Chapter 2 Summary

After dinner, Nero Wolfe, Archie Goodwin, and Lon Cohen sit in Wolfe's office, having coffee and brandy. During dinner, Archie received the information that the tail on Mrs. Bruner was the FBI. Wolfe asks Lon about Mrs. Bruner, and he knows that she's sent copies of The FBI Nobody Knows to thousands of important people, calling it a status symbol. He doesn't know what the FBI is doing about it, or what Mrs. Bruner's motives might be, if not public service.

Wolfe asks Lon about current and recent FBI investigations around New York, and Lon realizes that Wolfe is considering working for Mrs. Bruner. Lon knows that many of the FBI's investigations are secret, but he can give Wolfe the rumors. He tells Archie what he knows and has heard, and it fills up five pages in Archie's notebooks. After Lon leaves, Archie...