Wolfe shrugged. “They had been informed that I am able, astute, discreet and unscrupulous.”
“Hell, I could have told them that.” Cramer removed his cigar from his mouth and studied the tip of it. “I’ve been trying to figure out what they needed you for when they already had a good lawyer. I like things to be plausible. What if they suspected Miss Karn had murdered Hawthorne, and they wanted you to sort of collect evidence and put it in shape? That would be a good job for a detective. Then Miss Karn could sign an agreement to let them have the dough, or most of it, and you could decide the evidence wasn’t good enough to justify accusing her of murder. So everybody would be satisfied, except maybe Hawthorne, but he was dead. How do you like that way of figuring it?”
“I think it’s clumsy,” said Wolfe judiciously. “If they regarded me as capable of compromising with a murderer, they would also have thought it likely that I would retain the evidence and blackmail them the rest of their lives. Not to mention the detail that they weren’t aware Hawthorne had been murdered. You saw their shock and surprise when you told them he had.”
“Yeah, I saw that. They certainly were shocked.”
“Indeed they were.” Wolfe frowned. “Then aren’t you supporting the theory that Hawthorne was killed because he had ruined Mr. Dunn’s career with that Argentina loan business? I thought you fellows had that all cooked and ready to serve.”
“I’m not a cook, I’m a cop. If anybody uses this murder to grease someone’s pants, it won’t be me. I’m supposed to be looking for a murderer. From what Dunn tells me, so are you.”
“I am.”
“Okay. Let’s find him or her. I’m going to be frank with you. I like the idea of Miss Karn. Personally. You don’t need to tell Skinner that. She inherits seven million dollars, and there have been plenty of murders for a hell of a lot less than that. Since she was intimate with Hawthorne, of course she knew where he was going that day and who would be there. She drives a car. She went there to get him, probably with a gun. She went there to do it because she knew there were a dozen people there who would be good suspects for one reason or another. She had a piece of luck and saw him from the road, there by the edge of the woods, with a shotgun. She walked across the field and chinned with him, maneuvered him around to the corner of the woods that can’t be seen from the road, made some excuse to get hold of the shotgun, and killed him. She didn’t even have to use her own weapon. Then she wiped the shotgun with a bunch of grass, put his prints on it, and beat it.”
Wolfe grumbled, “Anyone of a million people could have done all that.”
“Uh-huh. But it only took one to do it. I’m enthusiastic about the idea of Miss Karn, especially after the talk I had with her this morning. Of course I’m not subtle like you, but I know a two-legged female tiger when I see one. She’s a dangerous baby, that Karn woman is. It’s in her eyes. Incidentally, you can have this for nothing, she has no alibi for Tuesday afternoon. She thinks she has, but that kind is two for a nickel.”