[SPEAKER_00]: the case of Nagel's house, an Aggie McPherson mystery, and a short-hand missile tail, by Matthew C. McClain.
[SPEAKER_00]: Chapter 1 The large, brightly colored homes of Slotter-Kee's south slope neighborhood stood in stark contrast to the grace guy.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pink hydrangers ring this small, well-tended lawns, and window boxes of tulips and beebom fluttered in the autumn air.
[SPEAKER_00]: The mailbox is bright white near the street's black pavement.
[SPEAKER_00]: It looks like a place where children should be playing outside, dog should be chasing balls, and respectful neighbors would be driving slowly to avoid harming such innocence.
[SPEAKER_00]: None of these were present.
[SPEAKER_00]: There were two figures, one was tall and dressed in black from head to toe.
[SPEAKER_00]: The other only matched in that the figure's hair was as black as the other's dress.
[SPEAKER_00]: Slight as well as diminutive, the shorter one wore tailored wool suit as gray as the northwest sky that hung over slotter key, with skin pale enough that stood out against any color the neighborhood possessed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Standing on the corner of Coas and Rappler, the house they observed was three stories of weathered gray stone, with patches of like an in moss clinging to its face.
[SPEAKER_00]: Darken windows spotted at irregular intervals, the highest alone near its peak truth.
[SPEAKER_00]: The eye I've been to round the house's frame is if gravity pulled the viewer's gaze along the incline of the strict.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no reason that how should have permits to function in this community.
[SPEAKER_00]: The tall one on the corner said do a short companion.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a small business operating at the residential neighborhood.
[SPEAKER_00]: Technically, that's only allowed with special dispensation.
[SPEAKER_00]: The short one stared at the boarding house intently, smiling like the devil.
[SPEAKER_00]: Corbin glances associate, which mostly gave him a view of the top of her well-coifed hair.
[SPEAKER_00]: He breathed a deep sigh and flattened out the front of his lapels.
[SPEAKER_00]: McPherson, do you have to enjoy this as much as you are?
[SPEAKER_00]: I give McPherson continued his smile.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't bring a spectral analyst to look at avoiding house because it's operating without the correct permits Corbin.
[SPEAKER_00]: This place looks old enough that it could have been grandfathered in.
[SPEAKER_00]: Corbin encountered, I've checked the files down of the city clerk's office.
[SPEAKER_00]: There aren't any permits on record.
[SPEAKER_00]: When McPherson only turned a cocked eyebrow out of him he continued with, the house might as well not exist.
[SPEAKER_00]: The investigator paused, pushed the hair out of rise, and yet it does.
[SPEAKER_00]: Corbin took a long breath again, knowing how he was relishing this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Make fairs in chuckle, looking up and down the block with its very fine homes, luxury cars and driveways.
[SPEAKER_00]: Corbin's side again, sensing the analyst, calculate how much you could gouge the home owners for her services.
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead of talking terms though, they didn't many of Anna was said, anyone remember when it happened, where when it appeared?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, it seems as if it's always been there, but no one remembers seeing it when they moved in.
[SPEAKER_00]: You say it's a boarding house.
[SPEAKER_00]: If we get closer, you'll see a small plockered in windows, dating rates, $1.99.
[SPEAKER_00]: McPherson's eye is brightened so that Corbin can sense it without even glancing on her.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's impossibly cheap.
[SPEAKER_00]: Indeed, Corbin agreed, as you can imagine, it's attracted all sorts of unsavory types, strangers moving in and out of the neighborhood on a regular basis, and men that people here never get to know, but live near their children before departing to parts unknown.
[SPEAKER_00]: McPherson turned to critical eye on Corbin.
[SPEAKER_00]: Are you saying that no one noticed the house until they saw vagrants moving in and out?
[SPEAKER_00]: Prepare to receive the analyst's usual commentary on the human race, carbon-equivocated.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wouldn't call them vagrants necessarily.
[SPEAKER_00]: McPherson laughed then, musical, like something one might hear from behind the bushes in a secret garden.
