“What happened?”
“Nothing. I made no headway at all. Naturally, in my position, I have been entrusted with some difficult and delicate negotiations, and I’ve dealt with some tough customers, but I’ve never struck anything tougher than Miss Karn. Her position was that it would be improper, and even indecent, to interfere with the wishes of a dead man as he had himself expressed them, with regard to the disposal of his own property. Therefore she couldn’t even discuss it, and she wouldn’t. I told her she would have a contest to fight and might lose it all. She said she had a great respect for justice and would cheerfully accept any decision a court might make, provided there was no higher court to appeal to.”
“Did you offer terms?”
“No, not specific terms. I didn’t get that far. She was—” Stauffer seemed momentarily embarrassed how to put it. “She wasn’t inclined to listen to anything about the will, the purpose of my call. She attempted to presume on our comparatively slight acquaintance.”
“Do you mean she tried to make love to you?”
“Oh, no.” Stauffer blushed, glanced involuntarily at April Hawthorne, and blushed more. “No, not that, not at all. I mean merely that she acted as if my visit were — just a friendly visit. She is an extremely clever woman.”
“And you think she wasn’t scared by the threat of a contest?”
“I’m positive she wasn’t. I never saw anyone less scared.”
Wolfe grunted. He turned to June with a frown. “What’s the point,” he demanded, “of asking me to bring your game down with ammunition that’s already been fired?”
“That is the point,” June asserted. “That’s why we came to you. If a simple threat would do it, it would have been simple. I know it’s a hard job. That’s why we’ll gladly pay the fee you’ll charge, if you succeed.”