Three For The Chair

Three For The Chair by Rex Stout

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Authors: Rex Stout
Tags: thriller, Crime, Mystery, Classic
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with, I didn't get hold of him until nearly noon. From nine o'clock until ten all I got was his answering service and the information that he was out making calls. I left word for him to ring me, but he didn't. From ten o'clock on I got his office nurse. She was courteous and sympathetic, in a subdued way, the first three times I phoned, but after that got a little brusque. The doctor, still out making the rounds, had been told of my request to be rung, and she couldn't help it if he had been too busy. When he finally called I couldn't very well ask him to arrive with Miss Goren at eleven, since it was already a quarter to twelve, so I suggested three o'clock, and got a flat no. Neither three nor any other hour. He had told Wolfe all he had to tell about the death of Bertram Fyfe, but if Wolfe wished to speak with him on the phone he could spare two minutes. Consulted, Wolfe said no, not on the phone. Deadlock.
    The upshot was that after lunch I got the car from the garage and drove the forty miles, up the West Side Highway and out the Sawmill River Parkway, to Mount Kisco, and found that Buhl's office was in a big white house in a big green lawn. I had been told he would see me after his p.m. office hours, which were from two to four, but there were still five patients in the waiting room when I arrived, so I had a nice long visit with the usual crop of magazines before the nurse, who had been with him at least sixty years, passed me through.
    Buhl, seated at a desk, looking tired but still distinguished, told me abruptly, 'I have calls to make and I'm late. What is it now?'
    I can be abrupt too. 'A question,' I said, 'raised by a relative of the deceased. Did someone substitute something else for the morphine'Mr. Wolfe doesn't want to pass it on to the cops without giving it a look himself, but if you would prefer -'
    'Morphine'You mean the morphine administered to Bert Fyfe?'
    'Yes, sir. Since the question has been -'
    'That damn fool. Paul, of course. It's absurd. Substituted when and by whom?'
    'Not specified.' I sat down, uninvited. 'But Mr. Wolfe can't just skip it so he'd appreciate a little information. Did you give the morphine to the nurse yourself?'
    From the look he gave me I expected to be told to go climb a tree, preferably one about ready to topple, but he changed his mind and decided to get it over with. 'The morphine,' he said, 'came from a bottle in my case. I took two quarter-grain tablets from the bottle and gave them to the nurse, and told her to give one to the patient as soon as the dinner guests had left, and the other one an hour later if necessary. She has told me that the tablets were administered as directed. To suppose that something was substituted for them is fantastic.'
    'Yes, sir. Where did she keep them until the time came to administer them?'
    'I don't know. She is a competent nurse and completely reliable. Do you want me to ask her?'
    'No, thanks, I will. Could there be any question about your bottle of morphine'Could it have been tampered with?'
    'Not possible. No.'
    'Had you got a fresh supply recently ' I mean, put a fresh supply in that bottle?'
    'No. Not for two weeks at least. Longer, probably.'
    'Would you say there is any chance ' say one in a million ' that you took the tablets from the wrong bottle?'
    'No. Not one in a billion.' His brows went up. 'Isn't this a little superfluous'From what David told me yesterday I gathered that Paul's suspicions were directed at the man who came to New York with Bert ' Mr. Arrow.'
    'Maybe so, but Mr. Wolfe is being thorough. He's a thorough man.' I stood up. 'Many thanks, doctor. If you wonder why I drove clear up here just for this, Mr. Wolfe is also careful. He doesn't like to ask questions about an unexpected death on the phone.'
    I left him, went back out to the car, and rolled off. The route back to the parkway took me through the center of town, and on a red brick building on a corner, a very fine location, I saw the sign: TUTTLE'S

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