100 Dastardly Little Detective Stories

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Dastardly
LITTLE
D ETECTIVE
STORIES
Dastardly
.^ LITTLE
Detective
STORIES
Edited by
Robert Weinberg, Stefan Dziemianowicz,
and Martin H. Greenberg
Barnes
&vNOBLE
BOOKS
NEW YORK
Copyright
1993 by Robert Weinberg, Stefan Dziemianowicz,
and Martin H. Greenberg

All rights reserved.
Thie edition published by Barnes & Noble,
Inc.,
by arrangement with Martin H. Greenberg

1993 Barnes & Noble Books
Book design by Steve Morse
ISBN 1-56619-920-4
Printed and
bound
in
the United States of America
M987654321

"
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Hands" by Dale Clark, "The Cap'n Sleeps" by John Earl Davis,
"Cop Maker" by Ronald Henderson, "Curtains for Kelly" by John Randolph Phillips, "Cut Glass" by Frederick Arnold Kummer, Jr., 'The
Dead Go Overboard" by Fenton W. Earnshaw, "Detective for a Day"
by Walt Sheldon, "Die Before Bedtime" by Walt Sheldon, "Dust" by
James W. Holden, "Extra Service" by John Mallory, "Eye-Witness" by
Donald S. Aitken, "A Hand of Pinochle" by Theodore Tmsley, "Higher
Education" by Sidney Waldo, "Hip and Thigh" by H. H. Matteson,
"Ignorance of Art" by Vincent Hall, "Kansas City Connection" by
Wayne McMillan, "Murderer's Handicap" by Alex Barber, "Old Calamity's Stick-up" by Joseph Fulling Fishman, "Old Guy" by Maitland LeRoy Osborne, "Safety Deposit' by B. B. Fowler, "The Sign" by Tom
Curry, "Smoke Sign" by Dale Clark, "Summer's End" by William Manners, and "A Tulip in the Snow" by John McCurnin copyright 1934
1941 by The Frank A. Munsey Company. Copyright renewed
19621969 and assigned to Argosy Communications Inc. All Rights
Reserved. Reprinted by arrangement with Argosy Communications Inc.
"Better
""Anchor the
lin,
Stiff!"
by Dan Gordon,
"Behind Murder's Eight-Ball" by
C. William Harrison, "The
'"An
Don
Cop and
""Duck Behind that Eight-Ball!"
Axe
to Grind"
by Curt Ham-
James, "'Calling Dr. Death by

"
the Lady" by Booton Herndon,
by Nick Spain,
""A
Friend of
Davy
by Dan Gordon, "Heir-in-a-Hurry" by Morris Cooper, ""Mrs.

Belcourt Draws a Bier" by Alan Ritner Anderson, "Night Watch" by
Jones'
"
Scott O'Hara, "Packed House" by Robert Zacks, 'Today's Special
by V.
Away
" by Dorothy
Dunn, "The Wire-Pullers" by Morris Cooper, "According to Plan" by
Ray Darby, "Checkmated!" by Coretta Slavska, "Death Racket" by
Frederick Arnold Kummer, Jr., "Knit One
Kill Two" by Fergus Trus-
Poison!"
E.
Thiessen, '"While the Cat"s
Men and
Body Fits
by Larry Holden, "The Man Who Died Too Often" by David Crewe,
and ""A Shroud with a Silver Lining" by Marion Lineaweaver copyright
1939-1952 by. Popular Publications Inc. Copyright renewed
1967-1980 and assigned to Argosy Communications Inc. All rights
reserved. Reprinted by arrangement with Argosy Communications Inc.
low, "Three
Corpse" by Victor K. Ray,
by Jon L. Breen Copyright

by permission of the author.
"Affirmative Action"
Breen. Reprinted
"If
the
1990 by Jon
L.
"Bread Ahead" by C.
derson. Reprinted
Henderson
J.
by permission
sion of this story appears as the
published by
Group,
in
Diamond
Copyright
of the author.
Hen-
FREE
LUNCH,
Books, a division of the Berkley Publishing
1992.
"Cache and Carry" by Marcia Muller and

1988 by Marcia Muller and
Bill
"The Carnival Caper" by
R.
Bill
Pronzini
Copyright
Pronzini. First published in
FELONIES. Reprinted by permission
SMALL
of the authors.
Copyright
Stevens
L.
Heinrich Bauer North America
WORLD.
J.
slightly revised ver-
NO
chapter of
first
1990 by C.
Inc.
First
appeared
in
1981 by
WOMAN'S
Reprinted by permission of the author.
"The Case of the Barking Beagle" by
R. L. Stevens
by Heinrich Bauer North America Inc.

printed by permission of the author.
First
Copyright 1979
appeared
in
HERS. Re-
FoxxCopyright 1969 by H.S.D. PUBLIpublished in ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYS-
"The Clincher" by Jack
CATIONS Inc. First

TERY MAGAZINE. Reprinted by
"The Course of
Justice"
by Hugh
vis Publications, Inc. First
permission of the author.
B.
Cave
appeared
in
Copyright
1964 by Da-
ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY
MAGAZINE.
"Damsel with
a Derringer"
by Stephen Dentinger Copyright 1981

BLACK CAT. Reprinted by permis-
by March Chase Publishing. From

sion of the author.
"The Deer that Ate a Diamond" by Edward D. Hoch

1992 by Edward D. Hoch. From
UTE. Reprinted by permission
"Escape" by Jack Foxx

Inc. First
published in
Copyright
SYMONS AT
80:
TRIB-
of the author.
Copyright 1993 by Gary

by arrangement with the author.
"Dogs Know" by Gary Lovisi

original story, published
JULIAN
Copyright
Lovisi.
An
1969 by Renown Publications,
MIKE SHAYNE MYSTERY MAGAZINE.
Re-
D" by John Maclay Copyright

"Exhibit
1990 by John Maclay. Re-
"Granny Gumption Solves
Hoffman
Copyright
man. An original
J. Henderson & Charles

Henderson and Charles Hoff-
Murder" by C.
1993 by C.
J.
by arrangement with the
story, published
"Harsh Light of Day" by
Wayne D. Dundee
Wayne
published
D. Dundee.
First
Copyright
HARDBOILED.
in
authors.
1987 by
Reprinted by
permission of the author.
"Incident in a
1988 by
Neighborhood Tavern" by
Bill
Pronzini
Bill
AN
Copyright
EYE FOR JUSTICE.
Re-
'The
Man Who
Collected
The Shadow' " by
1971 by Mercury Press, Inc.
First
J.
published
OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION.
V. Drexel
in
Copyright
THE MAGAZINE
Reprinted by permission of
the author.
The Mann
Act" by Michael A. Black
A. Black. First appeared in
Copyright
HARDBOILED.
1992 by Michael
Reprinted by permission of
the author.
"Memento Mori" by Alex Saxon
Copyright
cations, Inc. First appeared in
ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY
MAGAZINE.
"Murder
Rose Cottage" by Edward D.
at
Edward D. Hoch.
COLLECTION.
First
appeared
Hoch
Copyright 1986 by
AGATHA CHRISTIE MYSTERY
in
"Murder Offstage" by
R. L.
Hoch.
in
appeared
First
1974 by H.S.D. Publi-
Stevens
Copyright 1968 by Edward D.
ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE.
"Naked
in
Darkness" by
Hugh
B.
appeared
Cave
Copyright
Inc.
MAGAZINE.
First
in
1965 by David
ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY
Publications,
Copyright
"Night Work" by Gerald Tollesfrud

Tollesfrud.
An
1993 by Gerald
by arrangement with the au-
thor.
"The Pattern" by Alex Saxon

tions,
Inc.
First
MAGAZINE.
published
Copyright
in
1971 by H.S.D. Publica-
ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY
Copyright 1993 by Larry

"A Point of Honor" by Larry Segriff

Segriff.
An
"The Rosary" by Michael A. Black Copyright 1993 by Michael A.

Black. An original story, published by arrangement with the author.
"The Seventieth Number" by Stephen Dentinger Copyri^-ht 1970

by Edward D. Hoch. First appeared in ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY
MAGAZINE.
Copyright
"Smothered Mate" by Stephen Dentinger

nown Publications, Inc. First appeared in
MAGAZINE.
1985 by Re-
MIKE SHAYNE MYSTERY
"Snapping Out of
by Bruce Holland Rogers
It"
Copyright
1991
Copyright 1988 by Edward D. Hoch. First appeared in SPECIAL REPORTS: FICTION. Reprinted by permission of the author.
"Something Green" by Edward D. Hoch
"Something Wrong" by
Bill
Pronzini
Copyright
SMALL FELONIES.
1988 by
Bill
Reprinted by permis-
sion of the author.
"Souls Burning"
First
by
published in
Bill
Pronzini
DARK
Copyright
1991 by
Bill
CRIMES. Reprinted by permission
Pronzini.
of the au-
thor.
Copyright
1981 by
"The Terrarium Principle" by
J.
ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY MAGA-
V. Drexel
Bill
ZINE. Reprinted by permission of the author.

"Waiting" by Jim
Copyright 1993 by Jim Knapp. An

Knapp
nal story, published
origi-
3
8
CONTENTS
Introduction
xiii
According to Plan by Ray Darby
Adventure of the Baritone Singer by George Barton
The Adventure of the Table Foot by Zero

The Adventure of the Two Collaborators by Sir James M.
The Adventures of Shamrock Jolnes by O. Henry
Affirmative Action by Jon L Breen
Anchor the Stiff! by Dan Gordon
An Artful Touch by Charles Dickens
An Axe to Grind by Curt Hamlin
Behind Murder's Eight-Ball by Don James
Better Hands by Dale Clark
The Bloodless Corpse by O. R. Dale
Bread Ahead by C. J. Henderson
Cache and Carry by Marcia Muller and Bill
Calling Dr. Death by C. William Harrison
The Cap'n Sleeps by John Earl Davis

The Carnival Caper by R. L. Stevens
The Case of the Barking Beagle by R.
Checkmated! by
The Clarion
24
35
37
41
47
51
Pronzini
60
65
70
76
81
Steveyts
L.
85
Coretta Slavska
89
Call by O. Henry
93
99
The Cop and the Lady by Booton

Cop Maker by Ronald Henderson
The Course of Justice by Hugh B.
Frederick Arnold
106
Cave
1 1
Phillips
Kummer.
1 1
128
Jr.
Derringer by Stephen Dentinger
The Dead Go Overboard by

Death Racket by
Fenton
Frederick Arnold
that Ate a
Detective for a
104
Herndon
Curtains for Kelly by John Randolph
The Deer
16
19
27
TTie Clincher by Jack Foxx
Cut Glass by
Damsel with
Barrie
W. Earnshaw
Kummer,
Jr.
Diamond by Edward
Day by
D. Hoch
147
151
160
Walt Sheldon
Die Before Bedtime by Walt Sheldon
Dogs Know by Gary Lovisi

Duck Behind that Eight-Ball! by Nick
137
143
168
175
Spain
185
Dust by James W. Holden
193
Escape by Jack Foxx
197
21
Exhibit
by John Maclay
201
Extra Service by John Mallory
205
Eye- Witness by Donald
Aitken
208
Manners
213
Eye Witness by David
S.
X.
Davy Jones' by Dan Gordon

Granny Gumption Solves a Murder
218
Friend of
by
J.
Henderson and Charles Hoffman
A Hand
of Pinochle by
Harsh Light of Day by Wayne D. Dundee
Theodore Tinsley
Heir-in-a-Hurry by Morris Cooper
Higher Education by Sidney Waldo
Hip and Thigh by H.

by
If the Body Fits
Matteson
Larry Holden
Ignorance of Art by Vincent Hall

Incident in a
Neighborhood Tavern by
by W. W. Jacobs
Bill
Pronzini
In the Library
Ink's Jinx
An
by Anthony Clemens
Irreducible Detective Story by Stephen Leacock
Kansas City Connection by Wayne McMillan
Knit One
Kill Two by Fergus Truslow
The Leopard Man's Story by Jack London
The Man Who Collected "The Shadow" by J. V.
The Man Who Died Too Often by David Crewe
The Mann Act by Michael A. Black
Memento Mori by Alex Saxon
291
Drexel
Mrs. Belcourt Draws a Bier by Alan Ritner Anderson
Murder
at
Rose Cottage by Edward D. Hoch
Murderer's Handicap by Alex Barber
Murder Offstage by R. L. Stevens

Murder on the Limited by Howard Finney
The Mystery of the Rue de Peychaud by O. Henry
Naked in Darkness by Hugh B. Cave
Night Watch by Scott O'Hara
Night Work by
Gerald Tollesfrud
Novel Forgery by
111
229
233
239
245
248
255
259
264
269
278
282
283
287
Rodrigues Ottolengui
294
299
305
3
317
324
328
337
342
350
356
362
369
375
Old Calamity's Stick-up by Joseph Fulling Fishman

Old Guy by Maitland LeRoy Osborne
The Outside Ledge by L T. Meade and Robert Eustace
Packed House by Robert Zacks
The Pattern by Alex Saxon
A Point of Honor by Larry Segriff
The Rosary by Michael A. Black
396
404
407
Safety Deposit by
430
B. B. Fowler
384
391
415
42
The
Number by
Seventieth
Shroud with
a Silver
Stephen Dentinêr
Lining by Marion Lineaweaver
433
443
The Sign by Tom Curry

The Sign of the "400" by R. K. Munkittrick
Smoke Sign by Dale Clark
Smothered Mate by Stephen Dentinêr
Snapping Out of It by Bruce Holland Rogers
446
Something Green by Edward D. Hoch

Something Wrong by Bill Pronzini
465
Souls Burning by
Pronzini
478
Spell of the Black Siren by Dick Donovan
484
Stolen Cigar-Case by Bret Harte
494
The
The
Bill
Three
Men
Principle by
and
Today's Special
The
Trailor
J.
Corpse by
Poison! by
The Umbrosa
Snow by
Lehmann
Waiting by Jim Knapp
While the
The
Cat's
Away
by Dorothy Dunn
Wire-Pullers by Morris Cooper
520
V. E. Thiessen
John McCurnin
Burglary by R.
509
Ray
Murder Mystery by Abraham
Tulip in the
461
502
V. Drexel
Victor K.
452
456
473
Summer's End by William Manners
The Terrarium
450
Lincoln
527
533
537
540
543
554
INTRODUCTION
If
the measure of a detective's capabilities
crime, then too Dastardly LittU Detective
of the most formidable crimestoppers in

story, the detective unravels a
less.
This
mystery
^when
no mean
is
is
how
Stories is
all
fast
detective fiction: in each
thousand words or
in several
you consider
feat
he or she solves a
an introduction to some
that the
best-known
detectives generally need at least three or four times that length,
if
not
an entire novel, in which to prove their mettle. Nevertheless, the

short-short detective story has a venerable tradition that extends back
to the very origins of detective fiction.
The
earliest story in this vol-
ume, Abraham Lincoln's "The Trailer Murder Mystery,
"
appeared
1843, only a few years after Edgar Allan Poe introduced the
first
in
true
detective of fiction, C. Auguste Dupin. In the century-and-a-half since,
the short-short form has attracted the interest of

distinguished
known
names
for his story
in literature,
some
of the most
among them W. W. Jacobs
(best
'The Monkey's Paw"), novelists Charles Dickens,
M.
and short-story master O. Henry.

on the stories collected here is Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Doyle's master sleuth is emulated in the armchair detection of such stories as George Barton's "Adventure of the Baritone Singer," Rodrigues Ottolengui's "A Novel Forgery," and L. T. Meade and Robert Eustace's "The Outside Ledge," and
his minimalist's technique is openly lampooned in a clutch of tales by
O. Henry, Stephen Leacock, R. C. Lehmann, and R. K. Munkittrick.
However, the short-short tale easily accommodates all detective fiction
styles, including the hardboiled tradition of Theodore Tmsley's "A
Hand of Pinochle" and B. B. Fowler's "Safety Deposit, the crime-suspense mode of Tom Curry's "The Sign" and John McCurnin's "A Tulip
jack London, Sir James
The
Barrie,
single greatest influence
"
in
the Snow," the police procedural form of Michael Black's "TTie Ro-
sary"
and Sidney Waldo's "Higher Education," the borderline horror of
Larry Holden's
of
Wayne
"If
the
Body
Fits,"
and the modern
D. Dundee's "Harsh Light of Day" and
noir thriller
Bill
elements
Pronzini's "Souls
Burning."
Though
are
no
brevity
is
the soul of the short-short detective story, there
limits to the imagination of
as professional investigators in
its
practitioners. Detectives appear
Dick Donovan's "The
Spell of the Black
and Larry Segriffs "A Point of Honor," policemen
Siren"
in
Charles
Dickens's "Artful Touch" and Gary Lovisi's "Dogs Know," cynical private eyes in Gerry Tollesfrud's "Night
"Knit
One
Kill
Two," savvy spouses
in
Work" and Fergus Truslow's

William Manner's "Summer's
End" and Dorothy Dunn's "While the Cat's Away," maritime police in
Dan Gordon's "Anchor the Stiff!" and "A Friend of Davy Jones'," crime
reporters in Curt Hamlin's "An
Axe
to Grind"
and Don James's "Behind

Man Who Died
Murder's Eight-Ball," doctors in David Crewe's "The
Too Often," pullman conductors
in
Howard
Finney's "Murder
on the
Limited," artists in Vincent Hall's "Ignorance of Art," and inventors in
Maitland LeRoy Osborne's "Old Guy." Their adventures take places

locales as different as the highlands of Jamaica in
ked
in
Hugh
in
Cave's "Na-
Darkness," the waterfront of Nagichak Island in H. H. Matte-
"Hip and Thigh," and the urban jungle of C.
son's
B.
"Bread Ahead."
And
J.
Henderson's
they involve crimes ranging from homicide
in
Ray
Darby's "According to Plan" to felonious impersonation in Donald
S.
Aitken's "Eye-Witness," a crime of passion in O. R. Dale's "The Bloodless
Corpse," a prison breakout in Joseph Fulling Fishman's "Old Ca-
lamity's
Stick-up,"
Pronzini's
and grand larceny
Marcia Muller and
in
"Cache and Carry."
In the tales that follow, readers will find
with some of the most
some
easily
Bill
of the
but
most devious criminals.

it
is
themselves collaborating
unlikely detectives in fiction to
reassuring to
know
Not
all
match wits with
of the solutions will
that they will
come
come
quickly!
Stefan Dziemianowicz
1993
According to Plan
hy Ray Darby
It
was
after nine o'clock
half a block
when Ben Wayne's
taxi
drew up
from Doctor Ridgeway's white house
at
the corner,
suburban Lyn-
in
wood. Ben paid the driver, being careful to keep his face averted and
the hat pulled low over his eyes. He mentally cursed that hat. It was
quite a trick to keep it on his head at all, because it was at least two
sizes
too small.
As the
taxi pulled
away, Ben straightened his
tie
and smoothed the
man
jacket of the double-breasted suit he had taken off the

corridor. TTie suit fitted
gray.
He
had always been
darker tweeds.
scious.
If
him
He hoped
he came to and worked the gag
was
good
plan.
off,
Ben had figured
it
he could
at least a
all
brains unscrambled back there in Los Angeles
when they brought Ben

pieces over a woman.
taken time, because
could go
all
to
the
jail
smart dresser, preferring browns or the
the guy in the corridor was
and Ben's whole plan depended on getting

It
in
better than the hat, although Ben hated
in
still
uncon-
raise a holler,
two-hour
start.
out after he'd got his
County
Jail.
This had
he was raving.
A man
It was a good plan, and yet, as he hurried down the street towards
Doctor Ridgeway's house, Ben couldn't help thinking about all the
go wrong. The guy whose clothes he had taken

raise the alarm. The doctor might have changed
his schedule. This would be fatal. It would leave Ben away out on the
end of a limb, ruining his revenge and leaving him only the slim hope
of hiding out somewhere in the city.
But luck was with him. The doctor's big black sedan was parked
out in front of the house, and it was still only twenty minutes past
nine. Ben made sure he was unobserved, and then he opened the back
door of the car and squeezed in, doubling up his big body so that he
was out of sight on the floor. It was cramped in there. The floor of the
car was gritty against his hands and his cheek, but now that Ben was
so close to success, minor discomforts didn't really bother him.
After five minutes of this his back and shoulder ached like fury. He
things that could
might wake up and
thought about Doctor Ridgeway, to get his mind

if
wound had
the
left a
off
on Doctor Ridgeway's
scar
it.
He wondered
face.
The thought
that he might have marred that handsome face permanently was
was the next best thing to putting a bullet clean

head, which Ben would have done if he hadn't had too
pleasing to Ben.
through
many
his
drinks in
It
him
at
door slammed up
approached the
the time.
the house. Ben froze. Hurrying footsteps
at
car. In spite of
the tightness in his throat, Ben had a
momentary feeling of satisfaction. Everything was working according

to plan. The doctor was supposed to be at the hospital by ten o'clock,
and he was
on schedule.
right
The front door of the car opened and he heard Ridgeway

The doctor was breathing heavily. He jammed his foot on the
slammed the car into gear and roared away from the curb with
ground Ben's cheek against the gritty floor.
get
in.
starter,
a spurt
that
Ben counted to twenty, slowly, before he got up. Then he raised

himself just high enough to see the back of the doctor's head. Ridge-
way was
In
hatless.
the shifting light, Ben took note of the well-
shaped head, the hair curling at the temples and beginning to gray.
The doctor was handsome. There was no

hardly blame a
girl
like Louise for
Ben was not handsome.
He was
use denying
falling, for
it.
guy could
him.
just a big, ordinary guy, but Louise
had loved him as no girl ever had until she caught pneumonia and
Doctor Ridgeway entered the picture. That was where they had both
been wrong. Louise may have been everything they said she was at
the preliminary hearing. Even a she-devil with the face of an angel.
But she had belonged to Ben.
Ben reached into

it
his
pocket and took out the revolver.
He
pressed
gently against the back of Ridgeway's neck. "Don't turn around," he
said softly.
wood
"Keep right on
driving.
Turn right when you get to Lake-
Boulevard."
The
doctor's
body went
rigid.
The
told
you
car lurched, then straightened
out again.
"Ben!"
'That's right,
Doc. Ben.
I'd
bust out."
"What do you want with me?"

"Plenty. You're
going to help
me
get to Mexico."
"Help you?" The doctor's voice was scornful.
"I
wouldn't help you
across the street!"
Ben pressed the gun harder against the back of

2
his neck. "Sure
you
will,"
he
come
said. "I've
They'll never put
me
and
this far,
going the
I'm
way.
rest of the
San Quentin."
in
You had to hand it to the doctor. He had guts. His neck muscles
and Ben knew that his quick brain was working. He felt a
little uneasy. He would have felt really uneasy if he hadn't planned
relaxed,
thoroughly.
this thing so
they get you now," Ridgeway said reasonably,
"If
let
me
You've already tried to
kill
double the sentence. Look, Ben ...
make
run for
it.
"they'll
Take
out.
me once
give you
my
car
and
"Shut up!" Ben snapped. "Turn here!"
The
swung
car
into the heavier traffic of
Lakewood Boulevard,
heading south.
"One
move," Ben
false
"How do
know you
"and
said,
I'll
let
you have
it."
won't anyway?"
"You don't. That's the gamble you're taking."

For
it.
few minutes the car droned steadily on. Then the doctor
new approach.
tried a
You would have
lost
too. She's fascinating
blame you.
"Ben,
if
you're
sore about Louise, get over
still
her anyway." His voice grew
bitter.
maddening.
But, Ben, she's as
She drove you

cold and calculating as
"1
lost her,
and
wild,
don't
machine. Forget
her, Ben."
"You can lay off the fancy

Just past
To the
Lakewood
talk,"
Ben
said.
"It's
Village, near the airport,
no
Ben
use."
said,
'Turn here.
right."
Doctor Ridgeway slowed the

the right was
little
more than
"Ben," the doctor said,

in his voice. "You're
and
car. TTie
dark
for the
not rational. Let
road that branched off to
trail.
time there was
first
me
turn around. Let
note of fear
me
talk to
you. You're making a big mistake, Ben."
'The
talking's all
over with," Ben
said.
you don't understand! Why risk

not worth it! Listen to me, Ben
Ben swung the muzzle of his gun and
side of Doctor Ridgeway's head. "Keep
The big sedan entered the shadowy
"But
"Keep going."
your neck over Louise? She's

cracked
it
smartly against the
going!"
canyon of the
trees
and was
swallowed up.
At Signal
The road
lay
Hill,
Ben turned into Highway 101. The big car purred.
ahead of him,
all
the
way down
to
San Diego, and from
there across the border into Mexico.
He
felt
the reassuring bulge in the pocket of the gray
he had put Ridgeway's
billfold
with
all
suit,
where
his identification papers.
He
3
glanced at the automobile registration card that was clipped to the

steering post of the car.
tight smile
and
There
it
tried to feel as
remembered, with
was. Doctor Ridgeway. Ben smiled a
he ought to
feel,
He
being a doctor.
a little flush of pleasure, that there had
been
a scar
his first bullet. This time his gun had made

more than a scar.
There were two State Police cars blocking the highway just after
he cleared Long Beach. Ben took a deep breath and slowed down. He
had been expecting this.
"Looking for someone, officer?" he asked the trooper who came
on Ridgeway 's face from
over.
'That's right."
it
was hard
were looking
Ben not to laugh out loud.
for
for.
He knew
He knew whom
they
they'd be looking twice as hard after they
found Ridgeway's body, but by that time he would be
lost in the
wastes of Mexico.
"Your name?" the trooper asked him.

"Ridgeway," Ben answered calmly. "Doctor
My
Emory Ridgeway.
card?"
The
trooper took the proffered card and turned
Ben took out the doctor's

tion card, playing
it
to the
"Good enough?" Ben

The trooper nodded.
"Anything
driver's license
hilt.
The
and
it
over
in his
hand.
his insurance identifica-
trooper glanced at these, too.
enquired.
'Tine, Doctor."
can do to help?" Ben asked. "There hasn't been an
accident, has there?"
"No," the trooper said. "Not yet."
Suddenly Ben found himself staring down the barrel of a big
He
vice revolver.
the opposite
ser-
turned quickly, but another trooper was leaning in
window
of the car.
"What's the meaning of this?" Ben spluttered.
"End of the
line.
Doctor," the
you'd try to make a run for

Ben's jaw
hung
it.
first
trooper said grimly.
Get out of the
car,
"We
figured
with your hands up."
slack with bewilderment. All this
was away over
his
head.
TTie
first
trooper said,
house, just after you
That
woman was no
Now come
lit
"We found
out.
One
the
body
of Louise Hilton at your
of the neighbors heard her scream.
good. Doctor, but you shouldn't have killed her.
on out with your hands
up."
Adventure of the
Baritone Singer
by George Barton
It
was Kelly, the Chief of Detectives,
wards came to be known

old
as the
who
Barnes into what after-
let
"Mystery of the Baritone Singer." The
man was just considering the advisability of taking an extended

when the telephone rang and Kelly asked him to come down
vacation
number on the avenue.
to a certain
got
"I've
problem.
class
he said, "that threatens to develop into a firstyou to take a look at it while all the evidence is
a case here,"
I'd like
fresh. I'm willing to divide
honors with you."
Barnes accepted the invitation with alacrity and took Clancy along.
The
veteran had a sneaking admiration for Kelly and had cooperated
with him
in
the solution of
more than one big
and was one of the few policemen
ideas
was not
as dull as
case. Kelly actually
in Barnes's
acquaintance
had
who
he looked.
Kelly was waiting for them at the doorway of the house on the
avenue, and acted as their escort.
They passed through an
elegantly
furnished hallway and on to the stairway leading to the upper part of

the house. At the landing, a frightened
door of what seemed to be the

that
met
prise.
living
girl
room
turned and opened the

of the house.
Stretched prostrate on the floor was an elderly
arms extended.
On
weight, as though
the carpet next to his right
had
it
sight
just slipped
man
hand was
from his grasp.
with his
a glass
paper
tiny pool of
wound in his head.

down on his hands and knees and examined
was rigid, and life was extinct. The old man
blood had trickled from
The
The
their astonished gaze caused Barnes to give a gasp of sur-
detective dropped
the prostrate body.
It
turned to Kelly.
"You might as well have the body removed to the bedroom
we can
then
look around."
With the
aid of the servants, Kelly succeeded in
removing the
corpse to the second-story front room. As soon as Kelly returned to

the living
room Barnes resumed
his
examination of the apartment.
It
presented a scene of disorder.
from
a massive
walnut table
had been torn
costly velvet cloth
in the center of the
apartment.
half
dozen books and magazines were scattered about the floor. Indeed,
two of the books gaped with broken bindings as though they had
been used as weapons. The shattered glass over a picture of George
Washington on the wall indicated that the father of his country had
been the unwilling target for one of the missiles. A pair of spectacles
(also broken), an ash receiver, a Billiken, a spilled bottle of ink, and an
overturned chair completed the wreck.
The master of the house was evidently a man of refinement who

The room contained a piano, an organ, a harp, a phono-
loved music.
graph and a mandolin. Bookcases lined the walls on one side of the
apartment.
An
easel held an
open
dictionary, while
torn pages containing the words and music of
on
couch
lay the
"My Old Kentucky
bay window in the rear of the room, but the

were tightly closed and fastened with iron
clasps. At this stage of the inquiry the door opened timidly and Marie
Heame, a niece of the dead man, came into the room. She looked
Home." There was
chief noted that the sashes
very white and very frightened.
"You are just
in time.
you a question."
She flung herself
"1
want to
and began to rock to and
fro ner-
Miss Hearne," said Barnes gently.
ask
into a chair
vously.
understand your feelings," said the detective, "but
"1
me
give
"1
a plain story of all that has
can't!"
she cried,
"it
is
occurred
in this
want you to
house to-night."
out of the question."
you will have to do so sooner or later. Please tell me now."

"You do not know what you ask," she shrieked,- "it would kill me to
"But
say anything against Guy."
"Guy?" questioned Barnes, with upraised eyebrows.

didn't mean that. Please
mind what say. You see that am overwrought and not responam saying."
sible for what
"1 have no desire to harass you," insinuated the detective in his
caressing way, "indeed,
would like to help you if it is in my power."
The tears welled forth and relieved her from the strain under which
she had been laboring. Indeed, she exhibited the common feminine
appearance after a good cry. She seemed relieved. Barnes saw his opportunity and seized it.
"Now, Miss Hearne," he said, "1 am prepared to hear your story."
She looked at Barnes apprehensively.
"Oh, no," she corrected herself
don't
"1
that
is,
hastily.
fear publicity."
"1
who
Kelly spoke up in the tone of one
has authority:
"You can depend absolutely upon his discretion.
vouch
Mr.
for
Barnes and Mr. Clancy, too.
Miss Hearne seemed

accurate and
"Uncle
is
fair in
She spoke slowly,
satisfied.
a Southerner.
He made
business in Tennessee, but retired
a great deal of
some
York.
We
lineal
descendant of the early Dutch
lived in apartments at
house we are
details,
now.
in
as
if
trying to be
her statements.
in
the iron
New
but finally one of his friends, a
first,
settlers, induced him to buy the

want to bore you with unimportant
don't
but you will see that
money
years ago and settled in
all
this
leading up to the affair of to-
is
night."
"Go ahead. Miss Hearne,"

"Well, the house
continued, "but
is
interjected Kelly.
comfortable and roomy, as you notice," she
did not seem to supply
it
all
Uncle needed.
that
has never had any time for society as that term
is
He
generally under-
is a man with a very sociable disposition, being fond of

company and passionately attached to music. Well, to shorten my
story, we went to Steinway Hall one afternoon to attend a concert.
stood, but he
One
of the artists
was Mr. Guy Avondale,
a baritone of exceptional
power. For an encore, he sang 'My Old Kentucky Home,' and he
made
conquest of Uncle's heart.
"A few weeks
after the concert
Mr. Avondale was
our
a guest at
house. For such a talented singer he was exceptionally modest. His
manners were good, he made splendid company, and altogether we

had every reason to be fond of him. He sang for us frequently, and it
was Uncle's delight to get him in the living room to sing the dear old
plantation songs of the South
The young woman paused at this part of the recital, as if loath to
say any more. But Barnes encouraged her in his friendly way:
"
"Go
on,
Miss Hearne, and remember that you have friendly
listeners."
dislike to
"I
must.
speak of
might say
a passing interest in
by
my
personal
affairs,"
truthfully, that in the
Guy
she said modestly, "but
beginning
Avondale. But before
had no more than
many weeks had gone
became profound. You will understand my present

when tell you that love him passionately.
"Events progressed so rapidly that a week ago he proposed to me,
that interest
position, gentlemen,
and
accepted, providing he could get Uncle's consent.
confident of winning that, and so did

to be shattered. Tonight
1,
He
felt
very
but our hopes were destined
was the time agreed upon when Guy should
'beard the lion in his den,' as he humorously phrased
it.
"Just
before the hour
when Guy was
to arrive,
ventured to broach
the matter to Uncle, and he said he would never consent to the
He went
match.
Guy
is
contract that
be
fearing a
He
in his profession.
is
to sing in grand
know that, because he showed me the

firmly believe that in a few
he signed. And
I
five-year
years he
man."
a great
"Please
"I'm
advancing rapidly
opera next season.
will
and accused Guy of being a fortune

want to say that do not believe the charge.
further than that,
hunter. Incidentally,
go on with your narrative," gently insisted the detective,

never-ending rhapsody over the perfections of the singer.
going on," she
said,
with a self-willed toss of her
tell you all of it."

"What else did your uncle say?"
"He told me that he had hoped
head,
little
"but I've got to
wealthy families of the town.

that
was
to marry
said that
the parlor.
He
got downstairs
my
noticed that
me
into one of the
he had some one
Anyhow,
distantly related to the Astorbilts.
weeping, and when
found
Guy
in
the
left
waiting for
view
room
me
in
eyes were red and insisted on knowing
told him all that Uncle had said and he was furious."
"What did he say?" asked Barnes.
"He said he was going upstairs to tell Uncle just what he thought
him.
begged him not to get into a quarrel for my sake."
"What else did he say?" persisted the detective.
"He he said that love was the only excuse for marriage, and that
the cause.
of
He
Uncle put money or position above love, he was not fit to live. He
was very much wrought up and his wild talk distressed me. told him
thought we
that Uncle had forbidden me to see him any more, and
should separate at least, for the time being. He was sulky about it,
but
said 'Good night' to him and came up in my room to throw
if
myself on the bed and have a good cry.

irresolute
way
left
him standing
in
an
the hallway."
in
"Then what happened?"
woke up knew it must be quite late.

"I fell asleep crying. When
Something prompted me to go downstairs, but no one was there. I
came up slowly, and noticed that there was a light in the living room.
The door was shut, but could see the light streaming from one of the
windows into the side yard. knew by that Uncle was still awake, and
was filled with a desire to go in and throw myself at his feet and
plead my cause.
knew that, after all, he could never refuse me anything that was necessary for my happiness.
had my hand on the
I
knob
of the door,
breaking into song.
when
It
was
by a strong baritone voice

There can be no mistake about
startled
was Guy's voice.
that.
could
among ten million. He was singing 'My Old KenThe words rang out superbly. stood there listening,
tell it
tucky Home.'
enraptured, to the old refrain:
The
In
sun shines bright
my
would not do
"It
waited. Surely,
fate.
I
crept quietly to
heard the front door close with
turned the knob and walked

1
and
Ten
a bang.
determined to go down and hear
No
and was
in,
my
response came, and
horrified at the sight of
my
screamed. Aunt rushed a servant for the doc-
and then telephoned

There was
my room
pleaded successfully. Pres-
tapped on the door of the living room.
uncle's senseless body.
tor
old Kentucky home,
Guy must have
minutes passed, and
fifteen
my
to disturb them.
thought,
ently the singing ceased.
in
old Kentucky home, far away.'
for the police."
long pause
at the
conclusion of the narrative. Finally
Kelly said:
"What
is
the address of
Guy
Avondale?"
"Well," she said hesitatingly, "he has a

is
usually at a studio
week
on
E.
10th
St.
flat
on
W.
10th
St.,
but he
Besides that, he sings several times
Church of the Golden Gates."

made a note of the addresses and
at the
Barnes
said
good-by
to Miss
Hearne. As they reached the front door the journalist turned to the
servant
girl.
"Susan," he said abruptly, but with easy familiarity, "did Mr.
Avondale go up to Mr. Fulton's room

"Yes,
sir,"
last
Guy
night?"
she replied unthinkingly, then, with sudden terror,
"I
hope haven't said anything wrong, sir."

"Not at all. You never go wrong in telling the truth, Susan. But how
do you know that the young man went upstairs?"
"Because a messenger came here with a telegram for Mr. Avondale,
and delivered it to him personally. supposed he was in the parlor
and called to him but the answer came from the head of the stairs, as
though he had just come out of the living room."
"Thank you very much, Susan, and good-night."
As they reached the sidewalk, Kelly accosted the policeman on the
I
beat:
"Well, Jake," he exclaimed cheerfully, "anything going
on about
here?"
"No, Mr. Kelly," responded the

ing around here earlier
"I
thought he was
in
in
officer.
"1
saw Reddy Brown hang-
the evening, but he's gone now."
Sing Sing."
"Released this morning," replied the policeman.
"Do you think
he's the fellow you're after?"
moved away.
"I'll know before
Before the three
asked Clancy, as they
daylight," said Barnes.
men
separated Barnes asked Kelly to follow out a
work and promised to meet him the next day. That

night he sat smoking one stogie after another in his room and all the
while thinking. At midnight, when he turned in, there was a smile of
triumph on his face. The first thing in the morning he called at the
Fulton home to make a second examination of the library, and when
he finished the smile was actually expansive. A little later he met Kelly
certain line of
and Clancy.
"Well, boys," he cried, throwing
away the stump
of his
weed and
lighting a fresh one, "what luck?"
"Good and
"Put
it
bad," said Kelly, taking the initiative in replying.
in plain English,"
"Well," answered Kelly,
and found that he had
left
"1
suggested Barnes.
went
to Avondale's
flat
there at about six o'clock
on
W.
10th
St.,
He
has
last night.
not returned since."

"Sure he didn't return this morning?"
me also that it is the first night that

home since he rented the flat. He has won the
reputation of being a man of very regular habits, and the janitor, who
regards him as a friend and counselor, is very much disturbed over his
"Positive.
he has
The
janitor assures
failed to return
absence."
"How
about the studio on
E.
10th
St.?"
"He has not been there either. That is regarded as very singular,
because he had a positive engagement at 3 o'clock this afternoon. He
was to rehearse an opera in which he is to sing shortly."
"Well, son," said Barnes, turning to Clancy, "what have you to say
for yourself?"
"I
have to say that the bird has flown, and you might
as well give
up the chase?"
"How do you know?"
"Why, went to the Church of the Golden Gates. He was to take
part in a song service that began at seven o'clock. But he wasn't there.
He has been singing at the church for two years and it is the first time
he has ever been absent."
"What do you think about it?" asked Clancy, anxiously. "Was it the
!
singer or the crook from Sing Sing?"
Barnes took a prolonged puff at his stogie.

of the question.
10
He
ignored the
last part
think your reports confirm
"I
"What
'That Avondale
"In
evidence," he said.
now
is
in Boston."
Boston?" they cried in chorus.
"Yes, in Boston.
to
my
that?"
is
him
last
discovered that the telegram which was delivered
night was a
learned, but
summons
Who
to Boston.
imagine he took the
first
it
was from
haven't
train after leaving the Fulton
house."
"What
are
you going
to
do about
asked Kelly.
it?"
come back
They always do. was at the station tonight, but he did
won't anticipate
I've got a man on my lookout now, but
"Simply wait for his return," was the calm reply. "He'll
to
New
not
York.
arrive.
From what have learned of Avondale's tastes and

want you two to be there
habits, he'll travel on the Colonial Express.
evening.
Here's
description
of
the man and his phototomorrow
a
graph. If he comes in on that train, get him."
any
results tonight.
"You bet
I'll
get him!" retorted the detective.
At the same hour the following night
a taxicab
drove up to Barnes'
apartments, and Kelly and Clancy alighted, followed by a
tall,
broad-
shouldered, athletic fellow with curly hair and a slight blonde mustache.
"Barnes," said Kelly,
"I
want you
to
meet Mr. Guy Avondale."
"Charmed," responded the young fellow grasping the proffered

hand, "although for the
life
of
me
understand
can't
why
am
given
the pleasure."
"I
want you to make
visit that
"Go
may be
as far as
a visit
with me," said Barnes significantly,
"a
of great importance to you.
you
like,"
was the smiling
The journey was made
the Fulton mansion.
and the four men
rejoinder,
climbed into the electric vehicle which was headed
in
the direction of
rapidly and in silence. As
the machine slowed up in front of the brownstone house, Barnes said

carelessly:
"That was
sad thing about Mr. Fulton."
"What about him?"

"Knocked senseless
in his library the
night before
last."
Avondale gasped.
"You amaze me!
It's
the
first
I've
heard of
it."
"Plays his part well," whispered
Clancy to Kelly.
"Yes, he's a cool one,
was the muffled response.
In the parlor,
them.
The
all
right,"
Marie Hearne, white faced and
singer rushed over to greet the
stern,
was awaiting
girl.
11
amazed and shocked
"Marie," he cried, "I'm
at the
news
I've just
heard."
She shrank from him.

"You were
"I?"
the
in
room with Uncle."
he exclaimed, "you're
"How
can you deny
heard you
terribly mistaken!"
she cried, with a burst of indignation.
it?"
Barnes held up his hands to stop the words that were on the
lips of
young man.
the
'Tell
me
"There
"I
"I
heard you singing."
briefly
isn't
came here
thing Marie
what happened that
much
to
tell,"
to speak to
Mr. Fulton on
Miss Hearne
solved to go upstairs and
night."
replied Avondale, with evident frankness,
told
tell
very personal matter. Some-
me made me
her uncle what
me good
very indignant.
re-
thought of him. She
me
begged me not to do
so.
ing in the hallway.
stood there irresolute for some time. Finally
She bade
night and
left
my hand
standI
on the knob of the door when heard

came downstairs
the voice of one of the servants calling my name.
and Susan, the maid, gave me a telegram. It was from Boston, telling
went
and had
upstairs
me
my
that
brother was
seeing Mr. Fulton.
and
is
now on
"My
have the
at
the point of death.
took the
first train.
the road to recovery.
friends,"
heard the
truth.
decided to postpone
Fortunately
my
brother rallied
returned and here
am."
exclaimed Barnes, as Avondale finished, "you have
Mr. Avondale
real culprit in that
is
perfectly innocent of any wrong.
room now."
They looked at him in perfect amazement.

"Come with me," commanded the veteran.
They followed him into the apartment. An
object stood in the
center of the table covered with a cloth.

"Here's the cause of
With
that,
he threw
all
the trouble," cried Barnes.
phonograph.
off the cover, revealing a
He
gave the lever of the machine a twist and immediately the apartment
was
filled
with the strains of
'The sun shines bright

In
It
was
in
my
in
my
old Kentucky home,
Avondale's best voice.
old Kentucky home,
far
away."
cry of delight greeted the old
song. Marie flew into the outstretched arms of the
"Can you ever forgive me?" she cried.

"I can and will," he said magnanimously, "but
other record for your uncle's phonograph
12
"
young
I'll
singer.
never make an-
'The
remarked Barnes, ignoring
thing's as plain as day,"
grant exhibition
ol"
love. "Your uncle
he grasped the table cloth, throwing the
of vertigo, and, in falling,
books and papers
over the
all
straight into the picture
this fla-
was suddenly seized by an attack
on the
and catapulting one
floor,
missile
His head struck the fender and
wall.
That was the real cause of

by the coroner's physician."
resulted in concussion of the brain.
death, and
it
will
be so
certified
mean a marriage?"
down the avenue.
The old man chuckled softly.
his
queried Clancy, curiously, as they
"Will this
trudged
"If
were
as sure of
Heaven
as
they are of matrimony,
I'd
be
happy man!"
The Adventure
of the Table Foot
hy Zero
called
one morning
a crisp cold
Ramsay]
[Allan
wintry December day
on
my
him company at
the morning,
found him
friend Thinlock Bones, for the purpose of keeping

breakfast, and, as usual about this time of
running over the agony columns of the different newspapers, quietly

smiling at the egotistical private-detective advertisements.
up and greeted
me
as
He
looked
entered.
Whatsoname, how d'you do? You have not had breakfast yet.
hungry.
suppose that is why you drove, and in a
hansom too. Yet you had time to stay and look at your barometer. You
look surprised.
can easily see
any fool would see it that you've
not breakfasted, as your teeth and mouth are absolutely clean, not a
crumb about. noticed it as you smiled on your entry. You drove it's
a muddy morning and your boots are quite clean. In a hansom
don't
know what time you rise? How then could you get here so quickly
without doing it in a hansom? A bus or four-wheeler couldn't do it in
the time. Oh! The barometer business. Why, it's as plain as a pikestaff.
"Ah,
And you must be

1
It's
a glorious
would
rain.
morning, yet you've brought an umbrella thinking that
And why
should you think
it
would
rain unless the
it
barom13
you
eter told
came
along.
so? see, too, some laborer pushed up against you

The mud on your shoulder, you know."
I
you
was a lamppost that did it," answered.

was a laborer," quietly said Bones.
"It
"It
At that moment
business, and, as
think,
he put
his
"What can
in
in.
He was
as pale as
every limb. Thinlock Bones settled himself for
was the usual habit with him when he was about to

two long tapered hands to his nose.
do
young man was shown
death and trembling
like
as
for you, sir?" asked Bones. "Surely a
young
swell
you, with plenty of money, a brougham, living in the fashionable
West End, and the son of a Peer, can't be in trouble."

"Good God, you're right, how do you know it all?" cried the youth.
part of the
deduct
"1
said Thinlock, "you
it,"
ceed."
"My name
"Robert
St.
"Yes, that
saw
"I
it
so,
your
am Robert
Square, and am
St.
"I
"Private
marked
but
all
it
yourself. But pro-
Timon," put
is
in
Timon
St.
is
me
tell
in
Bones.
hat," said Bones.
Timon, son of Lord
St.
Timon, of Grosvenor
Secretary to him," continued Thinlock.
Private
and
Confidential
"I
see a
letter
addressed to your father sticking out of
your pocket."
"Quite correct," went on
St.
Timon, "thus
heard one day from
dential capacity
infatuation that
someone had
for him,
my
it
was that
in
my
confi-
father of an attachment, an
an elderly
showing
was unfolded
"Lady," said Thinlock Bones, from the depths of his chair,
how
to
keenly he was following the depths of the plot as
him by
his peculiar habit of
it
holding his bloodless hands to his
nose.
young man. "Mr. Bones, you

you manage it?"
"Right again," said the

velous.
"It is
How
do
very simple," Bones replied, "but
Whatsoname here understands my
little
will
are simply mar-
not stop to explain.
methods quite well now. He
you by-and-by."
was an elderly and immensely wealthy lady, then," Robert
Timon continued, "named the Honorable Mrs. Goran
will tell
"It
St.
"A widow," Bones interrupted.

"Wonderful," said St. Timon, "the Honorable Mrs. Goran, a widow.
was she who was simply head over ears in love with my father. Lord
St. Timon. He, although a widower, cared little for her but
"A lot for her money," said the quick-witted detective.
It
14
"How do you
know it?" St. Timon asked.

"I know the human race,"
"Well,
my
mouth.
innermost
How
did you
TTiinlock Bones answered.
he could manage he wanted to inherit her money without
if
marrying her. Would she leave him her riches
How
was the question?
man and
my
You guess
things?
these
divine
thoughts, the words before they are out of
to find out?
He was
did not unnecessarily wish to
tie
he did not propose,
if
comparatively young
himself to an octogenarian,
although a millionairess. But he mustn't lose her wealth.
If
when she
died he was not her husband, would he get the money?
If
the worst
came
he must marry her sooner than
to the worst
let
the gold slip out
How
of his grasp. But he must not espouse the old lady needlessly.
was he to
We
find out?
and the means offered
project struck him,
were both asked to
itself.
dinner party at the Countess Plein de Beer's
where we knew the Honorable Mrs. Coran would be present, and
"You both accepted," interrupted Bones. "Oh," he went on before

the other could ask the reasons of his swift and accurate deductions,
"oh,
Day
very simple.
it's
saw
it
in 'The Daily Telegraph's
we
"Yes,
campaign:
accepted," continued St. Timon, "and this was our plan of

I
was to take the old doting lady down to dinner and to
insinuate myself into her confidence
she was a devoted admirer

secret out of her.
was to
Countess's old port
she had
and
London Day by
'
if
left
aided by good wine,
in a subtle fashion
find out
whether my
by the time she had

father
of
which
and thus to extract the
was her heir or
him her money without being his

my father was to propose
wife.
she had not
arrived at the
not.
Whether
Time was
short,
that very night after
dinner. The signal agreed on between my father and me was that if he

was her heir without being her husband was to kick him under the
table and he would not propose
otherwise he would. Oh! Mr. Bones,"
1
he sobbed, turning
want your great
his piteous
intellect
white face to Thinlock,
to help me,
"this
me and
to aid
is
where
explain this
mystery.
"The plan worked admirably," he went on,

about the disposition of her
was
in
lute
and sole
her cups
after
and
My
does
it
and asked her to be

all
mean, what does
fact
when she
was her abso-
my heart that
my father under
dinner my father went
all
kicked, as arranged,
his wife
it
gleaned every
father
thanked the heavens with
stepmother.
the table, but oh! Mr. Bones, immediately after

to her
"I
her death from her
or rather her wineglasses.
heir,
was spared such
money
all
and she has accepted him! What
mean!!"
15
"That you kicked
the foot of the table instead!"
modern times
detective of
added another success to
quietly replied the greatest
he unraveled the
as
plot
intricate
and
his brilliant career.
The Adyenture of the

Two Collaborators
by
In bringing to a close the adventures of
am
M.
Barrie
Holmes
friend Sherlock
perforce reminded that he never, save on the occasion which, as
you
now
will
act in
among
by
their pen.
am
were
who made
not particular about the people
he would
mix
say, "but at literary characters
line."
our rooms
in
by the centre
ber)
"1
for business purposes,"
draw the
We
hear, brought his singular career to an end, consented to
any mystery which was concerned with persons
livelihood
my
Sir James
in
Baker Street one evening.
table writing out The Adventure of
was
the
Cork Leg (which had so puzzled the Royal Society and
(I
Man
all
rememwithout a
the other
Holmes was amusing himself with a

little revolver practice. It was his custom of a summer evening to fire
round my head, just shaving my face, until he had made a photograph
scientific
bodies of Europe), and
me on the opposite
many of these portraits
of
wall,
and
it
is
proof of his
skill
that
considered admirable
like-
a slight
in pistol shots are
nesses.
I
happened
to look out of the
men advancing
He
window, and perceiving two gentlehim who they were.
rapidly along Baker Street asked
immediately
lit
his pipe, and, twisting himself
on
a chair into the
figure 8, replied:
"They are two collaborators

been
I
in
comic opera, and
their play has not
a triumph."
sprang from
my
chair to the ceiling in amazement,
and he then
explained:
"My
men who follow some low

That much even you should be able to read in their faces.
Those little pieces of blue paper which they fling angrily from them
calling.
16
dear Watson, they are obviously
Of these they have obviously hundreds

how their pockets bulge). They would not
are Durrani's Press Notices.
about their person (see
dance on them
if
they were pleasant reading.
again sprang to the ceiling (which
may be mere
"Amazing! But they

"No,
said
"
Holmes,
"for
is
much
dented), and shouted:
authors."
mere authors only get one press notice
week. Only criminals, dramatists and actors get them by the hundred.
"Then they may be actors."

"No, actors would come in
"Can you
"A great
tell
deal.
me
a carriage."
anything else about them?"
From the mud on the boots
of the
tall
he comes from South Norwood. The other
that
one
perceive
as obviously a
is
Scotch author."
"How
can you
"He
carrying in his pocket a
is
tell
that?"
book
called
(I
clearly see) Auld Licht
Would anyone but the author be likely to carry about a

book with such a title?"
had to confess that this was improbable.
It was now evident that the two men (if such they can be called)
were seeking our lodgings. have said (often) that my friend Holmes
Something.
seldom gave way to emotion of any kind, but he now turned
livid
with passion. Presently this gave place to a strange look of triumph.

"Watson," he
my
said, "that big fellow
most remarkable doings, but
Up went
1
to the ceiling, and
has for years taken the credit for
at last
when
have him
at last!"
returned the strangers were in
the room.
"1
perceive, gentlemen," said Mr. Sherlock
Holmes,
"that
you
are at
present afflicted by an extraordinary novelty."
The handsomer
this,
of our visitors asked in
"You forget that you wear
Holmes
I
a ring
on your fourth
finger," replied
Mr.
calmly.
was about to jump to the ceiling when the big brute interposed.
'That tommy-rot
"but
amazement how he knew
but the big one only scowled.
you can drop
ceiling again
Here
Holmes
shall
is all
it
very well for the public. Holmes," said he,
before me. And, Watson,
make you
observed a curious phenomenon.
shrank.
He became
if
you go up
to the
stay there."
small before
my
eyes.
My
I
friend
Sherlock
looked longingly
at
the ceiling, but dared not.

"Let us cut the
business.
first
four pages," said the big man, "and proceed to
want to know why
17
"Allow me," said Mr. Holmes, with some of his old courage. "You
want
to
know why
the public does not go to your opera."
you perceive by my shirt

added more gravely, "And as you can only find out in one
must insist on your witnessing an entire performance of the
"Exactly," said the other ironically, "as
He
stud."
way
piece."
It
was an anxious moment
Holmes went
for
me.
shuddered, for
should have to go with him. But
my
knew
friend
had
that
if
a heart
of gold.
"Never," he cried fiercely,
"1
will
do anything
"Your continued existence depends on
it,"
for
you save
said the big
that."
man menac-
ingly.
"1
would rather melt
other chair. "But
can
air," replied Holmes, proudly taking anyou why the public don't go to your piece
into
tell
without sitting the thing out myself."
"Why?"
"Because," replied
Holmes
calmly, "they prefer to stay away."
dead silence followed that extraordinary remark. For a moment

the two intruders gazed with awe upon the man who had unravelled
their mystery so wonderfully. Then drawing their knives
Holmes grew less and less, until nothing was

smoke which slowly circled to the ceiling.
left
save a ring of
last words of great men are often noteworthy. These were the
words of Sherlock Holmes: "Fool, fool! I have kept you in luxury
years. By my help you have ridden extensively in cabs, where no
The
last
for
author was ever seen before. Hencejorth you
The
The
will ride in buses!"
brute sunk into a chair aghast.
other author did not turn a hair.

To A. Conan Doyle,
from
J.
18
his friend
M.
Barrie
The Adventures of
Shamrock Jolnes
by O. Henry
am
Shamrock
so fortunate as to count
detective,
among my muster
man"
"inside
tery" to
down
He
of the city detective force.
the typewriter, and
it
be solved, to
is
desk telephone
who phone
the messages of "cranks"
is
what
is
an expert
whenever there
his duty,
sit at
Jolnes, the great
of friends. Jolnes
at
is
New
York
is
called the
in
the use of
"murder mys-
Headquarters and take

confessions to hav-
in their
ing committed the crime.
But on certain
"off"
days
when
confessions are
and three or four newspapers have run to earth

guilty persons, Jolnes will
to
my
coming
as
many
in
slowly
different
knock about the town with me, exhibiting,
great delight and instruction, his marvelous powers of observa-
and deduction.
tion
The
other day
dropped
in at
Headquarters and found the great
detective gazing thoughtfully at a string that was tied tightly around

his little finger.
"Good morning, Whatsup," he
said,
without turning his head.
"I'm
glad to notice that you've had your house fitted up with electric lights
at last."
"Will
am
you please
sure that
a rush order not
"Nothing
tell
me,"
said, in surprise,
"how you knew
that?
never mentioned the fact to anyone, and the wiring was
completed
morning."
until this
"As you came in caught the

know an expensive cigar, and
easier," said Jolnes, genially.
odor of the cigar you are smoking.
know
that not
in
cigars
and pay gas
more than
bills
three
men
New
York can afford to smoke
too at the present time. That was an easy one.
am working just now on a little problem of my own."

"Why have you that string on your finger?" asked.
"That's the problem," said Jolnes. "My wife tied that on this morning to remind' me of something
was to send up to the house. Sit
down, Whatsup, and excuse me for a few moments."
But
19
distinguished detective went to a wall telephone, and stood
The
with the receiver to his ear for probably ten minutes.
"Were you
listening to a confession?"
asked,
when he had
re-
turned to his chair.

"Perhaps," said Jolnes, with a smile,
To be
of the sort.
frank with you,
been increasing the quantity
might be called something
"it
Whatsup,
for so
I've
cut out the dope.
I've
long that morphine doesn't have
effect on me any more. I've got to have something more powerThat telephone just went to is connected with a room in the
Waldorf where there's an author's reading in progress. Now, to get at
much
ful.
the solution of this string."
After five minutes of silent pondering, Jolnes looked at me, with a
and nodded
smile,
his head.
"Wonderful man!"
"It
knot? That
knot.
exclaimed. "Already?"
quite simple," he said, holding
is
is
to prevent
forget-me-not
is
my
forgetting.
a flower.
It
was
up
It
his finger.
"You see that
therefore, a forget-me-
is,
a sack of flour that
was to
send home!"
"Beautiful!"
"Suppose
could not help crying out
we go
out for a ramble,
"
in
admiration.
suggested Jolnes.
"There is only one case of importance on hand just now. Old man
McCarty, one hundred and four years old, died from eating too many
bananas.
The evidence
points so strongly to the Mafia that the police
have surrounded the Second Avenue Katzenjammer Gambrinus Club
No.
2,
hours.
and the capture of the
The
Jolnes and
we were
assassin
is
only the matter of a few
detective force has not yet been called on for assistance."

I
went out and up the
street
toward the corner, where
to catch a surface car.
Halfway up the block we met Rheingelder, an acquaintance of

ours,
who
held a City Hall position.
"Good morning,
Rheingelder," said Jolnes, halting. "Nice breakfast
was you had this morning."

Always on the lookout for the detective's remarkable feats of desaw Jolnes's eyes flash for an instant upon a long yellow
duction,
splash on the shirt bosom and a smaller one upon the chin of Rheingelder
both undoubtedly made by the yolk of an egg.
"Oh, dot is some of your detectiveness," said Rheingelder, shaking
all over with a smile. "Veil,
pet you trinks und cigars all round dot
that
you cannot
tell
vot
haf eaten for breakfast."
"Done," said Jolnes. "Sausage, pumpernickel and coffee."
Rheingelder admitted the correctness of the surmise and paid the

bet.
20
When we
had proceeded on our way
said to Jolnes:
"I
thought you looked
egg
at the
spilled
on
and
his chin
shirt
front."
"1
"That
did," said Jolnes.
ingelder
is
where
is
my
began
deduction. Rhe-
very economical, saving man. Yesterday eggs dropped
in
Today they are quoted at

forty-two. Rheingelder ate eggs yesterday, and today he went back to
his usual fare. A little thing like this isn't anything, Whatsup; it bethe market to twenty-eight cents per dozen.
longs to the primary arithmetic class."
When we
principally
boarded the streetcar we found the seats
by
About the middle

gray beard,
and
ladies. Jolnes
who
occupied
all
stood on the rear platform.
man with
of the car there sat an elderly
looked to be the typical well-dressed
New
a short
Yorker. At
successive corners other ladies climbed aboard, and soon three or four
of
them were standing over the man, clinging
meaningly
man who occupied
at the
and glaring
to straps
the coveted seat. But he reso-
lutely retained his place.
"We New
Yorkers,"
remarked to Jolnes, "have about
ners, as far as the exercise of
them
in
"Perhaps so," said Jolnes, lightly, "but the

to
happens to be
Virginia.
He
is
know
"I
man you
evidently refer
Old
very chivalrous and courteous gentleman from
spending
few days
two daughters, and he leaves

"You
our man-
lost
public goes."
for the
in
New
York with his wife and
South tonight."
amazement.
never saw him before we stepped on the car," declared the detechim, then?"
said, in
tive, smilingly.
"By the gold tooth of the Witch of Endor,"

construe
all
than black
that from his appearance
you
cried,
you can
"if
are dealing in nothing else
art."
'The habit of observation

gentleman gets
nothing more,"
off the car before
we
do,
said Jolnes.
think
"If
the old
can demonstrate to
you the accuracy of my deduction."

Three blocks farther along the gentleman rose to leave the
Jolnes addressed him at the door:
"Pardon me, sir, but are you not Colonel Hunter, of Norfolk,
car.
Vir-
ginia?"
"No, suh," was the extremely courteous answer.

Ellison
state.
Major Winfield
know
good many people,
suh, in Norfolk
the Tollivers, and the Crabtrees, suh, but
meeting yo' friend Colonel Hunter.

going back to Virginia tonight,
with
my
after
wife and three daughters.
"My name,
from Fairfax County,
R. Ellison,
suh,
is
the same
the Goodriches,
never had the pleasure of
am happy
to say, suh, that
having spent
shall
in
be
in
week
Norfolk
in
am
in yo' city
about ten
21
days,
and
if
you
me
will give
yo' name, suh,
will take pleasure in
looking up Colonel Hunter and telling him that you inquired after
him, suh."
if
"Thank you," said Jolnes.

you will be so kind."
1
glanced
at
New
the great
intense chagrin had
slightest point always galled
that Reynolds sent his regards,
York detective and saw that
come upon
"Did you say your
him
'Tell
look of
his clear-cut features. Failure in the
Shamrock
Jolnes.
daughters?" he asked of the Virginia gen-
three
tleman.
"Yes, suh,
my
three daughters,
all
as fine girls as there are in Fairfax
County," was the answer.
With
that
Major
stopped the car and began to descend the
Ellison
step.
Shamrock Jolnes clutched his arm.

"One moment, sir " he begged, in an urbane voice
alone detected the anxiety
the young ladies
'Tou
admitted the major, from the ground, "but
you knew it, suh,

"And mo' than can
Jolnes was restored
devil
is
mo' than
tell,
too,"
me
wonderful
feat.
can
which
how
the
tell."
said, as
the car went on.
observant serenity by having
to his calm,
wrested victory from his apparent
he invited
in
not right in believing that one of
an adopted daughter?"
is
are, suh,"
"am
failure,
we
so after
got off the car
into a cafe, promising to reveal the process of his latest
"In the first place,"
he began
after
we were
comfortably seated,
"I
knew the gentleman was no New Yorker because he was flushed and
uneasy and restless on account of the ladies that were standing, although he did not
rise
and give them
his seat.
decided from his
appearance that he was a Southerner rather than a Westerner.
"Next
to a lady
began to
figure out his reason for
when he
evidently
impelled to do
of his eyes
so.
strongly, but not overpoweringly,
very quickly decided upon that.
had received
inflamed, and that
felt
not relinquishing his seat
all
a severe jab in
noticed that one
one corner, which was red and
over his face were tiny round marks about the
end of an uncut lead pencil. Also upon both of his patentleather shoes were a number of deep imprints shaped like ovals cut off
square at one end.
"Now, there is only one district in New York City where a man is
bound to receive scars and wounds and indentations of that sort and
that is along the sidewalks of Twenty-third Street and a portion of
knew from the imprints of trampling
Sixth Avenue south of there.
size of the
22
French heels on his feet and the marks of countless jabs
from umbrellas and parasols carried by
had been
that he
man
women
with the Amazonian troops.
in conflict
in
the face
shopping
in the
district
And
he
as
knew he would not have braved

such dangers unless he had been dragged thither by his own womenfolk. Therefore, when he got on the car his anger at the treatment he
had received was sufficient to make him keep his seat in spite of his
was
of intelligent appearance,
traditions of Southern chivalry."
"That
ters
very well,"
is all
and
especially
why
did you
Why
couldn't a wife alone have
said, "but
two daughters?
insist
upon daugh-
taken him shopping?"
'There had to be daughters," said Jolnes, calmly.
and she near
wife,
alone.
you
If
he had
own
his
age,
he had only a
"If
he could have bluffed her into going
young wife she would
go
prefer to
alone.
So there
are."
admit
"I'll
that,"
now,
"but,
said,-
why two
name of all the prophets, did you

when he told you he had three?"
the
daughters?
And how,
"Don't say guess," said Jolnes, with a touch of pride in his

"there
is
no such word
was
son's buttonhole there
geranium
the lexicon of ratiocination. In Major
in
No woman
leaf.
a chance.
May
could
flower,-
and
knew
"Adopted!"
know he was
that
broke
in.
"I
may be gay upon
feel
in
give
enthusiasm, "when he de-
who added no
background
you every
credit, but
"In his breast pocket," said the great detective,
the street?
sisterly jealousy to
how
did you
leaving for the South tonight?"
and oval made

is
rosebud
see the lovely Adele fastening
"one
the
she must be
see," said Jolnes,

I
rosebud backed by
dancing up with
add her rosebud to the adornment?"

"And then,"
cried, beginning to
clared that he had three daughters
"1
air,-
Elli-
Whatsup, and give the logic of
Cannot you
then the romping Edith
ever combined a carnation and a
the carnation to the lapel so that Papa
And
and
a carnation
into a boutonniere. Close your eyes,
your imagination
in
guess that one was adopted
Good
a protuberance.
New
long journey from
bow
liquor
is
"something large
scarce on trains, and
it
York to Fairfax County."
me
my
said.
"And
tell
shred of doubt will be cleared away,
why
did you decide that he was
"Again
must
to you,"
this,
so that
last
from Virginia?"
"It
was very
faint,
admit," answered
Shamrock
Jolnes, "but
no
trained observer could have failed to detect the odor of mint in the
car."
23
Affirmatiye Action
by Jon
Mob
Eddie the gat had been with the
He
most.
long time,
for a
far
Breen
longer than
always thought he had lasted because he could cope with
guys who still had one foot stuck back in

changed and the methods and practices of all big
businesses changed and evolved as the years passed. Organized crime
had to change, too. It stood to reason, though some didn't buy it.
Yeah, Eddie the Gat was flexible and cooperative as hell. But this
latest instruction from the Boss had just about thrown him. Some in
the Mob, Eddie the Gat among them, were seriously wondering about
change, unlike
a lot of
Prohibition. Times
the Boss and whether he needed to be replaced. But for the
was
at least, the Boss
still
ways, Eddie found himself forty stories above the ground in
town
"The Boss says
who
al-
down-
could have been his son.
got to talk to you about
desk from a snappily
office building, sitting across a neat, shiny
dressed but barely unpimpled kid
uh
moment
the Boss and, following instructions as
uh
hiring
somebody
to
."
.
right," said the kid,
"It's all
know. You want to employ
"I
individual to eliminate a certain individual
who
has
made
a qualified
his or her
continued existence undesirable to the Mob."
"Uh, yeah,
before.
but
why do
mean no
"Certainly not.
".
But
right.
don't
have to see you, kid?
disrespect
never had to
."
.
understand."
was wondering. What the
just
hell
is
an Affirmative
Action Officer anyway?"

"Well, Eddie,
way.
am
my
purpose
are followed in the selection of
the position to be
"1
not to hinder your operation in any
is
simply charged with making sure proper personnel practices
your
what
is
the term applied to
filled?"
guess, hitman."
"No, better make

of those 'person'
it
hitperson.
Or
better yet, assassin.
words that always sound rather
silly
to you? Chairperson, foreperson, things like that?"
24
It
avoids one
to me, don't they
"Yeah, that sounds kind of
mean, we
does
but assassin sounds kind of fancy.
silly,
gonna hit the President or

matter what we call it?"
it
ain't
nothin'.
And anyway, why
"For the job announcement."
mean, we
"Yeah, well, you see, we never did it like that before.
were never so formal about it. Is this job announcement supposed to
1
be
in writing?"
customary, yes."
'That
is
"Well
how
writing?
can you advertise for
hitman
out an announcement that you're gonna
"How
the
"1
it's
word
bump
guy
assassin
if
it,
in
you send
off?"
the past?"
in
sort of just
get around."
is
you make sure the announce-
advisable. Just so
to attract the widest possible applicant
made widely enough
is
mean, an
been kind of word of mouth, you know? You
suppose that
ment
have you normally announced job openings
"Well,
let
element of surprise, don't
sort of spoils the
It
pool without, of course, warning the potential victim or incurring the

displeasure of law enforcement agencies."
"Uh, yeah.
Whaddaya mean about
the widest possible applicant
pool?"
'To give a chance for

minorities
and
classifications
women
all
qualified candidates to apply. In the past,
have been sadly under-represented
in
many job
both within and outside the Mob. Are you aware of
that?"
"Hey, we've always had
women
"As secretaries and gun molls and

in
around."
camp
followers, certainly, but not
positions of authority or responsibility.
woman
"Well,
"And
Have you ever seen
Mob?"
division chief in the
no ..."
as for minorities,
most organized criminal organizations have

a particular ethnic group
confined their employees to members of
such as
Mob
Italians,
Irish,
Jews,
Blacks,
or in the case of the present
."
.
"We
hit far
stick to
people
and wide,
about our plans?
gonna knock
like
We
we can
you
don't
trust. If
we
spread the word about this
say, won't an awful lot of
want the whole world
to
people
know who
know
we're
over."
"You don't have to say whom you are planning to have
"What do we do when
police stoolies get the word?
know, this way."

"Rumor is rumor. We deny
has to stay open two weeks."
it,
that's
all.
And
after
killed."
They
all,
will,
you
the job only
25
We
want to hit the guy sooner than that!"

two
weeks is the absolute minimum. Then we'll
"No, I'm sorry,
committee to go through the applications
screening
appoint
a
have to
"Two weeks?
and arrange interviews."
how
"Hey,
long
is
that
gonna
take?"
"Once we get a procedure established, the screening, interviewing

and hiring process shouldn't take long, Eddie."
have to hire a person just because he's black
"Are you telling me
or he's a Mexican or he's a woman?"
"Certainly not. To do that would be to miss the whole point of
affirmative action. You pick the most qualified candidate who applies,
I
regardless of race, sex, or age.
The purpose
of affirmative action
assure the widest possible applicant pool in order to give
to
is
women and
minority candidates the opportunity to apply and compete for the
That
position.
all."
is
"Oh." Eddie the Gat was silent for
was
telling
him
to
move with
moment.
voice
in his
head
mouth
mean, who's gonna check up on
the times, but the voice in his
said, "Is this really necessary, kid?
us?"
for one would hate to see the Mob

worked so hard to build cited for unfair labor practices. And
would ask you this: do we abrogate our responsibility as good citi-
"You never know, Eddie. But
we've
1
all
zens simply because our business
The
is
crime?"
kid walked to the window, raised
crowded
"Look
streets
and looked out
it,
at
the
below.
at that city, Eddie!
The Mob
has attained a position of im-
portance, influence, and, yes, respect in this community.

obligation to protect
its
position and use
it
for
good
It
has an
ends."
Eddie walked to the window and looked out, too. "Yeah, yeah,
can see
"I
that."
think the respect accorded us can
Mob
that the
"How
are
is
grow only
people are aware
if
an equal opportunity employer."
people gonna apply for
this job?
mean, we
can't
have
lot in writing."
"Give them a phone number they can
call and give us their qualificoded of course. At the same time, they can leave
word where we can reach them if the screening committee selects
them for interview."
cations, suitably
"Sounds okay,
eyes
lit
The
guess." Eddie
kid,
thought a
moment
how'd you get
this
more. Then his
job anyway?"
kid looked slightly embarrassed. "Well, actually, the Boss
uncle. But that
26
up suddenly. "Hey,
was the wrong way
to
do
things, Eddie,
and
my
is
my
goal
is
to
make
Mob
no employee of the
sure
is
hired for reasons like that
ever again."
"Still,
it
seem right," Eddie mumbled, under his breath.

on the kid's telephone buzzed, and he walked to
don't
The intercom
line
the desk to pick

for you,"
"It's
it
he
up.
handing the phone to Eddie.
said,
"Yeah?"
"Eddie, this
Moe.
is
We
done the job on the
Boss."
"Yeah?"
We
couldn't wait no longer. We need new

want you to take over, Eddie."
"Yeah?" Eddie saw that the kid had returned to the window and was
looking out at the city. "Will you hold on a second, Moe?"
Eddie the Gat walked to the window, said in a soft and sincere
voice, "Sorry, kid," and sent him forty stories with one good push.
"It
was time, Eddie.
leadership. All the boys
Then he returned
"Moe, the
Officer.
And
first
I
to the phone.
thing
we
want you
Anchor the
do
gotta
is
pick a
new
Affirmative Action
on the screening committee."
to be
Stiff!
by Dan Gordon
The bay was
alive
with pleasure
bow, sent clouds of warm spray

general threatened his
He
Sea
life
They
craft.
crossed
Lew Guyon's
flying over his tiny runabout,
and health and played
hell
and
in
with his temper.
down. The
owner and skipper,
cut the engine scant feet before he ran the schooner
Maid was
was waiting
at
at
anchor, and
the
rail
Sammy
Sultan, her
when Lew slammed
the speedboat into her side
and swung himself aboard.
Sammy
Sultan's
"Hello, baby.
'Troubles?"
dark face
split
in
welcoming
grin.
He
said,
Glad you could come."
Lew Guyon
said.
Very soon now,

think. Come. Let's go back to my
cabin." Sammy's head moved significantly in the direction of the sailor
who was making Lew's boat fast.
"Not
yet.
"New man?" Lew
asked.
27
"Most of the crew.
me when
The
couple stayed.
with
Sammy
little
old gang tried
legit.
for a while with
it
do not think they liked
it.
the southern waters and the years
when
Sultan had spun the wild wheel of fortune, gambling,
regard for the odds, on quick death or sudden wealth.
was strange
others went back south."
Lew nodded, remembering

he and
The
All new.
married Sue and went
to think of
Sammy
as
married and settled down.
It
Lew
watched him pour rum into a cup, top it off with coffee. "Hey,
Sammy," Lew said, "you joined the yacht club yet?"
"Not yet." Sammy's tone was sheepish. "Sue, she wants me to."
"Ducky," Lew said. "You can get you a new white hat, put a teak." He paused and looked at Sammy.
wood deck on the schooner
Sammy was trying to smile, but his heart wasn't in it. "I got your
wire," Lew said in a different tone. "We were coming up the coast
with the tug, and when they radioed your message changed course
.
and put
"Yes.
in here."
You remember
Lew
"No,"
said.
"I
Cipelli?
didn't
You know he had a brother?"

He remembered Cipelli, having
know."
blasted the retired gangster into permanent retirement less than a year
before.
Killing
Cipelli
had been legitimate enough. Lew Guyon,
marine investigator, had been working on

holdups on the yachts here
a case involving a series of
in Millionaire's
Cove.
Cipelli,
having ex-
hausted his retirement fund by purchasing one of the fabulous estates

in this exclusive
hideaway, had planned to regain firm financial foot-
Sammy Sultan with his schooner and crew, and

had been Cipelli's intention to loot every luxury craft in the harbor,
send the booty south on the schooner. Lew Guyon had stopped
Cipelli with a tommy gun. Sue Brandon had stopped Sammy Sulton,
had brought him to the side of law and order, using no weapon but
ing.
He had
imported
it
her eyes.
Now, watching Sammy, Lew

the
little
pirate.
He had
reflected that married
gained a
little
life
agreed with
weight and looked very well
except for the tiny worry wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. "What
about the brother?"
"Worse than
Lew
asked.
"He out
Lew's brows went up. 'That's bad?
We
to get you?"
that. He's missing."
Who
when he
cares
if
he never turns up?"
came here to live in his

brother's house. A mean boy, but small-time. You know them, Louie.
Guys like that, they'll kick dogs and play hell with women. But me, he
would not mess with. This Gilbert Cipelli has not his brother's moxie.
could tell. He knew it, too, after we met just once."
"1
28
do.
had
a mild beef
first
local law?"
"Good.
It is
force, but
Pryor
willing to
let
Now, with
"At
who
not
is
much
go.
it
has a deputy
good man. think he knows about me and was

As you know, my record is clean in the States.
is
Cipelli missing, this Pryor
me now. He
"At you
am
Lew asked.
man named Pryor. He
"How's the
is
looking
me."
at
or for you?"
hasn't said anything, but
very happy here with Sue, and
He
detective.
"Not so
do not
know what should be done."

Lew said. "But
talk to Pryor.
like his eyes.
my
say to myself,
friend
is
a big
will
big,"
much trouble."
Lew was still
the sheriff.
He
shouldn't be too
It
I'll
way when, having left Sammy, he found

man instantly. Pryor had the seasoned look,
feeling that
liked the
the calm face and alert eyes of an efficient peace officer. Formerly
Lew
F.B.I.,
decided. Lured to this quiet post by the glittering salary
doubtless paid by the residents of the Cove.
Pryor was willing to concede that

all
outward appearances,
'Then why not
let
Sammy
Sultan had become, to
a useful, substantial citizen.
him alone?" Lew pleaded. "You've got him wor-
ried to death."
"He has nothing to worry about," said Pryor, "as long as Cipelli's
The time for Sultan to worry is when Cipelli turns up dead."
"Would that make Sammy his killer?"
"Who else? Cipelli wasn't accepted in local society. He hung
missing.
around
in
the cheap
bars,
women. Those boatmen
are plenty tough, but inherently they
lot of respect for the law.
"Sammy's quit
"Surely.
that
all
know.
drank with oyster dredgers and their
doubt
know. But
man who has

attitude. Mind you,
say? Always, a
different
thing.
say only that
if
if
his reformation
is
who
dead, and
recent, shall
we
has killed, has a
don't say your friend

is
Sultan has."
lived lawlessly,
Cipelli
have
is
believe he
guilty of anyis,
I'll
be sure
to question Sultan."
"And bring up his former misdemeanors?"

"Naturally. They'd be pertinent."
Lew admired
his friend.
He
Pryor's calm, impersonal manner,
left
crossed the street
the
little
building with
when he saw Sammy
its
and
felt
sorry for
carefully tended lawn,
Sultan in the car on the other
side.
"Well?"
Sammy
"Not good.
you.
He
said
said as
Lew climbed
in.
comes up Cipelli's dead, Pryor puts his dough on

Cipelli hung around with the oyster fishermen, but apIf it
29
patently that gang hasn't given
Sammy
him
love
"I
him much
He
trouble.
likes
you
best,
boy."
too," said
Sammy
grimly.
look at those oyster boats.
"Let's
"Where do you want to go?"

don't work in the summer,
They
do they?
summer they
"Crabs. In the
for crabs.
fish
But
some
will
be
in,
that's for sure."
They rode
and walked out on a

and Lew and Sammy
stopped to talk with the owners who were working on deck. The only
thing they learned about the missing Cipelli was that he had apparto the water's edge, left the car
rickety pier. Several boats were tied
ently
had no
up
there,
friends.
"Imagine," said
Sammy
"a louse like that,
they were climbing off one of the boats,
as
and he disappears, and
it
"You were always lucky," Lew answered.

taking
it
Married
easy.
Made him
life
and quiet
living
has to happen to me."
He was
had done
glad
Sammy was
a lot for the boy.
Sammy wasn't waiting for the law to

He knew how things worked. Once the law
had trouble relaxing its grip. Especially on the Sammy
foresighted, careful.
grab him by the arm.
made
a grab,
it
Sultans of the world.
Lew brought
and focused
on the
his eyes
She was poised on the top of
gaze back from the
a piling,
hem
the water was fanning the
his
her,
something
like
went into an excellent

away from the pier.
off,
"Pretty,"
Lew
horizon
and the
soft
breeze from off
of her brief white shorts. She was
young, very young, and straight and slender.
watching
far
girl.
When
she saw them
panic crossed her childish face. She took
dive, entered the water cleanly
and swam
Sammy,
give her a
said admiringly. "She'll be a doll,
year or two."
"Somebody wouldn't give her a year."

Lew looked at him questioningly.
'The old
story,"
Sammy
said with a shrug. "She played
around with
Only she's prettier than the others. Some monkey took

town, doped her or got her drunk, left her lying beside the
the other kids.
her to
road,
all
battered up and scared to death. For a
little
while she was off
her rocker."
"Looked
all
right to me,"
Lew
said.
coming around okay. But afraid of people. She knows me,

and know her father, but you see how she ran away." Sammy spread
his hand, palm downward, and said in a lower tone, "Name's Jane
"She's
I
Hartlett. This
30
is
her father's boat."
Lew eyed
was
the trim ship approvingly. She was well kept, her bottom
and from her
clean,
she was plenty
He
fast.
lines
and the height of her masts Lew judged
followed
Sammy
over the inclined board that
served as a gangway.
Earl Hartlett, father of the girl they'd seen,
them below for

His whiskey was
invited
face.
He
by
said, in
Lew asked
do
"You agree with the

heel?"
man
at the rail
and
with a peaceful
excellent.
know him
the bars, but
in
met them
a pleasant
answer to Lew's question, 'T'might say
sight. Didn't
boys
He was
a drink.
personally.
my
He hung
knew Cipelli
some of the
out with
drinking at home."
rest of the
Cove
that he
was
a fourteen -karat
He knew
the question mechanically.
the answer by
now.
The
empty
the galley," Earl Hartlett said. "You
around here. Mix another one."

out of sight, and
noting Sammy's
head turned toward Sammy,
fisherman's
glass. "In
Lew
sat,
Sammy
know your way
passed through the small door
hearing the sounds of cracking
ice,
waiting
for Hartlett's answer.
swung
Hartlett
useless
whether
and
he
to face Lew. "Yes,"

evil.
That's
why
can't
said.
agree that he was
"I
imagine you two caring
he's missing or not."
Lew said easily. "When Pryor, the sheriff, found out we

were coming down this way, he told us to ask around."
Sammy came out of the galley, carrying a glass which contained
some ice, a great deal of whiskey and very little water. Saluting his
"We
don't,"
host with the glass, he said, "We'd better be going, Louie.
my
"Any
time,"
Lew answered. He watched Sammy
then tried to remember

a
don't
want
wife to worry."
if
he had ever before seen
toss off the drink,
his friend take such
healthy slug of the stuff so early in the morning.
The alcohol seemed to have an immediate effect, for Sammy

moved about uneasily until they left the schooner. He was preoccupied and somewhat irritable as Lew rode with him to his home.
know you
"Lew," he said at last, "1 don't want to hold you up.
sent that wire, and I'm sorry
were headed for another job when
feel
brought you here for nothing. But thanks for coming. Lew.
1
better about this thing now."
"Yeah,"
to
Lew
said.
"You look wonderful."
Sammy's house and
said, "Well,
why not drop me at the boat

Sammy opened his mouth,
if
He
recognized the turn-off
you've got nothing to
landing?
I'll
then closed
go back to the
it
tell
me,
tug."
again. Several times,
on
31
the
way
to the boat landing,
seemed
it
At the landing he got out and
you need me
would speak. Lew
that he
watching him quietly from the corner of
sat,
his eye.
Sammy. Sing out
said, "So-long,
if
again."
Lew.
"Sure. Sure,
And
thanks."
Sammy
waved, gunned the motor
and departed.
Lew Guyon went back
to his tug.
welcomed him aboard. "You
Callao Johnson, his Panamanian mate,

are soon,
sir,"
Callao said.
"Too soon," Lew answered. "So soon
doing here.
know what we're

we used off Race
don't even
you remember
Callao,
But,
that rig
Point?"
"To tow you under the ship?" Callao asked.
And when Lew nodded,
Callao shook his head emphatically. "Too dangerous," he

"Yeah,
loony,"
it's
Lew
agreed. "But
the harbor in a few days.

think
would put
Maybe
find
Lew
"You get
am
this afternoon,
what
"Sir,
are
"The water's clear and the
said.
wonderful day for a
me,
it
can cover
said.
big slice of
if it's
where
it."
Callao said with infinite patience,

"Scenery,"
We
fast.
we looking
sun's shining.
for?"
It's
ride."
killed, sir," said
out of a job."
forward. Although he
Callao morosely, "that
He waved one huge hand

had not spoken to
is
your
affair.
But
members
them, the men manned the
anchor windlass, and the chain began clanking
at
the crew
in.
Thirty minutes later the salvage tug was moving slowly over the
calm surface of the bay.
Lew Guyon,
in
diving dress, was dangling at the end of a rope
eighty feet below the tug's keel.
He was
well aware of the danger
inherent in this business of being towed beneath the bottom of a

vessel
under way. But the use of the method would enable him to
search an enormous section of the bay's bottom. Walking or crawling,
he might never locate
Cipelli's
body, or
at best,
the search
would take
days.
Now,
was
as
Lew rode along
striking the surface
just
above the bottom, the afternoon sun
above him, sending green shafts of
light
through the clean water, illuminating the scene.

Lew's
bottom.
sliding
feet, in
the lead-soled shoes, were riding six feet above the
He had no
sensation of motion, but the marine growth
by beneath him.
A man
could build a house
down
there,
went
if
he
could learn to breath water. Over there, by that stretch of shining

32
would be
pebbles. That
Very
nice spot.
and
nice,
"Up!"
Lew
shouted suddenly.
Ahead
looming black through the
of him,
He
the boulder, huge and threatening.
men on deck heaved
He had no
the upward tug on his
felt
sling pressed sharply against his legs as the worried
and the rope
lines,
green water, he saw
light
him out
desperately to take
tug were working blind except for his directions.
smashed against
that boulder, he'd be
parted.
He would
all
cleared the boulder
these things, yet
He
that urgent tone.
by
his
felt
all
lines jerk
down toward
Then: "Hold
lines.
the
and the
air
it
he said was, "Up!" again
more
His
rapidly.
feet
there,"
he
me
men
"Lower
the bottom again as the
He went
away."
paid out on his
said.
Riding about ten feet off the bottom, he dared not go any lower.
field of
And
boulders stretched before him as

it
hose
inches.
"Big rock," he said into the mouthpiece.
coasting
men on
failed to clear
yo-yo swung on
his lines
in,
the
he
die in a matter of seconds.
Lew Guyon knew

in
If
like a
it
His face plate would be bashed
string.
of danger.
own movements, and
control over his
was between two of these
far as
that he
he could
see.
found the thing he
The body of Gilbert Cipelli.

"On deck," Lew said. "Can you hold her where she is?"
"We'll try, sir," came Callao's voice.
The body appeared to be standing upright. It moved in the gentle
current as if Cipelli were walking over the bottom. But as Lew worked
his way closer, he saw why the man wouldn't walk away. Cipelli, if
sought.
this
were
was wearing
Cipelli,
harness of galvanized wire, well
rigged and seaman-like. Bound securely at his feet was a fifty-pound
mushroom anchor.
Lew went over the body carefully, disliking every moment of the
grisly work. He found the wounds on the chest when he tore the shirt
away.
Callao Johnson's voice came
down from
above: "You have find him
yet, sir?"
Lew
hesitated.
Then: "Don't think
so,"
Take
the slack and haul
me
a minute.
in
news
to break the
after he'd
"Coming
Maybe
'Thought
had, for
be time enough
rig
forever, for
he was wearing. Cipelli would be

all
Lew knew.
up," said Callao Johnson.
The men on deck

the surface.
said.
thought things through. Cipelli wasn't
going anywhere. Not with the

there for years.
he
up." There'd
laid
back on the
lines.
Lew Guyon
rose toward
33
The
when he entered Sammy
thing he saw
first
the knife in Sammy's hand.
ment designed
shell.
It
was an oyster
room was
Sultan's
knife, a sturdy little imple-
to coax the tough-fibered bivalve out of
protecting
its
Moreover, the knife was clean and shining. Anyone, that
any-
is
one except Lew Guyon, would have thought the knife was new.
Sammy had
been standing
hand, looking
at
there, apparently balancing the knife in his
thoughtfully.
it
When Lew came
in,
he
laid
it
gently
on the top of the desk.
Lew said, "What are you

damned thing away?"
"They won't
saving
Sammy
sink,"
"Cipelli won't bob,"
cove
just
Lew
to
throw the
"Wooden handle would keep
told him.
one bobbing right there on the
You too cheap
for?
it
surface."
said casually.
"I
was out to see him
in
the
now."
Sammy
eyebrows moved upward.
Sultan's
he
"Yes?"
said.
"How
does he look?"
"Comfortable,"
ders.
Lew
said. "He's
They'll never get
spotted between a couple of boul-
him by dragging
for him.
hook
grapnel
found him by
go bouncing off the tops of those rocks.
riding under the boat, but doubt if they've got any boys around here
would
just
who would work a

He was talking,
their friendship
search job that way."

trying to convince
was
the same.
still
never be, not any more. Because
and
me you knocked
tell
"Why
was harsh,
his voice
Sammy
and
Sammy
himself
wasn't, of course,
Sammy had
You think
and
lied to him.
the song and dance?
the jerk off?
"You don't understand,"
It
I'd
turn
said mournfully.
Why
you
"It is
it
that
would
Lew
said,
didn't
you
in?"
not a simple
thing. Lew."
"Then
what you
"I
me
tell
cannot,"
looked
at
about
it.
I'm a bright boy,
Sammy.
I'll
understand
say."
Sammy shook
his head.
the knife on the desk,
"It
is
then back
not mine to
at
Lew.
tell."
He
"When you
what did Pryor say?"

Nobody knows he's out there but you and me."
Lew's voice was tired. All the good years they'd had together were
gone. Now they were playing it cagey, eying each other suspiciously,
filled with doubt and mistrust.
brought Cipelli
"I
"Louie,
"We
in,
didn't bring him.
it
is
leave the
all
right!"
body
Sammy
said.
He
smiled a delighted smile.
there, get rid of the knife. Hartlett will
Lew repeated. "Hartlett did it?"

"Him," said Sammy. "I guess," he added. "Today when
be okay!"
"Hartlett?"
34
went
into
his galley,
found three of these knives
Two
in a rack.
them used
of
and dark colored. This one bright and shiny. A guy Hke him, he
wouldn't know about blood stains. He'd think he could scrub the knife
off."
He winked
Lew. "Lew," he
at
said,
man should
"a
stick to his
trade."
Remembering Hartlett's daughter in the sunlight on the pier, Lew

'Then it would be Cipelli who kicked the Hartlett girl around?"
"Who else?" said Sammy, "it would take a thing like that to make
He broke off, for Lew
Hartlett kill. He is not like you or me
was crossing the room, reaching for the phone.
Lew said, "What's Pryor's number?"
Sammy Sultan moved quickly and clamped one hand on the
phone. "You can't do that. Lew. Cipelli had it coming. You can't turn
said,
"
Hartlett
in."
"He murdered a man Lew made his voice stern. "So we know he
has to pay. Only question is
how much? Now, down there on his
boat today
noticed a box of crabs on deck. Some were under the
legal size.
figure we'll tell the fish-and-game boys. They'll fine him a
"
hundred or two.
."
.
He
let his
voice
trail
and looked
off
at
Sammy
questioningly.
Sammy
worried.
took
hand from the phone.
his
thought
"Boy,
"
he
said,
"you had
"Maybe," Lew said thoughtfully, "Cipelli wasn't worth

But Hartlett's no better than any one else
these days."
An
He
and
Artful
of the
hundred.
everythings high
shrugged and picked up the phone.
Touch
hy
"One
me
most
beautiful
Charles Dickens
things that ever was done, perhaps," said
Inspector Wield, emphasising the adjective, as preparing us to expect

dexterity or ingenuity rather than strong interest, "was a
geant Witchem's.
It
was
move
of Ser-
a lovely idea!
"Witchem and me were down at Epsom one Derby Day, waiting at

Mob. As mentioned, when we were talking
the station for the Swell
about these things before,
we
are ready at the station
when
there's
35
races, or
an Agricultural Show, or a Chancellor sworn
or Jenny Lind, or any thing of that
sity,
and
sort,-
in for
an univer-
as the Swell
Mob
come down, we send 'em back again by the next train. But some of
the Swell Mob, on the occasion of this Derby that
refer to, so far
to
hire
start
away
from
London by
kiddied us as
a horse and shay,Whitechapel, and miles round,- come into Epsom from the opposite
direction,- and go to work, right and left, on the course, while we were
1
waiting for 'em
going to
tell
at
the Rail. That, however,
"While Witchem and
up one Mr.
in
Charley Wield,' he
says.
some
along,'
that,
then
waiting at the station, there comes
'What are you doing here?
yo"
says,
from the
Witchem, and have
sîd
On
the look out
place,' says
1,
'till
'Come
'We
a glass of sherry.'
the next train
comes
in,
but after
we will with pleasure.' Mr. Tatt waits, and the train comes in, and
Witchem and me go off with him to the Hotel. Mr. Tatt he's got
up quite regardless of expense,

very handsome pin indeed.
We
when Witchem
a dash is made
have come down
and
fast!'
four of 'em
that
fifteen
cries suddenly,
as
Tatt's
lay about
me as hard as can, Mr. Tatt shows

we are, all down together, heads and
and there
is
'Look out,
by the swell
you, and in a mo-
into the place
ment Mr.
prop
in his shirt-front
or twenty pound
drink our sherry at the bar, and have
our three or four glasses,
Mr. Wield! stand
and
for the occasion,
diamond prop, cost him
there's a beautiful
mob
the public line, quite an
in
way, and very much respected. 'Halloa,
his
of your old friends?' 'Yes, the old move, Mr. Tatt.'
he
can't stir
me were
gentleman formerly
Tatt,-
amateur Detective
for
the point of what I'm
ain't
you.
tell
gone! Witchem, he cuts 'em off at the door,

I
good
fight like a
heels,
'un,
knocking about
on the floor of the bar perhaps you never see such a scene of confusion! However, we stick to our men (Mr. Tatt being as good as any
officer), and we take 'em all, and carry 'em off to the station. The
stations full of people, who have been took on the course,- and it's a
precious piece of
and we search
up,
work
em,-
and a pretty
to get 'em secured.
However, we do
it
at last,
but nothing's found upon 'em, and they're locked
state of heat
was very blank over
we
are in
by
that time,
assure you!
had been
Witchem, when we had set 'em to rights,
and were cooling ourselves along with Mr. Tatt, 'We don't take much
by this move, anyway, for nothing's found upon 'em, and it's only the
braggadocia after all.' 'What do you mean, Mr. Wield,' says Witchem.
'Here's the diamond pinl' and in the palm of his hand there it was, safe
and sound! 'Why, in the name of wonder,' says me and Mr. Tatt, in
astonishment, 'how did you come by that?' 'I'll tell you how come by
"I
passed away,- and
it
myself, to think that the prop
said to
36
it,'
says he.
saw which of 'em took
'I
the floor together, knocking about,

the back of his hand, as
his pal;
and gave
it
me!'
knew
It
was
and when we were
it,
just
gave him
his pal would,-
all
a little
down on
touch on
and he thought
it
was
beautiful, beau-ti-ful!
"Even that was hardly the best of the case, for that chap was tried
at the
Quarter Sessions
Well,
are, sir.
if
at
Guildford.
you'll believe
You know what Quarter Sessions
me, while them slow justices were look-
ing over the Acts of Parliament to see what they could do to him, I'm
blowed
if
he didn't cut out of the dock before their
of the dock,
sir,
then and there,
tree to dry himself. In the tree
seen him climb up
An Axe
swam
across a
he was took
and Witchem's
artful
river,-
faces!
He
cut out
and got up into
an old woman having
touch transported him!"
to Grind
hy Curt Hamlin
was an axe murder.

