Post by Salzmank on May 8, 2017 19:32:17 GMT
“Ruby Red”
A Geoffrey Lord Case
“Damn all dying clues!”
(This from a policeman, viz. Lt. Christopher McKee of the NYPD, whose job it is to investigate said clues, or any clues.)
“That’s one way to put it,” murmured Mr. Geoffrey Lord softly. “What’s wrong, Chris?”
“Who the hell would do something like that right before dying?—Don’t answer that,” McKee snapped. “I was just talking to Pop O'Leary. He said you were pretty good with these riddles—finding patterns and that sorta thing.”
“I try.”
“Well, here goes nothing: hope I’m not bothering you while you’re working on your latest novel…”
“Not bothering me at all, in fact.” Geoff smiled at a private joke. “Paula—Miss Vale, my secretary, y’know—is off to visit her mother, and I’m a vehement procrastinator. Heaven knows when that book will be finished.”
McKee rubbed his hands and began explaining the case.
The victim was Georj Balchek, the well-known jeweller and rare gem expert. He’d been stabbed in his shop but had apparently lived long enough to drag himself to one of the glass cases, smash the case open, and grab a ruby—before expiring, the ruby grasped with the firmness of rigor mortis.
A Geoffrey Lord Case
“Damn all dying clues!”
(This from a policeman, viz. Lt. Christopher McKee of the NYPD, whose job it is to investigate said clues, or any clues.)
“That’s one way to put it,” murmured Mr. Geoffrey Lord softly. “What’s wrong, Chris?”
“Who the hell would do something like that right before dying?—Don’t answer that,” McKee snapped. “I was just talking to Pop O'Leary. He said you were pretty good with these riddles—finding patterns and that sorta thing.”
“I try.”
“Well, here goes nothing: hope I’m not bothering you while you’re working on your latest novel…”
“Not bothering me at all, in fact.” Geoff smiled at a private joke. “Paula—Miss Vale, my secretary, y’know—is off to visit her mother, and I’m a vehement procrastinator. Heaven knows when that book will be finished.”
McKee rubbed his hands and began explaining the case.
The victim was Georj Balchek, the well-known jeweller and rare gem expert. He’d been stabbed in his shop but had apparently lived long enough to drag himself to one of the glass cases, smash the case open, and grab a ruby—before expiring, the ruby grasped with the firmness of rigor mortis.