[SPEAKER_00]: Before you could respond, McPherson's mouth snapped shut and she practically trembled within anticipation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Corbin, you do bring me the very best strange, so who's spoken to them?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry, this is a high class neighborhood, Corbin, that plot of land the house that saw and must be worth a small fortune, surely someone is going to talk to the owner.
[SPEAKER_00]: Corbring lanced around at the quiet neighborhood, wondering what McPherson had deduced that from.
[SPEAKER_00]: A few residents have, I understand a few realtors have as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: McPherson stared up at her taller companion, batting her eyelashes ridiculously, urging him to continue.
[SPEAKER_00]: No one has ever noticed the fate of the realtors.
[SPEAKER_00]: Corbring continued, eliciting a shrug from his compatriot.
[SPEAKER_00]: The residents have come out, but different.
[SPEAKER_00]: McPherson seized her ridiculous mugging to find some empathy for the street's residents, different to how, just different.
[SPEAKER_00]: They've uniformly changed their mind about the boarding house saying it's a good thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: They've been unwilling to discuss it beyond that, but some of the wives have noticed there has been sneaking back to the house at odd hours.
[SPEAKER_00]: All husbands, no women?
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the first person to go in was a woman and derby.
[SPEAKER_00]: Her husband hired me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why?
[SPEAKER_00]: She hasn't come out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why hasn't he gone to the police?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: He seemed Corbin pause, then abandoned his attempted diplomacy for the truth.
[SPEAKER_00]: Afraid of the house?
[SPEAKER_00]: No, of embarrassing his wife.
[SPEAKER_00]: Please showing up in south slope to investigate how snow and remembers would cause a scandal.
[SPEAKER_00]: From her lower height, McPherson somehow managed to appear as if she were looking down a Corbin.
[SPEAKER_00]: He only lifted his shoulders closer to his dark head of hair in a shrug, or so I've been told.
[SPEAKER_00]: You pointedly stared at a nearby home where a figure could be seen standing behind the curtains of a bay window.
[SPEAKER_00]: Under that shattered gaze, Corbin reflexively tightened as he felt Aggie put her arm through his and began to walk toward the boarding house.
[SPEAKER_00]: With his greater height he was able to stop her, but with what he found was a surprising amount of effort.
[SPEAKER_00]: What are you doing?
[SPEAKER_00]: McPherson later devilish smile when the Corbin, we're going in, of course.
[SPEAKER_00]: why would I have brought you here if I wanted to go in?
[SPEAKER_00]: Corbin attempted to remove his arm from the inspector's grip.
[SPEAKER_00]: She held on with enough strength that forcefully removing himself would have cost each of them their dignity.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mr. Halverson, you wouldn't let a slight individual such as myself go into house filled with never-do-ells would you?
[SPEAKER_00]: Make fairson, Corbin
[SPEAKER_00]: the residents contracted me to find a solution to their problem.
[SPEAKER_00]: I found you.
[SPEAKER_00]: McPherson waggle their eyebrows in a way that Corbren thought might have been meant to charm, but only added to her envisionous.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, you did.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as a part of the condition for my services, I'm going to require that you come with me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Corbren's moved the ruffles McPherson's script
[SPEAKER_00]: after a moment, fine, all assist, for a percentage of your fee.
[SPEAKER_00]: In a tone so serious that Corbyn knew he was being mocked, McPherson replied, haven't the residents already paid you to find a solution to their problem?
[SPEAKER_00]: Couldn't taking a percentage of my fee, be viewed as a kickback?
[SPEAKER_00]: Chewinged at him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Wouldn't that be considered a breach of your ethics?
[SPEAKER_00]: Corbin frowned, unhappy with his logic, but unable to contest it.
[SPEAKER_00]: He strained himself to his full height to make this his awkward as he could for his associate.
[SPEAKER_00]: Very well.
[SPEAKER_00]: With confident strides, Corbin led the way to the stone house, as if this had been his idea all along.
[SPEAKER_00]: In truth, he was beginning to wish he had called detective fel instead of McPherson.
[SPEAKER_00]: The front entrance to the boarding house was a solid wood door which had survived the weathering and scratches of age, even if its paint had not.
[SPEAKER_00]: There was no doorbell, but a bronze knocker.