It happened about midnight Saturday in one of those drab, downat-the-eaves houses on lower Front Street. A man named Reik
chopped his wife about thirty times on the head and back. He began
hacking away on the second floor, followed her as she stumbled
It
blindly
kitchen.
down a narrow flight of stairs, finally finished her in the

The neighbors heard screaming and called the police. They
found Reik squatting on the blood-slippery floor beside his

body, struggling to pull the wedding ring from her
wife's
finger.
he'd done it, but he admitted the kill. A

done him much good. The two of them were
alone in the house. His fingerprints were on the handle of the axe,
and he was wet with her blood. They had this boarder, Ebert, but he
was down at the corner tavern when it happened, drinking beer. The
He
wouldn't
why
tell
denial wouldn't have
police were holding him as a material witness. It didn't look as if there

was much of a story in the case, but if there was, Ebert could tell it.
The
city desk sent
He
me down
to get an interview.
wasn't a bad-looking guy.
belly
and lean
The
features
hips.
About
Blond hair cut
thirty. Big
in a stiff,
were heavy and immobile.
shoulders and a
brushy crop.
He
calm
flat
face.
only smiled once the
37
whole time
was
were expressionless. Looking inward,
there. His eyes
with their backs turned.
When
particular interest.
down on
slippers.
He
said, "Like
Joe done
worn
pair of
in
bedroom
know nothing. wasn't there.

maybe half-past eleven."
don't
to her about twelve.
it
wanted.
told the cops,
He was
the cell cot beside him.
were pushed into
his feet
him what
told
sat
and
shirt sleeves,
introduced myself he nodded without
left at
"Why?"
"1
told the cops.
and went down
He
said
went
for a beer.
asked
guess
if
was
that
couldn't sleep.
you could say
though he'd told
this as
all
flat inflection.
to bed, only
it
got dressed
got thirsty."
before. Mechanically, with a
all.
"Sure."
waited.
He
you could
wasn't the kind
gether, our shoulders almost touching.
After a
little,
known
He
thought he was ready,
He
said about four years.
We
sat close to-
asked
how
long he'd
said,
"I
lived with
them
for the last
months."
guess you thought you
"Sure.
As well
"Only,"
in
hurry.
smelled of sweat and sleep.
the Reiks.
five-six
"I
when
He
as
knew
this
Reik pretty well."
anybody."
know him
told him, "You didn't
enough
well
to figure out
advance that he was going to murder his wife."
It worked. His face moved, like a mask

showing something behind the corners. A smug
satisfaction. He said, and he said it slowly and deliberately so that
couldn't possibly miss the point. "1 knew Joe was going to give it to
I
was trying
to needle him.
slipping sideways,
her a month ago."

I
didn't look at him.
That would have been
shut off like a closed water tap.

voice, "Sure. Sure
"You think
on farm bread.
said,
you
don't?"
He
did.
a mistake.
said, putting a lot of
Maybe you even know why he
The smugness was
shifted himself
on the
"Look. Joe Reik's this kind of a guy.
He'd have
sarcasm into
did
my
it."
thick now. Thick as butter
cot, getting comfortable.
He
likes
He
to play around with
some and have his fun. Only he wants his own woman to
stay at home and do the cooking and scrub floors. If he finds she's
letting some other guy get to her he goes crazy mad. So he bats her
the girls
with an axe."
"She was playing around with another man?"
"Didn't
"So
38
just tell
you?"
somebody tipped him
off.
You, maybe?"
He shook
his head.
'Then how'd he
Ebert said,
much
"I
"It ain't
guess he just figured
You know how
wants to
but she
tell,
dame
can't,
who
the
man
"He
didn't figure that far."
"But
you
picked
him."
Maybe
when she
is
she got to giggling too

a lot of
new
gets to cheating.
She
different, or
husband
buying
can't figure out. Joe did."
was?"
at his front teeth,
knew Joe was out
"Irma
tell
did?"
He
"Sure."
to
so she's got a lot of ways of getting the
idea across that she thinks her
"Did he know
it.
wearing her hair
to herself, or
dresses.
me
for
find out?"
to get her.
looked
A month
at his
thumb.
ago. Like
He
said,
That was
did.
her name. Irma."
"You told her?"
He
"Nobody had to tell her. She knew like knew. It was this
month ago. come home from work and Joe and Irma was out
said,
night a
in the kitchen. Joe had a knife and he had Irma backed into a corner
and he was holding this knife to her neck. guess if he hadn't heard
I
me come
Only he heard me
and put the knife down on the drainboard. He
little, and he said something like he was playing a game
Only he wasn't. He went upstairs for his hat and goes out
in
and he backed
giggled a
with her.
and gets
ing.
if
it
to her right then.
off
He
plastered.
guess
done
he'd have
didn't
done
he'd
come home
that to
until
two-three
in
the morn-
you you'd've known he was out
to get
you, too."
I
said
guessed
would.
"Sure you would."

I
thought about
Ebert's
asked
if
of
this
my
hands were too dry. They
Irma was good-looking.
heavy shoulders jerked noncommittally. "Not bad."
that the only other time he tried to
"Is
"I
The palms
it.
itched. After a while,
was going to
come
tell
kill
her?"
you," Ebert said. "About a
week
ago, at night,
downstairs to go out to a show. Joe and Irma was in the front
room. Irma was lying down on the davenport and Joe had his hands
on her throat and he was choking her. Her face was getting black and
her eyes was sticking out a good inch. When he saw me watching he
pretended
like
he was giving her
a rub.
massage.
And
then he
let
her up."
He
paused then, stared
down
reflectively at his beefy hands.
"It
was
yesterday he bought the axe."

"Yesterday?"
"Sure. Yesterday
was
a Saturday.
Me
and Joe don't work on Satur39
went out
day. Joe
and showed
to me. Nice
it
on the second
took
down
it
He
the morning and got this axe.
in
axe, too. Double-bitted.
brought
up
it
room
rent this
and Joe brought the axe up there and then he

the basement to sharpen it. We could hear him all
floor
in
He
day, working at the grindstone.
must've got
it
nice and sharp.
It
took him long enough."

only because
said,
must have
what they
"That's
I
said
wiped
my
it."
me."
tell
waited.
Ebert said,
1
"He
couldn't think of anything else to say,
her thirty times with
hit
my
figured
"1
knew why he bought
probably wasn't hard to
it
and rubbed
face
pocket.
asked
"Not much
else."
my
figure.
He was
took
them
critically.
my
handkerchief and
polishing his slippers,
They were
in
else.
the other, against the backs of his pant legs.

studied
it."
hands and put the handkerchief back
he knew anything
if
one and then
first
He
leaned over and
old slippers, stained with white
toothpaste spots and badly scuffed.
He
said, "Last night,
maybe
little after
room. She was crying and shaking and so bad scared

understand what she was trying to
and he'd sharpened
tell
basement.
her while
know where
right in
Joe was.
where
Maybe
still
told her not to worry because Joe wouldn't
was
in the
He
house.
to
my
could hardly
this axe
it.
She
was
in
bed
down
in
the
and he was going to chop her up with
it
don't
me. She said Joe had
wanted me to do something. She come

and told me.
come
eleven, Irma
do anything to
much
wouldn't've, either. Joe ain't so
for guts."
I
and
said,
was
it
of the tightness in
long time before
my
throat, "But
could say anything because
you went
out.
You got up and
dressed and went out."
Ebert
moved
his big shoulders. "Sure. Like
Neither one of us spoke for a long time.

stomach.
drink.
My
hands were shaking and
Something very
from the pack, rolled
him
a match.
said,
strong.
it
"Of course,
if
told the cops."
minute.
was
sick at
my
wanted something strong to
him a
between
offered
about idly
cigarette.
He
pulled one
his thick fingers.
gave
you'd stayed, he might have killed
you, too."
'There's that," Ebert said.
back across the
mouth. "Besides," he added,

It
40
He drew
was then he smiled.
"1
deeply on the cigarette, lay
smoke curl from the corners

was damned tired of Irma."
cot, letting the
of his
Behind Murder's Eight-Ball

hy Don James
In
my one-room
there
is
apartment there
mounted on
a pool ball
eight-ball.
The boys
at
Star's
bookcase, and on the bookcase
the paper gave
banquet where everyone shared
On
is
a small
in
block of walnut.
to
it
is
It
black
an annual press
at
the gags.
the wall above the eight-ball
is
partially bald gangster in that picture.
Ed Tanner, the
a picture of
making the presentation.
city editor,
me
look
like a short,
fat,
look the same out of the
picture.
Ed Tanner gave me the
eight-ball
and
said,
honor
take
"I
in pre-
senting to Stub Getchel, our ace news-photographer, this token that
symbolic of his
behind
and
past, present
future.
The
eight-ball.
Stub
is
is
always
it!"
Ed Tanner is one of the few men who really understands

luck. To a lot of people it's a joke, but to me it's a serious
my
bad
thing.
never get a break.
At
it
least,
thought that
had been
called to
tell
a typical
me
that
until last
Tuesday night.
day from the
Timothy had
start
when my
old and one of Martha's six kids. He's
named
sister,
Timothy
appendicitis.
me, only
after
Martha,
ten years
is
I
hope he
never gets the nickname of "Stub" and that he doesn't inherit
my
eight-ball.
Martha's husband has a job clerking and they're hard pressed for
dough. The doctor had to be paid and there'd be

tal.
Martha was on the verge of tears.

She made me a little sore. She didn't have
think she didn't have a friend or relative
Tim involved
well,
it
was
a nice
in
camera.
week
to get
the world.
It
cost
at
weepy. You'd
And
me
the hospi-
with young
over three hun-
dred hard-to-find bucks.
Some day
offered
for
of
I'm
me on
going to slug that pawn shop
the camera!
two hundred.
sold
it
pirate. Fifty
to a rewrite
hope Tim's doctor and the
man on
hospital
bucks he
the Journal
make good
use
it.
41
Then, on the way to the

really in
Star, some jerk in a big convertible ran

dog on Seventh. It was lucky was there. That kid was
bad shape. So was the dog, but the vet put splints on him
and
going to be
over a
kid's
he's
bucks. Fortunately
Anyhow, by
world and
my
all
right.
the time
luck.
did a nice job for only twenty-five

left.
got to the Star
Nothing ever happens
who
ing Pat Moharity,
He
had that much
was plenty sore
anyone
to
covers police, about
it
else.
at the
was
tell-
when Tanner beckoned
to me.
"Got
job for you. Stub," he
wagon with
"We're climbing on the band
said.
the sheets in other cities
who
are riding their cops to
you go down there and get plenty of

Bums on sidewalks, interiors of flop houses,
clean up the skid rows. Tonight
showing what
pix
maybe
I
it's
like.
drunk getting rolled
decided
know
get
I'd
the works."
shoot most of the
was getting them that way
some good candid
among
in
The bums wouldn't
no
the dark
flash,
and
could
stuff.
Tanner okayed ten bucks

pass out
stuff infra-red.
the bums.
for expenses.
knew
I'd
need change to
always say you got to spend
money
to
make money. Besides, a guy is more apt to let you take a few shots of
him if you buy him a few drinks first, and those guys don't get too
many, anyhow. To do it right, you buy them a bowl of soup and
something to
No
eat, too.
one ever did that
for
me, but
after all I'm the
man on
the other
end. I'm doing the work.
Inasmuch
as
was going to work that
the day and went out to the hospital.
night,
Tim had
took off the
his
rest of
appendix out with
much trouble as I'd have having a tooth out and was feeling
good when went home to dinner with Martha. When finally
got to skid row that night at about ten -thirty I'd lost four of that ten
bucks to my brother-in-law playing rummy.
even get behind the
eight-ball in a friendly game with my relatives.
got to lose.
Our skid row is like most skid rows. It's three or four streets of
joints where you can get a shot for a dime, flop houses where you can
about
as
pretty
sleep for fifteen cents.

Life isn't
It's
alive
worth much down
with petty crime and forgotten people.
there.
By midnight
had the job wrapped up. Tanner was going to be
happy with what had for him. The cops were going to be unhappy.
was going to be behind the eight-ball again, but was all for Tanner
on this deal. With my luck I'll probably end up on a skid row myself,
1
42
and maybe Tanner and the

before
spotted an alley
edged
could clean up ours a
me
for
little
hadn't covered and took a deep breath and
The place was

few moments spotted
into
After a
as black as the inside of a
it.
the pavement.
At the
end of the
far
darkroom.
couple of winos dead to the world on
got shots of them.
have ignored
I'd
Star
get there.
it
if
was
alley
dim
a single,
light
over a doorway.
hadn't spotted the car parked a few yards be-
yond.
it.
row
wasn't the kind of car you'd expect to find in a skid
It
was
in
the classy convertible class, only
eased up the alley and
What was
was
it
the dark, behind a pole,
in
doing there? Finally
a car like that
alley.
It
sedan.
had
thought about
it
figured.
The
building with the lighted back door was Barney Post's gambling joint
and drinking dive on the
That explained
another
me.
man
and
fringe of skid row.

I
was about
my
On
eyes
hunch
away.
to call
standing behind another pole
wouldn't have seen him
straining
far
it
The
if
night
when
spotted
than twenty feet from
he hadn't dropped
a cigarette,
then by
could see his outline.
snapped one, not hoping
it
less
infra-red
might catch him.
what he was doing there as

showed up or happened as
much, but he wasn't too
wondered who he was and
got ready to shoot another
for
1
if
anything
home.
left for
Before
got away from the pole something did happen.
The door beneath the bulb opened and recognized Barney
I
he stepped
He was
out.
instant the other
gun
man behind
turned toward the car and
the pole stepped toward him.
take
it,
light
at that
He had
Barney," he said.
He
Barney stopped and slowly turned.
dim
Post as
hand.
in his
"I'll
He
alone.
from the bulb and
"The dough
looked
said, "You'll take
lost in there tonight.
at
man
the
in
the
what?"
One hundred
bucks.
think
your game was rigged."

"Look, punk, you can't get away with
'The gun
in
my hand
says
can.
Barney hesitated and then shrugged.
my
this."
want that dough.

I
snapped
need
it."
a picture fast
and
heart began to thump. This was something for Ed. For Ed?
might be something
for
more than
national magazines, for the books!

credit
where
credits count.
I'd
Ed! This might be for

I
It
one of the
saw bonuses and maybe some
never had that kind of luck.
43
By the time Barney had finished his shrug and a slow stare
was ready for another picture.
watched Barney reach
guy,
at the
for an
inside pocket.
"Okay," he
said.
'Take
The
man
stiffened.
other
it
easy.
You can have your dough."
He
looked young and
his voice
had
sounded young.
1
was ready
snap of Barney handing over the money.
for a quick
His hand came out, but not with a wallet. Light from the small
bulb glinted on the black metal of a gun.
He
He sounded frightened. Barhand toward the kid's gun arm.

The click of my camera was completely drowned by a gun shot.
Barney staggered back and then stumbled toward the kid. He
sprawled face down in the alley. For a full moment the kid was as
motionless as
was except for my hands. They were automatically
The
kid saw
it,
too.
ney struck down with
busy.
They responded even
camera that got
The
The
did.
They held
the
he sprinted by me.
went after him.

row don't create too much exciteme and stepped up his speed. Once he
into action.
racing through skid
kid looked back at
slowed and
me
before the rest of
a shot of the kid, face-on as
me came
rest of
Two men
ment.
said, "Don't!"
his left
saw him throw the gun into
storm sewer drain.
He
was
beginning to think.
He ducked
into an alley.
tried to spot a cop.
The
me
We
dodged
There wasn't one
kid rounded a corner and
tires
traffic
crossing a street and
in sight.
put on a spurt of speed.
Ahead
of
screeched and something crashed.
Cars were stopping and a frightened driver was getting out of a

sedan
when
seen death too often not to
The
kid was
He
twenty-six.
good
He was
breathing, but he was unconscious.
got a picture of him under the
driver, the
cops
who
He probably was about

who would stick up Barney Post
looking, with blond hair.
didn't look like a kid
and murder him.

I
The kid was under the car and I've

know that it was hovering around there.
turned the corner.
arrived, the
car.
got one of the crowd, the
ambulance crew
at
work, and then
faded out of the scene.
Hurrying to the dark-room
when
1
you've
all
had something. Maybe
red.
If
did,
at the Star
your cash on the horse
was
that's
like
watching the Derby
ahead by
a nose.
Maybe
You can't always be sure about infraprobably had the best news picture break of the last ten
1
didn't.
years.
Visions of bonuses and
44
New
York publishers' checks, and
my name
and
a picture
on
paper were
slick
from an Academy award
like shots
movie.
Headlines were pleasant

MURDERER.
in
my
mind's eye. NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER nails
could almost hear that voice over long distance from
me
New
wanted a job. With any luck at all, the eight-ball

had rolled away and was on the road.
Then the eight-ball rolled back on the table. Maybe the pictures
York asking
if
were no good. Maybe

1
I'd
was sweating when
missed.
got to the dark-room
and
was
it
a chilly
night.
Those negatives were a newsman's dream of heaven. had it! The

whole story. Almost the whole story, corrected myself.
put on my poker face when
left the dark-room. This was for no
one until
had it complete.
The girl on the switchboard at emergency hospital is a pal. She
said to wait a moment and then she came back on the line.
"He's still alive, Stub, but it's only a matter of an hour or so."
"I'll be there!"
promised.
A taxi took the last buck had. There was a little trouble with an
intern.
explained that I'd caught the accident. wanted a shot of the
1
victim in the hospital bed.

"It's
part of a traffic-safety
like this
makes people
He finally agreed.
When finished he
campaign we're planning,"
said. "Stuff
think."
got the picture.

said,
"His wife
is
downstairs.
Maybe
you'd
like
to see her."
I
hadn't thought about his being married. "Yeah,
maybe
would,"
said.
She was alone in the waiting room. I'd expected the kind of girl
you find not too far from the skid row. She wasn't. You could see that.
She put on a brave smile when told her who was and pulled the
I
business about the safety campaign.
you've been up
"You've
I
there?" she whispered.
nodded.
"They
said they'd call
me
if
."
.
She couldn't
break into sobs. She just turned away for a
looked
1
It
at
me
again.
Her
lips
were too
finish,
but she didn't
moment and
then she
tight.
got her picture that way.

startled her
"Why
and anger flashed
in
her eyes.
did you do that?" she demanded.
"Lady, I'm a news photographer.
It's
my
job."
45
could see her thinking about
self
suppose
"I
and forcing the anger out of her-
it
and trying to be calm.

she said.
so,"
'They told me
does he work?"
desk that his name
at the
"He's out of a job right now.
down
ting
That explained the gun.

luck,"
Today was
John Sabin. Where did
his last day. They're cut-
He's a guard."
at his plant.
'Tough
is
It
explained quite a
bit.
said.
She didn't answer. watched her walk to a window and look out
upon the street. Her body was young and slim, and very tense. She
I
me
faced
again.
"I'm sorry," she said.

like this.
'Take
They
guess I'm not very
"I
mean, well, waiting
I'm scared."
easy, Mrs. Sabin. All
it
had
"I
you can do
sweat
is
it
out."
to leave Billy with the people in the next-door apartment.
don't like kids
and
"Billy?"
"Our baby. He's two.

well.
He
clinic,
He
but Johnny says
He hasn't been too

wanted to take him to the public
looks like johnny.
has to have an operation.
that's charity.
He
She couldn't
suddenly
against
my
When
it
longer.
don't
chest. Like
back of her head and
saw
the intern
Martha did the

."
"Shh
said,
came and
in his face, just as
".
.
."
.
put the camera
my arms
night Ma died.
in
down and
and sobbing
1
patted the
Sabin
said, "Mrs.
."I let
her go. She
did.
As they walked down the hallway

stock phrases:
said he'd get the three hun-
and now
hold the sobs any
know howshe was
dred dollars somewhere and
did everything
heard the intern saying the
we
could,
but there wasn't a
chance, Mrs. Sabin."
walked back to the
Star
because
I'd
vizualized handing those pictures to
my last buck on the taxi.

Ed Tanner and the expression
spent
he'd have.
I
went
to the
dark-room and made
prints of the set.
They were
sweet jobs. Beautiful jobs. Sabin standing behind the pole, the stickup,
body under the car, the hospital deathbed.

They'd make a wonderful spread on slick paper in any of the big
mags. Maybe my own picture would turn out better than usual.
Maybe could use a little makeup to hide the beard that stayed blue
the murder, the
46
flight,
the
under
my
And
maybe wear
skin,
some good
hat with the brim over one eye and
lighting effects.
would be
the checks
There was no picture of

long to get
a picture of
large
Billy,
the kid.
and very welcome!
but
had
Maybe
in
mother.
his
It
wouldn't take
the apartment of the next-
door neighbors.
That would
showing
up the
tie
man murdering
series.
wonderful sequence
beautiful,
guy and getting
with shots of his
killed,
wife and kid.
And some day someone would hand

'Tour old man, kid. This
Ed Tanner
about
really
is
the
mag
to the kid
and
say,
what happened to him."
went overboard
for the skid
row
stuff.
He
raved
it.
'These
all
of them?" he said.
"Yeah. All that turned out."
"Why? What else did you have?"

"On my way home there was a guy
few good ones, but
must have had
hit
bum
"Must have been the guy named Sabin.

a
by
a car.
film.
No
He was
thought
had
dice. Blanks."
hit crossing a street
few blocks from the row."

"Yeah.
Maybe
no good."
'The skid row
too bad you
missing
"Sure,"
flamed
left
it
was.
stuff
down
is
didn't follow
a swell tie-in
it
up when
with Barney Post's murder.
there just before he got
Tough
it.
the murder and the accident shots, too

said,
when
remembering how
touched
match
to
saw the negs were
my
them
"
beautiful
for a kid
It's
break, Stub
murder pictures
named
Billy.
That's
me. Always behind the eight-ball."
Better
Hands
by Dale Clark
Detective
Lew
Brady, in plainclothes, climbed the shabby rooming-
house steps and applied his thick thumb to the landlady's greenpainted push button. Plainclothes possibly wasn't the exact term for
47
what Brady wore. He'd decked himself out in maroon, perforated

footgear, noisy socks, ice-cream slacks, a tweed coat,- with a crimson
necktie, and an orange splash of handkerchief overflowing his breast
pocket.
He
thought he looked the picture of
further this impression he didn't
woman opened
haired
lift
a cheap, flashy crook,
his pork-pie hat
when
and to
the white-
the door.
"Morning, Missus Drummond."
"Good morning ... I'm sorry." In the tiny interval, her blue eyes
moved alertly up and down Brady's big, loudly clad figure. "1 haven't a
single vacancy just now
."
"Wait a minute,
My
hunting a room.
ain't
name's Brady, and I'm
lookin' for the kid."
Drummond drew
Mrs.
not
a quick breath. "Chuck's
in
town
at pres-
ent.
low
"Sure, I'm wise to that, he's layin'
Joppas sent me.
We
got a job for the kid,
if
Listen,
it's
okay, Steve
him the word."
you'll slip
"A job."
"Good money, too."

The white-haired woman nodded slowly, and
better come inside, and tell me about it."
said:
"Maybe you'd
Brady followed her into the downstairs parlor.
She was smiling.
"I
guess you could stand a
little
drink, couldn't
you?"
"I
never turned one
nature of her smile.
Chuck's
It
down
yet,"
was almost
Brady
sly,
said, a little surprised
by the
hinting at a secret knowledge of
activities.
Drummond went out, and Brady made a quick tour of the

room. One cigarette crushed in an ash tray, a crumpled newspaper
today's
opened to the sport's page. He wondered if the old girl
Mrs.
smoked,
if
she followed the baseball news
Hearing footsteps, he
lowered his big bulk into an armchair.

"Here's looking at you," she said.
Brady peered
at
the glass, sipped
its
contents, muttered:
"What the
dickens?"
"Dandelion wine."
"I
heard of
it,
didn't
know anybody
ever
made
the stuff nowa-
days."
"My
Mrs.
brother sends
Drummond
it
from Ohio, he has
grinned.
the day off with, anyway."

"Yeah,
48
it's
okay."
"I
like
it
farm south of Cleveland."
better'n gin or
whiskey
to start
She asked abruptly, "What's this about a job

Tell him to get in touch with Steve, is
"Oh.
Chuck?"
for
all."
"A garage job?"

"Kind
of."
Drummond
Mrs.
"Come
me.
lowered one eyelid, her
willing to pay, and then
hot car proposition, huh?"
at her.
He
wouldn't have believed
Her white
in here.
hair
all
about.
Ma
he had to deal with another
like
it,
not
when he
first
and bland face gave you the idea she
know what anything was
didn't
interested."
Brady stared
walked
whether or not Chuck's
see
I'll
."
.
"it's
around with
stall
dope, mister. Exactly what Joppas wants, and what he's
Spill the
"Well
left.
on, Brady," she said, "you don't have to
It
began to look, though,
Barker.
"So what?" he said.

"Plenty.
Same
"Sure.
Chuck
if
gets pinched?"
got a system."
stand back of him?"
"You'll
Mrs.
What happens
We
"Bail.
we do
as
all
Drummond walked
the guys. Steve's got this thing organized."

to the front
window. Standing
there, she
asked:
How
"What's
in it?
"Fifty a
week."
'That's
much?"
that's pretty
good
for a nineteen-year-old kid."
"For anybody," said Brady, laughing.
"Uh-huh.
that
much
paying
safe as
"Sure. Steve's a
"I
you wouldn't have much trouble

you claim."
good guy to be lined up with."
sh'd think
if it's
sh'd think he could get
all
the help he needs, without Chuck."
we like em to be a little experienced, too."

Chuck isn't the only one with a little experience?"
"Well,
"But
"No," Brady said, "he

let
Steve
know
ain't.
There's others.
He
better look alive
he wants to go to work. Otherwise,
if
like
you
say,
and
we
can line up some different guy."

"That's about
Mrs.
what
Drummond
grew on her
thought."
fingered the white lace
"Well, Brady," she said,

"I
window
curtain.
smile
lips.
"I
lied to you.
Chuck
didn't leave town."
figured."
"He's right here in the house.

suitcase this morning.
could
tell
He was going
he was
in
to leave
some kind
packed
his
of trouble and
49
he admitted
finally
Daimmond
to me," Mrs.
it
going to send him to Ohio, to
my
Brady breathed shallowly. "Lucky

right here in the house, huh?"
"Hold on," Mrs.
Drummond
He
said slowly.
was
"1
brother's farm there."

I
came when
did
He's
got up from his chair.
said. "I've
got something more to say
to you."
Her voice
thought
"I
froze Brady in his tracks.
be
it'd
all
right
know Chuck, and
if
helped him get away," she was say-
know my
brother, and
believe a year on
him out
He's sick and ashamed of the
mess he's in, and guess what he mostly needs now is a fresh start in a
new place. With plenty of good hard work."
Brady hesitated, puzzled and perplexed.
ing.
"I
the farm would straighten
woman
"But that's only Chuck," the white-haired
apply to the others
make
like
him.
The ones you and
said. "It doesn't
Steve Joppas want to
into professional automobile thieves, provided
you
my
can't hire
son to do your dirty work."
"Huh? Say, what's you getting at, anyway?"

Mrs. Drummond's face was as white as her hair. "I
when went for the wine. I've just been talking like
I
here
called the police

this to
keep you
."
.
Brady said hoarsely, "You're turning
me
in?
And your own
kid with
me?"
"Both of you," Chuck's mother
curtain, but her voice
to
tell this
about
my
about
it.
now was
whole thing
Her hand trembled on the
said.
Mr. Brady. want the judge to hear

what you and Joppas were going to do
in court,
boy's mistake, and
lace
steady and sure and defiant. "I'm going

1
Every word you've said to
me
here
."
"You're crazy!"
"No, I'm not.
I've
gone through enough
insane.
too,
all
just that
don't
few hours to
"but I'm not
through
this,
know plenty of them will unless some one has the courage
men like your Steve Joppas." Her eyes glittered. "The mothers
and
to fight
of
It's
in the last
Drummond said,
want any other woman to go
turn almost any mother's mind," Mrs.
those other boys
She broke
the door.
"It
off,
."
.
smiled grimly as Brady swung and headed toward
won't do you any good to run. There's a squad car
in
front of the house."
Detective Brady hurried
down
the shabby steps. Teagle, the inspec-
tor in charge of the Hot-car Detail,
machine.
50
was emerging from the
official
'Too
Brady
late,"
Teagle
said,
said.
"We
"Sure, that's me.
got a tip one of Joppas'

I
faked
it
to see
if
mob was
she wouldn't
tell
here
."
.
me where
the
kid was," Brady said, "and she did."

"Well?"
"He's on a farm out in Ohio, working for his uncle there."
"Ohio?" Teagle looked nonplussed. "That's
a hell of a break.
don't
know whether we can extradite a guy on what evidence we've got."

"We can't, but don't let it worry you," said Detective Brady. "From
what found out, I'd say right now the kid's in better hands than ours.
I
Inspector."
The Bloodless Corpse

hy O. R. Dale
Spying from behind carefully drawn
young, with
pick her
maid's
all
way
full,
curtains,
Mrs.
Leona Carlin,
the curves in the best of places, watched her day maid
gingerly along the slush-covered walk.
Not
until the
swaying hips disappeared around the corner did Mrs. Car-
window. Breathing a deep sigh of relief, she hurried

and locked the door. Nervousness
suddenly overcame her and, copying the age-long habit of men when
beset by worry, she began a slow but steady march back and forth
lin
turn from the
upstairs,
entered her bedroom
across the carpeted floor.
There was no
trace
now on
her face of that gayety that had so
pleased the simple maid during the day.
No
song issued from Mrs.
There was no hint of the warm

friendliness that had animated her eyes but an hour earlier.
With frenzied hands she suddenly tore off her dress and stood
Carlin's tightly-pressed, sensuous lips.
forth clad only in the filmiest of lingerie.

again.
jungle animal, pausing every
now and
glances at the tiny ivory clock ticking
Suddenly
rigid stop.
head
Then
the pacing began
Back and forth she strode with the grace and freedom of some
a muffled jingle
She stood
then to throw anxious, furtive
away on
nearby dresser.
from the telephone brought her to
there, poised for a
moment
as
erect, delicate nostrils distended, eyes alert,
though
for flight,
expectant, breast
51
The
forward, as though about to run.

tently this time,
and the
more
bell jingled again,
woman approached
it
insis-
with a look of some-
thing akin to despair flashing across her beautiful, pale face. At the
which she seemed
third ring,
to take as a challenge to her self-control,
she smiled, whipped the receiver off the hook and placed
her
it
firmly to
ear.
"Hello-o," she breathed softly.
smile parted her soft, moist lips as
she recognized the voice that whispered
ling,"
isn't
in
her
ear.
Leona
not so loud, Joe," she cautioned.
then, after a moment's pause, "everything's all right
"Yes, this
is
home
Her
not
yet
until six.
up
face lighted
"Yes, dar-
Hurry
no, he
over, dear."
as she listened to the purring,
mellow, deep-
toned laughter that poured through the receiver.
"The maid and
brought down the chairs from the
her voice taking on a note of nervousness.
trilled,
attic,"
she
dismissed her
"I
John and
were going out to dinner. 1 phoned
early. Told her we
what? No, no, darling. He'll
John you'd be here to buy them
leave the car at Smith's garage on 27th street and walk home from
I
there
The
It's
two blocks away."
voice at the other end of the wire broke in hurriedly and the
woman
listened with lips compressed, eyes tightly closed, the
crushed to her breast.
phone
tremor ran through her.
She cautioned. "Not so loudly, Joe. Be here soon? Oh,

I'll be waiting, so anxiously. Yes
yes ...
guess ... so. Goodbye, darling."
She placed the receiver carefully on the hook and then, as though
exhausted by this single physical effort, threw herself on the bed with
a frightened cry. Her breasts pressed into the coverlet were crushed
but she didn't notice. Beads of perspiration stood out on her forehead.
Her eyes burned and delicate shivers made her lithe body quiver.
The gray March dusk seeped into the room and enshrouded her in
"Sh-sh-shl"
that's fine, darling,
a ghostly blanket as
she lay there hiding her face, biting her
lips,
atom of willpower to conquer a rising tide of terror

that shook her. Finally, in a frantic movement, as though surrendering
to a force greater than herself, she jumped up, rushed over to a wall
switch and turned on all of the lights. Snatching up a flimsy dressing
trying with every
gown
she sheathed her natural loveliness.
"I shouldn't do this

hope Joe doesn't come, don't love him." She repeated this
over and over again like one who tries in vain to memorize a little
"It's
madness!" she breathed fiercely to herself.
to John.
verse.
The
52
tiny ivory clock struck the half hour.
Scarcely had the sweet echoes of
And somehow,
the doorbell rang.
mons, the sound of
seemed
its
chime died away when

sharp, imperative sum-
to bring back her courage.
The
strange
doubts, uncertainties that had assailed her completely vanished.
fears,
it
soft
its
despite
grim, determined smile parted her lips as she unlocked her
bedroom
door. There was no hesitancy, no nervousness in her lithe walk as she
went down the broad
The
stairway.
slim, calculating
man who
eagerly pushed his
way through
half-opened door paused only long enough to feast his eyes
sweeping glance
fell
in
her beautiful form, revealed as her dressing
at
open, before taking her
the
one
gown
arms and crushing her against him.
in his
breathtaking contact his hands became active, and he

upon her face and neck. The ardor of his love, the
warmth of his hands, met a response as warm as his own as they stood
there, melted together, in the darkened hallway, swept by a storm of
passion that knew no bounds.
Joe's seeking lips found their mark as he lifted her into his arms.
The touch of her flesh thrilled him and drove all thoughts but one
After that
first
rained kisses
from
it
with
his
mind.
was the
woman who
first came to her

moan of protest.
... we mustn't now, dear.
senses,
who pushed away
a breathless little
"We
after
mustn't
.
And
after tonight."
the man, this Joe,
head and whispered:
young and
"All right,
slim, hot-eyed,
Leona, have
plenty of time, but you're beautiful."
He
all
your
lips are for
to
it
your
nodded
his sleek
own way.
There's
stroked the firm, living flesh
most beautiful thing
of her as he spoke these words. 'The
world. That's
We'll have plenty of time
She stammered weakly.
be
in
the
kissed!"
She clung to him, the billowing mounds of her breasts crushed

against him, raised her depthless eyes to his face.
nice to hear
"It's
Arm
living
in
you say
that.
love you, Joe!"
arm, ecstatically brushing together they walked into the
room.
"He'll
John my husband
will
be here soon," she warned as she
broke slowly away, fastening her negligee to cover her tempting bosom. As she drew
down
the curtains, Joe watched her through half-
closed eyes, smiling hungrily, took an eager step toward her.
"Oh!" he breathed hoarsely, "there was never a
He
reached her
on her neck and
side, pulled
lips,
her
down
woman
like you!"
beside him and rained kisses
holding her so tight against him she could
scarcely breathe. She struggled once,
made
a half-hearted effort to
53
push him away, and the
bold eyes became suddenly cold
light in his
and hard.
"You
needn't be afraid of me, Leona," he said in a throaty whisper
of anger and surprise. 'Tou needn't be afraid of me.
Only
hair of your pretty head!
my
wouldn't hurt a
can't stop myself. You're like
wine
in
blood."
know you
"1
When
come
love
How
wouldn't hurt me.
you
later, Joe."
But
so.
we
time.
She bathed her lover with
moved
smile as she alluringly

"You're the boss,"
he
farther
to think of such a thing.
silly
much
haven't
The
As Mrs. Carlin got to her
and turned on
feet
edge
Once
man
the
and he smiled
as
if it
when
she swayed, and
understand."
"I
a light in the stand
darted swiftly
fire,
she grasped the table-
showed blue-white under the
for support, her knuckles
The man
kisses will
from him on the davenport.
replied, grinning his approval.
lamp, her eyes, hot and burning with a strange
about the room.
the
a provocative, tantalizing
she called Joe
keen, hard
eyes, took
light.
it all
in,
amused him.
"Haven't lost your nerve, have you?" he questioned with a shrug.

"Haven't decided to
the
call off
facing her, his cruel but
face devoid of
ten to me," he shot at her suddenly,
He was
help you!"
With
tremendous
The white arm she

it all
woman
effort the
back, but for a second
money
to
pay that
of hell-or-high-water.
And
as
ness, I'm willing to
you."
regained her composure. She

kiss
him
passionately.
haven't lost
as steady as so
my
nerve. See!"
much
marble.
He charmed
fine,
thought you were going to chuck
last
it.
warm
caress.
he went on, "and gave

away you weren't afraid
Jerry's place,"
1
knew
You saved me
agreed
I'll
to spare!"
it
was accepted with
"The day you came down to
forget that.
God
a quiver," Joe smiled his compliment. 'That's fine!
Joe's praise
the
was
thrust out
Nerve! WTiy, Leona, you've got
me
stood there
expression. "Lis-
there's a catch in this,
"if
"No," she said in a loud voice, "no,
take
all
business now, bold, cruel, crafty and suspicious.
all
even managed to smile, to go to him and
"Not even
He
the sale, have you?"
handsome
right
a trip
up the
week, when
do anything
river,
^when we
and
I'll
talked
never
busi-
for you. I'm here. I'm crazy about
her into his arms. "Now, cheer up,
little
lady."
The mere mention of the word "business" seemed to electrify Leona, to make her wary. Her inviting face suddenly became drawn and
pinched
as
though the hand of
fear
was upon
it.
"Did you get here unnoticed?" she questioned.
"Not
54
a soul in sight," Joe
responded
genially. "Slipped in like a
shadow. Lonesome neighborhood you

walks! Like canals.
Got my
feet all
be here any minute now.
"He'll
'To business," Joe broke
sliding through the slush."
Let's
with
How
are
in
And your
around here.
live in
wet
let's
down
get
hard laugh.
to
"All right.
."
.
me
Give
the lay."
'The what?"
"The lay
the
next move.
we going
to surprise the old
gent?" he asked with brutal frankness.
The woman pointed out
The maid and
three old-fashioned pieces of furniture.
brought them
down from
the attic this afternoon,"
named Barlintto wanted

buy them. That's you, Joe Barlintto. Remember the name. And be
careful when you bargain. The pieces are worth more than you think."
"I'll take your word for that," came the disdainful answer. "I'm not
up on antiques. Tell me some more. Maybe you had better tell me how
much they're worth real money. don't want to appear too dumb."
"Well," Mrs. Carlin informed him, "they're worth at least two hundred dollars apiece. Offer him less than that, of course. Make an effort
."
if you
to buy them cheaper, that is
she explained.
"1
phoned John
that a collector
to
"Oh,
believe
understand." Joe smiled knowingly.
"I
understand. But
have time to bargain much. We'll surprise him right
I'll
don't
off the
bat, eh?"
He
raised his right
ture that
wrung
'That's the idea,
touchy, now,
hardened
to
face,
waves of
"1
isn't it?"
it
down
in a significant ges-
from Mrs. Carlin's grey
Joe asked nonchalantly. "No use
in
lips.
being
there?"
is
The woman
hand and brought
a sharp cry of protest
did not answer, but she looked into the man's cruel,
saw the slow
grin, the hot,
narrow eyes and succumbed
terror.
can't, Joe,"
she began
in a
stammering,
Joe jumped toward her before she could
finish.
terrified voice.
Anger blazed
like a
hot flame within him.
"Keep away from me," the
woman
warned, desperately. Then,
in a
sharp whisper, "Quick! He's at the door!"
Joe rushed to
a wall switch,
silent swiftness of a cat glided
snapped on the
back to the
lights and,
"Now get busy!" he rasped out curtly. "I'm looking at

And I've made you an offer. Tell him about it when you've
me.
Come
A
door.
tall,
He
on!
thin
Come
with the
table.
that chair.
introduced
on!"
man, well past middle age, appeared
at the living
room
regarded Joe with mildly interrogative eyes, then he bent
55
slowly and removed his rubbers. His wife rushed across the floor and
greeted him with a lingering
4l^Not
kiss.
he inquired
are you?"
ill,
solicitously.
The
pallor of her face
disturbed him. "Who's that?" he asked quite suddenly, nodding in Joe's

direction.
Mrs. Carlin's laughter, brittle with nervousness, rang out highpitched, thin-edged, hysterical. "No," she said, "I'm not
and
happy.
lintto,
ill.
Just excited
Don't take off your overcoat," she protested. "Mr. Bar-
whom
the collector of
phoned,
is
He's here to buy
in a hurry.
those chairs."
She led her husband close up to Joe.

is Mr. Barlintto, John," she said calmly.
"This
Joe
bowed
gracefully.
"Very glad to meet you, Mr. Carlin."
"My
wife
me you want
tells
come
the antiques. "They'll
to
buy
these," Carlin began, indicating
high," he warned.
Joe walked over to the chair nearest him. "I like this one," he announced quietly. "One hundred and fifty dollars, Mr. Carlin. That's
my
limit."
"You're like
something
all
of them," Carlin replied wearily.
"Let's settle this
one
first,"
Joe insisted stubbornly.
He tipped
one leg!" He bent
ing another twenty-five."

There's a crack in
"Trying to get
What's your price on the others?"
for nothing.
"How
about add-
the chair back. "Say look here!
over to examine the
fault
more
Mr. Carlin!"
carefully. "See for yourself,
Joe stood erect, face flushed, eyes gleaming.

"See
it?"
he questioned again, handing the chair to Carlin and mov-
ing so that he stood a
He
right here."
little
to
one side and back of the owner.
placed a long, cigarette-stained finger
"It's
on the crack.
Carlin stooped over. Peered intently to discover the flaw.
As he did
hand slipped
so,
Joe cast a quick, meaning glance at the woman. His
with
"Yes,"
a stealthy
admitted Carlin,
nothing much.
but
it's
for
two hundred
It
dollars,
Joe's hand, raised
still
movement toward
doesn't change
nothing
above
my
price any.
watched
it
"Look again,
might be a
"Oh,
up.
56
let's
see
it
You can have
it
less."
his head, held a club-like object. Carlin's
wife, fingers digging into her luscious throat as

air,
his hip pocket.
squinting at the crack, "yes,
though trying to get
with wide, staring eyes.
woman
mister," Joe insisted, giving the
a wink. "It
fake."
forget
it!"
Carlin snapped and
made
move
to straighten
"Sure," Joe roared, bringing
They stood there,

They were breathing
down
his arm, "let's forget
woman,
these two, Joe and the
who have
hard, like runners
it!"
tense and alert.
reached the tape
completely exhausted.
The woman began
He
her weakness.
in
put his arms around her
drew her roughly to him.

announced grimly as though
slim waist,
"Well," he
Her mature
to sob. Joe's lips curled in a sneer.
beauty was cheapened
satisfied
with a job well
done "that's that." And as an after-thought: "I'd bump off a regiment

for you. You won't be sorry." He placed one hand lightly
like him
on one of her surging breasts, sought out her face and kissed her.
"Don't worry, baby," he murmured. "I'll take care of you.
at
He
left
her
feet,
"Not
her standing there staring
went
down
at the inert
body
of Carlin
door and so out onto the porch.
to the
he said upon
a soul in sight,"
his return. "But
we've got to
hurry."
Leona dumbly nodded
assent.
commanded, suddenly
'Turn out the lights," Joe
"We must be
When
the
his strong
all
"business" again.
careful, too."
room was
Back of him
he stooped, picked up the limp form
dark,
arms and carried
it
shadow came Mrs.
like a
in
outside.
Carlin.
Certain that the coast was clear, he hurried with his burden along
the narrow path that led to the street.
He
he slipped through the slush and almost
cursed under his breath as
fell.
body on
But he reached the sidewalk without mishap, placed the
the walk so that the head rested against the cement step that con-
nected with the path to the house. Satisfied with the arrangement of
the body, he stepped close to the
as
he
"Keep your head

Let
woman,
thrilling
with her nearness
said:
up,"
me know when you
placed his
lips to a pert
and whispered, "not
chance
get the insurance money.
I'll
be
for a slip-up.
at
"
.
He
ear and gave an address.
Jim Crawley of the Vice Squad eased his long form into the most
comfortable chair
and complained
in
in
the receiving
room
no uncertain terms of
of the
life in
Emergency Hospital
general and sleuthing
in particular.
"I
tell
you,
young
fellow,"
interne, "this business isn't
he
what
said,
it's
addressing the efficient-looking
cracked up to be. Nothing
much
happens any more."
He was
interrupted
by
a white-clad nurse
who
burst through the
57
door and held
it
open for a man bearing a limp form in his arms. The

wheeled cot and helped the man deposit the body
interne rushed up a
on
it.
A
at
woman,
luscious
tight-lipped with determination, idly dabbling
her face with a filmy lace handkerchief, attracted Crawley's atten-
tion,
had
and he hastened to
He
just vacated.
asked her
a question,
her, gently urging her to take the chair
drank the
full
he
measure of her ripe beauty and
glancing at the cot:
"Automobile?"
"No," she replied with a sob that was none too genuine, "he
must have
fallen
must be hurt
"When
on the slippery walk
in front of
it
happen?"
'The neighbor next door found him lying

ing
he
he
terribly."
did
home about
He's usually
He
our house.
more convincing
five-thirty."
as she
gave
there.
The woman's
About
six
it
was.
sobs were becom-
this information.
Crawley, somehow, could not keep his eyes away from the cot,
glanced at it again and again as he became

woman's answers, sensed something haywire
went over and stood by the interne.
less
satisfied
in the case.
with the
Finally
he
"Hurt bad?" the detective whispered.

"Dead," the interne whispered back.
Tlie detective stiffened. "Play with me," he whispered in the interne's ear.
until
"1
gotta
hunch something's
ask a few questions."
He
up.
Keep working over him
ran practised fingers over the dead
man's clothing, touched the shoes, and then strode back to the sob-
bing woman.
man who had
TTie
"I'll
alone.
carried the
body
in
have to go home, Mrs. Carlin," he
He
was
said.
talking.
'The children are
all
a smile of
encouragement and
your husband was walking home?" The
detective smiled as
I'll
be back shortly."
gave her
departed.
"He
he put the question, unable to ignore the
in
by the
soft curves revealed
her coat.
"Not
far,"
the
woman
explained monotonously. "He put the car in
the garage in 27th Street and walked in from there.
It's
about two
blocks."
"Where
is
that,
"1516 Keppert
Mrs. Carlin?"
Street."
"Well," the detective
went on
in a matter-of-fact voice, "a
taking an awful chance on these slippery streets. That's a

fell
58
myself coming
down
here. Slippery out
fact.
man's
Almost
your way, too, you
said."
Leona nodded.
wished with
vague, undefined dread clutched at her heart. She
would leave her
questions,
man would
her soul that this hard
all
The house doctor
stop asking her
alone.
and Crawley watched him
arrived
as
he worked
over the body.
him
"We'll take
Crawley,
upstairs,
the doctor
"
announced suddenly.
mild voice, told Mrs. Carlin of the seriousness of the
in a
accident and suggested she wait there where she could rest until he
down word.
"You may think
sent
am
the prize busybody
and maybe
much
he declared smiling. "But I'm around here so
sometimes get
a bit officious. But
comes. Everything
I'll
come
right
is
all
be patient.
right. Just
when
help folks
like to
If
it's
you're right,"
and on that
off
trouble
anything serious
down."
when Crawley
when he got here."
reply. "Knew it when they brought
"He's dead," the house doctor announced gravely
entered the operating room. "Dead
"Thought
him
in."
"1
come
He
so,"
came the
gruff
suddenly became very determined, very
want you to leave the body

back," he
commanded from
Mrs. Carlin was quiet
in
just as
is
it
officious.
don't touch
until
it
the door.
her chair, eyeing him invitingly as he
entered the room.

'Tell
me," she questioned softly, "how
is
he?"
"We'd better go up," he replied breathlessly, unable to

his strong fingers
Leona gave
as
he crushed
a little cry, fell
resist
placing
about her shapely arm.
towards Crawley, melted
fiercely pressed
her
in his
embrace
to him. Passion beat through his
veins as he smothered her carmine lips with fiery kisses.
Almost
woman
all
self-control
had
left
him,
when Crawley
hurled the
to the floor in a heap, stood over her glowering.
"What the hell kind of a woman are you anyway? Doesn't your
husband mean a thing to you? You gutter snipe!"
Mrs. Carlin struggled to her
shoulders.
"Is
he
feet,
put her hands on the detective's
dead?" she asked humbly.
"He is. Crawley spoke quietly.

She stumbled back a step, her hands dropping
"
to her sides.
"Murderedi" roared Crawley.
She slumped into the
chair, nearly spent.
Crawley came
stood before her,
closer,
pointing finger almost
in
her face and pronounced distinctly, "Your husband's shoes were dry!"
59
In a split
second he saw her
saw the
erect,
heard her piercing scream as she plunged
Crawley shook
his
room
the operating
head sadly
as,
hands
Leona
to report
it
flash of a short knife,
to the hilt in her breast.
bloody, he started for
still
Carlin's suicide.
Bread Ahead
by
I'd
gone down
been
to Caesar's Bay to get
a foul, grey,
want to remember.
sniveling, cheating
one
humid day
I'd
who
away from everything.
of disappointments
solved another sad
husband to ground
made the monthly office rent by

Daddy grunting in the back seat of
case,
little
one
had
didn't
brought another
big bad hero
like the
It
I
am.
I'd
ruining a family with pictures of
wagon with
their station
Mommy
didn't look anything like
C. J. Henderson
at
all.
woman
As a daily occupation,
it
was getting to me.
My
buy
lives
name's Jack Hagee.
my
make my
living,
put food on
my
table,
toothpaste and subway tokens, by rooting through people's
and
their garbage,
by turning over rocks
for lawyers
and crying
spouses and tired shopkeepers and more lawyers. I'm a private detective and that day I was hating my job
why, when midnight had passed and
ing in
my
gotten dressed and driven
I'd
is
shopping mall
at the
drag through the neighborhood

it
much
still
as
anyone
else.
That's
couldn't get to sleep, toss-
bed, dying in the clogging humidity steaming in off the
ocean, that
Caesar's
as
with good
after closing
live
down
to Caesar's.
end of Bay Parkway, the main

in. Most people stay away from
reason.
and the park adjacent, become one

Dopers sell their wares, Johns pick
smoke dope, shoot craps and sometimes
After dark, Caesar's parking
lot,
large dark criminal carnival land.
up
their ladies, kids strip cars,
each other.
And
the worst thing about
seedy neighborhood. Not a

the river would
ghetto
^just
sell for
under a hundred and
simply the same as the rest of
the seams from too
many
people,
nowhere toward which they

60
it all is,
it
isn't in
home between my apartment
all
fifty
New
some
terribly
building and
thousand.
It's
not a
York City, bursting
at
with painfully clear visions of the
are headed.
For those
knuckle
that
it
who
a hell
is
haven't tasted the city, haven't feh the cold, leaden
digs into the backs of those
it
who
flock to
me
let
it,
just say
one which beckons to
a black, indifferent hell,
all
and the arrogant, the talented, the conning, the nathe hopeful, and the self-destructive, to come from around the
types, the stupid

ive,
country to
lick at the festering
black syrup leaking from
and-counting wounds, begging them to
Those who had begun

them, however, sat
Caesar's.
Skylark at the
city
had
in store for
or prowled the darkness of
meant
rail
million-
its
honey.
it
on to what the
in their cars, staring,
my
parked
to catch
call
to keep people from
driving into the ocean and got out to prowl with them.
walked down
along the massive stone sea wall, looking out into the storm front
crawling
toward
in
Bridge was lost

land,
in
me
The Verrazano
Coney Is-
over the black, oily water.
the fog, as was the parachute tower at
both usually easily
visible to
clouds were hanging thick
my
spot.
Not
then.
That night the
waiting.
Ignoring the clouds and whatever they were waiting
myself up and over the steel railing
in front of
for,
the foot-and-a-half of ledge on the sea side of the barrier.
dangling over the dashing waves below,

eyes not focusing on anything,
weeks.
was
my
in
still
tired.
it
myself.
I'd
No
at
left
My
legs
stared out at the ocean,
brain relaxing for the
first
my
time in
Tired and alone, dying of despairing old age while
rail,
pulled
a cigarette
the wet of the surrounding mist.
in
deep, holding
which
threw
thirties.
Leaning back against the

light
my
me, settling down on
it
down
as
long as
could,
The nicotine did

moment was good enough.
such luck.
the
my
apartment
in a foul
but
mood.
my
and managed to
sucked the smoke
maybe hoping
start to relax
don't
own
to
in
choke
me, however,
an umbrella
slammed my way
out leaving hat and coat behind. The thickening mist was soaking into
my hair and clothes, drenching me. By the time was ready for a
second smoke, the sky had started drizzling to the point where
could barely get it lit. downed its fumes one breath at a time, watchridiculous, effeminate props
in
anger
I'd
ing the lightning splash along both the far shores before me.
coasts of Brooklyn
the
random
split
seconds of light revealing the increasing press of the
waves below and the
The
city, it
shiver,
The
and Staten Island were illuminated over and over,
truth of the
rain above.
image depressed me. Even nature worked
for the
squeezed people, crushing them, forcing them to huddle and

always prepared to wash them away forever for the slightest
mistake. Part of
me
railed at the image, but a larger part
spoke
in
61
calmer tones, implying that perhaps hopelessness was the only sensible feeling
one could have
ing hard enough to almost reach
come
sons people
As
New
living in
York.
leaned back with eyes closed, the rain lashing, surf below pound-
a friend
once
New
to
my
shoes.
"People don't pull up
said,
thought of
center of Times Square and say, 'Here
it
covered wagons to the
in
honey
is,
a good land, a
grow strong and
strong land, a decent land where our children can

free.' "
They
didn't say
when people
it
wagons, and they sure
the rea-
all
York and wondered what mine had been.
actually rode around in covered
as hell don't say
good land or a strong land, and

children. Not by a long shot.
New York is an aching scum
New
now.
it
certainly
it
York
not a
is
not a place to bring
is
hole, a never-closing
maw
always
anyone no matter how corrupt, or illiterate, or evil

call it home and hang up their shingle. It is a giant con, a government-owned-and-operated money drain, constantly sucking the life
willing to let
and joy and wealth out of its inhabitants the way a dying man sucks
oxygen greedily, as if each breath were the last. It grabs everything
in sight, using guilt and law and lies and finally thuggery, if nothing
lesser will suffice, to strip those
week
of every day,
money,
their needs, their dreams,
until finally
useless
trated
who
can't fight
it
every single minute
decade out, of everything they have
in,
their
and wretched, desperate hopes
either gets the last juice left within them, piling their
it
bones with the
them away
or drives
rest,
and humiliated and wondering
them could have
everything
lost
how
in pitiful defeat, frus-
anyone, anyone as tough as
enemy
so easily, to an
so impar-
tial.
And,
thought,
still
they come. Every day by the hundreds
they arrive by plane and bus,
hundreds,
bicycles, motorcycles, or they
them desperate
to follow
for themselves that
be to make
writer,
it
is
walk and hitch
just foolproof.
restaurateur,
how many
One
if
publisher,
now
by
they have to
they've
all
mapped
it
the
on
cars,
shows how easy
that
of
out
will
or as a painter, a broker,
in television,
whathaveyou, willing to work hard

realizing
rented trucks, old
some simpleminded plan
on Broadway, or
dancer,
in
actor,
reporter,
for their
agent,
or
bread ahead, not
waiters and convenience store attendants
and bus-
boys, cab drivers, keyboarders, bartenders, store clerks, menials, drug

dealers, hookers,
homeless
starvlings,
and corpses the
every you-have-made-it golden meal ticket
As the
fully
ing
62
rain slacked off,
asking myself what
all
along that
my
hadn't
it
city requires for
passes out.
tried to get another cigarette going, rue-
excuse for being
come
in
New
York was, know-
to the city to find anything.
I'd
come
to lose myself, to hide a person
when
tired
did
and anger.
pettiness, violence,
didn't think
anyone should
tired of corruption, tired of hate
it,
was
see.
was
of jealousy,
tired of these things in myself
and others.
So naturally, came to New York, where all the above vices and
were long ago renamed art forms, encouraged to grow with wild
abandon like kudzu, or social welfare. It was the move of a desperate
I
sins
man
trying to hide in a sweltering sea of desperation
hoping the
heightened insanity of those around him would make his

tion look normal.
Not knowing what

problems
gotten
rest
my
own
reflec-
hadn't worked.
It
to do about any of it, though,

let the big
and concentrated on lighting my cigarette.
had just
first
lungful
when
me something new
the city gave
to think
about.
So
skillfully
through the
almost didn't notice,
railing
a pickpocket had reached

back was against, going for the wallet in my
my
hand out with
front pants pocket. His
second before
wrist a split
"Oh no you
don't!
prize,
managed
to snag his
railing.
growled.
"
its
could snake back behind the
it
TTie pickpocket pulled hard, pushing with his feet against the
tearing
rails.
my
rail,
he scraped them against the steel

pulled back, determined to keep my wallet, fighting for balance
fingers at the knuckles as
on the foot and
a half of slick
made up my
rock which
side of the
fence.
"Let go, damnit! Let
go o'me!"
Sticking his free arm through the

in the side,
tight.
around
He
rails,
the pickpocket
over the sea wall.
shoulder slam against the
grip, feeling his
him
me
knocking
slammed me
held his wrist
my
rails as
cursed nonstop, his free hand tearing
in a
death
weight pulled
at
my
fingers
punched him away as best

could, hitting him
sometimes, sometimes myself, sometimes the rails. My mind raced
over my options, not finding much.
I could release my grip and hope to be able to catch a rail or the
his wrist.
made my chances
sea wall's edge, but the rain
possible
fifty
might survive the
fall
slim at best.
to the water, but
it
was only
It
was
a fifty-
TTie rocks hidden beneath the violently pounding
possibility.
waves, slamming against
my
legs
and the sea
wall,
were jagged and
slimy with sea growth. Walking along the wall back to shore was
impossible. So was swimming. The tide was too low for that, but quite
ample to mash
"Cmon, man
He shook
at
man
let
to death.
go o'me!
had no choice
mean
me, pulling back and
it
mean
hung
on.
it!!"
forth, jerking
my
armpit pain-
63
fully across the
edge of the rock
agony, but didn't
you
"Le'go, lego, le'go
me up
"Just pull
so
bastard
"No
shut up!! Let go o'me
told him. "let
goddamned
growling
bit at the rain,
in
le'go, le'go!!"
fer Christ's sake!"
don't have to die over five
wall.
go.
let
me
grab the
rail
bucks!"
le'go, le'go! Shit.
makes you
le'go.
makes you!"
The pickpocket reached

you want
okay,
The
it
inside his coat. Bracing myself,
you got
it,
emerged with
pickpocket's hand
The
slipped back into the water.
the
my
My
me.
rails at
took
My
hair
and skin away.
my
center of gravity.
me
My
a straight razor.
my
foot caught.
The
razor
and flaying a fine layer of

hovered into balance, finding
line of sight.
let go."
my
weight back,
right ear.
foot
sleeve
The razor waved above my
into the rails face
first.
The
legs
pushing
me
out from the wall.
him slam-
razor flipped out of his hand, arcing
Blood splashed from the pickpocket's
the eyes and mouth.
in
left
hand came through
pickpocket's free
my
open
thought,
heels into the wall.
extra leverage broke the pickpocket's hold, bringing
ming
past
my
threw
The
my
foot almost caught, but slipped again.
distance, cutting
"Now. Now you

"Not yet."
and then dug
Not slowing
up,
punched, nailing the part of his face that the
face,
catching
leaned forward and
steel to either side of
my
had missed. Blood arced again, running over his shoulder, down
his arm to mine. The blow caused me to slip, but
managed to get
half my body back up on the ledge. Releasing the pickpocket,
fist
caught
fast as
rails in
both hands, dragging myself into a secure position
as
could.
Once on
the ledge
turned to face the pickpocket
He
in case
he was
hand.
He was unconscious or
didn't care which. Then
spotted it my wallet was still in his
Catching my breath, reached over and pried it free. He didn't
stir.
slid
going to be any more trouble.

dead.
wasn't.
relief a
back over to the landward side of the
few
feet
railing.
from the pickpocket, exhausted from
sat
my
down
in
ninety sec-
onds of past-event reruns, glad for life and breath and safety. After
few minutes of being overjoyed with having remained alive, though,
noticed
it
was
starting to rain harder. Tired of abuse for
pushed myself to
him on the back,
"Nice
my
I
feet
and walked over
night,
to the pickpocket. Patting
told him,
try."
Then walked back to my car and drove home.

had no trouble sleeping.
64
1
one
When
got there,
Cache and Carry

hy Marcia Muller
and
Bill
Pronzini
"Hello?"
"
'Wolf?
Sharon
It's
McCone
"
How
"Well! Been a while, Sharon.
been
"I've
"No, no,
Are you busy?"
better.
got home. What's up?"
just
thought you might be able to help."
"I've
got a problem and
"If
can. Professional problem?"
are you?"
"The kind you've run into before."

"Oh?"
"One
have
"
of those things that sfem impossible but that
you know has to
a simple explanation."
you
'Wolf,' are
"I'm here.
"Who's
there?"
The poor man's
Sir
Sir
"Never mind.
Tell
me
your
tale of
"Well, one of All Souls' clients

called
Henry
Merrivale."
Henry Merrivale?"
is
woe."
a small outfit in the
Neighborhood Check Cashing. You know, one
Outer Mission
of those places
that cashes third-party or social-security checks for local residents
who
We
bank accounts of
don't have
did
opened
some
legal
work
for
their
them
own
or easy access to a bank.
year or so ago,
when they
first
for business."
"Somebody rip them off?"

"Yes. For two thousand dollars."
"Uh-huh. When?"
"Sometime
"Why
this
morning."
did you and All Souls get called in on a police matter?"
"The police were called
first
tacted me. But
haven't
come up with any

owner and manager, con-
but they couldn't
answers. So Jack Harvey, Neighborhood's
come up with any answers
either."
65
"Go ahead,
I'm listening."
no way anyone could have gotten the two thousand dollars out of Neighborhood's office. And yet, if the money is still hidden
somewhere on the premises, the police couldn't find it and neither
"There's
could
I."
"Mmm."
"Only one of two people could have taken
himself
is
responsible,
and
it
don't believe that.
If
unless Jack
might have an idea of what happened to the money.

But
Or
one,
vice versa.
don't have a clue either way."
"Let's
have the
"Well, cash
is
by armored car
details."
delivered twice a
at
week
Mondays and Thursdays
the start of the day's business.
sand dollars, unless Jack requests more or

five
Harvey
knew which
It's
usually five thou-
Today
less.
it
was exactly
thousand."
"Not
a big operation, then."
"No. Jack's also an independent insurance broker,- the employees

help him out
in that
end of the business
"His employees are the two
who
too."
could have stolen the money?"
Art DeWitt, the bookkeeper, and Maria Chavez, the cashier.
"Yes.
DeWitt's twenty-five, single,
lives in
Daly City. He's studying business
administration nights at City College.
her family
in
Chavez
is
nineteen, lives with
the Mission. She's planning to get married next summer.
They both seem
to
check out
as solid citizens."
them has to be guilty. Why?"

"Opportunity. Let me tell you what happened this morning. The
cash was delivered as usual, and Maria Chavez entered the amount in
her daily journal, then put half the money in the till and half in the
safe. Business for the first hour and a half was light,- only one person
came in to cash a small check: Jack Harvey's cousin, whom he
"But
you say one
vouches
of
for."
"So Chavez couldn't have passed the
money
to
him or another
accomplice."
"No. At about ten-thirty a local realtor showed up wanting to cash

a fairly large check: thirty-five
like to
do
that,
hundred
dollars.
delivery. Besides, the fee for cashing a large
small one,- he stands to lose
good
friend, so
he okayed
on
it.
check
When Chavez went
"Did DeWitt also have access to the

"Yes."
usually
is
the same as for a
large transactions. But the realtor
there was only five hundred dollars in the
66
Harvey doesn't
because Neighborhood runs short before the next cash
till."
till?"
is
to cash the check,
"Any way
even
either of
them could have slipped out
of the office for
few seconds?"
"No. Harvey's desk

entire time
is
by the back door and he was
"What about through

"The
sitting there the
"
office
is
the front?"
separated from the customer area by one of those
double Plexiglas security partitions and a locked security door. The
door operates by means of
anybody
in
buzzer
Harvey's desk.
at
He
didn't
buzz
or out."
"Could the two thousand have been removed between the time the
you were called in?"

"No way. When the police couldn't find it in the office, they bodysearched DeWitt and had a matron do the same with Chavez. The
police searched and
money
his
wasn't on either of them. Then, after the cops
left.
employees they couldn't take anything away from the
Jack told
office except
Chavez's purse and DeWitt's briefcase, both of which he searched

again, personally."
"Do
DeWitt or Chavez have
either
key to the
office?"
"No."
"Which means the missing money
is
still
there."
"Evidently. But where, 'Wolf'?"
"Describe the office to me."
"One room, with an attached

closet. Table,
next to the back door, DeWitt's
the middle, Chavez's next to
in
the counter behind the partition, where the
dard
ily
stuff
only Harvey has the combination. Three desks:
big Mosler safe,

Jack's,
lavatory that doubles as a supply
with a desktop copier, postage scale, postage meter.
on them
adding machines,
photos, stack trays, staplers, pen
till
Desks have
is.
stan-
typewriter on Chavez's, fam-
sets.
Everything you'd expect to
find."
"Anything you
wouldn't
expect to find?"
"Not unless you count some

to read
on her lunch
lurid
romance novels that Chavez
likes
break."
"Did anything unusual happen
this
morning, before the shortage
was discovered?"
"Not
really.
The
toilet
backed up and ruined
bunch
but Jack says that's happened three or four times before.
of supplies,
Old plumb-
ing."
"Uh-huh."
"You see
why
I'm
frustrated?
clever hidey-hole in that office.

his
hair.
Chavez and DeWitt
There
And
just doesn't
seem
to be
any
Harvey's already starting to tear
resent the atmosphere of suspicion,
67
they're nervous, too, and have both threatened to quit. Harvey doesn't
want to lose the one that isn't guilty, anymore than he wants to lose
his two thousand dollars."
"How extensive was the search you and the police made?"
"About as extensive as you can get."
"Desks gone over top to bottom, drawers taken out?"
"Yes."
"Underside of the legs checked?"

"Yes."
"Same thing with
all
the chairs?"
'To the point of removing cushions and seat backs."
"The
"I
toilet
don't see
backing up any chance that could be connected?"

how. Harvey and both looked it over pretty carefully.
I
The sink and the rest of the plumbing,

"What about the toilet paper roll?"
"1
checked
it.
too."
Negative."
"The extra supplies?"

"Negative."
"Chavez's romance novels

"1
thought of
between the pages?"
that. Negative."
"Personal belongings?"
went through his on the

Including Jack Harvey's.
DeWitt or Chavez might have thought to use him as a car-
"All negative.
idea that
rier."
"The
office
equipment?"
"Checked and rechecked. Copier, negative. Chavez's typewriter,

negative. Postage meter and scale, negative. Four adding machines,
negative. Stack trays
"Wait a minute, Sharon. Four adding machines?"

"That's right."
"Why
four,
with only three people?"
"DeWitt's office machine
jammed and he had
to bring his
own
from home."
"When did that happen?"

"It jammed two days ago. He brought
"Suspicious coincidence, don't
"I
did at
first.
But
you
his
own
yesterday."
think?"
checked both machines, inside and
out.
Nega-
tive."
"Did either DeWitt or Chavez bring anything
else to the office in
recent days that they haven't brought before?"

"Jack says no."
'Then we're back to DeWitt's home adding machine."

68
"
'Wolf;
told
"What kind
is
you"
it?
Computer
type, or the old-fashioned kind that
runs a tape?"
"The old-fashioned kind."

"Did you run
on
a tape
it?
Or on
the office machine that's supposed
jammed?"
No. No, didn't."
"Maybe you should. Both machines
to be
".
are
still
in the office, right?"
"Yes."
"Why
you have another look at them? Run tapes on both, see

or if maybe it's DeWitt's home
if the office model really is jammed
model that doesn't work the way it should."
"And if it's the home model, have it taken apart piece by piece."
don't
"Right."
"I'll
call
Harvey and have him meet me
at
Neighborhood
right
away."
"Let
me know,
"You bet
huh? Either way?"
will."
"'Wolf,' hi.
It's
Sharon."
"You sound chipper.

"Yes,
Good
news?"
thanks to you. You were right about the adding machines.
brought from
"Which
home
didn't, for a
worked fine. But the one he

damned good reason."
ran a tape on DeWitt's office model and
it
is?"
tape roll was a dummy. Hollow, made of metal and wound with
enough paper tape to make it look like the real thing. So real
neither the police nor thought to remove and examine it before. The
missing money was inside."
"So DeWitt must have been planning the theft for some time."
"That's what he confessed to the police a few minutes ago. He
made the dummy roll in his workshop at home, took him a couple of
weeks. It was in his home machine when he brought that in yesterday.
This morning he slipped the roll out and put it into his pocket. While
Maria Chavez was in the lavatory and Jack Harvey was occupied on
the phone, he lifted the money from the till and pocketed that too.
He went into the John after Maria came out and hid the money in the
dummy roll. Then, back at his desk, he put the fake roll into his own
machine, which he intended to take home with him this evening. It
was his bad luck and Jack's good luck that the realtor came in with
"Its
just
such a large check to cash."

"I
suppose he intended to doctor the books to cover the
theft."
69
"So he
You know,
some
said.
creative talents to
'Wolf,'
it's
too bad DeWitt didn't apply his
legitimate enterprise.
His cache-and-carry
scheme was really pretty clever."

"What kind of scheme?"
"Cache and carry. C-a-c-h-e."
"Was that
"McCone,
a groan
if
else next time
heard?"
you're turning into a rogue detective, call
you come up
Henry Merrivale."
"What do you mean,
rogue detective?"
'The worst kind there
somebody
against an impossible problem. Call Sir
is.
punslinger."
Calling Dr. Death

hy
The
C. William Harrison
owl, swooping through the pines along the lake shore, sent
its
The cry caved in the

echoes down from the black
harsh cry whipping out through the darkness.

night silence and brought a backlash of
humps
He
of the hills above the lake, and Dr. Paul Lanning shivered.
stood motionless where he had parked his car well off of the
narrow blacktop road, listening to that harsh sound bound
off across
was only the nocturnal cry of an owl on the hunt he

knew that but he couldn't stop the shiver that ran up his spine and
into the short hairs on the back of his neck. He was a tall, slender
man, city bred, and he couldn't rationalize the wildness of this resort
lake high in the San Bernardino mountains. By day the lake offered
beauty and sport and the comforts of a fashionable mountain resort.
But by night unseen things moved among the pines and combed the
air above the restless surface of the lake. He didn't like the utter darkthe lake.
It
ness of night in the mountains,- he hated
He
stood there beside his
the owl's cry to

it
was
like
come back
car,
again.
it.
almost crouching as he waited for

It
didn't.
But he shivered again, and
mice running up the bare skin of
his
back on icy
feet.
He
reached into his coat pocket and gripped the handle of the butcher
knife,
70
and somehow that made him
feel better.
got to take
"I've
it
he told himself. 'There's nothing out here
easy,"
to be afraid of."
was
It
The
in the
bears or mountain lions,
would be on the Mojave Desert
peaks,
this heavily
if
There was nothing
true.
resort to fear.
its
all
to fear
it
was
in the
cabin
drapery-diffused lights through the pines a hundred paces
danger
only
much
threaten
away from
populated resort section.
back from the lake shore.

ning's
there were any in these
if
side of the range,
Dr. Paul Lanning had anything at
showing
wildness of this mountain
In that small
Steve
Thorne.
redwood cabin was Dr. Lanthat danger would not
But
longer. Dr. Lanning smiled as he gripped the long-
bladed knife. Thorne was going to die tonight.
He left the key in the ignition of the car, as he had planned. He

had thought all this out with the precise care of a surgeon diagramming a delicate operation. There would be little likelihood of him
having to make a quick flight after he murdered Steve Thorne, but he
was not taking even that small chance. So he left the key in the
ignition as he stepped away from his coupe.
He
walked slowly,
his footsteps silenced
He came
pine needles under the trees.
by the thick matting of

and
to the clearing, paused
turned, carefully laying out the direction of his return route to the car.
He
might be frightened
he drove the knife into Thorne, con-
after
fused or panicked by the shock of the murder he had committed, and
he didn't want to become

carefully, past the
had been lopped

to his
lost in the darkness.
He
laid out his route
grey outcropping of granite and the pine whose top
by lightning
off
a direct line that
would return him
hidden coupe.
He nodded his satisfaction and went on across the clearing to the

He wasn't afraid, now that the time had finally come. He had
imagined he would be, but he wasn't. He went up the steps and
cabin.
rapped on the door. Someone moved audibly

shifted,
and
"Who
is
the
cabin,
tramped across the

Thorne,
a red Cupid's
some
floor.
grunted
again.
impatiently,
The door swung
and footsteps
back, and there was Steve
be murdered.
irritably, a short, loose-fleshed
bow
reading. Doc.
He knocked
voice
just waiting to
Thorne frowned
and
being
it?"
Dr. Lanning didn't answer.

Inside
inside, like a chair
voice called out.
of a mouth. "You
Why
didn't
knew
I'd
man
with sour eyes
be settled down for
you sing out your name and come on
in?"
71
And
perhaps
let
Lanning thought.
at
get
all
another cabin overhear his name? No,
smiled pleasantly. "You needed the exercise,
.^teve."
"I
someone
He
the exercise
want with
snapped. "Or depositing checks
in
my
knife
and
fork,"
bank." His red
Thome
mouth curved
into a mocking smile as he pushed the door shut. "You bring your
monthly payment with you. Doc?"
Dr. Lanning didn't answer at once. He watched the fat man pad his
way back across the room to his easy chair. Thome sat down, sighing
audibly. The draperies were opaque across the windows, Lanning saw,
and except for himself and Thorne, the cabin was empty.
Thome's smile was malicious. "How about your monthly payment,
Doc? You bring
it
with you?"
Lanning crossed the room and stood beside the

looked down, mildly surprised
derstood the reason for
the actual act,
when
it
your mind to the swift
own
at his
committed,
strike of
man's chair.
He
man's murder long enough and
that. Plan a
is
fat
calmness. But then he un-
easy,-
is
you have conditioned
your arm and the shocked agony of
violent death.
He
said, "This is
going to be the
payment, Steve."
last
Thome's smile shaped into a slow grin. "You've said that before.
Doc, but you've never meant it. As long as I've got the evidence
against you that you're selling dope to those female hop-heads in Beverly Hills, you'll never make your last payment to me. Too many
movie and society gals pay you big money for morphine for me not to
might slip the police
get a monthly cut. You get cute with me, and
that dictagraph record I've got. Or maybe give them an idea who sold
the sleeping pills to that actress who knocked herself off last year."
I
The
fat
man's voice flattened out. "Don't ever try to get cute with
me, Doc. Don't even think about stopping your payments.
Now
get
your business over with and clear out of here."

"All right,"
He
Lanning
said,
reached into
ing to
it.
looked
at the third
button
and smiled.
his
It
was
easy.
There was noth-
pocket and gripped the knife.
down from
the collar of
Thome's
He
shirt,
it home.
There was no outcry, not even much blood. He saw the shocked
agony that contorted the muscles of the fat man's face, but he had
took the knife out of his pocket and drove
in too many shapes and forms to be bothered by that.

Thorne sagged in his chair, twisted around in a spasm of movement,
as though trying to kneel, and slid to the floor.
The man was not yet dead. His eyes looked up from the floor,
bright-glazed with pain, and his groping hand came away from his
witnessed death
71
chest with blood on
He
it.
whispered, "Doc
my God
Doc!"
tanning's smile was steady, without pity or remorse. "Last payment,
Steve.
He
you
told
was
this
it."
turned away, and he
wherever he went when he

era case with him.
He
Lanning knew, would be
He
smiled as he
lifted
his
in
Steven Thorne,
to look.
Los Angeles, always carried the cam-
was too lazy
and money was
a camera,
knew where
left
man
to ever interest himself with
only hobby. So the dictograph record,
the camera case.
the cylindrical black tube out of the camera
guarding against leaving fingerprints on the leather.
case,
He
turned
down at the man on the floor.

'The human mind can take some funny quirks, Steve. Money and
feeling of power over me was your main pleasure in life. You got
money from me, and you liked to keep this record near you for the
feeling of power it gave you. That was a mistake, Steve. You know
back, looked
that now, don't you?
could have stolen
this
record a long time ago,
but that wouldn't have kept you from talking."
He
bent to the
man on
handle of the knife.

"This
He
way
He
the floor, rubbed his handkerchief over the
kept looking
down
have the record, and you can't
straightened, pleased with his
own
into
Thome's fading
eyes.
"
talk
calmness.
No
dread or un-
what he had done. Consciousness was a feeble flickering in Thome's dying eyes, and when that was gone, Steve
Thorne would be gone. The police could not connect him with the
no sickness
certainty,
at
dead man, and the cheap knife he had stolen from the hardware store
in
The dying man's eyes

His fingers, red with his own
Los Angeles could not be traced.
closed, then
open
blood, were
fluttered slowly
trying to
at the
move on
again.
the floor in front of him. Dr. Lanning stood there
cabin door, watching the
ing.
The blood-reddened
The telephone
fingers
in
stopped moving.
in Paul Lanning's
rang again, insistently.
He
sat
waiting for him to die. The

them had become shallow, fad-
man and
eyes remained open, but the fever
up
room rang once, stopped, then
in his
bed,
still
drugged by
sleep,
and picked up the handset.

'That you. Doctor?"
"Yes."
His voice was thick from the heavy sleep of the bromide he
had taken
late the
The man's
gent. 'This
is
voice
night before after getting back to his room. "Yes."
came leaping through the
receiver, quick
Jim Keene.
the deputy sheriff talking
and
ur-
need your help,

73
A man
Doctor.
Come
has been stabbed.
over as
fast as
you
can."
The
telephone clicked dead.
mind came awake.
Paul Lanning's
ming through
it,
awake with
jarred
It
fear slam-
with his heart pounding the walls of his chest and a
cold wetness of sweat breaking on his face and hands.
So Steven Thorne had not died after all. He had remained alive
and was still alive. He had been found alive, with the
knife driven into his chest, and now the sheriff was calling for medical
assistance to keep life in him long enough for him to talk.
Panic went rushing through Paul Lanning. He leaped out of bed
somehow
and grabbed
He halted that movement, instantly realnow would be proof of his guilt. It was an
for his clothes.
izing that trying to escape
instinctive thought, rooted in guilt
He
stood there
and desperation.
hotel room, rigid in his crouch, trying to
in his
He thought, "They wouldn't have

Thorne was conscious and able to talk."
The thought took some of the panic out of him. If Thorne was
unconscious, then he offered no danger. The miracle was that he still
lived. But he would die soon. A man couldn't live for long with a knife
in his chest at the place where Lanning had driven that honed blade.
Lanning thought with a sharp fingering of cunning, "All have to do is
the wild lunging of his mind.
settle
telephoned
me
if
stall
getting there until after he dies."
But that thought wasn't so good. There was too

in
too
it,
much
risk.
The deputy
He had
hopes on one doctor.
sheriff
uncertainty
his
all
undoubtedly telephoned every hotel
the resort, asking for any doctor
who might
be vacationing
in
at the
and giving the same request to each.
lake,
"If
don't answer his call," Lanning told himself, "they'll be suspi-
cious.
first
much
would not have pinned
If
there.
don't
If
go out
there,
can be the
some other doctor
first
doctor there,
will. I've
got to be the
can give Thorne some-
thing that will keep him unconscious until he dies."
He
and dressed, fumbling
tore off his pajamas
He rammed
fear-stiffened fingers.
ripping the lining without even

leather
his
at
the buttons with
arms into the sleeves of
knowing
it.
He
grabbed up
his coat,
his black
bag and went out of
corridor. Outside, the sun
his room, running hard through the hotel

was already above the high spikes of the
pines across the lake, and he was dimly surprised that he had slept so
late.
And
that Steve
Thorne could have
lived so long with that knife
in his chest.
The road followed

cool at this hour.
He
the contours of the lake shore, pine-flanked and
drove with desperate speed, topping the
and plunging down into green-shaded

74
valleys.
The road
forked,
hills
and
the blacktop slanted in toward the north shore of the lake, along a
white sand beach where small waves rolled
flattened
in,
and
retreated,
leaving a thin lacy foam behind them.
Dr. Lanning braked his car in the driveway at the side of the
Thome
and
cabin,
relief spilled
through him
he saw only
as
a sheriff's
car ahead of him.
The
and
deputy opened the door
sheriff's
lank,
"Come on
in,
That was
tall
as old leather.
Doc. You made good time."

he
all
There was something behind his tone,

and Lanning wondered about
said.
though, a grimness and

that.
The man was
for him.
with cool grey eyes and skin that was as dark
a satisfaction,
But the thought only scraped the surface of his mind, making no
mark.
He was
staring at Steve
blood on Thome's hand and

to trace
on the bare
floor.
behind him, naming

only those three
Thome's body,
at
the dry brownness of
man had managed
D-o-c. Thorne had tried to leave a message
his murderer,
letters
at
the cryptic lines the
and he had managed to
before consciousness had
left
trace out
him.
Lanning bent, jerking open his medical bag. He picked up Steve

Thome's hand, and instantly dropped it. There was no pulse in that
hand. The flesh was cold to his touch, with rigor mortis already beginning to set
in.
Lanning pushed to
"Why
"
his feet, staring
down
at the
His voice was slow, hoarse. "Why,
body on the
man
this
floor.
has been dead
for hours."
"That's right," the deputy said. "That's right. Doc."
Paul Lanning was slow to absorb that. His mind was a sponge
soaked through with fear and dread. It was slow to register what the
deputy sheriff had said. And then understanding finally built its impla-
cable pattern in his mind, and he shuddered.
He
turned and looked
at
the deputy dully.
The officer was

know how this is,
smiling, but his
hand was on
his gun.
"I
guess you
don't you?"
Lanning only stared at the man, stupidly. Yes, he knew. He could

look into the black hell he had created and see the horror of his own
back at him. He knew.
telephoned every doctor on the lake that
deputy was saying. "I telephoned them all when
future staring
"I
had
you
tried to write
on the
to get over here as
come! You're the
only one
floor,
and
told
saw what Thorne

them the same thing told
1
soon as they could. But
who knew where
could locate," the
to
I didn't
tell
them where
to
come, Lanning. So you

75
can see
you
how
this
for you.
is
It's
not good,
Paul Lanning closed his eyes.
own
is it?
And
it'll
be worse
for
later."
fate
on the screen of
implacable
could see
his
It
He
didn't help.
mind,
like
could
still
see his
something etched by
acid,
black promise. Even with his eyes tightly closed, he
in its
and there was no escape.
it,
The Cap'n Sleeps

by John
Earl Davis
There was no moon over the North River, which was fine, but there
was a noise just beyond the end of the dock throwing the hooks
into sleep
which was not fine at all.
Cap'n John "Lefty" Curhew, supine,
dock
gles to the
floor,
large but supple paw,
swear quite well
modern
It
in
at right an-
and swore expressively
in
He
Armenian.
could
any language that has ever been known among
seafaring men.
was very
imbalance of
less familiar
irritating.
diet.
His stomach
a bit off,
because of a temporary
This disturbing habit of waking up
than a tug whistle.
both sides of town
The growing
at
any sound
uncleanliness of docks on
distressing indeed to a fastidious
an alien invasion of his private quarters
He
one forearm
lifted
elevated his chin to the hollow support of a
his
summer
man.
And now
Sailors' Rest.
wished he knew what time
of importance to
know
at
it was. To a methodical man, it was

what time he was awakened during the long
night watches.
Continuing to weigh
body on one elbow, Cap'n John

commonplace warnings that had fetched
car had driven up to the edge of the dock.
a third of his
automatically classified the
him
forth out of slumber.
The
lights
There was a car door opening, an arch giggle, a

scutter of light steps and a succession of heavier ones.
Cap'n John sighed and swore again (this time in Greek) and wished
he knew what time it was. Too late for decent people to be out. And
were
the Lonergans
He
out.
swiveled his head toward the lighter riding drowsily to
board of his position on the dock. The Lonergans had come
76
star-
home
from the neighborhood movie in good time, were in bed long ago.
Nothing could wake them.
Nice people, the Lonergans. Against their tiny cabin rested the
mop with which Cap'n John had swabbed their foredeck late that
afternoon. He sighed happily, remembering the meal which had rewarded him,- and then, feeling a twinge of indigestion, halted his sigh,
so to speak, in midair.
But
knew
it
was not indigestion alone. Without deigning to turn, he

something most unpleasant was approaching, that sleep was
the nonce. The footsteps clomped close on the dock plank-
that
over for
ing.
More
hip.
arch giggles,
fatuous words.
soft,
toe
rammed
the Cap'n's
voice said:
"What the Hades Pardon me. Baby. Should never swear before
you let you swear first."
There was another giggle. A quick shuffle and, then, a sharp thin
beam of light directly in Cap'n John's eyes. One of those phony fountain pen flashes. The Cap'n drew himself up, leaned back against
straight arms, palms flat on the deck, and blinked indignantly.
"Really, sir, a man's bedchamber should be his castle. May
ask
"Scum!" The flashlight executed a wavering arc, and the ungentle
toe again prodded the Cap'n's shortribs. The captain said, "Whoosh,"
and observed the course of the light beam. Its penumbra revealed a
man
stockily built
in
in
conservatively cut, well-tailored clothes, adorned
the coat lapel by a slightly wilted gardenia. His face
showed a man
him ex-
well pleased with himself and with the world surrounding

cept,
no doubt,
But the
for
beam
Cap'n John "Lefty" Curhew.
of light
itself
showed an object
of considerably
greater interest, a gold watch, very nicely made, studded around
edge with what appeared to be diamonds.
An
edly accurate timepiece.
Cap'n John
said,
"Pardon me,
sir,
but what time
"Time for you to be on your way," said the man.

sized the admonition with a
Final,
"Scat!"
He empha-
dig of his toe.
in no fettle for argument. He could

was not So Far. He rose and bowed grace-
because Cap'n John was
be pushed so
fully,
final
its
expensive and undoubt-
far
and
this
giving one glance to the man's companion.
night out.
The
casual lights of
enough to indicate the nature of the lady. Dressed

Cute. And beyond that the less said the better.
the river were
for a
Cap'n John moved back into the shadows, and quietly attained the
deck of the Lonergans' barge. Brushing aside a few odd bits of coal, he
lay
down and
conscientiously invited sleep.
77
In this
and
endeavor he was
The
than successful.
less
moved toward
his lady
man
well-tailored
the end of the dock, the lady evidently
He
acting as pilot. She giggled.
guffawed.
Cap'n John contemplated murder, decided temporarily against
and wondered what time
it
The
was.
it,
voices went on:
"So nice meeting you. Daddy.

And the places we went
yumm!
Don't you love the water? told you you'd like it if you
came down here with little me."
And so on. Cap'n John peered over the deck edge. They faced the
.
water, their backs to

only,-
him and
to the
dead-end
and unless they were good swimmers
Cap'n John sighed and began

which he kept always with him,
sonal effects.
And
There were quick,

rialized out of the
then
to lower his
as pillow
little
push,
head to the canvas bag
and
as storehouse for per-
started.
it
furtive steps
along the dock
floor,-
a shape mate-
shadows, heading directly for the well-tailored
The man heard not nor
man's back.
One
street.
saw, his arm being around his
companion's waist, her head on his shoulder.
It
was undoubtedly
very pretty scene, though to the ex-seafarin' Cap'n
it
looked kind of
silly.
But there was nothing

the well-tailored man.
silly
about the shape which crept up behind
To speak
plainly, this
was
a footpad: an uplifted
blackjack, poised over the well-tailored man's head, attested to the
authenticity of this fellow's profession.
The
blackjack descended, and so did the well-tailored man, making
quite a noise as he hit the dock.

ran,-
The
lady screamed realistically and
yet the sound of her running ceased at the end of the dock, and
The footpad
did not continue up the street.

victim,
making the
Yet, to
least noise of
be perfectly
just,
it
himself bent over his
all.
must be admitted that he had been a
contributing cause to the entire disturbance,- and Cap'n John was irked
A man
was
Cap'n John therefore arose, albeit very quietly, and seized the
mop
beyond
reason. This was, indeed, being pushed.
entitled to
some
reclining against the Lonergans' tiny cabin.

still
So
Far.
sleep.
It
was, he noted happily,
wet.
With the
quietness and forthrightness of a panther he crept over
the lighter's side to the dock, and so to the rear of the industrious
footpad.
He
raised the
at the handle's end,-
down with
78
mop
very high, gripping
it
with no uncertainty
and he then brought the business part of that
great force
upon the
footpad's head.
The
force of the
mop
blow
resulted in
some
even upon the well-tailored man, but
splattering,
this
could not be helped.
The footpad howled

abruptly because he
in
rage and bewilderment, but his howl ended
on
fell flat
Cap'n John, deeming
his face.
unwise and uneconomic to await developments,
lifted
both
it
the footpad
bodily and dropped him over the side of the dock. Thus, with small
difficulty,
he disposed of the
the noise.
source of
There was now a scream, and the sound

of footsteps running rapidly up the street away from the dock. Odd,
perhaps, that a lady should have been waiting there, yet Cap'n John
felt no surprise whatever. He now turned his attention to the last
But not of the noise
itself.
remaining annoyance.
By the application of
river
water and patience he
finally
the well-tailored gentleman around, and assisted him to his
gentleman swayed groggily,
felt
brought
The
"Wh-
feet.
the lump on his head, and said,
what happened?"
He was not in the pink. His necktie was mussed, and so was his
hair. His face and collar bore traces of coal dust and other things, for
mops are no respecters of persons. His countenance, so far as it
showed anything at all, indicated that he was bewildered, betrayed,
and deeply hurt.
Taking his hand quickly away from the lump on his head, he fiddled nervously with the gold watchchain which stretched across his
comfortable middle.
"You have been taken for a
ride," said
were fortunate to escape with your

brush you
The
well-tailored
sir,
and
shall
man looked at him with quickened interest. He

said, "My name is Eckles
Cyrus N. Eckles.
He
Mittens, hosiery, and undergarments.

friend,
still,
off."
gasped and gulped.
Cap'n John gravely. "You

Stand
life.
when everything went
was walking here with
black.
Where
is
she?
What
uh
hap-
pened?"
Cap'n John paused

over the edge
the dock,
had
from the
water beneath "Mr.

you have been victimized by an unscru"Mr. Eckles"
to spit
of
casting pointblank at a spluttering sound that
just arisen
Eckles,
pulous
woman, the accomplice
of an ordinary footpad.
Stand
still!"
Cap'n John began to brush Mr. Eckles industriously. 'This woman,"

he continued, "lured you to this lonely spot and distracted your attention so that
you could be slugged and robbed:
myself have often
ahemobserved
technique which
before.
79
"This
woman was
waiting to divide the
he
occasional glubbering
sion of a fourth party"
spoils,-
but with the intru-
spat over the dockside,
whence came an
"she quite naturally took to her heels."
Cyrus N. Eckles
of
He
it.
saved me.
said,
said, "But
How
"Why
my good
and then thought

then you must be
one who
the dirty
man,
better
"
the
did you happen to see
"You kicked me," said Cap'n John modestly.
Mr. Eckles gasped and gulped once more, and looked more closely
at
the
man
before him. His eyes were focusing better now, and the
was good enough
light at this point
man
of about
fifty
little,
as
"I'm sorry,
me
"Stand
if
the
man were about
my good
still,
He
observed a
duck pants and turtle-neck
mild and watery, the chin thrust upward and waver-
sweater,- the eyes
ing a
for a closeup view.
years, clad in grayish
to cry.
man," said Mr. Eckles. "Terribly sorry. Here,
now!" Cap'n John stayed him
in
let
the act of reaching for
do not wish any reward, sir, for

doing my duty.
am a man of numerous professions, more or less
connected with the sea,- and am able to earn my own living.
"Besides"
he spat a third time toward the glubbering just beneath
the dock-edge
"I have a strong aversion toward all types of crime.
cannot bear to see a man robbed. And now, sir, you may go and be
careful of your companions in the future. New York is, unhappily, full
of wicked men."
With a final fillip of his hand against a well-brushed lapel (with
care not to disturb the gardenia), he sent Mr. Eckles rejoicing on his
way. He waited for the sound of the car's starter, the further token of
his wallet,
continued his brushing.
"I
its
retreat
One
from the dock.
thing
still
remained to be done.
Cap'n John went to the edge of the dock and grappled with
lowering himself almost to the water's edge. Just
far
enough,
a pile,
in short,
to put his foot firmly upon the head of the blubbering footpad who
was clinging to that very pile. He pushed the foot downward, dunking
the head. This he did three times, whistling a gay hornpipe as he did
so. Finally
pad by
thief,"
For
he reached down an abnormally long arm, seized the foot-
his hair,
and hauled him dripping to the dock.
"I
despise a
he said reprovingly.
all
his exhaustion, the
footpad stayed not upon his going. Per-
haps he was lent a kind of second wind by the sole of a size eleven
shoe, unceremoniously applied to his stern.
Whatever the circum-
stance he went quickly, and did not return.
Picking up the blackjack which the footpad had inadvertently
80
left
behind him, and
stuffing
known
certain quarters
it
into his pocket, Cap'n
as the
John
"Lefty" (in
Dip) Curhew sighed and lay
down
in
edge of the dock, h was very quiet now, the

was peaceful and kind and decent. He could sleep now.
his favorite spot near the

river
But
first
Smiling happily, Cap'n John removed from his pocket a gold

watch, very nicely made, studded around its edge with what appeared
to be diamonds. An expensive and undoubtedly accurate timepiece.
was one forty-two. Good, very good,

time he turned in.
It
for a methodical
man
to
know what
Cap'n John
slept.
The Carnival Caper

by R.
it
Stevens
was only by chance that Detective Sergeant Nancy Trentino was
the
ing.
to reach the Glenside Amusement Park that Saturday mornShe'd been driving back to headquarters after checking out a nar-
first
cotics tip
holdup
when she picked up
the report on her police radio of a
in progress.
Her unmarked car skidded to a stop at the park entrance and she
was out and running, reaching into her purse for her .38 service re-
volver.
uniformed security guard
tried to
block her path and she
shouted, "Police! Report of a robbery in progress!"

all
"It's
over," the guard told her. "Mr. Blackthorn shot the
guy
while he was trying to escape."
Nancy Trentino
slipped the revolver back into her shoulder bag
but kept her hand on

park. Already a large
guard into the
man wearing a striped shirt stood in the center of the

The body of a long-haired young man was sprawled at his feet.
stocky
circle.
Nancy
single
as she followed the security
it
crowd had gathered near the merry-go-round.
identified herself
bloody hole
and knelt to examine the body. There was a

center of the back where the bullet had hit
in the
him. "He was running away with
Nancy.
"I
my money," the stocky man told

warned him to stop and then shot him."
1
81
"Keep back, everyone!" Nancy shouted
crowd
as the circle of the
began to tighten. "Are you Blackthorn?" she asked the man.
"Sam Blackthorn.
"That's right," he said,
one of the owners
I'm
here."
She noticed the automatic

the
weapon you
pistol stuck casually in his belt. "Is that
used?"
"Yeah."
"Give
in
here."
it
She wrapped
in a clean
it
handkerchief and placed
it
her purse.
Two uniformed patrolmen pushed

One of them knew her.
spectators.
their
way through
"Hi,
Nancy. Did you
the circle of
this
nail
guy?"
She shook her head. "This gentleman did the honors. See
if
you
can break up the crowd, will you, Phil?"
The
officer turned
and held up
Everyone back to the
Nancy
needed
"I
Blackthorn
led
under nine thousand dollars
waving
a gun.
in the
Sam
He
when
it
had
punk barged
grabbed my gun
no young punk gets
ran out and
after him. Hell,
this
alarm button under
silent
Park printed on
one
it.
of
Nancy became
the merry-go-round and
wearing paint-streaked jeans and
a girl
of college age
he told her, "getting
Blackthorn!"
They were standing by

aware of
sack
pushed the
desk and gave him the sack.
the best of
last night,"
always a big date night here, and
is
from the desk drawer and went
SiDE
over.
and took out her notebook. She
aside
was counting the money from
into the office
my
is
a statement.
ready for the bank. Friday

just
"Okay, the show
his arms.
rides!"
She had
many
straight
a T-shirt
with Glen-
blond hair and seemed to be
amusement park liked to

you painting that zebra?" Nancy
students the
hire during the vacation period. "Are
asked, distracted from her questioning.
The young girl grinned. "That's what I'm doing touching up the
Then have to add some color to the horses' manes and re-
stripes.
paint the white on that unicorn's horn."
Nancy
stared at the
row
of paint cans
black and white and
ange and brown, large and small, some opened, some
still
closed.
or"It
looks like fun," she admitted. Then, getting back to the business at
hand, she
said,
"You must have seen the shooting
if
you were working
here."
The blond
girl
nodded.
running along and then
82
"I
saw the whole
thing. This fellow
saw Mr. Blackthorn yelling
at
came
him. All of a
sudden there was
him with
a shot
He
a gun.
and he went down. Mr. Blackthorn ran up to

like he was going to shoot again, but he
looked
didn't."
Nancy turned back
He nodded
When
going.
to Blackthorn.
agreement.
"I
"Is
yelled at
brought him down, he
that
him
fell
what happened?"
to stop, but he kept
here and then rolled over a couple of times.
shoot back, but then
Nancy glanced
on
right against the carousel

I
was
afraid
he might
could see he was a goner."
around. "Where's his gun?
And
the sack with the
money?"
"He didn't have any sack," the girl in the T-shirt said. "And guess
that must be the gun you're looking for." Half hidden by the wooden
steps up to the carousel was a little snub-nosed automatic. Anyone
could have dropped it there
including, of course, the dead man.
"He must have ditched the money somewhere when started chasing him," Blackthorn grumbled. "Have a couple of your officers search
I
the trash barrels."
do
"We'll
that,"
Nancy
She turned back to the
said.
girl.
"What's
your name?"
"Linda Brice. I'm working here for the summer."
She made
a note of
it.
"Go back
to
your painting.
I'll
talk to
you
later."
Nancy found one

and other
between Blackthorn's
a line
The
had
of the officers
and suggested he check the barrels

money. "It should be on
likely hiding places for the sack of

office
and the merry-go-round."
police photographer, the medical examiner and an ambulance
on the scene, along with a pair of detectives from the

She told them what she knew and handed over
Blackthorn's gun. The park had a strangely quiet air, with most of the
rides stopped while the operators joined the gawkers.
all
arrived
violent crimes squad.
Nancy found
the security guard she'd
His name was Donovan and she

van.
When
saw
it,"
"Is
the gate.
gate.
it
in his office.
in progress.
toward the
at
something, Mr. Dono-
me Blackthorn had shot the robber.

had just happened?"
he explained. "The alarm rang at my gate when he
pushed the button

robbery
encountered
me
got here, you told
How'd you know, when

"I
first
said, "Tell
He
Then
saw
and said there was a

guy running, only he didn't head
called the police

this
ran toward the carousel."
there another exit that way?"
"No, no other."
"When you saw
him, was he carrying anything
a sack or a gun?"
83
think he had something, but was too far away to see for sure."
"Had you ever seen him before? Was he a regular here?"
He shook his head. "I was just looking at the body. Never saw the
"I
fellow before."
Nancy
smiled. 'Thanks,
Donovan. See you
later."
She went back to the carousel building, pausing to study the blacks
and whites and browns and tans and grays of the wooden animals.
The body had been removed and the crowd was finally breaking up.
The
officer, Phil, told her,
"No
luck in the trash barrels, but
we found
on the dead man. Name's John Torres, 24 years old,

with an address on Andrew Street. We're checking to see if he has a
a driver's license
record."
"Good."
Phil looked at her. "This one bothers you, doesn't it? How come?"
"He was running the wrong way, not toward the exit.
want to
1
know why."
She went back
wooden zebra
1
to
who was
Linda Brice,
she applied the
as
final
kneeling beside the
touches of paint. "Back
work,
at
see."
The
girl
smiled. "Mr. Blackthorn wants this job finished so he can
reopen the merry-go-round tomorrow. Did you find the money?"
Nancy Trentino shook her
the
head. "Not a trace. Funny thing
dead man wasn't running toward an

"You noticed
"What does
exit at all."
that, too?"
it
mean?"
Linda Brice wiped some paint from her hands and shrugged.
wasn't trying to escape,
maybe he
didn't
Mr. Blackthorn made up the whole
"Why would he
"it isn't
his
he
story."
fake a robbery to steal his
money. He's got
"If
commit the robbery. Maybe
own money?"
a flock of partners,
and
hear he's in
debt."
"You think he killed an innocent person?"
The girl shrugged. "You're the detective."

