JIM TARR PICKED up the cigar I rolled across his desk, looked at the band, bit off an end, and reached for a match.
"Three for a buck," he said. "You must want me to break a couple of laws for you this time."
I had been doing business with this fat sheriff of Sacramento County for four or five years -- ever since I came to the Continental Detective Agency's San Francisco office -- and I had never known him to miss an opening for a sour crack; but it didn't mean anything.
"Wrong both times," I told him. "I get them for two bits each, and I'm here to do you a favor instead of asking for one. The company that insured Thornburgh's house thinks somebody touched it off."
"That's right enough, according to the fire department. They tell me the lower part of the house was soaked with gasoline, but the Lord knows how they could tell -- there wasn't a stick left standing. I've got McClump working on it, but he hasn't found anything to get excited about yet."
"What's the layout? All I know is that there was a fire."
Tarr leaned back in his chair and bellowed: