Rex Stout - Nero Wolfe 17 by Three Doors to Death

have arranged with Nero Wolfe to keep me from being convicted of murder, and Mr. Goodwin came here with me. I was nearly arrested because I came here last night and stayed fifteen minutes.”
    Demarest nodded. He had deposited his hat on Bernard’s desk and his fanny on Bernard’s chair the other side of the desk, which seemed a little arbitrary. He nodded again at Cynthia.
    “I know. A friend at the District Attorney’s office has given me the particulars. But my dear child, you should have called on me at once. I should have been beside you! You went to Nero Wolfe instead? Why?”
    He irritated me. Also Cynthia sent me a glancewhich I interpreted to mean that hired help are supposed to earn their pay, so I horned in.
    “Maybe I can answer that, Mr. Demarest. In fact that’s what I was about to do when you entered. You know how it stands now, do you?”
    “I know how it stood thirty minutes ago.”
    “Then you’re up with us. I was explaining to Mr. Daumery that Miss Nieder would prefer not to be arrested. Primarily that’s what sent her to Mr. Wolfe. I was going on to explain what she can expect of Mr. Wolfe. She won’t have to pay him for an all-out job. On a case like this that would mean checking on everybody who entered or left the building last evening after hours, which would be quite a chore itself, considering how careless elevator men get. Things like that are much better left to the police, and a lot of similar jobs, for instance the fingerprint roundup, the laboratory angles, checking alibis, and so on. Naturally the five people who have keys to this place are special cases. Their alibis will get it good, and they’ll be tailed day and night, and all the rest of it. We’ll let the city pay for all that, not Miss Nieder. That’s what Mr. Wolfe won’t do.”
    “It doesn’t leave much, does it?” Demarest inquired.
    “Enough to keep him occupied. Apparently you’ve heard of him, Mr. Demarest, so you probably know he goes about it his way. That’s what he’s doing now, and that’s why I’m here. He sent me to arrange a little meeting at his office tonight. Miss Nieder, Miss Zarella, Mr. Daumery, Mr. Roper, and you. You are the five who have keys. Half-past eight would suit him fine if it would suit you. Refreshments served.”
    Bernard and Demarest made noises. The one fromBernard was an impatient grunt, but the one from Demarest sounded more like a chuckle.
    “We’re summoned,” the lawyer said.
    I grinned at him. “I wouldn’t dream of putting it that way.”
    “No, but we are.” He chuckled again. “We who have keys. I offer a comment. You said that Wolfe’s primary function, as Miss Nieder sees it, is to prevent her arrest. Obviously he intends to perform it by getting someone else arrested—and tried and convicted. That may prove to be a difficult and expensive undertaking, and possibly quite unnecessary. I would engage, with the situation as it is now, to get the same result with one-tenth the effort and at one-tenth the expense. It’s only fair to her, isn’t it, to give her that alternative?”
    He turned. “It’s your money, Cynthia. What about it? Do you want to pay Wolfe to do it his way?”
    For a second I thought she was weakening. But she was only deciding how to put it.
    “Yes, I do,” she declared firmly. “I never had a detective working for me before, and if you can’t hire a detective when you’re suspected of murder when can you hire one?”
    Demarest nodded. “I thought so,” he said in a satisfied tone. “Just what I thought. Did you say eight-thirty, Goodwin?”
    “That would be best. Mr. Wolfe works better when he isn’t looking forward to a meal. You’ll come?”
    “Certainly I’ll come. To save energy. I like to economize on energy, and it will take less to attend that meeting than it would to argue Miss Nieder out of it.” He smiled at her. “My dear child! I want a private talk with you.”
    “Maybe it can wait a few minutes?” I