Nancy saw the squad men leaving with Blackthorn and walked over
to their car. "What's up?"
"We're taking him
downtown
for a full statement.
It'll
have to go to
the grand jury."
Nancy nodded. "Looks funny to you, too?"

"We can't find the money. There's no evidence
his
84
word.
of a crime except
She watched the car
pull
away.
The
park was getting back to nor-
mal and she could hear the screams of happy terror as the
coaster plunged into one of
its
dips.
She stared out
at
roller
Donovan by
the
main gate and then made her decision.

Linda Brice had finished the zebra and was opening the can of
brown paint to touch up a horse's mane. "Back again?" she asked
Nancy with a smile.
'This
here.
the
is
And
Linda. The man who was shot was a stranger

knew where and when to rob Blackthorn of last
last time,
yet he
night's receipts.
He had
to have inside knowledge, a tip from
some-
one."
"That's
"I
if
believe
you believe the robbery

it,
Linda.
He
ran this
story."
way
so he could hide the sack of
money with you. You scooped it up from

went down with his fatal wound."
"I
don't
'There are
them
is
the carousel steps just as he
lots of colors
orange.
you'll take off the lid,
The Case
on these animals, Linda, but not one of
think that big can of orange paint

I
is
empty, and
if
believe we'll find the missing sack inside."
of the
Barking Beagle
by R.
The green
L.
Stevens
shingled house with the fenced-in yard was strangely silent
Nancy Trentino approached it. If it had not been for the

two squad cars with their pulsating red lights parked on the street, she
might have thought it was the wrong address.
as
Sergeant
knew slightly from her days on the naropened the door as she reached the porch. "Hi, Nancy.
Got a bad one here. Old guy shot through the head. Neighbors noticed he wasn't in the yard like he usually is, and they phoned."
Bennett, a patrolman she
cotics squad,
Nancy Trentino stepped
into the living
room and
stared at the
85
crumpled body. "Robbery?" she asked, glancing around
at the
open
drawers and scattered papers.
The
officer
shmgged. "Supposed
to look like one, but
don't
know.
Here's a framed collection of old postage stamps on the wall. Don't
you think
a thief
would take
"Sometimes they
just
that?"
like
Nancy answered. "What's
cash,"
his
name?"
"Conrad Peterson.
He owned
cream parlors around
a chain of ice
the state, but his nephew's been running the business."
Suddenly the
stillness of
from
dog
with
middle-aged
in
the house was shattered by loud barking
the next room. Another police officer entered the house
man wearing jogging
shorts and a T-shirt.
when we
dog," the officer grumbled. "Near tore us apart

"TTiat's
He
Shep," the
man
watchdog
said. "Best
held out his hand to Nancy. "I'm
you working with the police?"

"1 am the police," Nancy said
of the violent crimes squad.
"Well
Hank
in the
Isles
"Damn
arrived."
neighborhood."
from next door. Are
sweetly. "Detective Sergeant Trentino
What do you know
nothing, really. Peterson
is
about
this?"
usually out in his yard
when
phoned and
do my morning jogging, but he wasn't today. When
nobody answered, got worried. TTiat's when called the police."
"Didn't you try the door?" Nancy asked.
"What, and get my legs chewed up by Shep? No, thanks!"
"We locked the dog in the other room," Bennett told her.
"He wasn't much of a watchdog if he let his master get killed."
The dog was barking again as the police photographer and lab
technician arrived. Nancy opened the door gingerly and peered into
the adjoining room. Shep proved to be a brownish beagle with white
markings who eyed her suspiciously and made a dash for the door.
"No, you stay in there a while," she decided.
Nancy returned to the other room and found a slim, pale young
man and a pretty brown-haired woman waiting with the police. "Sloan
Peterson," he introduced himself, "and my wife Betty. Who's in charge
I
here?"
"I
am,"
Nancy
said. 'Tou're
Conrad
Peterson's nephew?"
'That's right."
"Your uncle's been murdered. I'm sorry."
"Was anything
"We
don't
"But
what
Nancy
pher.
86
stolen?" Betty asked, glancing in at the disarray.
know
yet.
Robbery may not have been the motive."
?"
cut her short and gave instructions to the police photogra-
"^3^here's Riley today?" the
This
"Riley's busy.
my
is
man
asked.
Nancy, trying not to
case," said
bristle.
The man shrugged and focused his camera on the body. "You'd
better wrap it up quickly, Nancy. They don't like murders in this part
of town. You're supposed to keep 'em in the inner city."
"Just take
out of the
turned to
your
pictures," she said.
window at
Hank Isles.
Shep was barking
again, peering
gathering crowd of curious neighbors.
Nancy
"Doesn't he ever stop?"
Some of the neighbors comdo any good."

"Did you hear him barking last night?"
"Not after dark. He'd only bark if someone came to the door."
"But someone did," she pointed out. "TTie person who killed Con"Barks
day, and half the night.
all
plained but
it
didn't
rad Peterson."
"That's right," he agreed, as
The medical examiner
if
realizing
arrived amidst
it
for the
first
time.
more barking and announced
had probably died around eleven o'clock the previous

which was the time indicated by his broken watch.
"Did you hear Shep barking around eleven?" Nancy asked Isles.
that Peterson
night,
"Not
sound."
"Could he have had
a visitor
who
arrived early
and stayed that
late?"
"No, he had no
den
He
light on.
visitors.
came
Officer Bennett
'The neighbors
how do you
could
tell
because he only had this
always turned on more lights for

in
from outside while the dog barked anew.
say there was no barking
all
little
visitors."
last night,"
he
said.
"So
think the killer got inside the house?"
"Was the door forced?" Nancy asked.

"Not a mark on it. He either had a key or Peterson let him in."
Nancy went over to where Sloan Peterson stood with his wife. "Do
you have a key to this house, Mr. Peterson?"
"Certainly, but you can't suspect me of murdering my uncle! What
motive would
have? He'd already given me control of the family
I
business."
"Does anyone
"Not that
else
know
have
a key?"
of."
"Where were you last night, around eleven?"

"1 was checking on the ice cream parlors. They close
and on weekends drive around and pick up the cash."
at that hour,
"Alone?"
"I
was alone
last night."
"So you have no
alibi?"
87
"Do
need one?" he countered.
")
think
I'd like
to speak to your
superior."
him just as tenacious as am. Maybe more so."

you questioning my husband?" Betty Peterson demanded.
"You can see there was a robbery here!"
"The killer wanted it to look like a robbery. But the door wasn't
"You'd find
"Why
are
and those
forced,
rare
stamps weren't stolen.
Mr. Peterson was dozing
in his chair
In fact,
it
appears that
or watching television
when
the
entered and shot him through the back of the head."
killer
how
"But
asked.
"I'll
could he do that without the dog barking?"
swear that dog never stirred
"Maybe Shep was locked
in a
Hank
Isles
last night."
room somewhere," Nancy
reasoned,
but at once she remembered the police officers saying they'd put him
in
the other
room when they
arrived.
He'd been
in
here
all
the time
during the murder."
And he
hadn't barked.
Nancy walked over to the window, then back to Betty Peterson.

"Do you have a map of any sort out in the car? One that would show
the route your husband traveled
last
night to
visit
the ice cream par-
lors?"
"I
map
think there's a
He
get
map
out there," she replied. "Sloan, she wants the
of your route last night."
Nancy
started for the door, but
it.
want you
Betty Peterson returned in a
house was
"What
is
called
him back. "Your wife can
in here."
moment with
the folded map.
The
and she paused, realizing they were all watching her.

she asked Nancy. "1 brought the map like you asked."
silent,
it?"
'The dog didn't bark," Nancy said simply.

"What?"
'The dog
when you came back in just now. And he

when you used your husband's key, or a dupli-
didn't bark
didn't bark last night

cate, to enter this
house and shoot Conrad Peterson."
"That's crazy!"
"Not
realized
at
it
all.
Shep's obviously been trained only to bark at men.
when
remembered
that he didn't bark at
He barked when you and your husband

when you came in alone."
rived this morning.

together, but not
me when
Sloan Peterson was on his
feet. "Betty,
did you
ar-
arrived
?"
"You wanted Peterson out of the way so your husband could
own
the entire business, didn't you? I'm afraid, Mrs. Peterson, that since
alibi for late last night the chances are you have
While he was driving around, you came here and com-
your husband has no
none
88
either.
mitted a somewhat inept murder.
and
right to call a lawyer,
should warn you that you have the
That was when Betty Peterson broke down.

Later, as the body was being removed, the medical examiner came
out to where Nancy stood by her car. Tm finished here," he said. "But
need a name for my report. Whose case is this, anyway?"
Nancy sighed and managed a smile. "Mine," she told him. "Ser1
geant Nancy Trentino."
Checkmated!
by
The
Coretta Slavska
where Delph Mayers had sat playing his last game of chess
dust. There was a thin layer of dust on the ivory
chessmen, and the stub of a cigarette in the ashtray was almost buried
table
was covered with
mound that looked curiously like a grave.

And Delph will soon be dust, thought Vera, and she covered
under a gray
eyes with her hand. She could not go into the
her
room where Delph had
where she stood in the adjoining living

see the chessmen standing guard.
Flynn, the detective from the local police station, had given her
specific instructions about the room. "Don't go in there, Mrs. Mayers.
Nothing must be touched. It's important to the inquest that everydied, but from every corner
room she imagined she could
thing remain as
it
is
until the final
examination
is all
finished."
Inquest, examination, strange words. But they could only
mean the
police were not entirely satisfied about Delph's sudden death.
Vera had been sure the doctor's certificate of death made it clear
Delph had died of a heart attack. Now all this silly talk of an inquest.
It was absurd! Nothing would come of it. It was just routine!
Vera turned her back to the game room where the chessmen stood.
She was a tall, well-built woman in her early thirties. Her gray eyes
which could look hard and cold when she was angry, usually appeared
serene and
ened
as
soft.
She had
a slow, languid
walk but
now
her steps quick-
she almost ran to a mirror.
With an
effort,
she looked at herself. No, she had not changed.
She looked the same,
a little pale perhaps, but
not unduly nervous or
89
She looked like a widow should look, weary and unhappy.

Delph had been buried only a few days ago.
Considering the circumstances, she and Karl had been bearing up
very well. It was understandable that Karl had not returned since the
day Delph died. After all, Karl had been playing chess with Delph. It
would be natural if Karl looked nervous.
Vera hoped he would keep himself in check. Sometimes it seemed
he needed only a slight shock to make him lose control. But nothing
could go wrong now.
Soon their friends would come to visit. They would bring a cake,
candy, perhaps some more flowers. They might play a game of cards.
This was modern times. Distraction was good for a widow. It helped
frightened.
After
all,
her to forget her sorrows.

Karl
would come
too.
He had
telephoned, saying he would be here
tonight. Karl. Sleek-looking, gay, everything that
been!
A good
Too good
chess player too!
the acknowledged
champ
Karl
first
were being made on her
had smiled
at
met
Delph had never

who had been
Delph,
of Sparkhill until Karl
Vera remembered the day she

tion. Repairs
for
Karl.
moved
At the
to town.
local gas sta-
car.
her as he walked by, on his
way
to work.
She
smiled back, suddenly reckless.
"You
live here?"
he asked.
Vera nodded, almost afraid to speak. Something
in his
black eyes
appraising her, warned her this would be no casual friendship, but
something more exciting.

we'll meet at the usual town festivals," Karl said slowly.
go out often," Vera told him. "But my husband likes to
play chess." Suddenly she knew Karl played too! It had been that way
between them. She always knew a few moments before when he
would telephone her. When he first brought her a box of candy, his
hand seemed to burn on her arm as he touched it softly, and then
went into the gameroom to play chess with Delph.
He would come again tonight. For the first time, they would be
"1
suppose
"We
don't
together without Delph!

Vera's
hands moved
restlessly.
She
felt
chilled suddenly,
and ran
back to the living room, hoping Karl would come soon so they could
have
The
instinct
drink together.
bell
rang sharply. But
had
failed her.
Was
it
it
was not Karl. For the first time her

warning that all was not going
a sign, a
well!
Flynn, the detective, stood at the door. Flynn had

fore
90
when
the undertaker had
phoned the
come once
police station.
It
be-
seemed
when
called
if
man
died so suddenly as Delph had, the police had to be
doctor was not immediately available.
Vera looked sharply
him
as she led
She
at Flynn.
felt
her smile freeze on her
She could
into the room.
feel his
lips
eyes on her every
movement.
"How
it.
you
are
"Better!
Much
feeling?" Flynn asked.

better.
try not to think
The confusion when
about
it,
the suddenness of
couldn't get the doctor at once, and the
undertaker wouldn't touch the body until he called you!

ing here with that
room
When
every minute!
"Easy does
It's
hard be-
staring at me, but the dust getting thicker
can
have
cleaned out?"
it
Flynn said quietly. "Fâve a cigarette."
it,"
Vera regained control. Her hand was steady
and she smiled into the
as
it
held the cigarette,
detective's eyes.
not satisfied about your husband's death," Flynn said slowly.
"I'm
need your help.
Tell
me
again what happened during the
last
"I
chess
game."
"Delph was playing chess with our
friend, Karl
Flynn nodded. "Well, chess seems to
The
players
ing about
"Is it a
not
it,
sit
me
it
seems
a quiet
quite excited inwardly.
game.
know
noth-
Then he added, "No,
it
isn't
game. Actually the players can become
When
quickens, his blood pressure
a quiet
hobby," Vera continued.
quiet game?" Flynn asked softly.
to the players of the
me to be
Of course,
to
there calmly, hour after hour.
but
Sommers."
a player
makes
move
his heart beat
rises!"
him intently.
you are right! guess that's what did happen, for the
doctor who examined Delph did say it was heart failure. Delph's heart
had never been strong."
Flynn nodded "Yes, the death certificate said heart failure. Poor
Delphi You said he made the last move and then fell back in his
Vera looked
at
"Yes, of course
chair?"
like the way Flynn was looking at her.
Delph made the last move. Why do you keep harping on
You asked me that the night you came here. Don't you believe
Vera didn't
"Yes,
that?
me?"
"Don't get excited," said Flynn. "You'll sign a statement to that
fect,
ef-
won't you?"
"Of course, and you can check with Karl Sommers!

think he's
coming now."
It was Karl. He came in quickly, his movements light and cautious
I
91
as a panther's step
when he
senses danger. His keen eyes focused on
Vera.
Flynn watched him and turned away suddenly, quite sickened.
down, Mr. Sommers," he said
"Sit
me
how
again
to Karl. "Mrs.
Mayers has told
her husband died. She said he had just finished a chess
move, leaned back
in his
chair and slumped to the floor. You'll verify
that, of course."
Karl nodded. 'That's about
Flynn stood up. "Yes,
it."
heard about his reputation as a chess
I've
Would you mind coming
player.
game room with me?"
into the
opened and there were people,

police sergeant. They were moving toward
Karl nodded. Suddenly the door
two policemen, the
local
Karl.
Karl turned away, his eyes on the
He moved
slightly.
died,
game room. His mouth twitched

room where Delph had
automatically toward the
and Flynn closed
him.
in after
hand moved toward her throat, her fingers dug into her
cheek. Something was wrong. Was it something she had said? This
was not going according to plan. But the doctor's certificate had said
heart failure. It had all seemed so easy
there was nothing to worry
Vera's
about. She stood motionless in the middle of the room, the policemen
watching
Then
her.
came out
Karl
gameroom,
of the
"You touched those chessmen! You fool
his face white.
you
idiot!
You've spoiled
everything!"
"Stop
it!"
screamed Vera.
Flynn turned to Vera.
all
"It's
over.
couldn't have been Delph's last move!
your husband
as
him
see,
we
into the living room,
though he had
fell
you
just finished a
across the table.
fixed the
it
did an autopsy on
there were traces of poison in his stomach.
bly died during the chess game,

ried
Even Karl had to admit
You
He
proba-
While Karl
chessmen to make
car-
look
it
move."
Vera looked puzzled. "But what does that prove? The doctor didn't
say anything about that!"
Flynn grinned. 'The good doctor doesn't play chess
When
last
saw the chessmen,
move.
knew you had
lied
about
it
ordered an autopsy on your husband. But
confession from one of you.
but
do!
being Delph's
we needed
figured if Karl saw the chessboard it

would give him enough of a jolt to say something incriminating! Karl
has already said enough to satisfy us. He, also, was quite stunned to
see two black bishops on white squares!
92
The Clarion
Call
hy O. Henry
Half of this story can be found
in
the records of the Police Depart-
ment, the other half belongs behind the business counter of

per
newspa-
office.
One
afternoon two weeks after Millionaire Norcross was found
in
apartment murdered by a burglar, the murderer, while strolling
his
down Broadway,
serenely
that you,
"Is
ran plump against Detective Barney Woods.

Johnny Kernan," asked Woods, who had been near-
sighted in public for
"No
less,"
five years.
cried Kernan, heartily,
East?
Do
the green-goods circulars get out that
been
"I've
Barney Woods, late and

show me! What are you doing
"if it isn't
early of old Saint Jo! You'll have to
in
New
York
for
some
far?"
years," said
Woods.
"I'm
on the
city detective force."
"Well, well!" said Kernan, breathing smiling joy
and patting the
detective's arm.
"Come
Woods, "and
into Muller's," said
like to talk to
you
let's
lacked a few minutes to the hour of four.
It
hunt
a quiet table. I'd
awhile."
The
tides of trade
were
not yet loosed, and they found a quiet corner of the cafe. Kernan,
well dressed, slightly swaggering, self-confident, seated himself opposite
the
eyes,
little
detective, with his pale,
and ready-made cheviot
"What business
are
Saint Jo a year before
you
I
sandy moustache, squinting
suit.
now?" asked Woods. "You know you
in
"I'm selling shares in a
copper mine," said Kernan.
an office here. Well, well! and so old Barney
You always had

after
a turn that
left there,
I've
New
"I
may
establish
York detective.
way. You were on the police
in
Saint Jo
Woods. "And now
there's
one more question,
followed your record pretty close ever since you did that
hotel job in Saratoga, and
Why
is
weren't you?"
"Six months," said
Johnny.
left
did."
did you
kill
never
knew you
to use your gun before.
Norcross?"
93
Kernan stared
few moments with concentrated attention
for a
at
the slice of lemon in his high-ball; and then he looked at the detective
with a sudden crooked,
"How
brilliant smile.
did you guess
thought the job was
it,
Barney?" he asked, admiringly.
and
as clean
as
smooth
as a
swear
peeled onion. Did
"1
leave a string hanging out anywhere?"
Woods
upon the
laid
table a small gold pencil intended for a
watch
charm.
"It's
the one
gave you the
mug
got your shaving
yet.
last
Christmas
found
we were
under
this
in Saint jo. I've
corner of the rug
in
warn you to be careful what you say. I've got it put

on to you, Johnny. We were old friends once, but I must do my duty.
You'll have to go to the chair for Norcross."
Norcross's room.
Kernan laughed.
"My
my
trail!"
Woods had
"Put
ing.
"Who'd have thought old Barney

hand inside his coat. In an instant
luck stays with me," said he.
was on
it
Aha!
He
slipped one
a revolver against his side.
away," said Kernan, wrinkling his nose. "I'm only investigattakes nine tailors to
It
make
up. There's a hole in that vest pocket.
a
I
man, but one can do
took that pencil
off
my
man
chain
Put up your gun, Barney, and

had to shoot Norcross. The old fool started down
the hall after me, popping at the buttons on the back of my coat with
had to stop him. The old lady was a darling.
a peevish little .22 and
and slipped
I'll
tell
in there in case of a scrap.
it
you why
bed and saw her $12,000 diamond necklace go without

a chirp, while she begged like a panhandler to have back a little thin
gold ring with a garnet worth about $3.1 guess she married old Norcross for his money, all right. Don't they hang on to the little trinkets
from the Man Who Lost Out, though? There were six rings, two
brooches and a chatelaine watch. Fifteen thousand would cover the
She
just lay in
lot."
"I
warned you not
"Oh,
to talk," said
that's all right," said
And now
talking to a man
Woods.
Kernan. "The
stuff
is
in
my
suitcase at the
you why I'm talking. Because it's safe. I'm

know. You owe me a thousand dollars, Barney
Woods, and even if you wanted to arrest me your hands wouldn't
make the move."
"I haven't forgotten," said Woods. "You counted out twenty fifties
without a word. I'll pay it back some day. That thousand saved me
and well, they were piling my furniture out on the sidewalk when
hotel.
I'll
tell
got back to the house."
"And
94
so,"
continued Kernan, "you being Barney Woods, born as
true as steel,
and bound to play
to arrest the
man
as yale locks
and window fastenings
while
ring for the waiter.
me
worries
white man's game, can't
Oh,
you're indebted to.
a little.
I've
business.
boy Booze. But
divide honours with the old

ness hours. After a job
my
have to
will
never drink during busi-
my
can crook elbows with
year or two that
a thirst for a
caught the lucky sleuth
I'm ever
If
in
had
a finger
lift
men as well
Now, keep quiet
have to study
old friend Barney
with a clear conscience. Wliat are you taking?"

TTie waiter
them alone
came with the
decanters and the siphon and
little
"You've called the turn," said
Woods,
he rolled the
as
hand on you.
and that
dodge
it.
It's a bad break
You helped me once, and
you
"I
making, Johnny, but
calls for
didn't,
can't
the same."
can judge men. Here's to Barney, for
'he's a jolly
fellow.'
don't believe,"
"I
I'm
it
but
up.
said Kernan, raising his glass, with a flushed smile of
it,"
self-appreciation.
good
money back
a-paid that
settles
it.
knew
"I
If I'd
gold
little
pencil about with a thoughtful forefinger. "I've got to pass

can't lay a
left
again.
aloud, "that
money
if
in all
went on Woods
quietly, as
he were thinking
if
accounts had been square between you and me,
New
the banks in
the
all
York could have bought you out of
my
why
safe
hands tonight."
know
"I
couldn't," said Kernan. 'That's
it
knew
was
with you."
"Most people," continued the detective, "look sideways

ness.
I've
They
it
among
you
guess I'm a
go, and then
drive an express
man
I've
first
at
my
busi-
the fine arts and the professions. But
always taken a kind of fool pride
busted.'
let
don't class
and
in
it.
And
here
is
where
a detective afterwards. I've
got to resign from the force.
wagon. Your thousand
dollars
is
go
got to
guess
can
farther off than ever,
Johnny."
"Oh, you're welcome to
it,"
willing to call the debt off, but
lucky day for
where
know you
me when you borrowed
subject. I'm off to the
there
said Kernan, with a lordly
West on
It
train.
the
out
can negotiate the Norcross sparks. Drink up, Barney,
and forget your
troubles. We'll
have
a jolly
old friend Barney, and
time while the police are
my
Sa-
the unofficial hands
of
case. I've got
hara thirsts on tonight. But I'm in the hands
And
be
was a
"I'd
air.
it.
And now, let's drop

know a place
it.
morning
knocking their heads together over the
my
wouldn't have
won't even dream of a cop."
then, as Kernan's ready finger kept the button
working, his weak point
one of
and the waiter
tremendous vanity and arrogant egotism,

95
began to show
itself.
He
recounted story after story of his successful
Woods
plunderings, ingenious plots and infamous transgressions until
with
all
with evil-doers,
his familiarity
growing within him
felt
cold
man who had once been
abhorrence towards the utterly vicious
his
benefactor.
disposed
"I'm
of,
Woods
of course," said
to keep under cover for a spell.
at length. "But
The newspapers may
you
advise
take up this
There has been an epidemic of burglaries and mantown this summer."

The word sent Kernan into a high glow of sullen and vindictive
Norcross
affair.
slaughter in
rage.
"To h
with the newspapers," he growled. "What do they
spell
but brag and blow and boodle in box-car letters? Suppose they do
take up a case
what does
it
amount
The
to?
make
reporters around to the scene,- and they
enough
police are easy
what do the newspapers do? They send
to fool, but
pin-head
a lot of
for the nearest saloon
and have beer while they take photos of the bartender's oldest daughevening dress to print
ter in
who
tenth story,
as the fiancee of the
thought he heard
a noise
young man
murder. That's about as near as the newspapers ever
down Mr.
"Well,
in
the
below on the night of the
come
to running
Burglar."
1
don't know," said
have done good work
warmed up two
stance.
It
police
had
Woods,
in that line.
or three
reflecting.
"Some
of the papers
There's the Morning Mars, for in-
and got the man
trails,
after the
'em get cold.
let
"I'll show you," said Kernan, rising, and expanding his chest. "I'll
show you what think of newspapers in general, and your Morning
I
Mars
in particular."
Three
inside
from their table was the telephone booth. Kernan went
feet
and
door open.
sat at the instrument, leaving the
He
found
number in the book, took down the receiver and made his demand
upon Central. Woods sat still, looking at the sneering, cold, vigilant
face waiting close to the transmitter,
came from the
thin, truculent lips
"That the Morning Mars? ...

tor.
Why,
tell
him
it's
and listened to the words that
curved into a contemptuous smile.
want to speak to the managing edisomeone who wants to talk to him about
I
the Norcross murder.
"You the editor? ... All right ...
Norcross
Oh, there
isn't
Wait!
Hold
wire,-
the slightest danger.
detective friend of mine.
96
the
am
I'm
I've just
killed the old
the
man who
killed old
not the usual crank
been discussing
man
at 2.30 A.M.
it
with a
two weeks
ago tomorrow
Have
Now,
with you?
a drink
you better
whether a
hadn't
man? Can't you
leave that kind of talk to your funny
tell
man's guying you or whether you're being offered the biggest scoop
your
paper ever had?
dull dishrag of a
scoop
tail
address
Well, that's
but you can hardly expect me

.
Why! Oh, because
would
be.
my
the jewels in
learned'
you recognise
Oh,
straight.
it
suitcase at
No,
man
no, this
Cut that
and
name
'the
than a blind poo-
newspaper
I've
got
of the hotel could not be
thought
it,
you what
so.
You've
to have the mys-
organ of right and
great, big, all-powerful

tell
all.
no more use
did the Norcross job, and
and good government and
are?
not
that's
of
is
isn't a rival
that phrase, don't you?
up your
terious villain call
you
penny sheet
often enough. Kind of rattles you, doesn't
it
justice
What?
getting
office, you're
used
that your rotten, lying
an intelligent murderer or highway
in tracking
dle
you
tell
a bob-
heard you make a specialty of solv-
ing mysterious crimes that stump the police
want to
so,- it's
my name
to 'phone in
a helpless old
gas-bag
you don't
Now, listen, and I'll
out, you're not that big a fool
no,
can tell it by your voice.

you a pointer that will prove it to you. Of course you've had this
murder case worked over by your staff of bright young blockheads.
think I'm a fraud.
give
Half of the second button on old Mrs. Norcross's nightgown
saw
ken
off.
was
a ruby.
it
when
.
Stop
took the garnet ring off her

that!
It
got him going.
He
is
bro-
thought
it
won't work.
Kernan turned to Woods with

"I've
finger.
a diabolic smile.
believes
me now. He
didn't quite cover the
hand when he told somebody to call up Central

on another phone and get our number. I'll give him just one more dig
and then we'll make a get-away.'
"Hallo!
Yes. I'm here yet. You didn't think I'd run from such a
little subsidised turncoat rag of a newspaper, did you?
Have me
inside of forty-eight hours? Say, will you quit being funny? Now, you
let grown men alone and attend to your business of hunting up divorce cases and street-car accidents and printing the filth and scandal
that you make your living by. Good-bye, old boy
haven't
sorry
time to call on you. I'd feel perfectly safe in your sanctum asinorum.
transmitter with his
Tra-la!"
"He's as
mad
as a cat that's lost a
mouse," said Kernan, hanging up
my
the receiver and
coming
show and enjoy
ourselves until a reasonable bedtime. Four hours' sleep
for
out.
"And now, Barney,
me, and then the west-bound

TTie
two dined
in a
Broadway
boy, we'll go to a
"
restaurant.
Kernan was pleased with
97
He
himself.
money
spent
And
like a prince of fiction.
and gorgeous musical comedy engaged
then
weird
Afterwards
their attention.
there was a late supper in a grill-room with champagne, and Kernan at
the height of his complacency.

Half-past three in the morning found
night cafe, Kernan
still
boasting
in a
them
corner of an
in a
thinking moodily over the end that had
come
all-
Woods
vapid and rambling way,
to his usefulness as an
upholder of the law.
he pondered,
But, as
wonder
"I
eye brightened with
his
he said to himself.
possible,"
if it's
a speculative light.
won-der
"1
if it's
pos-
si-ble!"
And
then outside the cafe the comparative
stillness of the early
morning was punctured by faint, uncertain cries that seemed mere

fireflies of sound, some growing louder, some fainter, waxing and waning amid the rumble of milk wagons and infrequent cars. Shrill cries
when
they were
near
well
known
conveyed many
that
cries
meanings to the ears of those of the slumbering millions of the great

city
who waked
and
to hear them. Cries that bore
volume the weight
small
of a world's
To some, cowering beneath
stress.
upon
woe and
their significant,
laughter and delight
the protection of a night's
ephemeral cover, they brought news of the hideous bright day, to
wrapped
in happy sleep, they announced a morning that

would dawn blacker than sable night. To many of the rich they
brought a besom to sweep away what had been theirs while the stars
others,
poor they brought
shone,- to the
All over the city the cries
another
were
day.
starting up,
keen and sonorous,
heralding the chances that the slipping of one cogwheel in the ma-
chinery of time had made, apportioning to the sleepers while they lay
at the
mercy of
fate,
that the
new
plaintive
were the
evil
and so
the vengeance, profit,
little
cries, as
good was
if
in their irresponsible
in the streets of the helpless city
of the gods, the cries of the
Woods flipped a dime to

"Get me a Morning Mars."
When
leaf
little
grief,
reward and
had brought them.

the young voices grieved
figure in the calendar
the paper
out of his
hands.
the Clarion
came he glanced
much
Thus echoed
Call of the Press.
at its first page,
memorandum book and began
flipped over to
that so
the waiter, and said:
him the piece of
and then tore
to write
gold pencil.
Woods
doom
and yet
the transmission of the latest decrees
newsboys
"What's the news?" yawned Kernan.
98
Shrill
writing:
on
it
with the
The New York
Morning Mars:
Please pay to the order of
me
reward coming to
John Kernan the one thousand

and conviction,
dollars
for his arrest
Barnard Woods.
"1
kind of thought they would do
that," said
were jollying 'em so hard. Now, johnny,
Woods, "when you
come
you'll
to the police
station with me."
The Clincher
by Jack Foxx
They were
when Cord
He
close to empty.
from the Oregon-California border
glanced over
am
Tyler grinned. "So

In
minutes
forty-five
noticed that the red needle on the fuel gauge hovered
I.
at Tyler.
"Almost out of
gas,"
he
said.
could sure use some food."
the backseat, Fallon and Brenner sat shackled close together
with double
eyes were cold and watchful
cuffs. Fallon's
waiting.
'There you go," Tyler said suddenly, touching Cord's arm and
pointing.
Cord squinted
against the late afternoon sun.
couple of hundred
yards to the right of the freeway was a small white building, across
the front of which was a paved area and a single
pumps.
sign lettered in faded red
and mounted on
stood between the building and the highway.
It
row
of gasoline
a tall
metal pole
read: Ed's Service
OPEN 24 HOURS.
"Okay," Cord
"Good
said.
as any."
doubled back along
"This
is
to get out, but Tyler
Oregon, remember?
"Yeah, right,"
old
Cord
man with
out of a cubbyhole
"Fill 'er
up,"
He
shut off the engine
stopped him.
No
self-service here.
It's
a state law."
said.
sparse white hair

office,
Cord
turned there and
blacktopped county road that paralleled the
freeway, took the car in alongside the pumps.
and started
An
He
short distance ahead was an exit ramp.
and
around to the
weather-eroded face came
driver's
window. "Help you?"
told him. "Unleaded."
99
man saw Fallon and Brenner. He moistened

them with bright blue eyes.
"Don't worry about them," Cord said. "They're not going any"Yes, sir." TTien the old
his lips, looking at
where."
"You
fellas
peace
officers?"
Tyler smiled, nodding.
Cord
said, "I'm a
porting these two
U.S. marshal and this
down
is
my
guard. We're trans-
to San Francisco for federal court appear-
ances."
"They from McNeil
Island,
up
in
Washington?"
"That's right."
pop
Fallon said from the back seat, "Say,
"Shut up, Fallon," Tyler said sharply.
"Where's the
rest
rooms?" Fallon asked the old man.
"Never mind that now," Cord
you know what's good

Fallon seemed about
said. "Just
keep quiet back there,
if
for you."
to say
something
else,
changed
his
mind, and
sat silent.
The
old
man went
to the rear of the car and busied himself with
Then he came back with
the gas cap and the unleaded hose.
squeegie, began to clean the windshield.
yawned and Cord
sat
watching Fallon
man's eyes shifted over the four
men
in
as
In
the front seat, Tyler
the rearview mirror.
he worked on the
The
old
glass, as
if
he were fascinated by what he saw.
There was a sharp click as the pump shut off automatically. The
man went to replace the hose and to screw the cap back on the
tank. A few seconds later he was leaning down at the driver's window
old
again.
"Check your
"No, the
"That'll
oil's
oil?"
he asked Cord.
okay."
be twelve even, then. Credit card?"
Cord shook his head. "Cash." He got the wallet from

poked inside, gave the old man a ten and a five.
his pocket,
"Be right back with your change and receipt."
"Never mind, pop. Keep
"Not that much of
it.
We're
in a hurry."
a hurry," Tyler said.
Then, to the old man, "You
got anything to eat here?"
"Sandwich machine
in the garage."
""Where's the garage?"
"Around on the other

"Better than nothing,
you want?"
100
side.
I
I'll
show
you."
guess." Tyler looked at Cord.
"What kind
"I
don't care. Anything."
ham on
take
"I'll
Tyler said,
"I
from the back.
rye," Fallon said
thought we told you to shut up."
"Don't Brenner and
get anything to eat?"
"No."
"Come
come
on,
Johnny? We've got
Cord
on,"
"Get the sandwiches,
said.
Tyler stepped out of the car and followed the old
When
side of the building.
man around
the
they were out of sight Cord swiveled on
"Why
the seat to stare back at Fallon.

"I
you,
will
long way to go yet."
don't
you wise up?"
could ask you the same thing."
"Easy, Art," Brenner
"The
with
hell
warned him.
that," Fallon said. 'This
"You keep pushing and pushing, don't you, Fallon?" Cord asked
him. "You can't keep that smart mouth of yours closed."
Fallon's black eyes
bored into Cord's, neither man blinked. Before
long Brenner began to
good
fidget. "Art
."
.
your pal here," Cord said to Fallon. "He knows what's
"Listen to
for him."
Fallon remained silent, but his big hands clenched and unclenched
inside the steel handcuffs.
Cord
slid
around to face front again. Pretty soon the old man came
ambling back across the paved
area, alone, carrying a square of rough,
grease-stained cloth over one hand.
window
again, bent
"What's keeping
He moved
around to the
driver's
down.
my
Cord asked him.
guard?"
"Like
said before,
we're in kind of a hurry."

"I
guess you are," the old
man
said,
and
flicked the cloth
away with
his left hand.
Cord
pointed
froze.
In
the old man's right hand was a
.44
Magnum,
Cord's temple.
at
"You make a move, mister,
reckon you're dead."
Fallon sucked in his breath, he and Brenner both sat forward.
remained frozen, staring
The
"On
old
man
at the
said to Fallon, "Where's the
the ignition ring.
Cord
Magnum.
Watch out he
key to those
doesn't
make
cuffs?"
a play for
the
gun."
"if
he does
his free
he'll
be minus
a head."
door. "Step out here. Slow.
Cord did
ears,
The
old
man reached down
with
hand, never taking his eyes from Cord, and pulled open the
still
as
he was
told.
Hands up where
He
can see 'em."
stood holding his hands up by his
watching the Magnum. The old man told him to turn

101
around, pressed the muzzle against his spine, then removed the .38
revolver from the holster at Cord's belt. "Walk ahead a few steps," he
"And don't look around."
said then.
Cord took three forward steps and stopped. Behind him, the old
man took the keys out of the ignition and passed them back to Fallon,
who unlocked his and Brenner's handcuffs. Then the two of them got
man
out and the old
let
Fallon have the .38.
'The other one's around back," the old man

office while he was
tapped him with
it,
Brenner took the
at
said.
"I
slipped into the
the sandwich machine and got
my
gun and
then disarmed him. Here's his piece."

.38.
"Go
see about Tyler," Fallon told him, and
Brenner nodded and went around the side of the building.

Fallon said to Cord, "You can turn around now."
had obeyed, "Lean your chest against the

hind you. You know the position."
Silently,
Cord assumed
it.
hands be-
Fallon gave the handcuffs to the old
who snapped them around
man,
And when Cord
car, legs spread,
Cord's wrists.
the wallet out of Cord's pocket, put
it
Then
Fallon slipped
into his own.
Brenner came back, shoving a groggy Tyler ahead of him. There
was
smear of blood on
head where the old man had clubbed
Tyler's
him. His hands were also cuffed behind him now.
When Cord
and Tyler were on the back
seat of the car, Fallon
gripped the old man's shoulder gratefully. "What can

saved our
we
say?
You
lives."
'That's a fact," Brenner said. "All they talked about
coming down
from Washington was shooting us and leaving our bodies
in
the
woods somewhere. TTiey'd have done it sooner or later."

"What happened?" the old man asked.
"We got careless," Fallon admitted. "We stopped this morning for
coffee and made the mistake of letting them have some. The next
thing we knew, we had hot coffee in our faces and Cord there had my
gun.
It
Brenner
said,
"How
did you know, pop?
chance to say anything, to
The
old
man had
tip
you
put the .44
They
didn't give us the
off."
Magnum
into the pocket of his over-
made them sag so much he looked lopsided.

"Well," he said, "it was a number of things. By themselves, they didn't
mean much, but when you put 'em all together they could only spell
alls,-
the heavy gun
was county sheriff here for twenty-five years, before

seen a few
opened
and
up this station two summers ago.
McNeil
in my
marshals transporting prisoners to and from
one thing.
retired
federal
102
Housed
time.
federal prisoners in
overnight stop was necessary.
way you was
my
acting
when an
more'n once, too,
jail
know
seem
things just didn't
"First off,
acting, the
few things about both breeds.
The way they was

wrong about it.
right to me.
there was something
The way they looked, too, compared to you two. Whiter skin, kind of
pasty, the way some Caucasians get when they've been in prison a
while. And then neither of you lads was wearing those plastic identity
bands around your
wrists.
never seen a federal prisoner yet had his
no matter what."
Fallon nodded. 'They broke the ones they were wearing, so there
was no way to get them on us."
I
off outside,
"Another thing," the old man
"they didn't want to
said,
to the can or have anything to eat.
No
let
you go
marshal treats his prisoners
that way, not nowadays.
They'd go screaming to
anybody
about abusive treatment, and the marshal'd
else
who'd
listen
and
their lawyers
find himself in hot water.
'Then there was the gasoline. The

Cord,
is
fella
behind the wheel
it?"
"Cord."
"Well, he paid
me
in cash,"
the old
man
said.
"I
never seen a mar-
shal in recent years paid for gasoline 'cept with a credit card. Like the
one
Cord had when he
noticed peeking out of the wallet
the two
bills.
Am
give
me
right?"
"Absolutely."
"And you get reimbursed
"We
"Well, that
Cord
give
man on
tip;
him
for mileage, don't you?"
sure do."
was the
a receipt
clincher," the old
he told
the federal payroll
and he sure
is
as hell ain't
me
man
keep
to
said.
"When
offered to
and a three-buck
it
tip.
No
gonna hand a gas jockey a three-dollar

gonna turn down a receipt that entitles
money back from the government."

man passed a hand through his sparse white
to get his
The old
getting on in years, but
lawman
in
my
day, too,
ain't senile yet.
if
do say
it
myself.
hair.
used to be a pretty
Reckon
"I'm
fair
haven't lost the
knack."
Fallon glanced in at
far as
Brenner and
Cord and
Tyler,
are concerned,
sir,"
now both
he
sullen
and
quiet. "As
said, "you're the best there
ever was."
103
The Cop
and the Lady
hy Booton Hemdon
"Me, I'm
O'Toole
dumb
just a
said.
cop, an'
been admittin'
for thirty years,"
it
"Those other birds with their psychology and
make
crime-detectin' try to
sound
it
like a detective
scientific
book. Imagination
don't pay in this racket."

don't get you,"
"I
said.
O'Toole and
phone
if it
rang. That's
was there because
phone did
I'd
were
on the
detective office. O'Toole was there
what you do with
sitting in the
late shift to
a flatfoot
who
dingy
answer the
won't
retire.
be the guy who'd go out and do the work
if
the
ring.
them guys," O'Toole said. "Nothin'

makes sense unless they got it in college or high school and it's a big
word. Minute they get on a case they begin thinkin' about thinkin'.
Psychology and stuff. Character an' behavior patterns. They begin to
talk about manias an' them things an' can't tell when you're just plain
"Yeah, you're just like the rest of
nuts."
He
squinted
at
me
was shaped to match
over his nose.

his belly.
It
"Got
was
a strain
because his nose
a cigar?"
"No," said. "And if did, I'd keep it. If you think your theories on
psychology are worth a cigar to me, you're suffering from dementia
I
tremendous."
"Just like all the rest of the guys,"
talk plain English. Well,
I'll
tell
"This guy Folkes was found
walked
in after
dollars'
worth of chopped
beer
I'd like
shook
my
all
Mrs. Folkes called

steak.
No
beer. "Well,"
mean about
bein' nuts.
slashed up in his bedroom.
us, an'
We
there he was, lookin' like ten
Mrs. Folkes was cool as the bottle of
to be drinkin' right now."
head.
O'Toole said grumpily. "Can't
you what
he
He
looked up quizzically, but
said, sighing, "all the
brainy boys
was so cool because she was so well bred. They said she was
show emotion. As for cuttin' a guy into
hash, they never dreamed of such a thing. So they went out lookin'
said she
a lady of quality an' wouldn't
for the murderer.
104
'They looked up the street an' down the street, but they didn't see
no murderer. They read all their books over again, an' they fingerprinted everything in the house.
They questioned
gardener, an' spouted theories
all
over the place. But they couldn't find
who done
"Let me
butted
it."
get this straight,"
to listen to this stuff
any
fingerprints?
I'd
What
in.
"Not that
better try to understand
care, but
Why
it.
if
knife off,
and the servants were
own room, and
slept in her
have
asleep.
all
you? Mrs. Folkes said she didn't know anything about
suit
weren't there
did the servants say?"
"Somebody wiped the

That
the servants an' the
she found him that
it,
she
way when she went
in
She let out a yelp, refined an' lady-like, of

course, an' told the maid to call the cops.
'That's all there was to it, except that the guy hated animals. That's
why Mrs. Folkes slept in the other room she had this little dog that
looked like a rat, an' she always kept him in the room with her, 'cause
to say good-mornin'.
Folkes didn't like the mutt.
him up
told the Cap'n that she probably sliced
"I
me not
who loved
for
to act
dumb. Any poor
much
animals as
He
cially like that.
much
thing,
less
an' finally
dumb
"Come
was
said.
"I
no lady
off a guy, espe-
shows that
a lady of
such
animals couldn't bear to harm any living
chop her hubby
'cause I'm so
on,"
dumb
he says
says, that
dame could dump
says that psychology
refinement and love for
couple of weeks,
as this
herself an'
he
fool could see,
to pieces.
he gave up
in their
an'
He went on like that

they put me on the
way everywhere
know how dumb you
for a
case
else."
are.
Let's get to the
point."
O'Toole looked up and sighed.

"Since there wasn't
out about,
do, ain't
I
nobody
else
around that night that
could find
figured Mrs. Folkes killed him. That's the easiest thing to
it?"
sneered, but O'Toole went right on.
"So
been
maybe he slapped her dog or somethin'. Y'see, I'd

one of the maids, an' found out that she washes this
figured that
talkin' to
shaggy pooch of hers
in all
thing up, an' sprays
with perfume, an' buys clothes for the fool dog,
an' treats
it
like a
it
kinds of fancy shampoos, an' powders the
baby, an' Folkes hates
it,
so
"I'm
beginning to think you can't think."
"I've
known
can't get
little call
gives
me
what
else could
think?"
that for years," he said. "Any rate,

decide that, since
no proof on her, I'll have to get her to confess. So pay a
on her an' her dog, an' ask her does she kill this guy. She
1
a stuck-up look an' picks
up her dog
an'
begins to stalk outa
105
the room. So
don't
"1
a quart of
much
"Well,
perfume
is
no excuse
kinda hated to do
achin' feet, but
begins to claw
my
it
it
tion of his
He
landed
little
O'Toole
myself,"
dog around."
said, "especially
a dive for
eyes out. Just about the time she

waitin' outside the
Y'see, I'm
down
his feet
all
kick on that
because you're a
said. "Just
hide."
to kick a
nutty nutty. An' that's
O'Toole took
an'
its
worked. This dame makes
gonna kill me, too, the other cop

and we take her to the bughouse.
dame what's
Humph."
off
see the point in that,"
disgruntled old flatfoot
my
dog outa her arms
grabs the
mutt that shook
door comes
dumb enough
there
off the desk,
tells
is
to
it.
groaning with every mo-
came up with some gruesome looking object,
his chair.
like a half-starved
marmoset with a wig on.

f
"My God, O'Toole," said. "Is that
"Yeah," O'Toole said sheepishly, chucking the mutt under the
"I'm just dumb enough to figure I oughta take care of it now."
.
in
to call a
Psychology?
three hundred pounds, and reached down under
with
me and
me she's
ear.
Cop Maker
by Ronald Henderson
Barney Conroy hunched behind the wheel of his cab,
from
most recent encounter with Detective-Sergeant
his
fact that Sullivan
was admittedly riding him
small comfort to the youthful hack driver.
gloomy
as the
still
smarting
Sullivan.
for a purpose
The
proved
His thoughts were
as
cold drizzle that had settled on the city earlier in the
evening.
"Jump a light once more," Sullivan had said, "and I'll see that your
hack license is revoked, even if have to get a radio car to pull you
1
in."
His gray mustache
fairly bristled
and
his dark eyes reflected an
anger entirely out of keeping with the situation.
Barney knew that
it
wasn't his habit of jumping lights that had
hack driver in the city of New York

was the knowledge that Jean, his daughter, was in love
infuriated the old detective. Every
did that.
106
It
with Barney and they were planning on getting married as soon as
Barney received his appointment to the police
force.
Everything else having failed to change Jean's mind, Sullivan had
He knew
about blocking Barney's appointment.
set
Barney would
never ask Jean to share the uncertain future of a hackman's prospects.
men who had
Because of the unusually large number of young

passed the preliminary
sifted
by
tests,
the few chosen ones would have to be
process of elimination.
cense would hardly be considered
And
a
the revocation of a hack
Although there were times when Barney resented the old man
terly,
deep
in his heart
he
felt
li-
recommendation.
He knew
sorry for him.
that
it
bit-
wasn't
anything that Sullivan held against him, personally, that was the reason for his determined opposition.
cile
It
was
just that
he couldn't recon-
the thoughts of his daughter being married to any man. In his
mind there was no man
living that
been father and mother to the
when she was

affections
But
a baby.
on Jean
why
until
In
was good enough
He had
way, he had lavished his
totally blinded to her
man
for her.
ever since Jean's mother had died
his hard-bitten
he was
couldn't the old
Had worshipped
girl
own
happiness.
see that he also worshipped Jean?
her ever since they were kids in school together.
Barney's musings were interrupted
by
man who jumped
into his
cab.
"Drive around the corner to Jay's Bar and Grill."

Without turning to look at his fare, Barney shifted gears and eased
away from the curb. He turned the corner, pulled up in front of the
bar, and braked to a stop.
His passenger
said: "Be
cab, leaving the door
Barney
and
lit
in a
minute."
a cigarette
and was
He
dashed out of the
bar.
letting his thoughts drift
back to Jean
when he heard a shot from the barroom. He looked

and saw a man backing out of the place, holding a gun in
their future
up quickly
his right hand.
the
back
open and ran into the
It
was
man wheeled and
his passenger. Before
ran to the cab.
Barney could do anything,
He jumped
inside,
slammed the
door and held the gun on Barney.

"Get going," he gritted through clenched teeth.
In the brief
moment when Barney had looked
his passenger
the face he had recognized him. His picture was in
all
full in
the evening
Mayhew, the notorious killer who had slipped his guard

Grand Central while being taken to Sing Sing to die in the electric
chair. Every cop in town was on the lookout for him with orders to
papers. "Bugs"
at
take no chances but to shoot on sight.
107
Barney had no choice but to obey.

that
Mayhew would
he refused to drive he knew
If
have no compunction about shooting him. Here
was a golden opportunity. To capture this much-wanted criminal

would clinch his appointment and he was helpless to do anything
about it. He shifted the gears and shot away.
'Take
buddy
easy
it
Mayhew's
don't try breaking the speed limit."
voice was close to Barney's ear.
The
fact that
he was
at the
mercy of
blood-crazed
end
definite
him.
to his
Mayhew
If
wearing
hopes of becoming
got away,
would
it
a policeman's shield.
It
cop and
doom
spell
that
all
it
the
meant
to
to his chances of ever
wouldn't matter to the board that he
was helpless to bring about Mayhew's capture.

something to stop
killer didn't
moment was
enter Barney's head. All he could think of for the
this killer before
was up to him
to
do
he could add more victims to
his
It
list.
A number
of wild ideas flitted through Barney's
carded them as impractical.
up onto the sidewalk, but

desperate
who
man
stood
He
it
way.
would only
Barney was praised for his assistance
come
cop
at the
dis-
result in
more shooting. A
kill anyone
caught and
Mayhew wouldn't hesitate to

And even though Mayhew was
like "Bugs"
in his
mind but he
could run his cab into another car or
in
the capture, he couldn't be-
expense of innocent people.
Suddenly, he realized that the one-way street they were driving

down, led right past the intersection where Detective-Sergeant Sullivan was generally on duty. He remembered Sullivan's threat.
He pulled up to the intersection and stopped for the red light. As
he had hoped, Sullivan was standing on the sidewalk, not ten feet
away, watching the stream of traffic flowing by. Barney saw him
glance casually in his direction, then
riveted
on Barney's
become suddenly
alert.
His gaze
cab.
Barney looked up
at the light. In the
other direction
it
but had not yet flashed green on his side. Pedestrians were
flashed red
still
cross-
had stopped. Barney shifted to first

and shot across the street a brief second before the light changed. It
was nothing unusual, but technically it was a traffic violation.
ing the street. Intersecting
He
looked
had been.
in his rear vision
He had
cigar store to
traffic
make good
a sinking sensation
mirror to see what Sullivan's reaction
expected to see the detective run into the corner

his threat to
send a radio car
he saw Sullivan commandeer
after him.
a passing car.
With
He was
standing on the running board, pointing to Barney's cab.
Barney cursed under his breath and stepped on the accelerator.

108
Instead of everything working out as he had hoped, he was in a worse
predicament than ever. Sullivan, evidently anxious to have his hack

license revoked,
ney
had decided to have the
satisfaction of bringing Bar-
in himself.
Through Barney's dismayed mind raced a vivid picture of what

would happen.
Not knowing that Barney had "Bugs" Mayhew for a passenger, he
would be taken completely unawares. The minute Sullivan's commandeered cab pulled up alongside, Mayhew would shoot him down
without a second's hesitation. Whatever happened to Barney, he knew
he couldn't
man
the old
let
Another quick glance
in
in for this.
the mirror
showed him
that
Mayhew had
noticed nothing unusual.
The
killer sat
would only be
chased.
If
on the edge of the
seat, his
gun
in his
hand. But
it
matter of minutes before he realized they were being
he looked back he couldn't miss seeing the pursuing cab
with Sullivan hanging on to the
Mayhew
rapped on the
his passengers.
Barney
slid
side.
glass panel that separated the driver

it
"Turn west at the next corner,"
"Okay," said Barney.
He
from
open.
Mayhew
ordered.
the panel shut.
slid
He knew what this order meant. As soon as they got to a deserted

Mayhew would tell him to pull up to the curb, then probably
street,
club him with his gun, and
make
his getaway.
At the corner he turned west and headed for the river. The pursuing car was now only about a block behind them. Barney stepped on
the gas and
the mirror
after
felt
the cab leap forward under him.
showed him
glance upward in
Sullivan's car take the turn recklessly,
speed
them down the block.
Barney squeezed the accelerator to the floor boards but he could

see that his cab didn't have the speed to shake off the other car.
Slowly the distance between them grew shorter.
He knew
it
would
only be a matter of minutes before the other car drew alongside.
When
that happened, Sullivan
Mayhew was
was
as
good
as dead.
rapping on the panel again. Barney
slid
it
open. His
decision was made.
"What do you want?" he said, over his shoulder.

"Stop this cab, you lunatic."
Barney kept his eyes on the road, holding the handle
of the panel
with his right hand.

"1
can't hear you."
109
Mayhew
stuck his arm over the seat.
Through the corner
of his
eyes, Barney could see the glint of steel.
Before he could finish, Barney slammed the panel shut, holding

Mayhew's arm as effectively as if it had been held in a vise.
He let go the wheel, jammed his foot on the brake. Before Mayhew realized what had happened, Barney grasped his arm, forcing it
downward. He heard Mayhew curse, then the gun clanked to the
floor. The cab slowed down, swerved to the right, then stalled to a
stop against the curb.
The
other car pulled alongside and Barney saw Sullivan leap to the
ground.
He was
surprised to see the detective holding a gun.
Without
bothering with Barney, Sullivan flung open the door of the cab. In a
few seconds he had
Mayhew
handcuffed, then he turned to Barney.
"What's the idea of trying to give
me
Were you
the slip?
in
cahoots
with Mayhew?"
"In
cahoots!" Barney sputtered indignantly.
while you were
me
like
you threatened.
'That
"1
had
you be shot
couldn't let
Mayhew
jumped the
didn't think you'd take after
doesn't explain
still
"I
light
watching me, figuring that you'd send a radio car after
my
in
why you
in
me
yourself."
tried to get away."
cold blood, could
I?
You
didn't
know
cab."
Sullivan looked at Barney curiously. "So that
was
it."
He was
silent
for a moment. His flushed and angry face slowly softened. Then, he
said: "You thought I was chasing you because you jumped a light?" For
the
first
laugh.
"I
time
in
warm,
spotted
his
life,
Barney heard Detective-Sergeant Sullivan
friendly laugh.
Mayhew
The Course
in the
cab while you were waiting for the
light."
of Justice
hy Hugh
B.
Cave
It happened very much sooner than John Houghton expected, and he

was glad he had written the two letters beforehand. At that, he might
not have had a chance even to mail them had the Immigration Officer
been
certain.
Apparently the officer was not certain. Not quite. His routine
no
glance at Houghton's face did freeze into a searching
down
look
was
card; he
staring
still
stare,-
he did
name "John Harper" on Houghton's tourist

when Houghton glanced back after leaving
again at the
the desk, but he was not sure.
As soon
Houghton had picked up
as
entered the main part of the

letters into a
had bought
They were
mailbox.
several dollars'
had honeymooned
in
Joseph
St.
changed
haven't
Norma,
his wife,
when they
as souvenirs
Pension Etoile, where he and his
a taxi to the
wife had stayed on their earlier
Max Haun,
already stamped.
worth of stamps
Customs and
he dropped the two
the Caribbean three years before.
Houghton then took

Little
his suitcase in
airport,
visit.
the proprietor, shook his hand warmly. 'Tou
bit,
Max
John,"
"Not
said.
bit.
And how
is
Norma?"
know I'm here, Max."

know you're here? What do you mean?"
explain later over a drink. Let me get rid of this
"She doesn't
"Doesn't
"I'll
Max
"You must have the room you had before,"
took the suitcase himself
mate
and
led
Houghton
it
was that kind of
was the best room
fine
in
"Come."
hotel, small
upstairs to the large front
the house, with a
little
and
He
inti-
room which on
had jokingly called the
that other occasion the proprietor

It
suitcase."
said.
bridal suite.
balcony that offered
view of the Pare de I'lndependence and the
glittering
white Palais
National across the square.

"It
brings back fond memories,
Max
hope,"
said, his
eyes twin-
kling.
Houghton turned himself slowly
to look around the room, then
stepped onto the balcony to scowl
at
back memories. Not fond ones.
down,
drink
Sit
the President's palace.
brings
later."
Puzzled by his guest's strangeness.

"Haven't you wondered,"
I
"It
Max. We'll have the
please.
kept asking you
in
my
Houghton
letters to
Max
sat
said,
keep
down.
pacing
me
as
he spoke, "why
posted on the political
progress of Emile Nerette?"
"You said you were interested
"And you
You're not a
didn't
man
wonder why
in his career."
1
was interested? No,
to question the motives of
turned and stared. "You remember the night
your
my
suppose not.
friends."
Houghton
wife was arrested by
the Palace Guard and taken to headquarters?"
Max
almost smiled, but not quite. "For failing to stop her car
when
the President's cavalcade was passing. Yes, of course."
in
"How we
room, on
searched for her for hours and
this
when we
very bed, crying,
finally
found her
in this
returned?"
remember."
"I
"She said then. Max, that everything was all right, that nothing had
happened. She was only upset. You remember that? But the truth,
which didn't find out until weeks later the truth, Max, is that she
was raped."
"Mom
dieui"
Max
said.
Max, and the man who did

Palace Guard, now your President."
"Yes,
was Nerette, then head of the
it
Max Haun placed his hands on his

is why you have come back."
knees to stop their trembling.
"So that
waited, Max.
"1
It
was not enough
country of yours
men
just to kill him.
Anyone can
die.
by violence all the time. You wrote in

one of your letters that Nerette was ambitious to be President. Good,
thought. In another letter you said it was rumored he would soon
marry one of the most desired women in St. Joseph. Again thought:
good. Let him marry her. Let him have a son or daughter, even. Then
In this
die
when my time comes, he

"Mon
diew."
Max
voice would be unsafe. "As you say,
time
much more to lose."

now as though a normal
he has much more to lose at this
have that
will
said again, whispering
a wife, an infant son, the presidency of the republic
but you
You would never get near him. In this counPresident has enemies always, and is on guard every moment
my
must be mad,
try a
friend.
against them."
have taken precautions."
"I
it is remembered who you are. Suppose someone goes to

him and says, 'M'sieu President, the husband of that American girl
whom you you mistreated is here again.' Think about it. Such an
"Suppose
event
not only possible,
is
country now.
this
The
it
is
likely.
political
Very few Americans come to
upheavals have ruined our tourist
trade."
Houghton
ing
home
said, smiling coldly,
wrote two
only will those

bring
me
All
need
will get to
him. Max. Before leav-
me, they
will get
me
mailed them. Not
into the palace
and
How?"
will see.
row, say.
is
Remember,
I've
had three years
to think about this.
time enough for the letters to be delivered. Until tomor-
Then it will be easy. I've used an assumed name on my

Houghton turned to the door. "Come on. Let's have that
tourist card."
112
letters protect
"I
At the airport here
face to face with Nerette himself."
"Impossible.
"You
letters.
remembered
you going?"
drink together for the sake of things
remembered. Then
"You take too
balcony to gaze
where
much
are
Max
for granted,"
in a trance of terror at
square. "You think because
the good
things
muttered, stepping onto the
the Palais National across the
you have used
name not your own
Mon
dim, look!"
Houghton, frowning, stepped to his side.

in uniform by the monument, coming
the grass!" Max whispered. "They are coming here!"
"Those three
this
way
across
"How
you they
tell
"I
are
coming
here!
Where
Houghton was
else?"
seized by an arm and pulled back into the room. "You were recog-
nized
at
the airport!"
"Perhaps."
looked
at
and bad
me
Houghton
dry.
"An Immigration man

a
man with beady
eyes
teeth."
"Know you?
He was one
searched for your wife

all
go
"God in heaven. Beliard!

"Would he know me?"
when
his lips
felt
closely. Tall, thin, not so dark
former captain
of those
one
of those
we talked to that night when we

who pretended to know nothing
the time she was there at headquarters.
dent's eyes
and ears
in
the Palace Guard."
in
Now
he
is
the Presi-
the Immigration Service, planted there to keep
Nerette informed of dangers!"
Houghton had turned
pale.
"Hide
my
suitcase,
Max.
I'll
go out the
back way, through the garden."
"Where will you go?" Max said, wringing his hands.

Houghton had no answer. Where could he go, he asked himself as
he sped through the garden at the rear of the pension. With the rest
of the day ahead of him, and the night to live through, where would
he hide?
be sure. It was home to a hundred
was patrolled these days by hundreds of police and more hundreds of Nerette's private goons, and in every part
of the city a foreign face would be conspicuous.
He climbed the wall at the garden's end and dropped into an alley
on the other side. Ran down the alley. Stopped running and turned
St.
Joseph was
a big city, to
thousand people. But
left,
it
Could he hide
slowly, into a street of small shops.
They were
practically
empty these
days,
and watched.
in a hotel?
In a theater?
Theaters did not open until evening and even then were almost never
frequented by foreigners. Dear God, where?
He
Not
kept to the side streets and walked.
a tourist
Hands
in
pockets, slowly.
enchanted by the sight of marchandes singing their wares,

113
peasants riding the rumps of clop-clopping donkeys, naked children
not that but like a foreign resident on some

made listless by the noise and tropical heat. An old
Only the eyes alert, reaching ahead like radar to glimpse
playing noisily at games

routine errand,
hand
here.
danger
in
time
So many policemen in this city! So many footsteps! So many swift

changes of direction, crossings of streets, dartings into doorways. If he
had any doubt that he was hunted, it was dispelled quickly. Less than
a block away a khaki -colored car screeched to a stop beside a pair of
uniformed men on a corner. The officer in the car briskly gave them
orders.
heads
ton
The two looked
this
way and
that along the street, jerked their
understanding, and swiftly went their separate ways.
in
Hough-
fled.
He
crept into an empty church and sat there watching the stainedwindows break the sunlight into floating flecks of color.
"Dear God, I'm tired. And there's a whole night of this ahead."
An organ began to throb. People came ghosting in. He fled again.
Mustn't walk the same street twice
but it's a big city and
glass
there are
many
Darkness
is
And
streets.
moving
the sun
is
sliding
behind the
hills
now.
in.
"Stop! You, there! Halt!"
He means
you, Houghton. Don't stop. Don't run, either. Don't
turn, don't hesitate, don't
around
it.
even walk
faster.
Here now, the
corner!
Get
Now! Run!
The street was empty, thank God, and the next corner close. There
was an alley between high wooden buildings, aiid at the end of the
alley he saw a district of peasant hovels, like a jigsaw puzzle dropped
from a box. Hands in pockets, mumbling to himself, he trudged
through
The
it.
The naked
peasant
women
children backed out of his way, goggle-eyed.
squatting
at
their
cookpots
peered
at
him
through fogs of charcoal smoke, and some of them laughed.
Now
Now
it was dark.
by avoiding the
slowly, stop
when
streets
where there were
then walk on again
tired,
footfalls.
The
around
corner with glaring headlamps that
greatest danger
a floodlit stage.
sped by
gunjlre,
cars that
made him
happened, he turned to stone and the car

laughter. That could have been a chatter oj
Houghton.
Then he would move
114
came lurching
performer on
it
faster
between hiding places and at the sound

where the head-
of approaching cars he'd press himself into cracks

lights
the silence bred
woman's
Each time
trailing a
was on wheels
he could walk
lights
when
could not reach him.
At midnight,
lost in a part of the city
found an empty house.

only half
a gate.
the shell of one

holes for
He
First a
yard knee-high
with
window and
he had not seen before, he
high stone wall. Then gateposts, but

weeds.
in
A wooden
bungalow
veranda and only empty black
a collapsed
door.
stood on the veranda listening, and there was no sound. There
was only
horn on
a distant street and a rattle of chacha pods on a

With hands thrust in front of him for eyes, he
staggered inside and sat down in the dark. Would they look here?
They could not look everywhere in one night.
Dear God, I'm tired. I'm dirty. stink.
a car
tree in the garden.
wish
So
I
were
where must go
where been
get
not be
go
Don't
sleep
nothing
could not be seen.
wish to
And
I've
to
sleep,
Don't ... go ... to ..
Houghton.
"Get up," a voice
said,
and the room was splashed with sunlight
stabbing through gaps in the walls, and over him stood
men
in uni-
form.
"Get up!" and a hand seized him by an arm and jerked him savagely
to his feet, but another
more gentle.
Houghton looked
to wind it.
"What time is it?"
"A
little after
man muttered
at his
It
had stopped.
You
ten o'clock, m'sieu.
are to
He had
come with
forgotten
us."
now the letter

Where are you taking me?"
After ten. By
"Where
watch.
French and the hand became
in
to?
'To the Palace."
He
let his
breath out.
They led him through the overgrown garden to a khaki -colored

car. They were gentle with him, he noticed. No pushing, no shoving.
"Between
us,
He was
the car had
if
you
please, m'sieu."
surprised at
left
ness district.
It
how
short the journey was. In no time at
all
the grubby streets and was speeding through the busi-
swung
sion Etoile, past the
into the Pare de
monument and
independence, past the Pen-
the statues, and into the Palace
driveway. Last night he must have traveled
in circles.
"For your audience with the President, perhaps
you would
like to
freshen yourself, m'sieu?"
115
There was motive
was the opportunity
He
to search for
enough to carry
foolish
When
in their generosity, of course.
they took
and shoes away to "make them more presentable," there
his clothes
hidden weapons. As
weapon they might
he would be
if
discover!
dressed again slowly after his shave and shower. Even the
ing of his jacket had been
lin-
and resewn, he noticed. Had they
slit
ripped the soles and heels off his shoes and rebuilt those too?
"The President
will see
you, m'sieu."
They walked him down
shining white corridor, a
An
side of him, into a kind of reception room.
man on each
officer of the Palace
Guard, a colonel, rose from a desk to open an inner door.
He
The door
stepped into the sanctum.
Windowless. Air-conditioned.
top like
dance
memory
the
Behind the desk
floor.
clicked shut behind him.
gleaming mahogany desk with

a
man
came back
of that three-year-old night
rose to greet him, and

in a rush.
Hough-
ton clenched his hands and stepped forward.
The man behind
down and produced
the desk reached
a pistol. "Be
seated, m'sieu."
Houghton regained
control of
chair and looked at the
man he
magazines had prepared him
hirriself.
Houghton
.
shuddered.
it
Norma,
he was
a bull.
wife,
his
letter, m'sieu."
with the
pistol. "Let
The
me
was
so
and
small
on the desk and Nerette
letter lay
see
though lowered into place by
sat as
man was
have your
"I
tapped
sat in a large red-leather
for the fantastically ugly face, but
stunned by Nerette's hugeness. The
dainty
He
hated. Photographs in newspapers and
if
understand
a crane,
it
He
correctly."
and the mountain of
flesh
overflowed the chair.
"You understand
must be
"I
her
sure.
Houghton said.
You say you have written
it,
"
Madame Houghton's
my
also to
my
wife, giving
account of what happened that night,
in
you admit you have no proof other than madame's statement. You expect to obtain proof, but as yet you do not
your
letter to
have
it."
"Go
wife
on."
"You point out to
my
wife that
if
am
guilty as charged,
undoubtedly take steps to eliminate you. So you

daily.
If
the calls cease, she will
know
that
will
will
telephone her
have silenced you
and
why."
"You have
it
right,"
Houghton
said.
"You are ingenious, m'sieu. By writing so to

116
my
wife,
and making
me
aware of what you have written, you have made sure you
alive
with freedom
intend to
"I
be ways. You have to travel about the country a good
will
deal,
and
rifle,
Nerette. For
"I
be here. I'm an excellent shot with
will
may
"It
you."
How?"
"Really?
'There
kill
more than
year
now
I've
high-powered
been practicing."
take a long time, m'sieu," the bull said with a twisted smile.
have time."
"What about your
wife? Your work?"
my
"Thanks to you, Nerette,
She
will stay
What now?"
to use the telephone.
is
"So
My
mental hospital.
in a
am
work
is
know
she has a husband.
not important."
be shot, eh?"
to
"Or blown
wife doesn't
Or
up.
poisoned.
am
several kinds of expert."
"You have thought of everything."

"1
hope
so."
The huge man leaned over his pistol and looked at Houghton and
laughed. His laughter boomed through the room like thunder. "What
a fool
you
are,
"Sit
down.
Yes, childish.
do anything
night."
The
them. "Let
not care
fat
me
less
Your plan, your whole ingenious plan,

I
cherish the
woman
hands oiled themselves, fondling the

tell
you something.
my
Now
that
wife thinks of me.
women
If
is
married, that
am
pistol
between
President,
could
she leaves me, there are a
eager to take her place.
because her brother was
Houghton slowly
fool!"
keep her from knowing the truth about that
to
what
hundred other
reason only
charming, childish
said, rising.
based on the assumption that

will
What
M'sieu Houghton.
Houghton
"Childish?"
married her for one
dangerous
political rival."
down, speechless.
"As for you," the President went on with a gigantic shrug, "you
came here under an assumed name. Mr. John Houghton is not in St.
Joseph at all. Only Mr. Harper is here. But there is really no John
Harper is there? so he will not be missed."
He
turned the pistol and pointed
Houghton
"But
well
sat
stared at
dislike violence,"
known how much
He
it
at
Houghton's chest.
it.
Nerette
said. "Personal violence, that
dislike violence. So, instead
is.
It is
pressed a button.
The door opened and the colonel from the outer

It seemed to Houghton
though perhaps he was
clearly now
that the door opened even before
office
stepped
in.
not thinking too

the
button was
pressed.
117
"You have your
Good. Use
mon
"Certainly,
He drew
pistol,
Colonel?" Nerette murmured. "Ah, yes.
please."
it,
President," the colonel said.
weapon from its holster and without expression

Before Houghton could rise, he halted and turned.
the
stepped forward.
"Your wife's orders, M'sieu Nerette," the colonel
aim
at the big
There was almost no sound except the
said,
and taking
man's heart, squeezed the trigger.
slender, attractive
woman came
President's gasp.
into the office, shut the door,
and walked to the desk. After glancing at the dead man, she turned to
the colonel and nodded. "You had better remove the microphone,
Victor," she said calmly.
The
colonel reached far into a drawer of the desk and took some-
thing out of
He moved
it.
the desk a few inches and ripped
wires from a small hole in the floor.
Only then did
the
woman
some
turn to
Houghton.
"In this
cially,
came
country
we
find these things necessary," she said.
now,
"I,
espe-
you
please. Forget that
here."
She opened the door

As Houghton passed
face.
Go
have found them necessary.
"I
am
for him.
her, an expression of sadness
so sorry about your wife," she said.
something more
touched her
wish there were
"1
could do."
Curtains for Kelly

by John Randolph
Kelly's voice,
rated with a
buzzing over the wires into the
flat
self-disgust. "Yeah, Chief,
a hell of a note?
Wolfe, the
cept
last
Marcum
It's
chief's office,
been kidnapped.
was
satu-
Ain't that
George Eddins and Bucky Marcum's brother,
of the Bucky's gang.
just
Phillips
nudged me with
Ouch ... Nothing, Chief,

gun and told me to cut out
his
ex-
the
and get down to business.

"They got a fool proposition to make. They'll trade me for Bucky. I
told 'em the law didn't do business that way, but they think different.
If you turn Bucky Marcum loose by four o'clock,
go free. If you
talk
118
any
ain't
use, but
they
insist
"You turn Bucky loose and

out they've got, and
and
man
a free
"They want
by
he
been
ain't
again. Beautiful idea, ain't
plainly understood that
it
Otherwise, curtains for Kelly
four.
on me.
timental
He
the cops.
call off
he's sure
if
know
in this
game you got
it?
it
goes to some hide-
tailed
he puts
in a call
you've played square. Shortly after that, they
tells his pals
be
I'll
me up sometime thereafter.
on me giving you the setup.
can pick
don't, the undertaker
Me
tell
me,
kidnapped!
Bucky must be turned loose

.
Now,
to take
it
Chief, don't go senas
it
comes."
Kelly replaced the receiver and faced the two men. Short, heavy,
middle-aged Wolfe Marcum,- slender, boyish George Eddins.
dark,
Kelly regarded them sourly.

"Told you
don't
wouldn't work. Tried to make you understand the law
it
do business
would. Bucky
that way.
Marcum
Why,
the chief couldn't do
even
it
has got a date with the chair. Well,
if
he
when does
the party start?"
"Not
till
four o'clock,"
What
"Wait!
was cock-eyed.
"So
it
"Yes,
that,
answered. "We'll wait."
it
when Bucky
shrilly.
"I
told
you the thing
sent us that message."
idea?" Kelly said.
was Bucky's
"Shut up,"
The
knew
was Bucky 's
it
you
told
Marcum
Eddins demanded
for?"
idea,"
Of
Wolfe.
Marcum
all
said.
bum
Eddins snapped, "and a

the
idea, too.
Have some sense, George.

come across. Think they're going
star. The whole force would go to
"We'll wait.
chief was only stalling. They'll
to lose their best

hell for Kelly.
man? He's
The heavy man's

Eddins.
He
their
Don't worry, George."

quiet, confident tones
seemed
to relieve
seated himself on the bed. Kelly looked around.
not had time to inspect the place
when they ushered him
now
a bureau,
a small
room, furnished with
in.
young
He had
He saw
an iron double bed, three
straight chairs, and a small table. It was on the second story. The one
window, open from the bottom, faced another window in a house
across a narrow alley.
"A movie guy," Kelly thought, "would throw himself out that win-
dow and
not be killed
when he
hit the alley below."
Kelly glimpsed himself in the bureau mirror. So

his
far,
he
reflected,
appearance didn't betray his agitation. Rather handsome, Kelly.
Tall
eyes.
and well-proportioned, running
An
unlined, clean-cut face.
The
a little to the lean side.
face said he
Gray
was twenty-five. But
the contradictory gray already showing in his black hair claimed he
was considerably more.

119
down
"Sit
if
you want
to,"
Marcum
one of the chairs
said, taking
himself and sliding his automatic into a side pocket.
Kelly dropped into a chair across the table from
Marcum. Eddins
leaned back on the bed, puffing at a cigarette. Outside sounded the
hum and
clatter of the city's traffic. Kelly
outside again to listen to
it.
wondered
would. Always before something had turned up
"Smoke
if
you want
furnished rooms
Marcum
to,"
'Thanks," said Kelly.
"It's
if
he'd ever be
Being an optimist, he figured that he

the nick of time.
in
told him.
a favor."
He
lit
his cigarette.
"Not many
are fitted up with telephones," he observed.
"We believe in conveniences," Marcum said. "Been renting this

room for years. Me and George hid out here all the time you coppers
were staging your big
was
"It
outfit.
close.
drive."
a swell drive," Kelly told him.
"We broke
the Bucky
Marcum
Got every man but you and George, and we missed you awful
Well, well. And to think I'm sitting here in the same room with
you two."
"And can't do
a thing
'That's right, son,"
about
it,"
George sang out triumphantly.
Kelly admitted.
Kelly looked at his watch.
Twenty-five minutes past three.
It
seemed unbelievable that less than twenty minutes ago he had been a
free man. He had been standing on Fifth, with his back to the street,
gazing into a jeweler's window when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
Turning, he came face to face with Wolfe Marcum.
"This thing making a bulge in my pocket is a gun," Marcum told
"Hop
him.
in that car."
Kelly hopped
was
at
the wheel.
in,
on the back
The
seat beside
car slid into
traffic,
Marcum. George Eddins
stopped
before this house at the corner of Pine and Harrison.
few minutes
A traffic
later
cop was
standing at the intersection. Kelly started to yell to him, but, not
he chose to play for time. They marched him

room, gave him his instructions, and made him tele-
quite ready to die yet,

upstairs to the
phone.
Now he sat there and, as Eddins had said, couldn't do a thing about
A little of Kelly's habitual nonchalance fell from him, like a garment that no longer fitted. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead.
it.
His cigarette was
tasteless.
Three-thirty now.
Only
thirty minutes to
wait.
"A really game guy," Kelly thought, "would suggest
poker to pass the time, but
ain't that
In spite of their tastelessness,
120
a session of
game."
he smoked two more cigarettes
in
rapid succession.
His eye strayed to the window across the
strayed back. His mind turned
way
dilemma. There had to be a
He
a
this
way and
out.
alley,
that in the coils of his
There always had been before.
concentrated on every detail of the situation. Sure, there had to be
way
what was
out, but
it?
"Stop thinking so hard, kid," said the bulky Marcum. "Ain't nothing
you can do. Buck up. You've always shot square, you've never been
dirty, and you can rest assured we won't bump you unless we have
too. And we won't. The chief'll trade. He won't let you
wish
"I
thought that
as strong as you,"
Eddins interrupted from
the bed.
Marcum told him gently. "Nerves," he explained to

George behind the wheel of a fast car and there ain't a
"Shut up,"
Kelly. "Put
nerve
body. But
in his
Take
well, he's jittery in a case like this.
you want, George. Just one, though."

"Can make it as big as want to?"
"No," laughed Marcum. "I'll pour, as they say
drink
if
in the society col-
umns."
"No, thanks," said Eddins.
"1
don't
want the thimbleful you'd pour
me."
Kelly rose abruptly. Every muscle in his
body grew
tense, then
relaxed.
you get it through your thick heads that the law doesn't play
way? You ain't that dumb. What'll you do when the chief
turn Bucky loose? Where'll you be? In the doghouse, that's
"Gan't
ball that
don't
where!"
be there, too,"
"You'll
and we're standing

"You
it
traced?
call
Marcum
"Sure,"
interrupted,
Anyway,
and
by now the chief has
we know
he decides not to
trade. I'm betting
down
"if
that
this
are just as well as
here
we
is
that'll
got to take.
the only
It's
way
my
brother
know
to get
out."
"But
"
"There
Kelly began again.

ain't
here to shoot
take.
know
the chance
that's
they're fixing to burn, Kelly,
him
"We've drawn our cards, Kelly,
He knows where we
ourselves. He'll have a squad
he'll trade.
said.
Kelly said, "don't you
fool,"
had that
Marcum
pat."
I've
no
it
buts.
If
he don't trade, and
out with us
already figured
why, we
it
lose.
if
But
a squad down
gamble we got to
he sends
it's
from every angle. So you can't
tell
anything. Just don't forget that in a shooting match you'll be the

casualty. Sit
down,
Kelly, before
me
first
knock you down."

121
"Who's
"You
jittery
your mind
now?" Eddins demanded.
are,"
still
Marcum responded
off this business.
or write a letter to that
taire
"Do something
a game
brought
man on
the bed, watched his yellow
wasn't built for this kind of strain. Kelly
Marcum was
Without Marcum
would go haywire. He
a cigarette to his lips.
there to steady him, to serve as ballast, the kid
alone. But
to take
of soli-
girl in Louisville."
Kelly watched the slender

fingers quiver as they
calmly.
Anything. Play yourself
knew he could handle Eddins
another proposition.
"Ever been shot, kid?" he drawled.
him
"Let
Marcum
alone,"
"You're the worst jailer
even
let
me
said, "if
you know what's good
for you."
ever saw," Kelly grumbled. "You won't
talk to the turnkey."
"Shut up."
reckon you've been shot
"I
lots of times,"
an attempt to throw off the
in
jitters.
Eddins said sarcastically,
"You're the big hero of the
police force, ain't you?"
"Oh,
once
river.
cop turn
George,
Marcum
told
been shot
I've
saw
you
I'll
few times," Kelly answered casually. "But
a
a
machine gun loose on
swear that guy's insides
guy down by the
leaned across the table and hit Kelly hard on the jaw.
to shut up, didn't
"You're the
Marcum
first
me and
didn't
turn will come."
offered no reply. Kelly rubbed the
could make a break here.
"I
Let the kid alone."
guy, Wolfe," said Kelly, "that ever hit
Maybe my
get hit back.
I?
He
lump on
He
his jaw.
Marcum
could leap to his feet and knock
out with one punch and be on top of Eddins before the latter realized
the situation. There was just one hitch.
Marcum knocked
And then the germ
He
turned
it
over.
ready sold you
"Now
"It
lot of stuff
you
the movies were
men
it.
He
laughed suddenly.
"Going through
all
this for a
guy
that's al-
the river!"
Marcum asked sourly.

know that Bucky Marcum has confessed a
brother and a fellow named Eddins." The slender
what, sweetheart?"
might
man on
rehearsed
said.
down
in
of an idea trickled into Kelly's suffering brain.
He
"You boobs," he
Only
out with one punch.
like
interest
about his
you
to
the bed sat up instantly, his eyes popping.
also,"
Kelly continued, "to
know
turn state's evidence so he can get
"It
might
that your big hero
life
is
instead of the chair.
interest
going to
How
do
them apples, Georgie?"

Eddins bounded to the floor. His wild eyes fastened accusingly on
you
122
like
Marcum. The doublecrosser!" he
Marcum
"Gee, but you're dumb, George,"
Eddins back to the bed, keeping
one
Kelly. "That
in gasps.
He
pushed
alert
eye on
said wearily.
same time an
at the
as old as the hills.
is
His breath came
yelled.
"The dirty doublecrosser!"
Kelly's heart leaped.
Don't you see what the guy's
trying to do, George? Try again, Kelly."
But Kelly couldn't try again. Always before he had been able to
temporary setbacks. But he couldn't now. The answer
grin at defeat, at
probably lay
rary.
It
the very evident fact that this defeat was not tempo-
in
appeared to be about
drop of sweat
fell
mocking him.
Kelly slumped
He
burning.
stealing
up
permanent
as
as
anything under the sun.
to the bare top of the table
in his chair,
and
lay there as
if
with his spine cold and his forehead
thought of many things: of sunlight on the
city streets, of a girl with blue eyes
who
river, of
lived in the
dawn
End. She had watched the sunlight with him and the
dawn
West
after a
glorious night of merrymaking.
His eyes strayed again to that window across the
dow which was merely

But suddenly
said,
"I
sure of things, but just in
in the
seemed
alley, that
win-
house opposite.
wink back at him.

You seem pretty
case the chief doesn't trade
Well, Mar-
wasn't blank. Suddenly
it
"Marcum," Kelly
cum,
unwinking eye
a blank,
it
want to ask you
to
a favor.
word
there's a girl I'd like to leave a last
for."
"Well?"
"Let
me
the chief again and leave the
call
"Whyn't you
couldn't say
"1
the
call
it
girl
and leave
to her. Can't
nurse and out on her rounds.
How
about
it,
you see
word with
him."
with her?"
it
that? Besides, she's a visiting
wouldn't
know where
to reach her.
Marcum?"
guess not. In case things don't pan out right, the other cops can
"I
make up
"Aw,
a story to tell her.
let
him
call,"
She
Eddins broke
in.
"The guy deserves
a little
con-
sideration."
Marcum
"You're a softy,"
in Louisville.
Oh,
all
growled. "You're thinking about that
girl
right."
phone a minute later, "I want you to

game a man's got to take it. Tell
her did the best
could. And by the way, since I'm checking out,
might as well make my last report. When these fellows nabbed me,
was on my way to the eight hundred block on Webber Street to
investigate a complaint about a kid with an air rifle. Seems he was in
"Chief," said Kelly over the
tell
Nora not
1
to feel too bad. In this

1
123
one window shooting the panes out of another window across the
street."
"Aw, cut
it
"I
Marcum grumbled, and yanked him from the telewe enjoy standing here listening to you being heroic?"
out,"
phone. "Think
ain't feeling
so heroic," Kelly said.
He
looked again
at his
watch,
probably for the hundredth time. Seventeen minutes to go. No,

teen.
What
window
across the narrow alley.
two men
off
difference one minute made!
in
He
A good man
with a
the force
who was
the second best
could pick
rifle
man named
the length of a heartbeat. There was a
Kemp Ormsby on
six-
stole a glance at the
shot
rifle
in
the
state.
At eleven minutes to four he sneaked another look
at the
window,
He was hot and

cold by turns. Was that a shadow beyond the window? Had Ormsby
had time to get down here from headquarters? Had the chief caught
hs very blankness seemed to gleam with promise.
on? But
it
was
foolish asking that, because even yet
chief saying, "Yeah,
"Go over
He had
move
get
there, Kelly,
he could hear the
it."
and
pull that
shade down."
been so engrossed that he hadn't noticed Marcum
Now Marcum
out of line with the window.
rise
and
pointed the auto-
matic at him. Kelly rose, stumbled to the window, reached the cord,
and pulled the shade down.
He shook
window he had glimpsed
other
Ormsby's white, strained
for
his head once, for beyond that

one tantalizing moment Kemp
face.
"Down good," Marcum said. "Clear to the sill." Kelly obeyed. Marcum threw a glance at Eddins. "Our detective got cute with us. Little
was
boy with an air gun shooting from one window to another.
dumb not to get it before."
I
own
Kelly gazed into the mirror and hardly recognized his
He
wasn't nonchalant any more. His eyes
seemed to have
image.
faded.
The
no longer gave him a distinguished touch,- it merely

made him look old. He felt weak all over, but weakest of all at the pit
of his stomach. He guessed you always felt that way when your last
forlorn hope was gone.
gray
in his hair
"Sit
down,"
Marcum
told him.
"What time
is
it,
George?"
"Eight minutes to four," Eddins said, in a voice that shook. "Wolfe!
Wolfe,
I'll
take that drink
Marcum took
now
no matter how
a half-pint bottle
from
his
small
it
is!"
pocket and a glass from
the bureau and measured the thimbleful Eddins had previously predicted. Eddins gulped
it
straight.
"One more," he pleaded.
"No," said Marcum, and returned bottle and glass.
124
"Those damn cops," Eddins
we
"But
said by four.
He'd already of called

"Ah, shut up,"
make
Kelly. Don't
There was
man unable
down and
not
is
they'd of
ball,
dot."
my
hands with
me, George."
for
to get to sleep, sat up, and
in a
lit
way
another
to his pocket, sat
folded his hands across his considerable belly. Outside
sounded the hum of
The clang
of horns
on the
Marcum, who had returned the automatic
cigarette.
going
of waited. Bucky'd be out.
Eddins lay back on the bed, shifted
a silence.
reminiscent of a
got enough on
"I
ain't
him, "that the deadline
didn't say four
snapped.
any harder
it
They
right.
get yourself
They wouldn't
We
us.
Marcum
was
they were going to play
If
turned him loose right away.
Kelly.
Now
Seven minutes to go.
four.
We
Marcum reminded
"You're forgetting,"
till
said. "Kelly
We'd heard by now.
to play ball.
a city at
work. Never had
seemed
it
as
still
sweet to
of street cars, the growl of starting motors, the din
they were
all
music, and he was hearing
them
for the last
time.
He
Optimism was
wasn't fooled any longer.
had schemed and
string to the finish,
out.
He'd played
his
and had brought one
plotted,
scheme to the point of culmination only to see it explode in his face.

