“And while you and the other men were huddled around Lansing’s body, Corby quickly stepped out of the sack, replaced it on the pile of empties, returned the full sack to its proper place, and pretended to have just arrived.”
“Precisely. It struck me as odd at the time that he should have shown up when and where he did. A brewery’s bookkeeper has little business in the storerooms.”
“The lupulin you found in his office came from the hideout sack?”
“From inside it, yes. Residue clung to the twill of his trousers and perhaps inside the cuffs. Golden State buys its hops from a farm in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. The flowers are picked, dried, and sacked there, and now and then dried hops are put into bags previously used by pickers. In such cases, a residue of the yellow powder clings to the interior of the burlap.”
“Well done, John, I must say. Your usual excellent detective work.”
“No more so,” Quincannon said magnanimously, “than yours in uncovering the hiding place of the stolen Marie Antoinette handbag.”
They smiled at each other across the candlelit table.
The arrival of their dinners broke the pleasant spell of the moment. The food was superb, as always at the Tadich Grill, and they spoke little as they tucked into it. Quincannon finished his Hangtown Fry in short order and was in the process of loading his briar from his oilskin pouch when he saw that Sabina had paused and was gazing off into the middle distance, an oddly wistful expression on her face.
“What are you thinking about, my dear?”
“Oh,” she said, blinking and focusing on him again, “I couldn’t help wondering if we would ever see Charles the Third again.”
Quincannon repressed a scowl. “If the pompous rattlepate knows what’s good for him, he’ll never again darken either of our doors.”
“Yes, he’s pompous, and meddlesome and annoying, but he can also be charming and helpful and … well, even endearing at times.”
“Endearing! Faugh!”
“You’re not forgetting, are you, that he saved my life?”
“Of course not. For that, he has my undying gratitude.”
“That, if nothing else, endears him to me,” Sabina said. “And you must admit that in spite of his clownish disguises and his addled ways, he really is a very good detective. The genuine Sherlock Holmes, even though it’s his identity that has been usurped, might even have been proud of the manner in which Charles adroitly adopted his methods.”
“By Jove, you sound as though you’re going to miss him.”
“In a curious way, I think I shall.”
Quincannon stared at her as if she’d temporarily taken leave of her senses. She caught the look, smiled, and reached across the table to lay her hand on his. “Don’t be jealous, John. Of course you’re the better detective, by far.”
At some other time he might have responded to her praise, but with her hand resting warmly on his in this intimate atmosphere he barely even heard the words. Her touch, the twining of her fingers around his, thrilled him. Impulsively he placed his other hand on top of hers, and when she made no move to end the joining, he applied a gentle squeeze which she then returned. This thrilled him even more, and not, by Godfrey, in a sexual way. All he felt in that moment was an acute and gentle tenderness, which, if her expression was a proper indicator, she was feeling as well.
At last, he thought.
Ah, at last!
BY MARCIA MULLER AND BILL PRONZINI
NOVELS
Double
Beyond the Grave
The Lighthouse
The Bughouse Affair
The Spook Lights Affair
The Body Snatchers Affair
SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS
Duo
Crucifixion River
NONFICTION
1001 Midnights
About the Authors
MARCIA MULLER is the New York Times bestselling creator of private investigator Sharon McCone. The author of more than thirty-five novels, Muller received the Mystery Writers of America’s Grand Master Award in 2005. You can sign up for email updates here.
BILL PRONZINI, creator of the Nameless Detective, is a highly praised novelist, short-story writer, and anthologist. He received the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 2008, making Muller and Pronzini the only living couple to share the award. You can sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
By Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini
About the Authors
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.
THE PLAGUE OF THIEVES AFFAIR
Copyright © 2016 by the Pronzini-Muller Family Trust
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Gordon Crabb
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
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Forge® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-8104-0 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-7678-1 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781466876781
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First Edition: January 2016
The Plague of Thieves Affair Page 20