The Avenger 31 - The Cartoon Crimes Read Online Free PDF Page A

the dead cigar, ignoring Cole’s extended hand.
    “We’re going to grab a bite to eat,” explained Leo. “I don’t mind working on Sundays now and then, but I’m not going to give up lunch.”
    “You ain’t going noplace until you put more oomph into that Captain Dynamite page.”
    Cole strolled over to look at the penciled comic-book page. “Why, Oppenheim, that page is practically overflowing with oomph. Wouldn’t you agree, Joshua?”
    Ambling to a position where he could scan the drawing, Josh said, “Oh, yeah. If there’s one thing it’s got, it is oomph.”
    “Wise guys,” muttered Oppenheim around his cigar. “What do you know from oomph? You ain’t funny-book readers.”
    “On the contrary,” said Cole, “I am a loyal follower of both Wonderman and Captain Dynamite. In fact, I recall a yarn which I believe you yourself wrote, Oppenheim. In it the good captain saves the citizens of a rural New England village from all turning into shaggy apes due to some gorilla serum which has been dumped in the local reservoir. A classic.”
    Oppenheim removed his cigar to make a sound which might have been a chuckle. “I used to write more, till I climbed up to being managing editor of the whole shebang here.”
    “It’s a pity, and I speak as one of your most dedicated fans, you have to set aside your pen.”
    Oppenheim chuckled again. “You can let that job go till after lunch, Leo,” he said. “Nice to have met you guys.”
    After the managing editor had departed, Leo shook his head. “You sure have a gift for handling people, Cole.”
    “Ever since I took that Dale Carnegie course there’s been no stopping me.” He crossed over and shut the door. “Did you find out what I asked you about on the phone?”
    “Nothing much to find out, I already knew,” replied Leo. “Just a matter of thinking and then making a list.” He took a sheet of paper off the top of a pile on the rickety table next to his drawing board. “Here, I wrote them down.”
    Cole took the list and counted the names on it. “Twelve people,” he said. “And that’s all . . . nobody else sees Gil Lewing’s Wonderman pages as they come in?”
    “No, that’s . . . wait, I forgot somebody.” He grabbed back the list. “Not important, maybe. But Swifty’s Messenger Service takes the comic strips from here over to the syndicate. Walling and Oppenheim wanted to see all the Wonderman art, so Gil sends everything here first.” He returned the list to Cole. “Those messengers, now that everybody’s getting drafted they’re all old doddering guys. Swifty, I hear, is in the Pacific someplace.”
    Beside each name Leo had written the person’s function within the comic-book publishing company. “How does Gil get the drawings here?” asked Cole. “By way of the postman?”
    “Oh, no,” said Leo. “We lost a batch in the mail once, and Walling screamed and hollered for two days. So now Gil has his assistant, that guy Harmon, bring everything in on the train from out on Long Island.”
    Josh had been admiring the color proofs of comic-book covers that graced the green walls. “Who’s going to run things now that Walling is dead?”
    “Well, I think Mrs. Walling inherits the controlling interest,” answered. Leo. “But with both her sons in the service, well, Joel Oppenheim is really going to be in charge.” His brow clouded, and he looked across at the black man. “You’re looking for . . . motives, huh? I draw Tough Dan MacDuff—Master Detective, too. He’s always out to fix on the motive for the crime, but I’ve never seen anybody do that in real life.”
    Folding the list and sliding it into his jacket pocket, Cole said, “Any ideas about motives, Leo?”
    “Huh? You mean do I know anybody who might have a reason to kill the old man?”
    “You’ve been with the company almost five years. Plenty of time to know who would like to do what to whom.”
    “Everybody,” he said. “Everybody who ever worked for