He'd been lucky a long time. Now the breaks were running the other
way. It was curtains for Kelly.
"Four minutes to four," came the thin, shrill voice of Eddins.
"Shut up, can't you?"
Marcum,
looked
at
pocket.
He
came
said.
"1
can read time as well as you."
it,
glanced worriedly
at
young Eddins.
All of a
sudden he
to a decision.
"George,
me and
Bucky
life is
difference."
this
Marcum
was showing the strain. He took the bottle out again,

and after a moment of indecision returned it to his
too,
was wrong to bring you into

sweeter to you. For
He
this.
You're a lot younger'n
make
don't
soon be dead. That's
well, I'd just as
gamble. But
both beat
"Let's
it
a hell of a lot of
paused, then went on with difficulty:
in
wrong. You can beat

us beat
me
your case
it
it!"
if
hell,
you want
why was
I
they burn
"If
willing to take
Bucky's not your brother.
to,
was
George."
Eddins cried. 'Turn this guy loose and both of
Marcum shook his head savagely. He was one man, Kelly

who didn't mind dying. "O.K., then," Eddins concluded. "I
it."
reflected,
never run out on you before.
Marcum
won't
start
now."
passed him the bottle. "Drink what you want," he said
gratefully. "All of
it if
you
like."
Kelly said; "You fooled me, George.

the jitters wouldn've
jumped
at
I'd
have thought
guy with
the chance to
125
"We came
"Shut your mouth," Eddins said.
in this together, we'll
go
out together."
was the whisky
It
knew, and he
talking, Kelly
sensa-
felt a fugitive
young Eddins. Doubtless Marcum had been smart

know what the whisky would do.
tion of pity for
enough
to
"Four on the dot," said Eddins.
Marcum's
and disbelief and frustraupon them, a silence like the weight

of the world, Kelly heard a rustle, no louder than a whisper, in the
hall outside. Tense, he waited and heard it again. Marcum caught it,
too, and slewed round in his chair. Suddenly coming to his feet, he
bounded half the distance to the door.
And
tion.
in
face slowly purpled with rage
the silence that
fell
"You, out there!" he called.
"If
you
start
anything, Kelly goes out
like a light."
want
"I
you
to hear Kelly's voice,"
already done him
ain't
"I'm here,
came the answer.
want to know
"I
in."
Johnny," Kelly called.
"Marcum!" Johnny Mallon shouted through the door. "Marcum,

you can't get by with it. I've got men enough
we
"But
got Kelly, see?"
coming out in just

my gun will be in
Kelly stood up.
made
little
he called:
a minute.
Kelly's
He had
Marcum
Make it
back and
told him. "Listen, Johnny, we're

a
shooting match
gamble
he'll
if you like. But

go down first."
discovered that he could take
it
after
all.
It
what moment he died. His voice rang when

"Open up, Johnny. Break the door down. I'm going to die,
difference just
anyway."
do
"We'll
this,
Mallon," said
through, we'll take Kelly with
us,
him loose when we're
if
and make
a run for
it.
safe.
But
Want
Marcum quickly.
we won't hurt
but
you
"If
you
let
us
him. We'll turn
try to follow us, we'll
bump him
to trade with us, Mallon?"
"He's lying!" Kelly shouted. And, from the savage glow in Marcum's
eyes, he
knew
that
Marcum's gleaming
lost,
was the
eyes.
truth.
He
could see the
Marcum had played
killer light in
a desperate
but he would cash at least one chip before the
gamble and
game ended.
"He's
shouted again. "Break the door down, Johnny. I'm your

say break that door down!"
lying!" Kelly
superior.
From unseen Johnny Mallon came something that sounded like a

sob. 'The hell with you being my superior.
can't do it.
can't murder
I
you, Kelly."
"It's
a trade,
phantly.
126
then,
Mallon?
It's
trade?"
Marcum
called trium-
came Mallon's
"Yes,"
voice,
"it's
trade."
don't agree to it. Get this,

dumber than you were out on
Dulaney Street. That's going some. Listen, Johnny, I'll give you ten
minutes to get going on that door. Ten minutes, you hear?"
"You'll give him ten minutes?" Marcum marveled. "Say, who you
"It ain't!"
Kelly raged.
dumb
Johnny. You're so
think
is
running
this
because
"It ain't,
Hell, you're
show?"
"Shut your mouth!" Kelly was beside himself with rage. His voice
The
rose in thunderous imprecations.
veins in his forehead threatened
to burst. Sweat rolled off his brow. Again and again he ordered Mal-
came to a weary, reluctant

Marcum. "The coward," he whispered.
A new voice spoke beyond the door, the dry voice of Kemp
Ormsby: "That was a swell description you gave of Johnny, but he
didn't hear it. He's gone to get more reserves. We're going to hold this
place till Marcum gives you up if it takes till Christmas."
lon to break the door down. Finally he
pause and glared
at
Rage mottled Marcum's
him
give
his orders,
signed your
own
face.
"So
Kelly, with
that's
all
the game. Well,
that ranting
when you
and cussing, you
death warrant."
"I thought you were the

mind dying. Wolfe Marcum, the guy without fear!"
Kelly, sparring desperately for time, said:
guy who
didn't
Marcum brought the automatic up slowly, an inch at a time. Eddins

own gun back into his pocket, and used both shaking
shifted, put his
hands to steady the bottle
as
he drained the
knew
that the payoff
last
drop. Marcum's eyes
had come. The relatively

small aperture that was the muzzle of the automatic loomed larger and
larger. Clammy hands seemed to fasten on Kelly's throat. He saw the
second knuckle of Marcum's trigger finger grow white as the finger
held Kelly's, and Kelly
tightened.
The noise of the suddenly released shade whipping to the top of

window was like an explosion. Kelly flung himself out of line.
the
Even then Marcum's shot plowed his side. One shot sounded from the
window. But Kelly was too busy hurling himself on Eddins and subduing him to look around. Finally, after he had knocked Eddins half
senseless with a
punch
to the jaw,
he lurched to
his feet
and faced
Johnny Mallon.
Very matter of
dins.
Ormsby and
fact,
Mallon snapped handcuffs on the dazed Ed-
half a
dozen other policemen came through the
shattered door. Mallon indicated

his
thumb. "Ambulance
for him.
Marcum on
Damn
it,
the floor with a jerk of
shot too high. He's out
127
now, but
live to join
he'll
Brother Bucky in the chair." For the
first
time he appeared to notice Kelly. "Fancy meeting you here."
"You came damned near being too
Ormsby
late,"
Kelly complained.
crossed the room, leaned out, and regarded the ladder
you had
leaning against the outside wall. "Well,
window than
did,"
Mallon looked
he observed with
at Kelly.
"I
his
got good
better luck with the
customary dryness.
fast legs."
"They're dandies," Kelly gravely agreed.
'Took
me
less'n five
minutes to sprint half a block
department, get a ladder, and sprint back."

ain't
He
down
to the
fire
paused. Then: "And
got a good memory, son?"
"You got the best
in
the world."
"Memory?" Ormsby asked blankly.

reminded him of
"Sure," said Kelly. "That time on Dulaney Street
were rookies, some old dame
well, one time when Johnny and
went batty out on Dulaney and locked herself in a room. Instead of
breaking the door down, Johnny got cute and put a ladder to her
window thinking to surprise her. She laid his head open with a flat1
iron."
Kelly put his hand inside his shirt and

But the
wound amounted
blue-eyed
girl in
the
to
it
came away wet and
Just a crease.
little.
Still,
sticky.
he was glad the
West End was a nurse, because he planned

make him sick for a week at least.
to let
that crease along his ribs
"No
curtains for Kelly," he whispered. "Lord, Lord!"
Cut Glass
by
Frederick Arnold
Kummer,
Jr.
Lopez walked slowly,- there was, he decided, no especial need for

Even if there had been, a hurrying pedestrian on Hilton Street
would have seemed out of place, for the few people on that murky
thoroughfare appeared to slip in and out of the shadows with silent
haste.
ease.
dim
light in the next
block attracted his attention. That would
be Abelson's shop. Unconsciously he quickened

before he
128
knew
it,
he was standing
in front of the
and almost
window. With great
his pace,
down and glanced
caution he bent
into the
basement
little
Seated behind the counter was a man, the light from
lamp giving
Lopez opened the
his face a deathlike hue.
descended the
store.
green-shaded
door and
front
As he entered, old Abelson looked up,
steps.
his
gnarled features twisting into crooked smile.

"So
it's
you," he croaked, rubbing his hands nervously.
was begin-
"I
ning to think you would never get here!"
Lopez
lit
a cigarette.
"Ready?" he asked.
Abelson fumbled with

"Here
is
his wallet, extracted a slip of paper.
the combination," he whispered, stepping from behind the
counter.
Lopez glanced up
arm he drew
left
at the street,-
it
was deserted. From beneath
heavy automatic, gripped
by the
it
his
The
barrel.
jeweler bent his head,- his face was tense.
"Gently now," he cautioned.
With an easy motion Lopez swung the weapon. Abelson

crumpled to the
floor,
blood seeping from
assailant knelt beside him, felt his pulse.
headache tomorrow, he
reflected.
Satisfied as to Abelson's injury,
the combination in his hand,
it
fear
ing,
in
one of
its
As he peered
safe
too hard.
a bit
safe.
With
into the dark interior,
appeared to be empty.
with gold
letters
Lopez picked up the box and opened

in
his
man would have
matter of seconds only until the
many compartments, he
a slender leather case
gleamed dully
old
silently
At once
Lopez turned toward the
and anger swept over him. The
Then,
ject
The
The blow had been
was
iron door yielded to his touch.
his forehead.
the pale green light.
He
noticed a familiar ob-
stamped upon
it.
row
of
it.
Smil-
diamonds
slipped the case into his
pocket and quickly turned toward the door.
Suddenly the sound of footsteps above froze him to the
spot.
man's feet and legs appeared before the window.
swinging night-stick caused sweat to ooze from Lopez's
The policeman
face.
hand sought the
hesitated momentarily and Lopez's
butt of his gun.
Unconscious of
his danger, the
from his sleeve and continued on
seemed an
age. Finally, the
pounding of
footsteps both died into silence.
cended the
stairs
patrolman brushed a speck of dust

his beat.
and stepped
Lopez stood
his heart
With the utmost
still,
and the
for
what
officer's
caution, he as-
lightly to the sidewalk.
Save for an
occasional automobile, the street was empty.
When
Lopez's feet touched the pavement,
new
life
and assurance
129
seemed
It
ple.
to flow through his veins. Squaring his shoulders, he strolled
most jaunty manner.

had been a good night's work, he decided, and delightfully simPossibly he and Abelson could try it again, with higher stakes. It
along
in his
had, of course, cost
them each ten G's
son would get the
fifteen
to
buy the
bracelet. Yet Abel-
grand theft insurance, while he, Lopez,
would receive about the same amount for the diamonds.

Since they were now hot ice, Speer, the fence, would scarcely give
more than that. At the same time, fifteen thousand for ten made a
profitable investment, especially when it entailed so little risk. Lopez
hummed to himself and patted the slight bulge in his pocket. The
diamonds would not go to Speer until the end of the week. Abelson
had made him promise that. The old man had been afraid to have
them in circulation until the insurance money was paid. Well, he
could afford to wait. Unlike most things, diamonds were constant in
their value.
Lopez glanced at his watch. The hour was twelve-thirty. It would

do him good to go to bed early, he decided. There had been too
much fun of late, especially since he had been going around with
Myra. He would take things easy tonight and celebrate with her tomorrow. They would make it a big evening. He waved to a passing
taxi.
The
driver snapped out of his
coma and ground
to a stop.
"Guilford Apartments!" Lopez smiled pleasantly as he entered the

cab.
The next morning Lopez slept late, it was after twelve o'clock
when he arose. Donning a dressing gown, he unlocked the apartment
door and picked up
pride,
his
newspaper. TTie robbery, he noticed with
had been given headlines. Automatically
column: "Abelson described the
man
as
his eyes ran
down
the
being a large burly individual
with a deep voice."
Lopez gazed in a mirror at his small sleek person. The jeweler, he

was making the game doubly safe.
Like a child with a new toy, Lopez went over to his bed and drew
the leather case from beneath his pillow. Returning to the window, he
held the bracelet up to the sunlight, revelling in its sparkle, the very
feel of the stones. Suddenly the bit of jewelry slipped from his grasp
and fell, sliding across the glass top of his desk. Idly Lopez glanced at
the smooth surface,- it was not scratched.
For a moment his eyes dimmed, as though the black cloud of rage
which rose within him had obscured his view. Seizing the bracelet, he
rubbed it vigorously over the glass. No marks appeared upon the
reflected,
130
desk-top. Shaking with fury, Lopez began to dress as fast as his trem-
bling fingers
The
rat!
would permit.
The
dirty double-crossing
diamonds
insurance, but the
rat!
Not only would he

mind was a maze
get the
of dark
as well! Lopez's
twisted thoughts.
Bitterly
own
he reflected on his
stupidity. Abelson's little
was horribly clear to him now.

As a jeweler, Abelson had had no difficulty in making
the one they had bought together
of the real bracelet
was why he had
This, then,
As soon
left
he received the
as
money had been
fifteen grand,
this imitation
at Brongier's.
were not to be
insisted that the stones
taken to a fence until the insurance
scheme
paid.
he would have
left
town,
him, Lopez, with a bit of cut glass in exchange for his ten G's.
How
Murderously Lopez thought of the previous evening.
wished he could swing
on
thin cruel smile
before placing
his
was
infinitely
more
many
automatic
If
men
hall.
As though
The blow to his pockThe blow to his pride
were to reach the
this
in a
single
He, the wise guy, the con
that could be replaced.
serious.
small
his brain.
a jeweler, an amateur!
he would be the joke of every

stem. Like
at the
through the front door.
steps,
thought kept pounding through
man, had been taken by
but
moment
shoulder holster. Then, tossing the bracelet
he ran down the
etbook was severe
he strode into the front
carelessly in his pocket,

trance,
he
Abelson's head once more!
at
he gazed
his lips,
in his
it
gun butt
ears of the "boys,"
every "hot spot" along the main
bar,
Lopez's ego was greatly out of proportion
to his size.
Fifteen minutes of steady walking found

little
building,
its
faded sign read,
"J.
open the creaky door and entered. A

moth-eaten vulture was gazing through
ald ring.
On
him
in front of a
dingy
Speer, Importer." Lopez pushed

large
a
man
with the look of
magnifying glass
an emer-
at
seeing Lopez, he slipped the ring into his pocket and
grinned cadaverously.
"Hiya, Tony!" he said.
"Okay," Lopez answered

pocket, he laid
if
it
on the
briefly.
table.
"1
Taking the bracelet from
think this ice
is
phony. Let
his coat
me know
I'm right."
Speer picked up the bracelet, disappeared into

minutes
later
back room. Five
he returned, chuckling to himself.
"What've you been doing?" he demanded. "Heisting the five-and-
dime? This
isn't
even a good imitation!"
Lopez snatched
it
from him.
131
just
"I
wanted
make
to
sure!"
he
said, his
voice dangerously
soft.
"So
long, Joe!"
All that
From
else,
day Lopez remained
a tangle of ideas
in his
room, drinking and thinking.
one thought resolved
he must get the bracelet
and
man
in
Above everything
itself.
doing so
Abelson
"get"
as well.
methods were usually more

suave, more subtle, as becomes a con man and swindler. The gun had
been bought for an emergency. This was it.
Lopez had never
killed a
before,- his
him once more walking through the mottled shadAs he strolled along the gloomy avenue, a vague
foreboding of disaster stole over him. Laughing almost audibly at himself, he loosened the gun in its holster,- the feel of its rough grip gave
him new courage.
When Lopez descended the steps, old Abelson's wrinkled visage
contracted into a frown,- a suspicious light gleamed in his yellow eyes.
"What do you want?" he snarled at his visitor.
Lopez assumed a furtive, hunted look. "I'm in trouble," he muttered.
"1 gotta have help. Let's go back into your office. Someone might
come in." To complete the illusion, he glanced over his shoulder.
Nightfall found
ows
of Hilton Street.
Abelson's
face
bore
thought, then led the
pompous manner, he
puzzled expression,
way
for
to his private office.
With
moment he
a
somewhat
seated himself behind his desk and looked up at
Lopez.
he demanded, "what is it?"

Lopez kicked the door shut and, drawing
"Well,"
son through the chest. The old
man
his automatic, shot Abel-
rose halfway from the
chair,- his
clutching hands knocked to the floor several books and a green glass
vase which broke into
time the jeweler

still,
fell
bits.
Panic-stricken,
Lopez
limply across his desk. For a
fired again.
This
moment Lopez stood
listening.
wiped the automatic with his handkerchief and threw

Bullets and guns were so easily identified with one
another that it was folly to keep a gun after having used it in a murder. Long before he had filed the serial numbers off the weapon.
He stepped over to the desk,- there was no sound except the
crackle of glass beneath his feet and the dripping of Abelson's blood.
Carefully, he
it
on the
The
floor.
steady pit-pat of the latter did strange things to Lopez's nerves.
It
seemed to grow louder and louder until it filled the room with its
booming, then it would fade away only to return louder than before.
With an effort Lopez regained control of himself. Wrapping his
hand in the handkerchief, he went through the old man's pockets.
132
how
Since these smart coppers had learned
you had
cloth,
to get finger prints from
to use the greatest care. This cautious search was,
however, not a lengthy one. From Abelson's vest pocket he drew the
real bracelet, a strip of
drove
fear
all
from
encountered the
glowing white
his brain. Placing
fire.
piece of jewelry.
false
beauty dazzled Lopez,
Its
own
in his
it
With
pocket, his hand
contemptuous laugh he
man and
tossed the glass bracelet upon the desk beside the dead
turned to go.
upon the
Carefully stepping to avoid those dark stains
walked into the front room. As he did
two blue clad
so,
floor,
legs
he
and
swinging night-stick passed by the window. Lopez cringed against the
Was he
wall.
seeing things!
he rubbed
fingers
his eyes.
The same cop up
When
gone, but the echoing footsteps proved that
Lopez waited.
Silently
other room, a
mad
Lopez took
Why
fresh.
past.
He seemed
from the
to hear strange noises
street.
deep breath. Boy, the
that crazy
connect him with the
Some boasted
killing.
to
air felt
good!
It
was so cool, so
shop seemed to be miles away, years
If
he was a
him,-
free
No
man.
you were smart and
could get away with almost anything.

takes.
was
vision.
drown them out seized him. if he could

Fear gripped him. Rushing up the steps, he once
had nothing to do with
It
figure
had been no
it
desire to
only sing or whistle!
more gained the
With twitching
there!
he looked again, the
left
no
Some men made
women. Not Lopez
in
the
one could
clues,
you
careless mis-
he was too
careful for
that.
A young
one another
couple were walking toward Lopez.

to notice him. Pretty
They were too
lost in
How
fright-
Lopez thought.
girl,
if she knew that she had brushed against a murmoment he wished he could tell her, just to hear what she
Being a woman she would probably look at him skeptically
ened she would be

derer! For a
would
and
say.
Myra. She was so assured, so
her
as
He
Women
"So what?" Lopez chuckled.
ask,
much
as
it
indifferent, that
was possible
for
him
turned into Seventeenth Street.
were strange
to love anyone.
The rows
of dancing, multi-
colored lights pleased him with their cheerful glow.

Rossiter's,
that
meet Myra, and drink wine.
had taken place
the
dicks
He would
would never know.
suspect him? Wasn't he a friend of Abelson's?

realize himself.
Had
it
He
not been for the bracelet
might have swept the whole
affair into
even
he could not help loving
He would
go to
forget everything
Why
should they
found
in
it
hard to
his pocket,
oblivion like a
mad
he
dream.
133
Tomorrow he would exchange the ice for cash and then go away. The
West Indies v/ould be a good trip maybe Myra might go with him.
Lopez looked up. The big red sign of Rossiter's restaurant winked
ahead. As he drew near, he could see the show window with its pyramids of bottles. Italian wine, German beer, Scotch whisky, all glistening in the soft, warm lights of the store. They whispered of travel,
adventure, romance. Lopez smiled and opened the door. Inside
would be
Myra was waiting

raw nerves
his
bought
"I
it
pleasant, devoid of shadows, mental or actual.

for him, her cool
young beauty
as
soothing to
as April rain.
she smiled
a bottle of Chianti,"
him. "Your favorite
at
brand."
Lopez tossed down

weight
in his brain
a glassful,

burn
lead
wine would melt that
low voice giving some
rich,
then another. There was a leaden
like bullets.
it
from
trivial
his
The
caressing glow of the
mind. Myra was talking, her
incident the sound of music.
What
she was saying did not matter,- the nearness of her, the melody of her
voice,
was
that he wanted.
all
Mentally he went over the murder, step by
step. TTiere had been

no mistake. He had thought of everything. Lopez drank
deeply and dismissed the whole affair from his thoughts. He must tell
no
slip,
Myra how
lovely she looked, ask her about the
trip.
was about one o'clock when the newsboy came
It
second
bottle,
in.
Lopez, on his
was feeling very expansive.
"Here, son," he handed the
boy
a quarter.
"Keep the change."
Lopez hurriedly read the report of Abelson's murder. "Jeweler Shot,

by the murder of
Solomon Abelson, Hilton Street jeweler. Last night Abelson was atStolen Bracelet Returned. Police today are mystified
tacked and robbed of a twenty-thousand dollar bracelet. Early this
evening his body was found by Patrolman Joseph Eberts,
in
The bracelet was lying beside him and

"What's wrong?" Myra asked. "You look so funny."
room
"Friend of
At that
mine got bumped," Lopez answered
instant a
hand
fell
upon
the back
."
of his store.
casually.
Lopez glanced up
Murphy. For a second there
stomach,- the room seemed to whirl.
his shoulder.
into the blue eyes of Detective-Sergeant
was
a sick feeling in the pit of his
This dick couldn't know! Couldn't!

"What's the trouble?"
of those con
games
Lopez took
134
Murphy
smiled. "Guilty conscience about
one
of yours?"
deep breath, forced
a laugh. "Ever since
they trans-
you
ferred
Have
to the
Murphy
"Thanks."
fully at
was
Homicide Squad," he
Myra.
Lopez
down and removed
sat
Tony
bit his lip to
can you help
that Abelson job.
us out
on the
He
case?"
a riot! That dumb

Murphy. He was a
plodder with no brilliance, no finesse. He,
keep from laughing. This was
way he
dick asking him for help! In a
guy but so
his hat, grinning bash-
work on
"Just finished the night's
a friend of yours,
nice
"you don't worry me.
said,
a shot of ink!"
stupid!
sorry for
felt
Lopez, was his absolute opposite.

"Sorry,
Murph," he answered.
my
opened
old pal Abelson
but
"I'd
1
give anything to find out
who might
plenty of smart guys in the prowl racket
same one who stuck him up

big,
tough guy. But
The
why
who
haven't the slightest idea. There's
last night,
have done
it.
The
maybe. Abelson said he was
he'd return the ice beats me."
detective took a swallow of wine. "Just found out," he said,
we found is
mug who shot him!"
"that the bracelet
land the
phony.
Lopez leaned back, crossed
dizzy case! Doubt
his legs.
"You shouldn't
we
if
feel
ever
discour-
aged, Murph," he said genially. "Every one of these killers makes a
mistake somewhere. You'll probably catch up with him sooner or

later."
Murphy's gaze swept Lopez from
his shiny black shoes to his shiny
black hair. Suddenly he bent over and brushed at Lopez's lapel.

"Spider on your coat," he explained. "Well,
along. After thinking over that case
Thanks
In
all
evening,
reckon
my
mosey
rest.
for the drink."
his
Myra and
go. The
situation had delighted him, tickled his vanity. Maybe
the stones he would anonymously send Murphy a little
embarrassed, awkward manner he nodded to
slipped out into the night. Chuckling, Lopez watched
irony of the
after
I'll
brain needs
he sold
piece of change. Poor devil, he deserved
it
him
losing sleep over a case
he could never solve. Lopez turned once more to Myra.

"We've got a
lot of fun
comes easy when you're

After leaving
Myra
more by shadows. One

could see
it
it
ahead of
us,
baby," he whispered. "Life
smart."
at
her apartment, Lopez was troubled once
in particular
seemed
to be following him.
out of the corner of his eyes, but
was gone. With an exclamation, he hailed
Once
inside the familiar
He
when he turned around

a cab.
lobby of the Guilford Apartments, he
grinned to himself. Decidedly his nerves were
in
bad shape!
grown
135
man
seeing things!
exercise.
That
Glancing
It
was
Too many
ridiculous!
now, would do him
trip
too
little
good.
lots of
watch, he started up the
at his
cigarettes,
stairs.
Three
No
o'clock!
wonder the place was quiet!

The steps creaked noisily. Kinda like the ones in Abelson's shop,
he reflected. Must stop thinking of that it was all over now. Think
about Myra. It would be wonderful to marry her. No more being
being alone.
alone. That's what the trouble was
He whistled loudly as he entered his room. Things seemed better
He
with the lights on.

shoes.
The empty
uptown.
He was
threw his coat over
had been tossed
holster
playing
safe,
And he had
For
way
of everything.
fooled the coppers.
complete triumph one could ask nothing more.
Lopez was
He
an ashcan on the
wave of
was revenged upon Abelson. He had
making sure
He
exultation rose within him.
the bracelet.
a chair, slipped off his
in
stood
loosening his
just
tight
still,
tie
when
feeling in
through his temples, roared
his
throat.
in his ears.
he walked to the door, pulled
Stiffly
came at the door.

Hot blood pounded
the knock
it
Murphy's shy grin broke the tension.
open.
He
stepped hesitantly into
the room.
"Sorry to bother you, Tony," he apologized. "Just wanted to see
something. After
lock
Holmes
left
you
bought
magnifying glass
Lopez stared uncomprehendingly

raced in
Murphy
circles.
smart, black shoes.
on
regular Sher-
at
him, his bewildered mind
up Lopez's
strolled over the bedside, picked
While examining them through the
glass,
he kept
talking.
"Noticed something shiny

"
Look."
stuff.
'Member you were
sitting
that crack about every killer
He
lapel
paused
ple don't strap
making
on empty ones
just to
on
Lopez poised himself
step backwards,
he muttered
"Mebbe
136
said.
pulled
that 'spider' off your
and peo-
go out and have
few drinks.
for a spring.
Murphy drew
His
flat
."
.
black eyes,
his gun, twirled
it
his finger.
Lopez took
proof!"
he
got to thinking."
in ashcans, either, 'less there's a reason.
however, telegraphed the message.

carelessly
a mistake,
heels,"
When you
chance to see that your holster was empty
Don't chuck them

Instinctively,
one of your rubber
moment, chuckled. "Brushing
me
gave
in
with your legs crossed?
not,"
glaring.
"An empty
holster's
no
defiantly.
Murphy
drawled,
"but
y'see
when Abelson
got
bumped, a green cut glass vase was smashed. Cut glass is your
guess you got some pieces of it in the heel of your shoe!
jinx,
"Funny," he went on reflectively, "this afternoon

of
my
kids with his
too
homework
what gave me the
That's
les.
all
was helping one
about a Greek guy named Achil-
His weak spot was
idea.
his
heel,
."
.
For an instant Lopez stared
at the shoes.
Suddenly, very
bitterly,
he laughed.
Damsel
with a Derringer
by
Stephen Denting er
Sergeant Connie Trent had been driving back to headquarters from an

arson investigation
on her police
when
she heard the report of a
radio. Facing her
now
woman
in the foyer of
with a gun
Byron Cheviet's
waterfront apartment, she thought a more apt description might have
been
damsel with a derringer. The
very young
plated derringer pistol looked not at

It
seemed
girl
was blond, blue-eyed and
the sort poets see in their dreams

all
and the
tiny gold-
out of place in her small hand.
perfect for the occasion.
"Sergeant Trent, police," Connie identified herself, holding up her
ID
case. "Give
"I've
come
me
to
the gun before
kill
someone
Cheviet," the
girl
gets hurt."
announced, "and you're not
going to stop me!"
own
Connie's hand was resting on the shoulder bag with her

inside,
but she was reluctant to draw
it.
pistol
Derringers were notoriously
inaccurate, yet at this range the girl could hardly miss.
If
shooting
broke out, one or both of them could end up dead.

"Suppose you give
me
the gun and
we
talk
about
it,
"
Connie sug-
gested calmly, moving another careful step forward as she spoke. She
knew another squad

might bring
kill
car
would be
arriving momentarily,
a delicate situation to a head.
"Why
are
you
and that
so anxious to
him?"
137
"Because he killed
my
He
father!
him
sent
a bottle of
poisoned
wine!"
more reason
"All the
saying
I'll
arrest this
for us to talk.
man
you can prove what you're
If
here and now. But you won't
make
things
any better by shooting him." Connie was within reach now and she
slowly stretched out her hand
"Or me,
The
till
it
was almost touching the weapon.
for that matter."
jumped
girl
a little at
the sudden sound of a siren in the street.
Connie's hand grabbed the derringer, deflecting
went
it
to
one
side just as
it
weapon free and pinned the girl

A door opened behind them and a middle-aged man
Then she
off.
against the wall.
stood there looking
twisted the
terrified.
"My God
"Did you get her?" he asked.
she
tried to kill me!"
"Are you Byron Cheviet?" Connie asked.

"1
am. I'm pleased to see the police have
"Next time you hear
a gunshot, don't
this
matter under control."
open your door
right away.
You might get yourself killed."

"I'll remember that," he replied.
The girl's name was Clare Grody and she cried all the way to
police headquarters. Captain Leopold was taking one of his rare vacaand Lieutenant Fletcher suggested she use Leopold's
tion days,
for the questioning rather

hall. "She's just a kid,"
streaked face.
"How
"Nineteen. She's
"Go easy on
he
old
looking across the
said,
she?"
is
home from
her.
Her
college this week."
father's
Finally, relaxed a bit in the
Grody agreed
Clare
office,
Grody, died yesterday.
named
him
my
dinner for
poured some
lently
to
death obviously shook her up."
worn
make
He and
ill.
leather armchair in Leopold's

a statement.
"My
for
me
called an
development scheme. Cheviet sent
French wine for his birthday a few days ago.
father last night
Sam
man
father,
Cheviet were partners with
Russell in a large real estate
a bottle of
office
room down the

room at her tear-
than the drab interrogation
fixed
and he decided to open the wine.
too, but before
could taste
it
He
he became vio-
ambulance and had him rushed to the
hospital.
By the time we got him there he was dead."

"You say the wine came from Cheviet? Are you certain?"
by messenger father phoned

was an especially good 1975
Bordeaux. And then it killed him!" Tears came to her eyes once more.
"As soon as the doctors confirmed it was poison, went home and got
The
girl
nodded. "After
Cheviet to thank him for
it.
it
arrived
The
bottle
out a set of gold-plated derringers he kept in his study.
138
sat there
and
thought about
moning
night, but this
it all
loaded one and went to
Cheviet's apartment."
"What did he say when you accused him?"

"He denied it, of course! He slammed the door in my face and
phoned the police. But there'd been trouble among the three of them
before."
"Your father and Cheviet and Russell?"
She nodded. "Father suspected someone was cheating him. They're

partners in a venture to build a big shopping mall north of the city."
Connie picked up the phone and pressed the button for Fletcher's
When he came on, she asked, "What have we got on this Grody
line.
poisoning?"
"Beckett's out at the hospital
We
don't
appears to have been some
fairly
now, talking to the doctor.
have the autopsy report yet but
it
fast-acting poison. We're analyzing the rest of the wine."
"Has anyone questioned Cheviet yet?"

"Beckett was going to head over there from the hospital.
to take
it
You want
instead?"
might as well."
Connie hung up and turned back to Clare Grody. "All right, your
lawyer will probably have you out on bail in a few hours. Go home
and behave yourself. I'll have a talk with Byron Cheviet."
"I
Sam Grody's
"You're the
one
business partner
who
saved
spacious penthouse living
my
remembered her from
life,"
Cheviet
said,
that morning.
leading her into his
room overlooking Long
Island Sound.
She
noticed he had a monkish bald spot on the back of his head. "That
girl would have killed me!"
Connie Trent sat down. The apartment was furnished in a mod
style, with several pop art paintings on the walls. Expensive, but not
crazy
her
taste.
"Mr. Cheviet, Clare
Grody
poisoned her father came from you.
"Of course
not!
Is
says the bottle of wine that

that true?"
had no reason to want him dead!"
"She seems to think you did. Something about a
involving
real estate deal
man named Russell."

"Ernest Russell. Yes, he's our partner. And you might as well know
that the bottle of wine
sent to Grody originally came from Russell.
He and his wife brought it when they came over for dinner last week.
needed something for Sam's birthday and knew he'd like it."
shopping mall
a third
'The very same bottle?"

Cheviet hesitated only an
for too
instant. "Yes.
It
wasn't a vintage
cared
much."
"Grody's daughter said
it
was
very good Bordeaux."
139
The balding man was silent for a moment. Finally he said, "All
may as well tell you. changed the label. Russell brought me a
1976 Bordeaux.
happened to know 1975 was a better year for that
right,
wine so
from an
soaked
off the label
earlier bottle.
It
and replaced
it
with a '75 label
was the same vineyard, and
figured
I'd
kept
Grody
would be impressed with the year without really noticing the inferior
quality. It was a bit of a joke, you see."
"Only Brody didn't die laughing."
"1 swear
didn't know the bottle was poisoned! Why would Russell
and his wife want to poison me?"
Connie Trent got to her feet and closed her notebook. "That's what
intend to find out. Thanks for your help, Mr. Cheviet.
think I'd
better call on Ernest Russell next."
I
"Miss Trent?"
"Yes?"
"Don't
On
tell
him
way
her
changed the
label."
home Connie telephoned
to Russell's
learned that Clare

the
Grody had indeed been
Grody apartment and
told the
poisoned wine from Ernest Russell
now.
What
for killing
Clare
can you
tell
me
about him?
"Cheviet claims he got the
my way there
Would he have had a motive
week. I'm on
Cheviet or your father?"
Grody
hesitated, then said, "He's the third partner in the
shopping mall project, of course.
my
girl,
last
Fletcher and
released on bail. She called
father at Christmas time,
The terms
He
when
did have a violent argument with

I
was home, but
thought they'd
if one of the
buy his share of the business
back for just what he originally invested. That would be a low price
now, with much of the work completed. Viewed in that light, Russell
would have a motive for killing either Cheviet or my father."
"Thank you," Connie said. "I'll get back to you."
Ernest Russell met her at the front door of his expensive brick
ranch home, with his wife right behind him. He was middle-aged and
running to overweight. She was young and sleek, with brown hair and
matching eyes. Connie suspected she was the second Mrs. Russell.
patched
it
up.
of the corporation are such that
three partners dies the other two can
"Come in. Sergeant Trent," Russell said,

room with plush overstuffed couches.
Tell us how we can help you."
living
Connie
sat
leading her to a sunken

'This
is
Helen,
my
wife.
down, crossed her legs and opened her notebook. "NatSamuel Grody's death. We expect the au-
urally you've heard about
topsy to confirm that he died from drinking a bottle of poisoned
140
wine
Now
Bordeaux which was
Cheviet says
when you came
from Byron Cheviet.
a birthday gift
was the same bottle you brought
it
to his house
to dinner last week."
"That old fox! Passing our bottle on to
"The point, Mr.
Russell,
is
Sam
that the bottle
as a gift!"
was poisoned," Connie
reminded him.
and
Russell
his wife
exchanged glances. "You'd better
tell
her.
Honey," Helen Russell suggested.
He
"All right,"
gift. It
nervously
lit
a cigar.
"That bottle came to us as a
was delivered by messenger service
a few
weeks ago, on
New
Year's Eve."
"Who
sent
it?"
"The card with

of a
around
stir
"Helen thought
"Darn right
who
it
was simply signed From an
this house,
it
tell
you."
He
admirer.
It
caused a
looked ruefully
came from another woman."

even phoned the messenger
did!
I'll
bit
at his wife.
service to find out
it delivered. They'd received a call to pick it up at a

checkroom and deliver it here. No one remembered much about
the order, and payment for the delivery had been in an envelope
paid to have
hotel
attached to the bottle.

the telephone
The only name they had was one
Melody
given over
Sugar."
Connie frowned. "A woman?"
woman
"Either a
or a race horse," Helen Russell said dryly.
name of a showgirl."
"1 swear
don't know any Melody Sugar," Russell insisted.
"So you said." His wife moved to a small bar at one end
sunken living room and began fixing herself a drink.
sounds
"It
the
like
"Anyway, with Helen so upset about the

of our drinking
it,"
Russell told Connie.
few weeks and then
took
it
?"
there was no chance

it
in
over to Cheviet's place
Connie was doodling something

possible
gift
"We kept
in
of the
our wine rack a

last
Thursday."
the margin of her pad.
"Is
it
she began, but was interrupted by the door chimes.
Russell went to answer them.

"What was your question?" Russell asked, drawing on his cigar.
Before Connie could ask it again there was a screech from the front
door. Helen Russell was shoved to one side and Connie saw Clare
Grody run into the room. There was a tiny derringer pistol in her
Helen
right hand.
Connie rose unsteadily
to her feet, letting the
notebook
the floor. She had the decided feeling she'd been through
before, just a few hours earlier. Clare
had mentioned
slide to
all
this
a pair of derrin-
141
of course,
gers,
and Connie should have remembered
Clare was released on
over again," she said sharply. "Put that down!"
"Don't be foolish
all
"Not
I've
this
time!
my
father!
poisoned
realized
now
got the right person
When
should have
that before
bail.
the
man who
got to remembering that fight they had,
known
Connie Trent stepped toward
along."
all
it
her,
moving
"Ernest Russell didn't poison your father, Clare,
into the line of
fire.
and neither did Byron
Cheviet."
who
"Then
Connie
did?"
let
out her breath. This part would be
poisoned bottle was sent here by someone
ody Sugar
one from
have
to
apartment
last
it
delivered.
The
who
went from here
bottle
"The
difficult.
used the name Melto Cheviet's
week, where he soaked off the label and substituted
That was the bottle he sent
a better vintage year.
to
your
father for his birthday."
be damned," Russell said
"I'll
week
softly.
The poisoned
"Don't you see, Clare?"
bottle arrived here only a
your father and Russell had their
after
wasn't Russell trying to
kill
your
father.
It
fight at Christmas.
It
was your father trying to
kill"
"No'."
"
to
she screamed. "That's a

kill
Ernest Russell.
was passed on to Cheviet

your
father.
bottle.
been
He
With
He
lie!"
murder Russell, but the bottle

was re-labelled and returned to
he never realized it was the same
tried to
instead.
a different label
It
waited for Russell's death
a terrible
all
these weeks, and
it
must have
shock when he drank the wine and realized
moment that it was the

Clare Grody stood shaking
dying
in his
bottle he'd poisoned."
her head.
"1
don't believe
"He poisoned himself, Clare. Nobody else did

The gun wavered in her hand. There were tears
it."
it."
in
her eyes.
"I
can't
believe that about father."

Clare," Connie insisted. "The poisoner had to disguise
somehow. Your father pulled a name out of the air. Perhaps it was a name he'd used before, or discovered in playing with the
letters of his own name. Perhaps subconsciously he really wanted to
be discovered. Don't you see Melody Sugar is an anagram for Samuel Grody. They're really the same person."
Then she reached out and took the gun from Clare's hand.
"Believe
it,
his identity
142
The Dead Go Overboard

hy Fenton W. Earnshaw
few yards to starboard the
bell
buoy clanged
in
solemn, broken
cadence. Gus Draper strained brooding eyes to catch a glimpse of
it,
but the fog was too thick.
The dank white

ground
swells
and
He
turned
trammel
net.
Gus
felt
Then
The young man's
his
where Andy
in
lips
had
the
iron
Hill
was working on the
lank figure was barely visible in the fog
deck of the Monterey fisherman.
to the
it
in
Clemente Bank.
set a course for
form moving about
easily
with a glance at his watch, he put the
finally to stare aft
which clung
lifted
unmeasured banging of the buoy's
until the
clappers was well astern.
wheel over and
completely as
as
The boat
astern.
jetties
with a hiss into the following troughs of leaden
slid
Gus waited
water.
buoy
mist shrouded the
hidden Balport's rock
heavy sea boots and thick wool
tall,
blurred
jersey.
tremble involuntarily, and he steeled himself
against a shudder that ran like a current through his massive frame.
Turning quickly, he tried to concentrate on the impenetrable path

ahead.
Seconds
later
'All set, Gus,"
"Yeah,
you
he started
as
Andy's hand
Andy
Gus answered. He
said.
"I'll
see
if
see,"
Andy brushed
past
and stooped
fell
upon
his shoulder.
the coffee's hot."
didn't trust himself to say more.
to enter the tiny cabin. In a minute
he was back with two steaming cups. Gus took one with
swallowed deeply.
Andy stood
and
air. "It's
It
burned
his throat, but
grunt and
he hardly noticed
it.
beside him, staring into the gray nothingness of sea
thick,
all
hesitated. "Say, Gus,
right,"
I'll
he
said. "But
take her out.
I'll
bet
it lifts
You get some
by noon." He
You look
sleep.
tired."
away from the wheel willingly. "1 am," he said. "1 am tired.
I'll get some sleep."
But when he'd curled atop the port bunk below, Gus couldn't sleep.
And he'd known he couldn't, because he wasn't tired. His mind was
Gus
slid
Thanks, Andy.
143
wide awake
so wide awake
that every faculty
was ten times keener
than ever before.
So he
"It's
okay,"
back to
toward Clemente
Andy cut the throttle of the engine and touched the

Gus came upright on the bunk and cried out.
Andy called in a minute. 'Thought heard another boat.
horn button.
Go
H rocked herself out
lay quietly as the Irma
Bank. Once,
sleep."
stack above the cabin top coughed as Andy set the

and the two-cylinder Hicks thumped into action. Gus
The exhaust
throttle again
listened to the steady, patient strokes.

Get ready, êt ready, get ready
He
rhythm so long
listened to the tantalizing
he shouted:
spite himself,
am
"I
ready,
damn
you!
that suddenly, de1
am!"
"What?" Andy called from the cab. '"What'd you say?"
So he climbed from the bunk, cursing himself and wondering what

guess," he mumbled, going on
think. "I was dreaming,
deck. "And talking
" He let it trail.
"Well, it's time you were up, anyway," Andy said pleasantly. "I fig-
Andy would
ure we're over the
Gus turned
drew out
Flat.
so that
The swell's heavier. Shall we sound?"

Andy couldn't see his trembling hands
pocket watch and gazed
his
is it,"
Gus noted
that the fog
tral.
The
He
had
lifted
he
lead.
I'll
take the wheel."
some. Not much. Not too much,
closed the throttle and kicked the gear into neu-
H coasted several
Irma
as
it.
he agreed. "Go drop the
"Yeah, this
he told himself.
at
yards and then began to swing broad-
side to the swells.
Gus watched Andy pay out the lead

in. Gus plastered the
woolen stocking cap lower on his head and moved out on deck. His
boots thumped heavily on the fog-slicked wood.
Andy joined him. "We're on top, Gus," he announced. "Let's hope
There was
line.
Finally
a splash forward.
he had bottom and was hauling
the halibut are waiting for us."
He
bent to
lift
the grapnel which would anchor one end of the net
they were about to sink. Gus stiffened and walked behind to the high-
board coaming on the port

shark billy which
hand, drilled
at
hung
side.
there.
His hairy hand closed firmly on the
Two
feet of
rounded oak, shaped
for the
the core and loaded with lead.
Andy was still busy with the grapnel line. His back was turned. He
was whistling tunelessly.
Gus took one full step and regripped the club with both hands. He
raised it high above his head, crashed it down upon Andy's skull. The
144
boy crumbled to his knees. Gus beat a second time in fury. Without a
murmur Andy's tall form fell headlong upon the nets.
Gus moved swiftly then. His face reflected openly everything that
had burned so fiercely within his heart.
"The stick's not bloody, but I'll wash
and scrubbed
Andy
it
talked aloud to himself.
it."
from over the
Lifting a bucket of sea water

stick
He
side,
he doused the
Then he dragged
with a brush.
the
body
of
from the nets and onto the deck, face up. Thrusting
Hill
horny hand beneath the sweater, he
felt for
any heartbeat.
"No," he said quietly, "he's dead."
Dead! Panic iced

at
him
sharply.
Springing
He
aft
his blood.
The
sought escape
first
to the litter of lines
twenty-pound anchor.
sense of guilt and fear struck
in action.
He hacked away
and
nets,
the
line, it
he dragged out
was too heavy
for
his purpose. Then with his knife he slashed a length of smaller rope
which he fastened to the anchor. With shaking hands he wound the
rope about the body of Andy Hill.
He
made him fumble
cursed the fog, cursed the confusion which
lubber-like as he tightened the knot.

satisfied.
He
snatched blindly
at
And when he
finished,
he wasn't
another rope-end from the coils
draped over the coaming, and made
Gus had
he found
it
it fast around Andy's waist.

two-hundred-pound shark inboard. And so
easy to hoist Andy's body and the anchor to the gunwale.
lifted
many
The body splashed dully overside. The anchor disappeared swiftly.

Then the corpse was jerked downward out of sight in the gray water.
Carefully Gus looked about the deck. There was no blood on it,
nor upon the
nets. But, like the shark billy,
he washed everything
just
the same. Finally he went below to take a drink and stare once at the
picture of Mollie, Andy's wife.
It
was nine o'clock when he
kicked a white whirlpool astern
started the
in
The propeller
Gus set a course
Hicks.
the sullen water.
buoy and took another drink of whiskey.

Not once. Everything was perfect. What
ahead mattered. But Gus had figured that all out, too.
The engine thumped monotonously.
for the Balport
He
It's
didn't look back.
done,
it's
done,
it's
done
Mollie would never guess.

after
lay
Or
if
she did, she'd never speak about
it
they were married.
Married! His blood
pumped warm
her flaming red hair and
quenched
full
red
lips.
again.
An
He
pictured Mollie with
eager creature with an un-
thirst for love.
145
And
she had never loved
Andy
Well, that was finished,
grimly.
few weeks, months maybe, and then Mollie would be
natural,
him
Gus thought
the
had been Andy.
The only complication
Hill.
one thing that had stood between Mollie and Gus
Gus
her
in
How
his.
should turn to
reflected, that his dear, dear partner's wife
grief.
buoy two hours later brought Gus back to

mind from contemplation of the money he and
Andy had banked jointly. With an effort he erased the picture of
The clanging
He
reality.
of the bell
tore his
Mollie.
The
throttle of the Irma
graveyard on Clemente Bank.
engine heat.
stifling
speed
The
When
it.
swiftly
But that had been on purpose.
would
other fishing boats passed him
and swept by
his horn,
of the
he ran the boat alongside the harbor master's dock, every
sign must bear out the story he
Two
set full since he'd left the
Gus was suddenly aware
old mill hissed a protest against the fierce
which he had driven
at
had been
Now
like ghosts,
moving up the
tell.
in
the channel.
swallowed again
bay. There'd be
They appeared
in the fog.
little traffic
He
used
except fishermen,
so he didn't slacken speed.
Then ahead he made out

Wharf.
minute
later
schooner anchored near the City
small-boat anchorage and the board walk

clear
the
appeared
shapes along the shore
Pavilion,
a
in
the
patch of
air.
At the top of the ramp which led from the
float
stood
Tom
Gran-
don, the Captain of the Harbor Police. Grandon was watching the
Irma H nose in to the float. Gus felt himself grow taut as he reached
out and cut the throttle.
It
as
if
was
like
some strange nightmare
by magic the bay was
Tom Grandon
seized the
clear.
bow
The
line
then.
Irma
The
fog rolled away and
H slid up
and made
it
against the dock.
fast.
Gus jumped from the gunwale and ran to him.

didn't
"Oh, God! Andy Hill's drowned! He went overside and
even hear him. The fog the damned fog! went back to find him but
he he was gone. His boots must have pulled him down!"
Gus paused breathlessly, eyes wide, and clutched at the captain's
sleeve. Tom Grandon stared at him and then at the Irma H.
"Andy's drowned!" Gus repeated with a moan. "What'll do? Think
of poor Mollie! You got to help me, Grandon."
It was good; Gus knew it. The words and the way he threw them
off were natural. If only Grandon would say something quick or shake
I
146
head sympathetically or
his
speak
But
Tom
Grandon's eyes were
back to Gus and Gus

"I
said
The
offer to take
him home.
If
only he'd
you got
still
fixed
upon the water. He turned
felt cold.
mumbled
to help me," he
uncertainly.
Two men came
captain pivoted and called up the gangway.
running from
the office
and down the ramp.
"He says Andy Hill fell overboard," Grandon began carefully. "Just
where was it, Gus?"
Gus answered eagerly. "Clemente Bank. Maybe just before we got
to the bank. He made coffee and we drunk it and then he went aft to
work on the nets. He must have slipped overboard and his boots
dragged him down."
Grandon still did not speak. Gus went on hurriedly: "1 looked all
could!"
over for two hours!
did everything
"Everything you could," Grandon repeated softly. 'Tell me, Gus,
why did you murder Andy Hill?"
Gus turned like one hypnotized and his eyes followed Grandon's,
which were riveted on the water.
Astern of the Irma H, floating face downward, was the battered
1
corpse.
Gus Draper
But
instantly
how
couldn't understand
the anchor had gone
adrift.
he realized that the second piece of rope he had
wrapped round Andy's waist had been fastened
to the boat!
Death Racket
hy
Frederick Arnold
Kummer,
Jr.
Across the street pneumatic riveters roared an angry staccato chorus.

Pawley's nerves, tight as piano wires, quivered in accompaniment.
He
bent over his desk, tried to work, but the figures were driven from his
mind by the
tempts
eters
at
long, shuddering bursts of
were inside
his head,
pounding
Pawley walked to the window, ran

ancient
sound that made
normal routine seem unreal. Sometimes he
woodwork
of the
sill.
Old
felt
all
his at-
that the riv-
to get out.
his fingertips over a crack in the
of course,
it
was
old. Fifty-odd
147
years since his father had built the place.
had done
It
well, the past
half-century. The Eastport House, in fact as well as in name. Age,

dignity,
father, in
had come to it as the town grew. Pawley thought of his

cutaway coat and top hat. Dinners in the old gas-lit dining-
room, with the tinkle of glassware, the

clop of carriage horses
Pawley glanced through the

thrusting toward the sky.
new
hotel inch
planned
builder,
swimming
To stand
way upward! To
its
ballroom,
knew
pool. Everyone
Pawley shook
roared
there,
day
after day,
it
of girders
watching the
stand there, helpless! Anderson,

center,
cocktail
was doomed
Outside,
to failure.
the
lounge,
its
House would
that the old Eastport
head.
his
recreation
have no chance to compete, that

despair,
jrou-jrou of silk, the clop-clop-
And now.
window at the network
the street.
in
Numb
pneumatic
with
riveters
cackling laughter.
in wild,
Like splinters of steel the sharp sound tore at his brain, tortured
it.
strange picture began to form before his eyes. Anderson dying,
Anderson dead! Anderson dead! The
his face twisted in agony.
racket
ring
the
of
took up
riveters
the
chorus.
jar-
Deaaaaaaaaaadi
Dtaaaaaaaaaadi
With Anderson staying here at the Eastport House, the thing

would be easy. All that he needed was to establish an alibi and then
But the people in the other rooms would hear the shot! As
though in answer, the pneumatic riveters ground out their savage
.
chant. Pawley straightened up. They'd cover

ers!
The
irony of
it
moved him
it
if
if someone wanted
would ever
.
A
ing,
easy.
flat,
commit
Anderson's own
it
colorless laughter.
a
rivet-
They'd cover
murder. Not that he, Pawley,
fierce stuttering blare
he picked
to
to
from outside deafened him. Fingers twitch-
at a bit of lint
on
his sleeve.
Easy ...
it
would be so
monotonous rhythm crowded the darkness.

as a row of black dots, dancing before his
stabbing relentlessly at his nerves. Hear it, pounding in
All night the harsh
Pawley could see the sound

eyes. Feel
his ears,
it,
keeping pace with his racing heart. At times the thundering
cacophony would increase until it threatened to crush him, then

dwindle away into faint pinpricks of sound, only to return louder than
before.
That
He
devil
The
tore at the sheets, vainly imploring the riveters to stop.
Anderson!
If
he were only dead.
next morning he was quite calm. Seated
in
the rococo lobby,
newspaper with slow determination. The furious rasping of

the riveters made the small smoking stand beside him tremble. Pawley
he read
148
his
The chattering machines were with him now.

They were going to drown out the sound of the shot, when
nodded.
smiled,
Friendly.
he killed Anderson,
who was
Pawley drummed
planning to ruin him.
his fingers
upon the arm of
his chair in time to
the shattering blast. Yes, they were friendly now.
At eleven o'clock Anderson came
from Morgan, the desk
a sheaf of letters
tors.
in to
clerk,
Then
Pawley, watching him, smiled.
look over his mail.
and went
He
took
to the eleva-
toward
he, too, sauntered
the desk.
"Hot,
"Yes.
above
isn't it?"
The
clerk
mopped
his shiny face.
Hot." Pawley raised his voice harshly to
make himself heard
renewed outburst from the
going downstairs to
check the liquor supplies
riveters. "I'm
the storeroom.
in
I'll
be there
if
you want
me."
"Yes, sir."
Morgan nodded.
Pawley crossed the lobby, made
the kitchens.
nod
to the cooks,
way through
his
the dining-room,
busy with luncheon, and he was
descending to the basement.
The supply-room was

of potatoes, crates of
small, dark, filled
with barrels of
canned goods, with liquor
in
flour,
sacks
demijohns, bottles
on the shelves above. Pawley thought of the rainy afternoons when
as
boy he had explored the cellars of the old hotel, discovering nooks
and crannies all his own. This place had been forbidden territory
a
then, but he
the rough
had found
wooden
way
to enter
wall behind. There
it.
it
He moved
was
to the tool closet in the engine-room. Smart.
The cooks would swear
that he
supply-room, since there

kitchen.
stairs,
No
had spent
was no way
legitimate way.
He would
a flour barrel, felt
the loose board leading
He was
at least
plenty smart!
an hour
in
the
out other than through the
have plenty of time to go up-
attend to Anderson, and return unsuspected.
He
could hear the
riveters jabbering their approbation. Saaaaaaaaaaje! Saaaaaaaaaafe!
Pawley wriggled through the opening. Tougher going than when

he had been a
kid.
the engine-room.
stepped out.
Up
Now
he was
He opened
in
the
little
closet near the entrance to
the door a crack and, seeing no one,
the narrow brick stairway to the
first
floor,
the sec-
moved
The riveters were sweeping toward a
triumphant crescendo, now. They seemed to shake the entire building. Pawley shook, also, his face twitching. Just nerves. That damned
ond! Another
moment and
he'd be at Anderson's door. Pawley
along the hallway, chuckling.
shattering sound inside his head
soon Anderson,
whom
churning
his brain to a pulp. But
the riveters obeyed, would be dead, and they
149
would be stilled. First though, they must drown out the sound
shot! That was the beautiful, the sardonic part of it!
Pawley glanced
.
He
Here!
room numbers. 217... 218... 219

commenced to hammer on
the
at
of the
leaned forward unsteadily,
Hard he'd have to knock hard because the riveters were

morning so deafening.
The knob turned and Anderson appeared on the threshold, round,
red-faced, sweaty. "Well?" Anderson snapped. "What is it?"
the panels.
so loud this
"Business. We'll talk business."
moment."
He
Pawley smiled inanely.
"O.K." Anderson shut the door. "Suppose you want
he grumbled. "Well,
out,"
damned
labor unions
Pawley stood
pounding!
"Just for a
almost shouted the words so that Anderson could hear.
No
How
listening.
still,
my
up to
I'm
neck
the
furiously
one would ever hear the
me
grief
in
to
buy you
now. These
riveters
were
shot!
"Hurry up!" Anderson said impatiently. "What's the proposition?"
Pawley snatched the gun from

gently, slid to the floor.
make
Best to
on
sure.
at
him
Another shot did not matter with that noise going
outside! Anderson,
cinated,
Anderson coughed
moment, fired again.
his pocket, fired.
Pawley stared
he thought, looked rather
he watched the
lying there. Fas-
silly
of blood writhe like a red snake
trickle
What was he supposed to do next? Oh, yes. Pawley bent

down, took Anderson's watch and wallet from his pocket. Robbery,
the police would think. He'd get rid of the things, along with the
toward him.
gun,
later.
open.
And
Now
check stock
smiling.
the
window
leading to the fire-escape was already
he had only to go back to the storeroom and continue to
The
He moved
hour or two.
for the next
roar of the riveters
seemed suddenly
to
toward the door,
become mocking
laughter.
Pawley's
hand was on the knob when he heard
running feet
shook
in the corridor outside.
For a
voices, the
moment he
sound of
frowned, then
his head. Nerves. Just nerves, of course
The door
of the
room
Morgan, followed by Wentzel,
burst open.
the house detective, appeared in the entrance.
"Mr. Pawley!" the clerk gasped. "Two-nineteen just

that
he heard shots and
Good
phoned down
God!" Wide-eyed, he stared
at
Anderson's body.
"No!" Pawley's voice rose to a scream.
shots!
have!
Nobody
How
"He
couldn't have heard any
could have! Don't you understand!
would you expect them
to,
Nobody
could
with those riveters hammering
out there like mad! Listen to them, Morgan! Hammering! Hammering!
Hammering! Can't you hear

150
?"
.
ghastly silence
the room. Wentzel took, a deep breath.
filled
men
"Screwy," he whispered to Morgan. "Plumb nuts. Anderson's

are
on
strike.
Them
gangs stopped work an hour ago."
rivet
The Deer that

Ate a Diamond
by Edward D. Hoch
The odd
tale that
am
my
about to narrate reached
ears at a small
gathering of poets and editors in London in September of 1937.
had returned from
friends
their holidays in
The weather was
versation abounded.
second-storey windows had been
left
still
It
was
summer when old

the country and good conwarm enough so the large
one of those delightfully pleasant evenings
in late
open, and a gentle breeze had
sent the lace curtains billowing.
There were about
people present, and
fifteen
the endless debates about the Spanish Civil
who'd recently launched a magazine called

was he who introduced me to Gabriel Gale,
ported himself by painting inn signs.
"Is this
your
first
"I
in
grew
tired of
from
off
Julian
Symons
Twentieth Century Verse.
a visiting
in his early forties, a
a bit rumpled, perhaps
came once
broken
who
poet
It
sup-
time here?" Gale asked, taking a sip of the drink
He was
than average height and a friendly smile.
seemed
I'd
young poet named
the main group to chat with a
he'd been holding.
when
War
from the
the summer,"
slender
He wore
train
man
of better
grey
suit that
journey into the
replied, "but there
was
city.
very poor
turnout."
many
"Yes, so
"Tell
are
me, do you
"No, no.
away
in
live in
do quite
the summertime."
the
London
area,
Mr. Gale?"
a bit of traveling, actually. Painting inn signs
is
a traveler's occupation."
"More suited to a gipsy, would think." The remark was hasty and
meant nothing, but Gabriel Gale took it up at once.
1
"In
my
younger days
was quite the
fending lunatics and gipsies
radical firebrand, always de-
in a variety of causes."
151
"You must have some stories to tell."

Gale nodded. "The late poet Mr. Chesterton recounted some of
tales.
"Why
is
that?"
into a quiet corner of the room,
We'd moved
own
ignoring us as they carried on their
summer
not
had
and the others were
conversation. "Just this past
most amazing adventure in the Suffolk countryside

I'd gone there to seek out the grave
from the village of Boulge.
far
Edward
of the poet
Fitzgerald."
smiled at that. "Didn't he
my
wish he were alive today."
call
one of the
it
dullest
and
ugliest
places in England?"
Gale's face brightened.
"He did indeed!
I'm glad to find a really
person who's familiar with Fitzgerald. You know, Boulge today
literate
had
beechwoods to reach the
wrought iron gates of the small Norman churchyard where he's buried. St. Michael and All Angels, it's called."
"What adventure could you have in a place like that?"
Gabriel Gale smiled. "Why, a poetic one, of sorts. After visiting
is
wooded
a serene, thickly
to walk
up
countryside
sandy path through
Fitzgerald's graveside
quite beautiful, really.
drove on to the village
a stand of
itself. I've
learned there
are always inn signs in need of painting, and The Brave Hart was no
exception. It was located at the village crossroads in a building that
had been painted white so

the sign
itself,
with
lessly weatherbeaten.
it
could be seen from either direction, but
red deer leaping a stream, had
stared
up
at
it
and saw
become hope-
job waiting to be
done ..."
Gabriel Gale sought out the owner of The Brave Hart, a
Thomas Splend who'd
lived in the area
who
middle-aged fellow
stared
up
wind and confessed, "You know,

point
it
that's a
"1
out, Mr. Gale,
job for an
am
an
will
his
life.
man named
He was
a lanky,
creaking sign swaying in the
never look
certainly does
at
it.
Now
that
you
need to be repainted. But
artist."
artist,"
could undertake
it
at the
all
Gale responded.
"My
materials are in the car.
the job for a reasonable fee
be better than the
and
guarantee the result
original."
was decided that he should do the job,

He would be put up at the inn for
estimated at about three days, and receive an
After a bit of dickering
it
beginning the following morning.

the length of his stay,
agreed-upon sum
if
the
"So you're a painter,"
work was
satisfactory.
Splend said
as
they shook hands on the deal.
"Actually I'm a poet," Gale replied, "but there
152
is
very
little
money
in
poetry these days. There
is little
money
one
in painting, either, unless
has the talent and the temperament for painting inn signs."
In the
morning,
Gale took down the faded
after a hearty breakfast.
and weatherbeaten sign and carried
around to the
it
inn's small court-
and chairs surrounded by a white wall.

table and started work on its restoration. He
yard, an area with a few tables
He
placed the sign on a
labored through the morning and had begun work on the painting of
the great hart
itself
when
the pangs of hunger seized him.
one o'clock and he decided to pause

Another
traveler
had stopped by the inn
He was
wife Gertrude saw to his needs.
slightly older,
over to ask,
and since they were alone

me,
"Tell
sir,
would you
after
join
and he seated
for lunch,
Thomas
himself at one of the tables in the courtyard while
buxom
was
It
for lunch.
in
me
Splend's
and
stouter than Gale,
the courtyard he called

in
an ale?"
"With pleasure," Gabriel Gale responded, walking over to the

other's table.
He
introduced himself and the
on
eling through here
good country," Gale
"It's
Baxter
Ward
man
my way down
replied, "I'm Baxter
Ward,
trav-
to Ipswich."
said as Gertrude brought their pints.
lifted his glass. "Shoulder the sky,
my
lad,
and drink your
..."
ale
"Ah!" Gale said with a smile, "A poet
and an admirer
of
Housman,
at that!"
"Indeed.
The poor man
Gale nodded.
Housman and
"I
"It is a
died
last year,
bad year
you know."
for poets
when we
lose the likes of
Chesterton."
fear I'm not in their league,"
Ward
admitted, wiping the excess
mouth as he set down the ale. "I quote much more than
write. But
do like good verse."
Gale had warmed to the man, who seemed to be in good physical
shape despite a few grey hairs and some extra weight around his middle. "If you're interested in poets, you must know that Edward Fitzgerfoam from
I
his
I
ald
is
buried here in Boulge.
near Woodbridge.
He was
born not
far
from here, of course,
visited his grave yesterday at St.
Michael and All
Angels."
"Interesting.
might stop by there if have the time."
There was some commotion inside, and the voice of
I
woman, obviously
reached their
distressed,
"What's
ears.
young
all
that?"
Gale asked Gertrude Splend when she returned with their food.
The
mond
proprietor's wife gave a snort.
ring.
Claims she
laid
"Young lady
down and
it
thing so foolish in your entire
life?
lost a valuable dia-
a deer ate
it!
Ever hear any-
Deer eating diamonds!"

153
Ward
Baxter
grinned. 'That's one
young woman
have to
see!
Coming, Gale?"
"Why
He
not?"
picked up his glass and followed along inside.
The woman was both young and

riding habit with a
attractive, dressed in an elegant
cap covering her blonde
little
hair.
She carried
short riding crop, but Gale could see no sign of a horse out the win-
dow. Thomas Splend was attempting to calm
her, as she
seemed close
horse and a deer has eaten
my diamond
to tears.
my
been thrown by
"I've
engagement
ring!
come here
asking for help and I'm treated with
ridicule!"
"Not by me,
As
if
certainly," Baxter
Ward
said,
stepping forward gal-
what happened, Miss?"
lantly. "Exactly
suddenly aware that a reasonably handsome older
addressing her kindly, she brushed a tear from her eye and
"My name
tentative smile.
was crossing
rode up from
a large estate
Little
Albert Bush's place."
"Sir
"
Millicent Grady.
is
Bealings. Just south of here
man was
managed
when my horse tripped
in a rabbit
hole and threw me. Before
could remount she galloped away without me.
toward the
alongside
only landmark
spire of the church, the
the trees. There's a

it.
ate them.
put the berries in a
could see
woods with
stopped to pick some, and then
hands before
stream in the
little
berries
wanted
little
to
walking
started
among
growing
wash
my
heap and slipped
my
engagement ring so it wouldn't come off in the water. put it

by the berries and went downstream about ten feet to a place
where could kneel and reach into the water. I'd just finished washing
when looked up to see a large hart standing at my pile of berries,
off
right
head down, eating them.
It
ence, not ten feet away.
bolted. That's
when
"Perhaps the ring
head
a bit as
if
seemed completely unfazed by

started
realized
my
"The water was not close
it
backed
pres-
off,
then
Ward
suggested, cocking his
at that point,
I
which
is
why
I'd
moved
spent ten minutes searching the
it!"
"Most unusual," the innkeeper Splend remarked, shaking

"Never heard anything
like
his head.
it."
"The diamond was no bigger than the

could easily have passed
154
my
and found nothing. That big deer had to have
in all directions,
swallowed
and
ring was missing."
into the water,"
fell
it
to better hear her story.
downstream to wash. Believe me,

ground
toward
down
berries,
the hart's throat.
and the ring
itself
think the beast was
nibbling on the berries and accidentally swallowed the ring along
with them."
Gale joined
"Do deer
the conversation.
in
"They've been
known
to,"
Splend
eat berries?"
on
replied. "Usually they exist
and grass and twigs, but sometimes berries are an extra
diet of leaves
treat."
"But not
diamond
rings."
"No," the innkeeper agreed.
"If
what she says
is
true,
it's
wonder
the poor creature didn't choke."
must get
"I
my
tell
it
back!" the
young woman
"I'm afraid the possibility of that
her.
"Even
Follow
it
if
you could
"Whatever would
quite remote,
is
identify the specific deer,
"
Baxter
Ward
told
what would you do?
she replied firmly.
stared at her with
open admiration.
"I
you would,
believe
Turning to the innkeeper, he asked, "Whose land
that."
around?"
"I'd kill it,"
He
insisted.
fiance?"
is
at
it?"
He has most of the open acreage in that area."

"And do you have a hunting rifle could borrow, Mr. Splend?"
"Well, yes. But you can't go up there shooting deer
"1 will of course seek the permission of Sir Albert first. Gale, would
"Sir Albert's.
you
like to
accompany
us?"
Gabriel Gale smiled.
He
set off
a small
not something
Ward and
the
I'd
want to
young woman
in
miss."
Ward's
van with the inscription Ward's Husbandry Services on
"Exactly
what
climbed
in.
"I
"It's
with Baxter
services
give advice
do you
offer?" Millicent
on the production of
profitable crops
he explained. "There are some pamphlets
agement
for the small estate,
"No, thank you.
just
Ward had borrowed
if
want
Grady asked
in the
lorry,
its
side.
as she
and animals,"
back on
thrift
man-
you'd care to pursue the subject."
my
ring back."
weapon and some ammunition from the innkeeper, who'd decided to follow along in his own car. Thus there
were two vehicles that negotiated the winding drive up to the manor
house to see Sir Albert Bush. The butler who admitted them eyed the
group with some uncertainty, but finally Sir Albert himself was summoned.
all
He
was
a fiftyish
man
with balding head and red cheeks, and
the time he listened to their story he kept eyeing Millicent Grady's
form-fitting jacket
and spotless riding breeches,
young woman.
'Thrown by your horse on
It's a wonder you suffered no
full
of
open admira-
tion for the
my
property?
My, my,
this
is
dreadful!
injury."
155
"Only to my pride," she answered with a smile. "But somehow

must retrieve my diamond. We ask your permission to seek out the
hart that ate it and dispatch him."
"But could you recognize the very animal?" Sir Albert asked. "We
have more than a hundred head of deer living wild on our property."
"It was an older hart with a full rack," she explained. 'That would
eliminate most of your herd, wouldn't it?"
He hesitated. "I suppose so, but can't have you shooting haphazardly at my deer. What will you do after you've killed one?"
"I've had some experience with dressing animals after a hunt," Bax1
Ward
ter
ring
told him.
have
"I
a large
the animal's stomach,
in
is
"Please!" Millicent appealed.
I'll
hunting knife
find
in
my
lorry.
If
the
it."
"You don't
know how much
this
means
to me."
Thomas Splend chuckled. "If they find that ring inside a hart's
stomach I'll get your name in the papers. I'll guarantee that!"
"It would be a first," Sir Albert admitted. "I'll tell you what I'll do.
Let me ride along with you and if we spot any likely suspects I'll make
the decision about what to do."
That seemed
to be the best
way
to proceed, since Sir Albert obvi-
ously was not about to give them a free hand in slaughtering his herd
to recover the missing diamond.
in Baxter Ward's lorry
gave them a good view of the

"Late in the day
said
when
They departed from
and the innkeeper's
when
is
car,
meadow and
they're usually
the
heading
manor house
for a ridge that
the adjoining woods.
on the move,"
Sir Albert
they stopped to study the lay of the land.
"There's one!" Millicent cried softly, pointing toward a small doe
emerged from the shelter of the trees. A moment later it

was followed by a male with a large rack. 'That could be him," she
that
had
just
said a bit uncertainly.
Baxter
glanced
Ward
alighted from the lorry and took out the
in Sir Albert's direction.
He
rifle.
The balding man sighed and
said,
"All right."
Ward seemed
squeezed
to aim the
the trigger,
toppled over as
"A clean
if
kill!"
hit
weapon with
a casual grace before
and Gabriel Gale was surprised
when
he
the hart
with a sledge hammer.
Splend exclaimed. 'That's quite
shot at this dis-
tance."
They
hurried
down
hunting knife from
its
quick incision. After

sorry.
156
It's
not here."
to the fallen animal, with
He
Ward drawing
the
by the hart and made one

moment's search he withdrew his hand. "I'm
sheath.
knelt
Millicent uttered a single heart-wrenching sob.
was so
"1
certain."
Sir Albert tried to comfort her. "Perhaps you were mistaken,
woman.
dear young
Ward glanced
Baxter
must clean up the

carcass?"
They
over
Gale and the innkeeper. "We really
at
with some
it
from their clothes, and placed
my
deer to eat a diamond."
Could you two give me
area.
lifted
known
never
I've
it
back of the
in the
hand with the
trying to keep the blood
effort,
lorry.
They continued along the ridge, uncertain of their next move,

when suddenly another large hart, perhaps frightened by the whine of
the lorry's motor, burst from cover not
fifty feet
most without thinking Baxter Ward's hands
went
propped against the door beside him.
for the rifle
through the open window

him.
"1
The deer
Ward was
"There
is
killing
any more of
no
my
it
toppled over.
animals," Sir Albert said.
he told Millicent, bowing
"I'm sorry,"
two dead animals
sisted they return to the house.
can
fired
his head.
ring."
TTiere were
dear lady?
He
gasped and tried to restrain
already out of the driver's seat with his knife, but the
was the same.
result
as Sir Albert
ran for several yards before
have you
can't
ahead of them. Al-
the steering wheel and
left
If
am even
in
the lorry now, and Sir Albert in-
"What was the value
remotely responsible for
of the diamond,
its
loss
perhaps
belonged to my fiance's mother. The monetary value is secondcompared with the sentimental value. You must understand that."
"Indeed
wish there was something more
do, Miss Grady, and
"It
ary
could do for you."

"Perhaps
better luck.
if we abandoned the lorry and went on foot we'd have

The animal might still be near the stream."
some discussion Sir Albert reluctantly agreed it was worth a

Watching the drama unfold, it seemed obvious to Gabriel Gale
that chivalry was not dead, at least not in this part of Suffolk. They
set off toward the woods that bordered the stream, moving as quietly
After
try.
not to frighten the deer.
as possible so as
At the water's edge, by

animals drinking. Baxter
before the others
nothing.
later
They
by the
'This
fled.
natural pool, they
Ward managed
to bring
came upon
down
several
the largest hart
Again, his knife and searching fingers yielded
carried the animal out to the clearing, to be picked up
truck.
is all,"
Sir Albert
slaughtered like
"Please!" she
decided reluctantly. "No more deer must be
this."
begged. "One more!
If
my
ring
is
not recovered,
will
157
have to
with
live
group and
my
sorrow. There was another large hart in that
he might be the one."
feel
now that the scent of blood was in

and they searched the woods for a full half-hour before Baxter
Ward suggested he should go on alone. 'The rest of you stay here," he
said. "And be still!"
Gale and the others waited in silence for what seemed an eternity
while Ward moved off into the woods, disappearing from view. Presently, from some distance away, came the crack of two shots, close
But the animals had scattered
the
air,
They broke
together.
into a run with Millicent in the lead, tromping
through the underbrush with no thought of silence now.
When
they found him with his knife
above the bodies of two
he explained.
gether,"
Ward
they reached Baxter
out, standing
"My God, Ward!"
"I
had
to
kill
'They were
fallen harts.
to-
them both."
Sir Albert started
forward with
fire
in his eye.
you people must leave my property."

Ward's hand felt around inside the first deer and suddenly emerged
holding a bloodied piece of metal. As he wiped it off, Millicent Grady
"This
is
gasped.
the absolute end! All of
"It's
my
diamond!"
Even Gabriel Gale was caught up
went up
small cheer
in
excitement of the moment.
in the
the woods, with Sir Albert himself stepping
forward to shake Baxter Ward's hand. "I'm just pleased that you found
my
the ring before
"How
can
"No payment
ing on venison
entire herd
was wiped
out,"
he
said.
ever repay you?" Millicent asked Ward.

is
if
"Though
necessary," he insisted,
no use
Sir Albert has
would enjoy
din-
for these carcasses."
"Take them as your reward," he agreed with a wave of his hand. 'To
see Miss Grady's smiling face
Ward
Baxter
returned the
enough
is
rifle
for me."
to the innkeeper
and the three men
dragged and carried the dead animals back to the

strolled a bit with Millicent
house
"1
for
all
lorry. Sir Albert
up
to the
manor
some wine.
really
returned
and then invited them
should be getting back," Millicent decided.
home on
"If
my
horse
her own, the family will be worried."
"Did you say you came from
my way down
Little Bealings?
Ward
I'll
be passing close to
"I'll be honored to
you home."
'Thank you very much." She finished wiping off the diamond ring
and returned it to her finger. "I'll never take it off again," she prom-
there on
to Ipswich,"
told her.
drive
ised.
Gabriel Gale shook hands with them both, and with Sir Albert, and
watched Baxter Ward drive away with the young woman. He felt as if
158
he had been watching
master
at
work. "Like
St.
George slaying the
dragon," he said, half to himself.
"What was
that?" the innkeeper
"Nothing.
was
can
your
finish
and
".
.
Splend asked.
just talking to myself. Let's get
back to the inn so
sign."
what we
that's
Gale concluded,
did," Gabriel
twinkling a bit as he finished the story.
"I
never saw Baxter
his eyes
Ward
after
that."
"An interesting
have
Why
her ring.
the
first
tale,"
agreed.
her alone with him.
left
else
"Though
don't
Ward may have been
know
if
would
a jewel thief after
should he have gone to such lengths to find
it
in
place?"
"Oh, can assure you that Millicent Grady was a charming young
woman. She completely enchanted Sir Albert. And Baxter Ward was
I
not a jewel
thief.
Quite the opposite,
in fact."
The evening breeze was picking up

closed the window of the room. A few
leave,
going off for
that?"
in
London, and someone had
of the poets were taking their
supper together. "What do you mean by
a late
asked Gale. "What
is
the opposite of a jewel thief?"
was watching Ward when he slit open that last deer. He had the
ring palmed in his hand the whole time. It didn't come from the hart's
"I
stomach."
"What? But how

"Ah, yes
knelt
is
Millicent.
by the stream
to
that possible?
It
was
Millicent's ring."
Charming Millicent! She'd fallen off her horse,

wash her hands, and searched the grass for ten
minutes, presumably on her hands and knees. Yet her riding breeches
were
spotless. There was not even a

"Do you mean she made up the
grass stain!"
story?
The deer never
ate her
diamond?"
"Of course
tended to find
"But
not! Baxter
it
Ward had
it
the entire time, until he pre-
inside the fifth deer."
what did Ward and Millicent accomplish by
What was
the object of
it
Gabriel Gale smiled. "Even a minor crime can be a
performed with enough
was
their charade?
all?"
skill.
Baxter
Ward was
work of
not a jewel
art, if
thief.
He
a poacher."
159
Detective for a
Day
hy Walt Sheldon
had Blowtorch Foley on the phone doesn't mean that

I just happen to be desk clerk
in the Billings Hotel, and the Billings Hotel happens to be a place
where people like Blowtorch Foley abound. Of course, not everybody
who comes to the Billings is ripe for rogue's gallery we get everybody from science guys like Dr. Anathy Polt, to bright-eyed kids like
J. Eugene Demwood, III.
This J. Eugene Demwood, III came in to register about the same
time
was talking to Blowtorch. He stood in front of the desk and
clutched two suitcases in his hands like he was afraid somebody was
going to snatch them.
nodded to him and kept barking into the
just because
I'm not a perfectly respectable citizen.
phone.
"Look, Blowtorch,"
said, "these
locksmiths always rip things apart
though they were cans of kippered snacks. want

so we can use the safe again, see?
What's that?
as
a nice, neat
know
what's in
in the cellar
Nobody around
it.
here does.
nobody even knows where
be right over, eh?
it
We just
No,
job
don't
found the thing
comes from.
You'll
Okay. So long. Blowtorch."
He
had
a nice fresh skin like
hung up and pushed the

you
don't often see around the Billings, and
the
way he smiled was
a big St.
like
register in front of the youngster.
somebody.
"Single room, buck and
Bernard dog dying to make
friends with
1
said,
"Thank you,"
said the
young
a half.
fellow.
Double, two bucks."
"Mighty reasonable. Yes
sir.
I'll
take a double room."
He was
dressed in a herringbone tweed and one of those light
sweaters like those Harvard fellows.
Only when he spoke
had
breeze blowing
twang and
put his bags
Demwood,
down
Our
boy, a
160
reluctantly
tall
and signed the
in
his voice
the corn.
register,
"J.
He
Eugene
111."
"Berniei"
bell
could hear the
yelled.
little,
mussy-haired guy, trotted into the lobby.
He
made
a dive for
Eugene's bags and then
J.
Eugene
J.
yelled,
"Hey
hold on!"
Bernie looked up from under his brows. "Don't touch that one."
Eugene
said pointing to the larger of the
two bags.
It
was
J.
a square,
black case and looked pretty strong. Bernie shrugged, took the other
one, and
Then
and
the lobby.
left
J.
Eugene Demwood,
my
said to me, "That's
took
It
me
roomed up
nally
in
III,
leaned over the desk confidentially
crime detecting
kit."
a full thirty
seconds to squash the laugh that mush-
my
pretended
was able to
throat.
say,
"Crime detecting
was blotting the

kit?
You
register. Fi-
you
er
don't look
Mr. Demwood."
like a detective,
"Well, no," he said, blushing with pleasure. "The
modern
detective
doesn't."
"Hm,"
said,
eyed him sideways. "What department you work
for,
Mr. Demwood?"
"Hinkelstown, Pennsylvania," he said without batting an eyelash.
"I'm
here on a special assignment."
"Special assignment?" This
was
middle sized burg
in
was getting
well-to-do families, such as this kid might
he
"Yes,"
said.
He
hot.
knew Hinkelstown
Pennsylvania inhabited by a
lowered
voice.
his
come
"I'm
lot of pretty
from.
here to find Justice
Grooter."
was
almost choked. Justice Grooter! He'd been missing for years.
It
you dropped a quarter through a grating and got

down on your hands and knees looking for it, some wise guy would
be sure to come along and say, "What you doin', bud lookin' for
Justice Grooter? Ha ha."
just stared blankly at J. Eugene Demwood,
HI and bared my chest for the next screwball.
"He was last seen here, you know," he whispered.
a joke, even.
If
"Here?"
Don't you remember? He'd taken a room here for a rendez-
"Sure.
vous with some of the underworld. That was the
last
ever seen of
him."
a little
"It's
before
my
time,"
said.
"How come
you're lookin' for
him?"
when my
"Well,
force,
me
job on the Hinklestown police
my
scientific ability.
studied
Anyway, nothing really scientific ever happens

Hinkelstown, so they sent me on this case."
"Oh,
see,"
said.
could see all right.
could see a bunch of
criminology
in
father got
guess they sort of recognized
at school.
161
coppers back
J.
Eugene,
Hinkelstown thanking their lucky
in
"Look, kid,"
said,
anything here. This
happen
they got rid of
stars
so easily.
III
You
here.
is
'Take
a
it
easy
know who
don't
funny place
don't speak to
you're
anybody about
and funny things
this Billings,
gonna run
You read
into.
about that department store robbery yesterday where a watchman was

killed? Well, for
happened
you know the guy
all
And
the murderer.
and
"Oh, yes
it,
read about that robbery,"
my
put out
He
to
you was
that's
lately."
"The watchman had
on
room next
in the
could say the same for practically any crime
looked
hand. "Forget
a little hurt.
picked up his crime detecting
young
fella.
right,"
he
it,
"All
Demwood
started to bubble.
hand and there was blood and
a club in his
Take
easy."
it
Then he
and turned toward
"Thanks."
said,
he called
kit, as
hair
it,
the door.
Just then Blowtorch Foley
him, and
had
frowned.
There was another man next to
in.
smaller than Blowtorch, he
and greenish eyes that kept
a sallow skin,
the other.
blew
The other one was
He was
one
sliding from
side to
dressed in a sharply cut suit that tripled the width
of his shoulders. This
was Sharkskin Storn, and
wished that Blow-
torch hadn't brought him along.
And
all
of a sudden
had something
else to
gene, lugging that crime detecting kit of
me
at
his,
wish
it
wasn't.
J.
Eu-
trying to say so long to
the same time, and trying to steer himself toward the door,
bumped smack
into Blowtorch Foley.
"Hey!" yelled Blowtorch.
His voice was

it
in
the floor.
J.
big, like the rest of him,-
back and sort of grinned and

his
when he
talked
could
feel
Eugene's nice pink skin got pinker and he stepped

sort of said, "huh!"
and
sort of
fumbled
at
tie.
Then Sharkskin
stabbed him
in
Storn suddenly stepped in front of
J.
Eugene and
the chest with his forefinger. "Look, punk," he said,
"Why
the hell don't you put out your hand?"

That was Sharkskin. Sometimes
thought being nasty was
hobby.
I
"Why," said J. Eugene, looking like a wounded deer,

you don't have to get nasty about it."
"Yeah," said Sharkskin. "On your way, mooch." He
his
"I'm sorry, but
flipped
J.
Eu-
gene's tie from his sweater.
There was
a small red sunrise
then there were two sound
162
on the back of J. Eugene's neck and

One was a soft thud, the other a
effects.
hard
clopi
Before
my
eyes Sharkskin bent double from a blow to the
midsection and went to sleep from a sweetly placed crack

J.
Eugene Demwood,
then pulled
of his big
rubbed the knuckles of
111,
at his fingers.
About
his right
in the jaw.
hand
little,
that time Blowtorch Foley started
one
traveling from his side.
fists
J. Eugene rolled his head to the right, stepped inside of Blowtorch's

punch and snapped one of those short ones straight into Blowtorch's
mouth. Blowtorch's eyes got
backward into
1
as shiny as ball bearings
and he staggered
a corner.
my
said, "Well, scratch
ear!"
and watched
j.
Demwood
Eugene
pick up his bag and leave.
Blowtorch and Sharkskin started to get into focus again, and
moment
they were both standing
dumbly
each other. At that time
at
pointed Van
First a little
scrawny man
in
came
a stranger
in
the door.
Dyke beard came, and behind
dark gray clothes.
in a
the middle of the lobby looking
in
He
it
a little,
stopped and looked Blowtorch
and Sharkskin up and down.
The
beard quivered. "Had an accident, gentlemen? I'm a doc-
little
tor."
Blowtorch blinked a
It
little at
suddenly occurred to
while
wouldn't get
type tones. "Let the

"Well
"
my
Doc
me
safe
the beard. "Naw. We're okay."
that
if
anything disabled Blowtorch for
opened.
used
my
take a look at you,"
best foreign minister
coaxed Blowtorch.
he said grudgingly.
"Somebody sneaked up behind him and socked him on the

told the Doc.
didn't
chin,"
want to embarrass Blowtorch.
The beard walked right up to Blowtorch, started to finger his face

and peck away in a peppery voice: "Well, well, let's see now, just a
bruise or two. Interesting
tality to
deny
pain.
phenomena, propensity of the
Probably due to repressions
by father forbidding normal urge

Oedipus complex."
Blowtorch
All of a
said,
in
men-
to cry. Yes, yes. Closely allied to the
"Huh?" and he and Sharkskin stared
sudden the beard stopped
jiggling.
at
the Doc.
The Doc's hand was on
the back of Blowtorch's head, he frowned and said,

get this
inferior
childhood caused
"Where did you
bump?"
"Aw, that?" said Blowtorch. "Aw, a screw
in stir
batted
me
wit' a
billy onct."
The Doc went, "Teh, tch, tch."

"Why? What's a matter?" asked
Blowtorch.
163
"Are you sure you don't get pains
Do you
your forehead?
in
ever
have hallucinations?"
"Naw! Whaddaye mean! Are you
Doc
"No," said the
He
gravely.
me
tryin' to tell
I'm nuts?"
pulled at his beard. "Not yet."
Doc and
Blowtorch jerked away from the
arm and
snarling at him. Sharkskin took his
stood
the
at
"Come
said,
on,
door,
let's
go
some witch hazel. This joint is gettin' a screwier element in it

every day." The two of them turned and walked out.
The Doc walked up to the desk, and as though nothing had happened, said to me, "How do you do. I'm Doctor Anathy Polt. I'll need
accommodations for about two weeks. came here to study criminal
types. I'm writing a book, you see, on criminal psychology."
"Oh," said. handed him the register and looked in the drawer to
see if
had any aspirins.
When Doctor Anathy Polt had left for his room took two aspirins
get
and buried myself
in
the ledger so
about some of the guests

of a stray dollar
trail
at
wouldn't
when
the Billings. Just
and twelve
cents.
thinking too
start
much
was hot on the
Blowtorch and Sharkskin came
back.
Blowtorch asked. "Where's
try the dial
"I'll
some
get
'at
safe
pointed to the storeroom door.
first,"
they went
come
in.
was
said Blowtorch.
said.
just
into the lobby.

little tin
figured
J.
"If
can't
if
box
in
open
it
opened the storeroom door
about to follow them

turned.
There was
one hand and
like that,
I'll
for
them and
heard somebody
Eugene Demwood,
J.
III,
a pile of old clothes in the other.
J.
Eugene's voice they'd
carefully closed the storeroom
Eugene came up to the desk, and
He had
when
Blowtorch and Sharkskin heard
try to start things again, so
them.
busted, Wally?"
tools."
"All right, sure,"
with a
you want
"In there."
door on
faced him.
the look of Destiny in his face. "Hello,"
said a
little
apprehensively.
going," said
"I'm
J.
Eugene
in
low voice,
"to
reconstruct the
crime."
"Huh?"
asked.
"The
scientist,"
he replied, unloading
learn an
unknown
fact,
Now,
I'm
going to be Justice Grooters.
here and register.

207,
164
his
believe.
Then
see
junk on the desk top, "to
recreates the conditions surrounding that fact.
I'm
And
I'm
going to come up
going up to the room Grooters occupied.
by the key rack
that
it's
empty."
"What's
this?"
all
waved my hand
and the
at the old clothes
tin
box.
"A make-up box, and an exact replica of Grooter's costume
He
time of his disappearance," said the kid eagerly.
the
at
added: "All the
great detectives of history were perfectionists.
"Now, wait a minute " said.

Eugene interrupted me. "Just
J.
1
Grooters,
thousand dollar reward
that, there's a ten
taken care
I
but
figured
be right
when
top of
see that you're
Go
in that little office
the
in
on the
J.
Eugene,
III.
He
dashed into the
took another aspirin and went back
sadly,
of-
after
cents.
almost had
"Okay.
said,
whooped
head
and twelve
that dollar
Just
I'll
On
could keep the kid and the two gorillas
out!"
my
shook
for him.
can find
your costume on."
side there to put
fice.
"If
country!
ever see a pale green flash of that ten thousand,
I'd
maybe
storeroom from meeting.
"I'll
said.
in the
of."
didn't believe
1
he
think!"
have surpassed every detective
I'll
Blowtorch Foley and Sharkskin Storn
it
came stumbling out of the storeroom. Sharkskin looked nastier than

ever and Foley seemed to be a slight spearmint color around the gills.
"What's the trouble?"
asked.
"Nuttin'." replied Blowtorch.

tin'.
open your
can't
safe."
His voice was
started to walk across the lobby,

his feet carefully
chalk
And
line.
one
in front of
Dr. Polt suddenly
and
popped
ragged whisper. "Nutat
me. They
noticed Blowtorch was placing
the other, like a drunk tries to walk a
when they were only
then,
Sharkskin just sort of glared
few steps from the door,
in.
Dr. Polt's beard vibrated at Blowtorch.
He
you a few questions, Foley."

had learned his name, and
had another
misty idea that the Doc's voice had lost its Ph.D. peckiness.
I
said, "I'd like to
wondered where
ain't
"I
"Just
ask
Polt
got time," Blowtorch said,

minute,"
Polt
"1
interrupted.
got an appointment."
"Where were you Thursday
night?"
In a flash, then.
hand.
ain't a
"I
get
it,"
Sharkskin had backed away and had a gun in his
he said
Polt nodded. "Right.

furs
quietly. "Blowtorch, get
your gat
out.
This guy
nut doctor. He's a dick."
An
from that department
and come along
quietly.
insurance detective.
store.
Save
If
were you
You got some valuable

where they are
I'd tell
a lot of trouble in
the end."
Sharkskin's eyes squinted under his dark brows. "Mr. Insurance,

said, "I'm
gonna
let
you have
"
he
a bullet right in the belly."
165
could see Polt
stiffen
where he stood. could see that he knew

could see where I'd better get ready to
I
Sharkskin wasn't fooling.
duck under the desk.
The door
of the office rattled open. Sharkskin said from the side of
who
mouth, "See
his
that
Foley."
is,
saw him stiffen, then saw a riphim by the toes and travel all the way up his body to
head.
saw every bit of color fade from his face and
Blowtorch Foley turned around.
pling shiver grab
the top of his
Then Blowtorch Foley screamed.
leave an oyster white mask.
He yelled, "I'm goin nuts\"

swung my head around to what Foley was
"Arrrn"
looking at, and jerked a

Eugene Demwood, III was there. The kid was
wearing a dark gray business suit, he had his paunch stuffed to make it
fit, there were grease paint lines in his face and his hair was sprinkled
with gray. Even his nose was molded with putty. recalled pictures I'd
1
sharp breath into me.
J.
seen of the missing Justice Grooters.
"You
"Get ou\a here!" wailed Blowtorch,
ain't real!
Scram!"
Sharkskin turned to see, no doubt, what the hell was making a
blubbering idiot out of Blowtorch, and
in that
minute, Polt jumped
him. Polt grabbed the gun and they began to waltz back and forth in
the middle of the lobby.
Sharkskin grunted. "Foley!
It's
a gag!
Come
"Yeah, yeah," said Blowtorch, staring at
"It's
a gag. Sure,
a gag."
it's
He
it
J.
on, get this guy!"
Eugene,
brought
his
gun up with
trembling hand, turned, and pointed
at Polt.
In that instant
J.
Eugene
Demwood
was bounding across the lobby.
He
crashed into Blowtorch and knocked his gun arm upward, just as
the
weapon went
torch's face for the
off.
One
of his big hands torpedoed into Blow-
second time that
day,-
caught him
at perfect right
angles on the front of his jaw. Blowtorch's knees forgot what they
for and Blowtorch fell flat on his face.
Eugene
turned to Sharkskin and Polt. He turned just in time to
J.
see Sharkskin jerk his automatic loose and hatchet the butt down on
the insurance detective's forehead. J. Eugene took two steps, flung his
hand at Sharkskin as though he were throwing a ball and sent the
were
automatic tumbling across the lobby.

Sharkskin crouched low and put every ounce
hard jab into
J.
surprised to find
itself
fist
body behind
must have been
sink into a lot of padding.
There wasn't much more to

166
in his
Eugene's solar plexus. Sharkskin's
it. J.
Eugene lashed out with
a rhyth-
mic one, two,
and then Sharkskin was draped limply over the
three,
insurance detective.
J.
I
Eugene turned to me. "Gee!" he said, "What

motioned toward the storeroom. "Don't ask questions,"
Come
got a sneakin' idea.
said, "I've
with me."
Eugene picked up one of the fallen guns and followed me into

The safe that had been found in the cellar was standing in the corner. It was about as high as my waist, as wide as the
spread of my arms.
stepped over to it and pulled at the knob of the
dial. The door swung open ponderously.
J.
the storeroom.
"Good Godl" breathed

"Not very pretty
J.
Eugene.
after all these years,"
said.
"Even with that
air-
tight safe."
but
what's
"But
it
about?" asked
all
J.
Eugene.
He
put his hand
lightly to the side of his forehead.
"Come
on,"
said, "We'll call some cops, then I'll tell you."
had phoned the law said to the kid:
"This guy Polt posing as a psychologist, or whatever he was supposed to be, was snooping around to find who robbed the department
store and killed the watchman. The watchman's club had a little hair
and blood on it, so there must have been a struggle and the thief must
have been hit on the back of the head. Polt felt the bump on Foley's
head, and went out again to check and make sure. Then Foley came in
to open this safe which we found in the basement. He and Sharkskin
saw the corpse of Justice Grooters. Sharkskin decided they'd say they
couldn't open the safe, then swipe it later and collect the reward for
After
themselves.
"Then when they came

Grooters, he thought that
know what happened

"Gee!" said
J.
out,
and Blowtorch saw you made up
bump on
the head had
made him
nuts.
as
You
after that."
Eugene Demwood,
III,
"What's gonna happen now?"
"You're going to get a reputation as the greatest detective in the
country."
said, "But
heaven help you
if
they ever give you a case!"
167
Die Before Bedtime

by Walt Sheldon
Detective Cubbs wasn't so sure
when
act
she saw the body.
how
this
frail
little
curly top, perky nose and small
and smell of blood. And
sight
"Sure
you want
And
time.
to go?"
mouth
it
trick like
her
coal-black,
wasn't likely to go for the
one promised to be bloody.
this
he asked
each time he asked
Miss Skeeley was going to
her.
That was maybe the twelfth
he leaned
his
elbow on the desk,
pressed a finger against the side of his nose and cocked his blond
eyebrows,- one up, one down.
Every cop on the force had fun with that gesture of Detective
Bayer Cubbs.
had
a nice,
He
He
didn't mind.
didn't
mind much
round face that would have looked good
of anything.
in a
He
baby talcum
ad.
Miss Pearletta Skeeley stood up and hugged her handbag under
one arm. "Of course
want
to go, Mr. Cubbs.
getting permission for this interview and
don't
had
want
a hard time
one
to miss
single thing!"
Cubbs took
away from
his finger
his nose.
"Okay. Only you won't
see much."
Miss Skeeley drove him to where the murder was, and they started
up three
The house was an

Cubbs said, 'To
flights of stairs.
into studio
apartments.
Skeeley, these things are
"Maybe you
all
old brownstone converted
you the
tell
truth,
don't see the glamour, because
maybe
well,
She had a sharp, capable way of speaking and

habit of waggling her head sideways with each word.
too close to
"It's
know
Miss
the same. Routine."
it."
a business," said Cubbs.
"When
you're in
it
you're
funny
long enough, you
exactly what's gonna happen."
"What's going to happen here?"
"Huh?"
"I
said what's
going to happen here?"
"Oh." Cubbs tapped his nose. "Well,
gorgeous dame.
168
model.
The
let's see.
Trana
Thome was
landlord found the body.
Now,
I'll
bet
be
she'll
in
sticky with
the bedroom, and there'll be lots of blood, her

it
wavered
Pearletta Skeeley's step

"I'm sorry," said
This
folk.
a little.
quickly. "I'm used to hard-boiled

for
stuff
columnist on
newspaper
ladies'
maga-
Pearletta forged
an assignment
She would,
move
every
ahead grimly.
for
Mr. Cubbs, forget
"Please,
me, and I'm going to
finish
that.
This
it."
thought Cubbs. She had that determined zip to
too,
she made. Also, the backs of her legs were
damned
attrac-
"Hm," said Cubbs.
tive.
couple of bluecoats
let
them
inside the apartment,
them
Drickers, the medical examiner, brought
the
."
zine.
is
Cubbs
exactly
isn't
be
hair'll
."
bedroom
right. Jardin, the fingerprint
all
to the body.
and Doc
It
was
in
man, was blowing poW'
der on things.
Pearletta Skeeley said softly, "Awrrgh,"
went
to the corner of the
room and
and got
She
a little pale.
down weakly on
sat
a slender
green and gold chair.
Cubbs gazed
body and muttered,
at the
half to himself, half to
Drickers, "Covers half over body, position
slumped on one
Doc
side
slept. Big bruise and blood on forehead. She got

smacked with something big and heavy. It oughta turn up soon."
murdered while she
Doc
been dead since early
said, "She's
part of parietal plates fractured
"Yeah. Sure. Okay," said Cubbs.
nose and swung his eyes
this
morning. Frontal and
..."
He
put his finger to the side of his
in a lazy circle
around the room.
He saw
blue lamp on the vanity table.
"Hey, Jardin."
The
fingerprint
Cubbs jerked
He
his
man stopped blowing powder and looked
thumb
at the
turned to Pearletta
up.
lamp and Jardin nodded.
who was
sitting
white and
question this landlord," he said, "we'll get a line on
rigid. "After
some
we
of Trana
Thome's boy friends. And we'll question them and have the murderer
by supper time. Strictly routine."
Pearletta's dark eyes
got wide. "Oh,
think
it's
too fascinating,"
she
said.
Cubbs turned
women
his
head and
sniffed to himself.
He wondered why
when they were
raving about some-
always sounded so phony
thing.
Jardin stepped back from the lamp and looked at
Cubbs over
his
169
glasses.
"That's
been wiped
he
it,"
"Okay," said Cubbs.
Pearletta
He
And
what's
gambler
this
awful
he mumbled.
chair.
few years ago
damn
pressed his nose. "Something
was out of her
his
"The lamp, Mr. Cubbs!" she
chorus
name
girl
was
said,
was murdered that way?
tried for
it,
but acquitted?"
"Yeah, yeah," said Cubbs, looking steadily at Pearletta. "That's
O'Connan was
right.
She grinned
his
it's
prints, I'm afraid."
familiar about this murder,"
"Remember
though
'Traces of blood and hair
said.
No
carefully.
name
Kane O'Connan.
all
."
.
over with pleasure. "See, I'm learning."
all
"Yup," said Cubbs.
you going
"Aren't
"Oh,
"Well,
mean,
Cubbs
sure," said
much.
tell
to look around,
now?" she asked.
"I
mean
for
and things?"
clues
lightly.
"Routine checkup. Doesn't usually
maybe."
In rare instances
do you mind," asked
Pearletta,
"if
look around myself?
just for fun?"
"Nope," said Cubbs.
He watched
living
Mr. Joseph
first
her go into the kitchen, shrugged, and went into the
room.
P. Morfit,
owner
the
of the building,
who
lived in the
had found Trana Thome's body. He was a skinny

bald head, with its few arid, gray hairs on the sides, made
floor apartment,
man and
him look
his
skinnier.
"Let's see,
He had
one massive, gold tooth
in front.
now," said Cubbs, "Miss Thorne didn't trust alarm clocks
and you always called her
at
twelve noon."
Morfit nodded his head. His eyes were deep set and he looked at
Cubbs around
the corners of their sockets.
"She always got
in late?"
asked Cubbs.
"Mm."
"Who
with?"
"Oh,
several
gentlemen.
Mostly
Mr.
O'Connan.
Or Spanky
Smythe."
"Oh," said Cubbs.
man
He
started to fidget.
rubbed
Then he
his
nose and stared
said, "That's
all,
at
Morfit until the
thanks. Don't leave
town or anything, though. May want you again."

