Puzzle of the Blue Banderilla by Stuart Palmer Read Free Book Online

Dulcie Prothero.
    The girl rose to her feet suddenly, startled. But Piper held out thirty dollars, waving the money in her face like a flag. “You dashed off and forgot something,” he reminded her. “Something of yours. Or is it?”
    “I don’t see …” She closed her mouth, accepted the money, and began to cram it automatically inside her handbag.
    “Wait,” said Oscar Piper. “You’d better count it.” He reached suddenly forward with a clumsiness that was unusual for him, and somehow the bag, money and all, fell to the floor.
    “Sorry!” he said, and they both knelt to pick up the scattered articles. The inspector noted that the bag, for all its capacity, was empty enough. It contained only a handkerchief, several pawn tickets, some small silver, a tarnished vanity case, and some tattered newspaper clippings. One was of a young man with large ears, wearing some sort of extremely unbecoming fancy dress. “That’s funny,” he observed conversationally. “I didn’t know Clark Gable ever sang in Carmen.”
    “It’s not Clark Gable!” Dulcie told him, her voice trembling with anger. She hastily refolded the picture, tucked it away. “And now, if you don’t mind …” She was waiting for him to go away, but he didn’t go.
    “Interesting country, Mexico,” he observed, sitting down on the arm of the seat again.
    “It was,” Dulcie said. Some of the starch had gone out of her.
    “Interesting customs,” Piper went on. “Do you know that they don’t have juries down here? Just a judge, and then afterward usually a firing squad.” He shook his head. “It’s a tough exit.”
    The forcefulness of his stirring period was somewhat marred by louder strains of music from up forward, as the trio broke into “Rancho Grande.”
    “Go on,” Dulcie prompted him. The inspector frowned at her.
    “Go on, make some more conversation,” invited the girl. “You’ll lead up to asking me to come back to dinner with you, and I’ll say no.” She looked at him appraisingly. “I even said no to the Gay Caballero in the beret, and his approach was much nicer than yours.”
    “I wasn’t talking about dinner. I was talking about murder,” the inspector corrected her bluntly.
    She caught her breath.
    “Murder of that customs man this afternoon,” he went on. “Plus one or two more attempts. By the way, do you mind telling me what kind of perfume you use?”
    “I don’t use any right now!” she flared.
    “Ever own any like this?” He showed her a glimpse.
    “Oh, no! Never in my life!” gasped Dulcie Prothero, staring intently at the seat in front of her.
    Piper nodded, stood up. “Funny you’re so sure when I didn’t show you the label,” he said happily and stalked back through the car. Let her stew over that for a while. In the meantime …
    Telegram from Inspector Oscar Piper to Miss Hildegarde Withers, 32 West Seventy-fourth Street, New York City, filed at Palo Blanco, province of Nuevo Leon, Republic of Mexico, at 7:40 CST:
NO FOOLING THIS LOOKS SERIOUS WIRE IMMEDIATELY INFORMATION DULCIE PROTHERO FORMERLY EMPLOYED SODA FOUNTAIN NEIGHBORHOOD AMSTERDAM 72ND STREET IF SODA FOUNTAIN IS IN DRUGSTORE DO THEY SELL POTASSIUM CYANIDE
    OSCAR
    Telegram from Miss Hildegarde Withers to Inspector Oscar Piper, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, care Tren 40 Ferrocarriles Nacionales, filed New York City at 9:18 EST:
UPTOWN DRUGSTORE REPORTS PROTHERO GIRL QUIT WORK WEEK AGO WITHOUT NOTICE WAS GOOD AT HAM AND CHEESE SANDWICHES BUT HER BANANA SPLITS WERE TERRIBLE SHE SOUNDS LIKE NICE GIRL HAVE HEARD NAME SOMEWHERE YES DRUGSTORE KEEPS POTASSIUM CYANIDE BUT WOULDN’T SELL ME ANY THEIR POISON BOOK SHOWS NO SALES FOR FIVE MONTHS BUT THEY DO A GOOD BUSINESS IN ELIXIR DAMOUR AT FIFTY CENTS OR FREE WITH TWO DOLLAR JAR OF FRECKLE CREAM AM DYING OF CURIOSITY WHAT ARE YOU UP TO
    HILDEGARDE
    The train roared and rattled southward through a dusty desert. When Piper came into the diner he found that most of the tables were filled now.