Murder in the Gunroom by Henry Beam Piper
page 74 of 254 (29%)
page 74 of 254 (29%)
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to Rivers, this afternoon. Colonel Rand doesn't have any confidence in
Rivers at all, and he doesn't care who knows it." "You were talking to Arnold Rivers, this afternoon, about the collection?" Dunmore demanded of Rand. "That's right," Rand confirmed. "I told him his ten thousand dollar offer was a joke. Stephen Gresham and his friends can top that out of one pocket. Finally, he got around to admitting that he's willing to pay up to twenty-five thousand." "I don't believe it!" Dunmore exclaimed angrily. "Rivers told me personally, that neither he nor any other dealer could hope to handle that collection profitably at more than ten thousand." "And you believed that?" Nelda demanded. "And you're a business man? _My God!_" "He's probably a good one, as long as he sticks to pancake flour," Geraldine was generous enough to concede. "But about guns, he barely knows which end the bullet comes out at. Ten thousand was probably his idea of what we'd think the pistols were worth." Dunmore ignored that and turned to Rand. "Did Arnold Rivers actually tell you he'd pay twenty-five thousand dollars for the collection?" he asked. "I can't believe that he'd raise his own offer like that." "He didn't raise his offer; I threw it out and told him to make one that could be taken seriously." Rand repeated, as closely as he could, his conversation with the arms-dealer. When he had finished, Dunmore was |
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