"Mm," said Morfit. He went out.
Cubbs called Pearletta out of the kitchen. "You know all these society folks from your column," he said. "What dope have you got on
Spanky Smythe?"
"Is he mixed up in this?"
170
What
"Maybe.
about him?"
Her head popped from
He
night clubs.
girls
Trana Thorne with him. He's not thirty yet, and
like
liquor he
One
photographs well
side to side. "Oh, he
in
can afford to go to them, and he can afford to take
drinks hasn't started to
work on
his figure.
all
the
."
.
of the bluecoats tapped Cubbs' arm. "Young fella just
came
to
room
so
the door. Name's Spanky Smythe."

Pearletta looked surprised, then said,
"I'll
go
the other
in
you can question him."

"Okay," said Cubbs.
Spanky Smythe was
He propped
horrified to hear about Miss
his slim figure
shaking his head slowly
would want
"Yup," said
at
the carpet.
"1
can't
understand
murder Trana. She was so lovely
to
Thome's
death.
on the edge of the davenport and kept
Cubbs sympathetically.
"I
guess
so
why anyone
."
of Miss
all
Thome's
friends treated her pretty nice."
Spanky Smythe nodded absently. Then he looked up. "All except

."
Kane O'Connan. How she could stand that guy, don't know.
"Hm," said Cubbs thoughtfully. He fingered his nose. "Of course
you can prove where you were this morning when the murder hapI
pened.
."
.
"Well
"I
no
was out
don't think so," muttered Smythe.
for a bender. Last thing
He
blushed
remembered was drinking
a bit.
at the
bar in O'Connan's place."
"O'Connan was there with Miss Thorne, huh?"
Smythe looked sheepish and nodded.

"Okay," said Cubbs. "You can go. Don't leave town, though."
After
Smythe had
deeply shocked
left
yes,
he called up Kane O'Connan. O'Connan was
he certainly would come to headquarters and
answer questions. Anything to help the police.
Cubbs hung up and
said to Pearletta,
"Come
on,
we have an
inter-
view."
"Any
clues yet?" she asked eagerly.
He was idly thumbing a copy of Mesdames. It

had Trana Thome's picture on the cover. "Guess that gorgeous pan
"Nope," said Cubbs.
sold a lot of magazines, huh?"
"She was
On
zine
the
a beautiful
way
you write
woman,"
to headquarters
said Pearletta.
Cubbs
asked,
"Isn't
Mesdames the maga-
for?"
"Yes."
171
"How you gonna do

about
that
all
Pearletta
this thing?
blood and
mean do women want
to read
stuff?"
waggled her head.
think
"I
can manage to treat
it
with-
out sordidness."
"You mean
"Well
you'll just skip
no
over the actual murder lightly, huh?"
said Pearletta.
"
say something about this lovely
"I'll
creature entering her boudoir for the last time, like a flower folding
knowing
for the night, little
the end of her glamorous
that the
life
end of that glamorous day meant
not dreaming
her expensive silken gown, sipped her
stepped into her
oh,
silent for a
said,
warm
you know how
these people
all
mean their private lives and

She shrugged. "Oh yes, suppose so."
he
she carefully folded

milk and
goes."
it
few minutes.
know
"You must get to

well,"
as
glass of
Cubbs.
"Sure," said
He was
warm bed
soft,
last
"I
you write about

all
pretty
that."
They met Mr. Kane O'Connan at headquarters. He was

room chinning with the boys when Cubbs and
the squad
came
He jumped
in.
up, crossed the floor
toward the detective. His cigar
and waved
sitting in
Pearletta
a big
hand
tilted at the ceiling.
How's the smartest ol' dick

paunchy face. They
"Well, well, who's the young lady?"
"Well, well," he said. "Detective Cubbs.
on the
force, huh?"
He had
big, black eyes in his
fastened themselves on Pearletta.
"Hello, O'Connan," said Cubbs. 'This
column
for Mesdames. She's getting
some
is
Miss Skeeley. Writes
firsthand
dope on the detec-
It's a business, you know."

Cubbs noticed the long, coarse hairs on O'Connan's brow bristle
away from his eyes. "Oh, so you're Miss Skeeley," he said. "Well, I'm
tive business.
pleased to meetcha. Yeah,
"How do you
heard a
lot
about you. Miss Skeeley."
do," said Pearletta.
"Oh you read ladies' magazines?" asked Cubbs.

O'Connan laughed. "Haw haw!" he waved his cigar. "Naw,
just
heard about her aroun' town. You know."

"Oh," said Cubbs.
He
room and whispered someThe man left. Then Cubbs beck-
crossed the squad
thing to one of the other detectives.
oned
to
He
O'Connan and
Pearletta.
spoke to the night club owner. "Of course you have an
O'Connan put
"Well, Cubbs, to be frank, no.
date with Trana

see her alive
172
mouth and
guess maybe
his cigar in his
Thorne
last night.
outside of the
killer.
started to
I'm in a pickle.
was probably the
."
.
alibi?"
chew on
last
had
it.
person to
Cubbs
studied the ceiling. "O'Connan," he said finally, 'That's

the
time you ever admitted being near the scene and time of a crime.
I'm inclined to believe you're telling the truth. But
gotta hold you.
That other murder you were mixed up in
the girl was killed the
."
same way.
first
"Sure,
understand.
got
a lawyer."
"When'd you leave Miss Thorne?"

"Maybe four half past. The milk was
"She always took
warm
O'Connan wrinkled
at the
door when
left."
make her sleep, huh?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?"
milk to
his nose.
He stared dreamily at an invisible point

middle of the room. Then: "Wonder if you'll excuse
minute. Gotta make a phone call."
out," said
somewhere
me
Cubbs.
"Found
Cubbs.
in the
Cubbs used the phone in the Captain's office.

when he had the number. "This Detective Cubbs,
"Hello," he said
Twenty-first precinct.
I'd
like
to speak to
around the Grand Street section.
morning
this
for
There was
"None
left,
want to
the driver that delivers
if he left any milk

Miss Trana Thorne, 436 Grand Street, third floor."
long wait. Then Cubbs listened carefully and said,
I
find out
eh? Okay, thanks."
About the time he got back into the squad room, a bluecoat was
coming in the other door escorting both Joseph P. Morfit and Spanky
Smythe. Smythe looked sharply at Miss Skeeley, then at
Cubbs.
was pouting and frowning. Morfit was looking at the floor.
"Sit
down everybody,"
over the whole thing
said
lightly.
Cubbs
pleasantly. "I'm just
owe me two
y'are,
going to run
There's no reason to be scared."
bluecoat with a large, enamel coffee pot
other door. "Here
He
Cubbs.
got
it
in his
hand came
at the Greek's
in
the
next door. You
bits."
"Okay," said Cubbs.
The
officer set the coffee
got four cups and
pot on the desk.
a pint bottle of
Then he went back and
milk and set that on the desk, too.
"Thought maybe some coffee'd make this more pleasant," grinned

blandly. He got up and poured the steaming liquid
into the
cups. Then he picked up the milk bottle and
opened it. "1 saved
money on this though." He winked in the general direction
of
Cubbs
his
"We found this bottle on T-ana Thome's dumbwaiter. It's this

morning's milk so it shouldn't go to waste. And
it's still more than
guests.
half
full."
Each of the four stared
at
Cubbs. Morfit wrinkled
his
nose acidly.
173
Then Cubbs handed
He
the coffee around.
leaned back lazily
in
one of the chairs and smiled.

Pearletta Skeeley said,
"Nor
don't think
"I
Kane O'Connan brought the cup

coffee,"
he
she said.
lips.
"I
can always drink
down on
it
"Why do we
sit
chair.
She snatched the cup
the desk. "Oh, this
very
all
is
here and drink coffee, with a murderer
somewhere?"
free
Cubbs
to his
was suddenly up; out of her
from O'Connan, and put
going
coffee."
said.
Pearletta
silly!"
want any
frowned Spanky Smythe.
I,"
grinned. "Thank you. Miss Skeeley," he said.
down
should get
business."
to
he
"Pearletta Skeeley,"
said,
He
arrest
"I
you
for the
we
think
"I
put his fingertip to his
nose.
murder of Trana
Thome!"
For a floating second her eyes opened wide, and
in
the next instant
she was dashing toward the door. Almost magically a policeman ap-
peared
the doorway and grabbed her.
in
He
held her while she
screamed and kicked and raved.

Afterward Cubbs told the newspaper men, "Well,
had been blackmailing some
Pearletta
snooping
dope
all
for her
in a little
to have
it.
was
folks she learned
like this.
about while
column. Spanky Smythe was one. She had
dumb
book. Spanky, a
his troubles, including Pearletta.
heart, about
it
O'Connan decided
lovesick kid, told Trana
it.
her
Trana told O'Connan, her sweetthat
book would be
good thing
and hold over people. So when Trana got into the
Mesdames, she swiped
all
Thorne
Pearletta learned about
it
offices of
and decided the
only way to clear up things was to murder Trana Thorne and get
O'Connan blamed for it."

Cubbs stretched and yawned.
mixed up
in a killing
decided to make
me and made
this
"Well, Pearletta
knew O'Connan was
where a chorus girl got brained with a lamp. She

one similar. First she got permission to interview
the appointment for this morning.
O'Connan always
dated Trana on Sunday nights. She poisoned a pint bottle of milk and
delivered
it
to Trana, after
first
calling the
company and
not to leave milk there as usual. She waited until Trana

out and took the milk
in.
"She gave Trana time to

the lamp and beat
it
them
O'Connan
telling
let
die,
went
in, hit
her with the lamp, wiped
quick.
"Today she comes out there with me, gets time to snoop and
the poison milk, then get rid of
174
it.
After
sent a
man
find
snoopin' for
it,
he found
coffee,
the dumbwaiter.
in
it
had him bring
a duplicate in
with the
and Pearletta gave herself away."
Cubbs' digit dwelt for
moment on
his nose.
guess you
"1
fellas
want to know how she slipped up, huh? Well, she was saying how she
was gonna write this article and she mentioned Trana drinking her last
glass of hot milk before she went to bed. Nobody knew about that
not even me.
it
was screwy enough to
start
me
thinkin'
and investiga-
tin'."
Cubbs got
desk and went to his locker. He'd had
off the
good
day's work.
Dogs Know
by Gary
Sometimes
think back on things.
was the best partner
When
Lovisi
Larry used to be alive.
cop ever had, the only friend
I'd
He
ever known.
So damn real.
was always the wild one. Larry was calm, logical, orderly, quiet.
He had a good life, loving wife, great kids, he proved it could be
done. It was incomprehensible to me, but Larry did it. He made the
good things happen.
wouldn't have stayed a cop if it hadn't been for Larry.
was
always in trouble. He would always straighten me out, cool me down.
We'd talk a lot, and he'd always give me the best damn advice. Free.
Not like a lot of the shitheads that want to latch onto your life or get
1
influence
Larry didn't care about that crap.
over you.
wanted what was best

were family too.
for his friends
know what he used
and
family.
To
Larry just
Larry, his friends
Something no one ever does anymore.

a friend. Help his family.
know he considered me family and the thought brought tears to my
eyes when
saw him lowered into the ground. He went outside himself for me time and again. No one's ever done that for me before or
1
He
to do.
used to go outside himself to help
since.
Not
friends,
wanted was
me. Pretend
not family. Especially not family. All they ever
me dry and throw out what was left or ignore

was dead. That
didn't exist. That
was nothing.
to drain
I
175
wanted to go outside myself
for Larry
now. To show him.
Somehow.
remember
was over
Larry's house.
got the dogs.
the last time
Shepherd, the other two
and ugly
hell
They'd make good pets
when he
silk
home
German
a big
They were
black Dobermans.
got them but
for his
big as
all
know he was
training them.
boys and protect the house and family
home much. Now he
wasn't home. Being a cop, he wasn't
wouldn't be
was when he
It
One was
brutes.
dogs meant business.
as sin. Larry's
know where he
don't
They were monstrous
would.
The dogs were
ever again.
watch over Susan and the boys. Larry saw
there though, to
still
for the protection of his
own.
On
day long ago, the dogs
that
sat quietly
me
watching
ap-
It
was
as
proached the high chain-link fence Larry had around the house.
one of those cool spring days, bright sunny mornings. Even the
smelled good.
He was
doing some junk
working on the house, worked
He
complained.
waved me
me
as shit
in.
just laughed. "Shit
air
always
damn dog himself, but never

when he was working. He
like a
looked happy
He was
in the yard.
man,
ain't
coming
The
in there.
dogs'll tear
apart."
"Don't worry about them", he said with a laugh.
nodded, "Sure. As long
worry
He
as I'm
on
this
just laughed.
out of
wood
tinkered with
When
for
won't
He was hammering
something, making something
boys or the neighborhood
his
kids.
He
always
stuff.
he saw
fence. "What's
wouldn't budge he got up and came over to the
wrong, scared of
few puppies?"
some slimebag coming
"Yeah, puppies. Suppose they think I'm
mug
side of the fence
at all."
to
you? Rob the house? Steal your tinker toys?"
"Nah, don't worry, they won't hurt you. I'm telling you, Vic, they
can pick up on things better than people. Things

ship, belonging.
You belong,
said, "Fine, Larry,
of the gate to
It
where
dogs know," but

I
He
busted
my
We
all
the same. Larry always told
pants. Fun ain't
176
all
didn't
there
is.
move
until
was being
good
me
he came out
safe.
joked around. Talked
chops because
fooling with this fast girl that was no

fun
like feelings, friend-
me, dogs know."
was standing nice and
was funny back then.
dreams.
Vic. Believe
for
me
a lot.
We
had
peckerhead by
but a lot of
to be careful, keep
it
damn
in
my
never could see what else there was
The other
beside fun.
seemed
side only
to
be pain and hurt and
I'd
seen enough of that.
and clear thinking was Larry's thing. He had it. never

That could be why we partnered so well together. It's sure as hell
Self-control
did.
why
on the force
lasted
long after
for so
all
the crap
we saw
in
the
day-to-day.
1
was
shook when the cop
real
even though
it
me, not to go
time
was
been
I'd
he
hit.
it,
things will be
my wound,
got Larry.
mean,
but
bothered me,
It
him not
told
Larry didn't
listen.
to leave
The
one
didn't listen to me!
Leg wound and

like usual, so
OK.
killer
fault.
guy alone
after the
right
calm about
my
hadn't been
it
was bleeding badly. Larry seemed so
by-the-book.
Larry quickly
thought,
OK,
made an improvised
we're cool,
tourniquet for
ran back to the car and pulled the shotgun from the trunk.
know what was happening. thought he was going to stand

guard over me or something until backup arrived. Logical right? The
way it should be done. Larry was always so calm, doing the smart
1
didn't
Only
thing.
saw
me
this
time he acted more
bleeding,
hit,
like
me
than
I'd
ever done.
He
maybe dying, and he freaked for vengeance.

fast. The cop killer had struck once before in
happened so
We were in our usual prowl area and were on the lookout for him like everyone else. We never expected to find him. We
didn't. He found us. He was hunting cops. The whole thing was a setup and we'd walked right into it.
"No!"
shouted, "Don't do it!"
"Shut up and stay put," Larry whispered, calm, smiling now, "This
all
It
this
borough.
won't take long.
He
slipped
I'll
two
be back
damn
darkness of the night so
tried like hell to get
in five minutes."
cartridges into the shotgun, then blended into the

fast
like
between heartbeats.
up and follow him.
knew
the backups
would be here soon, but they'd be too late.

remember crawling
across the wet asphalt, moving forward, leaving a sticky smear of red
behind me like was a damn snail. I'd knotted the tourniquet, tied it
as tight as
could. It wasn't working so great, too much leakage. So
much blood now. tried to get up on my good leg, stumble, hop, do
anything to catch up to Larry. It wouldn't work. By then was dizzy
and much too weak. So crawled. Crawled like a motherfucken bug.
I
My
revolver drawn,
my
eyes searching desperately for Larry in the
darkness, searching for the
the night.
crete
were
Finally,
The shadows,
all
I
killer,
seeing nothing but the blackness of
the black of the bricks, the asphalt and con-
closing in on me.
spotted Larry.
was about to
yell out to
him
to get back
177
when
to the car,
heard the shots. They came out of the blackness
around me, and they struck him down.
was weeks before
It
recovered. At least physically. Mentally,
don't know. I'm Vic Powers,
was weeks
It
thing
it,
from most people.
different
It's
when
later
did was extend
got
no sweat. Then
my
Let's leave
time
now.
at that for
it
of dealing with things.
move
The first
Wounded cop. Line of duty. got
perform my own investigation and get
was able to
decided to
my own way
really
around.
off.
Larry's killer.
had some good hunches. Better
report.
seen the
I'd
killer.
He came
from his hiding place.

stood there. Laughing.
there, but
from
saw
It
had not put
my
in
came out
out to look at his handiwork.
He
He
was
was only
for a minute.
didn't
know
his face as clear as daylight in the flash of a headlight
passing car. That was
facts. Facts
Clear. After he'd shot Larry he
all
needed.
could wait.
never forget
I'd
that face.
Rounding up the creep was no problem.
good
dig around and find him. I'm

run
way with
the
all
The
was
piece-of-shit
the trunk of
the hell
my
car.
it.
my
was going to do
This was something
Once
me
long to
get the scent
Hungry. Non-stop.
meat now.
had him
was driving around the
didn't take
It
at that stuff.
There were
to him.
wanted
and gagged
tied
city thinking about
in
what
a lot of possibilities.
to think through real good.
It
was
for
Larry.
It
I
was
good
feeling to have Larry's killer just
kept thinking about that.
where
wanted him.
thought about what Larry would have
done. Shit, he'd have done the right thing and brought the guy
"1
do
can't
What
if
that, Larry,"
said out loud.
the killer got off from
liberal idiots figure
and he got
Damn
some
he didn't get
as
It
went against the
soft-bellied judge?
many
"rights" as
What
if
in.
grain.
some
he was entitled to
a light, easy-tit sentence? I'd seen that shit
too much.
weasels!
That's the bullshit they call justice
but
the only justice for a mur-
and
hung a turn onto the parkway, Floored the gas pedal. The speed
felt good and there was no traffic. Speedometer moving up to 60, past
65 now. popped another upper. Been driving a long time. Thinking.
derer
is
a quick bullet in the brain
six feet of dirt.
Thinking so much
When
178
finally
it
hurt.
became aware
of the sounds
didn't
know what
the
Then
they were.
hell
banging from the trunk. The
realized,
was awake, kicking around
killer
in the darkness, trying to get out.
"Shut up! You fucking murdering bastard!"
He
kept kicking.
The sound went right through my brain.

knew that would rattle his cage a bit.
took a sharp turn,
"Now
shut up and
me
let
think!"
It was driving me crazy.

what should do with this piece of garbage?"
Larry wouldn't answer me just then. Maybe it was the drugs. Or me
being so tired. mean, knew Larry was dead and couldn't talk to me,
but
really needed to hear his voice just then.
really needed to talk
The banging wouldn't

"Larry,
stop.
The
to him.
we'd never
fact that
couldn't be!
It
talk to him.
"I'm alone,
needed to talk to
him
man, help me.
don't
The banging began

need you,
"I
Maybe
just couldn't be!
The banging
It
still
don't
to do."
me? Why'd you put
yourself
it!"
Drowning out
now, Larry.
up.
could
brain.
leave
wasn't worth
continued.
"I'm all alone
know what
my
Why'd you
me?
Larry was dead, but
just then.
again. Into
Larry.
out there to save
me
burned
talk again just
the sound of the car.
know what
the fuck to do any-
more!"
The banging grew
louder. Intense.
"Shut up back there! You fucken

ever had!
He was
like a
You
killer!
killed the
me and you
brother to
killed
him
only friend
for
no damn
reason!"
The
"Shut up!
The
OK,
got
in
heard them.
it
hands
was
open and chugged
the back seat.
The guy was

city.
The
better.
It
mouth made only
rip
your fucking face
off
up!"
open another bottle of
down between
the tears.
shattered on another bottle.
quiet now.
tiny
HEARD THEM!
noise stopped.
tried to
it
now and
you don't shut
if
kicking stopped.
that
heard them!
stop this car right
I'll
my damn
with
but the tape over his
killer tried to yell
sounds. But
Now
could think. So
didn't
I
beer. Finally
Threw
the
empty
even notice.
drove around the
Thinking. Talking with Larry's ghost. Trying to figure out what
we should
do.
thought about
how
was going to be to plug that murdergood. Permanent customize job on

that fucker. But it had to be good. It had to be special. Just killing him
wasn't enough. It had to mean something, just as Larry's life had
meant something. So much.
I
ing son-of-a-bitch. Plug
"What should
lovely
him
it
real
do, Larry?" the
highway
lights rushing
over
my
179
my
fogging
tearful eyes,
glassy vision, leaving
me
alone and confused.
"Why'd you leave me! I'm so lost now. don't know what the hell to
do. Help me, Larry!"
knew it had to be the drugs talking. didn't care. Before crashed
popped some more uppers, letting the car drive me. We drove all
over. It eventually took me to the old neighborhood, the place where
got there but it was
had grown up.
don't know how
Larry and
significant. It was the place where Larry had chosen to live his life
knew then that Larry was guiding
with Susan and raise their family.
1
my
hand.
1
passed the house slowly. Everything looked the same, nothing
seemed to have changed since the killing. Except for

gone now forever. The feeling of loss was heavy in the
fog swirling
all
around me, everything so
He was
Larry.
air, like a
sad, so lonely.
thick
could
feel
what Susan and the boys were going through. Susan's quiet determibed at night as
That was an
aching loss that would always be an open wound. Then there was the
anger of the boys, all they'd miss growing up without a father. Just
when they'd really need him he couldn't be there for them. knew
what they felt. felt it too.
My fist smashed the dashboard.
nation, her bravery, the sadness, that cold loneliness in
she slept alone. Without Larry for the rest of her
life.
stopped the damn
knew what
was
It
car.
had to do.
dark. Just right for
a quiet street.
No
what
I'd
one was around.
decided.
parked the
car.
It
was
unlocked the truck and took out
the garbage.
you make one move, one whisper,

Got it!"
"If
out.
He nodded, shivering, eyes ablaze.

He was cuffed, hands behind, duct
another piece of tape.
covered
his eyes. Tight.
long piece.
He
I'll
blow your fucking brains
tape over the mouth.
Wrapped
it
around
his
cut off
head so
it
wasn't seeing nothing.
me no problems."
pulled
him out of the trunk and he fell to the asphalt.
feet by his hair.
took my right hand and dug it into the
neck leading him forward to the gate. saw the dog house
"We're going for a walk, don't give

I
him
pulled
to his
back of
his
Larry had built for the three monsters.
anywhere
murder.
It
They were
180
in sight.
The
knew Susan kept them
three monsters weren't

in the
house since the
helped having them around, helped with the loneliness.

Larry's
dogs and he loved them, a small part of Larry
left
alive in the world.
Larry's children too.
The dogs were

They were the
boys' brothers now.
opened the gate to the backyard.
were
a part of the family, they
open
slid
It
silently.
pushed
the killer forward.
There was
twenty
a metal pole in the center of the yard.
feet high,
the ground.
It
made
was
of thick gauge piping Larry had
make an oldtime
Larry was going to
real solid.
It was about
cemented into
swing or something for him and Susan someday. That day would
come now but
never
hoped
to the ground, unlocked
to put
to
it
one of the
good
use.
pushed the
cuffs,
quickly putting
left
the tape on his
again with his arms behind the pole.
it
killer
back on
mouth and
eyes.
He got nervous and tried to kick me, almost hitting my sore leg.
smacked him upside the head. He bled a bit, was stunned.
held
I
myself back from finishing the job.

I
him there and went
left
to the house, rang the bell.
Susan answered. Behind her were Larry's four teenage sons, the
three dogs stood strangely quiet in the background. Waiting. Antici-
Watching so damn
pating.
interested.
What
Susan was surprised. "Vic?

I
said, "Susan, I've
you doing
are
here?"
got something for you, for the boys. Something
chained in the back yard. It's the man who killed

saw him do it. He's yours. Do whatever you want to him. No
one need ever know. I'll be back this time tomorrow night to take care
for Larry too. He's
Larry.
of what's
Then
left."
I
left.
Their faces blank, stunned.
to say. Neither did
it
I.
I'd
said enough.
None
got in
my
of
them knew what
car and drove away.
drove around for hours. Thinking things through. Trying to figure
out
in
my own
way.
particular cop, just
know why he
did
Why
any cop.
it.
He
did this guy want to

I
couldn't figure
just did
it.
Larry and that was enough for me.
everything makes sense.

I
didn't
Damn
It
little
know what Susan and
it.
didn't care
didn't
really
the boys
kill
cops?
Maybe he
even
now. He'd murdered
have to make sense. Not

does anymore. To me.
would do
to him.
they deserved the opportunity to make him pay, they were
much,
Not one
didn't
figure
owed
that
what America's all about? Opportunity.

And Justice! Let the family decide what the killer deserved.
know it was a stupid thing to do. Not only career-wise. Hell, my
cop career was going right down the toilet since Larry's death. knew
that.
didn't care now. I'd never be able to handle it again. Not that
at least.
Hey,
isn't
that
181
And now,
did so well before.
more
the
thought about
it,
realized
messed up again. Real bad. I'd put Susan and the boys in terrible
jeopardy, made them have to make nasty choices they should have
I'd
been spared.
It
boys would
Larry's
just tear the bastard apart.
They
weren't so
much
but they loved him fiercely. They'd destroy the guy
like their dad,
who murdered him

might destroy
"Stupid
them in considerable danger. What if that

would be on my head. If he didn't get away
also placed
I'd
bastard got loose?
them
shit!
they could.
if
they did
if
Why
do
I'd
made
it
out.
always fuck up the worst
now. And
that possible
and word got
it
when
do
try to
good?"
I
looked
the night.
It
was already 5 A.M. I'd been driving most of

two days.
was running on coffee and
hadn't slept in
And
uppers.
my watch.
at
I
Where
beer.
the hell was
on the way back. By the time
traffic
anyway?
had
to hurry.
got into Brooklyn
it
hit
was already
rush hour.
was nervous. Flying from the pills and lack of sleep. Worried
I'd find in the back yard. Susan and the boys had been
through so much, now I'd put this shit on them. I felt like crap.
1
about what
pulled up to the house with a screech, got out of the car, ran to
the front porch. Susan opened the door. She was alone, the boys were
Or were
probably on the way to school that time of morning.

out in the back with the
me
Susan saw
"Susan
they
killer!
but didn't say a word.
?"
.
She shook her head. Stunned.

he dead?" asked.
"Is
She ignored
my
we had
"Vic,
"Sue,
know.
question. There
very bad night
I'm so sorry,
"The boys went wild.
was so weird,
didn't.
It
thought about
the bed Larry and

really
going to
little
would have,
of
filth,
182
smile as she said
wish
"but
it
would be the
but please, Vic,
him
when
first
time.
we
they
apart, but
it,
was alone in bed. Alone in

But the boys stopped. They were
I
in."
a stupid thing to do," but she

it,
wasn't like they didn't want to do
night
used to share.
was such
don't understand.
it
."
.
over them for the
that bastard, tear
him but they stopped."

I'll go get him and bring him
kill
"I'm glad. Sue.
"Vic, that
last
her face.
wasn't thinking right
kill
Vic,
it
in
night because of you."
lost control
thought they were going to

even
was anger
last
all
love
you
for
it.
gave
me
Don't think
could have brought Larry back, and
sad
we
if
it
on that piece
get that garbage out of our back yard. Take it
first
one to
pull the trigger
where
it
belongs.
want
don't
our house any-
his presence fouling
more."
I
nodded.
looking so
subdued for once. She slowly closed the door,

went to the side of the house, through the gate, out
bit
tired.
to the back yard.
The
name wasn't important, was where I'd left him the

Same position. Same condition. Untouched. His mouth
killer, his
night before.
and eyes were
covered with the duct tape. His hands
still
behind him to the pole.

1
moved up
close.
He
He
cuffed
still
lay stretched out, quiet, motionless.
stiffened.
whispered into
his ear.
"So no one touched you. You're a lucky piece-of-shit! These are
good people, you
don't deserve their mercy. I'm taking you in for the

murder of policeman Larry Jenkins.
saw you do it. I'm his partner,
the one you wounded in the leg. The one that didn't die."
I
moved behind him and bent down low
cuff.
into
He
snapped open.
It
my bad
leg.
He
His wrist
my
to put
key into the
slid
out of the cuff.
out a gasp of pain.
let
square on the side of the head near the eye.
stunned, seeing stars for a moment. By the time
reeled,
was on me
like a
He knew was
I
the only thing between him and freedom.
me
out and no one would ever know.
could have smashed him
having trouble fighting him
off,
knew
was
me
Then he
in a fight for
my death and
inside my jacket to
hit
me
again. Hard.
my
life
with
nothing to
get at
my
Two, three
think straight anymore, the hands at
my
breathing. Things started to get fuzzy
all
fingers digging
off balance.
shake him
tried to
everything to gain by
tried to reach
was the
wasn't a
was
my
seeing two of him, four hands at
throat pressing tighter and tighter.

I
He
dozen ways to Sunday,
but he was wiry and frantic, and his attack had
good, and
mouth and
madman.
only witness. Take

big guy, normally
back
fell
could see images
again the killer had ripped the duct tape off his eyes and
me
loose with a roundhouse swing, the metal cuff catching
let
there.
left
lashed out with his leg, his boot smashing
deeper and deeper into
off,
but he was
a killer
who had
lose.
revolver, but
times.
It
it
wasn't
was hard
throat were cutting off
around me.
my
throat,
my
felt
the
to
my
killer's
corded muscles
way as he pressed, cutting off my breathing.

remember seeing his face up so close. Young, almost handsome,
slowly giving
I
now
all
The son-of-a-bitch was

knew what was coming, soon he was going to add one
twisted with hatred and bloodlust.
smiling, he
more dead cop
My
head
to his tally.
lolled over to the side,
tried to hit him,
knock him
off
183
my fists could only hit weak and glancing blows that hardly
seemed to bother him.
saw Susan at the screen door on the back porch. Her attention
had finally been drawn by the noise of the fight. The alarm in her face
me, but
said
it
all
knew
to me, she
Then Susan opened
My voice was
was
goner too.
the screen door.
able to
out one tiny gasp of terror as
let
pack of monstrous dogs charging down

of hell.
The
me. They ran
at
saw
They were on
instantly.
couldn't get away, he couldn't shake
me
left
my
they were after
him
moving in on
chunk
No
them
They knew
attacker.
chomping
his neck,
was able to
cutting
killer's throat,
roll
off. It
blood
hands
his
me
as
in a
at
all,
They took
the difference.
dozen
places,
he tried vainly to
away, watching the dogs close
500 pounds of smashing,
that could deliver over
And
was wonderful.
with bloody teeth, crushing
it
They
matter what he did, he
but not touching
real close
here, a bite there, drawing
of
defend himself.
the
coming
alone,
lust.
the killer like white on rice.
they held onto him while he screamed.
They
out
giant Shephard with slavering jaws and long razor teeth,
the two silk-black Dobermans, eyes ablaze with the killing
were on us
Larry's
like bats
in
on
with jaws
it
demolition
killing,
pressure.
Susan came out of nowhere,

quickly
moved
off to sit quietly
her.
prodded part of the bloody carcass of
There wasn't much

than
hell.
That
me
didn't care because
wouldn't need
one piece and
left in
up.
all
was
of
anymore.
it
so closely. Guardedly.
more
action. That's not
Susan smiled
"Just
at
my
hand.
was obvious he was deader
killer's.
would wash
It
little
They looked
what
covered
really shaky,
was the
it
watched the dogs, growing
Larry's killer with
it
garbage never looked so good.
pile of
Susan helped
me
muttered a command, the dogs
behind
wanted
That was
in blood,
OK
but
by me, he
off real easy too.
nervous.
like
They were watching
they were ready for some
to see.
me, "What a mess."
what he deserves,"
said.
"Not him, Vic. You. And don't be scared of the puppies.
OK
It's
now."
Puppies,
thought.
When
found
my
voice
said,
"They make
me
nervous."
"You make them nervous too, but don't

"I
know,
that's
She smiled
184
what Larry always used
at the
mention of
Larry's
let
to
them bother you."
tell
me."
name. So did
1.
We
both
missed him, both
him with us
felt
just then.
swear, he was there.
Smiling.
She
said,
"The dogs won't hurt you,
emy. You're not the enemy. Larry was

1
didn't say a
So
word. Larry was
right.
one of the ugly
tried to pet
hand, almost taking
it
Vic.
right.
They only hurt

Dogs know."
the en-
Dogs know.
brutes.
He
took
snap
at
my
off!
He
Susan laughed. "Larry always said dogs know, Vic.
didn't say
they were fucking geniuses!"
Duck Behind
that Eight-Ball!
by Nick Spain
You run
pool hall long enough, you get so you can
The minute the guy walked in, knew he was

named Giles hang around here?"
1
said,
"They
"Seems
me
tell
"He comes
"I'll
heard the name.
these things.
He
said,
"Fellow
What do you want him
for?"
he's here all the time."
now and
in
time,"
said,
then,"
said.
and watched him walk away.
none. This Giles, he
is all
right
completely worthless and working

a braggart of that
Take the time
low to
train.
hadn't burnt
He
you care
if
at
it full
didn't surprise
It
for that sort of
time. In the
first
guy
place, he's
worst kind, the kind that can make his boasts stick
or else weasel out of
on.
tell
be back."
"Any
me
I've
a dick.
them some way.
in '39 this
Tiger Cline, he
The lake was still there,

down except an outdoor
come down
to Lake
Mel-
but that was the only thing that

stage the Tiger
was using
to spar
stayed at the Garden City Inn, in town, and run out to Lake
Mellow every morning and back and then run out again and worked a
few rounds with what local talent he could get cheap. The Tiger was
kind of a beat-up looking guy and no kid, but from his clippings he
was
a fair fighter.
Giles saw
him
in
my
pool hall one night. Giles was sitting around

185
waiting for a
fish,
and he saw
as usual,
come
Cline
this
in
and shoot
couple of games of pool and go out.

"So,"
he
the jerk that's gonna fight Armstrong.
said, "that's
can
beat that guy myself."

"Play in' pool?"
somebody
asked.
"Boxin'," Giles said.
"Boxin oranges?"
Garden
strong for wit
ain't
in
City.
Giles turned to the guy that

do, wise guy," he said.
play
"I'll
shoot offa the big end for a
Now
We
somebody asked him.
that's a hell of a
One guy
fifteen ball.
It's
"Okay," this
and Giles
let
tell
"I'll
rotation
you what I'll

and let you
fin."
handicap.
shooting
starts
made the crack.

you a game of
If
you ever played pool, you know.

ball and the other guy at the
one
at the
three to one odds.
chump
says.
him break the
shoots a hell of a cue.
He
was.
He
got his
fin
up
and then Giles beat him. This Giles
gets the
where they stuck them and he
who he
forgot
balls
says,
two
"I'll
fins
bet
out of the side pocket
you the ten
can beat that
Tiger Cline boxin'."
There
ain't
any question
figured that he'd
fix
this
Giles up.
He
guy was sore by then and guess he

didn't say nothin' but he went out of
I
the door and in about ten minutes he was back and he said to Giles,
got
fixed for you.
it
You get
to
work with the Tiger tomorrow
"I
after-
noon."
"For five or ten?" Giles asks.
The guy
says, "will
He
gets kind of pale, he's that mad.
you cash me
check
for a
turns to me. "Al," he
sawbuck?"
The guy probably didn't have no ten in the bank but with a check
you can collect, generally. "Okay," told him. didn't like this Giles
myself.
didn't like him good.
This kid scribbles me off a little lumber for ten and give him the
I
ten. "For ten," the
guy says
to Giles. "Get yours up."
"Now what have
Giles he started welching then.

asks.
"Go out
there and
trainin' to fight Lefty
knock
Armstrong
got to do?" he
professional boxer kickin' that's
in St. Louis
"You said for ten you could beat him,"
next week?"
said.
"Well," Giles said, "one round, how's that?
I'll
go out there and
work one round with him and let the Tiger's manager figure who
won." He gets the ten out and gets it up. Then he comes over to me
and asks real respectful, "You don't mind if walk Margie home, do
you? It may be my last night on earth."
I
186
my
Margie, she's
step-daughter and she's twenty-one, only a couple
of years younger than Giles,
and of course what
her mind a quarter's worth. That
something and they kind of go together

the fountain and
we
down
close that
twelve. "She's twenty-one,"
till
"And
I'm twenty-three,"
he
said. "Ain't
wasn't but forty-nine at the time but
got
at
though
kind of
home
say wouldn't change
it
likes the
guy or
me. Margie runs
in spite of
at ten
says,
about Giles. She
is,
run the poolhall
surly.
hell to
well,
be
fifty?"
what the
hell!
twelve-ten and run him out of the porch swing. "You
better get your beauty sleep,"
told him. "You got a date with
some
leather tomorrow. Right in the puss."
Margie
beat a
"I
for a
gag
what
says, "Giles,
chump
out of
him
told
bet
I'd
in the
world
?"
.
five tonight,"
he
him the ten
that
and
says, "playin' rotation,

1
could beat a guy named
Tiger Cline boxin'."
"Who's Tiger Cline?" Margie asked.

"Oh," Giles says, "he's
never-was
that's trainin'
out
at
Mellow Lake
up by Lefty Armstrong down in St. Louis next week."

"Giles," Margie said, "you make me sick. Why don't you get a job?
hope Tiger Cline beats your brains out."
to be beat
"Aw, honey
."
.
hope he does. hope he beats you

"Till you can't recognize me, honey? If that happens and you see
some bloody hulk come into the pool hall tomorrow night and if he
"1
meows
be me."
like a cat that'll
"Go home," Margie

Giles,
says.
he gets up and goes on down the
course he crosses us
all
up.
He
street,
gay
as a lark.
And
Cline and give him a great song and dance, because the next day
go out to Mellow Lake and Giles he takes
some
of
must have gone down and talked to

off his shirt
boxin' shoes and they lace the big gloves
we
and puts on
on him and him and
the Tiger start sparrin' around on the old stage that they have roped
off for a ring.
around
left
The
in close,
Tiger stabs him four,
hand out pretty good and he
the end of the round.
"Who win
"I'd
five
times and roughs
him
but Giles gets in some good solid licks and keeps his
He
actually shakes the Tiger
up toward
turns to the Tiger's manager.
that one?" he asks.
give you a shade," Tiger's
manager
said.
"Okay," Giles says, "lemme out of these mittens."

"But," the Tiger says,
if
"you said
last
night you'd work three rounds
I"
187
Giles has got the gloves
and what
else
He come
took Margie
can
off.
me
"Give
meowing
the pool hall that night
in
home
the twenty," he says to me,
do?
like a cat
got rid of him shortly. That was the draft before the war.
one
for
The
we
draft
year.
didn't run
and he
but the next day he drawed I-A in the draft and
him
offa the
porch the
last night,
because Margie was
cryin'.
"She
ain't
got anybody but herself to blame," Giles says.
wed me,
have
"What
if
be safe
I'd
"If
she'd
as a church."
married you now?" Margie asked.
pretty funny
felt
there for a minute.
"Why," Giles
and
says,
his voice
He
makin' a eighteen-carat mistake."
he says to me.
"I'll
and Margie comes
see
you
in pretty
in the
in the dark,
guardhouse."
We
soon.
even
is
"you'd be
stops a minute. "Good-night, AI"

I
go on
don't say nothing
in
the house
much
to each
other and she goes on to bed.
That
a
all
seems
like a million years ago. Giles
when
running the pool

tain.
much
K. P. that
a froze
he's
hall
my
fingers
combination
have got so
stiff
probably couldn't make
the corner pocket. However,
in
night shooting dice.
last
he gets back on leave
back and I keep on

and Margie she keeps on running the soda founget one card from him. "Dear Al" he writes. "I have done so
couple of times and he sees Margie
Did they
go on
let
win
fifty-five
a blanket in the last
war
without no cup? Your, Giles."

like five hundred thousand years ago, because Giles
one day. Margie dashed around the counter and threw her
arms around him and kissed him and went up and shook him by the
hand. To me he looked just the same but he had a limp in his walk
That seems
came
in
and he carried
"How
a cane.
He
are you, Giles?"
wasn't in uniform.
"I'm glad to see you, Al,"

let
said. "I'm
glad to see you, kid."
he said over Margie's shoulder.
He
hadn't
go of Margie.
"Giles,
"I
why
didn't
you
write?"
wrote every year," Giles
Margie
said.
said.
"Anyway, you know me, solid
as a
rock."
I
"I
nodded toward
his knee.
fought a short war," Giles
boats and run up the beach and
they carried
England."
188
me down and
put
said.
I
"I
got offa one of them landing
kick a mine they had missed.
me on
boat and took
Then
me back
to
'That the
McCoy?"
"Naw," he
said.
got
me two
was
"1
fact,
was over there
my
shoulders. He'd be
in a hospital in
me
tellin'
something
England and
New
a hospital in
Washington and then they give me the
it,"
coupla days and
besides a Purple Heart.
stuff,
else
if
knew.
hospital in
"Skip
ask him.
medals for bein' brave and
shrugged
asked him,
"Matter of
York and
in a
toss."
said.
"How's the pigeon crop?" he asked.
dough around,"
did you get
"There's
"Were you
got to be a
"1
first
said.
to be an officer?"
Margie
asks.
coupla times, only they busted me.
class private a
on 'em.
was a Corporal when went over."
hung around and he was the first guy back in Garden City
and he told 'em some wonderful lies,
guess. One day he'd got run
over by a jeep, the next day he'd stormed a machine gun nest barehanded, or something. He had a lot of fun, guess, and really, believe
But
was
gainin'
Well, he
it
or not, he hadn't changed.
he wasn't changed.
stick again
It
know
that
changes guys, but Giles,
week to
good money
took him about
and he was making pretty
it
get to shootin' his

shootin' pool in ten
days.
He
walked Margie home every night though he didn't walk very
good and
house.
it
took him longer to get from the pool
money, even with

about
He
didn't like the guy.
He was
it.
that
bum
knee.
knocking the
balls
"Everybody you know, pretty
said
something to him one time
around and waiting
near,"
he
bend one way. But me

why I'll
can bend mine the wrong way out
hand down. It made me kind of sick.
will
that
said, "has
just
"Of course," he
done
a lot of
said, "it ain't so
both
in
hall out to the
could have gone to work for good
good
for a sucker.
got a knee that
make you
to here,"
a little
bet
and he held
his
for prayin' or shootin' craps.
the Army, but then
ain't
in the
Army any
said,
and
must have
more."
"I
don't see
sounded
"She sees
knows
knows
I'll
what Margie
real sincere
my
soul, Al, shinin' out of
always be for her, do
shots
my
limpid blue eyes. She also
write her or not, and she furthermore
says.
"You don't have to stick that wrong on there."
laughs and cuts a ball back into the side pocket.

I
won't do nothing wrong."
"Just nothing,"
He
sees in you,"
because he answered me.
never seen anybody else even
He
can make
try.
189
you don't do nothing wrong," said, "what do you consider it is

around and hustle pool and play cards all day and all night?"
"The guy that runs the pool hall says it's wrong to play pool," he
"If
to lay
says.
I
comes
He
smooth way.
nothing more and pretty soon
didn't say
the shops
^just
for
he's
all
a foreman from one of

and Giles beats him for sixteen bucks in a nice,
don't wrench it out of him,- he just beats him a little
got with him and I'll swear he makes it look like he's
in
just lucky.
It
goes on that
way
until
about a month ago he limps over to the
counter and talks to Margie a while and then he comes on back to
where
I'm brushing the farthest
"Al,"
he
"You
ain't
says,
back
table.
"what you got against me? Really?"
got a job,"
tell
him. "The war's been over a long time,
but you don't act like you want to get a job. You're
you're just a
adult delinquent."
"You mean
in
hot
cars,
like
some
of these kids around the cities runnin' around
knockin' off joints and such?"
couple of kids don't recognize walk in the front and I go up to

what they want. First they want some cigarettes and then they
want some liquor. ain't got any cigarettes and don't handle nothing
but beer, of which
am out.
One of them reaches under his coat and he fishes out a gun that
the front end of looks like you can crawl in it and turn around. He
points it right at me. "That your heap settin' in front?" he asks.
I admit it is. Giles, he limps out. "Just what we was talking about,"
he says. "I ain't like these kids, at all, at all. wouldn't be carryin' no
gun like that around for all the tea in China."
"Gimme the key to the heap," this kid says and his eyes look funny,
dilated, and
know he's hopped up. The other kid, about eighteen, he
I
see
just stands there.

I
He
looks like he's about half drunk.
start fishing for the
says,
kind of shaky.
keys and toss them over. "Help yourself, son,"
"It's
insured."
"Get their dough," the kid with the gun says. The dark complected
one, the one that looks half crocked, he
we hand them
comes over and Giles and
"You read about that daylight job

kid with the gun asks.
"We
down
in St.
Louis yesterday?" the
pulled that."
"He's tougher'n Dillinger," the dark complected
"These guys
gun
190
1,
our money.
will bleat
says. "Let's take the
soon
as
we
broad with
one
says. "Let's go."
get outta here," the one with the

us."
Giles goes pale and
up
on
see the sweat start
his
brow and he moves
a little closer.
"Bud," he says,
"1
you
myself, not like
ain't
all
got any folks an I'm kind of a tough guy
but kind of a underworld character and you
want to take the girl with you. It'll just make you trouble. We'll
you go."
"You're some hero," Margie says from behind me, and
see one
good thing coming from the setup. It shows Margie really what kind
of a guy this Giles is, back from the wars or not.
"Honey, you want with one leg
should fight this guy and him
with a gun in his hand that would blow a hole in me as big as your
don't
let
head?"
the dark one says.
"Let's lam,"
"Come
he gets closer to the guy.
Giles,
on, baby."
he says and
"I'm a real hero,"
reaches in his pocket and he hauls out a medal and tosses
with the gun.
"1
win that
it
to the
guy
with ten million Jerries shootin'
in France,
exclusively at me."
The
kid looks at the medal, and Giles reaches out with his cane
and
jerks the kid to
his
good
Giles'
him with the crook of
around his neck and with
it
foot he kicks the gun and the dad-blasted thing goes
bad leg
up under him
folds
like a accordian,
off.
but he has got
the hand that holds the gun in his two hands by then and he's got the
down on
kid
top of him and the kid
got a chance.
ain't
ball
and score on the dark complected one.
out
my
plate glass
window where
bank
grab up a cue
drop him cold and break
Then
off his head.
it
help
Giles with the kid. Giles has like to bit his wrist off and the gun
on the
layin'
We
floor.
bust the kid over the head with
get 'em tied up
good before they come
to
is
it.
and
go
call
the
sheriff.
Giles gets up off the floor very shaky.
he
it
is
"I
hurt
my
knee," he says, but
hobbling around on the floor looking for something and he finds
and drops
"Lemme
"Al, don't
really
it
in his pocket.
see the medal,"
be
silly.
told
was decorated before
"You've told
But Giles, he
me
is
It's
the medal.
says.
you was
was shot
I
everything.
Lemme
in
France for three days and
up."
see
it."
kind of white and moves over and leans against the
counter. "As for you," he says to Margie,
out of
me
rather than taking a short
motor
don't
"I
marry you or not. You seemed to prefer that
know whether
I'll
get a big chunk blowed
ride with those
two
delin-
quents."
191
The
away
"There
and
my
And
ain't
gonna
years, but I'm
my own
let's
and takes
out at the crowd
go home."
tell
come
step-daughter, she turns on me. "You
Giles," she says. "Al's
us,
his siren,
Margie,
won
everybody with
up, wakin'
much conversation and so on.

much use lockin' up," says, lookin'
after
broken window, "but
out with
a hero,
comes
sheriff
the kids
him.
We
been
been married
those medals on the square.
you
treatin'
for four
He was
dog for
years and he's
like a
France
in
five
days
and
it." He turns to me. "You don't mind

do you, Al? While
look around.
was settled and could support Margie in
"Aw, honey," Giles says, "skip
you a few
wasn't gonna tell you till
if
stay with
days,
I
style."
month ago and he's still here livin' at my house.

mind much. kinda got used to him after all of these years,
Well, that was a
Not
that
and he and Margie
Up
till
are sure happy.
And now Giles walks in and the

The dick says, "Your name Giles?"
now.
behind him.
detective
is
right
Giles grins and says, "You called it, friend. You like snooker?"
"Some other time. Right now I'm due back in St. Louis. There's
man whose son was killed. He sent me down for you."
Giles says, "Yeah?
guy
in
ever
What
The
look at him. He's the coolest
detective slaps
they got
down
never pegged him for
down
a matter of five yards
It's
town, but I'm thinking of Margie and what to
thought of Giles,
And
for?"
a paper, pulls out a
reward
for those
tell
her.
What-
this.
pen and
says, "Sign.
punks you grabbed. Before
here, they pulled a daylight job in St. Louis, shot
up
half the town."
Giles looks
down some
down
time.
I'll
at the
play
paper and says,
him
'Tell the
old
boy
to
thousand or nothing. Sure you
drop
ain't
got time for a game?"

I
gave Giles a dirty look, and
the check, and Giles
Which
owned
didn't matter at
guess he saw
a piece of the
all
pool
meant
it.
picked up
hall.
to him. But the detective allowed
he
could play one game, and that made Giles pretty happy. They went
to the back table,
and
192
lent
him
and two hours

get home.
five to
later the
shamus gave me
a marker,
Dust
hy James W. Holden
Patrolman
ried a
Hammer wore
new brown
new gray
bill
he shoved
was the
sort of bill
leather billfold. But the two-dollar
under the ticket window had
you might
pepper-and-salt topcoat and car-
find in the
corner missing.
It
pocket of a superstitious cop.
"Two," he rumbled.
Puckering her ruby
lips,
the blonde in the booth saw that one
had been clipped
off as if by a circular tool.

"Do you-all bite the corners of two-dollar bills?" she asked as she
punched out the tickets.
Yanking his watch chain, Dave Hammer showed her a flat penknife
corner of the
with
"No,
bill
round hole through
sister
clip off a
it.
corner with
my
little
cigar cutter."
"You're a nut," said the blonde.
Dave rejoined
nut because
who was
a girl
clip off a
remarked to Lucy
as
feature
two-dollar
Lucy
throbbed to
good
he
luck,"
cheerfully.
a finish.
Dave squeezed
The
cowboy
newsreel banged through.
next picture was a Western. At one point,

raised his gun,
bill for
they went into the theater.
"That's right," agreed
The
standing by the door. "She says I'm a
corner of
when
Lucy's hand.
the screen
He
got a kick out of
shooting on the screen.

"I
nevah
kills a
the six-shooter
man
fall
in
cold blood," drawled the screen hero, letting
to his side.
Bang went the gun. People snickered.
"He must be shooting
at the
"That wasn't on the screen
Dave put
his topcoat
ground," said
it
down on
was
in
chopper,
a tall
to Lucy.
the seat and walked back. Appar-
ently every one else thought the shot was a
was glad he had
Dave
the back of the theater!"
bum sound
a .32 revolver in his side pocket.
and serious young man with black
He
hair,
effect,
but he
asked the ticket

if
he had heard
a shot.
193
"Only on the screen,
The chopper
mister."
tore a brace of tickets in
"Did you?"
half.
don't know."
"I
Dave went
Blinking at the glare,
into the lobby,
which was papered
window
with lurid posters. At the ticket booth he shoved up to the
where the ruby-mouth blonde was punching change and shouted

through
hole in the glass.
"Hear any shooting, Scarlett?"
"Why
don't you-all get in line
and
a good-looking, tough, tanned face.
shooting?
"Did
"
"Oh,
But she was susceptible to
it's
Did
you-all.
hear any
did not."
a car backfire?"
nothing
can't hear
"1
let
she shot
in this
booth. However, this
a glance at a flashing
wristwatch
about the time"
is
"nine-thirty, yeah,
it's
about the time Mr. Pearsall generally gets held up. Better try his
of-
fice.
head of
at the
It's
opening on the inside
a stairs
foyer."
"He's been held up before?"
"Six-eight times. He's an old circus
Hammer
Patrolman
man
he
likes it.
looked up and down the
Lemme
street,
know."
choked with
Saturday night cars and people, and saw a harness cop chinning with
man who ran a popcorn machine next door to the theater. He

knew the cop. Slim Duggan.
"Hi, Slim, do me a favor? Keep an eye on this alley. All the exits
the
open on
cheroot
it,
don't they? Don't let
when
anybody out and
I'll
give
you
get married."
Slim nodded. "All the exits that don't open on the other side of the
theater.
can cover both
sides.
Chase em out and gimme
a shot at 'em
I'm getting rusty."
Patrolman
Hammer
blinked back through the glaring lobby.
was pretty sure nobody had
just
come
out.
To the black-haired
chopper, giving him an eyeful of a nickel-plated badge
in his
He
ticket
hand, he
said:
"Is
there any
way you can
lock these doors and not
let
anybody out
for five minutes?"
"What for?" The chopper knew his job,- he'd be manager some day.
"We can't keep people in that would amount to false arrest."
"Don't be so damn sure it's false," Dave snapped. "I can order the
doors locked and I'm doing
"Can
let
people
it."
in?"
"Sure."
The young man unlocked,

194
closed and bolted two sets of double
by the
doors, stood
small door opening
and continued
third
on
Dave found
to take tickets.
a stairway as steep as a ship's
companionway,
but halfway up he saw glaring lights and heard a tinny voice: "Mary
won't have no truck with your kind."
He
backed down,-
hastily
it
was
the projection room. Farther along the foyer he found another door
and
a similar stairway.
He
took the gun out of his pocket, unlocked
treads as quietly as an Indian snaking
mother.
He
and oozed up the
it
up on your great-great-grand-
sneezed.
"Damn!"
He was
in a
dusty
office painted a violent
little
green furniture. Sitting on

almost as
big
gilt
he'd gone to sleep, was the manager.
if
His wavy, light-colored toupee had
dome
with
pink with poisonous
chair and sprawled over the desk,
few hairs on
it.
The
Dead
fallen to the desk,
as a herring.
exposing a pink
top of the desk was a pond of fresh
blood, which was pattering to the floor.
On
the floor was a small canvas bag such as people use to carry
cash to a night depository.

in
Dave kicked
the bag. There was nothing
it.
There was dust on the desk edges. Dave walked around to the
other side, but saw no wound from which the blood still oozed,- Pearsail
must have been shot
down
in
the chest.
The manager's
emptily, and on the floor under
it
was
right
hand hung
quaint single-barreled
derringer with a pearl handle.
Again Dave sneezed. "Another lousy cold," he muttered. "Poor
guy
he got worse than
Pearsall
was
florid
a carnival
a character. His face, turned to one side,

and paunchy with bags under the eyes. He was dressed like
man in a checked jacket such as hardly anybody wears any
more, light-gray trousers,
and over
silver
a cold."
must have been
in a
spats.
There were gold rings on
corner was a gold-headed cane.
On
his fingers,
the desk was a fancy
item which Dave picked up and puzzled over.
Chew! Again Patrolman
Hammer
sneezed. "Sure
is
draughty
in here.
Well, the guy that shot Pearsall didn't want gold, only cash. Guess he
didn't expect to shoot the old boy.
He opened
Wonder where he
dine coat and a black
Homburg
except the manager's spatted
went?"
brown gabarNothing was under the desk

Dave pocketed his revolver and
a small locker, but this
contained only
hat.
feet.
crept downstairs feeling rather baffled. At the main door three people
were waiting to get out
man,
woman and
little
boy.
"Are you three together?" he asked.
195
My
and we want to go home.
"Yes,
woman
baby
replied the
sick,"
is
sharply.
"Let 'em go," he said to the ticket chopper. "But don't let
anybody
else out."
Dave
dubious by this time.
felt
was probable that the man
It
he was sure that only one man could
had hidden among the

grimly
more than
there weren't
up there without being
slip
audience. Nothing to
noticed
he thought
it,
three hundred people in the theater.
For a minute he looked over the rows of heads, like bowling
One
before the blue-white screen.
balls,
of these people had just killed a
man. But which one?
When
he began to
conspicuous,
feel
Dave walked down the
aisle
and Lucy took his topcoat in her lap.

"Was it a shot?" she asked in a low voice.
Dave nodded. "Hold on

again."
He was
to
my
coat,
Everybody
listening hard.
honey
in
I'll
be going out
the theater seemed to be
coughing. To his tense ears the audience and the screen voices were as
noisy as a battle. Rangers were galloping over the
Hollywood
hills in
the picture. Cloppety-clop, cloppety-clop. Bang-hangi This shooting was in

the screen play as the hero, clutching his horse by the mane, twisted
in his saddle
and took aim
at his quarry.
But the picture had lost
its
thrill.
Dave muttered. Then his fists knotted. He

marched to the back of the theater.
"Did you sneeze?" he demanded of a big gray man sitting on the
"Damn
all
this racket,"
slipped out of his seat and
aisle.
The man
blinked and
said:
"Did youy' he asked the
"What?"
man
the seat behind, less heavy but just
in
as gray.
"Not me."
girl in
blew
my
the next seat was staring.
hat
Patrolman
shooter
"Put
you
just
in
off.
Some
Hammer was
the fellow's
down your
is
he nearly
too, mister
taking no chances.
He shoved
his six-
ribs.
coat and
because this
"He did
sneeze!"
come
a theater.
outside. Don't think
Keep your hands
at
won't plug
your sides and
walk ahead of me."

People gaped as they went out.
"Down in the smoking room."

The man knew he didn't have
a chance.
He
just stared
ahead of
him, his watery gray eyes as dull as bullets. There was nothing inter-
196
esting about
him
he was
gray around the edges.
he got out of
life.
He
he ever
stir, if
Even
gray.
all
did.
brushed hair was
his carefully
Dave thought, before

Only once did the man show signs of
would be
It
a lot grayer,
sneezed.
"Quiet," growled Dave.
The man
even
didn't
fight
coatpocket and fished out

"I
guess
when Dave
huge
got this coming to
The man's voice was

on me when
dull.
roll
stuck his hand into a side
of bills
me ...
ones, twos, fives, tens.
didn't
"He shouldn't have
want to plug him."
tried to pull a fast
one
"Yeah, he blew snuff in your face.

did."
"He shouldn't have

"Aw, snap out of
He
tried
it,"
Made you
Good
sneeze.
thing he
said
Dave Hammer.
locked the man's wrists and took him out to Slim to be deliv-
Then he went into the candy store, called

Moses and explained he would be in later with the roll of cash. On
the way back he told the ticket chopper what had happened, and
went to his seat, in snatches he told Lucy, and her hand bit his fingers, glad he was back safe.
ered to Sergeant Moses.
"You took a big
risk,
furniture
"No
He
might have been
a collector for a
company."
Dave chuckled
took out
honey. Suppose he hadn't talked. Anybody
money
can carry a bale of
as
he thumbed through
two-dollar
furniture
bill
man
is
a large roll of
with one corner neatly clipped
getting two-dollar
bills
from
me
money and
off.
not
yet."
Escape
by Jack Foxx
1
had been on the road
fast as
dared,
when
for more than two hours, pushing the sedan as

came down out of the mountains and saw the
lights of Santa Alta spread across the valley below.
The
twisting black ribbon of
foot crashed
down
highway straightened
harder on the accelerator.
The
here,
cool night
and
air
my
sang
through the open wind wing.

197
down
glanced
clock.
was
It
quickly at the luminous dial of the dashboard
eleven-fifteen.
had almost reached the
outskirts of Santa Alta
when they
inter-
rupted the recorded music on the radio for a news broadcast.
my
kept
".
.
my
right
hand
to turn
continues into the
the announcer was saying. "Vernon, who was apprehended on suspicion
night,"
of inter-state hank rohhery
who was
Federal age^tts
Marianne
"Mrs.
is
afternoon in Colman, shot and killed one of the
this
him
transporting
escape in a stolen automobile.
He
the
to
State Capitol
believed heading for
is
and
and
it
theorized
is
by
police that
armed and
is
extremely dangerous. Citizens in the vicinity of Santa Alta are advised
pay any attention to the
white around the steering wheel.
my
gun against
Grimly,
The
Alta.
near the
my
reduced
rest of
could
it.
My
feel
..."
hands were knuckle-
the hard outline of the
side.
speed
were deserted.
streets
river, until
came
as
I
entered the city limits of Santa
drove through the industrial sector,
to the county
highway
that
wound
east
up
on the other side of town.

followed the county highway for something over seven miles unsaw the entrance to the private road that angled off of it there.
into the
til
his wife
drawing some four thousand dollars from her
after
after her husband's flight,
Vernon contacted her by telephone and arranged a rendezvous. Vernon
didn't
his
affected
Santa Alta, where
resident.
Vernon disappeared
bank account shortly
head-
up the volume.
manhunt for escaped murderer Frank Vernon
state-wide
my
eyes riveted to the blurred white line beneath
and fumbled with
lights,
low
foothills
made
the turn, and drove over the graveled roadbed for another mile.
TTiere
before
was
a sharp
reached
it,
bend ahead, and pulled the sedan

clump of scrub pine where
I
into a
off the
it
road
would be
hidden from anyone approaching.

I
switched off engine and
here, the air thin
and
now behind
clear.
lights,
then stepped out.
There was
moon
It
was cold up
tonight, but
it
was
bank of clouds.
I ran back to the road and crossed it. There was a short, rocky field
on the other side. At the end of it was a densely-grown slope that rose
hidden
at a
I
a rolling
sharp forty-five degree angle.
paused
at the
edge of the
field.
The bend
in the
road brought
it
around on the other side of the slope.
That was where Marianne would

I
rough
its
my
surface.
heart thumping in
Just before
198
be,
hidden
in a
copse of
trees.
moving quickly, keeping my eyes on

reached the slope moments later and started up,
started off across the field,
my
chest.
crested the slope,
dropped prone. The ground was
spongy and fertile here, and inched my way over it on

where could look down through the heavy growth on
my
its
belly to
opposite
side.
Marianne's car was there
empty gray
I
peered intently
the car.
at
behind the wheel, but
My
if
it
possible
my
tell
down
could see the
could see a shadowy figure sitting
at this distance
was Marianne or
made
throat was dry as
couldn't
at
the copse of trees.
in
roadway beyond.
line of the
the far slope.
kept
and through the darkness
my way slowly and as silently as

my hand wrapped around the gun
belt.
was almost
hidden by
to the bottom,
a thick
growth of
when stopped moving. was only about fifteen feet from

The figure behind the wheel was Marianne, all right.
I
not.
ferns,
the car.
moment. There was only the night sounds of

in a soft voice. She
called again. Her head jerked this time, swiveling
lay listening for a
insects.
my
lifted
didn't hear me.
head and called her name
around. She recognized
my
voice.
God,
"Darling!" she breathed. "Oh,
thought you'd never come!"
"Are you alone?"

I
saw her head bob, blonde hair dancing.
"Yes. I've
been so
fright-
ened, waiting here, just waiting."

"It's
all
right,"
"But suppose
1
cocked
"What
is
my
now."
said. "Everything's all right,
head, ears straining. "Shhi"
it?"
"Listen!"
but growing louder now, was

was coming from the upper end of the
In the distance, barely audible at first
the sound of a car engine.
It
way had come in. knew that the road

two further on in that direction, and that one
private road, opposite the
branched
off a mile or
of those branches led to another county highway.
Marianne had heard the car engine,

cameo, her eyes huge and
with
alive
too.
fear.
could see her
face, a pale
She was on the verge of
losing control.
"Marianne!"
quiet.
whispered. "Don't panic! Just
Keep your eyes
straight ahead.
Do you
sit
still
and be very
understand?"
moment she said in a hushed voice, "Yes."

The sound of the car engine grew closer. couldn't
After a
lights,
or even any sign of
night was
I
lifted
still
it.
see any head-
Abruptly, the sound ceased and the
again.
the gun from
my
belt
and held
it
in
my
right hand.
With
199
my
left,
made
growth of
a part in the
Marianne and her car through
Time
halted.
waited,
my
ferns so that
could see
it.
my
stomach knotted,
eyes probing the
darkness for some sign of movement. There was nothing.
Suddenly
heard a gentle rustle of leaves from a point directly to
the rear of Marianne's car, near a giant oak.
One
of the
shadows moved, detaching
ones cast by the
My
on the gun's
finger tensed
one arm extended out
and
started
eyes there.
blacker
silent,
trigger.
moon came
out from behind the cloud bank
He
could see the outline of a man.
from the
trees.
At that moment, the
and
my
focused
itself
in front of
toward Marianne's
him.
stood absolutely motionless,
Then he stepped
into the
coming around the
car,
open
rear to the
driver's side.
I
could see his face clearly
And
the white lunar light.
in
could see
hand he held a large, square automatic.

stopped breathing.
let him get by the rear fender, on the side
raised
nearest me, before
up onto my knees, my own gun thrust out
that in his extended

I
before me.
"Hold
He
it!"
with
I
shouted. "Hold
The
ting flame.
me
put
I
my
gun
voice, the
ploughed up earth inches to
bullet
in his
my
hand
spit-
right, spraying
dirt.
Marianne screamed
right there!"
shot him twice.
through the
tire,
it
spun toward the sound of
trees.
as the
sound of the gun crashes reverberated
He went down,
my
scrambled to
my hand
on
feet
and ran down
his chest.
He
back by the rear
rolling onto his
the automatic slipping from his fingers.
He
there.
lay very
still.
knelt beside
him and
wasn't breathing.
stood up. Marianne threw open the car door and came running to
my
me, flinging herself into
arms.
could
feel
her trembling.
held
her tightly.
She whispered,
"Is
he
?"
"Yes."
Her arms tightened around me. She began to cry convulsively. "I
know why didn't call you sooner," she sobbed. "If I'd waited
only a few minutes longer to get to a phone
"It's all right, Marianne,"
said, stroking her hair. "I made it in time.
I
don't
That's
all
that matters."
"When he
in a trance.
200
called
was
terrified.
did what he told
drew the money out of the bank and
me
as
if
were
came up here
to
He
wait.
said he'd
kill
me
if
didn't
do exactly
He
he instmcted.
as
said
"Easy, honey,"
"Oh, Paul.
if
said.
don't
over now.
I'd
over."
It's
have done these past few months
Never knowing when he'd come back, when
hadn't met you.
"It's
know what
he'd"
I
kissed her tenderly.
We
hidden.
sat close
Then we walked back
where
to
together on the front seat while
my
1
microphone from the shortwave radio under the dash and put
to
Colman
Police Headquarters.
"This
Special
is
swered. "You can
car was
lifted the
in a call
Agent Barrows of the FBI," said, when they anthe manhunt for Frank Vernon now. He's
1
call off
dead."
Exhibit
hy John Maclay
Yes, Walter, you're a judge.
country club, so perhaps
me
And I've had a few drinks here at

why I'm telling you this story.
the
But
that's
which says it's beneath your dignity to

listen. Because, appropriately, you are a judge. And, drinks or no, I'm
worthy of your respect,- I'm a doctor.
The late Harvey Newsome's doctor. And all of this is why you
must believe me, Walter, when
contend that you should have put
him away for
murder.
You'll remember Harvey, though
don't think you knew him as
well as
are now. A member of
did. A man in his sixties, as you and
this club, a professional,- had a big accounting practice. Had gone to
please don't give
that look
the right schools,
made
the right marriage.
Was
good-looking
fel-
low, even at his age, with his thatch of white hair, twinkly eyes, and
infectious smile.
But
else
now
that
you do remember Harvey,
you'll also recall
something
about him.
and
How
I'll
try
not to be guilty of the same
So, to use your terms, let
me
present
my
case
he could
.
talk.
Exhibit A.
201
was
some
guest at a garden party
one of those yellow-and-white
years
big
ago,- a
That was the
tents.
with
affair,
time
first
really
noticed Harvey at work. Yes, we'd all been buttonholed often enough
by him, yet being his peers, had been able to handle it. But this time,
toward the end of the evening, it was a young woman he was talking
to. A blond, willowy girl, who'd just gotten married. And Harvey
Newsome, standing
been quite
close to her
man
a ladies'
anything and everything
remember,
You'll
think, the
moment
one
he had? To
hold you? Such

coming up with
had to listen? Or when you
edgewise, his becoming for a
getting bored, his

just
word
and on, about
talking on
in depth.
little tricks
something so interesting that you

thought you'd never again get
was
and even
when he saw you were
just
as,
day
in his
.
of course, with his personality, he'd
in
the worst
Or
the most sympathetic listener in the world?
meeting your polite excuses, your
his
"just
have to
go's",
with
that hurt-puppy look of his?
Well, he was doing
night
all
of
beside her, but
poor mate was

experience
So
1
it
hadn't
wished then
He went
attraction for
desperation, the
you
"How
please
could
and
you be so
as
know we wanted
what
to
fellow did the only thing
left,-
you'll
remember
her,- stout,
white-
husband home?"
new
cruel?"
they
all
as his,
it
was the
fatal
overheard the young
will not
mistake.
woman
departed. "To a nice old
to leave, but
sob-
man
like
be embarrassed, be told
they divorced a few months
And Harvey Newsome.

I
personal-
."
.
In short, Walter,
But
her eyes, he
said:
take your
bing to her husband,

I
in
the man's
Harvey
jealous!
young
over to Harvey's wife
course, in a marriage as
that?
She'd already said good-
could have stopped him.
haired, outgoing too
Of
girl.
He'd even noticed
at his wit's end.
which had made him
finally, in
"Will
with that
new husband, who was standing

made any impression at all. And now her
appeared to be thinking, an
ity,
it
or six times, and so had her
five
later.
contend, had murdered a marriage.
know, of course, that that
really isn't murder.
So
present to
you:
Exhibit
It
think
about
was
it
B.
at
another party, several years
was even here
forty.
tall,
at
later.
the club. Harvey was at
polite fellow: and,
Indoors, this time,it
again, with a
man
couldn't help noticing from
my
place across the room, one of those born listeners, the kind of person
202
everyone
and the
At
likes.
Yet presently
first,
smiled inwardly at the beauty of
together
listener,
and those two
the talker
it:
at last.
moved
as others
around, joined different groups,
began to worry. Because the

younger man's face ... his whole body
slowly took on a stiffness, an unease, which told me that perhaps even he, the eternal listener, had limits.
decided to walk over
still
stood there
But, before
The man
car
did everything
C.P.R., injections
in that tense,
be our age, but
live to
I'm a doctor,-
...
could get there
who was
you
survive
my
happened.
it
heart-attack season,
you
if
don't
went
which
could for him, Walter,
my
wife ran to get
if
you
down.
truly did.
medical bag out of the
everything.
But by the time the ambulance came, he was gone.
And
oh, yes
there's one thing more.
While the poor fellow was struggling there on the floor, he was
able to gasp out something. Something
which I've never told
anyone until now.
.
he panted. "Can't
"Air,"
Then he
Need
breathe.
raised a rigid arm, pointed
air."
Harvey Newsome.
to
"Away
from him. Must get
away."
what about that, Walter? You're the judge. The evidence:
talk can kill, that someone can literally be talked to death.
.
So,
But you're
still
Well, then,
contend
you want
I'll
not convinced?
open up
new dimension
to be philosophical about
it,
proceedings.
That
that polite listener
now, while another of Harvey's victims

Hell
in these
that there are fates worse than death.
that
still
is
alive
is
.
I'll
at least,
if
Heaven
in
but
in
Exhibit C.
One more
Had
party. This time
therefore
it
hurts
a patient of
mine.
already had a
book
of stories published: a
was
it
limit for him,
And
room.
it
seemed,
this time,
brilliant
until
was close
by,-
young man,
me most
to
tell it
just out of Princeton.
writer.
The sky was
the
not just observing from across the
group with the young genius
and Harvey. Listenhim stones.- you'll recall how that old man remembered everything, and the way in which it would come out of him,
complete, as if you were really there along with him? His experience
and how he could talk it?
In the
ing to Harvey
tell
In short again, Walter, a
week
later the
young
fellow
came
to
my
office.
203
have
"I
nothing
understand that
we
left,"
writers
he mumbled to me,
Then he slapped my desk ...

... as
"I will never write as well
writer
My
ta/ks.
...
to wait years
.
Of
my
referred
colleague
tell
him
But
that
was
it
young
damned old
ône.
And even
fool
if
not even
could,
I'd
have
patient to a psychologist; even sat
that he didn't have to be Harvey's age
And
order to understand the world.
others' creations
that
is
our stories?"
in anger.
to equal his experience."
course,
my
Heard
in.
in
confidence
his face pale. "You'll
in ourselves,
live
whatever form
in
Because
in vain.
"writer"
he's
at the end, after
now
worry about
that he shouldn't
because
own, were
his
many
his.
sessions,
an advertising executive
that
all
could
say,
was:
"That old
man
"He took away
overwhelmed me.
my
Well, Walter, that's
Newsome
is
He'd
told all
the stories.
soul."
My
it.
case
Harvey
against the late
closed. Besides, I'm concerned,
my
having spent
this
time talking to you about the talker, that you'll be tempted to put
me
same category. So I'll let you go: as Harvey never did, I'll simply
walk away. And leave you to decide whether or not you, as a judge,
should have put him away as the murderer firmly believe him to have
in his
been
Yet there's one thing more,
Something that
now, but
in truth, I'm
my
friend.
you'll forgive
so ajraid
Afraid of something perhaps
me,
hope, for taking your arm
should
call
Exhibit
for
Death.
You
And
see,
when Harvey
at the
end
in
himself
that
was dying,
moment
in
attended him.
which, sometimes, patients
seem miraculously to come back, with an indescribable look on their

faces, and to tell something, presumably from the other side
feared for Heaven itself, Walter, with a horror I'd never known.
When Harvey Newsome croaked, as the last of his trillion words:
I
"No, God.
"You listen
204
...
to
me.'
Extra Service
hy John Mallory
new Super-
Eddie's Diner stood like a sentry at the intersection of the
Highway and
the famous Shore Road.
brilliant
door of the converted railway dining-car flashed

Lloyd Tober, wizened and leathery, sniffed
neon sign above the
redly, Service Deluxe.
as
he looked up
the
at
sign, his loose lips curling to reveal small yellowish teeth. In Lloyd's
estimation, Eddie
was
that moss-covered
Lloyd grunted.
If
a fool. After fifty-odd years,
hokum about
Eddie
still
believed
giving service in order to succeed.
Eddie had thought
less
about service and more about
the changes going on around him, perhaps that letter from the People's
Drug chain wouldn't be reposing on
peared, had the drug people
Lloyd scuttled across the road

ing stream of cars.
eight-thirty
the
ap-
it
now.
as the traffic signal halted an
Two men were
tiny spic-and-span eating place
had
Lloyd's desk. Lloyd
sensed the strategic location of Eddie's corner long ago. So
beginning belated suppers
when he walked
in. It
was
unendthe
in
a little after
dull hour.
As Lloyd seated himself, Eddie was
in front of
him
instantly,
wip-
ing the already immaculate black linoleum counter, polishing each

piece of silver with a clean napkin before setting
Lloyd had seen Eddie go through

times and
Why
it
go
it
it
on the counter.
thousand
this polishing routine a
always irritated him.
didn't
at that?
Eddie
And
just slosh off the
counter with
cloth napkins were a luxury.
a
It
wet rag and
let
money
to
cost
launder them. Paper napkins would be good enough. Lloyd had mentioned this to Eddie a long time ago. But Eddie had only grinned and
Makes 'em
said:
"People like 'em.
little
extra service, Lloyd."
feel
things are nice and clean. Just a
"Where's your helper tonight?" Lloyd asked, as he picked up the
menu.
"The kid wanted to go to
smiling.
"I
a dance,"
gave him the evening
"Makes double work
Eddie
said, his
faded blue eyes
off."
for you."
205
don't mind.
"I
body
else
once
doesn't hurt a fellow to
It
Lloyd ordered and watched Eddie
moved
do something
some-
for
in a while."
among gleaming
swiftly
homely but good-natured. His
as the proprietor of the diner
and pans. Eddie's face was

was getting very gray, almost
kettles
hair
The way Lloyd saw it, Eddie had arrived at

when he should have been alive to the hard ways of a
world. He should have lived long enough by now to see
white, around the temples.

a
time of
life
self-seeking
the silliness of
Lloyd's
in his
good
this
all
super-service
But that he hadn't was
stuff.
Lloyd was glad there was no foolish sentiment
fortune.
own make-up. He came immediately
brought his
to business
when Eddie
toast.
hold on this property

minded Eddie. 'Twenty-five hundred."
"That mortgage
due tomorrow," he
is
Eddie leaned on the counter. His blue eyes were trusting.

forgotten, Lloyd. But
why. Excuse me
solicitude in his voice.
Would you
like
Just a sucker,
again.
And
more
right?"
all
haven't
men
at
the other end
he inquired. There was
note of
like
thought Lloyd. Eddie would never see

a transient.
this
customer
Suppose the steak wasn't
right?
money. Oleomargarine would be plenty good enough

Lloyd shook his head.
Eddie came back to his place

in a
balance another
six
low tone.
months.
with the business this
in front of
Lloyd.
"I
can give you
know you won't mind extending the

shouldn't take me any longer than that
"I
It
new highway's
bringing
in."
Lloyd fastened his eyes on his coffee cup while he dropped

little
bombshell. "Mighty sorry, Eddie.
but business
is
it?
butter?"
for the transient trade.
he said
"I
Guess you know
your steak cooked the way you
"Is
The man was only
butter cost
half,"
up, right now.
the line of stools to the two
everything
"Is
it all
moment."
He moved down
of the diner.
can't take
re-
business.
have to exercise
my
If
you
can't take
his
accommodate you,
up the whole mortgage, I'll
I'd like
to
option."
Eddie looked incredulous.
He
started to say something, but just
then one of the other customers finished his meal and stood up. Eddie
went
when
in
his direction
the
and
man dropped
his
said:
"Was everything
money
satisfactory?"
matic cashier by the door, Eddie called: 'Thank you,
and see me again,

All part
206
And
into the shiny, nickel-plated autosir.
Come
back
please."
and parcel of the same extra service idea of
Eddie's,
and
Lloyd thought. Except for the automatic

That was smart. The thing was completely hold-up proof.
The other customer left and Eddie brought Lloyd's eggs. He said:
"You wouldn't treat an old friend that way, Lloyd. You know I'm
only short because helped out my sister when her husband died. It's
unmitigated tommy-rot,
cashier.
temporary. Your loan couldn't be
amount
four times the
Why,
safer.
could
today for
sell
of the mortgage."
Lloyd shrugged. "No, Eddie. You couldn't. You know the terms of
our agreement.
If
you
don't take
up the
amount
full
of the loan at the
moment it's due, have the right to buy your property

we set at the time the mortgage was made."
1
Trouble sprang into Eddie's face

highway," he
said.
it's
worth
"That was before the
finally.
new
empty cup and, quite automatically, Eddie rewith hot coffee. "I'll go to the bank in the morning," he
Lloyd held out

filled
"Now
at the valuation
it
his
started.
Lloyd cut him short. "Sorry. The bank

Lloyd knew, for he was
isn't
and owned
a director
interested in a loan."
a sizable
block of the
knew there wouldn't be time

make arrangements with any city institution.
bank's stock. Furthermore, he

to
Eddie's face started to get red, but at that
and
in
came
his lapel.
He
young man
in a
moment
white sharkskin
said:
Eddie turned to the big chromium percolator.
spoon carefully on
of the country.
a clean
Dan
napkin
He
rosebud
in
"Cup o' 'java."

was wiping a
came Dan Fowler, sheriff

nodded rather curtly in Lloyd's
when
smiled at Eddie,
Eddie
the door opened
with
suit
flopped negligently onto a stool and
for
in
direction.
The young man
in
the white suit was staring around the diner.
Swiveling on his stool, he coolly appraised the whole place, frowning

as
he saw the automatic
the
little
cashier.
mahogany frame on
There was
Then,
he swung back, he noticed
as
the wall next to the coffee percolator.
a ten-dollar bill in the
frame and under
it
Eddie had printed
the words:
This
is
the
first
ten dollar
will remain here unused as
long
as
The young man laughed and suddenly

as
he announced: 'This
pointed the gun
on the
is
a stickup!
and
ever cashed in this diner
bill
Reach
in Eddie's direction,
we
it
stay in business.
there was a gun in his
hand
for the sky, all of you."
laughed again.
"Gimme
that
He
bill
wall."
207
Eddie didn't hesitate an instant. Calmly he reached for the frame,

opened its back and took out the money. There was actually a smile
on his face as he handed it to the gunman.
The man's face was black when he found less than three dollars in
Lloyd's wallet. Sheriff Fowler's pockets yielded only a dime sandwiched between two nickels.
"You hicks are lousy with dough,
He backed
ain't
you?" he sneered.
toward the door. "Don't try to follow," he ordered.
"It
wouldn't be healthy."
"Good night. Come back and see me again, please." He

same courteous tone he used with all his customers.
Lloyd swung on Sheriff Fowler. "Aren't you going after him, Dan?
Eddie
spoke
said:
in the
You're an officer of the law."
The
sheriff
keep your
held up his hand for silence.
shirt on.
guy with
after a
"Them
don't aim to
"I'll
tend to
it,
do nothing headstrong,
Lloyd. Just
rushing
like
a gun.
listed serial
numbers on them ten spots
in that
frame of
guy
you up two weeks ago was nabbed this morning. He's a real
tough egg and there's a five-thousand-dollar reward for his capture.
You're getting half of it, 'cause they caught him on account of the
number of that bill of yours. Come see me in the morning and col-
yours are proving a
who
real service,
Eddie.
just got a wire that the
stuck
lect."
Lloyd
He
sat stupefied.
said:
"Good
Eddie was
night.
just grinning.
Sheriff.
Come
back and see
me
again,
please."
Eye-Witness
by Donald
S.
Aitken
judd eased open the screen door at the rear of the cottage and slipped
from the warm afternoon sun into the cool kitchen. He closed the
door noiselessly behind him. Then he stood perfectly still, listening.
When
he caught the
faint clack-clack of a typewriter in
the house, his bearded lips spread and

faction.
208
He drew
became an
an automatic from his pocket.
another part of
oily smile of satis-
In the front
room
seated with his
moved over
in a spotless linen suit
a typewriter.
He
the keys swiftly, without hesitation.
The
door open.
man
of the cottage a
back to the door, bent over
did not hear the
came when
intimation that he was not alone
first
was
His fingers
menacing voice behind him breathed softly:

"Hello, Patterson!"
The
clatter of the typewriter
suit froze in his
hunched-up
ceased abruptly.
position.
He
The man
in
the linen
did not look around.
Judd circled to the front of the desk. There was
a wariness in his
narrowed eyes.
"No fast moves!" he warned. "This gun's

With the two men facing each other, the
were strangely
were long and
"Who
alike.
lean.
Each had
me
effect
was
off!"
startling.
They
brown, pointed beard. Their noses
They were not old men,- both looked under forty.

demanded in a deep, booming voice. His
are you?" Patterson
wide-open eyes did not
go
liable to
blink.
man with the gun. "You don't recognize

What about my voice isn't that familiar?"
chuckle came from the
with the beard, eh?
The man
in
the linen suit caught his breath sharply. Shock regis-
tered on his face.
"Harry Judd!" he gasped.
Harry Judd's backl" the intruder snarled.

hands gripped the edge of the desk convulsively.
"My God!" he cried in an agonized voice. "Haven't you done
"Yes.
Patterson's
enough
to
me? Don't you know
I'm
watched you hobbling around in

since the day
I suppose,
twelve years ago when hit you over the head with a monkey wrench
and pushed you off the cliff along High Point Road. hated you then.
intended your death to look like an accident, but by some miracle
you were still alive when the searching party found you. had to leave
"Yes,
know. You're
a cripple.
the garden just now. You've been like that,

1
Penfield in a hurry.
And now
I've
come
back!"
Sweat beads had broken out on Patterson's white face.

"What do you want?" His deep voice sounded choked. This man
had already injured him terribly.

came across your picture in a
Judd went on. "Six months ago
newspaper. It was the first I'd heard of you since left Penfield. You've
1
risen in the
become
world
Grim determination came
a successful playwright. You're
into his eyes.
"I
wealthy."
want money, Patterson.
Understand? Money!"
Patterson gulped helplessly.
there
isn't
twenty
"I
don't keep
money
in
the house
dollars."
209
would
didn't expect there
"I
"You can't
"Shut up!" Judd
bank book,
made
be.
want to see your bank book."
threatening motion with the gun. "Get your
said!"
moment. Then he reached over
Patterson sat breathing hard for a
and opened the right hand drawer of the desk. Without lowering his
eyes he fumbled among some papers, finally producing a slim book
secured by an elastic band. Several canceled checks were laid lengthwise in
it.
Judd took the bank book eagerly, glanced into
His buttonhole
it.
eyes glittered.
"You've done even better than
listen!
Then
payable to yourself.
chants Bank
to cash
Ask them
it.
me
to
"Now
do
to
"You see
them you're coming down
tell
nothing to be afraid
ened again
"1
money
the
all
have!" he cried. "You can't
face.
you?
this gun, don't
away
this!"
His expression softened
refuse!"
right
have the money ready. Understand?"
Savagery swept over Judd's
will
of.
if
don't
you
felt for his
fountain pen.
can put a bullet through you

little.
want to
drive
Patterson deliberated only a
book,
finally.
you're going to call up the National Mer-
and
in Penfield
Patterson balked. "That's

force
thought," he said
You're going to write a check for twenty-five thousand dollars,
me
to
if you
"Do as tell you, and there's
kill you but
" his face hard-
it!"
moment. Then he took out
He made
his
check
out the check.
Judd compared the signature with those on the canceled checks.

"Good!" he
He
said. "You're
being sensible.
Now
phone the bank."
held the gun close against Patterson's side while the
Then he moved
put through.
call
was
the telephone out of Patterson's reach
again.
"All right, that finishes
you up and
leave
your
part,"
Patterson looked surprised. "But
"You thought
with
fool
me and
looked
thought
was going to force you
to
"I'm
going to
tie
come down
to the
bank
cash that check?" Judd laughed. "No, Patterson, I'm not
enough to risk
saw your
the day
he announced.
you here now."
a stunt like that.
planned
all
this six
months ago,
you and I
picture in the paper. People always said
a lot alike, so
waited and grew a beard
like
you've done.
With a suit of your clothes on and your Panama hat can go into that
bank and collect the money without anyone knowing the difference.
I
210
I'm
good
at imitating voices
watched you
and
know
the
way you hobble
around.
in the garden."
Judd came out of the adjoining bedroom. He

laundered linen suit. The drooping brim of a Panama
Fifteen minutes later,
wore a freshly
hung over his eyes.
Patterson was lashed to his desk chair, bound hand and foot, unable to move. Strips of adhesive plaster sealed his lips.
Grinning, Judd picked up the blackthorn stick which was propped
against the desk. Leaning on it heavily, he practiced limping back and
forth across the room. When he felt he was proficient in this, he
picked up the telephone. Imitating Patterson's deep, booming voice,
he called the Penfield Taxicab Company and ordered a cab to be sent
out to Elm Cottage.
Then he took
from the desktop and hacked
pair of scissors
through the telephone wires.
He
tossed the instrument into the
fire-
place.
Patterson sat with unblinking eyes, helpless.
When
The
the bell rang, Judd opened the front door of the cottage.
taxi driver
was outside,
plump
little
man with
double chin and
red face.
"Good
afternoon, Mr. Patterson. Cab's here."
Judd kept his head low.

"Thank you," he said.
As he commenced to shuffle across the wooden porch the fat driver

caught his arm and assisted him down the steps, then piloted him
along the garden path.
They
negotiated the garden gate.
"How's the old leg today, Mr. Patterson?"

Judd put extra weight on his stick. "About the same," he said
gruffly.
The
fat
"No
better."
red-faced driver helped Judd into the cab, then squeezed his
form behind the wheel.
"Where we bound
He
threw
glance over his shoulder.
for today?"
'The bank."
"Okay, Mr. Patterson
"
As the cab commenced to roll, Judd leaned back against the cushions and eased out a deep sigh of relief. In spite of himself he'd been a
bit shaky.
Apparently
this driver
had been a severe one but he'd
knew Patterson well. The first test

come through all right. He felt his
confidence returning.
By the time they reached the outskirts of the little town of PenJudd's thoughts had drifted back to the cottage. As soon as the
field,
211
money was
safe in his hands, he'd return there, dismiss the taxi, then
He had
put a bullet through Patterson.
He wanted
him.
him the wealth he had

soon
intended
to gloat over this
first
man he
along to murder
all
Hold before
hated.
That was why he had not shot him
stolen.
as
as Patterson signed the check.
The cab was bowling along Main

town
slid to
it
policeman out
traffic
Street now. In the center of the
the curb in front of the National Merchants Bank.

in
the center of the street was operating a Stop-
and-Go stanchion.
The
driver climbed
alighted,
he caught
The door
sign:
Wet
of the
down and opened
his
the door of the cab. As Judd

arm and steered him across the sidewalk.
On
bank was open.
each doorpost hung
printed
Paint!
Judd halted
at the doorstep.
He
disengaged his arm from the
taxi
driver's.
'Thank you," he
"1
said.
can manage now."
But the driver caught his arm again. "Better

Patterson:
"I'll
know you can make
it,
let
me
take
you
in,
Mr.
but there's fresh paint everywhere."
be able to manage."
The
fat
driver persisted. "But you'll get your suit
Judd was annoyed.
He
didn't
want the man
messed
up!"
to witness the cashing
of the check.
"Let go of me!" he snapped. "I'm not so helpless
away from wet paint when see a sign!" He shook
1
hobbled across the threshold into the bank. The
that
his
can't
arm
keep
free
and
driver stood
taxi
staring after him.

Inside, Judd limped slowly across to the teller's cage. There were
no other customers in the bank. The man behind the grille greeted
him.
"Good
afternoon, Mr. Patterson.
Thanks
for calling us up.
Some-
times a big withdrawal like this catches us short."
Blood was pounding to Judd's face

the pocket of Patterson's
it
away
in a
money over
suit.
The
drawer and took out

twice, then
"There you
are,
pushed
as
teller
he extracted the check from

glanced
at
it,
a sheaf of large bills.

it
carelessly
stamped
He
under the
Mr. Patterson. Twenty-five thousand
Judd's heart gave a
little
bobble of joy. Only with
put
it,
counted the
grille.
dollars."
a great effort
was
he able to keep his hands from shaking as he picked up the money

and thrust it into his wallet. Then, leaning heavily on his stick, he
turned.
His jaw dropped. Every vestige of color drained from his
212
face.
The
fat taxi
driver
policeman from the
was entering the bank. With him was the
The
street.
traffic
driver extended a short, thick arm,
pointed at Judd excitedly.
'There he
is,
officer
that
man
there. He's not
Mr. Patterson!"
With an angry snarl, Judd took a step back. He dropped his stick.
His right hand clawed desperately for his automatic. But the officer
was quicker. Before Judd could clear his weapon, an explosion racketed from the policeman's gun. Flying lead tore into Judd's side, spun
him
and
half around.
The whole bank
started to revolve,- the floor tilted
up
hit him.
When
Judd opened
his eyes,
he was
in a hospital bed.
Chief Butler
of the local police was standing beside him, a sarcastic smile on his
lips.
come
"Nice of you to
back, Judd!" he said. "You had a clever
scheme. Too bad you had to
tell
the taxi driver
keep away from wet paint when you saw a
sign.
you knew enough

That was the
to
tip-off."
Judd stared up from the pillow with an expression of mingled pain

and bewilderment.
"What do you mean?" he

The police chief grinned.
gasped.
'That knock over the head with the
monkey wrench you gave
terson twelve years ago threw his optic nerves
all
Pat-
out of gear. Since
then he's been stone blind!"
Eye Witness
by David X. Manners
thin bluish vapor
still
writhed and curled from the muzzle of the
automatic as Frankie Sardi shoved
it
back into the holster under
his
With cold unconcern he turned and walked from the room, and
as he slowly shut the door behind him, he took one last sneering,
triumphal glance at the lifeless body of Vince Salica slouched in a
straight-backed, wooden chair on the far side of a card table.
arm.
Five bullets remained in the magazine of Sardi's .38 automatic as he

noiselessly slipped
down
the outside
stairs
out of the now-deserted
213
roadhouse. Four slugs had buried themselves
body
the head and
was chuckling to himself

at the bottom of the
Sardi
as
waited for him
who
merrily to the driver
The tough-faced
Frankie? Don't
quick succession
in
in
of Vince Salica.
sat
he climbed into the car that
flight.
"Home, James," he sang out
behind the wheel.
driver turned slowly. "Usin' four shots again, huh,
you think
that's gettin' like leavin' a calling
card be-
hind?"
Sardi eyed
work
him
disdainfully. "Aw, forget
"Anyway, do yuh think
his hand.
His words rolled
for keeps."
"What do you want me
tongue.
he said with
it,"
I'm scared?
wave of
believe in doing
my
and smooth from his well-oiled

to do? Just take two shots at a guy?
fast
Why, you can't even be sure with three. But there ain't no guy livin'
who can take four slugs without trippin' down the primrose path."
Sardi settled down comfortably in his seat and puffed forcefully on
a
newly lighted
He
cigar.
liked that
little
speech about his "four-shot"
philosophy. In fact he liked everything about himself.
knew
"plenty wise guy," and he
The moon-washed
and with
hills
town
parting wink
they were back
in
He was
it.
of the countryside slipped by, and soon
again.
At Sixth and
Eastlake, Sardi got out,
and walked
to the driver, he turned
into his
place of business.
Behind the door inscribed
"Private," Sardi spent the better part of
an hour meticulously cleaning his gun.
The glum, vacuous
expression
on the rotund blob of fat that was his face showed that he had something on his mind. It seemed that he still had one little detail to
attend
to.
When Manny Zwick
dropped by around an hour or so later, Sardi

"little detail" was Babyface Joey Fine.
"Joey?" Manny repeated in unbelievable surprise. "Why, he's just a
made known
kid.
to
him
that the
Why he"
"Yeh,
know,
know," broke
in Sardi.
"I
heard
about him, but that don't mean nothin' to me.
It's
all
that kind of stuff
just a business prop-
osition. He's getting a little too wise for his tender years,
and
he's
gotta go."
Manny
nervously bit his lower
lip.
"Listen, Frankie,"
got rid of Mauri Sneller, and wiped out that
much
little
he urged, "you
rat
Vince Salica
buzz from the cops. But those guys were bad

eggs. This boy Joey Fine is well liked down at headquarters. Those
without so
dicks'll
haul
Sardi's
know
214
yuh
as a
in."
nervous
lips
dicks don't cut
quivered in impatience. "Listen, Manny, you
no
ice
with me. Anyway,
when
get through,
those coppers won't have enough evidence to hang a necktie on."
on
smile broke
he lowered his voice.
his face as
"It's
gonna be
all
innocent and sweet."
squeezed into the mahogany-stained
short while later Sardi
phone booth
the rear corner of his drug store. There was the clink
in
dozen winding zips of the phone
of a nickel in a slot, half a
dial,
and
Fine was on the other end of the wire.

