Page 114 - Labelle Gramercy, Detective

Cat’s Paw

next to the aspirin. Nobody can say they hadn’t been there for
months or years. He gets away with it.”
“So,” I said, “you could imagine him doing it. The accident could
have been murder. Then what?”
“Without proof, nothing but wait and watch. Perhaps he would
unwittingly give away his secret. I kept an eye on Mallard Books, its
owner and its employees. My patience was rewarded when Art Lesley
died. Another accidental death, one of thousands every year. I’m in
the homicide division, so the Lesley case crossed my desk, as well. In
the file was a note concerning a suit his wife had brought against
Mallard Books, seeking to block it from obtaining a manuscript left
undelivered by her late spouse. She had already been contacted by
Cornish Rock, but it was too late. Mallard fought her in court, and
won the right to examine Lesley’s property for the missing book.”
“I didn’t know that. Mallard told me he had fooled her into
thinking she could get royalties.”
“She’s nobody’s fool, and you were lucky to get away from her
unmarked. She’s got a rap sheet as long as my right arm. Art Lesley
tried to reform her, but finally got a divorce.”
“She made it sound like she had divorced him. What a pair!”
“His sister Hope isn’t much better. If the governor hadn’t closed
the mental hospitals, she’d be a ward of the state.”
“She wanted to sell the manuscript, too?”
“Who knows? She might just have wanted to play whatever game
it was that Ruth was playing. She adored and envied her former
sister-in-law, a sick sort of love-hate relationship.”
I shook my head, as if to dispel demons. “Ugh. So now you had
Mallard tied to another suspicious death?”
“Right. And again, it was a beautifully executed plan. If I hadn’t
been on Mallard’s trail already, I would have missed the only clue.
Having written the book, Art Lesley decided to play off the insurance
company, his real target, against a publisher, to increase the pressure
on Cornish Rock. To his surprise, Mallard Books, his unfortunate but
inevitable choice as the only local publisher of self-help books,
outbid the insurance company. Lesley took the advance, not caring
whether or not the manuscript ever saw the light of day; he had
gotten a lot of money for his labors. Mallard, however, upon reading
the introduction and table of contents Lesley had submitted, realized

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