The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Perfectionists, by Arnold Castle

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Title: The Perfectionists

Author: Arnold Castle

Illustrator: Leo Summers

Release Date: April 2, 2008 [EBook #24977]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration]

THE PERFECTIONISTS

By ARNOLD CASTLE

ILLUSTRATED by SUMMERS

_Is there something wrong with you?
Do you fail to fit in with your group?
Nervous, anxious, ill-at-ease? Happy
about it? Lucky you!_

Frank Pembroke sat behind the desk of his shabby little office over
Lemark's Liquors in downtown Los Angeles and waited for his first
customer. He had been in business for a week and as yet had had no
callers. Therefore, it was with a mingled sense of excitement and
satisfaction that he greeted the tall, dark, smooth-faced figure that
came up the stairs and into the office shortly before noon.

"Good day, sir," said Pembroke with an amiable smile. "I see my
advertisement has interested you. Please stand in that corner for just a
moment."

Opening the desk drawer, which was almost empty, Pembroke removed an
automatic pistol fitted with a silencer. Pointing it at the amazed
customer, he fired four .22 caliber longs into the narrow chest. Then he
made a telephone call and sat down to wait. He wondered how long it
would be before his next client would arrive.

* * * * *

The series of events leading up to Pembroke's present occupation had
commenced on a dismal, overcast evening in the South Pacific a year
earlier. Bound for Sydney, two days out of Valparaiso, the Colombian
tramp steamer _Elena Mia_ had encountered a dense greenish fog which
seemed vaguely redolent of citrus trees. Standing on the forward deck,
Pembroke was one of the first to perceive the peculiar odor and to spot
the immense gray hulk wallowing in the murky distance.

Then the explosion had come, from far below the waterline, and the decks
were awash with frantic crewmen, officers, and the handful of