Confidentially Yours (18 page)
Read Confidentially Yours Online
Authors: Charles Williams
“On the bride.” He blew out the match, studied it for a moment, and dropped it in the ashtray. “I was just looking up the statute of limitations on a few minor peccadillos like harboring a fugitive, obstructing justice, and blackmailing a peace officer, not that I’d even dream of using anything like that if I didn’t have to, you understand.”
Barbara grinned. “No, of course not.”
“Especially after the way you talked Duke into throwing down his guns and coming out of there that night. I’ll always look back on that as one of the great inspirational moments of my career. I mean, when a peace officer can command that type of support and cooperation from the citizens, well, it gives you a warm feeling about the whole thing.”
“Well,” she said modestly, “I thought it was worth a try.”
He nodded. “Yes, I gathered that.”
He drank his coffee, and looked at the plan, which was almost unrecognizable now with penciled alterations. “What’s all this?”
“The landscaping,” I told him. “We’ve got it all just about settled except for this area here in back of the bedroom wing. I’m in favor of a swimming pool, with the rest of it in flagstone, but Barbara thinks the pool will be more trouble than it’s worth, and that a simple expanse of lawn looks better anyway.”
“I see.” He looked at his watch, and stood up. “I’ve got to get back to work; you go ahead and thresh it out. But at least I’ve got an idea for the wedding present.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“A lawn mower,” he said.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
copyright © 1962 by Charles Williams
cover design by Kristina Damkoehler
978-1-4532-6623-6
This 2012 edition distributed by MysteriousPress.com/Open Road Integrated Media
180 Varick Street
New York, NY 10014
CHARLES WILLIAMS
FROM MYSTERIOUSPRESS.COM
FROM OPEN ROAD MEDIA
Available wherever ebooks are sold
Otto Penzler, owner of the Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan, founded the Mysterious Press in 1975. Penzler quickly became known for his outstanding selection of mystery, crime, and suspense books, both from his imprint and in his store. The imprint was devoted to printing the best books in these genres, using fine paper and top dust-jacket artists, as well as offering many limited, signed editions.
Now the Mysterious Press has gone digital, publishing ebooks through
MysteriousPress.com
.
MysteriousPress.com
offers readers essential noir and suspense fiction, hard-boiled crime novels, and the latest thrillers from both debut authors and mystery masters. Discover classics and new voices, all from one legendary source.
FIND OUT MORE AT
FOLLOW US:
@emysteries
and
Facebook.com/MysteriousPressCom
MysteriousPress.com is one of a select group of publishing partners of Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
Open Road Integrated Media
is a digital publisher and multimedia content company. Open Road creates connections between authors and their audiences by marketing its ebooks through a new proprietary online platform, which uses premium video content and social media.
Videos, Archival Documents,
and
New Releases
Sign up for the Open Road Media newsletter and get news delivered straight to your inbox.
Sign up now at
FIND OUT MORE AT
FOLLOW US:
