The Golden Goose by Ellery Queen Read Free Book Online

the difference was—and vive la différence! —on any night anyone might designate it had happened to other people.
    It was only ten o’clock when Coley escorted her to Uncle Slater’s front steps; because it was only ten o’clock and a velvety night with a crystal of moon showing, they sat down on the steps and talked. Coley talked with gestures, proving that he had not exaggerated his talent one bit.
    It came out between gestures that Coley, besides being a bartender every other night at the Hotel Coronado taproom, was a full-time student at Cibola City College, in the School of Business Administration.
    â€œWhat are you studying?” asked Prin, secretly relieved, although she really had nothing against bartenders.
    â€œEmbezzlement,” Coley said sincerely.
    â€œI beg pardon?”
    â€œThey’re devious— they call it accounting. You know, you keep financial records and stuff for business firms. The opportunities in this field, as I see it, are simply staggering.”
    â€œYes?” said Prin doubtfully. She had nothing against accountants, either, but she had committed herself to thinking of Coley Collins in terms of vagabond adventure, and it was hard to fit accountancy into the picaresque life. “I suppose they are.”
    Coley’s teeth gleamed in the moonlight. “You bet they are! What I have in mind is to work myself into some big firm in a position of trust and then divert a horse-choking bankroll into my own pocket and take off. This is all in the future, of course—I’m hardly out of double entries—but you’ll have to be prepared when the time comes to move on a moment’s notice. We’d better go separately, I think. We can meet at the Cannibal Bar in the Bum-Bum in Acapulco.”
    That was better, much better; it really topped the evening off.
    In their next ten meetings Coley changed their rendezvous ten times. The one Prin liked best was his last choice.
    â€œPapeete’s out,” Coley said positively. “It’s one of the first places they’d come looking for me. You know what, sweet Princess?”
    â€œWhat?” Prin had mumbled, for they were conversing with their lips in juxtaposition at Coley’s suggestion.
    â€œWe’ll meet in the last place they’ll think of looking.”
    â€œWhere’s that?”
    â€œIn the Coronado taproom.”
    That was the way things stood when Uncle Slater took the joy out of living by dying.

5
    So there across the threshold stood Coley Collins; and Prin felt instantly better. With Coley there, everything that had looked so much like being wrong would now be surely right.
    â€œColey! Darling!” Prin cried. “You’ll never know how glad I am to see you.”
    â€œWhy not?” said Coley, coming in and shutting the door. “A girl is supposed to be glad to see the man she loves, especially when she has a date with him.”
    â€œOh, my gosh,” wailed Prin. “I completely forgot you were coming tonight.”
    â€œIf so,” said Coley stiffishly, “it would have been more ladylike not to mention it.”
    â€œOh, Coley, I’m sorry. But when you hear what’s happened, I’m sure you’ll forgive me.”
    By this time Dr. Appleton, who had lingered over the phone, had gone back into the living room, glancing suspiciously at Coley on the way. The moment he was out of sight Coley seized Prin and kissed her all over her face—eyes, nose, cheeks, lips, chin—and he was heading for her neck when Prin whispered, “Coley. Don’t. I mean—don’t you want to know what’s happened?”
    â€œAll right,” said Coley sulkily. “What?”
    â€œUncle Slater is dead.”
    Coley stood quietly, his head cocked as if he were repeating to himself what Prin had just said. “Did you say Mr. O’Shea is dead?”
    â€œOh, Coley. I was the one who found him.”