Murder in the Key of E Flat
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Frost interrupted my thoughts: "Back to business, Mr. Hoe. The paper has the only facts I have so far about Mr. Brown's death. You can read the paper later. Let me give you the facts I have from the paper. Yesterday, December 17, Mr. Brown was eating his lunch in a restaurant in the Westminster Mall Shopping Center. The restaurant's name is Steinburg's, a Jewish delicatessen just to the left of the Mall entrance off of Bolsa Avenue in the city of Westminster, Orange County. "Brown arrived at the restaurant a few minutes after 12 noon. He was alone. A few minutes later his waitress brought his lunch. He suddenly went berserk. He leaped from his booth with a loud roar. He then charged toward the restaurant doorway, crashing through some tables and chairs in his path, yelling and screaming like a mad man as he ran. He burst through the restaurant entrance to the Mall, crashed into the wall opposite the deli entrance, fell down, still ranting and yelling like a maddened animal, lunged to his feet, then ran at full speed down the Mall hallway to the center of the Mall where the Mall hallway divides at an escalator, branching to the right and left. The center of the Mall is two stories high at the top of the escalator and is open in the center with walkways along each side of the center opening. "Brown smashed blindly into the rail near the top of the escalator, toppled over the rail, and fell to the floor below crushing his skull, killing himself instantly. "As you can imagine, Brown caused quite a commotion. Many people saw him run to his death, both inside the restaurant and outside in the Mall. "The Mall Security called the para-medics, the police, etc. Brown's body was removed and the Mall cleaned up. "The police notified Mrs. Brown, who was home in her residence in Park Estates in Long Beach. Mrs. Brown collapsed from the shock of her husband's death. Later that evening she posted the reward. This morning she was supposed to have deposited the hundred thousand dollars in escrow. "Please check to see if she has done so, Mr. Hoe." "Have the police declared Brown's death a murder?" I asked. Frost chuckled. "Not yet, Mr. Hoe. That is significant don’t you think?" "Do you mean, Mrs. Brown put up one hundred thousand dollars reward for her husband's murderer before the police said he was murdered?" I asked in amazement. "That seems to be the case, Mr. Hoe," Frost replied calmly, then: "That adds some spice to this case, Mr. Hoe, which attracts my interest and intrigues my mind to a point where I want to know more about it. "The first thing I want you to do, Mr. Hoe, is for you to go to Westminster Mall and examine Steinburg's restaurant. Take pictures of the area of Brown's booth; make a drawing of the restaurant’s interior showing the counter, the booths, and the tables and chairs. I want to know the exact spot where Brown sat, which way he was facing, what he ordered for lunch, and who, if anyone, was sitting near him and if someone was sitting close to him, find out who it was if possible and whether the person or persons was a man or a woman. Got all that?" "Yes, I've got it, Mr. Frost," I said. "All right, next, talk to the waitress who waited on him and get a statement from her. Talk to all of the people who work in the restaurant to make sure we find out everything they saw. "Next, find out the results of an autopsy, if one has been done, and keep in touch with the police so we know what they are doing and what they have found out." I took rapid notes as Frost paused for a moment. "The paper also says, Mr. Hoe, that Brown is a music publisher and the owner and operator of a record company. He was recently awarded a platinum record for a current hit song he wrote himself. Brown cut his own record with a hired band to play the song for him. The band provided a vocalist. The record has made Brown a rich man. This record is his first hit of any kind and it is certainly big. The name of the song is: "You Left Me Lonely". The band is a rock group by the name of "The Main Street Kids". The music and lyrics of the song are both very good which made the record sell, and the band and vocalist did a credible job for a rock group. "The significance of the record, Mr. Hoe, is that Brown is a small time record maker who operates just inside the law. It seems impossible for a small time loser like Brown to suddenly compose such a good song, but it happens once in awhile I suppose. "The point is, Mr. Hoe, check Brown and his wife out as thoroughly as you can. I mean, get inside their skeleton closet. "Another point, why was Brown in the Westminster Mall? Find out if anything out of the ordinary went on that day. Anything at all. "Next, Mr. Hoe, check the newspaper facts to make sure the paper is accurate. The newspapers are not noted for their careful reporting of true facts." I wrote notes rapidly as I listened. I glanced at the wall clock: 11:05. Over an hour on the phone. My ears were almost worn out. Frost was silent, waiting I suppose, for me to finish my notes. "Got it all, Mr. Hoe?" Frost asked. "Yes, Mr. Frost, I have it all. I'll get started at once." Thank you, Mr. Hoe. Use every resource of your agency. Spend what money is necessary and do not hesitate to be liberal when you need to be. No haggling over nickels and dimes when we are shooting for one hundred thousand dollars.
