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  ‘It’s a longish drive,’ Heimrich said. ‘This afternoon?’

  She said yes. She said, ‘I’m tired, captain. A motel? Something like that?’

  Heimrich said there were several motels. There was also a place—a place he liked himself—called the Old Stone Inn. ‘Wherever you say,’ the girl said. ‘If it isn’t too far.’

  It was not far. She followed Heimrich’s car in a not very new Chevrolet to Van Brunt Center and the inn.

  An interesting coincidence, Heimrich thought, leaving the pretty girl at the inn. A shocking one for the girl, of course. She must have been still in Tonaganda when her father died; might have been packing her bag to go in search of him. If—

  Heimrich switched on his radio and, over considerable static, talked to the barracks. He made certain arrangements.

  Barracks reported some dope on T. Lyman Mitchell, in his guise of Old Tom, handyman at large. Nothing too hot; just dope. Like where—

  Static rattled Heimrich’s car. ‘I’m going home,’ Heimrich said. ‘I’ll call in for it.’

  The speaker said, ‘Ggrah,’ and a number of other things, which presumably represented acquiescence.

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  About the Authors

  Frances and Richard Lockridge were some of the most popular names in mystery during the forties and fifties. Having written numerous novels and stories, the husband-and-wife team was most famous for their Mr. and Mrs. North Mysteries. What started in 1936 as a series of stories written for the New Yorker turned into twenty-six novels, including adaptions for Broadway, film, television, and radio. The Lockridges continued writing together until Frances’s death in 1963, after which Richard discontinued the Mr. and Mrs. North series and wrote other works until his own death in 1982.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, 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 © 1963 by Frances and Richard Lockridge

  Cover design by Andy Ross

  ISBN: 978-1-5040-5057-9

  This 2018 edition published by MysteriousPress.com/Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

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  THE CAPTAIN HEIMRICH MYSTERIES

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