Archie Goodwin receives a blood-stained tie in the mail from the owner of a small walk-up apartment building in lower Manhattan, who also lives on the top floor.
Archie investigates, only to find yet another dead body[1] and now has to sort out the mess, preferably collecting a fee along the way since the other adventures in this volume have not earned the costly Nero Wolfe operation a cent.
Although he usually attends to his mails after he finished with Wolfe's, that particular elegant cream coloured envelope arouses his curiosity that he feels compel to break that personal rule.
The envelope contains a note saying "Archie Goodwin - Keep This Until You Hear From Me - JNV" and a four-in-hand silk tie in cream coloured with thin brown diagonal stripes.
Despite choosing to shrug off the whole thing, Archie can't help but waiting at home instead of going for his routine walk, in case the sender decides to call him for the next instruction.
From Lon Cohen of the Gazette, he found out that Vance is a wealthy real estate owner in his late fifties and is still a bachelor.
The peculiarness surrounding it comples him to go to the address on the envelope to investigate, in fear that something bad has happened to the real Vance and an impersonator calls him to destroy the evidence.
Archie notices on the panel button that the four-story building is occupied by the Fougere at the bottom, Kirk in the middle, and finally James Neville Vance at the top.
He tells Nero Wolfe everything that has transpire since he left the house to which the letter express no expectation nor desire to be of service to James Neville Vance.
Archie left for a walk before returning to take the envelope and its content with him before continuing to a building at 43rd street to have the stain on the necktie test for blood.
She was a former secretary in a prominent architecture firm and married architect, Martin Kirk a year ago but their marriage turned sour and he had moved out from their residence at number 219 Horn Street to stay at a hotel.
Martin sought the police help to check on her wife after she didn't answer all six of his calls in eighteen hours and got no response when he rang the bell.
Wolfe asks Archie to use the threat of defamation lawsuit against his client as a trick to bring Paul in and it works for both the Foureges present in his office four hours later.