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About the Book
Hannable Hathaway Hoe, private eye is hired by a mysterious Mr. Frost to help Frost solve a murder case. The wife of the murdered man has put up a reward of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00). Hannable takes the job, but he wants to know who Frost is. Frost wants to remain unknown? Hannable, talking to Frost on the phone mumbles that he could find out who Frost is; Frost overhears him and offers to bet that Hannable can't find out who he is. Hannable takes the bet, then bets Frost he can solve the murder mystery before Frost can. Frost takes the bets: a hundred bucks on Frost's identity; and an eighty-twenty split of the hundred thousand bucks to the winner of the murder solution. Hannable agrees, and the race is on! Which man will win?
About the Author
Robert James Warner was born and raised in Long Beach, California. He went to the local schools. He was drafted in to the Navy on March 9, 1944, during the World War II as soon as he finished his last semester in High School. He was discharged from the Navy on June 16, 1946. Mr. Warner went back to school at Long Beach City College, on the G.I. Bill, taking Mechanical Engineering before he switched to journalism. After about a year and a half at City College, he quit. Mr. Warner had always been interested in writing, but he had huge handicaps to overcome: he couldn't spell (he still can't); and grammar was then and is now a mystery to him. Mr. Warner first began to write when he was about twenty. During the next few years, he wrote some songs, poetry, and short stories, but his output was quite low. From 1947, after Mr. Warner left City College, to 1950, he had a number of different inconsequential jobs--the longest, at Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach where he worked in the blueprint department for eight months until he quit and loafed awhile. In 1950, he enlisted in the Active Naval Reserve as a Weekend Warrior, so that he could learn seamanship and get paid doing it. He has had a life long love affair with boats (building his own) and fishing. About three months later, the Korean War started and Mr. Warner was called back to active duty in the Navy Aircorp for a year. He was discharged in August 1951, serving on three aircraft carriers, operating off of Korea in the China Sea, bombing and strafing the communists! After Korea, Mr. Warner went back to City College for awhile, then got a job on a freighter as a deckhand. He then made two trips to the Hawaiian Islands, about thirty days round trip, hauling bulk sugar for C&H Sugar in Crocket California on the Sacramento River. Leaving the ship in Crocket, he went to Santa Rosa, California, where he washed dishes in a few restaurants and got a poem published in the local newspaper--a big day in his life. Next, he went to Yosemite and washed some more dishes before going home. Mr. Warner has cleaned chicken dung from under the pens; he owned and operated his own auto wrecking yard; owned his own 2nd Store; was half owner of a Yacht Landing; speculated in Real Estate; and worked at some other odd jobs, going to work for the Long Beach Fire Department in 1953 for the next twenty-six years, retiring in October, 1979. Mr. Warner got married in 1961, had his son in 1963, and got divorced in 1973. In 1974, Mr. Warner and his son, Jeff, drove to Alaska during the summer. On his return, Mr. Warner wrote his first novel. Since 1974, Mr. Warner has written 15 novels, about 125 short stories, 2 Civil War history books, and 2 poetry collections.