simple. This should be a lesson to him.”
Wolfe considered a moment. “It might be better to specify by elimination. If you recall my list of seven facts about the murderer, that is child’s play. Mr. Jordan, for instance, is eliminated by Number Six; he wasn’t there Sunday morning. Mr. Hildebrand is eliminated by three or four of them, especially Number Six again; he had made no earlier trip upstairs. Miss Lowell is eliminated, for me, by Numbers Four and Five; and I am convinced that none of the three I have named can meet the requirements of Number Three. I do not believe that Mr. Koven would have confided in any of them so intimately. Nor do I—”