H. Beam Piper: Stories

Was this ill-fated expedition the end of a proud, old race-or the beginning of a new one? There are strange gaps in our records of the past. We find traces of man-like things-but, suddenly, man appears, far too much developed to be the "next step" in a well-linked chain of evolutionary evidence. Perhaps something like the events of this story furnishes the answer to the riddle

Jefferson Davis Rand is a well-know private investigator with a well-known hobby - antique gun collecting. When a grieving widow comes to his office to have him help with the sale of the antique guns from her late husband's collection, Jeff quickly realizes that there's been foul play, and that he needs to get to the bottom of it. Yep, he's quite right, Mr. Fleming was indeed murdered with one of his own handguns, but can Jeff stay alive long enough to figure out who did it?