"Frankie speakin'," Sardi grunted as he flicked the ashes off a stubbycigar in his right
you
for
hand with
his little finger.
"I
San Diego. Drop around and see
in
Yeh, ten o'clock's
got something lined up
me
at
my room
tonight.
right."
all
At nine-thirty the beefy gangster walked between the white
umns
He
that
got his mail
at
mumbled something about
the desk,
"catching a
and asked that he be called
rattler for the East" to the clerk,
at five-
the morning.
thirty in
The
col-
side of the entrance to the Colonial Hotel.
stood on either
him
elevator dropped
walked directly to
half-dozen or so shirts
off
He
room.
his
on the nineteenth
floor
and he
undressed, and put his wallet under a
the top drawer of his dresser and quietly
in
placed his reloaded automatic under his pillow.
He
took
he pulled
He
look out of each of the two windows
down
crawled into bed, and
lights in his
room went
"Come
room before
it
was no
later
than nine forty-five
when
the
out.
At ten sharp there was

quick
in his
the shades and drew together the heavy, ecru drapes.
knock on the door. Sardi breathed
a quiet,
The door opened part way and Joey Fine slipped

moment the boy fumbled in the dark for the light
in."
through. For a
switch near the door, but Sardi quickly rolled over and snapped on
the switch near his bed.
Fine's slim,
showed
as
young
face looked clean-cut,
he half smiled
Sardi nodded.
today okayin' a
"1
got
little
in
awkward
wire from
toward
his pearly
white teeth
Hy
Williams
down
in
San Diego
proposition that would be just the thing for you,
Joey," he said in a confidential tone.

finger
and
self-consciousness.
his dresser.
'The
He
pointed a tobacco-stained
wire's in the top drawer.
You can get
it
out."
Sardi's eyes glinted
and
frown spread over
his face as Fine unsus-
pectingly turned his back and walked toward the dresser.
The
gangster's
hand
slid
under
his pillow.
It
came out clutching
his
automatic.
it calmly under the blanket
There were two top drawers.
Sardi thrust
tarily.
as Fine
turned
momen215
The
gangster smiled wryly.
plained patiently. "You'll find

take
it
in the left-hand drawer,"
"It's
in
it
my
billfold
under those
he ex-
shirts. Just
out."
Fine reached
down
into the
bottom of the drawer, and pulled out
the wallet. Instantly four shots rang out in quick succession.
The
im-
pact of the bullets seemed to swing him half around. His eyes were
glassy wide in incomprehension.
forward to the
floor.
With
upper
Sardi's
a throaty
groan he pitched face
curled in surly disgust.
lip
He
tossed the gun on a low table near his bed, and from the same table,
he
phone
lifted a
receiver.
"Call the police
quick!" he jerked. "I've just shot a robber!"
Slowly he cradled the receiver, and
still
holding the instrument
his hands,
he thoughtfully pondered over the
he slipped
his
tongue
he whispered, "but
Sardi
in his
I'll
get
cheek.
had no sooner slipped on
Confidently
game
the world,"
the oldest
"It's
away with
in
situation.
in
it."
robe than the door of his room
opened. In came the house detective. His face was flushed, nervous.
"I'm
is
Moorehead
Detective
you
He
of the house," he
began brokenly. "What

fell
on the
Slowly he treaded over to the dresser and stood by the
lifeless
it
"
sucked
in his
breath sharply as his eyes
body.
form.
He seemed
Sardi
by the
frightened. "Robbery, eh?" he asked gravely.
little
nodded with
a feigned dejectedness.
"We've got
in
touch with Lieutenant O'Rourke," the detective
clearing his throat. "This
His
is
words were almost
last
feet as four
men barged
ers plainclothesmen,
The
Inwardly he was pleased
detective's timidity at the sight of death.
tallest of
all
said,
matter for the police, of course."

lost in a
confused
Two were
into the room.
scuffle of
pounding
patrolmen, the oth-
of the homicide squad.
the group was apparently Lieutenant O'Rourke.
With
darting eyes he took in the layout.

"Well, Frankie, so at last we've got
leveling a
gun
at Sardi.
"And
you red-handed," he growled,
for out-and-out murder, too!"
down the rod, flatfoot," he

two minutes if you ever took me in for this,
and wouldn't need a crooked mouthpiece or a phoney writ, either.
Believe it or not, it so happens that was asleep in bed when this mug
busts into my room and tries to lift some dough of mine. So I let him
have it, and don't mean the dough."
The police lieutenant took one look at the dead man. "Babyface
Joey Fine! You know him, don'cha?"
216
Sardi sneered contemptuously. "Put
jeered. "I'd be sprung in

I
so happens that
"It
do.
And
dumb
wasn't
making the impression he wanted
paused
But
a break.
not knowin'
how
who
it
me
his story
"If I'd
was Joey,
could you expect
in hell
he saw
as
to make.
it
eyes and could have seen in the dark that
him
he was so
I'm sorry for his folks that
as to try a stunt like this." Sardi
had
cat's
have given
I'd
to take a chance,
was?"
it
O'Rourke knelt down beside Fine's body and studied the manner in
which the billfold was held. "It looks legitimate enough," he confessed, after a short study. "The wallet wasn't planted on him." Suddenly his face brightened a
"A dresser drawer's an awful funny
bit.
place to keep five thousand in cash,
ain't
it,
Frankie?"
Sardi regarded the lieutenant sourly. "Listen, gumshoe,
dough
any place when
to be safe
Anyway,
I'm around.
expect
a place like
that should be about the last place a smart crook should think of
looking."
O'Rourke was plainly puzzled.

he began with
be. It'd
be
just like
except your
down
"I'm achin' to pull
a resigned bitterness, "but

it's
bum
always been.
rep.
to headquarters
guess
all
and make
Sardi smiled appreciatively.
"I
We
you
in for this,"
know how damn
foolish
it'd
wouldn't have a thing on yuh,
we can do
is
to ask
you
come
to
a statement."
only wish you knew
how
sorry
am
that such a thing has happened."
O'Rourke nodded sullenly and walked over
He
last look.
on
his back. Fine's
down
to the
dead man
for a
grasped the boy's shoulders firmly and rolled him over
jaw dropped.
dried, red thread of
blood snaked
the side of his face from a head wound. His eyes were glassy,
unseeing.
O'Rourke arose slowly and faced the porcine gangster. "You say the
dark, and that you wouldn't have shot him if you could
room was
who
have seen
was?" he asked casually.
it
faint trace of
worry spread over
he admitted. "You might think

actly
my
Sardi's face. "That's
I'm tough, but killing
what
people
said,"
ain't
ex-
idea of an after-dinner sport."
O'Rourke turned
as
if
to go, but just as he reached the
door he
stopped, and, pulling a three-celled flashlight from his hip pocket, he
walked back toward Sardi and flashed the
light full in his eyes.
Sardi started in surprise.

it's just
a gag of mine," O'Rourke explained
watch how the pupils of the eyes contract when you
"Don't be afraid,
quickly.
"1
like to
shine a light in them."

Sardi scratched the back of his head. "Are
"What
in hell are
you
you
nuts?"
he snapped.
talking about?"
217
O'Rourke disregarded the gangster's query. "Put the
cuffs
on him,
commanded. Then: "I'm arresting you for the murder of Joey

Fine. And if you want to know why, just take a look at his eyes. Once
a person dies, they never change, and his contracted pupils show this
room was as light as day when you shot him!"
boys!" he
Friend of Davy Jones'

by Dan Gordon
The morning activity on the pier didn't bother Lew Guyon, but he
awakened when someone stepped aboard the boat. His hand found
the .45 beneath the pillow, released it as the legs came down the
He
ladder.
Angel. Stumble
said, "Enter,
Sue Brandon
said,
"Go
in,
Vision."
on sleeping. Don't
right
let
me keep
you
awake."
Lew
said, "It
is
as nothing, baby.
was
just getting up.
Come
on
in,
fairest lady."
The sweetness went
"Just getting up," the girl repeated.
my
voice. "Listen, did or did not
you
father hire
out of her
to protect people
here in the cove?"
"He
did.
And
did.
visited each yacht,
downy
millionaire into his
She nodded. "And
all
but tucked each chubby
bed."
right after
you
left
they held up the West Wind.
The women lost their jewelry, and the men lost thousands of dollars."
Lew Guyon walked to the porthole, looked out at the water, at the
of luxury craft riding easily
flotilla
aire's
Cove.
menace. She had, he
pleasantly. But
"Did
ever
on the placid surface of Million-
wasn't absolutely necessary that he follow through on
Brandon had seemed
this job.
was
It
why
tell
like a nice guy,
but this daughter of his
reflected, a pleasant voice
when she used
it
wait around for that?
you,"
Lew
said,
"how
about millionaires?"
feel
"No," Sue Brandon said, "but I'm dying to hear."

"Don't give a
the day."
toward
He
her.
damn about
found
"You owe
roll
me
'em," said
of
bills,
Lew. "Especially
at this
for a night's sleep.
tied
up here an hour
ago, after spending the night put-putting around this cove."
218
hour of
kept two, shoved the balance
Sue Brandon ignored the money. "My father hired you. I didn't.
it to him. And if you find it convenient to move your things
Give
ashore by this afternoon,
Lew touched
my
hke to use
I'd
forehead and
his
boat."
The girl bit her lip,

Lew looked after her thought-
said, "Yes'm."
turned away and went up the ladder.
He'd have to hang around for a day or two. Having sent the
Sammy Sultan, he'd have to wait for Sammy to tell him the
fully.
wire to
job was
off.
He had
He
The
intended to
Maybe
didn't.
first
thing he saw
olive-dark
man
Maybe
walk on the dock.
Sultan's
by the wheel called aloud
to Lew.
topside was
beside the pier.
slid in
standing
Sammy
when he went
schooner, Sea Maid, as she
The
he shaved and ate breakfast.
feel quite well as
a stretch.
aft
chum. They don't shoot you yet?"

"Not yet," Lew said. "How's Cuba?"
"Hi,
"Hot," said
Sammy
over the schooner's
Sulton.
Lew Guyon. "Down
"Cuba
very warm."
is
He swung
a leg
leaped and landed cat-like on the dock beside
rail,
there
too hot, up here
is
is
too cold."
"Hotter'n the gulf?"
"No,"
"It
Sammy
was
said.
good
"No, not
Sammy
"Yeah," said
Sultan,
would have been an excellent

"Like the one we just lost."
"We?" said
that hot."
job."
Sammy
the
"if
chump had
lived to
pay us
it
job."
work
Sultan. "You
where he hears of me. Now know.

and here am. It is like that, eh?"
I
for Cipelli
like old times.
It is
wonder
Here you are,
too?
"No,"
Lew
told him, chuckling.
"It
is
have heard of your lily-white reputation.

this
war
"So?"
until this
Lew
said shortly. "But
was on the other
side of
not stand here. Get a bottle of

barroom on the cove, but know
let's
your number one rum. There's not
to find a tea room."
The woman who

but
morning."
What happened?"
"Fired,"
where
not like that. Cipelli must
Sammy
ran the tea
room
wasn't too
happy about the rum,

bill, and
Sultan topped his brilliant smile with a crackling
she went away and
left
them
alone.
Lew poured an inch of rum in the bottom of Sammy's cup, took his
own coffee straight. "This lad," Lew said, "this Cipelli. After he made
his pile during prohibition, he settled down here to enjoy a life of
exclusive ease with the other millionaires."
219
nice,"
"It's
Sammy
Sultan commented.
you like it, or can afford it. Apparently Cipelli can't. Or at least
he can't any more. Coupla months ago, some gang began a series of
sea-going stickups, knocking off the yachts at anchor. Brandon, the
guy who hired me to stop it, wanted it done quietly. He felt that
"If
much
bringing in the law would give the place too
Sammy
"Reasonable," said
Cove
of Millionaire's
"They've kept
moola
until Cipelli sent his
that way.
it
publicity."
Sultan. "Very reasonable.
Mostly old
never heard
man."
families
who've had their
They can afford to pay to stop Cipelli without calling

Which is why sent for you. The boys have on the tug
for years.
in the cops.
for
diving work, but they wouldn't stack with
Now, dunno. I'd say Cipelli is going to make one big

down every yacht in the harbor, load everything aboard
Cipelli's gang.
haul, shake
and ship
enough
are tough
south with you."
it
know nothing. carry cargo

Of course, would rather
."
work with you, but if you have no money
"I've got some," Lew Guyon said, "but I've got to give it back. Want
to come along for the ride? We'll use Miss Brandon's boat."
Sammy
Sultan said virtuously, "Me,
man
for the
as
long as the price
is
right.
"Young
girl?"
Sammy
Sultan inquired,
moving
his eyes. "Pretty?"
"Yeah. But not your type. Strictly uptown."
"Good," said Sammy.

"She
talks,"
Lew
"I
been thinking of going into society."

some bitterness. "Has a yap like a tiger
said with
Which is why quit."

Sammy. "Well, it
shark.
"So," said
with
me
Lew
regrettable. But
no matter. You work
grinned. "Cipelli wouldn't like that."
Sammy Sultan
likes? Come on."
spread his hands expressively.
They walked back

at the fog
Sultan.
is
for our friend Cipelli."
bank
looked
what he
and Lew looked out over the water

from seaward, glancing sideways at Sammy
ought to
at
cares
to the dock,
rolling in
"Sammy,
Sammy
"Who
tell
you.
I've
been
legit since the war."
him. "So? What's your racket?"
"Marine investigation. Anything that comes up. I'm a sea-going
pri-
vate dick."
Sammy
said.
Sultan
"You are
my
They dropped
seemed
faintly embarrassed.
"What
the hell," he
friend."
it
there and began to discuss the old days, the rough
days. Pearl fishing off Australia, the business in South America.
had taken
again.
220
their
chances and mostly
won and sometimes
lost
and
They
tried
The fog was all around them by the time they reached the boat.
Lew stepped into the cockpit and gunned the motor while Sammy
threw off the lines. Sammy said, "You know where she lies?"
"I can find her." Lew eased the cabin cruiser away from the dock,
and they went ghosting along through the fog
in
the general direction
of Brandon's yacht. TTie mist, hurrying along close to the surface,
enclosed the boat
in a tiny
pocket of
visibility.
They were, Lew thought, about halfway out when Sammy Sultan
touched his arm and said, "What
They both heard it, the sound of a shot, vague and directionless.
Lew pulled the throttle back, allowing the engines to idle. Listening,
they heard nothing but the slapping, hissing waves.
Then, with
upon them,
a roar of a
high-powered engine, the other boat was
man at
Lew saw Cipelli at the wheel, and
man he didn't know. He saw the thin
flashing into view, skidding in a wild turn as the
the crew spotted the cabin cruiser.
beside him a thin, spidery
man's arm
come
little
up, and together he and
Sammy
Sultan flung them-
selves to the deck.
The
sound.
splintering the cockpit glass,
bullet,
The
boat vanished
Sammy
made
high tinkling
exhaust of the flying speedboat growled derisively as the

in
the fog.
Sultan sat up, slipped his gun back into
"Where do you keep
its
shoulder holster.
it?"
"What?"
"Below,"
Sammy
What you
think
want? Your address book?"
"Under the bunk."
ducked below, returned with a sub-machine gun.
"The gun.
Lew
said,
He
said:
'They come back, Louie, my boy?"

"Maybe." Lew booted the stem around and sent the boat ahead
slowly, at right angles to her original course. "The fat guy at the
Sammy, "was Cipelli."

Sammy, his brows rising, said, "Careless, isn't he?"
Lew didn't answer. Instead, he cut the engine and reached for the
chopper. Sammy Sultan handed it over, patted his ribs, and came up
wheel," he told
with a gun
in his
hand.
The boat had loomed suddenly
out of the fog.
It
wasn't the one
had passed them. This boat was small, a runabout. It lay in the
trough and rolled with the sea. The cockpit seemed empty.
When they were closer, Lew saw the man on the floorboards. They
lowered their guns and boarded. "Brandon," Lew Guyon said.
"From the back," Sammy Sultan commented. "Close up."
that
221
"No fight," said Lew.

"No fight," Sammy Sultan
Lew looked down at the
pretty well. "Dirty," he said.
Sammy
agreed.
lean grey face.
"Damned
He had
sound of another
said, "Easy," as the
Brandon
liked
dirty."
boat's engines
came
Lew and Sammy leaped aboard the cruiser.

own engine, hoping he'd been quick enough. The
through the mist.
Lew
cut his
sound they'd heard diminished, came closer again.

"Patrol boat,"
'There
"Don't
isn't
Sammy
me!
tell
"And leave
whispered.
one."
I
this
can smell cops
guy to bleed
mile away. Let's breeze, Louis."
to death?"
'They'll find him. Hurry!"
Lew nodded and brought
the engine to thundering
Sammy
life.
from the smaller boat and the sleek cruiser went heeling and
cast off
careening into the fog.
Looking back, Lew saw the shadow of

It
looked
like Cipelli's boat,
changed, became small and symmetrical

course to give chase.
bow emerge from
but he couldn't be sure.
Lew crowded
the mist.
The dim shape
other boat altered her
as the
the throttle and looked at
Sammy
Sultan. "That guy'll bleed to death."
"Okay,"
Sammy
said. "He'll bleed.
If
they catch
us, we'll
burn to
death."
Lew
said, "Hell,
"No? Suppose
fog.
You got
we
didn't shoot Brandon."
I'm the law.
hear you're running away
dead man behind, and
Sammy
in a
pea-soup
Sultan for a passenger.
Nice, baby?"
"Lovely,"
wheel hard
bow.
Lew
said.
Glancing back
right, ran for a heavier
"Just the same,"
patch up Brandon.
The whine
I'll
he
at
the pursuing boat, he spun the
fog bank broad on the starboard
said, "we'll lose these
tramps, go back and
feel better then."
of bullets forced
them down
in
the boat. Behind them,
they heard the unhealthy chatter of a machine gun.

rudder amidships and the
bank.
They headed back
firing
in a
Lew brought
the
ceased as they ploughed into the fog
slow
circle,
found Brandon's boat on the
nose.
"Nice maneuver," said Sammy, "but foolish."
Lew
"Save
it,"
They
lifted
told him. "Let's get this
guy aboard."
Brandon aboard the cruiser and
wounds while Lew kicked the boat ahead.
Sammy examined
"Bad?"
looking back.
"Pretty bad.
222
Maybe he makes
it,
maybe
not.
his
Lew asked without
What now?"
"We
him
take
"And he
in?"
on the way?"
dies
Lew shrugged and
sound of the other
altered his course as the
engine came faintly across the water.
They made
it
into the pier.
Lew and Sammy remained with
Bran-
don, and sent a boy to phone for a doctor and Brandon's daughter.
Sue Brandon got there
first.
She
knelt, silent
beside her father. Lew, seeing the question in
and
grief -stricken,
Sammy
Sultan's eyes,
nodded.
The doctor was coming aboard, but Sue Brandon ignored him. She
at Lew Guyon and said very distinctly, "Why didn't you finish
should have known when you quit that you'd sold out to
the job?
looked
the gang."
Vince Cipelli stood on the dock and
We
thought
we
said,
"Who
is it?
Mr. Brandon?
heard a shot."
Lew looked at the former gang boss,

him. Cipelli moved his bulk to step down
at the spidery
into the boat
man
beside
and Lew said
sharply, "Stay off her."

"Is it
your boat?" Cipelli asked gently.
"No. But I'm the guy don't want you aboard."
The
spidery
"Here's the
man crawled
meat wagon,"
forward.
Sammy
"Now, buddy," he began.

Sultan said hastily.
The ambulance stopped, its crew came with a stretcher and removed the still-unconscious Brandon. As the stretcher was handed up,
Cipelli made another move to board the boat.
"Coming aboard," Cipelli said.
"Don't," Lew said quietly.
The spidery man moved his hand. Sammy Sultan's hand flickered
briefly
and
gun leaped into
his
fist.
"You gentlemen," he murmured,
"have more persistence than brains."
Lew said, "Thanks, Sammy." He glanced up at the ambulance. The

men were closing the doors and Sue Brandon was watching the play
on the boat. Lew called "I'd like that job back. Miss Brandon."
Wordlessly, she shook her head.
"I'll
She
do
it
cheap.
The
hesitated, then
service won't cost
came
you
at all."
to the edge of the dock, looked at him,
and pressed the roll of bills into his hand. Then she ran for the ambulance, climbed in front with the driver.
Sammy Sultan leafed the few limp bills. "This isn't money," he said
plaintively.
223
"No money," Lew

Cipelli.
agreed, "but a
good
He
job."
"You wouldn't work for Tubby, there
thumb
jerked a
at
now, would you?"
"For a price," said Sammy Sultan, "I would work for Mr. Hoover.
mean Edgar, of course."
Lew smiled and said, "What about me? For a marker?"
"Your l.O.U.!' Sammy shook his head in sorrow. "Why
ever knew
you is a mystery cannot explain." Then, as Cipelli started forward
I
my fat friend. And believe me,

my last chance to make an honest
again, "Shove off,
With you goes
you
hate to see
go.
dollar here in these
putrid waters."
Lew watched
Cipelli
Cipelli
would attempt
cover his
"Well?"
own
He
kept his
die,
whether
and the spidery man walk away.
eyes on them absently, wondering
Brandon were to
if
murder rap on
to pin a
Sammy and
himself to
operations.
Sammy
Sultan said.
"What?" Lew answered vaguely.

"I
would not
near here.
interrupt your dreams, but
have
have
gun on the man
just pulled a
schooner tied up
came
to
work
for.
believe he will act like a substantial citizen and call the local cops.
also believe his
boys
yachts tonight.
If
He
in.
will carry out his original plan
am now
not mistaken,
guess we'd better shove
and
stick
up these
hear the sound of
phoned the constabulary. They

Now. Can you do something?"
has already
"I
are
coming
Lew, cocking an ear
off," said
a siren.
to take us
at the
siren.
"I
guess,"
The
Sammy
Sultan said.
fog stayed with them as they
Sammy
close to the surface.
while
Lew remained
at
effect of the swirling
left
the pier.
Sultan, below,
It
brewed
was
chilly
and
pot of coffee,
the wheel. Staring intently ahead, he found the
vapor hypnotic. Then he made out the
the grey-white belly of the
sail,
the
little
curl of
water
sailboat,
at the
bow.
Lew rubbed his eyes, looked again, and flung the wheel hard right.
The cruiser heeled, and her stern, skidding, barely missed the sailing craft. Looking back. Lew made out two figures dimly outlined on
her deck before the fog closed
Sammy Sultan came up

now wading in coffee."
"Couldn't help
it,
in again.
the ladder and said,
Sammy. Some
"What the
fool out in a sailboat.
hell? I'm
We
almost
him down."
ran
Grumbling,
two cups of
'Thanks,
224
Sammy slid back down

He handed one to
coffee.
Sammy,
I'm glad
you came
the ladder and returned with
Lew.
along."
mop
"I'll
then
off the deck,
it
wring the
Good, no? Where
rag.
you headed?"
way across. Our best move is to stay out of jail and clear of
we can get your boys off the schooner. Next time we see
he'll have more hired help. Not just one underfed hood."
"All the
Cipelli until
Cipelli,
Zinging
from the starboard
in
Lew
cockpit.
side, the bullet
passed through the
hurled himself to the right, scooped up the sub-machine
face the boat that was bearing down upon them.

The other boat opened fire before Lew could bring his
gun to bear. They flattened themselves on the deck and heard the
lead burn the air, watched it splinter the woodwork. Lew raised his
gun and turned to
Too
late.
head and saw the speedboat rocket away.

Recognizing the spidery man, Lew was bringing
man
the other
fired first
and caught him high
gun up when
his
Lew
in the shoulder.
and clapped one hand to the wound. With the other,

he picked up the gun. Then, turning, he saw Sammy Sultan. Sammy's
face was contorted, his hands clamped tight on his belly. Sammy said,
gritted his teeth
"How do you
Lew
came
"
His voice
trailed off.
shifted his eyes to the curtain of fog.
The
roar of the boat
then.
Lew squeezed
Slowly,
The gun leaped and bucked
the trigger.
against his hand.
He saw
the surprised expression on the thin
little
face,
watched
bow of the oncoming craft. The

Somebody let out a scream. Lew
while the stream of lead ate into the

roar of
Guyon
engine died abruptly.
its
leaned against the
When
rail,
he looked again, the
dropped
his gun.
fragile hull of the
ping under the waves. Behind Lew,
Sammy
speedboat was
slip-
Sultan sat in a pool of
blood. His face was very pale.
From the other
side of the boat, there
saw the hand on the
rail.
He
leaned back, feeling the tearing strain

tug,
and the spidery man
deck.
it,
shoulder.
aboard and flopped
grasped
He
and
it
gave a
like a fish
final
on the
in
a blanket
on the starboard bunk, the spidery man
an Indian chief.
like
Sammy
in his
Lew
a scraping sound.
Crouched
looked
slid
came
dragged himself to
Sultan lay in the other bunk.
He
said faintly,
"We
get
Cipelli?"
Spider
said,
"1
guess he couldn't swim."
Lew's shoulder was hurting. His shoulder was hurting like
bunks were
full,
and somebody had to take the boat
in.
The
hell.
.
He
225
grasped the edge of a bunk and hauled himself up off the deck. "Coin'
He fought his way up the

head through the hatch and gratefully gulped the
topside," he announced.
ladder,
air
poked
his
and saw the
sailboat not fifty yards away.
An
ancient and bearded
"Here's one of them,
Negro
the old
"
cross-legged on the bow.
sat
man
said.
"Come look
at
him. Miss
Brandon."
She came aboard and
Lew
stopped the wave
wounded."
said, "You're
The
started an airy wave.
He
in mid-air.
pain interfered with the gesture,

said,
"You ought to see the other
fellow."
"Cipelli?"
Lew
eyes go blank. "Never heard of him," he said. "Couple
let his
below got in a fight.

How's your father?"
of guys
is.
"Grand. He's going to be
Lew nodded and
you know how
We were
all
drinking and
right."
staggered below. With the
girl
close behind him,
he steadied himself against the door frame and looked
man. Lew
in
it
"You got any more interest
said,
it
at the
in this racket, or
spidery
were you
strictly for Cipelli?"
"For Cipelli," the
man
said,
"You sure drew a blank," he
"Not me,
"and the dough."

said.
never draw a blank. Cipelli floated a while, see?"
"Well?" said
Sammy
Sultan.
"Well what?"
"Come up with
half."
Reluctantly, Spider pulled out a soaking
He
split
roll. "All
the bundle in two, tossed one half to
"Fine," said
Sammy
you on the other
Sultan.
shore,
"Now
don't hurt so bad.
you think you could
"Could I?" he breathed.
"If
If
we dropped
pull a fade?"
me I'd come out of this

He eyed Sammy Sultan search-
anybody'd told
with nothin' more than a headache

ingly. "You're a
twenties," he said.
Sammy.
funny guy," he
"
said.
Lew Guyon, watching Sammy, realized that the wounded man

wasn't paying much attention. Sammy was staring at the girl, and the
girl was looking at Sammy. Lew said, "A funny guy is right. To me he
looks like a guy
Sammy
226
who
will
soon be
settling
Sultan said very thoughtfully,
"1
down."
got a clean record here."
Granny Gumption
Solves o Murder
by
C.
Henderson
J.
and Charles Hoffman

Granny Gumption sat quietly, composing her notes on the frontboard
of the Townshend Goddard breakfront secretary. Gumption, of
was not her
course,
real
name, nor was she anyone's grandmother. But
name given her by a whimsical newsman so many years previous

when she had solved her first murder had stuck and now, to everyone
the
in
the northern Worshire fishing village which she loved so dearly,
she was Granny Gumption, the luncheon party
woman who
solved
all
those beastly crimes the police could not.
With
knowing she was
a sigh,
right as usual, she consulted the
hands of the handsomely polished Simon Willard grandfather's clock

in
the corner of the mansion's sitting room. Nine o'clock.
would be gone.
Now
was the time. Pushing
herself
The
others
up with the
dig-
Granny crossed to the hall to confront young master

Wayne alone in the burgundy drawing room. He was pouring a
nity of her age,
brandy
for himself as she entered.
"Such a waste," she thought, and then proceeded forth to do her

duty.
Seeing her enter, the young
man quipped
airily,
Granny?" indicating the Waterford crystal
drink.
"No thank
you," replied
Granny
coldly.
"Can
offer
set at his
you
elbow.
She rested her weight on
her cane, her owl-like eyes seeming to pierce young Wayne's soul.
"So,
have you solved the murder yet?"
"As a matter of
cusingly, "You
"You'll
"1
fact,
have,
murdered Doctor
be expected to
young Wayne," Granny answered
prove that."
imagine the missing diaries can be found under the flagstones
front of the groundskeeper's shed,"
ac-
Carstairs."
in
snapped Granny succinctly.
dark expression settled on young Wayne's brow. "Indeed. So,
what was
it
that tipped
you
off?"
"Your hands. Those well-manicured hands. Hardly the hands of the

prodigal son
who
supposedly spent ten years laboring
in
the Peruvian
tin mines."
227
"And have you told anyone of this?"

"No.
wanted to offer you the chance to come forward on your
own first, to preserve what's left of the honor of the Prescott family
I
name," Granny retorted
"Thank you, Granny.
tartly.
I'm not sure
you understand how much
ap-
preciate that."
And, with that said young
Wayne
reached out
in
one quick,
serpentine motion, snatching Granny's cane from her liver-spotted

gers.
The
old
woman
fin-
tottered forward, off-balance, then jerked awk-
wardly back, spinning her arms
in circles to
keep her balance. Young
Wayne tapped the cane against his palm, testing its weight.
"My cane!" Granny squawked frantically, "Give me back my
cane!"
"Oh Sure."
Young Wayne held the cane
loosely like a pool cue, then swung,
shooting the hook end sharply into Granny's solar plexus. Granny
folded broken and hurting, dropping to
Young Wayne snapped a kick that caught
ing it in two places, stretching the old
young heir raised the cane above his head,
on Granny's
The
the floor coughing blood.
Granny on the
woman
jaw, break-
supine. Then, the
only to bring
it
down hard
face.
old sleuth's sharp, beak-like nose shattered into a bloody mis-
shapen blob. Several more stout blows shattered her
glasses, driving
razor-sharp slivers slicing through her eyeballs until they broke apart
like soft-boiled eggs, their greyish jellied
mass oozing down the old
woman's wrinkled cheeks.
Granny writhed helplessly on the floor, futilely flailing her

withered arms to ward off further blows. Her keening cry of anguish and terror echoed through the empty mansion, a singlfe, sustained, high-pitched squeal
sounding
like
nothing but the
devil's tea
kettle.
Laughing
at
the old woman's bloody pain, the
launched his athletic body upward into the

hard, striking
feet,
Granny squarely
shattering her ribcage
in the
torted
by
his rage,
until
young
millionaire
and then came down
center of the chest with both
crushing her
ended abruptly then, but young Wayne,
woman
And
air
like a
bug.
The keening
cry
his face flushed red, con-
jumped up-and-down, up-and-down on the old
long after she was dead.
later, when his fury had finally expended itself, young Wayne
downed another brandy, bathed, and then changed to a fresh suit of
clothes.
Going
to the master safe, he
and jewelry, along with

228
a sealed
removed
all
the family monies
envelope containing a
full set
of false
I.D.
complete with passport.
He
left
the
out regret. As for the crushed corpse
in
manor
for the last time with-
the drawing room, the ser-
vants would take care of that.
A Hand
of Pinochle
hy Theodore
"This goes for
all
Tinsley
of you," Captain Daley snapped. "Don't think that
in a rural precinct in Queens

do but chuck old ladies under the chin. The
commissioner sent me out here to pep up this precinct, and intend
to get results or there'll be men up on charges."
His eyes focussed meaningly on Patrolman Kirker. Kirker shuffled
his big feet nervously and wished old Captain O'Brien were still alive.
O'Brien had been easy-going, not like this new skipper with the
could get
youthful frown and the crisp snap to his voice. "If only
him to play pinochle!" Kirker thought sadly.
Eleven years on the force hadn't made much change in Patrolman
Adolph Kirker. His feet were a little flatter, his uniform a bit tighter
across the stomach, his sun-wrinkled smile deeper. He had served in
three boroughs and had made exactly three arrests. The first was an
under-sized Sicilian junk peddler whom Adolph had caught viciously
larruping a bloated white horse from a rental stable in lower Manhattan. The second was a Bronx janitor who had celebrated an alcoholic
birthday by blacking his wife's eye. The third, a taxi driver in Queens,
had tinkered unlawfully with his meter and had tried to collect the
because you've been assigned to duty

that
you have nothing
to
surcharge with his
fists.
Adolph Kirker had drifted to Queens on the border of the city

line, because there was no further spot to which a mild and inoffensive cop could be transferred to make room for the stronger-jawed,
more ambitious rookies who poured out of the police school every
year.
Each time
He was
not at
were shady
new commissioner stepped

all
bitter
about
it,-
trees, friendly folk in
Mr. Kirker and were
like as
down.
Queens there
neat frame houses who called him
up, Kirker stepped
quite the reverse. In
not to bring out a bottle of cold beer
229
when he passed and asked about
the health of his wife. In Manhattan
flat. Here he owned his own grassand home, or would as soon as he finished making the payments.
And every Sunday afternoon, while his wife attended the Ladies' Auxiliary of the Lutheran church, Kirker and his friend Otto Muller
Kirker had lived in a dark, dismal
plot
played pinochle.
meaning and pleasure

Queens the virus of
bridge had bitten deeply, so that it was hard to find a good steady
pinochle player. But Otto Muller, an ex-cop who had taken a lighter
job after being wounded and partly crippled, knew the finer points of
pinochle and was fond of beer and Liederkranz. Kirker walked his
beat, not from block to block but from Sunday to Sunday. In two
years he was two dollars ahead of Muller and hopeful of increasing his
lead. He smiled dimly at the prospect, the irate face of young Captain
Daley a meaningless blur. Daley's curt question cut ruthlessly through
Pinochle! That was the one thing that gave
to the easy-going existence of Kirker.
Even
in
daydream.
his
"Anything particularly exciting happen on your beat?"
"Some
were playing baseball in a vacant lot on Division Avemumbled. "One of 'em broke a window, so I
"Ahh. ... A broken window. Did you make your annual arrest?"
Kirker's ears were bright red. "I walked the kid a coupla blocks and
talked to him like a
a Dutch uncle. He was scared stiff, a big overgrown kid. So gave him a half dollar and told him to get the window
kids
nue," Kirker
fixed."
"And reconstructed
a potential criminal, eh?"
"Yes, sir," Kirker said quietly. "I've
they need
rough,
is
a tap
on the pants and
and they
sir,
start
robbing
watched kids
a bit of help
tills
him
like
before. All
sometimes. Treat 'em
and buying
cheap gun
in
Jersey."
"I
see,"
Captain Daley murmured. The red
ened. "A broken
window and
his pal
no
squad room
Long
arrest.
no
Island
From now on
you wishing you had."

There was discreet silence.
'Try
230
sanctum with
that
"That's
a mile
from
that kind of police
ended. You'll devote your attention to crooks and
off to his
face deepas
in his
Thieves made a haul yesterday not

arrest.
own
His voice rose
hand a resounding whack with

banks knocked over by Rod Cantor and
he struck the typewritten report

his palm. "Seven
in his
a bit of welfare work."
all,"
killers,
or
this
work
I'll
is
have
Daley snapped and strode
a brisk click of his heels.
on your pinochle deck, Adolph,"
a sardonic voice
mut-
tered. Kirker
grinned feebly.
He was
used to being kidded about his
Sunday game with Muller.
when he
Mrs. Kirker clucked indignantly
"Why
captain's ultimatum.
didn't
you
talk
told her about the
new
up to him, Adolph? Did you
him what you did for young Charlie Franklin? Or how you put the
fear of the Lord into Dave Martin and made him get busy and support
tell
that sweet
little
family of his?"
Kirker shrugged and didn't answer.
What was
the use? Those were
things the skipper wouldn't understand.
"Anyone would
think," his wife sniffed, "that cops
were
a lot of
quarrelsome thugs, running around day and night to shove people

into cells. I've a
row and give
good mind
to
go around
to the station
house tomor-
that whippersnapper a talking to."
Kirker said mildly, "Now, Hattie!"
kitchen chair, his uniform coat
He was
sitting
comfortably
in a
the weight of his gun sagging his
off,
hip pocket. His wife bustled between cupboard and stove, preparing
the coffee they always drank before they
went
the bread box and the irritation she
lid of
felt
to bed.
She
lifted
the
toward Captain Daley
transferred itself suddenly to household affairs.
"Oh, dear.
bakery
The
will
forgot the
be closed
coffee'll
all
crumb
cake. Tomorrow's
be ready by the time you get back."
Kirker sighed. Without crumb cake, dipped
lacked savor.
fee
Sunday and the
morning. Here, take a quarter and get some.
He padded
walked bareheaded up the dark
in
soggy chunks, cof-
heavily across the
front
street to the corner.
He
porch and
grunted with
disgust as he saw that the bakery was already closed. His tired glance
wavered hopefully toward the adjoining bank. He'd stop awhile and
say hello to the watchman. Suddenly his blurred smile faded. There
was
motor quietly purring,- and the

it was slowly opening.
As the door widened Kirker saw two strangers sneak cautiously out,
carrying heavy suitcases. In a flash he darted toward the parked automobile to head off the thieves, his hand tugging at his gun. Pistols
flared at him with a staccato roar, but the sedan shielded him. He
fired and saw one of the crooks drop his suitcase and fall to the sidewalk. The other kept on and reached the car, and Kirker, puffing,
a
sedan parked
at the curb,
its
locked door of the bank wasn't locked
sprang to the running-board as the sedan got under way.
hot streak flicked across the
flesh of his
neck
as
he ducked.
The
wooden
quick clutch inward and his fingers jerked at the steering wheel.
rammed head-on into a

The impact threw Kirker into the street on his face. A
man who had peered out of a window down near the corner, began to
sedan curved across the street and
telephone pole.
231
blow
on
shrilly
thud-thud of
The
and through the darkness came the
a police whistle
running
feet.
crook, his escape cut off by a dead-end street, hesitated and
then dashed straight for the open door of the bank. As the dazed
Kirker staggered to his feet and clutched
bank door slammed and locked.
He knew
Kirker hesitated.
crook
until
did!
lipped sneer he had seen on

was facing Rod Cantor, the
the inside of that bank better than the
Island.
posted
Cantor would
in
bottled up
killer
He remembered
a placard
killer
the thin, taut-
the station house.
who had knocked
He
over seven banks
fight a frontal attack to a finish, shield-
ing himself behind the helpless
body
Whitefaced, Kirker sprang to the

swiftly
dropped gun, the
he waited out front he could keep the
If
the precinct reserves arrived.
on Long
for his
up the spiked footholds.
It
of the
tall
was
watchman.
telephone pole and climbed
dangerous leap across to the
made it. The bank roof was six

bleeding hands hauled him up a rusted vent pipe,-
roof of the bakery, but he
feet higher.
Kirker's
a bat of his
gun smashed the pane out of the bank's skylight.

Down below Kirker could see Cantor's gun jerk upward, and the
sight sent a wave of grim rage through Kirker's aching body. He
dropped
recklessly, feet
struck the crouched
wheels of
first,
through
a crash of pistol fire.
gunman and rebounded
whirled through his brain.
fire
He
to the
lay for a
paved
His body
floor. Pin-
moment, breath-
and paralyzed; then, as he swayed to his knees, the glass of the

front door crashed and policemen spilled into the bank. A hand
clutched at Kirker and helped him to his feet. It was Captain Daley,
less
wildly excited, shouting like a
Cantor and saw
steel cuffs
motionless on the tiled
slugged watchman was

In a
young
fool.
Kirker stared past
on the sprawled crook's
floor, his
stirring,
head twisted
at a
wrists.
him
He
queer angle.
at
lay
The
groaning feebly.
in a crowded precinct
was ablaze. The commissioner himself was
twenty minutes run from Manhattan. Flashlights
daze Adolph Kirker found himself back
house where every

there after a swift
light
popped, reporters jammed the tiny squad room. Kirker
"Why
felt
very
tired.
did you climb to the roof and pull that wild Tarzan jump?" a
"Why didn't you plug Cantor from the back door?"

"When you have over four hundred dollars in a bank, you get to
know it," Kirker said quietly. 'There isn't any back door."
"Ummm.
You got fighting mad when you realized you'd
reporter asked.
trapped Cantor, huh?"
Another camera popped and Captain Daley beamed. "Kirker was

232
on
his toes, that's
all.
There's been a shakeup in this precinct.
me
boys, the commissioner sent

Kirker's
here to
weary eyes were staring
at the
bandaged head of
You
see,
his friend,
the watchman.
"I
guess
did get a
Damn
Cantor!
little
mad," he admitted. 'The
him, he tried to
kill
Otto Muller
gall of that rat.
the only pinochle
player in town."
Harsh Light of Day

by Wayne D. Dundee
Pimps, like vampires, are creatures of the night.
They
fringed darkness, strutting peacockishly across the

belly of a city, lording
thrive on neonshadowed under-
over their whores and, through them, suck-
it
ing their lifeblood from the endless parade of nameless, faceless Johns
who
are desperate
enough
to
pay money
for a
few seconds of tainted
pleasure.
But in the harsh light of day, pimps are nothing but furtive-eyed
little
hustlers,-
maggots avoiding the brightness,
squirming anxiously
as
soft
and vulnerable,
they await the return of their only friend, the
night.
This was the harsh light of day. Six

sweltering July morning.
The pimp
a.m., to
was
be exact, on an already
after called himself
The
Charm, Champ for short. The address I'd been given on

him was the basement apartment of a converted Victorian just off
North Main. The snitch who'd provided this information was reliable
enough and the picture he'd painted of Champ was slimey enough
for me to have no qualms about kicking open the front door and
entered with .45 drawn and ready, just in
skidding in unannounced.
case Champ wasn't aware how vulnerable he was supposed to be.
The apartment was a shrine to gaudy taste and materialistic whims.
Champion
of
Goodies achieved
via the exploitation of others, the
muddy
underside
TV
the living
was all there: from the giant-screen

room to the gleaming microwave in the kitchen
home gym
paraphernalia scattered across the purple shag carpeting to
of the
American dream.
It
in
to the
233
empty ice cream cartons

had been paid by more than
the
took
the garbage.
in
just dollars
and
The
price tag
on each
cents.
from the vantage point of the semi crouch
in all of this
I'd
making my entrance. The apartment was quiet.

The only sound was the hum of the kicked-open door still vibrating
on its hinges.
When was satisfied there was going to be no violent reaction to
straightmy arrival on the scene at least not for the time being
ened up, lowering the .45, turned and propped shut the door. Turning
back,
began to move through the apartment. kept the .45 drawn,
dropped
into after
carrying
it
down
my
alongside
thigh.
The layout was simple, it didn't take a genius to figure out where
bedroom would be. checked the bathroom and the hall closet
on the way by, to be sure was leaving my wake clear, then nudged
open the bedroom door.
the
There were three of them lying naked on a huge, satin-sheeted

Champ flanked by two females. One was a dusky-skinned
waterbed
Chicana with floppy, oversized
who
blonde
breasts, the other a pale, painfully thin
couldn't have been
more than
fifteen.
Champ
lay
on
his
back with the Chicana nestled against one shoulder. The blonde lay
on her
partially
side,
turned away from them, facing toward
me
as
entered the room.
bedroom was crammed with expenThe scent of marijuana hung

combined with a scattering of brightly-
Like the rest of the place, the
gadgets and ostentatious furnishings.
sive
heavy
in
colored
set
the
pills
That
air.
fact,
and the matching mirror,
razor,
spotted atop the nightstand, told
me
and straw coke-snorting
the slumber of the three
wasn't likely to be easily disturbed.

I
moved around
between Champ's
half inch
from
to the foot of the bed, leaned over, put the .45
legs.
his balls
The rubbery
pressed the snout hard into the black satin a
and squeezed
off a round.
casing of the mattress and sixteen inches of water
enough, anyway, not
absorbed most of the sound
about the neighbors. But within the bedroom
itself,
to have to
worry
the gunshot was a
Champ awake and
sent him scrabslammed hard against the ornately

carved headboard. The Chicana rolled away with a squeal while the
sudden, shocking boom.
It
jarred
bling backward, crablike, until he
blonde on the other
side,
Water arced up from the
stoned to the
bullet hole
gills,
stirred
only
slightly.
and came back down with
dog-
pissing-on-shoes sound.
I
planted a foot in the middle of the bed, reached across the spout-
ing water, and this time pressed the snout of the 45 against the shiny
234
blackness of Champ's forehead, nailing him to the carved

like a fly
on the end
"One wrong
my
Off to
twitch,"
said,
"your brains are part of the wallpaper."
the floppy-titted Chicana was scrambling to her
left,
grunting loudly with the
feet,
mahogany
of a pin.
effort.
and said out of the corner of
flicked her a glance
my
mouth, "You
understand English, puta?"
Her movement
"Then hear
blonde
you
Go
fast
way, try to cause trouble for
in a
hoarse whisper.
me
it.
Your man here
far.
If
you
in return,
in
is
big
him in any
come after you and
try to help
will
Comprende?"
sorry.
she said again.
"Si,"
'Then move
and go
want any part of
don't
make you very
answered
Put on some clothes and get out of here. Take the
with you.
girl
trouble,
froze. "Si," she
this:
it."
more grunts of effort, the snap of elastic as she

Then she was around on the other side of me,
dragging the near-catotonic blonde from the bed and forcing clothes
on her as well. When the blonde made mewling protests, the Chicana
flurry of activity,
some
pulled on
clothes.
shushed her and cursed her

All the while
kept
my
in
Spanish.
eyes boring into those of
Champ,
follow-
ing the progress of his two playmates only through peripheral vision.
Beads of sweat were standing out on the face of the pimp
on
of tar
like droplets
a freshly-blacktopped street.
As the Chicana herded the blonde out of the room, he finally

worked up enough courage to speak. "What the fuck this all about,
man?"
1
the muzzle from his forehead and backhanded
lifted
the right ear with the long barrel of the gun.
back to center,
pinned
When
his
him across
head rolled
there once again with the business end of
it
the .45.
"Rule one,"
He
hated
his neck,
me
said.
"1
ask the questions."
with his eyes. The beads of sweat started to run
mixing with the
"The name's Hannibal,"
worm
I
down
of blood that crawled from his ear.
told him. "You've heard of
me
because
I've
squashed your kind of cockroach before."
rush of anger and humiliation overcame his
nuthin' but a lousy private dick, man.
You
1
just a
pretend
pig,
You got no
good
sense. "You
right bustin' in here.
not no real cop!"
slapped him across the other ear with the gun barrel. Gorilla
treatment for a gorilla pimp.

"I'm looking for a girl,"
The only language he'd understand.

when his eyes were focused again.
said
235
"Her name
Alice Grant and
is
you
ago, after
set
you bailed her out of
jail
two months
her up for the bust that put her there
in the first
place because she was freelancing in your territory.
Then you turned
her out as part of your stable. Her parents are
town and they've
hired
me
put her
to find her.
life
They want
together again. Trouble
members seeing Alice
in
over
in
to take Alice back
is,
try to
anybody who
can't find
What
week.
and help her
did
find,
re-
though, was
plenty of street talk that says you were having to slap her around
pretty heavy in order to get her to turn the kinds of tricks
wanted. So what did you do to her.

"!
bitch go, man. Like
let that
"You spent
out, then
all
you
money and
that
slid
brought
my
it
you
but trouble."
say, she nuthin'
time bailing her out and turning her
didn't
need the aggravation."
foot forward across the slick satin, lifted
down on
you
Alice Grant?"
is
her go?"
just let
"Yeah. Yeah, man.
Champ? Where
his shriveled penis
balls,
suddenly and
it
shoving them into
much
pressure but the
body tensed and became
as rigid as a steel
the rapidly deflating mattress.
pimp's eyes bulged and his
and
didn't apply
bar.
"Rule two,"
said, just
before giving a single toe tap that
cry out more in apprehension than in pain. "Don't

1
withdrew the
lie
made him
to me."
gave him time to catch his breath, then said
foot,
again, "Where's Alice Grant?"
Whatever answer he might have given was cut off by a commotion

It came from the Chicana and the blonde, who I'd
figured were long gone by now.
"No," heard the Chicana say loudly. "You cannot go in there
he
is a very bad man and he will kill us all."
"But he's hurting our Champ," protested the high-pitched whine of
from behind me.
the blonde.
me
"No! Give
that
There came the sound then of
a gunshot,
unmuffled
this time, shat-
teringly loud.
I
whirled
in
time to see the Chicana pitch into the room, mouth
working guppylike, blood spraying high and

sized hole in her stomach that she
far
from
a grapefruit-
was trying unsuccessfully
to cover
with both hands. Behind her, emerging through a haze of gunsmoke,

stepped the blonde. She
moved with
stiff,
zombie-like jerkiness and
her eyes were wild, unfocused, frightening things. She held a huge,
nickel-plated
Magnum
revolver in front of her.
Those wild eyes swept the room, found me. "Leave Champ
236
alone,"
she said in a faraway voice, spacing the words very carefully. As she
Magnum.
spoke, she began to raise the
No
There was no other way.

out of
no time
it,
snapped
off a shot.
lifeless,
The
bullet tore
slammed back
of her jaw. She
place to hide, no chance to talk her
to think or to aim.
and collapsed
swung the
away
around and
.45
half her throat
and the hinge
against the wall, instantly loose and
The Magnum discharged
like a pile of rags.
once, harmlessly.
While the
was
.45
throbbing
still
in
from the headboard and slammed
self
my
dropped to
I
him
as
Champ
fist.
punch
launched him-
into
my
my
gun hand.
my
caught
he was aiming another punch, driving the butt of the .45 into
cheekbone.
heard the bone splinter and he
fell
away with
tumbling off the bed. Ignoring the pain that boiled through
section,
on
kidney.
agony escaping from between
twisted instinctively and lashed out with
lips.
his
knees, a groan of
my
a vicious
lunged
after him.
his chest with a
my
howl,
mid-
wrestled him onto his back, then knelt
shinbone pressed across his throat and once more
brought the muzzle of the big automatic to
rest in the center of his
forehead.
"Where's Alice Grant?"
demanded
for the third time.
"Fuck you," he sneered.
"One way or
"You
fucker.
You think
world of
"It
shit,
was
them shots
all
ain't
man. You offed that
in a
make you
me
tell
me.
Not now, mothergonna bring the cops? You in a

you.
tell
girl."
home
an' members of that man's household try

you blow them away that ain't self defense,
even a black pimp got more rights
black man
man's
leave an'
motherfucker. Even a
than
bastard, you're going to
self-defense, maggot."
"You bust
to
you
another,
got time enough to make
ain't
that."
'Then
may
"Off me,
as well
blow you away,
never be able to
"There are other ways.

leave a
trail
If
tell
What have
too.
you what you want
got to lose?"
to know."
Alice Grant rubbed up against you,
she'll
of slime."
"Then best you go find that trail of slime to

bloodhound man, cause ain't tellin' you shit."
stick
your nose
in,
looked around the room
about what
Champ
it
stood
for.
Then
at all
I
the trashy luxury and thought
looked
hadn't put the bullets in either
at
the blood and the bodies.
girl,
but he was every bit as
responsible for their deaths as the fingers that pulled the triggers.
More
so, in a sense.
And
could only wonder
how many
other young
237
ended
he had ruined
lives
girls'
how many more
my own
considered
predicament.
simple missing person case
gone sour
in
an unexpected and terrible way.
had called
it.
And knew
power
embellish every
suffocate in
it.
the edge of the law, was
Even with
this
down
"Rule three,"
I
said.
what
my
had
way they
sense any other
Magnum
taken the
Champ's hand and
my
door
best to
fired
make
gone there
there,
me
over?
fall
against his skull,
had things rearranged
my
They
I'd
crazed pimp
in self
left
made
it
it.
on
it,
then pressed the weapon into
one good
When
The way
told
arrived at the front
in.
Then heard
The Chicana was
I
chasing the blonde into the bedroom.
to save the blonde
defense
lift.
inside.
the door and gone
Champ
and various other
for a
it
one more shot into the soggy waterbed, do-
down
saw
enough
wasn't fast
didn't
from under the blonde's body, smearing any
sure he left at least
kicked
as best
buy
testimony and none of
to ask about Alice Grant.
already dead and
tories
in his
to see
into a corner."
could hear shouting and arguing from
gunshots.
me
tried to figure
might have
fingerprints she
I'd
my .45 jammed
my dilemma.
story ready for them.
minute, but they couldn't break
it,
act
would end up taking
"Don't ever back
By the time the cops got
ing
Champ
pulled the trigger.
could and
I'd
shit,
him. After years of operating on
at
the cocky bastard was smirking at
And
world of
on every kind of
point, put
smashed and
his face
could count on him to do everything
looked back
And
either directly or indirectly.
come.
to
and
I'd
had to shoot the drug-
when he turned on me. The
ballastic aspects as well as the
bullet trajec-
accounts of
neighbors regarding the spacing of the shots and so forth didn't match
most of
this
worth a damn, of course. But they
change
my
story and the
still
whole thing refused
to
couldn't get
fit
me
to
together more
convincingly any other way.
Two
days into the investigation, Alice Grant's body turned up
drainage ditch over near the county
line.
in a
She'd been tortured and
The discovery of her remains probably

Nobody put it into words, but once it was gen-
savagely beaten to death.
helped save
my
butt.
accepted that her death most likely came
erally
Champ, then all enthusiasm for nailing

pimp suddenly seemed to dissipate.
I
returned the retainer fee Alice's parents had paid
them
238
at
was
sorry.
The
old
man
called
me
the hands of
the guy who'd burned the
a dirty
me and
told
name and slammed
room door
the hotel
my
in
face.
never heard from them again and
hardly ever think about them anymore, or about Alice or
Champ.
when sleep won't come and there's no

occupy my mind with other thoughts and not
of bourbon will work its magic,
think about the
But sometimes late at night,
me
one lying beside

even
few belts
blonde
girl
to
had to shoot.
My
she bounced off that wall so immediately limp and dead, until
image to
to scream for the repeating
way
mind's eye replays and replays the
want
stop.
No one ever came forward to claim her body or the Chicana's.

No one even knew where they came from or what their real names
were, only their street handles, their whore names.
them
unmarked
only
in
as
Jane
and to
plots
Doe #546
this
The county
day they remain
Doe #547
(aka Priscila) and Jane
buried
listed in the files
(aka
Con-
chita).
Once
on those same nights when the booze

I'll drive out to where their graves are
and maybe shed a tear over them. It doesn't change anything, doesn't
bring them back, doesn't buy them markers or names to put on them.
in a while,
won't work and I'm
But
it
gets
me
usually
alone,
all
through to the next day.
Heir-in-a-Hurry
hy Morris Cooper
The only time
Sylvester
three years to go.
Tony
Hanson came
to see him,
Tony Brun
didn't especially care about
still
had
having his recre-
ation period broken up, but he followed the guard across the walled
yard. After
in
all,
would be
it
a novelty
having
a visitor for the first
time
the two years he'd been in prison.
Tony Brun
sat
visitor to speak.
on the other side of the screen and waited for his

saw a little dried-up old man, with an old-country
He
mustache that looked

carried
away.
it.
He
The
visitor
looked
am
if
was almost too heavy
it
placed
at the
smiled apologetically.
"1
as
guard
hand on the
who
sat at the
Then he turned
Sylvester Hanson."
He
name might mean something
for the face that
screen, then jerked
end of the
table
it
and
to Tony.
peered
at
Tony
to him. "Your
as
if
he hoped the
papa and me,
we were
239
friends in the old country."
Tony
of the lectures his old
He wondered what
That's nice," said Tony.
and almost regretted the

"For a long time, now,
is
already too
late."
He
He
broke
had
the old fool wanted,
consented to see him.
look for your papa. But
have one put up."
guess not," he mumbled.
sure
fact that he'd
smiled at Tony. "The grave,
it has no headstone. So
do not mind?"
"No,
The accent, smoothly gutteral, reminded

man had given him when he was a kid.
"I
He
when
peered
was kind of short
find him,
it
very nice, but
it is
at
Tony. "You
at the
time
What
the heck was he apologizing for? This old duffer

coming around to tell him about a headstone.
"It is not until later that
find out you are here," said Hanson. "For
me it is difficult to travel much. The doctor, today, did not wish for
me to go, but said yes. wanted once to look at the son of my old
off.
his nerve
friend."
."
Tony fidgeted. "1 got a bad break.
Hanson held up a hand. "A mistake we all make. It is later what we
do that counts." Tony felt like grinning. It looked like the old boy had
gotten himself all primed up to give him a lecture.
"When you are released, you will please come to see me?" asked
Hanson. "It is possible that may be able to give you some help."
.
He
"Sure thing," said Tony.
you
in
mind."
Tony turned
at
got up.
gotta go now, but
"I
the door and waved. "See
Every time he thought of the old man, the

couldn't help laughing.
guy when he was
in
They were
no position
Tony got the first letter

good advice and a couple
all
I'll
keep
you around."
rest of the afternoon,
he
the same, always preaching to a
to talk back.
week
was a rambling affair, full of

words that sent him to the prison
library looking for a dictionary. They came regularly after that, once a
month, and always with some money enclosed, that was credited to
account
his
From the
in the
at
later. It
of long
the prison store.
letters
he found out that old Sylvester Hanson was alone
world with only a housekeeper to look
after his needs.
from an occasional word or phrase, he gathered that the old

a sizeable
chunk of cash
in the
And,
man had
bank. He'd retired from business ten
years ago.
The
idea hit
showed one
copy this?"
Tony
three
Saugus laughed. "Sure
way
240
I'll
months before his time was up. He

"Do you think you could
of the letters to Del Saugus.
could. But what's the percentage?
ever leave this joint will be feet
first."
The only
"A guy in stir can always use an extra luck," said Tony. "And maybe
might be able to make a connection that'll get you over the wall."
thought there was half a
Saugus fingered the letter. "If
I
chance
."
.
Tony
said, "If this
pan out, what the
goes through,
hell
Saugus made up
have
I'll
have you got to
wad.
And
if
doesn't
it
lose?"
do it."
want is a will one of those ho"Swell," said Tony. "What
lographic things. Hand-written, you know. This guy knows he's
gonna pop off any minute and hasn't got time to get a lawyer."
his
mind.
"I'll
"You got
asked Saugus.
a crystal ball?"
And do a good job."

tell me my business. Just
"Leave the date blank.
Saugus snorted. "Don't
want Hanson to
tell
me what you
write."
"That he's leaving everything he owns to Anthony Brun, son of his

old friend Otto Brun."
The day
before he was released,
Tony got
the will from Saugus.
asked you last night?"

"You put today's date on it, like
alibi, doesn't it, being
"Makes
a
good
Saugus grinned.
I
day
it
the
in stir
was written?"
"Insurance," said Tony, patting the envelope. "In
more ways than
one."
The wreath hung over

push
it
aside to rap
the old-fashioned knocker and
on the door.
He
heard
a tired
Tony had
voice
to
out,
call
"Come."
Tony opened
the living room
the door and saw
Hanson
sitting in an easy chair in
Ahead was
to the right of the hallway.
banistered
stairway.
"Tony."
Hanson held out
man's flesh
felt
dry and
hand, and Tony walked over.
tired. "Sit
down."
He waved
The
old
to a chair next to
him.
"I
promised you
I'd
come
to see
you when
got out," said Tony.
He
you some
re-
pressed his hands together.

"It is
good you come,"
freshments, but
"That's
all
am
said
Hanson.
"I
would
offer
alone."
right," said
Tony. That's
a break,
"You have come for help, no?" The old
he thought.
man
caressed the ends of
his mustache.
Tony nodded
business
"
He
his head.
"I
figured with a
new
start,
maybe
a little
waited. There was the off-chance that the old
man
241
would give him

the
a sizeable
chunk now, and he wouldn't have
to use
will.
"1
have found out
a lot of things
about you, Tony. You have been
very bad. Your papa died early because he worried for you." Hanson
held up a silencing hand
when Tony started to speak. "I am not trying

we do wrong, and then maybe we are
to preach. All of us, sometimes,
He
looked
at
guess
maybe
sorry."
"1
Tony.
am," he said. "But
what think,"
farm, and the pay, it
"That
is
said
if
Hanson. "So
had another chance

1
have for you
."
.
a job.
It is
on a
is not much. But plenty to eat you will get,
and a lot of hard work. It is good for a man that he work hard."
Tony nodded. There was no point in arguing with the old man.
He'd have to do what he'd started out to, and get it over as quickly as
possible.
"It
sounds good," agreed Tony. "Do you think
tonight?
could stay here
haven't had a chance to get settled yet."
The bedrooms, they are upstairs."

all Tony wanted to know,- it fitted in nicely with his plan.
He stood up. "I'll go down to the station after my bag." Tony walked
over to Hanson and put out his hand. When the old man lifted his,
Tony cracked his left fist against Hanson's jaw.
It wasn't much of a punch, but it was enough to knock the old man
out. Tony hadn't wanted to hit him too hard
he didn't want to leave
"But yes.
That was
a bruise that
might be
difficult to explain.
Tony carried the frail body of the old man into the hallway. He
Hanson on the floor, held his head in his hands like a basketball,
and brought it crashing down on the bottom step. The crunch reminded Tony of a watermelon dropping on a concrete floor.
It didn't need an expert to know that old Sylvester Hanson was
dead. Tony lifted the body, carried it halfway up the stairs and let it
drop. He watched it roll slowly down, come to a rest on the bottom
laid
step.
would be obvious when they found the old man. He'd

go up to bed and he'd slipped, or maybe even had a dizzy
spell. If they noticed a mark on his jaw, they'd just figure he'd hit it on
a step on the way down.
The
story
started to
Tony shook
the will out of the envelope and held
kerchief while he reached

son's
smoking
and whistling
242
jacket.
jauntily.
He
down and tucked

left
The
by the
it
it
with his hand-
into the pocket of
Han-
front door, hands in his pocket
future looked bright for
Tony
Brun.
Tony waited
he reached
When
knocker he noticed that the wreath was no longer
The man who opened
there.
afternoon before he went calling.
until the next
for the
could see copper written
the door wore civilian clothes, but
Tony
over him.
all
"Yes?"
The cop motioned Tony
looking for Mr. Sylvester Hanson."
"I'm
in,
and he followed him into the same room the old man had been
evening before.
sitting in the
"What do you want
to see
Mr. Hanson about?"
kind of personal."
"It's
The man took
badge from
pocket.
his
Sergeant Whitt,
"I'm
Homicide."
"Oh," said Tony. "Mr. Hanson asked
Tony
chance. I'm
He
Brun."
me
to call
when
ahgot
tried to put a tone of casual surprise in his
voice. "Anything wrong?"
Sergeant Whitt stood with his back to the fireplace. "Mr. Hanson
is
dead."
Tony reached
"Dead!"
son had been sitting
"Know Hanson
for a chair,
but
in,
long?"
it
Whitt asked
only met him once," Tony
"1
He
him."
sat
down.
"I
remembered
was too
late to
it
was the one Han-
change.
casually.
said, "but
got
a lot of letters
from
got out of State Prison yesterday."
"Parole?" asked Whitt.
did
"I
my
full
Tony formed
time."
his
hands into
pyramid, sup-
ported his chin on twin thumbs. "Mr. Hanson came up to see
he used
to
be a friend of
my
father's in the
me once
old country."
"You thought Mr. Hanson might do something
for
you
if
you came
around?" Whitt asked.

"I
did,"
"Looks
Tony answered. "What happened

like
'Tough,"
he started up the
stairs
and
to the old man, anyway?"

fell
down."
murmured Tony.
"We found a will." Sergeant Whitt studied

man left everything to you."
"Say!" Tony stood up. "That's something."
his fingernails.
'The old
"Funny about that," the sergeant said. "His lawyer told me he drew
up a will just a week ago leaving everything to an orphanage."
'Tough on the orphans," said Tony, "but lucky for me."
"You say you received letters from the old man while you were
doing time?"
"Yeah."
one
Tony reached
got, about three
The
into his inside breast pocket. "Here's the last
weeks ago."
sergeant looked at the
letter,
turned
it
over and put
it
in his
243
Tony
pocket.
started to protest,
son's lawyer will get in
changed
his
touch with me," he
"I guess Mr. Hanmoving toward the
mind.
said,
hallway.
"That was
pen job on the
a nice
date to give you an
the sergeant said. "Even the
will,"
alibi."
Tony looked at the sergeant. "What are you talking about?"

"Did you do the writing job yourself, Tony, or get one of the boys
help you?"
in stir to
"Listen, copper,
did
all
my
you got anything
if
to say, spill
it,"
snarled Tony.
"I
time and there's nothing you can pin on me."
know
the old man had been sick and bedded down in

you Tony? His doctor told me he couldn't have
climbed those stairs if his life depended on it."
"You didn't
the library, did
"You're
still
talking through your mouth, copper.
What
has
all
this
got to do with me?"
moved
Sergeant Whitt
that
all
next to Tony. "Bet you didn't even
the English the old
Tony
laughed.
"1
man could
suppose those
know
write was his name."
letters
came out
of
my
head? Be-
what difference does it make if he could write English or not?"

"The will, Tony, the will. Or have you forgotten that it's hand-
sides,
written."
"Nuts,"
Tony
said.
"Mr. Hanson's housekeeper did
his writing for him."
all
Tony sighed. "So maybe she wrote the will."

"He still would have signed it himself."
Tony shrugged his shoulders. "So guess that means the orphans
get the break after all. Hanson should have thought about that."
"It's no good, Tony. The housekeeper never wrote that will."
I
you just said

Whitt shook his head sadly. "Didn't you notice
door when you were here yesterday?"
"But
"1
wasn't here
"
"The wreath was
Tony's voice trailed
Tony thought
244
Tony. She died two days
will."
of Saugus.
go out
Tony would beat him to
diction that he'd
on the
off.
for the housekeeper,
before the date on the
that wreath
it
looked
feet first
it.
like he'd
been right
only from the way
it
in his pre-
stood now,
Higher Education
hy Sidney Waldo
I'm
police detective,-
local
New
But
I'll
We
tell
They
let
my
Only it's been

dame
education.
While
this
Second National Bank, and
had been shot
me
in
looking
is
had
you.
at
down
in
dame
sitting
hop over
the safe deposit vault.
through an iron-grilled door and
dressed guys and a
them
I've
get a call from the
A man
there.
and
York, Chicago, Boston, U.S.A.
around
any other one. These
see three well-
big oblong table.
four,
None
of
and the bank clerk on
had been there when the shots were fired. The clerk had telephoned up for one of the vice-presidents, and he was now in charge
duty,
of things.
He shows me
the dead guy, lying face down in one of the bond

The man's name is Newhall. He was a big stock market gambler. The dame was his secretary. They were just stepping
into the little room, when two shots exploded somewhere, and
clipping rooms.
Newhall pitches in on his face. bent over him. could see where the
big bullets had punched through his clothes, low in the back.
"The coroner'll be along any time," said. "But, now, where in hell
1
is
the gun?"
They
The
hadn't found any gun. And, of course, that was the nuts.
would be a bank vault.

one place on earth you
The three guys and the dame had been searched, and the four open
safe deposit boxes, and there wasn't any gun.
stepped over to
"That's what you say,"
told the vice-president.
him and ran my hands down his sides. "Somebody could have slipped
can
it to you,"
grinned. But he had no gun. "Now stand still where
couldn't hide a gun
watch you,"
No
said as
gun on him
called the
dame
frisked the clerk.
either.
over.
She was
let
him stand beside
a slim,
his boss, while
blue-blooded looking
would have showed on her. But just to be sure,

down round the bottom of her skirt.
The next guy was short and plump. He wore a gray suit with
of class, and a gun

felt for
doll, a lot
I
the weight of one
245
white edge to his
He
vest.
acted nervous, but he had no gun on him.
Nor did the next one.

The last man, when he stood
He
up,
He
looked sick and touchy.
was
tall
over
six feet
and
thin.
picked up a heavy curved-handled
as he came over toward me,

saw that he
needed it. He walked with a bad limp. He had no gun either.
There was something about this guy, though, that
didn't like.
"Where was you," asked, "when the shots went off?"
cane from the table, and
He
pointed to the half-open door of the bond room exactly oppo-
He could have plugged Newhall from

had to find the gun.
had to be there, some place. The long table had
Newhall's.
site
But
It
no drawers.
looked underneath.
down
at the
clipping rooms.
And
1
there
can't
all
the chairs.
big table again, while

I
isn't
even frisked
a glass top
and
looked underneath some
also
made them all go and

went through all the bondthe dead man. I don't pass up one bet.
and under
other, smaller tables,sit
there, easy.
any gun.
go back and report
a thing like that,
it
don't
make
sense.
And
these birds around the table are getting impatient, just to keep
their
minds occupied, while
another hunch,
fish for
The dame is
name is Flint Richard
begin taking their names.

the lame
man
says his
right opposite
Flint
sit down and

me and when
see her give a
start.
turned on her quick. "That name give you any ideas?"

She thought for a minute. "It reminded me of a letter Mr. Newhall
got from Paris. It was partly in French.
helped translate it. It was
1
signed 'Dick.'
"What did it say?" asked.

She seemed excited. "It sounded very friendly. But Mr. Newhall
seemed to take it as a warning. couldn't see it that way. If this man
intended any harm to him, why would he advertise it beforehand?"
I
"Sometimes they
can't resist
it,
sister,"
explained.
"It's
how
they
get their fun."
But she was hurrying on. "The letter spoke of increasing lameness.
A lameness that shut him out of all the activities that meant life. That
was the part that worried Mr. Newhall. This man, he said, held him
responsible for that lameness."
"So there
we have
the motive,"
could brood plenty over

gun. 'Anything else?"
thought.
thing like that. But
big, six-foot athlete

still
didn't
have the
asked.
She nodded. "There was something about Mr. Newhall's great

246
busi-
ness success,
or 'Let
that,'
Then the man used a

number of meanings. 'So much for
rememor 'You see?' There was more in French.
because we couldn't make any real sense out of it:
some joke about
French idiom,
it
ride,'
ber this part clearly,
'The French are not only
cane and a new foot.'
cutting coupons.
has a
'â-y-esti' It
clever,
And
the
but also
final
I have bought
discreet.
word was
from them a new
which
in Italian, 'Arrivederci,'
means:
"
we meet
'Until
But, already,
One
again,' or
thought
'I'll
had
be seeing you.'
Sure!
it.
of those foreign pistol canes.
made
cane.
The cane from
grab for
it,
as
it
Paris.
on the
lay
glass-topped table.
Then
caught the dame's smile.
thought of
"I
that, too,"
seen them, in the Paris gun shops. But they
"I've
fire
she said.
only a single
shot."
Still,
hated to
let
go the
While
idea.
gadget that would open up that cane, the

"But that word, 'discreet.'
are not only
Why
did he use
clever, but also discreet.
cane and a new
was looking
dame spoke
that
for
word? 'The French
have bought from them
new
foot.
dawned on me as if I'd been hit with a brick. What

revenge! A new foot! A new foot that was hollow.
told him.
"I'll just have a look at that new foot,"
Lord!
some
again.
It
sweet
He pushed back
tall. He was game,
"If it's
admit
But
it.
I
from the table

I'll
say that
and drew himself up,
much
the same to you," he said,
gun
"I'll
"Sorry,"
and
spare myself that indignity.
There is a
had to make him go through with
some catch
straight
for him.
it.
There might
still
be
in this.
I
told him. "I've got to actually have
before anybody
my
hands on that gun
goes out of here."
His face darkened, but he saw the point. With that limping step,
he walked over to another table and sat down with his back to the
kept right there beside him. Bending down, he unbuckrest of them.
1
and handed the foot up to me. And maybe that didn't

It had the sock and the shoe still on it.
me
Then saw the gun. A smart workman had fixed it up, all right.
Fitting into its slot, as close as a hand in a glove, was the prettiest
some
led
give
straps
a squirm!
I
you ever set your eyes on.

and handed the foot back to him. He buckled it on
and stood up. almost felt sorry for him. He'd sure had a tough break.
Once he had got outside the vault and disposed of the foot, the whole
247
litde double-barreled derringer

I
lifted
it
out,
1
secret
would have died with Newhall.
If it
hadn't been for that blond
dame. Who'd expect a stock gambler's secretary to be tops on languages?

1
looked over
at her.
Yeah, that was his bad luck. That
dame had
been around. She was educated.
Hip and Thigh

by H. H. Matteson
This Hoh-hoh Stevens he comes
ous.
He
down.
sets
He
don't this time.
the back
way
furtive
and mysteri-
in
grinning and smart talking.
He
looks plumb downcast and wretched.
"Dode," he says to me,

solve.
in
never did see him look so miserable and de-
Hoh-hoh comes
Usually
jected.
require counsel
"I
got the toughest problem of
and advice.
U.S. Commissioner about
it,
to shoot square with Joe even
dassent
so
come
if
have to turn
to you.
At
in
my
career to
Joe Albright, the
tell
though, aim
badge and resign
that,
my
a lot."
is the run-in, Hoh-hoh?"
says serious, seeing how he
no jocular mood.
"Well," he says, "1 been over to Nagichak Island.
never was to that
island before. It's account of no one there knowing me or that I'm a
"Whatever
hain't in
deputy marshal, that
gets betrayed into this dilemma. I'm going past
the trading post store there on Nagichak, and a passel of beachcombing outcasts
Them
is
setting
on the steps talking plenty
beach bums, they was
sive that
five-six of 'em,
they had broke up the meeting
in
ribald and obscene.

was exulting very offen-
the gospel ship the night
before. Yes, the Reverend
organ and
'Them
sings,
is
at
John Benner, and his sister that plays the

Nagichak with their gospel boat.
sculpins setting there in front of the store are laughing
how they caterwauled, and bellered, and took

woman began her singing. Then they just about
when they recount how this Bottlenose Needham
hearty as they review
on when
this
Benner
bust with delight
dragged the preacher, John Benner, right out of
his pulpit,
and near
beat him to death.
"Seeing
248
how
this
breaking up of gospel meetings
is
agin the law
or at least
amongst
agin decency
is
and demand
about to step up to them beach
I'm
explanations. Yes, this identical Bottlenose
how complete he
tell
licked the preacher.
how he
"This here Bottlenose speaks up important and he boasts
aims to break up
"
gospel meetings whatever from then on.
all
you won't have
'But
up no meetings soon again, Bottleyou busted this pastor so severe they've
to break
nose,' says one, 'account of
had
pack him off to the
to
"Then again them
do
hospital.'
rats all
laugh hearty
Dode, not to act impulsive.
too,
preacher boat, and
if
walks on
the
jest.
figure
better go first to the
them swabs hain't lied, and the pastor wants to
make earnest endeavors to induce this Bottlenose
make complaints, I'll

to accompany me back here
"So
at
Constant Joe warns me, and you
restrains myself with difficulty.
"1
rats
setting there
and he grins very complacent
'em, the hero of the occasion,
when they
is
down
to
jail.
the shore to where the gospel ship
is
moored,
with a long plank running from the deck to shore-side.

"This here
with a long cabin, with seats into
a sizeable ship,
is
down
that fiftysixty people can set
platform where the
at
organ
is,
hymn
singing.
"I
walks up onto the deck, and they hain't a soul on board. So

in a little
and so
forth
it
cubby where
must be the
pastor's study.
someone does come, and

this
desk
and
is,
so
once. At one end there's a
and where the preacher does
little
discoursing and leads the
down
it
his
sets
see at once from books
figure
I'll
just wait
till
can get the straight of the busting up of
glances through a port, and
meeting.
and
"I'm setting there,
paddling frantic acrost the bay
in a skin boat.
and up onto the deck, and into
this
seen a
girl
She comes alongside,
study office where I'm setting.
"She hain't but about thumb-size, but she's got nice brown eyes,
and she comes

and she done
in
it,
timorous, and
indicates polite for her to set
"
'Whatever can the matter
"
'Oh, I'm so worried,' she says.
Eddie won't
tell.
"
"
still
was
week and
'Yes,
and he'd
just can't stand
'But
'It
tell,
my
my
down,
and busts out bawling.
don't
it
kill
no
be?'
me
'I
if
asks sympathetic.
just got to tell you.
he knowed that
My
told. But
brother,
1
got to
longer.'
know what
this trouble you're into
is,'
says.
brother, Eddie, that pirated the Thunderbird trap last
stole five
thousand
brother, Eddie,
done
ham, into the job with Eddie,
dollars'
worth of
fish,'
she blurts out.
Him and another. Bottlenose Needhe says how he's got a way figured to
it.
249
whole job onto Eddie, and he aims to make Eddie blow the
now some night soon.
do? just know, soon
do?' she sobs. 'What will
'Oh, what will
lay the
big safe in the cannery office

"
or
will get ketched.
Eddie
late,
how
hear
brute of a deputy marshal in the islands, and
he always gets him, and they
criminal,
"This here
left
thumb-size
little
got a terrible
when he goes
him Hoh-hoh
handed compliment gives me
seen right away this

crime,
call
now
they
out after a
Stevens.'
a terrible jolt,
Dode.
confessing her brother's
girl,
thinks she's telling her troubles to John
the boat
Benner,
preacher.
"And
my
that's
chagrined
we
can't caper out
pretenses,
what
now and
and ponders.
sets
man
that
is
man
me
is
just
Dode?"
do,
know
just don't
"I
pirate job as yet,
No, though under false

privileged communication. Why,
Whatever can
so!
and you have been plenty
Thunderbird
arrest this Eddie.
this girl tells
almost sacredly
it's
Though
problem.
hain't solved that
Hoh-hoh,"
exact,
"A
says.
can't take advantages of breaks like this girl's con-
fession."
can't,"
"I know well that
now and arrest this Eddie, I'd
Hoh-hoh.
says
"If
never dast look
in
was to prance out
the mirror again for
fear I'd spit."
"Well, leave us consider,"

Joe.
tell
Joe does find out about
paw,
I'll
says. "Later,
Meantime, Hoh-hoh,
it
I'll
and
share the blame with
if
we
we
decide
string along with you.
back
lays
you
for
got
If
and
in the britchin
to, we'll
and when
starts to
holding out the information on
him."
"Good!" explodes out
this
to encroach further onto you,
going to be
home
"For why?"
"I
Hoh-hoh, terrible relieved. "Now

Dode. You explain to Joe why
I
got
hain't
tonight, or possible several nights."
asks.
got duties emphatic laid out for
me
tonight that
promises to
perform."
"What duties, Hoh-hoh?" asks. "And

you say final to this thumb-size girl?"
I
"Oh,
gets reckless,
Dode,
that she dassent worry, that a
further,
Hoh-hoh, what did
I'm that sorry for her.
way
will
guarantees her
be found to keep Eddie out of
and for her not to fret none.

"Then she stands up terrible relieved, and she lays that
hern in mine, and thanks me ardent, and then she says,
further misdemeanors,
you
just say a
word
"That there was
250
little
paw
of
'Pastor, will
of prayer for Eddie?'
a facer,
Dode.
swallers hard.
can
feel
my
eyes
beginning to bulge. But
"What
says, 'Yes,
them emphatic
is
may keep you
"that
asks,
which
is
Eddie boy some sense, or
this
got to fabricate
lies
will.
duties
will.'
So
says, 'Oh, Lord, learn
Amen.'
you got
Hoh-hoh,"
to perform,
absent from our midst, and concerning
who, you must remember,
to Joe Albright,
the United States Commissioner here, and our boss?"
still
"Why," says Hoh-hoh, "after the little thumb-size departs,
aiming to remain till someone comes that can tell me about
the busting up of the meeting and the b 'ting of the pastor.
"Final a timid little woman comes on in, and she reminds me all
I
sets there
ways of a sparrer wren. She looks surprised when she seen me in the
study. She sets down and says how she is the sister of Preacher John
Benner, and she plays the organ and sings in them meetings.
"Not to get ketched in no further jams, I tell her prompt that am
Hoh-hoh Stevens, Deputy United States Marshal, and honing to
know details of the busting up of their meeting and the assault on her
1
brother.
"At that she begins to bawl, too.
day
It's
for
me
with bawling
and tells me at intervals how this

Bottlenose and his gang did break up the meeting in disorder, and
how Bottlenose drug her brother right out of the pulpit, and beat him
women. She sobs and
so severe she'd just
come from
putting
"
take
'I
it
your brother must be
"She gets up and goes on into
back with one of them

brother
is
feeble?'
says.
adjoining cabin, and she comes
on
this,
preacher coats.
Mr. Stevens,' she
says. 'Little!
big as you. He's plenty skookum.'
my
shucks
"1
me
man, and
a little
long-tail, black
'Take off your coat, and put
My
for the hospi-
Feeble!" she says.
'Little!
"
him on the boat
Dutch Harbor.
tal at
"
takes on,
coat,
and put on the
long-tail pastoral garb,
and
it fits
exact.
"
'What
can't understand,'
capable of
filling this
says to Sister Benner,
'is
how any
gent
here coat would take a belting off this Bottle-
nose, or any one.'

"
just
'It's
my
brother's principles,' she says,
stood there,
my
'to
nose struck him brutally, again and again

"
turn the other cheek.
in the face.'
and doctrines plumb foreign to me,' says, 'but

gent that will stand up to the rack and take punish-
'Them.'s practices
got to respect a
ment
He
brother did, his arms hanging down, while Bottle-
for his principles.
"Well,
and
to glimmer.
Sister
Benner
set for a while,
puts on the long-tail
and
talk
and
a idea
begins
preacher coat again and kind of

251
parades around, aiming to soak up some piety and sanctity out of the
garment
"
ings,
do you
says, 'you pl^Y the organ,
and sing
at
them meet-
not?'
she says proud.
"'Yes,'
"
possible.
if
'Sister Benner,'
Then why
hain't
it
And
can play.
'I
good
idea for
can
sing.'
and you to rehearse?'
Then she begins
She
up and and her go into the long meeting cabin, and she pulls
some stops on this organ and steps on the bellows, and and her bust
"She looks kind of wild for a minute.
gets
to smile.
into song.
Hoh-hoh
"Dode,"
you could hear
buzzard that you be,
says, "sin-hardened old
Benner and
Sister
if
render 'Oh, Beulah Land,' you'd
stagger sobbing to the mourners' bench, and repent your manifold

sins.
and
"I
Sister
sweet, and
Benner we render twothree tunes more,
we go back
into the pastor's study,
and
all
very
instructs her as
follows:
"
'Sister Benner,'
says,
'I
aim to be absent for
a little while. In the
meantime, you circulate around industrious, and you
how
Nagichak,
that account of
preacher has came
in
word
and
to Bottlenose
gang of beach
his
Hoh-hoh
selected out.
That there
says.
from
It's
text,
"I
know why
and
it
Dode
is
don't figure
is
admit,
I'll
gent on the thigh
you
new
try to get the
that services will be
rats,
be absent tonight from
I'll
aim to preach tonight and
Isaiah,
the folks of
gospel ship.'
in this
"So there now, Dode, you
tell
indisposed, a
is
to take his place. Special
held this evening, as usual,
here,"
John Benner
says, 'Smite
got
my
text
all
'em hip and thighl'
some obscure to me. Whacking a

good fighting tactics. generally
I
always aim to connect with his jaw or belly. But
it's
Bible,
and
it's
my
text."
11
then
tells
Hoh-hoh how simple
it is
by revealing out the preacher
just
rebuke
this Bottlenose,
made by
the
little
I'll
to square his absence with Joe,
attack,
just forget to
thumb-size
girl.
and how Hoh-hoh aims to
mention
here confession
this
Hoh-hoh he goes
sliding out then,
climbs into his skin boat, and away he goes.
Seems
Preacher
he
can't
252
like
Sister
Benner had spread
Hoh-hoh can expound good
why he deserves
as
it
on
thick.
he sings
She
which
abundant congregation.
figures
if
of course
When
crowd that fills every

Hoh-hoh,
him wearing
seat, and folks standing along the wall besides.
grave,
and anvery
gets
up
John Benner's long-tail preacher coat, he
hands
invites
all
and
with
song,
nounces how they'll open the services
the meeting opens that night they
is
to join in hearty.
very front row, grinning up imbecile and insulting,
In the
and
Bottlenose,
he's got four-five
Hoh-hoh he walks back and

pauses a minute
"It
forth
to fix this Bottlenose
was most unfortunate," says
is
this
beachcombers with him.

slow on the platform, and he
of his
with his eye.
Hoh-hoh solemn,
"that the services
last
night were disturbed by unseemly conduct. Let us hope, brothers
and
sisters,
that there will be
no repetition of such rude and impious
demeanour."
Hoh-hoh he walks over

brand new music on
here
He
spell.
They
and
to the organ then,
They
he leads off with "Beulah Land."
sing
it
Sister
is,
this
the program even stopped Bottlenose for a
sets there staring
up wopper-jawed
sing two-three songs more,
at
Hoh-hoh.
Hoh-hoh urging
the flock to join
and him singing personal so loud you could a-heard
in,
Benner and
very sweet. Fact
him clean
to
Puffin Bird.
After this singing
how
Hoh-hoh
steps to the edge of the platform,
and
announce his text, and expound it later.

says
"1 aim to preach emphatic to you all," he says, "from a text out of
Isaiah, or somewhere, and it's entitled, 'Smite 'em hip and thigh.'
Just then Bottlenose nudges on his gang. "Which this is the most
he'll
stupidest meeting
sive,
personal,
"Sure,
got
ever did attend," says Bottlenose, loud and offen-
and yawning and stretching.
it
all
"I
aim to take over these services
and conduct 'em more animated."

Bottlenose," says one of the beachcombers. "Fine
ways over
this
new
preacher,
who
idea!
esteems to be a
You
false
alarm."
Bottlenose he stands up then, though

saying, "Shame! Set
many
down, Bottlenose! Keep
of the congregation
is
still!"
Bottlenose he looks around defiant at the congregation, and then
he looks up
his
at
Hoh-hoh, who's standing on the edge
of the platform,
hands folded together pious.

"Brothers and sisters," says
Hoh-hoh calm and cold
too calm
if
them beachcombers had had wits to understand "until this rude interruption, this here was a gospel ship. But the wicked have invaded
the sanctuary. So now this peaceful meeting place is going to get
transformed sudden into a arena of action."
With
that,
Hoh-hoh shucks
off this long-tail
preacher coat, and
in
253
one jump offen the platform he's down amongst them beach rats. The
first two chukkins he leaves go, he knocks two of them sculpins colder
than storage
fish.
But he takes a
mean one from
Bottlenose. Bottlenose
tation as a preacher-buster at stake, so
He
Hoh-hoh on
belts
he
tears into
the side of the head, and
had
his repu-
Hoh-hoh
it
fierce.
kind of knocks
and before he can come back to
a even keel,
Bottlenose gives him another, and one of the gang hits
Hoh-hoh on
Hoh-hoh
off balance,
the other side of the head.

Folks in the congregation
ning out screeching and
is
down
give
hit
Hoh-hoh,
Hoh-hoh another
and he plants
he runs
too,
one,
is
run-
the plank to the shore.
This here beachcomber that had swung

nose had
women
milling around, and the
in
the
in jubilant.
lick, just as Bottle-
He
when Hoh-hoh he
is all
organized to
up his leg,
and he kicks him clean acrost
a foot in this party's belly,
just
lifts
the bench.
Now
own
his
and Hoh-hoh exclusive.

and he swings wild and misses, and the force of
this leaves the fight to Bottlenose
Bottlenose he runs
lick
in,
kind of spins him around.
And Hoh-hoh
snatches out
and gets him by the scruff of the neck and Hoh-hoh held him there
and give him some slaps alongside the head that would rock a walrus.
This Bottlenose just bellers, and rears and pitches, and he twists
loose,
knocks
a
and Hoh-hoh leaves him have one right on the jaw, and it
this Bottlenose quivering, and he sets on the floor, gasping like
beached
bull cod.
Hoh-hoh he
him on
leans
and he picks
this Bottlenose
up bodily and
sets
his feet, again clinging to the scruff of Bottlenose's neck.
"Brethren and sisters," says Hoh-hoh as solemn as squinch owls,

"my text is, 'Smite 'em hip and thigh.'
With that Hoh-hoh just drug this Bottlenose acrost the bench, face
down, and he spanked him till he smoked, this Bottlenose squirming
and kicking and howling for mercy.
Final,
Hoh-hoh,
maintaining that scruff holt, he
still
"Brothers and sisters," says

confession. Bottlenose,
you
Hoh-hoh, "you
tell
in to
him
up.
how you planned and

And how you got poor,
further how you aimed to
the assemblage
helped to pull the Thunderbird pirate job.
weak Eddie Bower
lets
are about to listen to a
help you. You
tell
blow the Thunderbird safe."

This Bottlenose, through them puffed lips of hissen, he begins
use this Eddie as a tool to
splutter
how he
"Oh, yes, you
254
to
won't confess to nothing.

will," says
Hoh-hoh, and he doubles
that pile-driver
of hissen and he goes to
fist
Hoh-hoh,
says
"or
this sculpin's neck,

it,
like
at Bottlenose
aim to knock you
with
it.
"You
tell,"
loose from your keel
puts that ship-clamp grip of hissen onto the back of
Hoh-hoh he
anced
menacing
and he kind of weighed
he was selecting out
his
a place to
own
land
big
it
fist,
and
bal-
forceful.
This Bottlenose begins to blubber, and he owned up he done the
and did kind of have a notion, seeing times was

blow the Thunderbird safe.
Hoh-hoh he then drug Bottlenose up onto the platform, and he
makes him set down, and then Hoh-hoh and Sister Benner sings
pirate job with Eddie,
hard, to
Hoh-hoh he
"Abide With Me," and
how
he's
dismisses the congregation, saying
got hopes the regular pastor, the Reverend John Benner, will
be with them soon again.
The congregation
to the
We
arm of
files
out,
and Hoh-hoh
similar, clinging ardent
this Bottlenose.
never did ketch Eddie Bower. Seems like his
about the pirate job, she kind weakened, and she
took
on the
it
we
Bottlenose,
and we
klatawa,
him
give
hain't
sister, after telling
tells
Eddie, and he
none of us seen him
since.
plenty.
the Body Fits
If
hy Larry Holden
"For three days
showed
now
."
.
Joe was saying thoughtfully. "He
on that old wagon of
for three days
his,
and
it
got
ain't
me
to
thinking. He's dead."
"And it hasn't been reported?"

he'd know.
He shook
his head.
asked. Joe
"No. That's what got
was chief of
me
police,
to thinking.
and
Between
you and me, there's more funny business going on out at that farm
them two hating one another's gizzards the way

they do. Let's get Doc and take a run out."
stammered. "You you think he was murdered, Joe? Is that what
than
we know
you
about,
think?"
He
shrugged. "What's your guess?"
255
Old Jake Stence was
He
stingy.
Let
a miser.
wasn't merely economical, thrifty, parsimonious or even just
He was a fanatical, money-crazed miser.

me give you an example of the kind of thing
years ago, just after
with the baby
in
young Johnny was born,
her arms. She rolled
down
floor, and the baby wasn't expected to
wagon and disappeared
his
had two battered,
live.
the
stairs
did. Eighteen
dropped dead
from the second
Jake hitched the horse to
for twelve hours.
paintless coffins in the
he
his wife
When
he came back, he
back of the wagon
a large
and a little, four-foot one for the baby. How or where

gotten
them
was anybody's guess, but from the looks of those
he had
relics,
you
knew
darned well he had gotten them for a song.
old
one
for his wife
you can imagine a joke in a pair of

coffins. The baby
and Jake was stuck with that second fourcoffin
his
hands.
foot
on
He went out one morning with it in the back
wagon
again,
but
when
he returned that evening his face was as
of the
dark as midnight in a wolf's throat and the coffin was still in the
wagon.
From that day on he hated young Johnny. There are charitable
folks around who said he hated the baby because he blamed his wife's
know better. He hated the baby because it didn't
death on it. Me,
die and use that coffin. Jake never forgot a wasted penny, and he
But there was a joke
in
it
if
didn't die,
never forgave
The
it,
either.
kid got through as
much
school as he had
to,
minute he spent working on old Jake's poultry farm.
and every extra
And
not learning
you might think. No. Learning the business of

miser. Jake drilled it into him from morning till night, sixteen
day, until in the end Johnny was just as miserly as old Jake
the poultry business, as
being a
hours a
himself.
And
useless
don't think for a minute that Jake ever let the kid forget that
little
brood over
it,
four-foot coffin.
He
kept
it
in
the parlor so he could
so he could beat his breast every time he looked at
it
would be a continual reproach to the kid for being alive.

You don't have to be a psychiatrist to know that that's no life for a
kid. Young Johnny was saving string and making one nail do the work
of four when most kids are still playing with dolls, and at the age
when he should have been teasing the young girls and offering them
sodas in exchange for a furtive kiss later, he was working sixteen and
sometimes twenty hours a day, piling penny on top of penny, and
nickel on top of nickel, watching them turn into precious dollars. As
said, it was no life for a kid. It was no life for anybody.
256
so
it
around town, young Johnny and old

hard seat of that old wagon. Every
on
the
Jake, perched
sell
their
eggs from door to door because
through
to
came
day they
pennies
that way. And they were
extra
out
few
squeeze
a
could
they
They were
a familiar sight
by
side
as alike as brothers,
side
both
six feet tall, as
and
scaffolding, dressed in rag-ends
to the skull to save barber
bills.
and the wagon moaned

had spent past its prime.
tottering,
it
skinny and bony as a piece of
tatters, their hair
home-cropped
The horse was spraddle-legged and

as
if
haunted by
all
the weary years
the evening they returned, sagging with fatigue, the
In
empty, old Jake driving and young Johnny
counting a handful of loose change and dropping
fully
wagon
sitting beside him, careit
piece by
piece into a small leather sack under the old man's steely eye.
They
lived
on the
refuse of the garden they kept, eating the chick-
ens that died of old age, or any other
heads
the
off.
lid
sometimes wondered
Jake
if
of the coffin just to remind
played by insisting on staying
way except chopping their

made the kid eat dinner on
him what
he had
was darned near
a dirty trick
and sometimes
alive,-
if the kid had had his choice, that little fourwould have been under the turf of the cemetery these
to being convinced that
foot coffin
eighteen years.
Those were
my mouth
idle thoughts,
though, and
had no proof. So
kept
shut.
But Joe had a fact that day
when he came through my
fanning himself with his hat. Joe was chief of police.
front gate,
He and
hunted
duck and deer in season, and whenever he had a Job in which he had
to depend on a steady hand with a gun, he usually called on me to go
along.
you noticed anything funny about old
"Harry," he said, "have

Stence's
1
wagon
these past few days?"
laughed. "Don't
tell
me
"Not much chance of

days and he
"Maybe
"Jake's
ain't
he's
that.
been on
gone and got a new one."

been watching it for three-four
But
it."
he's sick."
never too sick to ride that wagon, never too sick to
let
collections without his being there to keep
young Johnny make the
one eye on the accounting."

