“My little Filly ain’t going to spend her time standing in front of theaters collecting for no war orphans no more,” Pearly said. “I’m going to teach her the oil business. And I think she’s probably going to teach me a thing or two while we’re at it.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Brass said. He put his coffee cup down and leaned back in his chair. “You know, Professor,” he said, “I’m sorry we queered your play with the big store operation, but I guess you’ll find another location.”
“What’s wrong with the one I have?” the Professor asked. “I imagine the police have a lot more to ask Welton about besides the location of the place he was apprehended.”
“But won’t the two cops who took him into custody say something?” I asked.
The Professor smiled. “I doubt it,” he told me. “They weren’t exactly real cops. They sort of worked for me.”
“Oh,” I said. I refilled my coffee cup. Maybe I should write a book about a confidence man.
Or, then again, maybe not.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge the assistance of Bill Pronzini, Marcia Muller, Richard A. Lupoff, and Keith Kahla, who each in their own way contributed to the completion of this book.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Kurland is the author of more than thirty books, but is perhaps best known for his series of novels starring Professor Moriarty. The first volume, The Infernal Device, was nominated for an Edgar Award and the American Book Award, and received stellar reviews, including this from Isaac Asimov: “Michael Kurland has made Moriarty more interesting than Doyle ever made Holmes.” It was followed by Death By Gaslight, The Great Game, The Empress of India and Who Thinks Evil, published over a period of more than thirty years.
Kurland is also well known as a science fiction writer, and is the author of The Unicorn Girl, as well as the bestselling Ten Little Wizards and A Study in Sorcery, fair-play detective stories set in a world where magic works. He has edited several Sherlock Holmes anthologies and written non-fiction titles such as How to Solve a Murder: The Forensic Handbook. He lives in California.
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