[SPEAKER_00]: Releasing his arm, McPherson wrapped on the door, and when that received no response, wrapped loudly with the knocker.
[SPEAKER_00]: They waited.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, Aggie said enough, suggesting someone was being very rude.
[SPEAKER_00]: She reached the door knob.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was then that it cracked open at a small yellow eye peeked from the darkness within the house.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, good afternoon.
[SPEAKER_00]: The doors won't open revealing the eye belonging to a solid woman, blonde hair done up at a bond and son wrinkles on her square face despite its paleness.
[SPEAKER_00]: Her slight frame was covered in a pattern dress under sturdy apron.
[SPEAKER_00]: She smiled, the expression missing her eyes, which appeared as bright as the lead and son that fell upon her.
[SPEAKER_00]: My apologies, I was downstairs cleaning.
[SPEAKER_00]: Corbin paused in the doorstep, feeling he recognized the woman.
[SPEAKER_00]: In that silence McPherson issued a warm greeting and stated, we were hoping to find a room for the night.
[SPEAKER_00]: The woman rose up to a matriently stance and examined the inspector carefully.
[SPEAKER_00]: An uncertainty crept into her friendly tone, as she said, I'm afraid we only cater to single men in this house.
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, make fearsome reply.
[SPEAKER_00]: Still smiling.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Corbin became aware that her demeanor had changed.
[SPEAKER_00]: MacPherson was now feet instead of inches from Corbin.
[SPEAKER_00]: The woman's eyes narrowed in examination,
[SPEAKER_00]: But Miffiris and the smile remained unchanged, her stance unshaken.
[SPEAKER_00]: My apologies, please come in.
[SPEAKER_00]: The host is replied as she stepped back, opening the door, whitered, or a via a large foyer.
[SPEAKER_00]: Aggie led the way while Corbin paused at the threshold, struck by the oddity of the central room.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was lit as if it were the darkest night outside, with several sconces throughout.
[SPEAKER_00]: To the far right was a stairwell that bent around the corner of the room to wind up and down to unseen levels.
[SPEAKER_00]: Next to it was a small fixed desk with a large registry on it that looked like it had been acquired from an antique expedition.
[SPEAKER_00]: Aside from the desk, stairs and door frames, the room was constructed of perfectly fitted if irregularly sized stones.
[SPEAKER_00]: The left side was only interrupted by a large-trained picture of a man wearing a black-frock coat and vest, a top-witch set of large, bold, head, pale as a fish's belly, adorned only by a walrus mustache that did its best to cover up his face.
[SPEAKER_00]: The portrait didn't quite sit straight in the frame, which, when combined with the bending stairwell, set the entire room ascue, entering the house, Corbin felt as if you were walking
[SPEAKER_00]: The woman in her bun bobbed behind the desk where she picked up a fountain pen, hand resting over the large open registry.
[SPEAKER_00]: How many nights will you be staying with us?
[SPEAKER_00]: Make fairs and cranger head taking in the room as she answered.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hmm, just one night, delightful.
[SPEAKER_00]: Two rooms for one night, then.
[SPEAKER_00]: The inspector's eyes snapped onto the old woman.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name.
[SPEAKER_00]: The sternness from before returned to the proprietess's gaze, making Corbin hesitate and closing the door behind him.
[SPEAKER_00]: She stared directly at him now, making him feel as if he had little choice.
[SPEAKER_00]: When the door clicked shut, she responded,
[SPEAKER_00]: Nice to meet you Mrs. Clark, and who is this fine gentleman on the wall?
[SPEAKER_00]: Clark said down her pen, a smile blooming from her wringles.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jeremiah Nagel, he's one of our founders of the house.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh yes!
[SPEAKER_00]: Clark titted her in a way that made her sound like a school girl with a crush.
[SPEAKER_00]: but I meant the city.
[SPEAKER_00]: Interesting.
[SPEAKER_00]: Aggies studied the portrait casually before adding, I thought I knew Slotk to Key's history, but I've never heard of Noggle.
[SPEAKER_00]: Clark became Ram Rod straight, only bending her neck to find her pen again.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, these days, not everything that's true makes it into history books.
