The Second Confession by Rex Stout

job you hired me for is ended, and I’m glad of it. You remember how I defined the objective'It has been reached-though not, I confess, by my-' 'Then I hire you for another job now. To investigate Rony’s death.' Wolfe frowned at him. 'You’d better not. I advise against it.' 'You’re hired.' Wolfe shook his head. 'You’re in a panic and you’re being impetuous. If Mr Rony was murdered, and if I undertake to look into it, I’ll get the murderer. It’s conceivable that you’ll regret you ever saw me.' 'But you’re hired.' Wolfe shrugged. 'I know. Your immediate problem is to keep me from repeating that conversation to the police, and, being pugnacious and self-assured, you solve your problems as they come. But you can’t hire me today and fire me tomorrow. You know what I would do if you tried that.' 'I know. You won’t be fired. You’re hired.' Sperling arose. 'I’ll phone the police.' 'Wait a minute!' Wolfe was exasperated. 'Confound it, are you a dunce'Don’t you know how ticklish this is'There were seven of us in that conversation- 'We’ll attend to that after I’ve phoned.' 'No, we won’t. I’ll attend to it now.' Wolfe’s eyes darted around. 'All of you, please. Miss Sperling?' Gwenn was face down on the bed and Madeline was seated on the edge.
    'Do you have to bark at her now?' Madeline demanded.
    'I’ll try not to bark. But I do have to speak to her-all of you.' Gwenn was sitting up. 'I’m all right,' she said. 'I heard every word. Dad hired you again, to-oh, my God.' She hadn’t been crying, which was a blessing since it would have demoralized Wolfe, but she looked fairly ragged. 'Go ahead,' she said.
    'You know,' Wolfe told them curtly, 'what the situation is. I must first have a straight answer to this: have any of you repeated the conversation we had in the library, or any part of it, to anyone?' They all said no.
    'This is important. You’re sure?' 'Connie was-' Jimmy had to clear his throat. 'Connie was asking questions. She was curious.' He looked unhappy.
    'What did you tell her?' 'Oh, just-nothing much.' 'Damn it, how much?' Sperling demanded.
    'Not anything, Dad, really. I guess I mentioned Louis-but nothing about X and all that tosh.' 'You should have had more sense.' Sperling looked at Wolfe. 'Shall I get her?' Wolfe shook his head. 'By no means. We’ll have to risk it. That was all'None of you has reported that conversation?' They said no again.
    'Very well. The police will ask questions. They will be especially interested in my presence here-and Mr Goodwin’s. I shall tell them that Mr Sperling suspected that Mr Rony, who was courting his daughter, was a Communist, and that-' 'No!' Sperling objected. 'You will not! That’s-' 'Nonsense.' Wolfe was disgusted. 'If they check in New York at all, and they surely will, they’ll learn that you hired Mr Bascom, and what for, and then what'No; that much they must have. I shall tell them of your suspicion, and that you engaged me to confirm it or remove it. You were merely taking a natural and proper precaution. I had no sooner started on the job, by sending Mr Goodwin up here and putting three men to work, than an assault was made on my plant rooms in the middle of the night and great damage was done. I thought it probable that Mr Rony and his comrades were responsible for the outrage; that they feared I would be able to expose and discredit him, and were trying to intimidate me.
    'So today-yesterday now-I came here to discuss the matter with Mr Sperling. He gathered the family for it because it was a family affair, and we assembled in the library. He then learned that what I was after was reimbursement; I wanted him to pay for the damage to my plant rooms. The whole time was devoted to an argument between Mr Sperling and me on that point alone. No one else said anything whatever-at least nothing memorable. You stayed because you were there and there was no good reason to get up and go. That was all.' Wolfe’s eyes moved to take them