Gambit Read Free

Kalmus, the lawyer, that he couldn’t go on; and Kalmus went and brought a doctor, one of the players - I don’t know which table - named Victor Avery. Dr Avery asked Jerin some questions and sent someone to a drug store on Sixth Avenue for something. By the time the medicine arrived Jerin was worse and the doctor dosed him. In another half an hour Jerin was even worse and they sent for an ambulance. He arrived at St Vincent’s Hospital in the ambulance, accompanied by Dr Avery, at a quarter to eleven, and he died at twenty minutes past three. Later the Medical Examiner found arsenic in him. The Times didn’t say how much, but the Gazette said seven grains. Any correction?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Not published if the arsenic was in the chocolate. Was it?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Also not published, the name of the person who took the chocolate from the kitchen up to the library. Do you know that?”
    “Yes. My father did.”
    I gawked at her. Wolfe’s hand stopped short on its way to the fire with pages. I spoke. “But your father was at Table Six, playing chess. Wasn’t he?”
    “Yes. But when he made his second move the messenger for that table, Mr.
    Hausman, wasn’t there at the moment, and he got up and went to see if Paul had been supplied with chocolate. Table Six was at the end of the room next to the library. The chocolate hadn’t been brought, and my father went down to the kitchen and got it.”
    “And took it up to Jerin himself?”
    “Yes.”
    Wolfe shot a glance at her. I took a breath.
    “Of course I believe you, but how do you know?”
    “My father told me. The next day. He wasn’t arrested until Saturday - of course you know that. He told my mother and me exactly what happened. That’s partly why I know he didn’t do it, the way he told us about it, the way he took it for granted that we would know he didn’t do it.” Her eyes went to Wolfe. “You would say that’s not cogent for you, but it certainly is for me. I know.”
    “Okay,” I said, “he delivered the chocolate. Putting it on a table by the couch Jerin was sitting on?”
    “Yes. A tray, with the pot and a cup and saucer and a napkin.”
    “You say your father told you all about it. Did Jerin eat or drink anything besides the chocolate?”
    “No. There was nothing else.”
    “Between the time your father took him the chocolate and the time he told Yerkes he didn’t feel well, about half an hour, did anyone enter the library besides the messengers?”
    “No. At least my father thought not, but he wasn’t absolutely certain.” She smiled at Wolfe. I can ask him. You said you couldn’t move a finger without his cooperation, but I can get to see him and ask him anything you want me to. Of course without telling him it’s for you.”
    No comment. He tore pages out.
    I eyed her. “You said you don’t know if the arsenic was in the chocolate. Didn’t your father mention if there was any left in the pot and if it was kept for the police?”
    “Yes, it was kept, but the pot was full.”
    “Full'Hadn’t Jerin drunk any?”
    “Yes, he had drunk a lot. When Mr. Yerkes told my father that Paul had told him he wasn’t feeling well, my father went to the library. The pot had a little left in it, and the cup was half full. He took them down to the kitchen and rinsed them out. The cook and steward said nothing had been put in but milk and powdered chocolate and sugar. They had some more ready, and they filled the pot,
    and my father took it up to the library with a clean cup. Apparently Paul didn’t drink any of that because the pot was still full.”
    I was staring at her, speechless. Wolfe wasn’t staring, he was glaring. “Miss Blount,” he said. “Either your father is an unexampled jackass, or he is innocent.”
    She nodded. “I know. I said I’d have to tell you things I shouldn’t tell anybody. I’ve already told you Dan Kalmus is in love with my mother, and now this. I don’t know whether my father