Missing Brother

After the fat man's hasty exit and the impromptu question from Det. Burn Ms. Palmer took a moment to collect herself.

Burn took this opportunity to scrutinize the appearance of his would-be client. The redheaded beauty was tall for a woman; almost 5'10''. She was athletically slender with high breasts and an ample tight derriere.

She wore a dull yet expensive looking gray business dress suit. Conan assumed she had picked out this particular color because its muted tones helped make her piercing cobalt blue eyes and fiery mane of curly locks stand out even more. It had long sleeves, but the hem of the dress stopped short of Ms. Palmer's knee. Her long smooth legs were encased dark thigh high stockings. She wore open two and quarter inch heels, the tops no more than a series of straps to keep the footwear from falling off. Her toes and fingers painted a shade of mahogany one usually found on high-end furniture. There was a peculiar deficiency of jewelry. She even lacked earrings despite the noticeable piercing holes.

Miss Palmer corrected her posture in the manner of a woman who had attended the finest of finishing schools; Her nose curled a bit at the smell of Conan's cheap cigarette. The scene of the ash falling to the floor made her eyes take on an uneasy stare.

"It started back home in New York. You see my brother is five years younger than me, only eighteen, and we were not exactly close. Our parents took a steamer for Europe, they will be gone for the summer, and left me in charge. He was supposed to start Cornell in the fall." She said turning her head to stare out the window of Burn's office.

"Well, that give's us a month," Conan said matter of factly. "What brought your brother to Los Angeles? Running from someone? Following a dame?"

"It was Victoria Strutton. An old friend of mine. He had always fancied her but she never even so much as acknowledged him. Victoria and I had a row about a year ago. She caught me and a..." Jane trailed off for a moment. "No, I have to tell it. She caught a guy she had set her sights on kissing me by the pool house at the Belvedere social. I didn't even know she liked him. Victoria always kept that kind of thing close to her chest. She was an excellent secret keeper. She was so enraged that even though I tried to explain and apologize, she would not hear a word of it." Ms. Palmer stated in hurt protest.

I was shocked when Charles' letter arrived saying he and Victoria were out here in Los Angeles. I wrote him to come home immediately. I told him mama and papa would be very wroth. That Victoria was just using him to get back at me. I never got a response. So I wrote again to the same P.O. box and once again nothing. So I booked a plane out here and camped out at the post office. Every day for a week I waited, and neither he nor Victoria ever showed up. After a week, I went in to see a postman pretending to want to rent a box. I asked if the one Victoria and Charles had been using was available. He said it was. I inquired how long it had been vacated as I had sent a letter to that box and not gotten it returned. He checked for me and said the day after my last letter had arrived the owner canceled it." Jane trailed off as her eyes began to moisten despite her face remaining calm.

"So you need me to find Charles?" Conan probed.

"Yes. But it won't be that hard. I got a call from Victoria earlier today. She wants to have dinner tonight Musso and Frank. If you could just..." Jane was abruptly cut off as the office door swung open.

In stepped a large man who appeared to be closer to fifty than forty. His suit was rumpled, and his collar was crinkled and undone. He smelled of cheap bourbon and women's cigarettes. "Sorry about that." The slob apologized. "I'm Cyrus Lynch. Conan's partner." Then he turned to Conan, pulled out a cigar, lit it, puffed a couple of times, and then asked. "Client?"

"I don't know yet. We're quite busy. Plus this case seems more a police matter. Missing persons." Conan nonchalantly said as he rolled another cigarette.

Jane rose from her seat, crossed the room, reached into her purse, pulled out two crumpled bills, and laid them on Conan's desk. "I need someone more discreet than the police."

The bills turned out to be to one hundred dollar bills. Cyrus picked one up and placed it in his pocket.

"So who are we finding?" Cyrus asked as he put out his cigar.