The Conan Flagg Mysteries: Bundle #1 by M. K. Wren

Author:M. K. Wren [Wren, M. K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
Publisher: Untreed Reads
Published: 2015-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

A Multitude of Sins

FOR L.A.T.— who somehow made room for one more.

CHAPTER 1

Meg stretched herself, obliterating most of Harney and Malheur Counties in a gray fog, then she smiled her Mona Lisa smile, blue jewel eyes half closed, and challenged him to do something about it.

He did, with a resigned sigh, closing his calculations of day’s marches and encampments inside the leather-bound tome, then devoting his attention to a gentle, systematic rubbing, working down from her ears to her tail.

Conan Flagg knew himself to be a sucker for blue-eyed females, and this blue-point Siamese was totally female. But being also very much a lady, she was seldom overdemanding. She indicated her satisfaction with a thrumming purr and after a few minutes lapsed again into catnap.

He leaned back and rested his eyes, strained with fine print and illegible topographic markings, with a long look out the window to his right. Past the chimneys and roofs of the village, the Pacific Ocean lay shining in the April sun, gray-green, dappled with lavender cloud shadows.

To his left, through the one-way glass on the door, he could look into the bookshop and across to the front entrance. His view included the end of the counter and Miss Dobie, her determinedly auburn hair in close-ranked curl. She was contending with a horde of youngsters with her usual inertial efficiency, circling the dour square of her face with a benevolent smile. Beatrice Dobie had no great fondness for children, but she thoroughly enjoyed the dinging clank of the ancient cash register registering cash.

He was spared that sound as well as the clamor of exuberant youth; this small sanctum, which he called an office, was soundproofed. Satisfied that Miss Dobie needed no assistance, he lit a cigarette and took a moment to savor the Ravel Quartet in F playing on the tape deck, his dark eyes focused on the opposite wall. The Leonard Baskin woodcut was new and deepened the shadows at the corners of his mouth with a smile of pleasure.

But a few seconds later, the smile vanished when Miss Dobie knocked and hastily opened the door.

“Sorry, Mr. Flagg, but I just found this on the counter.” She handed him a long white envelope. “Looks like somebody’s trying to save money on postage.”

He frowned at the address. It was printed with a rubber stamp; the one available at the counter.

THE HOLLIDAY BEACH BOOK SHOP

AND RENTAL LIBRARY

BOX 73 HOLLIDAY BEACH, OREGON

CONAN JOSEPH FLAGG, PROPRIETOR

His name was underlined in red, probably with Miss Dobie’s pen, also available at the counter. The letter inside the envelope was typed on quality bond; a modern typeface, possibly an Olympia electric portable. There was no letterhead, signature, or name on it.

“Who left it, Miss Dobie?”

She shrugged, her mouth a thin, nonplussed line.

“I don’t know. I was upstairs looking for that Kathleen Norris book for Mrs. Hoskins, then the school bus dumped the kids just as I got back downstairs. I didn’t even notice that letter till I got rid of most of the little—” She turned and sighed at one of the youngsters.

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.