Cancelled in Red (Inspector Luke Bradley Book 1) by Hugh Pentecost

Author:Hugh Pentecost [Pentecost, Hugh]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bold Venture Press
Published: 2016-04-18T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

The inspector had a purpose behind his early-morning call, but it was some time before he got around to telling Larry and Ellen what it was. He stood in the outer office, his pipe belching clouds of smoke, looking about him with a curious expression.

“Quite a different type of place from Adrian’s,” he said. He looked at the battered office furniture, the rusty safe, the unwashed windows. He turned his eyes on Larry questioningly. “I’ve looked you up,” he said, “so I know something about the kind of business you do.” He waved at the room. “How come?”

“Real collectors aren’t impressed with fancy furnishings,” Larry told him. “In fact they’d suspect they were being asked to pay for overhead. Most of my customers know their business, which is stamps. The old gentleman you just met is an example.”

Bradley shuddered. “I hope he doesn’t turn out to be a suspect.”

Larry laughed. “He’s quite a guy,” he said. “If this is a social call, Bradley, you’d better sit down and make yourself comfortable.” Bradley sat down at Bones’s desk. Larry perched opposite him. “Anything new?” he asked. “Did you get a report on your fingerprints?”

“The report’s in my office now,” Bradley said. “I haven’t been there yet. Didn’t bother, because I know what I’ll find.” He looked up at Larry. “So do you,” he added.

Larry fumbled with his cigarette case, his eyes averted. Bradley glanced at Ellen, who was seated at her own desk.

“Too bad you haven’t any more influence with this employer of yours,” he said.

“What do you want him to do?” Ellen asked.

“I want him to stop playing cops and robbers!” said Bradley, plaintively.

“He’s really just a little boy,” Ellen said.

“But with a heart of gold,” said Larry. “For example, I pay her more than she’s worth, Bradley, just to have some one to nag at me. Nagging is very good for a disposition like mine. It keeps me from getting conceited.”

“The old army game,” sighed Bradley. “I wish you two would stop tossing the ball around and be useful.”

“The slogan of Lawrence Storm, Inc. is ‘Service,’ Inspector,” said Larry. “Our inexhaustible knowledge of stamps is at your disposal.”

“I suppose that’s all I can hope for,” muttered Bradley. “Well, here goes. I had your friend Mr. Louderbach downtown early this morning. He’s made a hasty examination of those stock books of Adrian’s and he’s pretty certain nothing is missing.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” said Larry.

“Why?”

Larry shrugged. “Apparently those books contained Adrian’s best and most expensive items. If we go on the theory that the murderer knows stamps, we’d have to assume that he also knows that it would be hard to get rid of those valuable issues. You see, too many people would know what valuable stamps Adrian had; his clerk, the people who had sold him the stamps, buyers who had looked over his stock.”

Bradley nodded. “But what seemed odd to me was that Louderbach said they had no inventory of their less valuable stamps, that there was no way of telling whether any of the cheaper items had been stolen or not.

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