[SPEAKER_00]: McPherson snorted, worrying, carbon that she might be ridiculing Clark, which seemed like a really bad idea.
[SPEAKER_00]: Instead, McPherson agreed, well, that's certainly true.
[SPEAKER_00]: What was his contribution to the city, I mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh!
[SPEAKER_00]: That goes backwards.
[SPEAKER_00]: Pending hand, Clark floated it above the registry's pages as it's tracing a route on a map.
[SPEAKER_00]: Corbin found himself watching it rather than his partner.
[SPEAKER_00]: The South Slope hasn't even a neighborhood when this place was built.
[SPEAKER_00]: This was just a lodge he built for communing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Communing, make sure it's an asked.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, a decent place for men to come together.
[SPEAKER_00]: Trappers, minors, dock workers, he even invited some of the natives, a safe haven for all.
[SPEAKER_00]: natives.
[SPEAKER_00]: You mean the ex-commit?
[SPEAKER_00]: Uncomfortable with MacPherson's invoking the name of Slotter keys indigenous people, Corbin turned to study Clark's reaction.
[SPEAKER_00]: He saw the matronally sternness of her expression was replaced with a mild confusion that caused her to tap the pen on her chin.
[SPEAKER_00]: The gesture along with her laugh made her appear younger, as well as more familiar.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I don't think that was their name, but he built this lodge to commune with them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Of course, that was a long time ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now his home serves as a humble place to give travelers a safe place to rest.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is that a fact?
[SPEAKER_00]: It is!
[SPEAKER_00]: Some people stay here, even say they dream of him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Corbin blames and found himself staring into Clark's yellow eyes, the woman no longer behind the desk, but only feet from him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you?
[SPEAKER_00]: Corbin took her, if Lex had stepped back, do I what?
[SPEAKER_00]: Dream, Clark asked.
[SPEAKER_00]: Looking around the room, Corbin tried to locate McPherson, but answered, I'm sorry, I seem to be out of sorts.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's our right dear.
[SPEAKER_00]: Clark took him by the arm and guided him toward the front desk.
[SPEAKER_00]: This close he found her familiarity only increased.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why don't you sign in, and we'll get you some place comfortable to rest.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, McPherson's words caused her to reappear as if she had summoned herself.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why don't you?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll find other accommodations.
[SPEAKER_00]: Corbin and Clark spoke at the same time.
[SPEAKER_00]: What?
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll need to find other accommodations.
[SPEAKER_00]: Make Fierce and Spoke to Clark.
[SPEAKER_00]: You said only single men stay here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Clark examined to make Fierce and more closely.
[SPEAKER_00]: The features on her square face slowly arranging themselves into downward vectors.
[SPEAKER_00]: My apologies, I didn't realize.
[SPEAKER_00]: De Corbin's increasing alarm, McPherson replied, that's no trouble.
[SPEAKER_00]: That happens all the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Aggie shrugged while Corbin stared at her, trying his best to telepathically signal that her departure wasn't welcome.
[SPEAKER_00]: He pulled himself from Clark to AsmxPherson, hand on her upper arm.
[SPEAKER_00]: What are you doing?
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, now Corbin, a big strong man like you should be fine.
[SPEAKER_00]: Corbin Lord is voiced in nearly his, make Ferson, I recognize the proprietress.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's Ann Derby.
[SPEAKER_00]: The analyst pried Corbin's hands from her bicep.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then I guess I'll start by letting her husband know we found her.
[SPEAKER_00]: Won't he be thrilled.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thinking of the photo Mr. Derby had shown Corbin of his wife, it was difficult to think he would be overjoyed by the nurse.
[SPEAKER_00]: The woman behind the counter appeared to have no recollection of who she was.
[SPEAKER_00]: But now that his mind had hit upon it, the resemblance was unmistakable.
[SPEAKER_00]: That wasn't our agreement.
[SPEAKER_00]: Aggie finished pulling its fingers from her blazer, looking irritated that he had wrinkled the costly fabric.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll be back.
[SPEAKER_00]: She reassured him.
[SPEAKER_00]: And at almost dead, right until the door closed behind her, and Corbyn heard Derby speak from behind him.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, why don't we get you signed in?