'Mr Wolfe, my father will be convicted of murder.' Wolfe grunted. He tore pages. 'If your father wants to hire me I might consider it without his attorney's approval, but it would be difficult.' She was shaking her head. 'He wouldn't. If Clan Kalmus said no, he wouldn't. And my mother wouldn't if my father said no. So it's just me. I can hire you, can't I?' 'Certainly not. Without the cooperation of your father and his attorney I couldn't move a 5 finger.5 Wolfe tore pages with a little extra force. Twenty-two grand wouldn't break any record, but it would be a nice start on 1962. 'That's silly,' Miss Blount said. 'Of course your mental processes are stultified by the fire. Why I told Clan Kalmus to get you, and why I came, I thought you could do things that nobody else can do. You're supposed to be a wizard. Everyone says you are. Clan Kalmus himself said you're a wizard, but he doesn't want you taking over his case. That's what he said, "my case." It's not his case, it's my father's case!' 'Yes,' Wolfe agreed, 'your father's case, not yours. You must--' 'I'm making it mine! Didn't I say this is the first good thing I've ever done?' Leaning forward, she grabbed his wrist and jerked his hand away from the dictionary, and hung on to the wrist. 'Does a wizard only do easy things? What if you're the only man on earth who can save my father from being convicted of a murder he didn't do? If there was something I could do that no one else on earth could do, I'd do it! You don't need my father or his attorney because I can tell you anything they can. I can tell you things they wouldn't, like that Clan Kalmus is in love with my mother. Clan Kalmus wouldn't, and my father couldn't because he doesn't know it, and he's in jail and I'm not!' She turned loose the wrist, and Wolfe tore 6 out pages and dropped them on the fire. He was scowling, not at the dictionary. She had hit exactly the right note, calling him a wizard and implying (not inferring) that he was the one and only�after mentioning what she had in her bag.