When confronted by Wolfe, both Byne and Elaine Usher attempt to lie their way out of the situation, but their stories are inconsistent. He assigns Saul Panzer and Archie to investigate the two respectively, leading to a break in the case when both Archie and Saul tail their respective targets to the same location: a nightclub where Elaine Usher and Dinky Byne are meeting with each other. His investigations begin to focus on both Faith Usher's estranged mother Elaine, herself an unwed mother, and Dinky Byne, whose false reasons for canceling on the party look increasingly suspect given the events. Although the police are skeptical due to the tip's anonymous nature, it suggests to Wolfe that someone else knows Laidlaw's secret and has become agitated by the ongoing investigation. He is given further incentive to do so when Edwin Laidlaw, another of the chaperones, approaches him to hire his services Laidlaw is the father of Faith Usher's child after a brief affair they had the previous year and, ashamed of his conduct, is desperate that his secret is not revealed.Īlthough Wolfe's investigation begins unpromisingly, he becomes convinced that his suspicions are correct when the police receive an anonymous tip revealing Laidlaw's secret.
Although the authorities and the other guests pressure Archie into changing his story, Nero Wolfe believes him and decides to settle the matter by solving the case himself. Archie promises to watch over her, but towards the end of the evening Faith collapses and dies from cyanide poisoning after drinking a glass of champagne.Īlone of the guests, Archie maintains that Faith Usher did not commit suicide, claiming that he observed her constantly throughout the evening and that she never had an opportunity to pour the cyanide from her bottle into her glass.
During the dinner, Archie learns from one of the unwed mothers that another, Faith Usher, has a bottle of cyanide in her purse Faith has been suffering from depression, and her friend fears that she might attempt suicide. Robilotti's being a former client of Nero Wolfe's who bears him a personal dislike.
Byne claims to have a cold and is unable to attend although skeptical, Archie agrees to stand in for him, despite Mrs. Byne routinely acts as a chaperone for an annual dinner hosted by his aunt, Louise Grantham Robilotti, which is given in honour of four young unwed mothers living at Grantham House, a charity supported by her late husband. Archie, missing a dancing partner as good as Celia Grantham, in Champagne for One, chapter 3.Īrchie Goodwin sits in for a friend at a charity dinner dance for unwed mothers, and one of the guests drops dead on the dance floor.Īrchie Goodwin receives a phone call from an acquaintance, Austin "Dinky" Byne, asking for a favour.
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