Murder For Sale by Maxwell Grant & Walter Gibson

Author:Maxwell Grant & Walter Gibson [Grant, Maxwell & Gibson, Walter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Espionage, Fiction, Thrillers
Publisher: Street & Smith
Published: 1938-07-18T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XII. THE FINAL SALE

IT was half past eight, that evening, when David Harlingsworth arrived at an old building on Race Street, in a district which had once constituted Philadelphia's Chinatown. Years ago, Harlingsworth remembered; this section had impressed him as a dark and sinister neighborhood, where anything might happen.

He didn't feel that way at present. That wasn't because Harlingsworth had become somewhat sinister himself; the reason was that Race Street had changed. Since the building of the Delaware River Bridge, Race Street had become a feeder to that short route to New Jersey.

With traffic teeming east along the one-way thoroughfare late into the night, the Chinese shops that Harlingsworth saw looked like mere relics of a forgotten day, and their occupants appeared very mild and harmless.

Harlingsworth didn't guess that he was to be treated to a whiff of Chinese atmosphere that would enlarge his former opinion of Orientals and their mysterious ways.

The shop where the dignified man stopped bore the name of Ki Woong. It was very narrow, with space for only one show window beside the door. In that window, through a grimy pane, Harlingsworth saw stacks of Oriental goods, some of which impressed him as antiques.

He entered the store, to be met by a slight-built Chinese youth, who came from behind a counter. Harlingsworth asked to see Ki Woong. The Chinese youth went to a curtain at the rear of the store. He spoke some babbled words, then returned.

“You wait,” he told Harlingsworth. “Ki Woong see you soon.”

With that, the youth locked the front door and pocketed a big key. He pulled down blinds, covering the door as well as the window. When he turned about, he had a wise grin that Harlingsworth didn't like.

The place seemed curiously gloomy as Harlingsworth looked about again. He began to dislike the young Chinaman's looks. Then, as minutes passed, he noted a strange smoke filling the room. It was Oriental incense, perfumed, but of a stifling odor.

Harlingsworth had just located the source as coming from the curtains at the rear of the shop, when the draperies lifted. Through the doorway waddled a squatty Chinaman, whose crinkly face was bearded. His head was tilted forward, showing a roundish skullcap, while his eyes peered upward through large spectacles.

“I AM Ki Woong” announced the old Chinaman, in perfect English. “You have come to buy antiques?”

“I've come to buy-”

“Of course!” The Chinaman interrupted with a crackly chuckle, before Harlingsworth could complete the sentence. “Observe this vase, sir"-he lifted a heavy piece of pottery-"a bargain at fifteen hundred dollars.

“Harlingsworth doubted the value of the vase but did not say so. Ki Woong apparently took his silence for a sale, for he turned to the young Chinese and spoke words in their own tongue. The assistant began to make a list.

It was needed. Ki Woong offered Harlingsworth a set of ivory carvings for thirty-five hundred dollars. They looked like ivory, but the customer had his doubts. Again, Ki Woong chalked up a sale. He did the

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.