Trouble in Triplicate
Rex Stout
 The meat shortage of 1946 http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/print.php?pid=12516 has put Wolfe in a temper. He is pacing back and forth in misery. He wants beef, or pork, or lamb, or veal. And he can't get any. A notorious gangster, Dazy Perrit, arrives at the brownstone to enlist Wolfe's help and, over Archie's protests, Wolfe invites him inside. Archie fears that Perrit will tell Wolfe something that Wolfe would prefer not to know. But Wolfe wants meat and thinks that Perrit's black market connections might enable him to get it, so he makes, as Archie puts it, " . . . a frantic snatch at a pork chop." Once inside, Perrit gives Archie a phone number and tells him to ask for Tom, who might have meat, and then tells Wolfe his problem. He has a daughter, but he has kept her existence and identity a secret to protect her from his enemies. One of them, Thumbs Meeker, has recently let Perrit know that his daughter's existence is no longer a secret. Meeker apparently doesn't know the daughter's identity or location, just that Perrit has a daughter somewhere. So Perrit has found a grifter named Angelina Murphy who's on the run from authorities in Utah, and has installed her as his daughter in his Fifth Avenue penthouse. This, Perrit thinks, will keep his enemies from seeking out and harming his real daughter. But Miss Murphy has figured out that she can blackmail Perrit. She demands money from him and threatens to disclose Perrit's secret if he doesn't pay up. She starts out by asking for a few thousand each month (in 1946 dollars), but the night before Perrit calls on Wolfe she demands $50,000. Now Perrit wants Wolfe to make her stop. Wolfe needs to meet Perrit's real daughter, whose name is Beulah Page, and he sends Archie for her. When he arrives at her apartment, Archie learns that she has just become engaged to marry a young law student, Morton Schane. On the pretext of making it an engagement celebration, Archie persuades them to come to Wolfe's house for dinner. Wolfe uses the occasion to acquaint himself with Miss Page's plans and concerns, as well as Mr. Schane's. It has been arranged that Perrit will send the ersatz daughter, Miss Murphy, to Wolfe's office later that night. When she arrives, after the other guests have left, Wolfe delivers this threat: She must give 90% of any money she extorts from Perrit to Wolfe – otherwise, he will tell the Utah authorities where they can find her. Her threats to disclose that she's not really Perrit's daughter may worry Perrit, but they're of no concern to Wolfe. It's past midnight by the time that Wolfe has delivered his ultimatum, and Archie offers to escort Miss Murphy home. As they arrive at her residence, a car drives by, and from it a man is firing a gun at them. Several bullets hit Miss Murphy. She is dead, but Archie is unhurt. The police arrive at the scene and Archie is taken to the local precinct, where he is questioned by Lt. Rowcliff. Archie perturbs Rowcliff enough to be released, and as he arrives back at the brownstone, around 4:00 a.m., he is stopped outside by Perrit and one of his thugs. As they are questioning Archie, a taxi comes driving by, and again bullets are fired. This time it's Perrit and the thug who are killed, and again Archie is unscathed. Later that day, a lawyer named L. A. Schwartz arrives at the brownstone. He had represented Perrit, and has some information for Wolfe. After his meeting with Wolfe, Perrit met with Schwartz and arranged to have his will altered, naming Wolfe as executor. Wolfe is to use his best judgment in the administration of the estate, including the disbursement of its assets to Beulah, in return for a $50,000 fee. Wolfe accepts the commission and arranges for Beulah and Schane to come to the brownstone for another meeting. A gangster known simply as Fabian also appears, not only invited and expected but armed. Saul Panzer, who has been checking backgrounds for Wolfe, is present, along with lawyer Schwartz. The meeting has barely begun when Thumbs Meeker – who originally gave Perrit a problem by learning of his daughter – shows up, not expected but also armed. Wolfe outlines the reasons that the murderer killed three people, the hint that pointed him at the murderer, and the motive. In a violent climax, the murderer of Angelina Murphy and Dazy Perrit is shot to death, right there in Wolfe's office – by Saul Panzer.