My Brother, the Druggist by Marvin Kaye

Author:Marvin Kaye [Kaye, Marvin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781784086435
Publisher: Head of Zeus Ltd
Published: 2012-10-30T17:30:00+00:00

IT WAS NEARLY 11:30 A.M. when Marty, Bill and Cy found one another again at the end of the exhibition hall furthest from the entrance doors. A temporary platform stage butted against the permanent wall; its curtains were closed, but from time to time, people passing back and forth within the enclosure bumped against their folds, rippling the material mysteriously, promising miracles to come.

A small group of workmen hauled folding chairs out of the dressing-room area and set them up in front of the stage in comparatively neat rows and aisles. Bill Finney gratefully filched one of the seats and plopped down on it.

“Now here’s the important thing,” Cy began in his squeaky, but authoritative voice, “we’ve got to report every single fact we found out, every word and inflection and detail heard or seen, no matter how trivial or irrelevant it may seem. You never know what might turn out to be important, sometimes it’s a thing you were sure you weren’t looking for. So, the two of you pretend like you’re movie cameras and you’re gonna show me the whole picture, sound included.”

Bill Finney made a face. “I hardly think Herr Gold or I qualify as budding Archie Goodwins.”

Cy shrugged. “Well, I’m no Nero Wolfe, either, but...

But, Marty ruefully told himself, you’re the best we’ve got. “All right,” he sighed, “I’ll do as good as I can, Cy.”

“Start with the phone call, Marty. What did the old man say?”

Marty reported the conversation, then did his best to recall what he’d heard from the nameless magician, as well as Al, Barney Hammer’s assistant. “Wish I had a memory like his,” he ended apologetically, “I’m probably forgetting something extremely important.”

“Well, let’s assume we got it all for now,” the detective replied, popping a lemon Life Saver into his mouth.

He always forgets to offer anybody else one.

“How about you, Bill?” Cy inquired. “You uncover anything interesting?”

The actor shook his head. Marty wondered why his face suddenly colored bright red.

Just then, the woman named Betty saw the three of them and hurried up to speak with Marty. To her query, he told her, No, they’d had no luck whatsoever in finding Mase.

“The only thing we know for sure now is that he was at the HammerCraft booth at four in the afternoon.”

She nodded sagaciously. “See? I told you. He left at six and didn’t come back for the evening show.”

“Perhaps,” Marty conceded.

“Anyway, you wanted to question Jeremiah Tice, didn’t you?”

“Yes! Is he here yet?”

“No, but he just phoned to say he’s unavoidably detained, he’ll be here in about an hour. John Warlock is giving a lecture-demonstration onstage then, so I imagine Jeremiah wants to arrive in time for that.”

“Do you mind,” Marty asked, “if we stick around and wait for him?”

She waved her meticulously manicured hand palm-up in the air to signify, “Why not?” Betty reiterated that she was sure the three were not chiseling a free ride on the MagiCon.

“You look too glum to be enjoying it, anyway.”

“As a matter of fact,” said Marty, “I never knew I could grow to dislike something so fast.

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