Read Queen’s Bureau of Investigation for Free Online Page A

a look at the lady.”
    Big Dave’s widow was a mess. Whichever brother had stabbed her with the hunting-knife letter opener from Big Dave’s desk, he had wielded it with passion and without finesse, many times.
    â€œBut,” as the Inspector remarked, “he wasn’t out for a medal in technique. The things people do for money!”
    â€œWhat’s this?” Ellery had picked up a man’s raincoat with the eraser end of a pencil. The raincoat was slightly damp, the lower part of the right sleeve was rain-soaked, and the front of the coat was smeared untidily and redly. It was of medium size, not new.
    â€œWe found it rolled up under that leather chair,” said the Inspector. “She fought for her life and he got her blood all over his coat. Rather than risk being caught or even seen with the coat in this condition, he left it here.”
    â€œA bad mistake,” said Ellery.
    â€œYou think so? You won’t find any identifying marks, the pockets were cleaned out even of lint and dust, all three brothers owned raincoats like this at one time or other, and they all wear a medium size. Each one denies it’s his coat, and each one says he can’t produce his own coat because he discarded it long ago. So we don’t get at him through elimination.”
    â€œThere are other ways,” remarked Ellery.
    â€œYes,” said his father with a shrug, “we’ll do a sweat, hair, and dust analysis, but they’re not always conclusive. I have a hunch, son, we won’t get any more out of the coat than we did out of the knife, which doesn’t show a print.”
    â€œI disagree.”
    â€œYou see something I missed?” exclaimed Inspector Queen. “In the coat?”
    â€œYes, Dad. Something that indicates exactly which brother killed Big Dave’s widow. And with nothing up my sleeve,” said Ellery with a grin, “although with something definitely up his .
    â€œLook at this coat. It’s slightly damp from the rain, but the lower part of the right sleeve is rain- soaked . How did that part of the sleeve get soaked while the rest of the sleeve—in fact, the rest of the coat—merely got a little damp?
    â€œThe brothers came here separately, at different times, each alone in his car. It’s rained all day. So the wearer of this coat drove a car in the rain. In driving a car in the rain, especially in city traffic, what do you habitually do which will get one of your coat sleeves wet?”
    â€œGive arm signals for stops and turns …!” But then Inspector Queen looked puzzled. “But the driver always signals with his left arm, Ellery, and it’s the right sleeve of this coat that’s rain-soaked.”
    â€œConclusion: This driver signalled with his right arm.”
    â€œBut to be able to do that—” the Inspector stopped. Then he said, slowly, “ His car has a righthand drive. ”
    â€œCharlton’s Cadillac and Archibald’s Chevrolet—American cars—lefthand drives,” said Ellery, nodding. “But the other car is a Rolls-Royce—British; and what’s more, a Rolls bought secondhand in London, so it has to have a righthand drive. Indicating the owner of the Rolls—Everett Brothers.
    â€œBy the way, Dad, what’s he look like?”

PARK PATROL DEPT.
    A Lump of Sugar

If not for the fact that Mounted Patrolman Wilkins was doing the dawn trick on the bridle path, where it goes by the Park Tavern, the Shakes Cooney murder would never have been solved. Ellery admits this cheerfully. He can afford to, since it was he who brought to that merry-go-round some much-needed horse sense.
    A waiter with a hot date had neglected to strip one of his tables on the Tavern’s open terrace at closing time the night before, whereupon the question was: Who had done a carving job on Cooney’s so-called heart about 6 A.M. the next morning? Logic said nearly eight