We looked at each other.
." he said thoughtfully. "He ain't showed
now
on that old wagon of his, and it got me to thinking.
"For three days

for three days
He's dead."
257
half-hour later the three of us
in silence
Joe, the
Doc and
out toward the Stence farm on the Pike.
and Joe got out of the car

the path, not making a sound. There was a
rickety fence,
and
were
riding
stopped
at the
went up
easy,
feeble, flickering light in
window we saw young

Johnny sitting there, listlessly turning over the pages of an old magazine someone had given him. On the table, stuck in its own grease,
stood about an inch of candle. It threw an eerie light, fitful and shallow, and it filled young Johnny's gaunt face with darkness. He looked
the kitchen, and
as
if
when we peered through
soft
We
the
the bones of his skull were impatiently thrusting against his skin.
But there was no sign of old Jake.
It
was too early
and old
for bed,
Jake would certainly not have been in another part of the house
one candle would have done
Joe opened the door without knocking and walked
He
in.
said casually, "Hello, Johnny."
Johnny looked
if
when
for two.
he were
up. "Hello, Joe." His voice
just as miserly
about using
it
as
was creaky and
rusty, as
he was about everything
else.
Joe went on, "I notice Jake ain't been to town these past few days,
and dropped in to see if anything was the matter."
Keeping his finger in the magazine to mark his place, young
1
Johnny said emotionlessly. "He drapped daid three four days ago.
Bury him t'morra if can spare time from the egg route.
Six feet tall, harsh-boned and scrawny, the image of the old man,
you'd never have taken him for eighteen. He looked a hard-used forty.
And his words, as calmly as they were spoken, were callous enough to
have curdled lead. But what else could you expect, when everything
had been squeezed out of him except the bleak desire for money?
"Mind if take a look at him?" Joe's voice hardened.
Johnny shrugged. "Go right ahead," he said disinterestedly. "He's in
there." He tossed his thumb limply toward the parlor.
Joe gave him a sharp glance and he and Doc went into the other
room, while stayed in the kitchen to keep an eye on young Johnny.
had a gun stuck in my waistband, under my coat.
From the tail of my eye,
saw the beam of Joe's flashlight flick
around the parlor,- then
sharpened my
heard both of them gasp.
ears. Johnny hunched over his magazine.
Having difficulty with his tongue. Doc mumbled something about
a stroke. Joe stumbled through the doorway with a small hatchet in
hand, his face the color of spoiled veal.
his
He
said hoarsely, "You
Johnny
258
didn't
chopped him
off at the knees!"
even look up from his magazine. "What of
it?
He
was dead, wasn't he?" Then, with sudden, blazing hatred. 'That was
way
damn
could get him
the only
better,
him!
waste after
Now
in that little coffin.
that he
knows
that
little
Now
he should
coffin didn't
feel
go
to
all!"
Ignorance of Art
hy Vincent Hall
They speak enviously of Pop Townsend in the art circles, an artist
who won recognition painting the portrait of a murderer from a photograph in the Rogues' Gallery. "For copying old masters in the Museum, he hardly made enough to pay his rent," they say. "But for a
they gave him
killer's picture,
Paradoxically,
cess,-
it
ignorance of
masterpiece hangs
thousand
five
was ignorance of
a
of killers not
trio
in the
dollars."
art that started
Art Museum.
Pop on
to suc-
up to the elementals. Pop's
And
three killers were hanged
for murder.
It all
when Mr. Swinburne
started
of the
Ninth National Bank
criti-
cized Pop Townsend's paintings of six veteran employees standing

outside the bank entrance.
"You've caught the speaking likeness of each man," Swinburne graciously admitted. "But our depositors will never recognize their build-
ing unless you paint
in our sign. Ninth National Bank."

Pop stroked his trim Van Dyke, took a long pull at his pipe. "And
would it be more of a building if painted unimportant details?"
'To us, details are important," Mr. Swinburne replied. "I suggest
that you go up to the elevated station platform outside and copy our
I
sign from there
Pop did
as
"
he was
scowled
at
station,
he
the faded, carved letters
story building. "Always

a building unless
morning before the rush hour

up his easel and canvas,- and
on the Ninth National Bank's two-
told. Early that
crowds would jam the
set
get kicks about details," he muttered.
put a label on
His attention was suddenly attracted to the
man
bank's roof opposite the elevated station platform.

profile of the
man,
who was
"It isn't
it."
standing on the
Pop studied the
dressed in a natty tweed suit and gray
felt
259
hat.
There was no
exit to the roof.
Pop guessed
that the stranger must
have stepped from the tenement roof adjoining.
"A regular cutthroat," he mused. "Might make
Academy exhibition." He reached for

"Hold it!" the man called. "And act natural."
his sketchbook.
show
the
at
good sketch
to
Shifty black eyes murderously regarded the old man,- the .38 cali-
ber pistol threatened instant death.
and
Pop's heart pounded,
never wavered from Pop.
It
spine chilled. Chancing a glance
his
downward, he observed what was taking place on the
Two men, one
gray limousine had swept to the curb.
street below.
carrying a black
emerged and started for the bank entrance.

Quick staccato barks of guns suddenly broke the early morning
stillness. The man with the black bag toppled to the sidewalk, his
companion sagged to his knees.
Pop shouted. The man on the roof instantly fired. Pop crashed to
bag,
the floor, easel and canvas draping his

there
throbbed.
was
amazed
rigid,
The
a scant
The
that his
still
figure.
For a
heart was beating,-
moment he
that
his
lay
temples
distance from the bank's roof to the elevated station
twenty paces.
station agent
How
could the
dashed out of
killer
miss?
his cubby-hole, leaned over the
old man.
"Are you hurt?"
Pop staggered
"Easy," the
to his feet.
man
"I
saw them. Telephone the
"They're on the way."
said.
He
police."
pulled at Pop's vest.
"Why, your clothes are soaking blood."

"Never mind me," Pop answered. "1 must phone the
scription of the man
saw on the roof."
police a de-
"Here they are now," the station agent
said.
"A regiment of cops."
Detective Sergeant Mike Glennon took one look at Pop, and
snapped an order to
a patrolman.
"Get hold of that ambulance doctor
before he goes back to the hospital."
He jotted down
Pop's detailed description of the
of flimsy from the pad
and handed
The doctor probed
it
the old man's chest. "Nothing but a flesh
wound. Two men below
killed instantly."
"They were making an early morning deposit of

killers got it," Glennon said.
The pungent
bore
it
around
stoically.
liquid the doctor put
He was
his eyeglasses,
There was
260
tore a sheet
killer,
to a detective. "Broadcast that."
lucky to be
put
fifty
on Pop's wound
alive.
He
grand.
The
hurt, but
he
straightened the frames
them on and took out
his
sketchbook.
charred hole squarely in the middle of the cardboard
cover and right through the pages to the cardboard on the other
Pop smiled wanly. "For once
They took Pop
side.
sketchbook was worth something."
this
to the Rogues' Gallery at Police Headquarters.
He
studied predatory faces, sullen faces, hard expressions that frighten

children into hysterics. For well over two hours
tograph after another. Suddenly he singled out a
Pop studied one phofull face and a profile
alongside.
"There's your man," he declared.
"Trigger Madden!"
Glennon dashed out, followed by his men. Three detectives remained to guard the old man. O'Brien read from the late morning
newspaper. "We've got you down as a dead man unidentified," he said.
'That's to
make
the killers think they're in the clear."
At noon, Glennon came back. "Madden surrendered on

hook," he announced. "He has an
who
persons
"Liars!"
Madden was with them
swear
out of the city
supported by
alibi
in a
bungalow
sixty miles
Pop exclaimed.
through your sketchbook.
And
didn't
with
five
find the
alibi
have a tough time making your identification

Pop shrugged. "They're still liars," he insisted.
you wear
eyeglasses,"
bullet
went
that
witnesses against us,
we'll
see
own
his
responsible
the time of the double murder."
at
Glennon looked dubious. "We
"1
five
stick."
Glennon observed. "Can you
see
good
with them on?"
"Of course."
Glennon stepped out

his
men. "A smart shyster
"He'll
make
will
exchanged worried glances with
challenge the old man's vision," he said.
cracks about the glare of sunlight, harangue the jury about
reasonable doubt
'Take
of earshot,
me
to a
"
He
room
stopped
as
Pop came
over.
that has strong sunlight from the north,"
Pop
suggested.
"What
"I'm
for?"
Glennon wanted
going to paint what
to
saw
know.
this
morning."
"Go ahead, Sarge, humor him," Detective O'Brien said.

They took him to the top floor, let him in a small room. Pop
his canvas
on the
easel,
tacked Madden's photograph alongside.
set
He
smiled as he soaked a brush into turpentine and erased the six figures
of the bank employees he had painted
wonder what my associates would say
for
if
Swinburne, the president.
they caught
me
"I
painting in a
rogues' gallery."
261
The
went
detectives tapped their heads significantly and
out. "We'll
kid him along and then spring him," Glennon said.
Pop put
that
all
and energy into
his life
Madden might be
angry and spurred him on. "Maybe those
when they
The thought
made him
his composition.
hêed because of false alibi witnesses
get a look
at this painting,"
Late that afternoon,
sing a different tune
liars will
he told himself.
Glennon poked
his
head into the room.
"We've decided that you can go home, Mr. Townsend," he
"Look
at
my
Pop
painting,"
Glennon gasped. "The very

"Any
said.
invited.
spit of
Madden."
criticism?"
Something about the painting jarred on Glennon. "You told us

dressed in a tweed suit when you saw him on that roof.
Why do you paint him in a blue suit?" Glennon objected.
Madden was
Pop looked
portant details
me
sour.
"It
when
never
fails.
Always somebody points out unim-
they're asked to criticize a painting."
Glennon frowned. "If you were painting my picture would you do

in a tweed suit if
had a blue one on?"
"You recognized Madden's likeness, didn't you?" Pop came back.
I
cockeyed on the details."

Pop put down his palette and brushes. Patiently he explained the
meaning of a likeness,- of light and shade,- perspective and background.
"Sure, but you're
"A professional
overlooks absence of details that have noth-
critic
Whether
ing to do with the likeness of a portrait.
green
suit,
or a black,
it
is
still
the man,
if
the
you're painted in a
artist
has caught the
likeness."
"Sounds reasonable," Glennon admitted.
"Of course
He
admitted
does he see?
me
it's
reasonable. Take this man, Swinburne, for example.
had made
He
a likeness of those
sees that
didn't paint in his
to put in a label so you'll
Glennon ran
Madden
blue suit
Pop
will say
his fingers
Headquarters
men
a stage in
seated in the chair.
262
it's
damn
sign
bank and not

hair.
wants
a jail."
"Anybody who knows
the spit of him. But painting him in a

is
going to give us
Madden," he
static."
said.
escorted Pop into a large
room
in
the basement.
the front. Glaring lights were played on the

It
man
was Madden.
Glennon walked up the

preacher's pulpit.
is
tweed on
smiled. "Let's confront
There was
know
through his
your painting
when he had
bank employees. But what
steps to a raised platform that looked like a
"Madden," he began, "you said you were with your

bungalow at the time of the double murder?"
witnesses
alibi
in that
told you that before."

"And you still stick to it?"
"I
"Sure."
Detective O'Brien caught his cue. He took Pop's arm, escorted him
to the stage. A bright light was shifted on the old man's face.
Madden's
olive skin
became
a greenish hue, his breath
caught
in a
sob.
Glennon said, "Bring up that Exhibit B."

O'Brien handed up a forty-two-by-twenty-inch canvas. Pop set
against the wall.
it
Madden sucked his breath.

The Ninth National's building was in the background. The painting showed two figures getting out of a gray limousine at the curb,
two men with flaming pistols shooting them down. On the bank's
roof, painted in a fourteen-inch length,
nice blue
suit.
His .38 caliber
pistol
was the figure of Madden in a

was aimed in the direction of the
elevated station platform.

"It's
a dirty frame!"
Madden
"Go
Madden
that a likeness of
"Isn't
shrieked.
you standing on the
roof?"
regarded the painting sullenly.
on, please criticize
it,
Mr. Madden," Pop suggested
"See anything wrong?"

"Yeah.
wasn't wearing no blue
suit,-
it
was
affably.
tweed
Madden
gasped, overwhelmed by the slip of his tongue that convicted him. He cracked under the grilling that followed. He
named
the two who had committed
money was cached.
Pop never gets
the murders,- he confessed where the
tired repeating the story.
that picture in the three minutes
tims and
kill
it
"1
took those
couldn't have painted
men
to rob their vic-
them
"And always
my
customers kick about
details.
They
force
me
to
paint their lapels plainly, put buttons
coats.
Madden would
a blue suit instead of
criticize
me
for
on their
painting him in
had
hunch
the tweed he wore that morning."
263
Incident in a
Neighborhood Tavern
Bill
When
down
the holdup went
was
Foghorn Tavern's scarred mahogany
sitting at the near

bar, talking to the
Proniini
end of the
owner, Matt
Candiotti.
was
It
little
before seven of a mid-week evening,
lull
time in
working-class neighborhood saloons like this one. Blue-collar locals
would jam the place from four until about six-thirty, when the last of
them headed home for dinner, the hard-core drinkers wouldn't begin
was the
filtering back in until about seven-thirty or eight. Right now
1
only customer.
me wasn't the reason I was there. I'd

had asked two dozen other merchants here
he could offer any leads on the rash of bur-
But the draft beer in front of
come
in
to ask Candiotti, as
the Outer Mission,
glaries that
if
were plaguing small businesses
police hadn't
come up with anything
in the
neighborhood. The
positive after six weeks, so a
me to see what
had been born and raised
in the Outer Mission, which to them meant I understood the neighborhood better than any other private detective in San Francisco.
couple of the victims had gotten up a fund and hired
could find out. They'd picked
So
though,
far,
me
because
wasn't having any
more luck than the SFPD.
None
of the merchants
ideas,
and Candiotti was proving no exception.
into
wedges
as
we
He
reminded
spoken with today had given
He
me any new
stood slicing limes
they might have been onions the way his

was screwed up, like a man trying to hold back
talked,-
long, mournful face

tears.
I'd
me
of a tired old hound.
"Wish could help," he said. "But hell, don't hear nothing. Must
be pros from Hunters Point or the Fillmore, hah?"
I
Hunters Point and the Fillmore were black sections of the

which was a pretty good indicator of where his head was at. I
"Some of the others figure it for local talent."
"Out of
I
264
this
neighborhood, you mean?"
nodded, drank some of
my
draft.
city,
said,
"Nah,
doubt it," he said. "Guys that organized, they don't crap
where they eat. Too smart, you know?"
"Maybe. Any break-ins or attempted break-ins here?"
got bars on all the windows, double locks on the
"Not so far.
storeroom door off the alley. Besides, what's for them to steal except a
I
few cases of whisky?"

"You don't keep cash on the premises overnight?"
"Fifty
bucks
in the
He
that's all."
till,
heard some of the loot turned up
scraped the lime wedges off
"One thing
his board, into a plastic container.
down
in
did hear," he said.
"1
San Jose. You know about
that?"
"Not much of
a lead there.
Secondhand dealer named Pitman had
few pieces of stereo equipment stolen from the factory-outlet store on
Geneva. Said he bought
somebody he
didn't
from
it
guy
at
the San Jose
flea
market,
know, never saw before."
"Yeah, sure," Candiotti said wryly.
'That Pitman bought
it
"What do the cops
think?"
off a fence."
So maybe the boosters are from San Jose, hah?"

and that was when the kid walked in.
He brought bad air in with him,- sensed it right away and so did
Candiotti. We both glanced at the door when it opened, the way you
do, but we didn't look away again once we saw him. He was in his
early twenties, dark-skinned, dressed in chinos and a cotton windbreaker. But it was his eyes that put the chill on my neck, the sudden
clutch of tension down low in my belly. They were bright, jumpy, on
the wild side. He had one hand in his jacket pocket and knew it was
clamped around a gun even before he took it out and showed it to us.
He came up to the bar a few feet on my left, the gun jabbing the
air in front of him. He couldn't hold it steady, it kept jerking up and
down, from side to side, as if it had a kind of spasmodic life of its
own. eased back a little on the stool, watching the gun and the kid's
eyes flick between Candiotti and me. Candiotti didn't move at all, just
stood staring with his hound's face screwed up tight.
"All right all right," the kid said. His voice was high-pitched, excited. You couldn't get much more stoned than he was and still function. Coke, crack, speed
maybe a combination of drugs. The gun
that kept flicking this way and that was a goddamn Saturday Night
Special. "Listen good, man,
will if
don't want to kill anybody but
got to, you believe it?"
Neither of us said anything. Neither of us moved.
The kid had a folded-up paper sack in one pocket,- he dragged it
out with his free hand, dropped it, broke quickly at the middle to pick
265
"Makes
"Could
sense.
be,"
said,
it up without lowering his gaze. When he straightened again there

was sweat on his face. He threw the sack on the bar.
"Put the money in there, Mister Cyclone Man," he said to Candi-
otti. "All
the
money
in
the register, no coins,
you hear me, man?"
Candiotti nodded, reached out slowly for the sack and then turned
toward the backbar with
When
No
he punched
hunched up
his shoulders
against his neck.
thump
Sale on the register, the ringing
of the
cash drawer sliding open seemed overloud in the electric hush. For a
few seconds the kid watched him scoop
my way
bills
into the sack,- then his
had looked into the muzzle of a handgun before and it was the same feeling each time: dull
fear, helplessness, a kind of naked vulnerability.
"Your wallet on the bar, man, all your cash."
did as was told. But while was getting my wallet out managed
to slide my right foot off the stool, onto the brass rail, and to get my
had to make
right hand pressed tight against the edge of the bar. If
any sudden moves would need the leverage.
Candiotti finished loading the sack. There was a grayish cast to his
face now
the wet gray color of fear. The kid said to him, "Pick up
this dude's money, put it in the sack with the rest. Come on come on
come om"
Candiotti added my wallet to the contents of the paper sack, put
eyes and the gun skittered
again.
the sack
down
carefully in front of the kid.
"Okay," the kid

at
said, "okay, all right."
the street door, as
closed.
In
if
He
glanced over his shoulder
he'd heard something there, but
slipped free of his fingers.
watched him fumble
a tighter grip
reach out and drag the sack in against his body. But he
to leave with
it.
"Now we go
Instead he said,
Candiotti opened his mouth, closed

as big
stayed
it
sweaty agitation the Saturday Night Special almost
his
and starey
it
on
it,
made no move
get the big pile, man."
again. His eyes
were almost
as the kid's.
"Come on Mister Cyclone Man, the safe, the safe

"No money in that safe," Candiotti said in a thin,
in
your
office."
scratchy voice.
"Nothing valuable."
"Oh man
He
ain't playin'
no games here,
want that money!"
took two steps forward, jabbing with the gun up close to
Candiotti's gray face. Candiotti backed off a step, took a tremulous
breath. "All right," he said, "but

in
got to get the key to the
office.
It's
rummaged
in-
the register."
"Hurry up!"
Candiotti turned back to the register, rang
it
open,
side with his left hand. But with his right hand, shielded from the kid
266
a large wood cigar box nearby.

came out again with metal in it, glinting
saw it, and
in the backbar lights.
wanted to yell at him, but it
wouldn't have done any good, would only have warned the kid
and
by
body, he eased up the top of
his
The hand disappeared
inside,
1
Candiotti was already turning with

his
own
both hands. There was no time
in
shove away from the bar and sideways
opened
for
me
to
of
do anything but
off the stool just as Candiotti
fire.
The
it
damn gun
bringing up that
it,
he was
state
was too
the kid didn't realize what was happening until
in,
he never even got
late,-
shot
off.
Candiotti's
first
slug
knocked him halfway around, and one of the three others that followed took him in the face. He was dead before his body, driven
backward, slammed into the cigarette machine near the door, slid
down
to the floor.
it
When came
1
arms down
up out of
my
at his sides, the
crouch, Candiotti was standing with his
gun out of sight below the
the bloody remains of the kid as
what he'd done.
seeing, couldn't believe
Some
lock on
of the tension in
security gate
its
hand;
kid's
tridges.
checking the
bent, pulled
it
who
a queasiness in
the same delayed
my
him
in
"I
know," he
"1
thought
.
said.
was
still
come
clutched
in
live car-
jacket pocket, thought about
it.
It
wasn't any of
my
did not want to touch him.
stomach, a fluttery weakness behind

I
in
the
my
always had to violence and death.
walked over to him, pushed hard words
damn
fool thing to do.
You could
killed."
"Why'd you do
piece
my
an undertone. "That was a
have got us both
Special
And
reaction
I
to the door, found the
broke the cylinder. Five
free,
he'd been.
Candiotti hadn't moved.

at
went
before anybody could
it
clothing for ID, didn't do
kid's
now,
There was
knees
eased as
dropped the gun into
business,
me
and fastened
The Saturday Night
off the street.
bar. Staring at
he couldn't believe what he was
if
know."
"1
it?"
.
hell,
you saw the way he was waving
that
."
.
"Yeah,"
said. "Call
the police. Nine-eleven."
"Nine-eleven. Okay."
"Put that gun of yours
He
down
first.
On
the bar."
phone on the backbar,- he went away to

it. While he was talking to the emergency operator
picked up his
weapon, saw that it was a .32 Charter Arms revolver.
put it down
did that. There was a
again
when he
finished the
"They'll have
call.
somebody here
in five
minutes," he said.
267
know
"You
said,
that kid?"
"Christ, no."
him
"Ever see
anywhere
before, here or
else?"
"No."
how
"So
did he
know about your
safe?"
Candiotti blinked at me. "What?"
"The
your
safe in
"How
should
"He seemed
"Well
till
you keep big money
to think
nothing
don't. There's
in
it
it?"
make?"
in that safe."
it."
you told me you don't keep more than
"That's right,
the
How'd he know about
office.
know. What difference does
fifty
bucks
in
overnight."
"Yeah."
"Then why have you got
a safe,
Candiotti's eyes narrowed.

right? Before
these burglaries started.
all
money
to take the
to feed his habit,
Still,
it.
he wasn't
wind of
he'd gotten
bank every
to the
"Sure, that explains
if
if it's
empty?"
used to keep
"I
my cash
Then
receipts in
figured
I'd
it,
all
be smarter
night."
a kid like that, looking for a big score
just after
what was
heavy stash
in the
till.
No,
it
was
as
grand or more."
Nothing from Candiotti.
you took, using that .32 of yours," said. "How come you
make your play the first time you went to the register? How
come you waited until the kid mentioned your safe?"
"Listen, what're you getting at, hah?"
"Another funny thing,"
said, "is the way he called you Mister
Cyclone Man. Now why would a hopped-up kid use a term like that
to a bar owner he didn't know?"
"Big risk
didn't
"How
the hell should
"Cyclone,"
said.
know?"
"What's
Only one other thing
cyclone but a big destructive wind?
can think
of."
"Yeah? What's that?"
"A fence.
Candiotti
made
cyclone fence."
a fidgety
movement. Some of the wet gray
pallor
was beginning to spread across his cheeks again, like a fungus.

said, "And a fence is somebody who receives and distributes
I
stolen goods.
Candiotti?
came
in
how
equipment
here
in
Mister Fence Man. But then you
know
that, don't you,
were talking about that kind of fence before the kid

Pitman,
down
in
San Jose, bought some hot stereo
off one. But that fence
San Francisco. Right here
suppose the
268
We
stuff
taken in
all
could just as easily be operating
in this
neighborhood,
those burglaries never
left
in fact. Hell,
the neighbor-
hood. Suppose it was brought to a local place and stored until it could
be trucked out to other cities a tavern storeroom, for instance.
Might even be some of it is still in that storeroom. And the money he
got for the rest he'd keep locked up in his
Except maybe
somewhere
made
Candiotti
leveled at
my
who
poor junkie
sudden grab
Who'd
safe.
figure
it?
picked up a whisper on the street
for the .32,
backed up
chest. "You smart son of a bitch.
a step
ought to
kill
with
you
it
too."
"With the police due any second?"

'There's
still
enough time
for
me
to get clear."
He was
talking to
himself, not to me.

"I
don't think so,"
"Goddamn
said.
you, you think
won't use this gun again?"
last two cartridges while

you were on the phone."
held up the two shells I'd palmed, so he could see them. At the
got the kid's Saturday Night Special out of my jacket
same time
pocket and showed him that too. "You want to put your piece down
"1
know you won't use
it.
emptied out the
now, Candiotti? You're not going anywhere, not
He
put
his sad
it
dropped
it
for a
clattering onto the bar.
long time."
And
as
he
did,
hound's face screwed up again and wetness began to leak out
of his eyes.
submerged
up
down
a little
He was
in his
while
leaning against the bar, crying like a
own outpouring
of self-pity,
when
the cops
woman,
showed
later.
In the Library
hy W. W. Jacobs
The
fire had burnt low in the library, for the night was wet and warm.
was now little more than a grey shell, and looked desolate. Trayton
Burleigh, still hot, rose from his armchair, and turning out one of the
gas-jets, took a cigar from a box on a side-table and resumed his seat
It
again.
The
apartment, which was on the third floor at the back of the
house, was a combination of library, study, and smoke-room, and was

the daily despair of the old housekeeper who, with the assistance of
269
one servant, managed the house. It was a bachelor establishment, and

had been left to Trayton Burleigh and James Fletcher by a distant
connection of both men some ten years before.
Trayton Burleigh sat back in his chair watching the smoke of his
cigar through half-closed eyes. Occasionally he
opened them
a little
wider and glanced round the comfortable, well-furnished room, or

stared with a cold gleam of hatred at Fletcher as he sat sucking stolIt was a comfortable room and a valuable house,
which belonged to Trayton Burleigh,- and yet he was to leave it
in the morning and become a rogue and a wanderer over the face of
the earth. James Fletcher had said so. James Fletcher, with the pipe
still between his teeth and speaking from one corner of his mouth
only, had pronounced his sentence.
idly at his brier pipe.
half of
hasn't occurred to you,
"It
denly, "that
suppose," said Burleigh, speaking sud-
might refuse your terms."
"No," said Fletcher, simply.
smoke and
Burleigh took a great mouthful of
am
"I
to
go out and leave you
owner and representative
deal,
slowly out.
roll
of the firm?
You
are a
good hand
at a
James Fletcher."
am
"I
it
he continued. "You
here sole proprietor of the house,- you will stay at the office
will stay
sole
let
in possession?"
an honest man," said Fletcher, "and to raise sufficient
make your defalcations good

gainer, as you very well know."
to
'There
pay the
is
money
me
not by any means leave
will
the
no necessity to borrow," began Burleigh, eagerly. "We can

and in course of time make the principal good
interest easily,
without a soul being the wiser."

"That you suggested before," said Fletcher, "and
same.
penny
but
will
be no man's confederate
at all costs,
will
my
in dishonesty,-
and save the name of the
firm
answer
is
and yours with
never have you darken the office again, or
sit in
the
every
will raise
it
house
this
after tonight."
"You won't," cried Burleigh, starting up in a frenzy of rage.

"I
won't," said Fletcher. "You can choose the alternative: disgrace
and penal
servitude. Don't stand over me,
you won't
frighten me,
can
assure you. Sit down."
"You have arranged so
many
things in your kindness," said Burleigh,
slowly, resuming his seat again, "have
you arranged how
am
to live?"
"You have two strong hands, and health," replied Fletcher.
"1
will
mentioned, and after that you

you the two hundred pounds
must look out for yourself. You can take it now."
hie took a leather case from his breast pocket, and drew out a roll
270
give
him calmly, stretched out his hand and

Then he gave way to a sudden access of
of notes. Burleigh, watching
took them from the

rage,
table.
and crumpling them
hand, threw them into a corner of the
in his
room. Fletcher smoked on.

"Mrs. Marl
is
out?" said Burleigh, suddenly.
Fletcher nodded.
"She will be away the night," he
"and Jane
said, slowly,
have gone together somewhere, but they
will
be back
too,-
at
they
half-past
eight in the morning."
"You are going to
let
me
have one more breakfast
then," said Burleigh. "Half-past eight, half-past
He
in
the old place,
rose from his chair again. This time Fletcher took his pipe from
mouth and watched him closely. Burleigh stooped, and picking up

the notes, placed them in his pocket.
"If
am to be turned adrift, it shall not be to leave you here," he
his
said, in a thick voice.
He
from
crossed over and shut the door, as he turned back Fletcher rose
his chair
and stood confronting him. Burleigh put
the wall, and drawing a small Japanese sword from

ivory, stepped slowly
its
his
hand to
sheath of carved
toward him.
you one chance, Fletcher," he said, grimly. "You are a man

of your word. Hush this up and let things be as they were before, and
you are safe."
"I
give
"Put that down," said Fletcher, sharply.
mean what say!" cried the

mean what said!" answered Fletcher.
"By
"1
He
other.
looked round
suddenly
a sharp
at
at
the
last
moment
for a
weapon, then he turned
sudden pain, and saw Burleigh's clenched
fist
The hand came away from his breast

again, and something with it. It went a long way off. Trayton Burleigh
suddenly went to a great distance and the room darkened. It got quite
dark, and Fletcher, with an attempt to raise his hands, let them fall to
nearly touching his breast-bone.
his side instead,
He was
and
fell in
heap to the
floor.
it was all
him to rise again. Then he took
out his handkerchief as though to wipe the sword, and thinking better
of it, put it back into his pocket again, and threw the weapon on to
over,
so
still
that Burleigh could hardly realize that
and stood stupidly waiting
for
the floor.
The body
up to the
of Fletcher lay
gas. In life
say vulgar,-
where
he had been
it
had
fallen,
the white face turned
commonplace-looking man, not
to
now
Burleigh, with a feeling of nausea,
drew back toward the door,
until
271
body was hidden by the
the
could think more clearly.
He
down
carefully
sight,
he
and examined
his
room again, and with his

Something seemed to stir in the
cry he blundered toward the door before he
Then he
clothes and his boots.
and relieved from the
table,
looked
crossed the
face averted, turned out the gas.
darkness, and with a faint
had realized
He
stood
to think.
The
that
at
it
was the clock.
It
struck twelve.
the head of the stairs trying to recover himself,- trying
gas on the landing below, the stairs and the furniture,
all
looked so prosaic and familiar that he could not realize what had
occurred.
He
walked slowly down and turned the
ness of the upper part of the house was
sudden panic he ran down
stairs into
now
light out.
The
dark-
almost appalling, and in a
the lighted
hall,
hat from the stand, went to the door and walked
and snatching
down
to the gate.
Except for one window the neighbouring houses were in darkness,

and the lamps shone up a silent street. There was a little rain in the
air, and the muddy road was full of pebbles. He stood at the gate
trying to screw up his courage to enter the house again. Then he
noticed a figure coming slowly up the road and keeping close to the
palings.
The full realization of what he had done broke in upon him when
he found himself turning to fly from the approach of the constable.
The wet cape glistening in the lamplight, the slow, heavy step, made
him tremble. Suppose the thing upstairs was not quite dead and
should cry out? Suppose the constable should think
to be standing there
tude,
which did not
good-night, and
and follow him

feel careless,
made
in?
and
it
He assumed
as the
man
strange for
him
a careless atti-
passed bade him
remark as to the weather.
Ere the sound of the other's footsteps had gone quite out of hearing,
he turned and entered the house again before the sense of com-
The first flight of stairs was

by the gas in the hall, and he went up slowly. Then he struck
a match and went up steadily, past the library door, and with firm
fingers turned on the gas in his bedroom and lit it. He opened the
window a little way, and sitting down on his bed, tried to think.
He had got eight hours. Eight hours and two hundred pounds in
small notes. He opened his safe and took out all the loose cash it
contained, and walking about the room, gathered up and placed in his
panionship should have quite departed.
lighted
pockets such
The
articles of
jewelry as he possessed.
now
to some extent passed, and was succeeded

With this fear on him he sat down again and
tried to think out the first moves in that game of skill of which his life
was the stake. He had often read of
people of hasty temper,
by the
272
first
horror had
fear of death.
evading the police for a time, and eventually

for lack of the
most elementary
that they always
damning
made some
He
common
falling into their
sense.
stupid blunder,
He had
left
heard
hands
it
said
behind them some
his revolver from a drawer and saw that it was

came to the worst, he would die quickly.
Eight hours' start, two hundred odd pounds. He would take lodgings at first in some populous district, and let the hair on his face
grow. When the hue-and-cry had ceased, he would go abroad and
start life again. He would go out of a night and post letters to himself,
or better still, postcards, which his landlady would read. Postcards
loaded.
clue.
If
from cheery
would
took
the worst
friends,
stay in
and
from
from
a sister,
write, as
became
a brother.
man who
During the day he
described himself as a
journalist.
Or
nels,
suppose he went to the sea?
Who
would look
for
him
bathing and boating with ordinary happy mortals?
He
pondered.
One might mean
life,
in flan-
sat
and
and the other death. Which?
His face burned as he thought of the responsibility of the choice.

So many people went to the sea at that time of year that he would
surely pass unnoticed. But at the sea one might meet acquaintances.
He got up and nervously paced the room again. It was not so simple,
now that it meant so much, as he had thought.
The sharp little clock on the mantel-piece rang out "one," followed
immediately by the deeper note of that in the library. He thought of
the clock, it seemed the only live thing in that room, and shuddered.
He wondered whether the thing lying by the far side of the table
heard it. He wondered
He started and held his breath with fear. Somewhere down stairs a
board creaked loudly, then another.

ing
still
it
a little
He went
to the door,
and open-
way, but without looking out, listened. The house was so
that he could hear the ticking of the old clock in the kitchen
below.
He opened
the door a
little
wider and peeped out. As he did
so there was a sudden sharp outcry on the
stairs,
and he drew back
room and stood trembling before he had quite realized that

noise had been made by the cat. The cry was unmistakable,- but
into the
the
what had disturbed it?

There was silence again, and he drew near the door once more. He
became certain that something was moving stealthily on the stairs. He
heard the boards creak again, and once the rails of the balustrade
rattled. The silence and suspense were frightful. Suppose that the
something which had been Fletcher waited for him in the darkness
outside?
He
fought his fears down, and opening the door, determined to see
273
what was beyond. The light from his room streamed out on to the
landing, and he peered about fearfully. Was it fancy, or did the door
room opposite
of Fletcher's
close as he looked?
Was
it
fancy, or did
the handle of the door really turn?
and watching the door
In perfect silence,
he moved, to see that
as
nothing came out and followed him, he proceeded slowly

dark
Then
stairs.
library door,
his
jaw
which he
and he turned
fell,
distinctly
stood open some four or
remembered
and
five inches.
He
down
faint again.
closing,
when he went up
moreover, he had seen was closed
now
sick
the
The
and which,
stairs to his
room,
fancied that there was a
rustling inside, but his brain refused to be certain.
Then
plainly
and
unmistakably he heard a chair pushed against the wall.
He
crept to the door, hoping to pass
it
before the thing inside
became aware of his presence. Something crept stealthily about the

room. With a sudden impulse he caught the handle of the door, and,
closing
the
it
violently, turned the
key
in
the lock, and ran madly
down
stairs.
fearful
cry sounded from the room, and a heavy hand beat upon
The house rang with the

cries of human fear.
the panels of the door.
them sounded the loud hoarse
down
to the hall,
The
tened.
blows, but above

Burleigh, half-way
stopped with his hand on the balustrade and
lis-
beating ceased, and a man's voice cried out loudly for
God's sake to
let
him
out.
At once Burleigh saw what had happened and what it might mean
for him. He had left the hall door open after his visit to the front, and
had entered the house. No need for

need to hide either from the hangman's rope or
The fool above had saved him. He turned and ran up
some wandering
him to go now.
the felon's
cell.
again just
stairs
bird of the night
No
as
the
prisoner
in
his
furious
efforts
to
escape
wrenched the handle from the door.

"Who's there?" he
"Let
me
cried, loudly.
out!" cried a frantic voice. "For
God's sake, open the door!
There's something here."

"Stay where
you are!" shouted Burleigh, sternly. "Stay where you

you come out, I'll shoot you like a dog!"
The only response was a smashing blow on the lock of the door.
Burleigh raised his pistol, and aiming at the height of a man's chest,
are! If
fired
through the panel.
The
report and the crashing of the
ceeded by an unearthly
stillness,
opened. Burleigh fled hastily

hall door,
274
wood made one
then the noise of a
down
the
shouted loudly for assistance.
stairs,
noise, suc-
window
hastily
and flinging wide the
happened that
It
met
sergeant and the constable on the beat had just
They came toward
in the road.
incoherent explanations, ran up
The
the library door.
the house at a run. Burleigh, with
before them, and halted outside
stairs
prisoner was
still
inside,
still
trying to demolish
the lock of the sturdy oaken door. Burleigh tried to turn the key,
but the lock was too
damaged
to admit of
its
moving. The sergeant
drew back, and, shoulder foremost, hurled himself

burst
He
at
the door and
open.
it
stumbled into the room, followed by the constable, and two
shafts of light
A man
from the lanterns
at their belts
lurking behind the door
men were locked
instant the three
Burleigh,
made
danced round the room.
dash for
it,
and the next
together.
standing in the doorway, looked on coldly, reserving
himself for the scene which was to follow. Except for the stumbling of
men and
the
noise.
men
the sharp catch of the prisoner's breath, there was no
helmet
from the
floor,-
off
and bounced and rolled along the
the other, on his knees,
standing figure
The
fell
there was a sobbing snarl and a sharp click.
fell,-
light fell
felt in his
still
held the
tall
face
and
fair
The
man down. The
pocket, and, striking a match,
on the flushed
floor.
figure rose
lit
the gas.
beard of the sergeant.
He
was bare-headed, and his hair dishevelled. Burleigh entered the room
and gazed eagerly at the half-insensible man on the floor a short,
thick-set fellow with a white, dirty face
and
a black
moustache. His
was cut and bled down his neck. Burleigh glanced furtively at the
The cloth had come off in the struggle, and was now in the
place where he had left Fletcher.
"Hot work, sir," said the sergeant, with a smile. "It's fortunate we
were handy."
lip
table.
The
prisoner raised a heavy head and looked up with unmistakable
terror in his eyes.
he
"All right, sir,"
pressure of his knee.
By
The
"It
said, trembling, as the

"I 'ain't
been
in the
I've not."
sergeant regarded
him
curiously.
don't signify," he said, slowly, "ten minutes or ten seconds won't
make any difference."

The man shook and began to whimper.
"It was 'ere when
come," he said, eagerly,only just come, and it was 'ere when come.
I
but
constable increased the
house ten minutes altogether.
was locked
he
down, sir. I've

away then,
tried to get
in."
"What was?" demanded the

"That,"
"take that
I
sergeant.
said, desperately.
275
The
sergeant, following the direction of the terror-stricken black
eyes, stooped by the
Then, with
table.
dragged away the cloth. Burleigh, with

back against the
sharp exclamation, he
sharp cry of horror, reeled
wall.
catching him,-
"All right, sir," said the sergeant,
"all
Turn your
right.
head away."
He
pushed him into
teeth, but
he drank
it
and crossing the room, poured out
a chair,
whiskey and brought
glass of
to him.
it
greedily,
The
glass rattled against his
and then groaned
faintly.
The
sergeant
waited patiently. There was no hurry.
"Who is it,
"My friend
He
gether."
he asked
sir?"
at length.
Fletcher," said Burleigh, with an effort.
"We
lived to-
turned to the prisoner.
"You damned
villain!"
"He was dead when come in the room, gentlemen," said the pris"He was on the floor dead, and when see 'im,
tried to get out. S' 'elp me he was. You heard me call out, sir.
I
oner, strenuously.
shouldn't ha' called out

right,"
"All
if I'd
killed him."
the sergeant,
said
"you'd better hold your
gruffly,-
tongue, you know."
"You keep quiet," urged the constable.
The
"I
down and
sergeant knelt
nothing to do with
'ad
nothing to do with
it.
it,"
raised the
sergeant groped with his
nese sword, held

"I've
"It
at
it
never seen
it
man on
down,
left
it
down.
It
'ad
"I
only been
I've
sir."
hand, and picking up the Japa-
him.
before," said the prisoner, struggling.
used to hang on the wall," said Burleigh.
snatched
the floor.
never thought of such a thing.
in the place ten minutes,- put that
The
dead man's head.
repeated the
was on the wall when
left
"He must have
Fletcher a
little
while
ago."
"How
long?" inquired the sergeant.
"Perhaps an hour, perhaps half an hour," was the reply.
my
"I
went
to
bedroom."
The man on
"You done
swing
for
the floor twisted his head and regarded
it!"
he
cried, fiercely.
"You done
it,
him narrowly.
and you want me
to
it."
'That'll do," said the indignant constable.
The
sergeant
let his
burden gently to the floor again.
"You hold your tongue, you
He
276
devili"
he
crosse d to the table and poured a
said,
menacingly.
little spirit
into a glass
and
took
it
Then he
hand.
in his
put
down
it
again and crossed to Bur-
leigh.
"Feeling better,
"You won't want
He
he asked.
sir?"
The other nodded
faintly.
this
thing any more," said the sergeant.
pointed to the pistol which the other
from him gently, put
still
and taking
held,
it
into his pocket.
it
"You've hurt your wrist,
he
sir,"
said, anxiously.
Burleigh raised one hand sharply, and then the other.
"This one,
He
think," said the sergeant.
took the other's wrists
in the grip of a vice,
in his
"1
saw
it
just
now."
hand, and suddenly holding them
whipped out something from
his
pocket
some-
thing hard and cold, which snapped suddenly on Burleigh's wrists, and
held them
fast.
"That's right," said the sergeant,- "keep quiet."
The
him
constable turned round
in
amazement,- Burleigh sprang toward
furiously.
'Take these things
them
off!"
he choked. "Have you gone mad? Take
off!"
"All in
good
'Take them
time," said the sergeant.
cried Burleigh again.
off!"
For answer the sergeant took him
in a
and gleaming
end of the room and pushed him into
"Collins," he said, sharply.
steadily at his white face
"Sir?" said
powerful grip, and staring
eyes, forced
him
to the other
a chair.
the astonished subordinate.
"Run to the doctor

other. This man
As the man
is
at the
comer hard
as
you can
run!" said the
not dead'."
left
the
room
the sergeant took up the glass of spirits
he had poured out, and kneeling down by Fletcher again, raised
head and
tried to
comer, watched
pour
like
a little
one
down
in a trance.
the breathless surgeon, saw the three
He
saw the constable return with
men bending
over Fletcher, and
man open and
the lips of the dying
conscious that the sergeant
made some notes in a

closely. The sergeant
then saw the eyes of the dying
man move. He was
his
his throat. Burleigh, sitting in his
pocket-book, and that
all
three
men eyed him
stepped toward him and placed his hand on his shoulder, and obedient to the touch, he arose and
went with him out
into the night.
277
Ink's Jinx
by Anthony Clemens
Kemmerer finally decided upon
doing away with his employer, Jake
After considering every angle of

strangling as the best
Banff. In the
place,
first
it,
means of
it would be
place,
Kemmerer was
a noiseless affair, in the
second
husky sort of fellow and kept himself in trim

job by doing setting-up exercises every morning,
despite his clerical
man and would strangle easy.

So Kemmerer got up as usual at six-thirty on Monday morning and
turned on the radio in his room. The Freling family, with whom he
lodged in the squalid tenement on the lower east side, was used to
while Banff was only a half-pint
and never disturbed him. The station that broadcast the setting
up exercises wasn't on the air yet, it would come on at six forty-five.
He had not removed his clothes on going to bed, and now stepped
that,
fully
dressed through the
top floor and

tops,
opened
the street.
it
was
a soul
walked down four
wry
face.
What
dirty "to let" signs,
fire
escape.
He
He was on
the
crossed two roof
flights of stairs,
and was
in
was about.
As he hurried along, he
made
the
a short climb to the roof.
a skylight,
Not
window onto
cast a glance at the
row
a sleazy place to live in
of old-law
flats
unwashed
and
stoops,
bedding being aired from dozens of windows.
money enough to get away from all this.

Works occupied a two-story building two blocks
Well, he'd soon have
The
Banff Metal
away. Jake Banff always got there
memos
at six-thirty sharp,
went over the
in his truck
Kemmerer had left for him the night before, and departed
to make the rounds in Long Island, Connecticut or Jersey,
as the case
might
that
be,
buying old metal.
He had
built
up
a nice busi-
ness in thirty years, and being sixty-four now, and alone in the world,
had made
a will leaving the business to
Kemmerer and two other
employees.
The only
thing that
made Kemmerer glum on
this vital
morning
was the fact that the other two employees wouldn't even know
enough to thank him when they inherited their share of the business.
He put on a pair of gloves, entered the old building, and walked up
278
wooden
the flight of squeaking

office
the second floor where the
stairs to
was located.
Jake Banff had heard the steps and was looking up from the desk at
which he'd been working. When he saw Kemmerer, he put down his
fountain pen and said, "Hello, there. What brings you around so
early? You getting ambitious, maybe?" This with a friendly grin, for he
always treated his employees as equals.
didn't allow himself to hesitate. He had planned too
and time was important. He first went over to a radio in the
corner and tuned it into the same station as the one in his room. He
Kemmerer
well,
told Banff,
to see
couldn't sleep, Mr. Banff, so
"I
came
over.
got something
"
you about
Banff laughed. "Always nuts about radio.
Why
did you ever buy a
radio for the office?"
Over the
air
came
the voice of the announcer. "All right, get ready
everybody. Setting-up
Kemmerer nodded. He had put the

to make sure there was no
purpose
radio in the office just for this

accidental change in the pro-
gram.
He
The
he
for
crossed over to Banff.

little
old man must have seen something

"Kem what's the matter?"
said,
peculiar in his eyes,
Kemmerer's face was hard. "Nothing," he muttered, and bent, put
two hands around
his
Banff's throat.
Banff was weak, and old, and his resistance was negligible. But his
body thrashed spasmodically,- he

bled a croak more than anything
sound resem-
tried to shout, but the

else. In his
and
eyes there was astounded
unbelief. His
arms
vest pocket,
and the red Parkinson pen the murderer carried was
flipped out.
out,
it
It
flailed wildly,
sailed in a short arc,
struck the floor
Kemmerer
his fingers
and
and shattered to
sat the limp, purple-faced
swore to himself.
He
caught
just as Banff
in
Kemmerer's
gasped
his life
pieces.
body back
in the chair
and
stooped quickly to recover the pieces. Then
panic assailed him. Suppose some of the pieces should be overlooked

by him? Suppose they had fallen under the desk? A clever detective
might
He
find them.
stood up, surveyed the room, started to tremble.
Then
on the desk, and he grinned. Banff's pen was

was exactly the same as his. The boss had bought
his eye lighted
lying there, and
them both
at
it
the same time.
Kemmerer picked up
Banff's pen,
capped
it,
wiped
it
off
with his
279
and put it in his pocket. There was one thing he'd have to
remember, though Banff always used green ink in his pen an old
habit. He'd have to change the ink; but not now, time was short. The
gloves,
voice of the instructor was coming over the radio, "One-two-three,
one-two-three
He
The
"
exercises
were drawing
to a close.
bent to the floor again. There was only one piece of the broken
pen large enough to retain
prints.
He wiped
it
off carefully.
The
sack
on the floor. He shrugged. That

couldn't be remedied. They'd know it was some one else's pen. They'd
and
surely check on the three employees. But he'd have the red pen
he'd be sure to have black ink in it when he was questioned.
He turned off the radio, switched the dial away from the station,
took a last look at the body of Banff, and stole downstairs.
had
splattering black
burst,
ink
Four minutes to get to his
street.
Two
minutes to get to the roof of
come through. So far so good. Three more minutes

and he was across the roof tops, down the fire escape, and in his
the house he had
room.
the
own
His
was
radio
He'd have to work
just saying,
fast
"These exercises come
to
you through
now. Stoner, the cop on the beat over at

man as he left
the Banff Metal Works, always said hello to the old
When
Stoner failed to see him today,
he'd be sure to go up and investigate.
He knew where Kemmerer and
with the truck in the morning.
would surely give the addresses to the

and Kemmerer knew he could expect a visit from the police in a very short time. He counted on that.
First he took out the fountain pen, opened it, and squirted the
the other employees lived, and
detectives,
green ink
it
contained out of the window. Then he
filled
it
from a
bottle of black ink in his dresser.
He was careful to see that there were no stains anywhere, that the
pen was dry on the outside and showed no signs of having been recently filled. He tried it on his memo book and nodded. It wrote good
and
black.
He
tie
replaced
and
shirt.
it
He
in his
pocket, then proceeded to strip off coat, vest,
turned off the radio, picked up a towel, and unlocked
his door.
Mrs. Freling was

a
in
the kitchen preparing breakfast. She called out
cheery "Good morning, Mr. Kemmerer. You have good exercises,
no?"
He
said,
"Good morning, Mrs. Freling. smell bacon. Turn my eggs

will you?" Then he went on into the bathroom and
I
over this morning,

shaved.
280
He was
very cool. This didn't surprise him,- he had planned
long and well.
The
incident of the pen had been annoying, but he'd
covered every angle of
He
that.
finished, taking his time.
He
slicked his hair back
and
the
left
bathroom.
A man
was waiting
for
him
in
the kitchen. Mr. Freling was eating
his breakfast undisturbed, but Mrs. Freling
was
fluttering about, ex-
cited.
man
"Mr. Kemmerer!" she exclaimed. "This
wants
The
He
iss
detective motioned to her. "All right, lady,
turned to Kemmerer. "You been here
Kemmerer
said angrily,
morning? What's
The
it
to
detective held
all
He
from the police.
I'll
talk for myself."
morning?
"What do you mean have been here

What you doing here anyhow?"
I
all
you?
up
a placating
hand. "Don't get excited. I'm just
checking up. Your boss, Jake Banff, was choked to death
at a
quarter
to seven this morning!"
Kemmerer acted well. He had

"Good God, no!"
rehearsed.
He
clutched the detec-
tive's coat.
Mrs. Freling
let
out a
egg, said, 'Too bad. But
room doing
in his
little bleat.
Mr.
mouth full of
do with it. He was
Freling, with a
Kemmerer had nothing
to
setting-up exercises, like he does every day.
We
heard the radio."
The
detective looked at Freling. "But
you?"
didn't hear
him
did
Kemmerer said, "Well, of all the

The detective stopped him. "Wait
quick,
you
if
me what
want
to see,
If
we
can
do with
it,
minute
you had nothing

and then can go."
you'll cooperate.
to
settle
you'll
this
show
Kemmerer asked.
"Your fountain pen!" The detective rapped
"What's that?"
it
out,
watching him
keenly.
"My
fountain pen!"
Kemmerer looked
blank, then shrugged. "Okay.
you want to act crazy

He went to his room, the officer following. The officer stood in the
doorway while he got out the pen, then snatched it from him, removed the cap, and wrote with it in his note book.
He looked up disappointed. It had written black. "I guess you're all
right," he said. "If this was Banff's pen it'd be filled with green ink. You
see, the guy who bumped Banff, took the old man's pen, as near as
can figure out, because his own got smashed in the
He was interrupted by a loud rapping at the outer door.
If
281
Mrs. Freling,
who had come
after
with open mouth, went to answer
When
came
in,
them and had been watching
it.
she opened the door, an immense
woman
house dress
in a
carrying a pillow. She said in a loud, angry voice, "I'm Mrs.
wanna know what you people mean

Reilly, from the flat below. An'
by throwing green ink down on my bedding what was airing!" The
pillow case had a large green stain, hardly dry yet, across the top.
I
An
Irreducible
Detective Story
hy
The mystery had now reached
undoubtedly murdered. Second,
ceivable person had done
It
was therefore time
He
its
it
First,
man had been
the
was absolutely certain that no con-
it.
to call in the great detective.
gave one searching glance
whipped out
climax.
Stephen Leacock
at
the corpse.
In
moment he
microscope.
"Ha! Ha!" he said, as he picked a hair off the lapel of the dead
man's coat. "The mystery
He
held up the
"Listen,"
he
The
The
is
now
solved."
"we have only to find the man
said,
and the criminal
is
hair.
in
who
lost this hair
our hands."
inexorable chain of logic was complete.

detective set himself to the search.
For four days and nights he moved, unobserved, through the

streets of
a
New
York scanning closely every face he passed, looking
man who had
On
the
fifth
head enveloped
lost a hair.
day he discovered
in a
man, disguised
"Arrest him!" he said,
"This
282
is
as a tourist, his
steamer cap that reached below his
The man was about to go on board the

The detective followed him on board.
he brandished
for
ears.
Gloritania.
and then drawing himself to
his
full
aloft the hair.
his," said
the great detective.
"It
proves his
guilt."
height,
"Remove
his hat," said the ship's captain sternly.
They did so.

The man was
entirely bald.
"Ha!" said the great detective, without a
moment
of hesitation.
"He
has committed not one murder but about a million."
Kansas City Connection

Wayne McMillan
Francine
Ware
sat
up with
Her
a start.
little
black eyes darted about
the car. As long as the train was moving, her thoughts carried her
into
swiftly
the future.
But
The hours
just
stopped, too.
in
Chicago
widen on
less fingers
been
still
the fluid motion stopped,
floor.
his
Once more
stiff,
her fascinated eyes watched the red
white dress
shirt.
around the cold metal of
warm,
Francine
time
the big stone house on the North Shore. Warren lay
in
sprawled on the
stain
when
passed raced up again and she was back
slightly moist.
Again she forced
his nerve-
his revolver. Warren's fingers
had
jumped up and walked quickly to the platform. "What's

asked the conductor. "What are we stopping for?"
this place?" she
"We
pick up mail here. Cayote Junction
the train and he called warningly:
The damp
night
air
was sweet
"It's
it's
just a
called."
She stepped
off
two-minute stop, lady."
in Francine's lungs,
but
it
didn't quiet
the nerve that twitched at her temple, or put strength into her water-
weak knees and elbows. Gravel crunched under her restless feet.
The raw arc light gleamed on the sleek sides of the crack Transcontinental,
on the
Kansas City.
It
silver
ribbons of track that ran off over the plains to
glistened on the gossamer film of a spider
web spun
box near the huge engine wheel. Francine unconsciously stretched out a brown suede toe to tear the web down. Then
she checked the impulse. She felt a curious kinship for the spider.
Hung precariously near the powerful wheel, it worked quietly, weavacross a small, black
ing
its
web.
Thread by thread, Francine had woven her own web. Somewhere

ahead another train puffed its slower way to Kansas City. It had left
Chicago nearly three hours before the Transcontinental, but they
283
would be
Kansas City together for
in
fifteen minutes.
From
there, the
Transcontinental sped north, and the other train trudged south across
the desert to El Paso.
room
And on
the slow El Paso train, in a drawing
Her dresspowder and creams on the shelf before the

The bed was turned down and a sign was on the door. Please
of Car N-64, Francine's traveling bags were stowed.
ing case was open, her

mirror.
DO NOT
DISTURB.
She had chosen
this
day because Warren was with
directors until seven o'clock.
She
said
his
board of
good-by to him on the phone
and made certain he would come home to dress before going to the
Crowley's dinner. James put her on the slow train
will
be
all,"
she said sharply.
Was he going
at six-fifteen.
"That
to fuss with the bags until
the train pulled out? "Send the porter in and you can go."
She had her bed made immediately. The porter grinned

of her
tip. "I'm
going to bed now," Francine told him.
and don't want to be disturbed. Give
this to the
"I
at
the size
don't feel well
conductor
for me."
And she handed him her ticket to El Paso.

The porter would remember her. He and James both would
testify
Chicago on the six-fifteen train. But just before it left

the station, while the porter was settling his last-minute passengers,
Francine had slipped off the train, into the hurrying crowds.
That gave her nearly three hours before she boarded the swift
Transcontinental. Three short hours. But long enough to free herself
forever from a man who had grown repulsive. Whose lightest touch
that she
had
made her
left
flesh shrink.
Standing alone
in
the night beside the throbbing engine, Francine
no remorse. Only the exhilaration of freedom. And
felt
this
clammy,
twitching nervousness that would soon be over. In those uncertain
days before Warren asked her to marry him, she thought

all
she wanted.
One more
Now
she would have
strand and her
money and
money was
freedom.
web would be complete. She would leave

Somehow she would dispose of
Then she would slip back into her own
the Transcontinental at Kansas City.
her single, nondescript bag.
compartment on the other train. If the porter or conductor saw her,

they would think she had stepped off for a breath of air.
The spider started another cross-piece,- its body dangling at the
end of the delicate filament. Francine held her breath. Her own fate
hung by a thread as fragile. The thread of those fifteen precious minutes in Kansas City.
The train gave two sharp whistles and

The train started, then jerked to a
car.
284
Francine hurried back to her

stop. Five priceless minutes
slipped away. She craned her neck to peer out the window. The dark
was broken by bobbing lanterns of the trainmen hurrying up the
minutes
track. Six
She rang
seven
for the porter. "What's the trouble?"
Her voice sounded
hoarse above the roaring in her ears.

"Just a little
engine trouble. They'll find
Ten minutes
train
it
soon."
This motionlessness was maddening.
was puffing steadily across the
plains,
The slower
widening the distance be-
tween them.
twenty
The minutes raced away. Fifteen
Francine knew what would happen. Back in Chicago, James would
.
He would knock
bring Warren his morning coffee.
He would
discreetly, then
Warren just as she had left him,

except now his fingers would be stiff and cold. She shook her head to
clear the picture from her mind. That was over. She was free. Or
would be after Kansas City
But when the wheels started turning again, fifty-three minutes had
passed. Frantically, Francine sought out the conductor. "No, lady," he
said in answer to her question. 'The El Paso train won't wait for us in
push the door open.
Kansas City.
Cold
They'd
fear
find
not a regular connection."
It's
seeped into Francine's brain. James would
try to reach her
on the
El
call
the police.
Paso train and they would find her
empty compartment. The porter would remember he hadn't seen her

left Chicago. If only she had stayed boldly at home! The
since they
police might have called
suicide
it
dismissed
her with a routine
questioning. But she had needed so desperately to be completely safe
safe with an alibi that she
was miles away when her husband was
shot.
Now, sooner
or
later,
they would question her. Those
the steel-trap jaws and cold eyes.
"Why had
she
left
men
with
the El Paso train
"Where had she spent those three

on both trains?" They would
go over and over the same ground until she was hopelessly enmeshed
before
it
in
her
pulled out of Chicago?"
"Why had
hours?"
web
She ran
shining
of
made
reservations
lies.
to the
rails as
she
end of the
car.
For a long minute she stared
they slipped from under the
and shrank back
in
the
at
Then she shuddered

jump. Her body would
train.
the car. No, she couldn't
be hurled onto the sharp, tearing rocks of the roadbed, or caught
under grinding wheels. But maybe
maybe
she could disappear
in
Kansas City.
The conductor came down

for
the aisle droning: "Kansas City. All out
Kansas City."
285
It
was
like a
nightmare
this sensation Francine
own
had of being phys-
To her panicwindow seemed to be crossed by steel prison bars.

jerked down the shade, and saw the conductor glance at
bound, caught
ically
in
the
web
of her
clever
alibi.
stricken eyes the
Abruptly she
her.
Her plan had been so perfect. Why had it failed? She had to know.
She clutched the conductor's sleeve with taut fingers. "What what
was it held us up?"
The conductor's uniformed crispness vanished for a moment. He
pushed his cap on the back of his head. "Believe it or not, lady," he
was a spider web. Yes sir, a spider web spun across the electric
box near one of the engine wheels."
A spider webi Francine remembered the spider web she had seen
her impulse to tear it down, her sudden sympathy for the spider weaving a web as perfect as her own had seemed then. But it was ridicu-
said. "It
control
lous.
Her mouth
twisted with contempt. "Don't
could stop a locomotive

"Sure,"
often.
The
It
tell
me
a spider
web
answered the conductor cheerfully. "Happens every so
tripped the automatic air brakes and shut off the power."
slowed to
train
in past the line of
other end of the
man whose
felt
Two keen-eyed men
entered, pushing
But the exit was blocked by the huge bulk of a
car.
swift eyes
noting her coloring.

Francine
a stop.
outgoing passengers. Francine turned quickly to the
seemed
to be measuring her height
He was headed
and weight,
straight for her.
the blood drain from her face,
felt
her body tremble
with the cold fear that gripped her, and she heard the conductor's
voice.
"Don't be upset about

just a spider
286
web.
It
lady," he was saying soothingly.

do any harm."
it,
didn't
"It
was
Knit
One Kill Two

by
Fergus Truslow
Miss Van Arsdale's beautiful hands with the red-lacquered
kept
nails
on knitting when the clocks in Max Kunkel's jewelry shop next

door began to bong and cuckoo for eight o'clock and his lights
right
winked
out.
Her hands
She watched them, to make
didn't tremble.
"Max." she would say, "Max,

you
sure.
diamonds again,
if
would mean police and questions. She wondered
if
I'd like to see those unset
don't mind."
Of
course
it
John Martin, the absurd, freckle-faced boy next door who had grown
up to be a detective, might come.
He used to try to scare her on Halloween. He hadn't moved her
from her calm then, and he wouldn't now.
Outward calm came easy
for
Miss Van Arsdale. Her dark eyes, her
heavy, pale features, seemed as dully placid as landlocked waters.

Inside her, things
bit of
carbon under
were
different.
Her
heart
felt
hard and hot,
like a
terrible pressure.
She stood up, smoothed back a wisp of graying hair and checked
make sure she had everything in her knitting bag.
carefully to
fingers touched the hammer wrapped in newspapers. The big

The box already wrapped, stamped and addressed to her sixteen-year-old nephew in Colorado, but with one end left open. The
damp cloth.
Two steps took her across her own sill to the other half of the
Her
shoes.
building she shared with
she called
"Ah,
The
it's
Max
Kunkel. She tapped on the
glass.
"Max,"
softly.
you. Miss
bald
little
Van
Jeweler
Arsdale!"
let
Max
Kunkel chuckled.
her into the darkened shop, rubbing his
hands.
She came
monds
"Not
again.
at
all,
directly to the point. "I'd like to see those unset dia-
Max,
if
not at
to his tiny back
you
all,
don't mind."
not at
all!"
he
trilled at her.
room workshop, which smelled
He
led the
of metals
and
way
acids.
287
One
quick glance told her the dust barrel, the safe and the door were
placed as she'd remembered them.
do
"I
big business back here,"
downtown
settings for the big
don't
come
"Yes,
as
to the front of
my
Max
Kunkel was saying, "making up
jewelers.
don't care
many people
if
shop."
suppose you're very busy," Miss Van Arsdale agreed calmly,
he cocked
his bald pink
"Was you thinking
head over the
safe.
two
of having a stone or
set for yourself
some
day?" he asked, intent on the combination.

"Yes,
was," she answered truthfully.
She stowed her knitting
in
one corner of the bag, took a
firm grip
on the hammer.
The
bald
jeweler tugged open the door of the safe, reached in
little
and brought out a leather wallet.

got some choice dia
"Here
He didn't finish. She struck once, twice.
Arsdale was a strong
The sound
you
couldn't
of the blows sickened her a
make an omelet without breaking
She stooped, picked up the leather

bag.
The hammer
wrapped around
Max
Kunkel's
one easy
cade of
The
pull
It
she
dropped,
wallet, slid
after
then,
she thought,
The worst was over now.
taking
body had slumped over
it
into her knitting
off
the
newspaper
against his dust barrel.
Miss Van Arsdale overturned the
dirt across
But
little.
eggs.
handle.
its
dirt didn't
was enough. Miss Van
woman.
barrel,
With
sending a cas-
the floor.
spread as
far as
the
sill
of the back door that
opened
on the alley. She'd thought of that. Without hesitation, she thrust her
hand into the barrel and brought out more dust, scattered it carefully
across the floor.
With the big shoes she made two heavy

an excited
man had
footprints in the dirt, as
if
taken long strides and flung through the door to
make his getaway.

Then she quickly put the shoes into the box addressed to her
nephew in Colorado, closed it, tied the twine tight.
Her right hand, the one she'd thrust into the dust barrel, she wiped
clean with the damp cloth. All was done. Hardly twenty seconds had
elapsed since Max Kunkel had slumped over under the two terrible
hammer
blows.
Going back through the darkened shop to the front door, she
paused by a showcase. A trayful of rings caught her eye.
She hadn't planned on what happened then. Before she knew it she
288
had reached
into the
showcase and speared
whole row of the
glit-
one of her long knitting needles.
tering rings with
Miss Van Arsdale gasped a little at her own recklessness. What if

somebody had looked in the window and seen her stealing!
But the sidewalk was empty when she went out. She mailed the
shoes to her nephew in Colorado in the mailbox on the curb.
Once back in the Yarn Shop she hid the rings and the wallet of
unset diamonds in the heart of a ball of boucle wool in a box on her
shelves of stock and sat
down
again in her chair to knit.
Her needles had been clicking busily for more than half an hour
when light, hurried footsteps passed her door. Presently a long, moan-
Max
ing scream rang out from
woman
wailed. "Ah,
Kunkel's jewelry shop. "Max! Max!" a
Maxem"
Miss Van Arsdale calmly put
down
her knitting and called the
...
police
The
Max
late
Kunkel's shop lights were blazing and his clocks
were bonging and cuckooing ten o'clock

lawmen, when
the Yarn Shop.
young man
He
walked
in a neat
you with
scream
"If
like
and mop of dark hair. "John

You used to be the boy next
to scare
mask
on," he finished for her.
come
told the police
to talk about the murder," she said, "I've already
didn't see anybody."
Better stick to the truth,
she reminded herself calmly.
"Do you know how
it
it,
door of
you by ringing your doorbell and jumping at

"Only you never would
the other women."
you've
face of
at the
at his blue eyes, freckles,
who
"Who tried
throng of uniformed
tapped
Arsdale?" he queried, smiling.
Martin," she said. "You're a detective.
door
suit
in.
"Remember me, Miss Van

She glanced
at a
gray
looks to me?" he said confidingly.
"On
the
the killer scuffled with old Kunkel, upsetting the dust barrel,
slugged him to death with the hammer, and
back door. But
made
off
through the
don't think so."
He'll never prove anything,
you think, so?"

"One thing doesn't
killer snapped up some
she told herself. Aloud she asked:
"Why
don't
like
an afterthought to
fit
in,'
John Martin said thoughtfully. 'The
rings from a
me
Her pale, heavy

"Mmm," John Martin mused. "He
"Yes?" she said.
full
tray in the showcase,
a last-minute decision
features
on
his
it
way
looks
out."
were calm.
carried a wire or a knitting needle
289
or something, and
touching anything
hooked the
else.
Miss Van Arsdale
It's
rings right out of the tray without
the only
sniffed.
way
."
.
"Murderers don't carry knitting needles
about with them."
"When figured the front door had been

went
snatched the rings in leaving,
had
the
where
he
can
see
dust
barrel.
You
at
that
look
took
a
close
back and
plant."
in
it
were
a
the
tracks
hands.
So
with
his
dust
out
dipped the
The
detective shrugged.
real exit
and the
killer
Miss Van Arsdale permitted herself a bleak little smile. "You're still
the little boy next door, aren't you? With a head full of wild notions."
She began to
cast off stitches for the
armhole of the
suit
she was
knitting.
John Martin drew his chair close to hers. "You know one of the
had when was a kid? That you hated life for passing you
notions
I
by."
Miss Van Arsdale's

heart
seemed
women had
"Other
didn't.
used to think
She
felt
smiled coldly, but the hot, hard lump
lips
love,
it
and helpless and

took out
fair.
have to do
fingers.
His voice was kind. For the
He
still
do."
"You have beautiful hands," he
this."
first
time
in
Dust
is
her
life
she
felt
feminine
very close to tears.
a clean
white envelope and a
can't prove a thing! she told herself. Even
fingernails.
her
and husbands, and children, but you
wasn't
him touching her
said softly. "I'm sorry
He
in
to turn over.
if
nailfile.
I
have got dust under
my
only dust!
"You cased the job O.K. except for one point," John Martin explained as he worked.
sweepings from
He
put
the chill
"Where you dropped
a stitch
was
in
thinking
a jeweler's floor are just plain dirt."
away the envelope and
nailfile.
Miss Van Arsdale hardly
kiss of steel as handcuffs closed on her wrists. She was
felt
listen-
ing to John Martin's next words: "All jewelers save their floor sweepings for the gold dust
into that dust barrel
290
mixed with the stuff.

you struck it rich."
When you
put your fingers
The Leopard Man's Story

hy Jack London
He had
dreamy, far-away look
and
in his eyes,
his sad, insistent
seemed the placid embodiment of
voice, gentle-spoken as a maid's,
some deep-seated melancholy. He was the Leopard Man, but he did

not look it. His business in life, whereby he lived, was to appear in a
cage of performing leopards before vast audiences, and to
thrill
those
audiences by certain exhibitions of nerve for which his employers re-
warded him on
As
say,
a scale
commensurate with the
he did not look
it.
He was
dered, and anaemic, while he
gloom
as
by
thrills
seemed not so much oppressed by
sweet and gentle sadness, the weight of which was as
sweetly and gently borne. For an hour
had been trying
out of him, but he appeared to lack imagination.
romance
in his
he produced.
narrow-hipped, narrow-shoul-
To him
gorgeous career, no deeds of daring, no
to get a story
there was no
thrills
noth-
ing but a gray sameness and infinite boredom.

Lions?
had
Oh,
yes!
he had fought with them.
It
was nothing.
do was to stay sober. Anybody could whip
to
All
you
a lion to a standstill
stick. He had fought one for half an hour once. Just

him on the nose every time he rushed, and when he got artful and
rushed with his head down, why, the thing to do was to stick out your
leg. When he grabbed at the leg you drew it back and hit him on the
nose again. That was all.
with an ordinary
hit
With the far-away look in his eyes and his soft flow of words he
showed me his scars. There were many of them, and one recent one
where a tigress had reached for his shoulder and gone down to the
bone. could see the neatly mended rents in the coat he had on. His
right arm, from the elbow down, looked as though it had gone
through a threshing machine, what of the ravage wrought by claws
and fangs. But it was nothing, he said, only the old wounds bothered
him somewhat when rainy weather came on.
Suddenly his face brightened with a recollection, for he was really
1
as
anxious to give
me
a story as
was to get
it.
291
"I
suppose you've heard of the lion-tamer
who was
hated by an-
other man?" he asked.
He
paused and looked pensively
at a sick lion in the
cage opposite.
"Got the toothache," he explained. "Well, the lion-tamer's big play

to the audience
was putting
head
his
in a lion's
hated him attended every performance

ing that lion crunch down.
The
He
who
mouth. The man
the hope sometime of see-
in
followed the show about
all
over the
went by and he grew old, and the lion-tamer grew

old, and the lion grew old. And at last one day, sitting in a front seat,
he saw what he had waited for. The lion crunched down, and there
wasn't any need to call a doctor."
The Leopard Man glanced casually over his finger nails in a manner
which would have been critical had it not been so sad.
"Now, that's what call patience," he continued, "and it's my style.
knew. He was a little, thin,
But it was not the style of a fellow
sawed-off, sword-swallowing and juggling Frenchman. De Ville, he
called himself, and he had a nice wife. She did trapeze work and used
to dive from under the roof into a net, turning over once on the way
as nice as you please.
"De Ville had a quick temper, as quick as his hand, and his hand
was as quick as the paw of a tiger. One day, because the ring-master
called him a frog-eater, or something like that and maybe a little
worse, he shoved him against the soft pine background he used in his
country.
years
knife-throwing
and
act,
so quick the ringmaster didn't have time to think,
De
wood
there, before the audience,
knives, sinking
them
into the
Ville
all
kept the
air
on
fire
and most of them
that they passed through his clothes
with his
round the ring-master so close

bit into his
skin.
pull the knives out to get him loose, for he was
So the word went around to watch out for DeVille, and
no one dared be more than barely civil to his wife. And she was a sly
"The clowns had to
pinned
bit of
fast.
baggage, too, only
"But there was
all
hands were afraid of
one man, Wallace,
who was
was the lion-tamer, and he had the self-same

into the lion's mouth. He'd put
though he preferred Augustus,

always be depended upon.
"As
afraid of
was saying, Wallace
it
into the
a big,
nothing alive or dead.
'King'
De
Ville.
afraid of nothing.
mouths of any of them,
good-natured beast
Wallace
He was
He
head
trick of putting his
we
called
who
could
him
was
king and no mistake.
I've
seen him drunk, and on a wager go into the cage of a lion that'd
turned nasty, and without a stick beat him to a

his
292
fist
on the
nose,.
finish. Just
did
it
with
"Madame de
Ville
At an uproar behind us the Leopard Man turned quietly around. It

a divided cage, and a monkey, poking through the bars and
was
around the
was trying
had had
partition,
to pull
off
it
paw
its
by main
out longer and longer like a thick
mates were raising
key's
Man
Leopard
seized
big gray wolf
No
who
stretching
and the unfortunate mon-
elastic,
a terrible din.
by
The arm seemed
strength.
keeper was
at
hand, so the
stepped over a couple of paces, dealt the wolf a sharp
blow on the nose with the
light
cane he carried, and returned with
sadly apologetic smile to take up his unfinished sentence as though
had been no interruption.

at King Wallace and King Wallace looked at her, while
De Ville looked black. We warned Wallace, but it was no use. He
laughed at us, as he laughed at De Ville one day when he shoved De
there
"
looked
a bucket of paste because he wanted to fight.

helped to scrape him off, but he
was in a pretty mess
was cool as a cucumber and made no threats at all. But saw a glitter
had seen often in the eyes of wild beasts, and
in his eyes which
went out of my way to give Wallace a final warning. He laughed, but
head into
Ville's
"De
Ville
he did not look so much
Madame
in
de
Ville's direction after that.
Nothing had happened and was beginning to think it all a scare over nothing. We were West by that
time, showing in 'Frisco. It was during the afternoon performance, and
the big tent was filled with woman and children, when went looking
for Red Denny, the head canvas-man, who had walked off with my
"Several
months passed
by.
pocket-knife.
"Passing
by one of the dressing
the canvas to see

front of
if
me was King
between
a quarrel
glanced
He
in
through
hole in
wasn't there, but directly in
Wallace, in tights, waiting for his turn to go on
with his cage of performing
ment
tents
could locate him.
lions.
He was
watching with much amuse-
couple of trapeze
artists. All
the rest of the
people in the dressing tent were watching the same thing, with the
exception of
De
Ville,
whom
noticed staring at Wallace with undis-
guised hatred. Wallace and the rest were

quarrel to notice this or
"But
saw
it
through the hole
handkerchief from his pocket,

his face
with
it
Wallace's back.
(it
He
was
all
too busy following the
what followed.
made
the canvas.
in
as
though to
hot day), and
at the
never stopped, but with
De
mop
Ville
drew
his
the sweat from
same time walked past

flirt
of the handkerchief
kept right on to the doorway, where he turned his head, while passing
out,
and shot
not only did
a swift
I
look back.
see hatred in
it,
The look troubled me

but
saw triumph
at
the time, for
as well.
293
"
'De Ville will bear watching,'
when
breathed easier
grounds and board an

1
was
lace
in
electric car for
his
said
to
myself,
and
really
to the circus
down town. A few minutes
later
had overhauled Red Denny. King Walturn and holding the audience spellbound. He was
the big tent, where
was doing
saw him go out the entrance
mood, and he kept the lions stirred up till

is, all of them except old Augustus, and he
and lazy and old to get stirred up over anything.
in a particularly vicious
they were
was
just
snarling, that
all
too
fat
lion's knees with his whip and got

him into position. Old Augustus, blinking good-naturedly, opened his
mouth and in popped Wallace's head. Then the jaws came together,
"Finally
Wallace cracked the old
crunch, just like that."
The Leopard Man smiled

away look came into his
"And that was the end
in a
sweetly wistful fashion, and the
far-
eyes.
King Wallace," he went on in his sad, low

watched my chance and
voice. "After the excitement cooled down
bent over and smelled Wallace's head. Then
sneezed."
of
...
"It
"Snuff
it
was
that
De
?"
Ville
queried with halting eagerness.
dropped on
Augustus never meant to do
it.
He
his hair in the dressing tent.
Old
only sneezed."
The Man Who

Collected 'The Shadow"
hy
Mr. Theodore
Conway was
a nostalgiac, a collector of memorabilia, a
dweller in the uncomplicated days of his adolescence
movie
serials,
tan's
forty-three,
Lower
position of
when
radio,
and pulp magazines were the ruling forms of entertain-
ment and super-heroes were the

At
V. Drexel
J.
East Side,
file
idols of
he resided alone
in a
American youth.
modest apartment on Manhat-
where he commuted
daily
clerk in the archives of Baylor,
by subway
Baylor,
to his
Leeds and
Wadsworth, a respected probate law firm. He was short and balding

and very plump and very nondescript,- he did not indulge in any of
the vices, major or minor,- he had no friends to speak of, and neither a
294
wife nor, euphemistically or otherwise, a girlfriend. (In point of
Mr.
did
Conway was that rarest

not own a television set,
one and only hobby,
fact,
He
of individuals, an adult male virgin.)
did not attend the theater or movies. His
his single source of pleasure, his sole
purpose
in
was the accumulation of nostalgia in general and nostalgia pertaining to that most inimitable of all super-heroes. The Shadow, in
life,
particular.
Ah, The Shadow! Mr. Conway idolized Lamont Cranston, loved

Margo Lane as he could never love any living woman. Nothing set his
blood to racing quite so quickly as The Shadow on the scent of an
evildoer, utilizing the
Orient
the Power
Power
that, as
him. Nothing gave Mr.
Cranston, he had learned
minds so
to cloud men's
Conway more
the
in
that they could not see
pleasure than listening to the
haunting voice of Orson Welles, capturing The Shadow as no other
had over the
air,-
or reading Maxwell Grant's daring accounts in The
Shadow Magazine; or paging through one of the starkly drawn Shadow
comic books. Nothing

as the
ture:
filled
words spoken by
Who
knows what
him with
hero
his
at
as
much
evil lurks in the hearts
of men? The
and the
eerie,
bloodcurdling laugh that followed
with as
much
security
as,
delicious anticipation
the beginning of each radio adven-
when each
it.
Shadow knows
Nothing
filled
case was closed, this ace
him
among
aces saying words of warning to criminals everywhere: The weed of crime

hears hitter fruit. Crime does not pay.
Mr.
a
Conway had begun
The Shadow knows!
collecting nostalgia in 1944, starting with
wide range of pulp magazines. (He now had well over ten thousand
issues of
Savage,
Wu
Fang, G-8 and
and two hundred
books and comic
strips, to
his Battle Aces,
others.)
Black Mask, Weird
Then he had gone on
Doc
comic
Tales,
to
premiums of every kind and description
decoders and secret-compartment belts and message flashlights and

spy rings and secret pens that wrote
in invisible ink. In
the 1950s he
had begun to accumulate tapes of such radio shows as Jack Armstrong,

the All-American Boy and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. But while he
amassed all of these eagerly, he pursued the mystique of The Shadow
with a fervor that bordered on the
He
advertisements
wrote
fanatical.
haunted secondhand bookshops and junk shops, pored over
letters,
in
newspapers and magazines and collectors' sheets,
made telephone
calls,
spent every penny of his salary
And at long last he succeeded

where no other nostalgiac had even come close to succeeding. He
accomplished a remarkable, an almost superhuman feat.
He collected the complete Shadow.
There was absolutely nothing produced about his hero not a
295
that did not
go
for bare essentials.
written word, not a spoken sentence, not a drawing or gadget
Conway did not own.

The final item, the one
that
Mr.
came
gone
into his possession

into a
that
on
had eluded him
Saturday evening
tenement area of Manhattan, near the East
chase from a private individual a rare cartoon

Pirates.
With the
way back to
hood bookshop
his
still
strip carefully
the subway
in the
years,
He had
River, to pur-
strip of Terry and the
tucked into his coat pocket, he was on
when he chanced upon
basement of
a small
neighbor-
crumbling brownstone.
It
was
open, and unfamiliar to him, and so he entered and began to
And on one of the cluttered tables at the rear

The October 1931 issue of The Shadow Magazine.
Mr. Conway emitted a small, ecstatic cry. Caught up
browse.
in
many
for so
in late June.
trembling hands, stared at
derly, read the contents
there
was.
the magazine
with disbelieving eyes, opened
it
it
it
ten-
page and the date, ran sweat-slick fingers over
the rough, grainy pulp paper. Near-mint condition. Spine undamaged.
Colors un faded.
And
the price
Fifty cents.
Fifty cents!
Tears of joy rolled unabashedly
down Mr. Conway's cheeks as he

The bookseller gave
carried this treasure to the elderly proprietor.
him
a strange look,
Conway
shrugged, and accepted two quarters from Mr.
without a word.
Two
quarters, fifty cents.
And Mr. Conway
had been prepared to pay hundreds ...

As he went out into the gathering darkness it was almost nine by
he could scarcely believe that he had finally done it, that
this time
he now possessed the total word, picture, and voice exploits of the
most awesome master crime fighter of them all. His brain reeled. The
Shadow was his now,- Lamont Cranston and Margo Lane (beautiful
Margo!)
his, all his, his alone.
Instead of proceeding to the subway, Mr.
Conway
impulsively en-
bookshop and ordered a cup of

coffee. Then, once again, he opened the magazine. He had previously
read a reprint of the novel by Maxwell Grant The Shadow Laughs!
but that was not the same as reading the original, no indeed. He
tered a small diner not far from the
plunged into the story again, savoring each line, each page, the
mounting suspense, the seemingly inescapable traps laid to eliminate
The Shadow by archvillains Isaac Coffran and Birdie Crull, the smashing of their insidious counterfeiting plot: justice triumphant. The weed
of crime bears bitter fruit, crime does not
at
pay
So engrossed was Mr. Conway that he lost all track of time. When
last he closed the magazine he was startled to note that except for
296
the counterman, the diner was deserted.
he entered.
in
He
looked
at his
It
full when
mouth dropped open
had been nearly
wristwatch, and his
Good heavens! It was past midnight!

Conway scrambled out of the booth and hurriedly left the
Outside, apprehension seized him. The streets were dark and
amazement.
Mr.
diner.
ominous,
deserted
He
forbidding.
looked up and down without seeing any sign of
blocks to the nearest subway entrance
now
was almost the dead of
it
He had
night breeze.
Mr.
night.
walk
a short
Conway
never liked the night,
He
took
sounds and smells,
its
And
its
morning of
deep breath, summoning courage. Four blocks. Well,
that really wasn't very

swiftly.
but
shivered in the cool
hidden dangers. There were stories in the papers every
muggers and thieves on the prowl
was four
life. It
in daylight
swift
was
far,
his
only a matter of minutes
if
he walked
pace as he started along the darkened side-
walk.
No
cars passed,
no one appeared on
The hollow echo
foot.
of his
were the only sounds. And yet Mr. Conway's heart was
footfalls
pounding wildly by the time he had gone two blocks.

He was halfway through the third block when he heard the muffled explosions.
He
stopped, the hairs on his neck prickling, a tremor of fear cours-
ing through him. There was an alley on his
He was
from that direction. Gunshots?
been
and even more
Run! he thought.
run.
He
And
certain that they

yet,
peered into the
left,-
though he was poised
saw
alley,
way
along.
What am
for flight,
he did not
a thin light at its far end.
moving
I doing? I shouldn't be here!
forward, approaching the narrow funnel of light.

partly
come
was what they'd
meant danger, sudden death.
Run, run! But instead he entered the alley,

his
the reports had
certain that
open door to the building on
his right.
But
It
Mr.
slowly, feeling
still
he continued
came from
Conway
inside a
put out a
hand and eased the door open wider, peered into what looked to be a
The thudding of his heart seemed as loud as a drum roll as
warehouse.
he stepped over the threshold.
The
source of the light was a glassed-in cubicle toward the middle
of the warehouse.
Shadowy shapes
toward the ceiling on either

seeing no sign of
movement
reached the cubicle, stood
in
in
He
side.
crates of
advanced
gloom around him. At
the
the
light.
stepped up close to look through the
cry rose in his throat
some kind loomed

wary steps,
in hesitant,
watchman's
last
office.
he
He
glass.
when he saw
the
man
lying motionless on
297
managed
the floor inside, he
Dead, murdered'. Get out oj
here,
and
Conway
Mr.
to
stifle
turned
Blood stained the front of the
it.
He had
man's khaki uniform jacket.
been shot twice.
call the police!
froze.
hulking figure stood not three feet away, looking straight at him.
Mr. Conway's knees buckled,- he had to put a hand against the
glass to keep from collapsing. The murderer! His mind once again
compelled him to
stare
back
beneath
mouth,
at
in
run, run, but his legs
low-brimmed cloth
the yawning muzzle
Conway
"No!" Mr.
would not obey. He could only
horror at the hulking figure
at the
pinched white face
and
cap, at rodentlike eyes

of a revolver in
one
a cruel
fist.
cried then. "No, please, don't shoot!"
The man dropped
into a furtive crouch, extending the pistol in
front of him.
Conway
"Don't shoot!" Mr.
Surprise, bewilderment,
mask
Conway opened
his
scarcely believe his ears.
looking right
"I
at
said again, putting

a
sudden trapped
up
his hands.
fear
made
twisted
"Who's that? Who's there?"
of the man's face.
Mr.
and
mouth, then closed
The man was
it
again.
He
could
standing not three feet away,
him!
Conway
don't understand," Mr.
said before he could stop the
words.
The murderer
The sudden
fired.
Conway
report caused Mr.
to
jump convulsively aside,- the bullet came nowhere near him. He saw
the gunman looking desperately from side to side, everywhere but at
him and in that instant he did understand, he knew.
"You can't
see
me," he said.
The gun discharged a second bullet, but Mr. Conway had already
moved again. Far to one side of him a spiderwebbed hole appeared in
the glass wall of the cubicle. "Damn you!" the murderer screamed.
"Where
are
you? Where
are
you?"
Conway remained standing there, clearly outlined in the light,

moment longer,- then he stepped to where a board lay on the
Mr.
for a
floor nearby,
terrified
picked
up.
it
Without
hesitation,
he advanced on the
then struck him on the side of the head,- watched
man and
dispassionately as the other dropped unconscious to the floor.
Mr.
police
Conway
kicked the revolver away and stood over him.
would have
to be
time for that now.
mouth. Could
it
summoned,
The
was plenty of
of course, but there
slow, grim smile stretched the corners of his
be that the remarkable collecting
feat
he had per-
formed, his devotion and his passion, had stirred some supernatural
force into granting him the Power that he now possessed? Well, no
298
was not to question why,- so endowed,
matter. His
his
was but to heed
the plaintive cries of a world ridden with lawlessness.
deep, chilling laugh suddenly swept through the warehouse.
"The weed of crime bears
bitter fruit!" a haunting, Wellesian voice
shouted. "Crime does not pay!"
And The Shadow wrapped

went out
into the
mean
the cloak of night around himself and
streets of the great metropolis
The Man Who

Died Too Often
David Crewe
Doc Plummer bade
and
years,
at
once
adieu to the Big House, a free

set
up practice
at
man
after eighteen
the old stand. Talk about your
nerve!
Not
anyone had
that
particularly
mourned
mer house
that
day so long ago. Or that
a certain
on
gerprints
it
in his
when he was
room, his revolver on the floor with
and the two
embedded in the corpse.

The town had been fully
bullets missing,
sum-
measure of sympa-
thy had not veered paradoxically to the young surgeon,
found dead drunk
Jem
the discovery of
Tripp's charred remains in the smouldering skeleton of Plummer's
which were
aware, town fashion, of the
his fin-
later
found
young M.D.'s
blind infatuation for Tripp's wife, of Plummer's crazy drunken rages
but
damn
But
it
the
it,
a stinker,
if
Doc had been
regular in a lot of ways, and Tripp was
there ever was one.
was one thing to sympathize with
man who had
debt to society, and another quite distinct thing to trust your
paid his
life
and
those of your kids to his hands. So had the town reasoned.
And Plummer, no
line of his face the
neat
ming
little
longer young, showing
wreck of
in
every deeply etched
his unlived youth, read the verdict in his
expense book, and stared dully out into the night, drum-
softly
on the desk. So,
to have tried
it.
it
was no go,
after
Lucky that the income from
keep him going, with what
little
all.
He had
been crazy
his mother's estate
would
business he could eke out on the
299
man
side. Well, a
couldn't think about
it
eternally without cracking,
so
He
rose and paced restlessly about the office. Six
months of
The
months of
it.
Six
hell!
harsh
br-r-r-r
groped absently
He
of the telephone broke into his reverie.
for the receiver.
"Hello."
The
"Doc!"
subdued undercur-
metallic, wire-distorted voice held a
want you
once. Case
"Doc
Pond
rent of excitement or fear.
shooting lodge on
Elk's
to
at
come
out to Melville's
of ptomaine, I'm afraid.
Hurry!"
"Right."
Plummer mechanically
jotted the directions on his
pad. "What's the name?"
"Oh
"
the voice stopped for an imperceptible pause
who remembers you
from
the old days. Hurry."
memo
"someone
The
instrument
clicked with an air of finality.
Doc swore
he picked up
softly as
the worst roads in the state.
Then
his kit. All of sixty miles
his face softened.
old guard had called to him for help.
chord of memory. Well

Nearly three hours
he'd
The
through
Someone
of the
voice had stirred a vague
know soon enough.
later his old roadster jolted to a stop before a
Doc emerged, chilled and

cramped shoulder muscles luxuriously. Quite a
must have money. A tough place though, to be stuck
building nestled deep in the pine forest.

stiff,
and stretched
layout.
Man
his
alone with a bellyache or worse, miles from
human
contact.
TTie transition from purple blackness to the white brilliance within
was too sudden for

huddled behind the
his tired old eyes, so that at
large table
was
first
retinas adjusted to permit clearer vision,
man who
Then as his
the
a blurred nonentity.
he started violently,
his grop-
ing fingers clutching the door knob for support.
"God!" he gasped incredulously, while the pink of his cheeks went

slowly grey. "You!"
The supposed
patient laughed, and the laugh held no vestige of
mirth.
"Right the
Jem Tripp
first
to you,
time
Herman Jacobs
you two-timing
heel.
to the wide
When
open spaces
heard that
my
old
was free,
couldn't resist this opportunity to see you once
more. My," he sneered, "you sure are glad to see me."
friend
"But,"
Doc murmured
"Of course you

ranged
300
this little
don't,
weakly,
"I
don't
understand
Plummer." Tripp laughed. 'That's
why
rendezvous. Frenchy, take the gentleman's coat."
ar-
servant glided noiselessly to his side and as silently departed with the
Plummer mechanically gave him.

sit down." The
pal of my childish and wildish days
resurrected Tripp gestured to a chair, and the Doc noticed for the first
time the gun which lay on the table.
He obeyed, still dazed by the man who had sprung from the limbo
apparel which
"Now, Doc
of the past to haunt him. For a
claimed him. Then
He
as his legs
to attempt
dog,"
came
tensed for
The man
it.
lated jealousy
back into
the spell of ghostly unreality

a blind surge of fury.
it
choking with emotion.
half rose,
"You rotten
even
moment
reason returned, and with
tensely from between clenched jaws, but
a leap
he realized that
before him was
and hate of two decades.
it
would be
suicide
mad mad with an accumuAnd he had a gun. Doc sank
shrugging helplessly.
his chair again,
"Very wise of you. Doc." Tripp patted the revolver significantly.
"And now"
he continued,
"You're going to drink
drink
until you're
you were in the old days only this time you won't leave
me under the table and make love to Elsie. Remember Elsie, Doc?"
With a shrill cackle of satisfaction he noted the white knuckles strain
as
drunk
as
impotently against the arms of the chair.

