The Second Richard Deming Mystery MEGAPACK™: 23 Classic Mystery Stories
- Автор: Деминг Ричард
- Год: 2016
- Язык: английский
- Год: Wildside Press
- ISBN: 9781479423507
- Жанр: Другие детективы
Электронная книга - «The Second Richard Deming Mystery MEGAPACK™: 23 Classic Mystery Stories». Краткое содержание книги:
My thought hadn’t been so fantastic after all. In fact, it had been the logical answer.
“Thanks,” I said, and left the office.
Emma Pruett was again behind the information counter.
“May I bother you to look at some more records?” I asked.
“Of course,” she said. “It’s a relief to have something to do for a change.”
We returned to the county clerk’s office. Consulting the notes I had taken on Paul Manners, I first looked up his birth registration. He was recorded as having been born on April 2, 1918. On his application for an insurance broker’s license, he had listed his wife’s maiden name as Gertrude Booker and her birth date as June 4, 1920. Sure enough, that record was on file too.
Just to see how thorough the doctor had been, I had Emma check for their marriage record. I didn’t know the supposed date of marriage, but I guessed it would be no earlier than 1936, as Gertrude would have been sixteen then. Starting with that year, Emma checked forward. The record showed they were married in 1940.
I had Emma check for the birth records of all five persons whose death claims had been paid, and found them all in order too. I had no doubt that in the cases of the eighty-year-old grandfather and the three married women, I would find birth records of their spouses and marriage records, but I didn’t bother to look for them.
“Is there more than one undertaker in town?” I asked Emma.
“No, just Gerard Boggs. He’s out past Doc Parks on East Main about a block and a half.”
“Thanks,” I said. “You’ve been very helpful.”
I had a brief visit with the undertaker, then returned to the doctor’s house. He seemed a little surprised to see me, but he courteously invited me into his office.
When we were both seated and he had his pipe going, I said, “I was on my way out of town when something Sidney Potter said, and something you said a few moments later, recurred to me. Potter said you had advised him that insurance was a way to save, and not just get death benefits. He didn’t say Paul Manners advised him. He said you. I might have passed that, merely assuming Potter had come to you for advice after being contacted by the insurance salesman, if you hadn’t mentioned a few moments later that no one but you and Potter knew he had received an insurance check. Now why wouldn’t Paul Manners, who sold the policy and no doubt helped Potter prepare his claim, know that he’d received payment?”
The doctor puffed at his pipe and gazed at me through the smoke. “I forgot about Paul. Of course he’d know.”
I grinned at him. “You’re going to fight until you’re counted out, are you, Doctor? I’ve been back to the courthouse since I last saw you. You did a remarkable job on the records. It’s a matter of legal record that Paul Manners and his wife were both born, grew up and married. All five of those typhoid cases have their lives carefully recorded too. On paper they were all born, grew up, married and died. Except for young Herman Potter, of course. He was just born, grew to eighteen and died.”
The doctor hiked his eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”
“I just came from Boggs’s Funeral Home. He remembers conducting a funeral for Herman Potter, but he never heard of the other four typhoid victims.”
Dr. Parks pursed his lips.
“Furthermore, neither Emma Pruett, Sheriff Gaines nor Gerard Boggs ever heard of Paul Manners, which is a little odd considering he’s the only insurance broker in the county, was born here and lived here all his life. Sheriff says you’ve been selling insurance.”
“Hmm,” the doctor said.
“It was quite clever of you to take me to see Mr. Potter. Herman Potter actually did die from typhoid, didn’t he? I suppose that’s what gave you the idea for the others. You created your own little typhoid epidemic by insuring, and later killing off, people who never existed except on paper.”
Dr. Parks’ pipe had gone out. He relit it and puffed it slowly.
“Why did you risk taking me to see Potter, Doctor? I was ready to leave town. You must have sweated it all the time we were there, hoping I wouldn’t mention Paul Manners. And later, at the coffee shop, you must have sweated even harder.”
He took his pipe from his mouth and regarded me with rueful sadness. “Impulse, Mr. Quinn. I hadn’t thought it through. It seemed wise at the time to lull your suspicions completely, in case future claim payments in this area later came to your attention. The danger of your mentioning Paul Manners to Potter simply didn’t occur to me until after I had extended the invitation. Inviting you to lunch was another mistake. I really didn’t want to, but unfortunately I’m innately courteous, and I didn’t know how to get out of it.”
I studied him with a mixture of amusement and admiration. “This is the most brilliant insurance fraud I’ve ever run into, Doctor. You rightly guessed that insurance companies wouldn’t be suspicious of claims where the doctor who originally examined the applicant also signed the death certificate, particularly from a community this small. But you knew they would never stomach the doctor also being the man who sold the policy. You created a Paul Manners on paper, boned up to pass the state insurance exam and took it in his name. As postmaster you catch every bit of mail coming into Heather Ridge. When letters addressed to the people the fake Manners had given as references came from the state licensing bureau, they were never delivered. You simply forged answers and sent back glowing recommendations. In two cases, that is. You had also given yourself as a reference, so you didn’t have to forge that answer. In the same way, you caught the claim payment checks mailed to the mythical beneficiaries of the four mythical decedents. How many of the other policies you’ve written are on mythical people?”
“About half,” he said in a low voice. “I’ve actually sold only eleven. Up until now the others are rather a financial burden. I’ve been planning to record a few more deaths.”
“Why did you do it?” I asked. “A doctor shouldn’t be that hard up for money.”
He snorted. “In this area the doctor gets paid in eggs and chickens and other produce. Up until now I’ve really needed my salary as postmaster and the fees from my various county jobs. Besides, I wanted to build my clinic.”
After a pause, he added candidly, “A little greed entered into it too. I’ve set aside only half the money, so far, for the clinic. I’ve earmarked the rest for the traveling I’ve always wanted to do. I don’t suppose you’re open for bribery?”
I examined him for some time, and silence built between us. Finally I said softly, “Try me.”
“Hmm,” he said. “How much?”
“Let’s consider the service I can render, in addition to merely keeping my mouth shut, before we arrive at a figure,” I said. “If I go back and give Paul Manners a clean bill of health, it’s extremely unlikely you would ever be caught again. Even if something roused the association’s suspicion again, almost certainly I would be the investigator sent, since I’m already in on the ground floor.”
He gave me his most charming smile. “Your readiness to be bribed leads me to suspect you’re thinking of your expensive young lady. It won’t solve your problem, of course, because no matter how much you earn, she’ll always want more. That’s your affair, however. How much?”
“Fifty-fifty, including the forty thousand you’ve already taken.”
He pursed his lips. “I’ve earmarked twenty-five thousand of that for the clinic. Also the premiums on my fictional policy holders are quite a drain, and I don’t feel expenses should come all from my share. There’s only about ten thousand left to divide.”
“All right,” I agreed. “I’ll settle for five thousand now and fifty percent of all future take, less premium costs. That suit you?”