A Killing in the Market Read Free Page B

went, it doesn't look like he'll be back for a while."
    Joe raised himself up and pushed his face against the window. As Frank shone the beam around, Joe was stunned.
    It looked as if the entire living room had been torn apart. The armchair where Aunt Gertrude had sat was on its side, the cover slashed to reveal the stuffing underneath.
    The rug was rolled back, and even the logs from the fireplace had been rolled out.
    There was no sign of Cyril Bayard.

Chapter 3
    "SQUAAWWWWK! BUY LOW, sell high! Bull market! No sweat! Squaawwwwk!"
    After Frank pried open the front door, the screeching of the parrot greeted them. It was the only sound in Mr. Bayard's living room. To the left, the couch had undergone the same slashing routine as the chair. Several wooden planks had been ripped out of the floor where the rug had been taken up.
    "What happened to Cyril?" Aunt Gertrude murmured, her face frozen with shock.
    "I'll call the police," Joe said. He went to look for the phone while Frank tried to comfort his aunt. "Easy now," Frank said. "We'll get to the bottom of this."
    "Dinner? No sweat! Brrrock!" the parrot called out.
    "I — I think he's hungry," Aunt Gertrude said listlessly. Frank followed her into the kitchen and over to a cupboard. Her face looked pale and drained. With shaking hands she reached into one of the cabinets and pulled out a box of birdseed. But as she was lowering it to the countertop, she abruptly lost her grip. The seed spilled noisily onto the floor.
    "Oh, no!" she cried.
    "It's okay! I'll pick it up!" Frank said.
    "No, no, it's not that, Frank. Look!" With an expression of horror she pointed to the countertop. On it was a copy of The New York Times from the week before, folded open to a story. Frank picked it up and read the headline.
    WALL STREET CLERK SHOT MISTAKEN FOR BOSS BY GUNMAN?
    And then Frank saw what had upset Aunt Gertrude so much. Below the headline was a smiling photo of Mr. Bayard in a jacket and tie with the caption Henry Simone.
    "Henry Simone?" Frank muttered.
    "Wh - what does it say, Frank?" Aunt Gertrude asked.
    He read aloud.
    "Yesterday evening, after business hours, a gunman gained access to the offices of the investment firm Thompson Welles. The intruder used a heavy-caliber pistol to fire three shots into Peter Lance, an assistant to executive Henry Simone. Mr. Lance died immediately.
    The assailant escaped the building before the body was found. Police suspect that the attacker mistook the clerk for Henry Simone, an investment counselor of great notoriety in Manhattan finance. ..."
    By this time Joe had returned and was listening intently. "Sounds like old Cyril — or should we call him Henry — had a bit of trouble back home," he said.
    Frank paced back and forth. "Obviously, somebody's after him, and he knew it. Otherwise why would he skip to Bayport using the name of someone he knew was going to be out of the country for a while?"
    "When exactly did this shooting happen?" Joe asked.
    Frank looked at the top of the newspaper. "Last Friday."
    "That was just about the time he started acting weird around Aunt Gertrude."
    Aunt Gertrude knelt down to gather up the birdseed. "I don't believe this has happened," she said, standing up again.
    "Look on the bright side, Aunt Gertrude," Joe said. "There are no bullet holes, no bloodstains. Maybe Cyril—or Simone, or whatever his name is—is still alive."
    Aunt Gertrude looked as if she were about to faint. "Bullet holes — bloodstains?"
    "Nice work — really sympathetic," Frank said to Joe under his breath. He took his aunt by the arm and led her out of the kitchen to a seat near the dining room table, where she had left one of her knitting bags a week and a half earlier.
    Just then the wail of a police siren sliced through the air. Joe went to the front door to let in Officer Riley and his partner.
    "We found the place like this, but we don't know for sure what happened," Joe said. He handed Officer Riley the newspaper article. "But