The Case of the Smoking Chimney

Chapter 2

George Karper believed that every man had his price, but Karper never paid the asking price. He always waited until the man he wanted could be had at a bargain.

Now at 11.15 P.M. George Karper sat at his desk. Before him was a file of confidential reports on Harvey L Stanwood, Ralph Pressman’s cashier, auditor, and general right-hand man.

Those reports covered a period of three months. They had been compiled at some expense and with infinite attention to detail.

Karper’s particular interest was not in Stanwood, but in a complicated oil-lease situation which the Pressman interests were pushing through to completion in the Petrie area in Santa Delbarra County, a hundred miles up the coast.

Karper glanced casually at the clock as he lit a cigar. Eleven-fifteen. It was nothing for Karper to sit up until three and four in the morning — scheming, planning, laying traps for his enemies. A cold, mental realist, Karper’s schemes usually paid off. Intensely practical, he had no use for anything which didn’t work.

Now, however, Pressman had Karper in a very tight spot — a very tight spot indeed. He wished that he knew just what Pressman had—

Karper picked up the confidential reports again, reached a decision. In the morning he would call young Harvey L Stanwood and ask him to lunch.