The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2021 by Otto Penzler

Author:Otto Penzler [Penzler, Otto]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781613162392
Publisher: The Mysterious Press
Published: 2021-09-13T21:00:00+00:00

Murphy lived in a one-story ranch house in a working-class neighborhood that was probably never fashionable, nor ever would be. I parked in the driveway behind a beige Toyota Camry and knocked on the front door. The stocky man who answered the door stared at me with inquisitive blue eyes.

“Can I help you?” he said.

“My name is Socarides.” I pointed to the Thalassa logo on my blue polo shirt. “I run a charter boat out of Hyannis. I’m also an ex-Boston cop and I pick up a few bucks on the side as a private investigator for insurance companies. I wonder if I could ask you a few questions about Viktor Orloff.”

He gave a weary shake of his head. “Orloff is the gift that keeps on giving. Wish I never heard of the guy.”

“From what I know of Orloff, you have a lot of company.”

Murphy grinned. He had a wide jaw cradling a mouth filled with white, even teeth.

“Come on in,” he said with a sigh.

Before I accepted his invitation I went to the truck and got the cardboard box. He gave the carton a curious glance, then ushered me into a living room paneled in knotty pine. He shooed away a gray long-haired cat from a wood-framed chair and told me to take a seat.

He sat on a sofa, picked the cat up, and stroked its head.

“This is Gus,” he said. “Gotta keep him inside because coyotes come through the yard once in a while, but he doesn’t seem to mind being a house cat.”

Gus looked as if he didn’t mind anything. I glanced around the living room. There was art on every wall, most of it prints of waterfowl. Wooden decoys were scattered on shelves and tables around the room.

“Quite the collection,” I said.

“Thanks,” Murphy said. Then he crossed his arms and gazed at me. “How can I help you?”

“My client is a rich guy named Ruskin. He bought a Crowell decoy called the preening merganser from Orloff, and paid a lot of money for it, but the law took your former boss off to the clink before he could make good. Then Orloff died in prison and his house burned down, along with the decoy.”

Murphy nodded. “I already talked to the cops. What does your client want to know that isn’t in the record?”

“He thinks maybe the merganser didn’t burn up.”

Murphy scoffed. “That’s because he didn’t see the fire.”

“You did?” I remembered from the file that Murphy told the interviewer he lost his job when Orloff was arrested and hadn’t been back to the house since it was sealed.

“I didn’t see the actual fire,” he said, catching himself. “I saw the TV stuff and came by the house later. It went up quick, like it had been set.”

“The investigation didn’t say anything about arson.”

“A guy like Orloff would know people who could do a smart job. Everything had been reduced to cinders. Everything. I don’t know where Ruskin would get the idea that the bird wasn’t burned up.

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