In the Best Families

“Only to buy these little items. I waved a hand. “Put it back long ago. I've been taking it easy, so my income from detective work has only been a little more than double what you were paying me.

“I don't believe it.

“I didn't expect you to, so I'll have an audit- I stopped. “What the hell! My vacation!

Wolfe grunted. “If we get Zeck you may have a month. If he gets me- He grunted again. “He will, confound it, if we don't get to work. You asked about Rackham; yes, the source of his income, which his wife asked us to discover, was Zeck. He met him through Calvin Leeds.

I raised the brows. “Leeds?

“Don't jump to conclusions. Leeds sold dogs to Zeck, two of them, to protect his house, and spent a week there, training them for their job. Zeck does not miss an opportunity. He used Rackham in one of his less offensive activities, gambling arrangements for people with too much money. Then when Rackham inherited more than half of his wife's wealth a new situation developed; it was already developing when I arrived six weeks ago. I managed to get informed about it. Of course I had to be extremely careful, new as I was, but on the other hand my being a newcomer was an advantage. In preparing a list of prospects for the device I had conceived, a man in Rackham's position was an eminently suitable candidate, and naturally I had to know all about him. That placed me favourably for starting, with the greatest caution, certain speculations and suspicions, and I got it to the point where it seemed desirable to put him under surveillance. Luckily I didn't have to introduce your name; your enlistment had previously been considered, on a suggestion by Max Christy. I was ready for you anyhow-I had gone as far as I could without you-and that made it easier. I wouldn't have dared to risk naming you myself, and was planning accordingly, but it's vastly better this way.

“Am I to proceed? Get Saul and Orrie and Fred? Tail Rackham?

Wolfe looked at his wrist. His charade was certainly teaching him new tricks. In all my years with him he had never sported a watch, and here he was glancing at his wrist as if born to it. The way that wrist had been, normal, it would have required a custom-made strap.

“I told that man an hour or more, he said, “but we shouldn't be that long. A minim of cause for suspicion and I'm through. Nothing is too fantastic for them; they could even learn if we've been using the phone. Confound it, I must have hours with you.

“Ditch him and we'll meet somewhere.