The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Risk Profession, by Donald Edwin Westlake

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Title: The Risk Profession

Author: Donald Edwin Westlake

Illustrator: Ivie

Release Date: October 29, 2008 [EBook #27089]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration: Illustrated by IVIE]

_The men who did dangerous work had a special kind of insurance
policy. But when somebody wanted to collect on that policy, the
claims investigator suddenly became a member of ..._

The RISK PROFESSION

By DONALD E. WESTLAKE

Mister Henderson called me into his office my third day back in
Tangiers. That was a day and a half later than I'd expected. Roving
claims investigators for Tangiers Mutual Insurance Corporation don't
usually get to spend more than thirty-six consecutive hours at home
base.

Henderson was jovial but stern. That meant he was happy with the job I'd
just completed, and that he was pretty sure I'd find some crooked
shenanigans on this next assignment. That didn't please me. I'm
basically a plain-living type, and I hate complications. I almost wished
for a second there that I was back on Fire and Theft in Greater New
York. But I knew better than that. As a roving claim investigator, I
avoided the more stultifying paper work inherent in this line of work
and had the additional luxury of an expense account nobody ever
questioned.

It made working for a living almost worthwhile.

When I was settled in the chair beside his desk, Henderson said, "That
was good work you did on Luna, Ged. Saved the company a pretty pence."

I smiled modestly and said, "Thank you, sir." And reflected to myself
for the thousandth time that the company could do worse than split that
saving with the guy who'd made it possible. Me, in other words.

"Got a tricky one this time, Ged," said my boss. He had done his
back-patting, now we got down to business. He peered keenly at me, or at
least as keenly as a round-faced tiny-eyed fat man _can_ peer. "What do
you know