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noises.
    'Okay,' I told them, 'just back off. I've got him locked.' Arrow tried to wriggle, found that the only question was which would snap first, his neck or his back, and quit. Wolfe spoke, disgusted, saying they had better go. Paul had scrambled to his feet, and for a second I thought he was going to take a poke at Arrow while I held him, but David had his arm, pulling him away. Tuttle went to Louise and started her out, and David got Paul moving. At the door to the hall David turned to protest to Wolfe, 'You shouldn't have let him in, you might have known.' When they were all in the hall I unlocked Arrow and went to see them out, and as they crossed the threshold I wished them good night, but only David wished me one in return.
    Back in the office Johnny Arrow was sitting in the red leather chair, working his head gingerly forward and back to check on his neck. I may have been a little thorough, but with a complete stranger how can you tell'

Nero Wolfe 28 - Three For The Chair
    IV
    I SAT WITH MY BACK to my desk and took him in as an object with assorted points of interest. He was a uranium millionaire, the very newest kind. He was a chronic jaw-puncher, no matter where. He knew a good-looking nurse when he saw one, and acted accordingly. And he had been nominated as a candidate for the electric chair. Quite a character for one so young. He wasn't bad-looking himself, unless you insist on the kind they use for cigarette ads. His face and hands weren't as rough and weathered as I would have expected of a man who had spent five years in the wilderness pecking at rocks, but since finding Black Elbow he had had time to smooth up some.
    He quit working his head and returned my regard with a stare of curiosity from brown eyes that had wrinkles at their corners from squinting for uranium. 'That was quite a squeeze,' he said in his soft drawl, no animosity. 'I thought my neck was broken.'
    'It should have been,' Wolfe told him severely. 'Look at that chair.'
    'Oh, I'll pay for the chair.' He got a big roll of lettuce from his pants pocket. 'How much?'
    'Mr. Goodwin will send you a bill.' Wolfe was scowling. 'My office is not an arena for gladiators. You came, I suppose, in response to the message we left for you?'
    He shook his head. 'I didn't get any message. If you sent it to the hotel, I haven't been there since morning. What did it say?'
    'Just that I wanted to see you.'
    'I didn't get it.' He lifted a hand to massage the side of his neck. 'I came because I wanted to see you.' He emphasized a word by stretching it. 'I wanted to see that Paul Fyfe too, but I didn't know he was here, that was just luck. I wanted to see him about a trick he tried to work on a friend of mine. You know about the hot-water bags.'
    Wolfe nodded. 'And me?'
    'I wanted to see you because I understand you're fixing it up that I killed my partner, Bert Fyfe.' The brown eyes had narrowed a little. Evidently they squinted at other things besides uranium. 'I wanted to ask if you needed any help.'
    Wolfe grunted. 'Your information is faulty, Mr. Arrow. I have been hired to investigate and decide whether any of the circumstances of Mr. Fyfe's death warrant a police inquiry, and for that I do need help. There is no question of 'fixing it up,' as you put it. Of course your offer of help was ironic, but I do need it. Shall we proceed?'
    Arrow laughed. No guffaws; just an easy little chuckle that went with the drawl. 'That depends on how,' he said. 'Proceed how?'
    'With an exchange of information. I need some, and you may want some. First, I assume that you got what you already have from Miss Goren. If I'm wrong, correct me. You must have talked with her since four o'clock this afternoon. No doubt she thought she was reporting events accurately, but if she gave you the impression that I'm after you with malign intent she was wrong. Do you care to tell me whether the information that brought you here came from Miss Goren?'
    'Certainly it did. She had dinner with