He embarrassed Archie in his pursuit of Jerome Berin's recipe for saucisse minuit, and he strongarmed Lewis Hewitt to get those black orchids.

Now he's learned that Millard Bynoe has hybridized a pink Vanda orchid, a unique plant.

Wolfe has also learned that Mrs. Bynoe will sport a spray of the pink Vanda at this year's Easter parade in New York, and wonders if Archie knows anyone who would steal it from her.

Archie does have a suggestion, a shifty character nicknamed Tabby, who would probably commit petty larceny in public for a couple of hundred bucks.

One of them is a comely young woman named Iris Innes, who is there as a staff photographer for a magazine.

Wolfe wants to avoid any public mention of his association with the incident, and offers Tabby $10 a day to remain incommunicado at the brownstone.

Archie prudently removes the film from the camera, and his foresight soon pays off when Inspector Cramer arrives.

He arranges a re-enactment of the scene in front of the church, and shows Cramer how the photos that Archie took demonstrate the murderer's identity.