Inspector Queen’s Own Case Read Free Page B

man raised the cup. Abe Pearl shook his big head slightly.
    â€œWhat do you hear from your son, Dick?” he said. “I noticed you got a letter from Rome yesterday.”
    â€œEllery’s fine. Thinking of visiting Israel next.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you go with him?” Mrs. Pearl demanded. “Or weren’t you invited?” Her two sons were married, and she had definite ideas about what was wrong with the younger generation.
    â€œHe begged me to go. But I didn’t feel it would be right. He’s roaming around Europe looking for story ideas, and I’d only be in his way.”
    â€œHe wasn’t fooled by that poppycock, I hope,” Beck Pearl snorted.
    â€œHe wanted to cancel his trip,” Richard Queen said quietly. “He only went because you and Abe were kind enough to ask me up here for the summer.”
    â€œWell! I should think so.”
    Abe Pearl rose. “You’re sure you won’t sit in, Dick?”
    â€œI thought I’d do a little exploring today, Abe. Maybe take your boat out, if you don’t mind.”
    â€œMind!” Abe Pearl glared down at him. “What kind of dribble is that?” He kissed his wife fiercely and pounded out, making the dishes on the sideboard jingle.
    Through the window Inspector Queen watched his host back the black-and-white coupé with the roof searchlight out of the garage. For a moment the sun sparkled on the big man’s cap with the gold shield above the visor. Then, with a wave, Abe Pearl was gone.
    With his ability and popularity, the old man thought, he can hold down this Chief’s job in Taugus for life. Abe used his head. He got out of the big time when he was still young enough to set up a new career for himself. He isn’t much younger than I am, and look at him.
    â€œFeeling sorry for yourself again, Richard?” Beck Pearl’s womanly voice said.
    He turned, reddening.
    â€œWe all have to adjust to something,” she went on in her soft way. “After all, it isn’t as if you were like Abe’s older brother Joe. Joe never had an education, never got married. All he knew was work. He worked all his life on a machine, and when he got too old and sick to work any more he had nothing—no family, no savings, nothing but the few dollars he gets from the government, and the check Abe sends him every month. There’s millions like Joe, Richard. You’re in good health, you have a successful son, you’ve led an interesting life, you’ve got a pension, no worries about the future—who’s better off, you or Joe Pearl?”
    He grinned. “Let’s give Abe something to be jealous about.” And he got up and kissed his friend’s wife tenderly.
    â€œRichard! You devil.” Becky was blushing.
    â€œOld, am I? Bring on those eggs—sunnyside, and don’t burn the bacon!”
    But the lift was feeble. When he left the house and headed for Abe Pearl’s second-hand sixteen-foot cruiser, the old man’s heart was bitter again. Every man tasted his own brand of misery. You needed more than a successful past and a secure future. Becky had left one thing out, the most important thing.
    A man needed the present. Something to do.
    The engine coughed its way into the basin and expired just as the sixteen-footer slid alongside the dock. Richard Queen tied up to a bollard, frowning, and looked around. The dock was deserted, and there was no one on the beach but a buxom woman in a nurse’s nylon uniform reading a magazine on the sand beside a net-covered perambulator.
    The old man waved. “Ahoy, there!”
    The nurse looked up, startled.
    â€œCould I possibly buy some gas here?” he bellowed.
    The woman shook her head vigorously and pointed to the pram. He walked down to the beach end of the dock and made his way across the sand toward her. It was beautiful sand, clean as a laundered tablecloth, and he had the uneasy feeling