The Second Detective by Rufus King & Bryce Walton & Fletcher Flora & Johnston McCulley & Thomas B. Dewey

Author:Rufus King & Bryce Walton & Fletcher Flora & Johnston McCulley & Thomas B. Dewey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: noir, crime, mystery, detective, pulp
ISBN: 9781479408153
Publisher: Wildside Press LLC
Published: 2016-01-22T16:00:00+00:00

A LITTLE CLOUD…LIKE A MAN’S HAND, by Rufus King

Originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, May 1959.

Friday night, Mr. Burd died.

Saturday, the suicide (initial verdict) of young Mr. Burd was such a gentle affair that it spread no ripples across the long Memorial Day weekend in Halcyon—a modest township that studs the Gold Coast of Florida between the crowded towers of Miami Beach and the yacht-filled marinas of Fort Lauderdale.

“I am sorry, so truly sorry,” said the aging Miss Ott, while being interviewed in her mauve-decade living room by Stuff Driscoll, chief criminal investigator for the sheriff’s department.

“You must have known Mr. Burd fairly well, Miss Ott?”

“In our business relationship I knew him intimately. He was my junior assistant. Socially, Mr. Driscoll—well, I doubt whether anyone was a familiar in his private life.”

“Sort of a recluse, would you say?”

“Rather more of a self-contained bachelor, would be my opinion. A curious character, in his fashion. Contradictions.”

“What were they?”

“Consider his business side as we knew it in Caswell Marine Construction. A meticulous, one might even go overboard and say a dedicated accountant. Like one of those frightening mathematical machines out of IBM. And then in utter contrast, his personal mode of living. The man was a frustrated housewife. As an example, there were the occasional little supper parties he gave in his cottage—not to guests, in the true sense of the word. Simply to a few human guinea pigs on whom he would try out his casseroles.”

“He fancied himself as a cook?”

Miss Ott indulged in a Victorian la!

“Dear man, as a cordon bleu. I attended twice. The first casserole was basically a pheasant concoction. The second, an elaboration in moose.”

“Moose?”

“From that little shop in Miami Beach. For gourmets. They carry even grasshoppers, I understand. In tins.”

“Possibly a motive for his embezzling the corporation funds? A secret urge for a chef’s tour of the world?”

“Actually, the thought is not so absurd, Mr. Driscoll. Who can pinpoint a motivation? So difficult. They’re far too complex. There was that travel folder for Guatemala I discovered in his cottage dresser drawer.”

“You searched his cottage?”

“Naturally.”

“I am wondering in what capacity?”

“Both as a Christian woman and as his business superior. My purpose was to unearth how far his embezzlement plan had progressed. If my suspicions were confirmed, I had intended to confront him with the situation frankly.”

“Your search was before he killed himself?”

“Of course. What earthly good would it have accomplished otherwise? I did so on the evening of the day when I found the notes. While he was attending a pop concert on the beach.”

“The notes?”

“They were in his office, which adjoins my own. I had stepped in to check some figures on the Ashton project at Silver Shores. Mr. Burd was not there. The jalousies were open and the breeze had blown a paper onto the floor. I picked it up, and realized at once that the jotted notes indicated a tentative plan for embezzlement—not complete, but extremely clever. As it would be with Mr. Burd devising it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.