Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Vol. 101, Nos. 3 & 4. Whole Nos. 610 & 611, March 1993

At this point Dolly presented a halfhearted protest. “I don’t think Buck hated Sam, certainly not enough to kill him. I think he was jealous of Sam.”

There followed an awkward pause. Denver took it as an opportunity to tell Dolly to be brave and call on him if she needed anything. The combination of injunctions didn’t come out quite as he had intended them to, but she took his meaning. She responded with a tearful hug and kiss, telling him how considerate he was. He got away quickly and decided to speak with Buck or Patricia as soon as possible. They had to be warned.

Before he could reach either of them, Horn reached him. As he entered his home, the telephone was ringing. Horn wanted to know if it would be convenient if he came over. He had a few more questions to ask. Denver had no objection to further interrogation. In fact, he hoped to get a bit of information from the detective.

Once again Horn’s line of questioning took Denver by surprise. “You said that you had business dealings with Sam Tarn. Was he your broker?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Were you satisfied with his performance?”

“Very much so. Mine is a small account. I’m not one of his millionaire clients, but he increased the value of my portfolio by some very sound suggestions. Why do you ask?”

“I’ll tell you in a minute. First, did he ever give you any hot tips?”

“He didn’t use that language, but a couple of times he recommended stocks that increased in price soon after I bought them. I don’t do much trading. Mostly I invest for the long haul. But on those two occasions, I bought when he said I should and sold when the price went up. There’s nothing unusual in that, is there? Isn’t that what stockbrokers are for?”

Horn gave him a pitying look and went on to his next question. “Were the stocks he recommended blue chip stocks like Du Pont and Merck or were they unknowns?”

“I had never heard of either of them, though one was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. I think the other was over the counter.”

Denver waited for the promised explanation. Horn gave it grudgingly. “We haven’t found a convincing motive for his murder in his personal life, so we are going into his professional relationships. He was remarkably successful, had over six million dollars in his personal account. So far, all of his clients have reported that he made money for them, too.”

“You don’t kill a man because he does you favors.”

“You wouldn’t think so, would you? By the way, the murderer kept the gun; at least, we haven’t found it.”

Denver didn’t like the sound of that in the least. After Horn had gone, Denver reached Patricia Fine and arranged to stop in that evening after supper.

As it turned out, he learned more during his visit to the Fines than they did. Buck was aware of the net of suspicion closing around him. He wasn’t worried by it. “Pat and I were at home all that night. Early in the evening we got a couple of phone calls. Our car was parked in the driveway all night, as our neighbors can certify. Even the police can’t imagine that I would sneak out of my home in the middle of the night and walk four miles to kill Sam Tarn. I didn’t hate him; I merely did not like having him always trying to take advantage of me. He was one of those mean people who get pleasure from doing damage to others under the appearance of bumbling joviality.

“He liked to go into people’s houses and spill things on their rugs, trip over lamp cords, drop gravy boats, sit down heavily on fragile chairs so that they would break and his host would have to apologize to him. He did all that while being the life of the party. Since his hosts were wealthy, they didn’t mind the cost and they enjoyed the frolicking. I saw no reason to let him expand his reputation as a good-time Charlie at my expense and I told him so.”

“Neither of you ever saw him at his worst,” Patricia added. “I’ve seen him put on his magic show for children. He’d start out by changing handkerchiefs into different colors. The kids love that. Then he’d do tricks with large steel rings, joining them together and taking them apart. By that time, he’d become everyone’s hero. He could do no wrong. So he’d follow that with coin tricks.