Free The Case of the One-Penny Orange: A Masao Masuto Mystery (Book Two) by Howard Fast

will destroy it with a few words.”
    â€œI like that notion.” She stared at him with interest. “You are a most unusual policeman.”
    â€œYou don’t have to stop what you were doing. I will be happy to sit in the kitchen, and I can talk to you while you work. I just have a few questions to ask you.”
    â€œWould you like a cup of tea?”
    â€œI would.”
    She led him into the kitchen. “No, I shall not go on working. We will have tea together.”
    He watched her with interest as she put up the water to boil, prepared the teapot, and set out a plate of sliced pound cake. She moved easily and gracefully, and he found himself admiring her and liking her.
    â€œYou have no accent at all,” he observed.
    â€œAccent?”
    â€œForeign accent, I mean. You were born in Germany?”
    â€œBut I left there when I was three years old. So the fact that I have no accent is hardly remarkable.”
    â€œThat was in 1940?”
    â€œYes — but how did you know I was forty years old?”
    â€œJust a guess.”
    â€œNot a flattering guess, Sergeant Masuto.”
    â€œIt has nothing to do with your appearance. I simply felt it was before the war began. Later it would have been almost impossible.”
    â€œYes, I suppose so. Do you want lemon with your tea?”
    He shook his head. “Your father was Jewish?”
    â€œHalf Jewish — but in Nazi Germany that was enough. My mother was not Jewish, but Hitler was not concerned with such niceties.”
    â€œWhen did your father die?”
    â€œHe died in Germany, in a concentration camp. Some friends helped my mother to escape in 1940, and we got to England, and then here after the war.”
    â€œThat must have been a hard time for both of you.”
    She put two slices of cake on a plate and handed it to him, looking at him rather quizzically. “I was very young. It was harder for my mother. But these things are not pleasant for me to talk about, and I don’t see what such matters have to do with my home being broken into.”
    â€œPerhaps a great deal. I’m not sure. Please forgive me. I am trying to get to the bottom of something. It’s like a puzzle, and I am trying to fit the pieces together.”
    â€œYou mean the house being broken into? I don’t understand.”
    â€œPartly that. You see, Mrs. Briggs, two people were murdered during the past twenty-four hours. I am investigating these murders. I imagine you haven’t seen the morning paper?”
    â€œNo, I haven’t. But what can this possibly have to do with my house being robbed?”
    â€œI’m not sure. I think there’s a connection.”
    â€œWhat kind of connection?”
    â€œIf you will only bear with me a little — and allow me some personal questions. It’s very important.”
    â€œAll right. But I’m very confused and I’m beginning to be frightened again.”
    â€œThere’s no reason for you to be frightened, and if we can get to the bottom of this, it will only add to your safety and your son’s safety. By the way, where is your son?”
    â€œAt school. Why my son? What has he got to do with this?”
    â€œI’m not sure — yet.”
    â€œWhy don’t you tell me the truth? What are you after? What is happening?”
    She was becoming very upset, her eyes wet with moisture now. Masuto realized that she was a very emotional woman; well, what good actress wasn’t. He said gently, “I will tell you what I am after, but let me do it my way. If you will simply answer my questions.”
    â€œAll right.”
    â€œYesterday — what time was the funeral?”
    â€œNine o’clock in the morning.”
    â€œAnd you returned here at one?”
    â€œCloser to two.”
    â€œAs I remember you told me yesterday, you had lunch and then you dropped your son off at school?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œYou all had