[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
"Six-" began Long.
And then Gonzalo broke in, "Seven, counting you, Henry."
"And was there no one serving you at table, Dr. Long? You said
the Doctor had asked you about the speech just as curried lamb
was put before you and it was the smell of curry that annoyed you
to the point where you burst out with your indiscretion. Surely, the
curried lamb didn't place itself before you of its own accord. The
fact is that at the moment you made your statement, there were six
people at the table before you, and a seventh standing just behind
you and out of sight."
"The waiter," said Long in a whisper.
Henry said, "There's a tendency never to notice a waiter unless
he annoys you. An efficient waiter is invisible, and you mentioned
the excellence of the service. Might it not have been the waiter who
carefully engineered the spilling of the hot chocolate to create a
diversion; or perhaps he who took advantage of the diversion, if it
was an accident? With waiters many and diners few, it might not
be too noticeable if he vanished for a while.
Or he could claim to have gone to the men's room if it were
indeed noticed. He would know the location of the cabin as well as
the Doctor did, and be as likely to have some sort of picklock."
Long said, "But he was an Indonesian. He couldn't speak
English."
"Are you sure? He'd had a three-month cram course, you said.
And he might have known English better than he pretended. You
would be willing to conceive that Mrs. Smith was not as sweet and
thoughtful underneath as on the surface, and that Mrs. Jones's
vivacity was pretense, and the Doctor's respectability and Smith's
liveliness and Jones's devotion and Miss Robinson's need to go to
the bathroom. Might not the waiter's ignorance of English also be
pretense?"
"By God," said Long, looking at his watch. "If it weren't so
late, I'd call Washington now."
Trumbull said, "If you know some home phone numbers, do
call now. It's your career. Tell them the waiter ought to be
investigated, and for heaven's sake, don't tell them you got the
notion from someone else."
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B
r r
"You mean, tell them I just thought of it? They'll ask why I
didn't think of that before."
"Ask them why they didn't. Why didn't they think a waiter goes
with a table?"
Henry said softly, "No reason for anyone to think of it. Only
very few are as interested in waiters as I am."
Afterword
This story appeared in the December 1973 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery
Magazine under the title "The Six Suspects." Again, I prefer my own title.
The inspiration here arose out of the fact that I was on a cruise like the one
described in the story. Some of the events even happened but, I hasten to say, there
were no scientific secrets on board as far as I know and no mystery.
One last word. Based on past experience, I am going to get a lot of letters asking
me if I intend to write more Black Widowers stories. Let me answer that with a firm
and definite: Yes. That, perhaps, will abort the letters.
As a matter of fact, I have at the moment of this writing, completed and sold six
more Black Widowers, five to Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and one to The
Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. You see, then, that it is quite possible that
eventually you will be asked to read something entitled More Tales of The Black
Widowers.
I hope so, because its' fun writing these stories-and thank you all for reading
them.
a
a
T
T
n
n
s
s
F
F
f
f
o
o
D
D
r
r
P
P
m
m
Y
Y
e
e
Y
Y
r
r
B
B
2
2
.
.
B
B
A
A
Click here to buy
Click here to buy
w
w
m
m
w
w
o
o
w
w
c
c
.
.
.
.
A
A
Y
Y
B
B
Y
Y
B
B [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]