Rex Stout - Nero Wolfe by Three at Wolfe's Door

have been not only premeditated but also thoroughly rigged, since she had the poison ready. So she must have known that Mr. Pyle would be one of the guests. Did she?”
    â€œOh, yes. We all did. Mr. Buchman at the agencyshowed us a list of them and told us who they were, only of course he didn’t have to tell us who Vincent Pyle was. That was about a month ago, so she had plenty of time to get the poison. Is that arsenic very hard to get?”
    â€œNot at all. It is in common use for many purposes. That is of course one of the police lines of inquiry, but she knew it would be and she is no bungler. Another point: when Mr. Pyle saw her there, serving food, wouldn’t he have been on his guard?”
    â€œBut he didn’t see her. They didn’t see any of us before. She came up behind him and gave him that plate. Of course he saw her afterward, but he had already eaten it.”
    Wolfe persisted. “But then? He was in agony, but he was conscious and could speak. Why didn’t he denounce her?”
    She gestured impatiently. “I guess you’re not as clever as you’re supposed to be. He didn’t know she had done it. When he saw her she was serving another man, and—”
    â€œWhat other man?”
    â€œI don’t know. How do I know? Only it wasn’t you, because I served you. And anyway, maybe he didn’t know she wanted to kill him. Of course she had a good reason, I know that, but maybe he didn’t know she felt like that. A man doesn’t know how a girl feels—anyhow, some girls. Look at me. He didn’t know I would never dream of going to the last ditch. He thought I would give up my honor and my virtue just to get a part in that play he was backing, and anyhow it was a flop.” She gestured again. “I thought you wanted to get her. All you do is make objections.”
    Wolfe rubbed the side of his nose. “I do want to get her, Miss Iacono. I intend to. But like Mr. Pyle, thoughfrom a different motive, I am very careful. I can’t afford to botch it. I fully appreciate your offer to help. You didn’t like Mr. Goodwin’s suggestion that you get them here in a body for a discussion with me, and you may be right. But I don’t like your plan, for you to approach them singly and try to pump them. Our quarry is a malign and crafty harpy, and I will not be a party to your peril. I propose an alternative. Arrange for Mr. Goodwin to see them, together with you. Being a trained investigator, he knows how to beguile, and the peril, if any, will be his. If they are not available at the moment, arrange it for this evening—but not here. Perhaps one of them has a suitable apartment, or if not, a private room at some restaurant would do. At my expense, of course. Will you?”
    It was her turn to make objections, and she had several. But when Wolfe met them, and made it plain that he would accept her as a colleague only if she accepted his alternative, she finally gave in. She would phone to let me know how she was making out with the arrangements. From her manner, when she got up to go, you might have thought she had been shopping for some little item, say a handbag, and had graciously deferred to the opinion of the clerk. After I graciously escorted her out and saw her descend the seven steps from the stoop to the sidewalk, I returned to the office and found Wolfe sitting with his eyes closed and his fists planted on the chair arms.
    â€œEven money,” I said.
    â€œOn what?” he growled.
    â€œOn her against the field. She knows damn well who had a good reason and exactly what it was. It was getting too hot for comfort and she decided that the best way to duck was to wish it on some dear friend.”
    His eyes opened. “She would, certainly. A womanwhose conscience has no sting will stop at nothing. But why come to me? Why didn’t she cook her own stew and serve it to the police?”
    â€œI don’t know,