"Ah, Elsie"
yet
find
he mused
like
em
died the
week you were
knew
Sorry.
it?
seemed almost
mock
in
You
convicted. She never got over the thing.
wanted you
reminiscence. "She was a rare piece,
younger, now, and with more looks. Y'know, Elsie
to squirm
under
it
before
my
He
face."
had not
childishly petulant that the doctor
stirred at
the news.
"Well," he
resumed impatiently,
"to business!
Doc, you're
quack when you're sober, but when the old firewater
you're as haywire as they come.
never used to take long
you
see
that
once more
your
trial?
you."
He
He
way
just
once more. Want you to run amuck
remember how
You even
rubbed
his
hit
calm old
you
hits
it
want to
me
for
just
the District Attorney brought out that at
me once when you were
that
damn
way
jaw reminiscently.
pressed the servant's
bell.
'Two
tall
ones, Frenchy, and have 'em
well chilled.
up the gun and waving it batonDoc,

want to see that old pulse throb in your forehead,
and you so blasted mad you really would kill me if you could. Only,
"Yeah," Tripp continued, picking
like before
"1
you
swer
won't. Just a few drinks together,

all
you and me
and then
I'll
an-
those wild questions you've been asking yourself. Guess you'll
get a reaction,
all
right.
Only, so help
me God,
if
you jump from
that
301
chair once,
I'll
shoot you apart
Plummer
in silent
my
The clock astride

The two figures still
friend."
and drank deeply, while the other shook
stared, gulped,
merriment.
Now," he screamed, push-
like a dog!
ing a glass across the table, "Drink,
away
the white mantel had ticked
a full hour.
Tripp was slowly mellowing from
sat as before.
the effects of the potent Scotch.
Plummer
abstinence followed by eight
highballs
stiff
well, eighteen years of

his lank figure
wavered
ever so slightly in his seat.
Tripp was tormenting him slowly, dragging
it
out to every subtle
which his mind was capable. Already he had

explained how he had discovered the body of a tramp in the hedge
that night long ago, how he had borne it under cover of the darkness
finesse of cruelty of
to Plummer's estate.
His beady,
rat-like
eyes glowed with malicious satisfaction as he
noted the Doc's face get hard and

to his consciousness.
ful
to
were driven home
set as the points
was, he reflected in half tipsy glee, a power-
cat toying with his prey.
game
it
He
sleek omnipotent tiger waiting for his
move, so that he could have the peculiar ecstacy of crushing
one contemptuous gesture.
to earth with
"Now Doc,
ture of this.
your imagination.
strain
There we were
you
an'
want you
to get a clear pic-
me, tipping our elbows
your
in
You never knew, did you, that my drinks that night were spilled
into the vase beside my chair. Nary a swallow did
take
had business to do. Finally, you passed out, like you're almost doing now. put
the hobo in the summer house, poured gasoline over his body. Then
fired a coupl'a shots into him. Back in your room again
squeezed the
gun butt in your hand so the prints would show clear.
"You can probably guess the rest of it.
set fire to the body, saw
that the summer house itself was going good
and skipped town forever. Next day
read
was dead. Hah!
followed your trial thoroughly it was swell. Ah! now you're getting hot."
study.
He
gazed expectantly
Doc
stared at
him
at his visitor.
dully,
only the thin ribbons of scarlet
high
in his
cheekbones betraying the emotions which were consuming him.
he enunciated
"And
so"
me, Jem. Sent
me
"you framed
the words slowly, thickly
to a lifetime of regret
and remorse
for a
crime
never committed."
Tripp clapped his palms together
Doc!" he exclaimed. 'At

But this was safer
302
first
safer for
in
mock
applause. "Always right.
wanted to kill you. Maybe

me and more gratifying.
could have.
didn't
want
wanted you to live, and never know what happened.

it seemed to me that with Elsie dead and your youth
gone the best of your life unlived it might edify you to know the
see you appreciate my efforts."
truth. Well, there it is
He tensed, his fingers tightened half fearfully on the gun as Doc's
fury burst into full consummation.
'Tripp," the other stammered, "Here's one thing you may have
overlooked. D'you realize that have paid my debt to the state for the
should kill you now, tomorrow, at any time, no
killing of you, that if
jury on earth could convict me? The law says 'No man's life may be
placed in jeopardy twice for the same crime.'
"Ah-h-h-" Tripp for no apparent reason had slumped back into his
chair, groaning. He held his right side in a queer cupped gesture, like
a man with a toothache shields his jaw from the air. In spite of his
you
to die
Then somehow,
Plummer's professional training came to the
fury,
sudden
pallor, the
spasmodic diaphramic
fore.
He
noted the
reflexes, the right leg
dou-
bled up almost to the abdomen.
"Say let me look at you, he demanded, forgetting for the moment everything but the symptoms. Lurching slightly, he walked towards Tripp. The latter stiffened as he approached, and fear crept into
his narrowed eyes.
"
"Wait!" he yelled. "Hey, Frenchy!"
The
impassive servant again appeared. Tripp
want to make
tricks,
or
a diagnosis
."
regarded the
true
men, and
if
you
allow you that pleasure. But no funny
required but a moment.
in his eye,
more pronounced than
He
I'll
to take
His voice trailed off into a smothered cry of pain.
The examination
queer glint
waved to him
Now, Doctor
the gun. "Keep this bird covered, blast you.
and
as
he did so
Plummer
arose again, a
drunken lurch was even
before, due perhaps to the kneeling posture.
man he had murdered
a flicker
his
according to twelve good and
which might have been pity twisted
his fea-
tures.
"Jem," he said slowly, "You did have a bellyache
when you
called
me
out here."
"Why ^yes, had some lamb

What of it?" Despite his words,
this
noon
never did agree with me.
Tripp could not quite conceal the fear
of the layman for the mysteries of medical science.

of a half
formed terror crept into
his eyes
The vague
and made
stirring
his sneer theatri-
cal.
"Pity
you
didn't
tell
me
about
it
when
lighting a cigarette with the clumsy,

inebriate. "Well, I'm
arrived,"
dogged
murmured Doc,
ineffectiveness of the
speaking as a physician now, not as
friend.
303
My
now
diagnosis
He
acute appendicitis. You'll have to
is
me
let
operate right
here. You'll never survive sixty miles of these roads to town."
smiled,
and to the panic-ridden Jem the smile seemed to com-
bine Machiavellian cunning with the cruelty of the Borgias.

tinued. "Get your
place yourself in
it
first
was a hurry
little
my
call,
playmate here to carry out
You were
care.
only
it's
tenets of a surgeon about
a pity
you
right,
my
see, in
you forced me
firewater."
fallen
con-
and
summoning me
to disregard the
His sardonic glance swept
the other, and even as he started to unclasp his black
buckled and he would have
Doc
directions,
kit,
his
knees
had he not grasped Frenchy's shoul-
der for support.
much from
fear as pain. Something in the

words carried conviction. Doc was blind,
before him, and grinning a Cheshire mask
Tripp was crying now, as
quiet drunken logic of Doc's
teetering on unsteady legs
of triumph, which belied the unctuous solicitude of his speech. Doc's
voice had said he'd never live to get back to town, but his manner had
said as plainly that the operation
He
rose
unsteadily,
would be
pressing
his
side,
homicidal travesty.
and staggered
to
the
threshold.
"Wait!"
He
turned.
Doc looked
at
him,
still
smiling.
said, Tripp, you'll
"I
never reach the hospital. In about twenty minutes your pain will
appear suddenly.
You'll think the attack
release of pressure caused
is
over, but
it
will
dis-
only be the
by the bursting of your appendix. By the
time you get on the table, you'll have a raging fever, peritonitis will
and in your present alcoholic state curtains."

God, man, save me!" In spite of himself, the words
rushed unbidden to his lips, and he watched eagerly for a hairbreadth's deviation in Doc's set smile. None was forthcoming.
"Yes, Jem," Doc mused, with a faint trace of boredom, "let me operate
here
now. Your only chance. If it will take away any of the
yellow from your spine, I'll promise to operate to the best of my
present ability." As if in mute satire, the alert Frenchy was supporting
him upright by sheer force as he uttered the reassuring words. Tripp's
have a head
start,
"For the love of
panic rose to
"I'm
crescendo.
not drunk, y'know,"
Doc
insisted,
still
smiling in that sly
manner.
"No, blast you," sobbed Tripp, throwing on his
ulster, "not
drunk.
what you used to say in the old days, when you couldn't even
walk. Frenchy, keep him away from me.
don't believe you, damn
your soul; slight indigestion, that's all. But I'm going to the hospital
to be sure. Frenchy, keep him here till 1 go, then follow in his car." He
304
That's
moment
lurched out, and a
later the roar of a
powerful eight cut the
silence.
Doc watched
bump
the car
smoldered
He
after
he
rough corduroy road
crazily along the
and into the blackness around the
first
bend. Something inscrutable
grey eyes.
in his
spoke over
him? Maybe
his shoulder.
"Old boy, sure you won't
let
me go
can save him, you know."
now
"Not
a chance," snarled the servant. "I'm off
your bus,
like
said.
S'long." Presently the lights of Plummer's car sought the
dis-
in
tant bend, also.
With the second
departure.
Doc
flame of the match wavered not a
white cylinder.
He
charred match into
around
his
a receptacle
at the
adroitly,
The
blue
tip of
the
and tossed the
his face, in preparation for the
The same
long
sardonic smile crept for a
across his lips as he regarded a large vase beside the seat he
had occupied
rette stubs
fectly
lift.
sought the
some feet distant. Then he absently

doorway he paused, as he nestled the
neck and part of
hike to a state road and a
moment
another cigarette.
snapped the flame out
reached for his coat. Just

collar
lit
trifle as it just
for
most of the evening.
and match ends,
good
floating idly
In
it
were innumerable ciga-
on what had been eight per-
glasses of Scotch.
The Mann Act

hy Michael A. Black
"You think they're the ones?" Wally asked.
"Gotta be," said Frank. "They're supposed to be
they sure
"Ahhh,
Feds on
ain't regulars.
I
Dressed
don't know, Frank.
this.
We'd
a sister act,
and
in leather, too."
Remember
we're working with the
better be sure."
"Yeah, yeah," Frank said. But he was thinking, fuck the Feds. They'd
come
to
him
for help
on
this
thing because they didn't
about working vice. Christ, they were
all
accountants. Like that fucker Partial. He'd
know
shit
either fucking lawyers or
show them how
a real
cop
305
He just wished that he didn't have to wear this fucking wire.

cramped his style.
Wally scowled and took another sip of his beer. At least it was a
good one. Some imported stuff. The Feds were sparing no expense on
this one. Must be the key to som.ething big. Bigger than he and Frank
were used to, anyway. He remembered when the Lieutenant had
called them into the office earlier that day.
"The Feds are requesting our assistance on a case," the LT had said.
'Tonight at Henry's Bar. They want us to bust a couple of hookers for
worked.
It
them."
"The Feds?" Frank
said.
"Since
when
and mighty
are their high
highnesses interested in hookers?"

"It
involves a
madam who
sets things
up over
900 number," the

and that's a vio-
lieutenant replied. "The broads travel over state lines
Mann
lation of the
Act."
them to make a federal case outta a little free enterprise," Frank had said. He didn't like the FBI. Ever since they investigated him on that brutality rap five years ago. The one that had gotten him transferred from Homicide to Vice. From the top of the heap
"Leave
it
to
to the asshole patrol.
"Hey, Frank," Wally
said.
"Lighten up, will ya?
beats the hell
It
downtown, don't it?"

Frank grumbled a reply, hoping it would be indistinct
eral agents who were recording their conversation in the
outta bustin' fruits
for the fed-
surveillance
van outside.
on with it," Frank said, getting up.

Wally felt the vibrating signal of his beeper going
"Better get
Just then
checked the number, then grabbed Frank's

"Gotta check
Frank snorted
in first,"
he
in disgust
beer.
make the most
Wally went to the men's room where there was
drunk was
receiver from
futilely trying to dial a
him and
The drunk lowered
He
said.
and ordered another
picking up the tab he might as well
wall.
off.
sleeve.
said, "This
If
of
the "G" was
it.
pay phone on the
number. Wally took the
phone's out of order."
and tried to focus his eyes, but seeing

that Wally was younger than he was, decided not to push it. He
nodded and stumbled out the door. Wally watched him go and then
quickly removed the drunk's quarter from the coin return slot and redeposited it. He read the number on his beeper and dialed it.
his chin
"Detective Myers?" the voice answered.

"Yeah," said Wally. Jesus, didn't these federal guys
about working undercover? Answering the phone
306
know anything
like that.
"This
No
the voice said.
Partial,"
thought Wally. This was the van's car-phone number,
shit,
wasn't
Agent
Special
is
it?
"Have you made contact with the suspects

sounded
as
"Yeah,"
yet?" Partial asked.
you had."
if
Wally answered.
"I
think so.
couple of babes
twenties, blond hair, big boobs, black leather clothes.

description, wasn't
Imperative?
me
put
it's
a mile
we
My
creeping
partner can smell a
"Proceed as directed."
"Roger willco," Wally said

of the toilet to see
he thought,
said, a hint of irritation
got them.
"
away
"All right," Partial said.
Jesus,
imperative that we're sure."
way," Wally
this
into his voice. "We're sure
hooker
their
the hell did these federal guys get these words?
Where
it
in their late
That was
it?"
"Yes," Partial said. "But
"Let
"It
if
this
as
he hung up.
He
kicked open the door
anybody hiding in there listening.

cloak and dagger stuff was making him para-
there was
noid.
Wally returned to the bar and ordered another beer. Frank looked
across the bar and winked at the two blondes, who immediately
perked up.
"What'd they say?" asked Frank, leaning close to Wally.
"They
said,
"Christ,"
to
and
quote, 'Proceed as directed.'
muttered Frank.
make the
He
got up and picked up his drink. "Time
donuts."
He walked around the horse-shaped bar and stopped next to the

two blondes. Putting on his best middle-class businessman smile, he
"Anybody sitting here?"
As he approached he saw the one closest to him run her tongue
over her lips as she shook her head. Frank smiled benignly and started
asked,
to seat himself, then stopped abruptly.
"Bartender," he called sharply.
young thing has an empty
glass.
"How
Correct
can
this be?
This beautiful
this immediately."
Both of the blondes giggled. Frank asked them
if
they minded
his
if
shy friend joined them. They giggled again and said that would be
right.
Frank motioned to Wally
as
he
set the
empty
glass
all
onto the
inner edge of the bar.

Al, the big
sink.
Who
baldheaded bartender, took the
he thought. Didn't he know

let
them
glass
and put
the hell did that asshole think he was ordering
find out
on
their
who
own.
it
me
in
the
about?
he was dealing with? Al decided to
He
replaced
all
the drinks and then
307
moved down
who was nearly

on the counter.
the counter to check on the drunk
passed out with the twenty-dollar
bill still sitting
Frank introduced himself and Wally.
one with the big breasts
"I'm Sherry," the
said.
"And
this
is
my
friend Bambi."
"So you
from around here?" asked Frank.
girls
"Actually," Sherry said.
from
"I'm
New
"Ohh, you got
a voice like Lauren Bacall," said Frank.
They
Bacall's voice.
am. Bambi's not."
"I
York," Bambi said.
call
it
"I
love Lauren
whiskey tenor."
Bambi smiled, then looked
at Sherry.
"So you guys want to party?" asked Bambi.
"We
just love to party
with big strong guys."

Frank looked
Wally and smirked. These
at
girls
want
didn't
to
waste any time. Before he could answer Wally grabbed his sleeve.
"I
gotta go drain the monster," he said. His beeper was going off
again.
"Yeah," said Frank. "That ain't such a
bad
idea.
Would you
ladies
excuse us a moment?"
Sherry and Bambi looked
at
each other and laughed.
"Drain the monster?" Sherry said. "You're really making
"Hurry back, boys," Bambi
me
curious."
said.
Frank and Wally got up and went to the men's room. After checking the
stall
again,
"Frank,
gimme
"What
for?"
Wally started fumbling through
asked Frank
who was
"Well,
gotta piss," Frank said.
standing at the urinal.
"He beeped me
gotta call Partial," Wally said.
"I
his pockets.
a quarter"
"My
again."
fuckin' bladder
beeped me."
After he finished Frank reached in his pocket and gave Wally a

quarter.
Wally dialed the number.
"Whadda ya want?" he asked when

"First of all,
want
to caution
Special Agent Partial answered.

you two about entrapment," Partial
said.
"Yeah, yeah," Wally answered.
defense
if
"We know
the suspect's predisposed to
all
about
commit the
it.
It's
not a
crime."
"Secondly," Partial continued. "You're both using excessive profan-
Remember,
ity.
listening to
"All right,"
"Not
this
is all
being recorded.
Wally
said.
"Anything
at this time."
"Good," Wally said and hung up.
He
308
it."
walked to the
urinal.
else?"
federal
grand jury
will
be
"Frank, hold up. I've got to urinate."
"Urinate?" Frank said sarcastically. "Ya got your tweezers?"
"Knock
We're gonna be listened to by
off.
it
a federal
When
Frank rubbed his fingers over his temples.
grand
jury."
Wally was
fin-
ished, they returned to the bar.
"You
girls
miss us?" Frank asked.
He
"Yeah," Sherry said.
the huge, cantalope-sized breasts rub-
felt
bing over his arm. "Didn't we, Bambi?"

Bambi's arms encircled Wally's neck and drew him close.
"We
sure did."
Wally grinned and started to say something, but the next thing he
knew Bambi's tongue was working its way into his mouth, jesus, she
was strong.
"Hey, you
mess around, do you?" he
girls don't
grabbing his beer and swishing some around

that
would
said,
in his
purposefully
mouth, hoping
any germs.
kill
"We'd
"Well," said Sherry.
really like to party
with you guys, but
there's a catch."
"Oh?" Frank
Wally
"I
Here comes the
said.
sales pitch,
he thought.
Just then
the vibration of the beeper again. Dammit, he thought.
felt
gotta go drain the monster again," he said, getting up and am-
bling toward the John.
"He got kidney trouble or something?" Bambi

"Naw," Frank
"Hmm,
I'll
said. "Just a small dick.
do
that for him,"
Bambi
He
asked.
wants to stroke
Inside the washroom Wally made dialed the now

"What now?" he said into the phone.
been checking with
"I've
that
it's
imperative that
"Well,
come on
in
"Detective Myers,
my
it."
said demurely.
familiar
supervisor," Partial said.
witness the arrest, in case
number.
"He
have to
states
testify."
and join the fucking party then"
remember what
said about excessive profanity."
Wally hung up. Frank pushed the door open and asked him what
was going on.

"The
Fed's are sending in a
man
to witness the arrest," Wally said.
"Who?"
"Special
Oh
Agent
Partial."
great, Frank thought.
Don
Knotts
in a
three-piece suit to scru-
When Wally sat on his

Bambi French kissed him again. As he reached for his drink to
sanitize his mouth, he felt a hand grope his crotch.
"You don't feel like you got a small dick," Bambi said.
"Huh?" Wally said, almost choking on his beer.
309
tinize their arrest.

stool,
They went back
to the bar.
we
"^3^hy don't
never had before,
go out to our car and

Bambi said.
all
"
"Sounds good," Wally
"Come
I'll
you head
you
like
said.
on, big guy," Sherry said, reaching
"What's the catch?" Frank
said.
down
to Frank's groin.
"You said something about
Sherry and Bambi both looked
at
a catch."
each other and giggled. They
didn't notice the slightly built, bespectacled
who came
give
man
in a
three-piece suit
and sat a few stools down. But Frank noticed. It was that
Fucker Partial. Good. Let him see the bullshit they had to go through
to get a vice arrest. Just then Sherry's tongue invaded his mouth.
"Let's go out to the car, Frank, Sherry said.
"But what about the catch?" he said.
in
"
"We'll discuss that later," Sherry said.
"You two are married or something?" Wally asked, playing dumb.

"No;" Sherry said slowly.
"Oh,
get
it,"
Frank
said.
Sherry and Bambi looked
"You two are working
girls,
that
is
it?"
each other.
at
Wally leaned close to Bambi's ear and whispered,
"If that's
it,
we
don't mind."
"Right," Frank added.
"We got
plenty of money. We're up here
from Peoria for an insurance convention.
phoney card with
his
name and an
He handed them
insurance
each a
company logo on
it.
vice cop's best tool.
"You don't mind paying us?" Bambi asked.
"Lemme
put
it
this
way, babe," Frank
said, lapsing into his routine
of the suave drunk. "We're businessmen ourselves."
"And we got plenty of
friends at the hotel too,"
Wally added.
"So you'll introduce us to some of your friends?" Sherry asked.

"Sure," Frank said.
"If
added Wally.
I'd feel bad charging you," Bambi said.
wouldn't want you to feel bad, sweet cakes," Wally said. "But
the price
is
right,"
"You guys are so sweet,

"I
can understand that business
"We
don't
took out a
more where
"Well,
candy
for
mind paying
fifty
dollar
that
we
my
bill
came
for top of the line stuff,"
and
laid
it
money
friend?" Sherry asked,
He
felt a
310
for a
good
palming the
said.
He
cause.
Got some
bill.
took out his wallet. Sherry leaned forward
and Frenched him again, while placing

breasts.
Frank
on the counter. "There's plenty
from."
are trying to raise
"Sure," Frank said.
business."
is
his
hand on the huge
silicone
Suddenly, leaning back. Sherry's expression changed. Frank
hand on the transmitter he was wearing.
"Bam-bam,
wearing
this motherfucker's
a wire,"
Sherry
said.
mouth dropped open and she pulled back and
Bambi's
spit
in
Wally's face.
"Too
late, ladies,"
Frank
said, pulling
out his badge and slipping off
"The money's already changed hands. You're both going
the stool.
down."
Sherry suddenly brought a foot up and snapped a kick into Frank's
His
groin.
balls
He sagged
who deftly
they were going to explode.
like
felt
downward. Wally reached over but was snared by Bambi,

twisted
him to the
"Hey,
Partial,"
Agent
Special
stepped
enough
"How
some
'bout
was fumbling
help?"
identification
for his
which twisted
to grab Sherry's tight black leather skirt,
Sherry's skirt
Agent Par
"
he started to
had twisted completely
off
panty hose, no underpants could be seen.

that Sherry
was not
a natural
and under the translucent

could be seen was
What
blonde. Sherry was not a natural any-
was
a full set of
genitalia.
"You
You're androgynous," Partial said incredulously.
Wally had Bambi on the

slim wrists.
skirt
off.
say, but couldn't fin-
thing, because bulging from beneath the nylon fabric
male
he
as
Frank had recovered
scrambling bodies.
the
of
"Halt, I'm Special

ish.
called.
Partial
front
in
floor
he
and
over his
Upon
felt
lips,
seeing
floor
"all"
now, locking the handcuffs over the
of Sherry, he reached under Bambi's
He
the remnants of a fading erection.
ran his tongue
then thought about whose tongue had just been there.
Leaning, he grabbed Special Agent
Partial's
pant-leg and puked
all
over the FBI man's shoes.

Partial
did a
dance trying to get away, but Wally held
little
fast,
continuing to vomit. Sherry attempted to run, but tripped on the

leather skirt.
Two more
Feds came running
in.
After a few
more
sec-
onds, the squirming bodies were untangled and Sherry and Bambi
were marched out
in cuffs.
Al the bartender swore as he

"Perverts
mopped
the vomit off the floor.
and cops," he muttered. "One
Suddenly he
felt a
blonde identical twins, dressed to
kill,
"Excuse me," the one closest to him
here looking for us?
as
tap on his shoulder.
My
were supposed to meet
sister
and
in
bad
He
as the other."
looked up to see two
matching leather
outfits.
said. "Has there been
just flew in
from
couple of guys here for a
New
.
anybody
York and
business
meeting." She smiled demurely.
311
Memento Mori
Alex Saxon
There
are
murder weapons and there are murder weapons, but the
thing used to bludgeon Philip Asher to death was the
grisliest I'd
seen
more than two decades on the police force.

it was a skull
a human skull.
Ed Crane and stood staring down at what was left of it, lying
splintered and gore-streaked to one side of the dead man. It had apparently cracked like an eggshell on the first or second blow, but that
had been enough to shatter Asher's skull as well. Judging from the
concavity of the wound, he had been struck with considerable force.
pulled my gaze away and let it move over the room, a large
masculine study. Well-used, leather-bound books covered two walls,
and a third was adorned with what appeared to be primitive Mexican
or Central American art and craftwork: pottery, statuary, wood carvings, weaponry. There were two teakwood desks arranged so that
they faced each other one large and ostentatious, the other small
in
and functional
and
several pieces of teak-and-leather furniture.
should have been a comfortable room, but for
seemed to be
books and art.
Crane said,
me
a kind of cold, impersonal <5uality to
"If
wasn't seeing
it
for myself,
it
It
wasn't; there
it,
despite the
don't think
I'd
believe
it."
"Yeah."
He rubbed at the bald spot on the crown of his head. "Well, I've
had enough in here if you have."
"More than enough," agreed.
We crossed to the double entrance doors and went into the hallway beyond. At its far end was a large living room containing more
teakwood furniture and primitive art. One of the two patrolmen who
had preceded us on the scene stood stoically beside a long sofa,- the
other officer was waiting outside for the arrival of the lab crew and
the coroner. Sitting stiff-backed in middle of the sofa was Douglas
Falconer hands fiat on his knees, eyes blinking myopically behind
I
312
thick-lensed glasses.
He was
about
forty,
sparse sand-colored hair, dressed in
we
All
owned
guilt well
enough.
an expensive Spanish-style
this house,
had been present
else
We
blind fury."
pared
at all for
in Falconer's
had no idea
room.
no
moment
of
and we hadn't been pre-
approached and stopped

seem to be seeing anything
1
thought maybe he'd gone into delayed shock, but when
name, his head jerked up and the eyes focused on me.

"You want to
said,
prised
city's
the nature of the murder weapon.
either side of him, but his eyes did not
said his
one of the
his secretary,- that
words, "during
as to motive,
Falconer kept on blinking as Crane and
in the
villa in
had been
the time of the slaying,- and that the
at
crime had been committed,
He
he'd called headquarters a half-
knew about Falconer and Asher was that the deceased
finer residential areas, that Falconer
and
he had confessed to the murder of Philip Asher. The

on his right shirt sleeve and on the back of his right hand
dried stains
on
shirt.
earlier,
confirmed his
one
a thin, chinless face
slacks and a navy-blue
when
looked timid and harmless, but
hour
with
him
of his rights,
us about
tell
it,
Falconer?"
and he had waived
We'd already
ap-
his privilege of presence
of counsel during questioning.

"1 already told you that. At first
make it look as though a burglar had
But I'm not a very good liar, even though I've had a lot of
Besides,
... don't much care what happens to me from
murdered Asher," he
"1
thought of trying to cover
done
it.
practice.
up,
now on."
"Why did you
said.
it
him?" Crane asked.
kill
Falconer shook his head
not
so
much
of
him sooner or
said,
"Why
later,
to answer as a
a refusal
reluctance or inability to put voice to the reason.
We
would get
it
so there was no point in trying to force
the skull, Mr. Falconer?
Where
out
it.
did you get a thing
like that?"
He
shelf
did
closed his eyes, popped them open again. "Asher kept
behind
his desk.
He was
sitting at the
desk
when
it
.
on the
when
it."
"He kept
incredulous.
"He had
human skull in full view

"What the hell for?"
in his study?" Crane's
tone was
macabre sense of humor. He claimed to enjoy the reacwhen they saw it. it was his memento mori, he said."
tions of visitors
"His what?"
"Reminder of death," Falconer
said.
"That sounds pretty morbid to me."

"Philip
Asher was
a fearless,
cold-blooded man. Death never both313
ered him in the
least. In
one
sense,
was
it
his
he devoted
life,-
his life
to the dead."
Crane and exchanged glances. "You'd better explain that," said.

"He was an anthropologist, quite a renowned one," Falconer said.
"He published several books on the Mayan and Aztec races, and was
in great demand as a lecturer and as a consultant to various university
I
anthropological departments specializing in pre-Columbian studies."
"You were his full-time secretary,

"Yes.
that right?"
is
helped him with research, accompanied him on
and other
tions to the Yucatan
correlated his notes, typed his
his expedi-
Mexico and Central America,

book manuscripts and business corre-
parts of
spondence."
"How
long did you work for him?"
"Eight years."
"Do you
"Yes.
live here?"
have
"Does anyone
room
south wing."
in the
else live in this house?"
"No. Asher never remarried after his wife
He had no
Crane
"I
left
him
several years ago.
close relatives."
"Did you premeditate
said,
"The two of
his death?"
him today, if that's what you mean."

you had an argument, then?"
didn't plan to
kill
"No, there wasn't any argument."
"Then what triggered
He
this
started to shake his
murderous rage of yours?"
head
seemed to be looking again
bonelessly. His eyes
asked.
and then slumped backward
again,
something not
at
in
the room.
At length he
said, "It
was
revelation."
"Revelation?"
A
ogist
heavy
sigh.
"I
received a letter yesterday from another anthropol-
met through Asher," he
I'd
said, "asking
me
and
offer,
But
when
tion.
He
morning decided that
talked to Asher about
it,
in his
employ or
would take
"Wait a minute,"
in his
steps against
I
said.
my
He
if
my
continued silence
ordered
didn't
his per-
considered the
couldn't afford to turn
house.
me
he refused to accept
said he couldn't be certain of
no longer
said he
this
I
become
to
sonal secretary at a substantial increase in salary.
me
it
down.
resignaif
were
to remain.
He
."
.
"Your continued silence about what?"
"Something that happened
six years ago."
"What something?"
He
314
didn't speak again for several seconds.
Then he swallowed and
said,
"The death of
and her lover
his wife
at Asher's
summer lodge on
Lake Pontrain."
We
Crane
stared at him.
that his wife
"Did
I?
had
Yes,
left
suppose
did. I've told the
same way, so many times that

her lover died
"All right
"You told us a couple of minutes ago
said,
him, not that she was dead."
it's
Lake Pontrain, that
at
how did they
same
lie,
in exactly
the
an automatic response. Mildred and

is
the truth."
die?"
happened on a Saturday in Septemmorning Asher decided on the spur of

the moment to spend a few days at the lodge,- the book he was writing at the time was going badly and he thought a change of scenery
had an errand to do and
might help. He drove up alone at eight;
"By asphyxiation," he said,
"it
ber, six years ago. Early that
then followed
lodge
in
my own
When
to have
been
reached the
found Asher inside with the bodies. They were
who was supposed
dred,
car about an hour later.
Mil-
bed
in
Los Angeles,
visiting a friend in
found out later he was an

"They were both naked," he said.
"What did Asher say when you walked in?"
'That he'd found them just as they were. The lodge had been full
of gas when he arrived, he said, and he'd aired it out. A tragic accident caused by a faulty gas heater in the bedroom."
and the man.
I'd
never seen him before,
itinerant musician." Pause.
"Did you believe that?"
was stunned.
infidelity. She was
"Yes.
as
fied
I'd
asked.
always thought Mildred above such
beautiful, yes
but
thing
always so quiet, so digni-
."
.
"Was Asher
"He seemed
suggested
we
also stunned?"
the scandal, he said

career.
was quite calm. When I

it. Think of
the possible damage to his reputation and his
to be," Falconer said. "But he
contact the authorities he wouldn't hear of
asked what else
we could
do.
wasn't prepared for his an-
swer."
"Which was?"
"He suggested
in that cold, calculating
of the bodies, bury
them somewhere
way
we dispose
Then we could con-
of his that
at the lake.
coct a story to explain Mildred's disappearance, say that she had
moved
out and gone back to Boston, where she was born.
no one would question
this explanation,
few close friends and because of

was right."
He
insisted
because he and Mildred had
his reputation.
As
it
happened, he
"So you went along with this cover-up?"
"What choice did
have? I'm not a forceful man, and
at
the time
315
And as I told you, was stunned.

helped Asher transfer the bodies to a
went along with it.
promontory a mile away, where we buried them beneath piles of
respected Asher and his judgment.

Yes,
rocks."
Crane
"So for six years you kept this secret
said,
something happened
this
until today, until
morning."
"Yes."
"These
employ
Asher told you he'd take
'steps'
were they
you
if
tried to leave his
threats of bodily harm?"
Falconer nodded. "He said he would
kill
me."
two accidental
"Pretty drastic just to insure your silence about
deaths six years ago."

"Yes.
same thing to him."
said the
"And?"
"He
me
told
the truth," Falconer said.
'That his wife and her lover
didn't
by accident? That he'd mur-
die
dered them?"
He
"That's right.
found them
in
bed together, very much
alive, his
massive ego had been wounded, the sin was unforgivable and had to
be punished
out with his
was how Philip Asher was. He knocked them both

suppose would have seen evidence of that if I'd
that
fists.
looked closely
the bodies, but in
at
Then he
my
distraught state
noticed
them with a pillow. arrived before he

could remove the bodies by himself, and so he made up the story
nothing.
suffocated
about the faulty gas heater.

him, he would have killed
"Did he
you
tell
If
me
hadn't believed
and
too, then
it,
if
hadn't helped
there."
that too?"
"Yes."
"So
when you found out you'd been working
murderer the
for a
up a cold-blooded double
control and picked up the skull and bashed his
past six years, that you'd helped cover
homicide, you lost
head
in
with
it."
"No," Falconer said. "No, not exactly.

sion and
wanted
by
my
part in the
"What was
"Something
he told
it,
made me do what
this
affair,
about
It
was
his
did."
else he'd done, a year after the murders.
me
his confes-
loathed him and
second revelation?"
it,
except that he was quite mad.
Falconer laughed mirthlessly.

Like an old Bela Lugosi
film.
"Mad
ghoul.
It
don't
A mad
know
ghoul."
sounds funny, doesn't
it?
But that's just what Asher was, always
poking around among the dead."
316
was sickened by
to strike back at him. But I'm not a violent man.
second revelation that
why
whole ugly
"Mr. Falconer
He
let
as
Lake Pontrain.
always believed;
these years,
all
loved grinning
came from
it
killed him, using the
when he
struction,
come
out a shuddering breath. "Asher's memento mori didn't
from Mexico,
told
me
these years,
at
me
I'd
one
that
fitting
been working
promontory
weapon
in that
study of his
with the skull of the only
over his shoulder
at
for his de-
woman
all
ever
."
.
Mrs. Belcourt Draws a Bier

by Alan
Ritner Anderson
Ching, the Chinese houseboy, found Mrs. Belcourt out on the moonlit terrace necking with a phony French count who grandly called
himself Louis Henri Jean Pierre D'Valois.
Bowing, Ching
said, "Dr. Orst,
he
call
and say you phone
sanitar-
ium quick right away."
Wanda
Belcourt languidly disengaged herself from D'Valois' ardent
embrace. She was dreamy drunk.
It
showed
in
the glassiness of her
pale blue eyes and the feverish redness of her cheeks. Voice savage,
she said, "You stinking
you
little rat!
How many
times do
have to
tell
Ching impassively. "You say. Dr. Orst

you quick right away."
The name registered. Wanda Belcourt ran slim fingers through the
glittering yellow curls of her upswept hair-do. The ruddiness faded
from her cheeks and greyness spread out from the corners of her thin"Excuse, please!" interrupted
call,
me
tell
lipped mouth.
'That's
all!"
she said jerkily.
Bowing, Ching backstepped into the house.

Pierre D'Valois'
handsome
Wanda
grin.
He'd warmed
been
safe to ask for
and chawould have
face darkened with frustration
Belcourt to the point where
it
another hundred-dollar loan. Ching's announce-
ment had destroyed the magic moment.

"What time is it?" she asked.
'Three," he replied sulkily after a glance at his wrist watch,
added
needlessly, "a.m."
317
moonglow, Mrs. Belcourt's eyes blazed with an unholy

Her rapt, savage expression reminded D'Valois of a preda-
In the faint
brightness.
tory animal after the
Shivering, he turned and glanced out across
kill.
the formal gardens that sloped

"He's dead!" she cried, voice
down
young peach orchard.
to a
with triumph.
shrill
"Who?"
Why
"My husband.
died?"
She hugged
money,
should Orst
at this
call
herself fiercely,
said,
hour
if
Larry hasn't
The
mine. All mine.
"It's
mean."
D'Valois went cold with desperation.
"If
your husband
is
dead," he
"you killed him."
said,
There was a long, tense silence and far away they heard the hoot
and rumble of a train. Wanda Belcourt stood ramrod-stiff and straight,
and her eyes shaded from blue to indigo. Voice edged, she declared,
"Larry was pronounced insane by a court of law. A judge committed
him
to the sanitarium
possibly
make me
on the advice of
at all
D'Valois decided that
day punch.
He
much when
he's drunk.
said,
experts.
However can
that
responsible for his death?"
was the opportune time to deliver
it
his Sun-
"Your so-called cousin, Frank Heath, talks too

I
understand that temporary insanity can be
induced by secretly feeding the victim certain drugs."
"How
droll!" said
Mrs. Belcourt. 'Trank has such a vivid imagina-
tion."
Pierre D'Valois
went damp with nervous sweat.
He
took
a stab in
the dark. "Your husband has only been in the sanitarium two weeks.
Perhaps
if
someone demands an autopsy
statement hang
Little
flecks
Belcourt's eyes,
."
.
He
left
the unfinished
in mid-air.
appeared
of blackness
and her
lips
in
a thin,
moonlight the drops of sweat on her forehead looked
red
We
residence in California where property
line. In
the
like glass beads.
Seeing that the blow had scored, D'Valois, bored

I'm twenty-six. You're thirty-three.
Wanda
the pale blue of
compressed into
in,
said,
"Look,
can get married and establish a

is
split fifty-fifty
when
couple
gets a divorce."
Mrs. Belcourt moistened her cold
The
stiffness
lips
with the
tip of
her tongue.
went out of her shoulders. "You may have something,"
she confessed.
"Think
it
over," D'Valois urged. "As
Frank Heath didn't make too
Wanda
Belcourt gave
him
much
your husband,
would
see that
of a nuisance of himself."
a frosty smile,
turned and walked
stiff-
leggedly into the spacious hallway where her spiked heels sank noise-
318
lessly into the thick
nap of the wine-colored carpet. Sound and fury

The party was getting rowdy. Her
rolled out of the music room.
guests were
in
pattern
writers
who
never wrote,
artists
who
who'd done no better than a high

school play. As she passed the archway, she saw Frank Heath sitting
in an easy chair sipping champagne. He was a dumpy little man, pale
and flabby, but his bald skull glittered with a pink sheen. He was
couldn't paint, actors and actresses
morosely drunk, and tears beaded his eyelashes.

She entered the library and sat down behind the black gloss of the
ebony
desk.
She
said dramatically to the
room
at large,
"Oh, no. Dr. Orst!" She repeated it until she was sure her voice
held just the right note of shocked tragedy and anguished grief. She
One
dialed the sanitarium.
dropped her voice down

rence Belcourt. Let
There was
me
of the male attendants answered.
to nervous apprehension. "This
She
Mrs. Law-
speak to Dr. Orst!"
a click, then Dr. Orst's thick voice
have bad news," he
is
said.
She fought down her
came on
the
line. "I
"Very bad news."

fierce exaltation.
"So
surmised.
am
pre-
pared."
Dr. Orst took a deep, gusty breath. "Your husband escaped an hour
ago."
There was a sudden surflike roaring

marched up her spine on spidery
chills
until
in
Wanda
feet.
and
Belcourt's ears,
She gripped the handset
her knuckles whitened. "No! Nol" She heard herself say. "No!
me
not possible. You told
It's
happen in a hundred years," interrupted Dr. Orst,

'The gardener piled hay for a mulch against the outside
wall of the main building. Your husband leaped from a third-floor
window. The hay broke his fall. I'm in touch with the state police.
Your husband was seen entering the woods that adjoin your estate.
couldn't
"It
speaking
The
fast.
police have posted a trooper at the gate. Your
husband
can't
climb the wall that surrounds your place. So you are perfectly safe."
Mrs. Belcourt's panic abated, and her eyes slitted with sly cunning.
"Keep
me
informed!" she ordered crisply and replaced the
a steady hand.
She
lit
a cigarette,
phone with
took a reflective inhale, then plumed
smoke ceilingward.
sanitarium was less than a mile away. She had selected it to
give the impression that she was a devoted wife who wanted her mentally sick husband as near to her as possible. Her restive eyes surveyed
the room. She got up and went to the French doors that opened on a
flagstone walk. They were locked. She unlatched a door and opened it
the
The
out an inch.
Then she
pulled the blue drapes closed.
319
Back
at
the desk, she opened the center drawer and took out the
was her husband's pride and
.22 target pistol that
hobby. There was
his
a target
beside the miniature golf course.
marksmanship with
joy. Small
arms were
in
the basement, one outdoors
Wanda
Belcourt had taken up pistol
range
a ghoulish zest, seeing in
would make her
it
the opportunity to
widow. Unfortunately, servants had always been present to care for weapons and targets.
The plan had blossomed in her brain so crystal clear, with details
stage an accident that
had the illusion that she was about

There was an oak door in the
wall that surrounded the estate. The little-used entry was a quartermile from the main gate, just beyond a curve in the highway and
dovetailing so perfectly, that she
to enact a role in a well -rehearsed play.
opposite a gasoline service station that closed at midnight.
There was
a tooled leather cigar
box on the desk
top.
She emptied
the cigars into the drawer, placed the pistol in the box, closed the lid
and tucked the container under her left arm. She went out into the
hallway just as Ching came out of the music room with an empty tray.
"Go to bed!" she ordered him, shouting to be heard above the
tumult of the party.
Ching bowed and hurried back toward the kitchen. Pierre D'Valois
came in from the terrace, smirking with triumph. He walked up to
Mrs. Belcourt, gripped her bare shoulders and laid his cheek next to
hers.
?"
is he
"Signed, sealed and delivered," she said. "I'm going to the sanitar-
ium.
You
stay here.
Keep the party
rolling hot
and heavy. Don't
tell a
soul!"
D'Valois frowned, suggested, "Don't
"Shut up!" she snapped.
"If
you want
you think
a ride
it
better
on the gravy
."
.
train,
do
as
you're told!"
He
shrugged doubtfully, glanced
then smiled broadly. "The
will,
at the leather
box under her arm,
presume," he said. She didn't reply,
so he turned and walked airily into the music room.

In her
gay blue and ivory bedroom,
Wanda
Belcourt changed to a
black suit and covered the white of her throat with a deep blue
She transferred the
pistol to
wallet, then got the
key to the oak door from the pin tray on her
would be out of place in her bedit on top of the dresser.

she picked up the ivory phone on the bedside table
vanity. Since the cigar container
room, she
filled
it
with handkerchiefs and put
Ready to leave,
and dialed the state police barracks.
320
scarf.
her biggest handbag, added a well-filled
Swale speaking," said
"State police, Corporal
"This
is
Mrs. Lawrence Belcourt," she
husband
is
hiding
said.
"I
a firm voice.
understand that
my
woods."
in Jessop's
"He was seen going in there," Swale hedged. "We'll search the
woods in the morning. In the meantime, I've posted a trooper at your
gate.
Your husband
can't
climb the wall, so
you'll
be perfectly
safe."
"Are you sure he went into the woods?"
"Yes.
motorcycle patrolman spotted him."
'Thank you," she said, and hung up feeling warm and excited.
The kitchen was deserted. She left by the back porch and walked
to the garage. Ghostly moonlight flooded the scene with a silvery
radiance and towering shrubs cast elongated shadows. Heart hammering, she slipped behind the wheel of her black convertible. Even at
that distance she could hear sounds of revelry from the music room.
The trooper
the gate was a robust
at
Eyes wary, he stopped
alert.
six feet
young man very much on the

from the
driver's side of the
convertible.
"I'm Mrs. Belcourt," she explained
town and
"You'd be
wall and
"I'll
time
with a red smile. "I'm going
in
stay at a hotel."
all
right," said the trooper.
have
"Your husband can't climb the
this gate covered."
rest easier in a hotel
room," she
said,
then asked
idly,
"What
it?"
is
The
trooper consulted his watch. 'Tive to four."
of thanks and drove out on the highway.

She drove at a sedate 25 miles per hour
lights as soon as she rounded the curve. She
eased the convertible across the concrete apron of the gas station and
let it roll to a stop behind the main service building. The concealment
She gave him
a tight
There wasn't a car in

and switched off the
nod
sight.
was better than she had hoped.

She wormed
off
her high-heeled slippers,
then
frowned.
She
should have remembered to bring along an extra pair of nylons. The

soles of her stockings would be worn away by the time she got back.
She sneaked to the south end of the building. The road was deserted.
The pavement was hot beneath her feet.
The heavy oak door was partly concealed by vines. The lock
turned easily with the pressure of the key, but the hinges grated chatteringly,
and her heart started trip-hammering. She sneaked into the

left the door ajar. Then she tossed the key into a pool of
ground and
water some ten feet from the gravel path.
and
It
struck with a soft splash
a tiny geyser.
'The
faithful
Ching," she whispered to herself. "As soon as he

321
heard of his master's escape, he sneaked
down and unlocked
the
door."
She made a complete circle around the house. The light in Ching's
room above the kitchen was burning and she imagined that she saw
his shadow on the wall. Indianlike, she approached the music room by
rushing from shrub to shrub and keeping where the shadows were
deepest. Both
windows
of the music
room were open and
a profusion
She
of bushes along the outer wall offered excellent concealment.
crouched beneath a window. The ceiling
fixture
was
off
and
floor
lamps diffused a soft orange glow throughout the room. The radio
was waging a losing battle with a group of brassy males voices trying
to harmonize on How Dry I Am.
She had to lock her jaws to keep her teeth from chattering
her head and peeked over the sill. She was in luck.
lifted
D'Valois was slumped in a chair near the
window studying
as she
Pierre
the glow-
ing end of his cigar with the rapt, dreamy expression his face acquired
when he sank
Heath
sat
into a pleasant speculation of
on an end of
coffee table.
money
matters. Frank
davenport with his feet cocked up on the
The red-headed
girl
next to him sat leaning over the
coffee table trying unsuccessfully to build
some
sort of a structure out
of safety matches.
Wanda
firing
Belcourt got out the pistol and
pumped
a shell into the
chamber. She steadied her hand and selected Pierre D'Valois
Her
as
up the trigger slack.

The voices of the male chorus climbed up on a high note and hung
the
first
target.
slim fingers took
there.
She
somed
fired.
Magically,
a red rose.
The
the other noises in the
around
a
in
beacon.
it
room and some
of the guests were staring
bleary-eyed wonder. Frank Heath's pale face stood out
The second
like
shot caught him between the eyes, whipping
head back and jerking
his
seemed, Pierre D'Valois' forehead blos-
sharp thunder of the report had cut through
his arms. D'Valois
was an
inert
heap on the
floor.
Mrs. Belcourt faded back into the shadows.
woman's
scream shattered the comparative silence of the night

ceased.
Someone turned
sudden silence
the radio
after the fury of a
off.
air.
The
The hushed calm was
strident
singing
like
the
thunder storm.
Frightened by the leather-lunged shrieks of the hysterical woman

which could be heard by the trooper at the gate, Mrs. Belcourt lifted
her skirt to her thighs and ran a zig-zag course between the shrubs
and bushes of the garden. She reached the oak door panting for
322
breath and tingling with apprehension. There were no soles
left in
her
nylons and her feet were swollen and sore from rocks and gravel. She
each foot anxiously, fearing
felt
spoor. But she'd suffered
no
a cut that
would have
left a
blood
cut, just bruises.
She reached the convertible without incident and slipped behind

the wheel.
from the
Her swollen
feet
made her
slippers painfully tight. Driving
waited until she saw an oncoming car
station, she
in the
distance before she turned on the lights. Halfway across the three-
mile straightaway that crossed a swamp, she braked to an abrupt stop
and hurled the
pistol off to her right.
and
struck with a soft plop
It
the glare from the headlights, she saw the
weapon
in
sink from sight in
the muck.
She parked the car outside the main entrance of the hotel and
grandly told the doorman to have
it
stored in the garage.
Safe within the privacy of the suite, Mrs. Belcourt undressed and
on the edge of the bathtub soaking her aching
sat
feet.
The
hastily
conceived plan had worked to perfection. In due time she would be-
come
widow
either a
man
or the wife of a
put away for
life.
Either
way, she would come into possession of immense wealth, and with
and Frank Heath rotting
Pierre D'Valois
in their graves, there
would
be no staggering blackmail payments to make.
She switched
ical
her brain.
off the lights
and climbed into bed. Faced with phys-
her nerves tightened and worrying thoughts clouded
inactivity,
The
an air-tight
had
it
The
Had
soleless stockings distressed her.
the gate run to the house after the double

alibi?
She
rallied,
letter perfect.
police
came
at five.
They phoned from

it.
Even
the lobby and gave her
so,
the soleless stockings
refused to drape her ankles neatly. She lighted a
handled
a cigarette
There were two
dominated by
detectives.
One was
a jutting jaw.
tall
one
said,
men and
ankles.
and
lean,
had
a sad
grey
His companion was short and stocky.
Contrary to expectations, both removed their

tall
smoke because she
with graceful flourishes that captivated
which would draw attention away from her
The
establish
mentally rehearsed her story until she
plenty of time to dress. She needed
face
the trooper at
Could Ching
kill?
hats.
"Your husband was captured an hour ago."
"Where?" she asked warily.
The
cat
tall
man
sighed, said, "I'm not going to drag this out and play
and mouse. You can add. Your husband escaped from the
ium wearing
a strait-jacket.
He was
captured wearing
sanitar-
a strait-jacket.
323
man
at
in a strait-jacket
on
is
a par
with a person with both arms cut off
the shoulders. Let's go, Mrs. Belcourt."
The words of Dr. Orst, Corporal Swale and the trooper at the gate
marched through her memory on leaden feet. "Your husband can't
climb the wall," they had all asserted with conviction. She should
have asked why.
Murder at Rose Cottage

by Edward D. Hoch
The
and
threatening letters started arriving a

it
was those that
first
month before
the murder,
brought Inspector Greene to the
little
En-
upon the Avon not far from Stratford. The autumn had been warm, and it was almost like a summer's
day when he first visited Rose Cottage where Major Wen lived with
glish village of Merryside, nestled
his sister Grace.
"You came
all
the
him. "Didn't think
way from London!" Major Wentworth
my
greeted
problems were that important."
"Death threats are always important, Major. The village constable

requested our assistance." Inspector Greene settled into a comfortable
chair
you
by the window.
"1
believe this letter of
received: Major Wentworth
Prepare
to
die in
one month's time!
you
And
October 5th
must pay for

it's
the sins
of
is
the
first
your youth'
unsigned, of course."
Wentworth pointed
what especially disturbed my brother. He has no enemies
here." She was a slim woman, somewhat shorter than her brother and
lacking his obvious charm. Inspector Greene imagined she spent much
"But mailed right here in Merryside," Grace
out. "That's
of her time tending the garden he'd glimpsed at the rear of the house.
"Were you indeed living in Merryside during your sinful youth?" he

lightly. "The second and third letters also mention it."
"I grew up here," the major confirmed, "but of course
went away
to school.
came back in the summers."
"Girl friends?" Inspector Greene asked.
The major hesitated and his sister answered for him. "Elizabeth
Jennings. She still lives here and she's a bit touched at times since her
?"
husband died. Do you think she could be
asked
324
Greene said with a smile. "Thank you for your

worry about this. We'll get to the bottom of it."
The local constable was named Cedric Sloane, and he'd rung up
Scotland Yard for help when the major's sister first told him of the
threatening letters. 'Tm only good at handling weekend drunks and
needed help on this one. Got
stray dogs," he told Greene. "I knew
talk to her,"
"I'll
time,
and
try not to
any
"I
ideas?"
want to see
woman named
Jennings
Elizabeth
Jennings."
remember she was a beautiful girl. The major used to come down from Cambridge in his fancy
car and take her to country dances. That was forty years ago and
was eighteen. I've married and raised a family since then."
"I'll have a talk with her," Greene said.
"Her mind's a bit wobbly since her husband died of a heart attack
"Sure
should have thought of her.
last year.
You'd best be gentle with her."
"I'm gentle
with everyone, except murderers."
Elizabeth Jennings
retained
still
some
of her youthful beauty, and
she greeted Inspector Greene at the door with a winning smile.
"Anonymous
let-
thought Scotland Yard was busy with
ter-
"You're investigating what?" she asked,

ters?
Heaven help
rorists
us
still
smiling.
and murderers!"
'This could be murder. Major Wentworth's

ened."
"Wentworth
in
my
^yes.
TTiat
youth, you see.
life
has been threat-
would be Charlie Wentworth. knew him

man, even if he did bad things at
I
A good
Her expression was just a bit vague.

"What sort of bad things?" Greene asked.
"Oh, you know. He was at the university then. It was just after the
was
war and everyone was so relaxed. He talked of marriage and
wasn't alone. His own sister had
foolish enough to believe him.
romantic troubles too. But when Charlie left me it was quite a blow.
He told me after a party on Guy Fawkes Day."
Greene glanced at the wall calendar. "That's coming up next week.
times."
It
will
be the 40th anniversary of your parting."
"Not something to celebrate,

"TTiat depends.
"Of course
On
the
not!
way
is
it?"
Have you been threatening Major Wentworth?"

I
wouldn't harm the dear man."
out of town Greene paused to talk with Major Went-
named
Wentworth
worth's neighbor, a middle-aged farmer

notice anyone prowling around the
McCrae
Paul
McCrae. "Ever
place?"
scratched his head. "Haven't seen anybody. Grace does
all
325
the gardening, so
see her, but the major stays indoors.
They keep
to
themselves since he retired from the army. She goes out on Wednes-
day afternoons, but he
sticks close to
'Thanks for your help," Greene
home."
and drove off toward London.

was the following Tuesday when Constable Sloane phoned from
Merryside. Greene had all but forgotten it was Guy Fawkes Day. "We
said,
it
need you,
the excited voice told him. 'There's been a murder at
sir,"
Rose Cottage."
"Major Wentworth?"
"No,
sir.
Grace who's been
his sister
it's
The body had been removed by

Rose Cottage hours
The
out front.
"Out
he
said,
it
parked
shaking his head. 'The
woman
hadn't an en-
happen?" Greene asked.
her garden.
in
picking the
was
still
the world."
in
"Where did
it
the time Inspector Greene reached
but Constable Sloane's car was
neighbor, Paul McCrae, was just leaving the house. "A
terrible thing,"
emy
later,
killed."
last
Someone shot her from behind while she was
of her vegetables.
heard the shot myself, but thought
a hunter."
Greene found Constable Sloane with the major, trying to

'Tell me what happened," he said. "Had there been more
Inside,
comfort him.
threatening letters?"
The major shook

that
his head.
to pick her vegetables.
of
"Not since your
was over with. Grace went out
my
killer
It
was
in
visit.
We
were hoping
the garden just after breakfast
damp morning and
she slipped on one
hunting jackets that was hanging by the back door. Could the
have mistaken her for me?" His voice broke as he said
"It's
likely,"
you, but
it
it.
Constable Sloane replied. "She was much smaller than
was misty out
earlier.
frightened killer might have fired
without thinking, seeing only a bent-over
figure."
"Major Wentworth, do you remember anything that happened
ago today?" Greene asked.

"What? Forty years is a long time. It would have been my last year
at Cambridge. I don't remember anything else."
"Elizabeth Jennings says you jilted her that night, after a Guy
Fawkes party. Do you remember now?"
"Elizabeth
My God, do you think she wrote those letters?"
"It's a possibility. Tell me something else
did you or your sister
discuss those letters with anyone? Your neighbor Paul McCrae, for
forty years
example?"
"No one.
326
It
wasn't the sort of thing one bragged about."
"So only the two of you and the writer of the letters
knew about
them?"
"I
suppose
that's so."
Inspector Greene nodded.

again,"
"I'll
want to
he told the constable. 'Then
call
believe
I'll
on Elizabeth Jennings
have a solution to our
mystery."
Elizabeth opened the door as he got out of the car.
be coming again," she
said.
"I
"1
knew you'd
heard someone killed Grace Went-
worth."
Greene nodded and stepped
inside.
"You wrote those
letters, didn't
you. Mrs. Jennings?"
"After your
Charlie
"I
left
wrote them, yes," she admitted suddenly.
crazy. But
"1
husband died you began to brood about the time when
you, forty years ago."
stopped
after
your
visit last
week.
"I
believe you," he said after a moment's thought.
fact that
Grace did
must have been
didn't
"It
kill
Grace."
was
known
the gardening and the major stayed inside.
all
me that. No one could have mistaken her, even in

Major Wentworth wasn't the intended victim. The killer was
after Grace Wentworth and he got her. He used your letters to cover
his real motive. That's why he struck on Guy Fawkes Day, hoping
Their neighbor told

the mist.
you'd be blamed."
He
asked her one more question and then departed. Constable
had pulled up behind his on the road outside. "Thought

you might need help in making the arrest," Sloane said.
Inspector Greene shook his head. "The major wasn't the intended
Sloane's car
victim."
"You think he wrote the
letters to
himself and then killed his
own
sister?"
wrote the letters, and

whole idea. But it wasn't Major Wentworth.
He wouldn't have shot Grace in the garden where it was known he
never ventured, not if he wanted to keep alive the idea of a mistaken
victim. And I don't really think he remembered the significance of
Guy Fawkes Day until reminded him."
?"
"Then who
'The killer had to be someone who was here at the time Wentworth jilted Elizabeth Jennings, who saw that date on the first letter
October 5th and realized the threat was for Guy Fawkes Day, one
month later. He remembered what happened that day because he was
327
Greene shook
his head. "Elizabeth Jennings
that gave the killer the
Wentworth at the time.

think they remained
and on, to the present time, though he had a wife and
suspect they met secretly when she went off alone on
dating young Grace

lovers, off
family.
Wednesday
Maybe
afternoons.
she decided
whatever reason, he wanted to be
wife. For
he realized the meaning of those
he
letters,
it
was time he
rid of
left
her for good.
his
When
on Guy Fawkes
killed her
Day, hoping to blame Elizabeth Jennings."

"I
don't
'The
had
killer
know about those

Of course they did
to
they told no one.
They
Sloane.
yet
letters,
tell
Wentworth
said
one person, Constable
told you."
Cedric Sloane slumped forward. "You know."

"I
know," Inspector Greene agreed. "Elizabeth Jennings
firmed that you were Grace's suitor
just
con-
when they were young. You
tried
remove suspicion from yourself by asking Scotland Yard for help,

it than you bargained for. I'm arresting you for
to
but you got more of

murder."
Murderer's Handicap
by Alex Barber
Gerald Beauchamp crumpled the
it
with violence into the
pounds
"Fifty
won't get
it!
in
money.
He would
he knew the
get
and
fllung
it
truth.
Hackett would not wait
in three days, as
staring
down
he demanded
into the
fire,
or he
an elegant
of perhaps thirty-five, with pale yellow hair brushed sleekly back,
and rather protuberant blue
eyes.
Gradually his pose slackened.
He
ball,
have to wait!"
will
it,
would strike, as a snake strikes.

Beauchamp stood there, rigid,
man
savagely into a
three days!" he bit out venomously. "Well, he
The swine
But even as he said

for the
letter
fire.
lit
a cigarette,
After
all,
it
and puffed out
wasn't as
if
curious gleam
came
into his eyes.
a cloud of smoke.
he was unprepared
for this crisis,
was
it? It
simply meant that a certain plan, which might not have proved necessary,
328
would have
to be adopted.
He
took
deep breath.
"Murder!" he murmured, gazing at his cigarette with narrowed eyes.
He
glanced
"Just
gold watch on his wrist.
at the
time to get a note off to Hackett.
He dropped
materials
And
then
into a chair at the oval oak table near the
were ready to
his hand, for
it
was here
Writing
fire.
that he wrote his
murder-mystery novels and short stories. The deep leather chair at the
end of the hearthrug was ideal for pondering plots, but too luxurious
for the actual writing.
When
he had finished
his brief reply to the blackmailer's
he slipped the envelope into his pocket, and

But on his
way
to the door, a sharp
message,
rose, smiling confidently.
sound brought him to
a halt.
Frowning, he crossed quickly to the window. Looking out through the

leaded panes, he bit out an oath.
A homely woman
of generous dimensions, with a figure like a loaf
was waddling up the red-brick path between the lawns. Her

round, happy face beamed with good-nature. Even her hat, a remarkable creation in what appeared to be antique green plush, with a
jaunty feather wobbling precariously at the rear, had a happy sort of
of bread,
look.
Beauchamp strode
reached
as the caller
me
open
it
just
it.
"Ooh! 'Ow you did make

you'd seen
and pulled
angrily to the front door,
me
jump, Mr. Beauchamp!
didn't
know
coming!"
Mrs. Plucknett beamed
at
him with the motherly
affection
which
she bestowed impartially, out of the infinite resources of her heart, on

all
human
"You'll
by
beings and most dogs, cats and canaries.
excuse
me
taking the liberty, I'm sure," she went on, fortified
few gasping breaths, "but
without you
self can't
'as
be bothered seeing
some o' them

champ and 'im
like.
after
Wally Burchell come round today,

'if
a nome isn't a nome

know gentlemen like yourflowers, but
thought, when old
always think
few flowers about,
thought, 'There now,'
roses of his wouldn't be just

all
on
'is
at
thought,
right for Mr. Beau-
own, miles from nowhere, with nobody or
nothink to cheer 'im up!" So
She began plucking
all
got these few."
the top of the newspaper cone which she
was carrying.
"Beggin' your pardon for the liberty,
sir,"
she added.
"I
you
'ope
don't mind."
Gerald Beauchamp returned her motherly smile with
a cold stare.
engaged you, Mrs. Plucknett," he said frigidly,

duties that finished immediately after lunch, if you want to know,
"I
thought
"for
am
329
extremely annoyed
And he
night!"
"Oh,
being disturbed
at
Good
like this at this hour.
stepped back, preparatory to closing the door.
dear!" Mrs. Plucknett's face
"Oh, I'm sorry,
fell.
sir,
I'm sure."
But she was not to be defeated without a struggle.
Her good-hearted
impulse to brighten the place up a bit for him was
still
despite her reception. "Anyway," she pleaded, "you'll
on your
table for
And
tick.
you now
"Mrs. Plucknett," broke in

I
You
they're lovely roses.
gardener to
you
come, won't you,
I've
dislike
table
If
you must leave the
but
And
for
Wally
Beauchamp
being interrupted."
added, with marked emphasis:

evening.
see,
"1
sir? It
"I
me
put them
won't take
Burchell,
angrily,
strong in her,
let
me
he used to be
have already told
sudden thought struck him, and he
am
writing.
flowers,
come
shall
in
be writing
all the
my
and put them on
God's sake don't keep on babbling about them!"
turning on his heel, he ran upstairs to the bathroom, and
jerked savagely at the taps over the wash basin. Mrs. Plucknett or no
Mrs. Plucknett, he had to get his face ready for the grease-paint.
Half an hour
he had changed into
later,
cheap cloth and atrocious
face became grimmer when

woolen gloves.
"No
finger-prints,"
He went
and put on
cut,
at
commonplace
a pair of
suit of
heavy boots. His
length he drew on a pair of cheap
he said slowly.
downstairs. Mrs. Plucknett, he knew, had gone. In the
room
that served as his study, he drew the heavy curtains across the
window, lighted the hanging lamp, and stood the wire guard in front
of the
fire.
"That's everything,
think."
As he paused in the doorway for a final glance, his gaze flickered to

the splash of deep red on his writing-table. Grudgingly he admitted
that the old girl was right. They were certainly a lovely color, those
roses.
He
let
himself out of the house by the backdoor, which he locked
softly
behind him. The back garden ended on the edge of
copse.
Soon he was
a hazel
slipping cautiously between the slender stems, to
emerge presently on a path. His face looked rather strained, but he

had himself well in hand for the grim task that lay before him.
As he strode along,
his
thoughts reverted to Mrs. Plucknett. Really,
not half a bad thing that she had
come over
And
being incurably
talkative,
He knew
Keynesford Heath.
what could be more
likely than that she
should mention this evening's
330
this evening!
in
she "charred" at Superintendent Jordan's place,
visit
to Mrs. Jordan,
who was
well
known
there was more than a chance that the superintendent would
rate,
hear of the
would he
and questioned Mrs. Plucknett, what
did,
him what
remember what
the evening.
Of
course,
way
helps, in the
little
mused Beauchamp,
said,"
was short with her
ten to one she'll

all
he
if
learn?
explain that
every
And
visit.
"She'll tell
ing
encouraging gossip from her "helps"? At any
for her habit of
me
for interrupting
I
my
said about intending to
be no proof that
will
it
grinning. "She'll
at
And
work.
go on
writ-
did so
but
of corroborative evidence!"
For an hour and a half he followed the winding path through the
woods. Finally he reached
crossed
a clearing,
it,
and rapped on the

own.
It
man who peered
at
back door of an old half-timbered cottage not unlike

opened, after
by
a little delay,
a scholarly old
his
was
him
over large, gold-rimmed spectacles.
"Who
"It's
is
it?"
he demanded sharply. "What do you want?"
only me,
sir,"
Beauchamp
said
the cap which had shadowed
"Good
gracious, so
"Come
ishment.
in,
my
Gerald,
what you think of the

Seated
Ephriam
Sir
ing
the
down from
in!
It
in
his explanation.
do
But to
for.
of
sir.
I've
come
to
the old man's cosy study, Beau-
dome
of his bald head to a tiny chin, the
As easy
easy.
work
his
my way
And
that's
thin, stringy
"suffers
from the hand-
there must be nothing un-
of thinking the
simple one.
and the
as puffing out a candle!
perfectly
not by working out a multitude of
one do best?
name
Whilst he spoke, he was studying
"A murderer," said Beauchamp thoughtfully,
is
the
spare figure, the wizened, pear-shaped face narrow-
was going to be
provided
in aston-
in
plot."
the shining
icap of having to
off
hey?"
bright eyes, with their rather fanatical gleam

neck.
What
murder story of mine,
comfortable chair
in a
champ continued
come
boy,
like that for,
"Just a sort of tryout for a
see
and he pulled
exclaimed the old man, blinking
it is!"
goodness are you got up
reassuringly,
his face.
way
details.
to achieve perfection
What
does
sort of job
the line I'm going on in this
this story."
"Simplicity
"Exactly,
ourselves,
"shall
is
sir.
safety, hey?"
And
could
it
test
occurred to
my
me
plot by, well"
say a rehearsal? So
that
if
used characters
Beauchamp laughed
made myself
like
lightly
the murderer, and you,
sir,
the victim!"
He
laughed again, rather harshly.
How
hot this grease-paint
made
one's face feel!
331
Still,
brown complexion
the
countryman had been
of a
a necessary
adjunct to his rough clothes.
"The
hey?"
you
devil
did!" said Sir
And he went
Ephriam. "So I'm to be the corpse,
on
off into a thin cackle of laughter that jarred
Beauchamp's strained nerves.
momentary
To cover
his
"You
it's all
tric
see,
knight, of about your
whom
agitation,
Beauchamp hurried
There
quite simple.
own
is
age. After the death of his wife, to
he was intensely devoted, he chose to lead
He
retirement.
settled
down,
on:
wealthy but rather eccen-
as
you have done,
a life of scholarly
in a
cottage, without ostentation, without even servants
simple country
alone with
his
beloved books."
"Was
he," inquired Sir
Ephriam, rather wistfully,
forward to being with his wife again? Did he
Or was he one
rather clever not to believe in

"I
don't know," said
about that point."
"Anyway,
of these stupid people
God and
And
in
me, looking
as
Beauchamp
do
that
that gate
who
think
it
the after-life?"
"1
hurriedly.
hadn't thought
stirred uneasily in his chair before proceeding.
man
you, he struck up a friendship with a
like
an author.
He
when he went through
she would be there to meet him,

called Death?
"like
feel sure
half his age,
the course of a couple of years, his affections,
which would normally have found expression in love for his wife
had she lived and in a number of friendships if he had stayed in
society
these affections came to a focus on this author-friend of his.
So much
so,
in
fact,
man
that the old
altered his will. Instead of
leaving his considerable fortune entirely to certain charities, he di-
vided
it
equally between those charities and his
having no reason to be secretive about
what he had done."

"So far," remarked
it,
young
friend.
Ephriam, "you seem to have kept
Sir
the facts concerning ourselves.
And,
he told the fortunate legatee
Where does
strictly to
the fiction part
come
in,
hey? Must do your job, you know!" Again that thin chuckle which
Beauchamp found almost
intolerably jarring tonight.
II
"I'm
coming
ing that
was
it
bad
to that now," replied the author, forcing a smile and hop-
looked
hat.
less strained
Went
in for
so-called clubs in town,
than
it
felt.
"You
see, this writer
chap
gambling, belonged to one or two dubious
and lived
"The old boy knew nothing of

332
well, an
all
this.
immoral
How
life.
should he?
He
was
down
buried
had
way
man
the Sussex countryside. Besides, the author had a
in
of being discreet about his

er
He knew
pleasures.
that the old
and would disapprove pretty thoroughly
a strong religious streak,
of his goings-on.
Beauchamp
"In fact," said
his
mind
that
if
cut out of the
gone
That nice
will.
like that!"
at
him
in
he would be
ears,
would be
half-share in a fortune
little
And he snapped
Ephriam was peering
Sir
was no doubt whatever
slowly, "there
once the truth got to the old man's

his fingers.
in a
puzzled way beneath lowered
eyebrows. To avoid questions, Beauchamp hurried on:
you can imagine without much trouble. A certain unsain town gets to know too much, and puts the screw
on this author laddie threatens to expose him to the old boy, you
understand. A rather nasty position. For a while it works all right, but
"The
vory
rest
little
man up
comes
there
time
when
the author can't pay.
"His pleasures are apt to be expensive, and perhaps he
out so
much
literary
work,
as a result of
The
them.
He
he doesn't receive a particular payment he was expecting.

ugly, issues an ultimatum. Fifty
pounds
champ
hot and dry
licked his
lips,
which
felt
turns
And" Beauauthor knows he
in three days!
turning
isn't
blackmailer finds
"the
can't possibly pay!"
He
paused, breathing rather noisily.
"An extremely interesting

can see what comes next.
be
favorable position to
in a
because
is
known
the one man who should be
friend
the crime. As for the blackmailer,
let
"The blackmailer," said Beauchamp

have no hold
man
is
left.
life
to the police. But
traced.
see
with a queer smile,
softly,
if
one
when
"will
the old
to reveal the author's
should he?
It
won't convict the
means running the risk of being landed himblackmailer. Even anonymous letters have been known to be
What
is
good reasons
it
more,
this
and more
profitable
particular blackmailer
happens to have
No, he'll see

up laying golden eggs, and he'll get busy in
ways than writing spiteful letters to Scotland
for not getting
that his goose has given

safer
why
think
have committed
least likely to
me
"1
He would
he, too, lives alone,
His information has no market value
author of murder, and

self as a
Ephriam.
to be the old fellow's
The most he could do would be
dead.
immoral
Sir
the old man.
do so
And, of course, he
he's like you.
nodded
situation,"
The author murders
mixed up with the
police.
Yard.
"And
will
so, as
you have
said,
sir,
the author
is
be questioned, naturally. But suppose he
the evening.
was busy
writing.' Well,
why
in a
good
He
position.
home
all
should anyone doubt
it?
says,
'I
was
at
333
There
chance, though
a faint
is
encouraged
most
it's
he hasn't
unlikely, because
someone might come
callers, that
to his house while
he
is
out.
'They will see the light, but will get no answer when they knock.
was writing a passage at white-heat positively inspired,' says
Why?
'1
the author. 'Someone knocked at the door, you say?
noticed
they'd smashed
if
it
The same
down!'
Everyone knows what authors
call.
you think of
are.
shouldn't have
applies to any telephone
So there you
What do
are!
it?"
"Very good," said Sir Ephriam, frowning. "Yes, undoubtedly a clever

But
story.
why you
don't see
should bother to come over here,
dressed up like that, for what you
me
seem to
call a rehearsal. It doesn't
necessary, or even useful."
Beauchamp laughed.
"Perhaps
tion.
And
ally tried
He
wasn't,"
it
was
there
he said
just
gaily, rising. "But
one thing
my
imagina1
actu-
it."
he pursued, "the murderer has
see,"
most improbable thing, but
when he knows
"Well,
victim's chair
like this.
Beauchamp,
in a
far,
curious whisper,
shouldn't think there
no one
safe,
is
"is
be
else in the
sure.
he gets behind his
so good. But what
want
to know,"
whether the victim can be
prevented from uttering any cry. That's what
"Oh,
is
just as well to
that everything
So
with his victim.
a talk
That enables him to make quite sure that there
said
helps
crossed the hearthrug, and stood behind Sir Ephriam's chair.
"You
house
it
couldn't be sure of unless
want to know."
would be much danger of
that," said
Ephriam.
Sir
There
wasn't.
Beauchamp's gloved hands saw to that
Ill
Gerald Beauchamp rose

rashers
of
late, as usual,
bacon and an egg
for
next morning.
his
breakfast,
through the process of consuming them,
in
He had
fried
two
and was halfway
the sunny
little
dining
room, when Superintendent Jordan arrived with the news that Sir
Ephriam Yardley had been found murdered

"Sir
Ephriam?
why, he was
my
That break
"Brutally
334
Good
best friend!
in his
and
in his study.
heavens. Super, what are you saying?
voice
You
can't
mean
Why
admirable!
foully murdered," said the big superintendent sav-
"An old man that wouldn't have hurt
agely.
deserves to swing,
Beauchamp sank
so,"
"My
best friend
it
all
acting.
His
stroking
superintendent,
the
said
slug that did
His heart was pounding madly.
upsetting," he blurted out.
"Quite
The
fly.
emotion was not
into a chair. His
legs felt suddenly weak.

"It's
right!"
all
square
his
chin
thoughtfully.
when Beauchamp was calmer, he faced the anticipated quesThe superintendent cross-examined him.
"We have to check up on people, you know, sir. Matter of routine."
Later,
tions.
quite understand. Super. Well, as a matter of fact
"1
evening.
was busy writing
in the
"You didn't leave the house
room next
was
in all last
to this."
at all?"
"No."
"How
long would you have been writing?"
feel just right for it. To be

do, you know, when
added Beauchamp, caressing his plump cheek reflectively, "I
was writing from the time Mrs. Plucknett came over she happened
until
went to bed at about half past
to come with some flowers
"Several hours.
exact,"
eleven."
heard about Mrs. Plucknett coming over," nodded the super-
"I
intendent. "She cleans up for us before she

ing,
and
women
well, there,
will talk!
comes
to
you
in the
morn-
Brought you some flowers for
your writing-table, didn't she?"
Beauchamp drew
"Why,
"Been
yes,"
super was
no suspicion.
he smiled. "Some remarkably
in to give
The
long breath. This was better!
actually getting chatty! Evidently
them any water
this
fine roses."
morning?" inquired Superin-
tendent Jordan casually.
Beauchamp shook
"I
his head,
with a
never think of things like that.
them water,
been
in
my
as
and when they require
He
doubt Mrs. Plucknett
it.
As
a matter of fact,
will give
1
haven't
study yet, this morning."
"Ah!" said the superintendent.
hadn't
faint smile.
No
in case
was
"I
wondered.
rather
hoped you
right."
stepped smartly forward. Beauchamp stared stupidly, as a heavy
hand came down on
his shoulder.
"1 arrest you
warn you that
evidence at your
"Gerald Beauchamp," said the superintendent grimly,

for the willful
murder of
anything you say
Sir
may be
Ephriam Yardley, and
taken
down and used
as
trial!"
At the police station
in
Keynesford Heath, they got what they

335
wanted. Beauchamp broke down, as he had
reached
this stage.
known he would
if
it
For one thing, arrest meant a search which would
and clothes hidden in his wardrobe, things for

which there was no innocent explanation. But then it was a crime
which never ought to have come to this!
When he had dictated and signed his confession, he turned savagely on the superintendent.
"You clever devil!" he bit out. "You couldn't have known was lying
reveal the grease paint
about
evening!"
last
Superintendent Jordan returned the savage glare with a look of
He
stern satisfaction.
was not
afflicted
should have believed you,
"I
flowers.
Of
daresay, but for one thing.
you might have known
course,
you wouldn't,
with sentimentality where de-
murderers were concerned.
liberate, brutal
why
me you didn't
realized. That's
water. Your answer told
but
asked you
if
you'd given them
know!"
Beauchamp was trembling now.

don't know what you mean!" Suddenly
"Flowers?
"You
Those
there was a chance
his voice rose.
he screamed, "what d'you mean, flowers?"
devil,"
"Hold him," said Superintendent Jordan calmly. "What

mean,
is just this! You didn't give Mrs. Plucknett a chance to
I
Beauchamp,
explain.
She
me you
still
tried to, but
you wouldn't let her. And my question told

morning what was the matter
hadn't found out, this
with those flowers.

"Well,
was
know
those roses of Wally Burchell's are pretty good
gardener before he got past
but you
it.
he
Yes, they're very good, those
didn't sit at the same table with them for a whole

you had you would have found out they were artificial roses
made oj paper.
Splash some water over his face, Hobson,- that'll
soon bring him round."
roses
evening.
336
If
Murder Offstage
by R.
There's no other way," Garrison Smith said, putting
the
"One
time.
first
Paul Drayer
of us will have to
let his
it
Stevens
L.
words
into
for
him."
kill
eyes shift to the others, seeking their reaction
As he'd expected, Cliff Contrell was already nodding

agreement; but most surprising. Aster Martin was offering no objection. She sat at the end of the table in a sort of imperious indifference,
as if their decision had no bearing at all on her, as if they were not
about to commit murder to protect their good name.
to the words.
"What do you think.

He wanted her
Aster?" Paul asked, fixing her with his deepto say
set eyes.
"I
suppose there's nothing
ied effect. "You're
all
in
it,
to take a stand for
once
her
in
life.
be done," she answered with stud-
else to
those pictures with me.
It's
not just
my
reputa-
tion we're talking about."
"Then
even
decided," Garrison Smith intoned. Always the director,
it's
when
it
came
"Which one
to directing a murder.
of us shall
it
be?"
Cliff
Contrell
cleared
his
"What
throat.
are
the
appointment
times?"
Smith consulted the handwritten notes on the table before him.
two
"Contrell at
thirty.
He
o'clock,
Drayer
at
two
thirty,
wants $12,500 cash from each of
and myself
us, in return for
at three
the nega-
tives."
"I'm
first,"
the leading
Contrell said, "so
man
in
guess
it's
up to me."
He was
always
every production, and he wasn't about to yield his
position now.
But Paul interjected a
even have the negatives
and then where
"On
will
we
word
of caution.
in his office?
be?
Where
will
kill
him
for
he'll
nothing
Aster be?"
the front pages of every paper in the country," Aster answered,
but she wasn't joking. "Personally,

guts to
"How do you know
You might
kill
him, but
it's
don't think any one of
you has the
got to be done. You three can't go on paying
blackmail forever."
337
Garrison Smith was directing again. "How's
"All right, all right!"
two o'clock this afternoon and

him outside and finds out if the
negatives are really in the office. If they are, Paul goes upstairs at two
thirty, kills our blackmailing friend, and collects both the negatives
and Cliff's money."
After a few minutes of discussion it was agreed. "What about me?"
shows up
this? Contrell
at his office at
Then
pays the $12,500.
Paul meets
Aster Martin asked.
"You stay here and wait," Smith told her. "You've caused us enough
trouble already."
Leonardo Flood was many things to many people. An aging matinee
idol, darling of the gossip columnists,
and clever blackmailer.

others knew him best.
It
was
king of yesterday's
in this last role that Paul
When
Morning Five opened on Broadway and
catapulted Aster Martin into overnight stardom, they had
busy to give
jet set
Drayer and the
thought to the pictures,
been too
all
a harmless indiscretion that
had been quickly forgotten. Forgotten, that is, by everyone except

Leonardo Flood.
He had obtained the negatives stolen them, really and telephoned the three men involved: Garrison Smith, the director of Morning Five; Cliff Contrell, the male lead,- and Paul Drayer, its author. His
terms were quite simple each of them would pay him $12,500 and
the negatives would be returned. Otherwise, Broadway's newest darling would be revealed to the columnists as something considerably
less
than that.
Whatever
Aster Martin
automatic
dingy
a
else
in
office
they might be, Paul and the other two were loyal to
and
his
to the play, of course.
Now,
carrying a
little
.22
pocket, Paul Drayer rode the elevator to Flood's
and the 2:30 appointment.
muggy Manhattan summer, and
It
was
easily the hottest
day of
already the moisture on Paul's
brow
was evidence that the old building lacked air conditioning.

He walked in on Leonardo Flood without knocking and found the
gray-haired
desk.
man
There was
single closed
seated in a
a filing
window, and an
the cabinet. Otherwise, the

ing
wooden
electric fan oscillated slowly
room was
as bare
and dingy
'The second member of the
Aster Martin Fan Club! I'm pleased to see you're punctual.

visitors in their
"I
on top of
as the build-
itself.
"Ah!" the aging actor greeted him.
338
wooden
chair behind a plain
cabinet in one corner of the room, next to a
came
proper order."
for the other negatives. Flood," Paul told him.
like
my
"Of course! The price
$12,500 from each of you." The actor
is
smiled and adjusted his soiled necktie. "Some
much
that
to have a
nude photo published,
would almost pay
girls
1
suppose
course our Aster doesn't need that kind of publicity
but then
now
of
that she's a
star."
showed him the gun. "The
Paul
them.
no
money
me
tricks
or
while I'm
at
you're
negatives. Flood. All the rest of
dead man. And
I'll
take
Contrell's
it."
Leonardo Flood kept smiling. "You mean the Fan Club would
for dear, dear Aster? Even that?"
kill
"The negatives!"
"Suppose
you they
tell
aren't here?"
He
saw Contrell downstairs.
"I
and you brought one out to him.
said
1
you had him wait
know
in
the hall
room and
they're in this
want them."
"It'll do you no good to kill me. You'll never find them."
"We'll see," Paul said, and he swung the little gun at Flood's temple,
catching the actor with a blow that knocked him unconscious to the
grimy
floor.
Now
film
he had to work
easy
inch of
it,
fast.
The
35mm.
negatives were on strips of
and not too hard
to hide,
to find. First the body, every
and the clothes, which yielded Contrell's money but noth-
ing else. Paul checked Flood's necktie, and the soles of his shoes, and
everywhere
He
else.
He went
over every stitch twice, without success.
tore into the desk next,
and
sides
legs,
and
and back
its
for
upending drawers, poking
hidden compartments.
bottom and back.
He
He
at the legs
checked the chair
searched the meager contents of
the filing cabinet, even carefully lifted the whirling black fan to look
beneath
sides.
rack.
its
What
base.
else?
He opened
the
window
to feel along the ledge
There was no telephone, no
Flood obviously used the
closet,
not even
and
coat
office infrequently.
After twenty minutes Paul gave up. Flood was beginning to regain
consciousness, and there was nothing further to be gained

Paul was willing to
willing to
go the
limit
and
not
unless
man. And he wasn't
really kill the
go that far, not even for Aster Martin.

out and closed the door behind him.
He went
The
street
was
hot,
muggy, and unbearable.
He
walked
a block,
then stopped at a corner drug store and drank something cool. At

3:10 by his watch he decided he should call Smith and report failure.
But in the phone booth he could get no dial tone.
"What's the matter here?" he asked the counterman.
339
'The phones are jammed up. We just had a power failure and the
whole area's knocked out. All those damned air conditioners!"
Paul sighed and sat down to wait. Fifteen minutes later, the drug
store's fluorescent lights flickered back on and the afternoon's minor
power crisis was ended. The telephone traffic dropped to normal and
he made his call to Smith's office. No one answered. Obviously Smith
had gone to keep his 3:30 appointment with Flood.
Paul drove back across town and parked his car in the lot next to
the theater. Aster and Cliff were up in the director's office waiting for
him, but there was no sign yet of Garrison Smith. "Did you find the
negatives?" Aster asked him.
"No.
damned
tore the
office apart
and
didn't find a thing."
He
sank into the familiar chair and took out his cigarettes.
"But
know he had
"Here's your
them!" Contrell insisted.
money. At
least
found
that."
He
tossed the thick
wad
on the table just as Garrison Smith walked in.

Smith was smiling slightly. "You did a nice job, Paul. didn't think
you had it in you."
"What do you mean?" Panic started deep in his stomach.
"Flood's dead, of course. You got him right between the eyes."
of bills
Paul Drayer stared at Smith with unbelieving eyes.
"I
didn't
kill
knocked him out and searched the place, but

didn't find anything. He was still alive when
left."
"Well, he's dead now," Smith said, and nobody doubted him.
"Someone else killed him, then. One of us."
Garrison Smith shrugged. "Does it matter? We're all in this tohim," he said
finally.
"1
gether anyway."
"Maybe
it
said. "Maybe it matters a lot. One of

means one of us has the negatives. As long as
does matter," Paul
us killed Flood and that
that person keeps his secret, he could continue the blackmailing, pos-
ing as one of the victims."
him " Smith began.

And Cliff Contrell coughed nervously. "It certainly was not me,
Paul. You know he was alive when
left him."
"It doesn't make sense," Aster Martin joined in, brushing the hair
from her eyes. "How did the killer find the negatives if you couldn't
"If
you think
killed
find them, Paul?"

"I
There was something
don't know," he admitted, speaking slowly.
in the
back of
alive, just
his
mind, something turning
...
"I
before three. Smith's appointment wasn't
That leaves
340
full
half
hour unaccounted
for. If
left
till
Flood,
still
three thirty.
Paul Drayer stopped speaking.
The
had
pieces
fallen into place.
"Well?" Smith prodded.
would
"Look
man
with as orderly
have blackmailed three people
Odd amount
for
for blackmail. Isn't
it
mind
$12,500 each,
far
more
victim, and therefore a $50,000 jackpot?
as
Leonardo Flood
a total of
likely there
$37,500?
was
a fourth
nice round figure
That fourth victim could only have been you. Aster."
She gave
a little gasp. "Me!"
Paul nodded-
know,
first
He was
sure of himself
now. "You didn't want us to
because of your pride, and second because maybe we'd
have wanted you to pay the whole
fifty
grand.
completely innocent of the thing, especially
if
you had an appointment with Leonardo Flood

"At three o'clock," Contrell breathed.
'That's right," Paul said.
a half
hour
in his
"1
Drayer
at
What
two
to
seem
led to murder. But
this afternoon too.
why should Flood
got to thinking
skip
schedule? There were four half hours, and four of us
me he
involved. In fact, Flood actually told
proper order.
You wanted
it
thirty.
liked his visitors in their
order? Alphabetical, of course
Contrell
at
two,
Aster Martin at three, and Smith at three thirty.
You were supposed to be waiting here. Aster, but when phoned at

three twenty- five, nobody answered. You were on your way to Flood's
office with your blackmail payment."
She smiled at him across the table, still the leading lady. "All right,
suppose did go there? knew you wouldn't have the guts to kill him,
went to pay him off. That doesn't prove killed him."
so
I
"I
think
it
does. Aster," he said softly. "Flood always spoke of us as
your Fan Club, and
should have caught the hint long ago.
negatives were taped to the blades of his electric fan
in plain
The
view
but moving too
fast to be seen. You were in the office at three, and

power failure in the area about that time. TTie fan stopped
spinning, and you saw the negatives there before your eyes. You shot
Flood and took them. Naturally you didn't tell us about it, since we
were already set up to take the rap."
there was a
"All right," she said finally,
"Are you going to
tell
wetting her
Paul Drayer glanced at the other
He was
lips
with a darting tongue.
the police?"
smiling slightly.
"If
two men and then back
we keep
quiet. Aster, what's
it
at Aster.
worth to
you?"
341
Murder on the Limited

by Howard Finney
A
long wail from the engine's whistle rose above the vibrations of the
pullmans as the Mississippi Limited peeled away the miles of western
was the only reminder Stanley, the pullman conductor, had

was anyone else awake on the Limited other than himself.
He glanced through the window of the men's smoking compartment and saw the lights of Bellefontaine rush up on their left and then
drop behind. He set his watch back an hour to Central Standard time.
Bellefontaine was the last point on Eastern time. What a break if he
could do that with his own life set it back and gain a handicap, as
Ohio.
It
that there
the Limited did.
Above the hum
on
of steel
and the song of the wheels he

at the other end of the car.
steel
heard the ring of the porter's buzzer
Queer
that
at this
A moment
pushed
his
hour
later steps
in
the morning.
sounded
head through the
in
the vestibule and Jeb, the porter,
curtain.
His black
face, extra
dark against
the spotless white of his jacket, was set in a frown halfway between
worry and
fear.
"Boss, lady
A woman
wants to see you. Lower Three
pushed by him
hastily, pulling a thin
kimono about her
nightgown. She was middle-aged and plump. Stanley recognized her.
She and her husband had made the run from New York. Her white
face and haggard eyes brought him to his feet.
"My
disappeared
husband's vanished
right before
my
eyes," she
blurted huskily.
"Vanished?"
"Yes.
He went
The frown
"But
my
to get
left
dear
me
and he
moment.
a drink of water
Stanley's face for a
madam, why alarm
hasn't
come
yourself so quickly?
back."
Maybe he
stepped out on a platform for a smoke. Take a look, Jeb."
As the porter went
out, she pulled
back a loose strand of hair from
her gray face, and shook her head.
"No, no. You're wasting precious time," she half-whispered
342
in a low,
urgent tone. "He doesn't smoke.
would be
here. Something's
vanished before
my
And
happened
the only place he would stop
very eyes."
She shivered and clutched her kimono more
was
that
He
to him, something strange.
tightly about her.
chilly in the car this time of night. But Stanley
saw
in
It
her face
was more than the temperature that made her shiver and turn
it
her stricken eyes toward the slightly swaying curtain to the corridor.
He nodded
for her to
go on.
"He was coming down the aisle with a cup of water when he disappeared. It was so strange and sudden thought was dreaming at first.
looked through
"A few minutes after he had gone for the water,
the curtain and saw him coming down the aisle with the cup in his
pulled myself up in bed to take the water. A moment later,
hand.
I
when
thought
The
it
strange he hadn't reached the berth,
looked out
was empty. He'd vanished. It was just as though I'd

never seen him there a minute before.
'The paper cup was lying in the middle of the car. waited a few
moments, thinking perhaps he'd spilled the water and gone back for
again.
aisle
more. But he didn't come and
when
looked out again, the paper cup
She glanced around the room and
for an instant at the curtain, her
was gone
features
The
too."
drawn and haunted.

sinister
import of her words stirred Stanley uneasily. Thirty
demands
woman's story was a new
years on the railroad had taught him to evaluate the excited

of passengers for their true worth. But this
one, fantastic, and yet touched with tn'th.
The door
slammed and he heard the voices
of the vestibule
Kelley, the railroad conductor,
of
and Hunt, the brakeman.
"Stay here and keep calm, Mrs. Saunders," he said evenly. "We'll
look for him."
As he pushed through the
curtains,
he saw her fingers wandering
instinctively over the tightly constricted cords of her neck, trying to
shake back her steadily rising hysteria.

'This fellow Saunders has pulled a Houdini," he muttered to the
two trainmen. "Vanished

Kelley nodded at the
"He told us."
like a puff of
smoke.
It's
queer story."
porter.
Stanley glanced toward the room.

"She's scared
yet.
stiff.
Got something on her mind she
hasn't spilled
See what you can find out."
"O.K.", Kelley assented and slipped through the door.
343
Hunt peered
into Stanley's face.
don't like
"1
it,"
he ground out
tensely.
Stanley turned away.

"We'll take a look in this car."
The
light
from the end of the Pullman shone dimly down the
revealing the neat series of polished shoes.
The
aisle,
snores of several of
the sleeping passengers droned from behind the heavy green curtains
and mingled with the steady clacking of the wheels on the rail joints.
Stanley walked
listening intently.
his
down
He
the aisle slowly, pausing before each berth,
reached
Number
Three, the Saunders' berth and
knee rubbed againt something.

The inert, bare foot of a man was protruding into the aisle.
A low whine of terror escaped the porter. Stanley gripped his arm
in a
warning
for silence
and pushed the curtains
aside.
pajamas was lying diagonally across the bed, face down.

The small light above the pillow illuminated the shock of iron-gray
hair lying against the white sheet and his tightly clenched hands. His
A man
in
body was inert,

The section
lifeless as a
wax
figure.
of his white pajamas from just
below the shoulder
blades to the small of the back was a dark, moist red that glistened
like jelly in the yellow ray of the light. His head was half turned
toward them, revealing the wild agony in his eye and the
back for the scream that had never passed them.
Stanley's unsteady fingers pulled at the pajamas.
away from the skin with a

wound.
"Stabbed," Hunt gasped.
slight,
The
lips
shirt
drawn
came
sucking sound and revealed the
Stanley pushed the door of the vacant drawing room closed and
Murder on the Limited! Momen-
stared at Hunt's gray, shocked face.

tarily
stunned
as
he was, he composed himself and answered the ques-
on the brakeman's mute lips.

"Go forward and tell Schwartz to open up the throttle right into
Muncie so no one can jump off. Drop a wire for the operator at
Schyler Junction to the police at Muncie. Tell them to have men on
tion
both sides of the track when we run
in."
Hunt stumbled out of the door.

"On your way," Stanley added, "send Kelley
back. Don't
let
on to
woman."
the
A moment
rough-hewn
were
sleeve.
"Well?" he breathed.
344
frame pushed through the door. His

chalk as he wiped his brow on his blue
later Kelley's big
features
like
Stanley spoke mechanically.
"Saunders was stabbed from behind and throttled as he came
down
way he vanished."
door and peered down the dark pullman.
the aisle with the water. That's the
He opened the
"And the murderer is lying behind those
ing us now," he added softly. "Waiting
thought of
deadly snake, coiled
Probably watch-
curtains.
for
the next move."
He
the darkness, ready to strike
in
if
stumbled upon.
Kelley licked his
while the
"Dumped Saunders back
lips.
woman was
own
in his
berth
out giving the alarm. Playing safe."
"What did you get out
of the
corner of his mouth, his eyes
woman?" Stanley asked out
still
searching the
of the
aisle speculatively,
trying to penetrate the secret behind those gently swaying curtains.
"Saunders
life
had been threatened before they left New York. It

a gang shooting in St. Louis a few
seems he was an eye-witness to
months ago. There were some other witnesses but they won't talk,
refused to be
scared to death. Saunders was a pretty high-class man
intimidated. He was the state's star witness and on his way back for
the
trial.
"Before they
left
New
York yesterday he got
He
couple of telephone
He
got a telegram on
two words Cojfin Car
Stanley's thin, resolute face hardened and his lips set in a grim line.
It would have been better for Saunders if he had listened to the warning. It would be better for himself if he heeded the threat embodied in
Saunders' lifeless, staring face. He felt that warning now as his eyes
roved down the aisle, felt himself being watched, and the menace of
calls,
warnings to lay
off.
laughed 'em
off.
the train at Rochester. Just
invisible eyes.
"We'll take a look in these berths,"
he rasped.
Kelley 's glance shifted uneasily. "Suppose this guy
low
in his
berth and doesn't get cold feet
be any one of the passengers

"Maybe," Stanley said
can't
make
getaway
all
Kelley's eyes flickered
in
we
is
wise.
he lays
If
haven't got a clue.
Might
the car."
softly. "But
it's
ten to one he's dressed.
You
of a sudden-like in your pajamas."
and then steadied before the
level
gaze of
the older man.

"O.K.", he muttered.
Stanley opened the curtains of the berths with deft, cautious fingers
and played the

stirred
light over the interiors.
He was
wary,
and muttered vaguely but he quickly flashed
passed on.
He
eliminated the
women
alert.
Some
off the light
and
from consideration.
345
Lower Ten was a man, sunk deep in the covers, snoring fitfully.
Only the top of his black hair showed. They were all like that, asleep,
apparently innocent.
At the other end of the car Kelley cursed
"How
can
a dirty killer lie there
softly.
and look so peaceful?"
"Of course one of them might have clothes on beneath those covers,"
Stanley frowned. "But
can't
go down the
line
and yank every-
thing off them to find out."
Jeb
moved
closer
and nudged him.
'They's a funny thing about one of them passengers."

"Yes."
you know
them passengers always leave their shoes

done finished shinin' all
the shoes tonight and don't find none beneath Lower Ten. Dey ain't
no one in the upper but that don' explain what the gentleman in the
lower done with his'n less they's right on his feet."
"Well, now,
beneath the berths
so's
all
can shine 'em. Well,
Stanley gave Jeb one long silent look
He
but
there were unspoken
on the shadowed
Lower Ten, bored through it, and seemed to meet the
sinister, watching eyes that he had been steadily conscious of.
He and Kelley and Jeb moved silently down the aisle and closed in
on the berth. His sharp ears detected a rustle and then silence.
He spread the curtains and turned on the flashlight. The passenger
was in the same position as when they had first gone through the car.
Stanley watched him, could hardly detect his breathing. He got the
impression of a coiled spring, held by a hair trigger. His free hand
stole down, grasped the rim of the bedclothes, pulled them down
words
in
that look.
turned and his eyes
fell
curtains of
gently.
He had a flash of the dark blue suit the man was wearing, saw an
arm swing back. The flashlight was dashed from his hand, the berth
As he tried to draw away, a stunning blow
head and he stumbled back against Kelley.
The muzzle of a black, snub-nosed automatic thrust through the
split in the curtains and fanned them menacingly.
plunged
crashed
in
darkness.
down on
his
The other two
froze
and
raised their hands.
He
sucked
in
his
breath from pain and pushed his up slowly.

'Turn around."
The
voice behind the curtain was muffled but peremptory, and
they obeyed, facing the opposite berths.
'The
first
one of you that makes
the voice whispered.
346
break gets what Saunders got,"
They heard him getting out of the berth.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll lay low
until
get off this
train."
There was the
on the carpet then silence.

door clicked.
Stanley swung around and ran for the vestibule. Kelley called
moment
shuffle of a foot
later the vestibule
to
him.
"Stop. He'll
drill
you."
Stanley kept running

the next car.
The
aisle
saw no one on the platform and ran into

was empty. Kelley caught up with him, seized
his arm.
"We're almost into Muncie," pleaded Kelley.

it, the cops can help us take him."
"If
he doesn't make
break for
Stanley cursed harshly. "Did you see his face?"

Kelley shook his head in the negative.
They went back and searched

clues
only blood-stained
sheets
"We're running into Muncie

"We'll get
him
there.
At
the berth. There was nothing, no

where Saunders' body had lain.
in
few minutes," Kelley blurted.
we uncovered
least
him."
Stanley's lips curled grimly.
They sped into the outskirts of Muncie, flashed by streets and facThe long whaaa, whaaa of Schwartz's whistle screamed twice,
tories.
flinging a
warning ahead.
Stanley saw policemen and plainclothes dicks every few car lengths
as they rushed down the platform. A great shudder
ran through the
train, a grinding, tearing jar,
and the scream of protesting wheels un-
der the squeeze of the brakes.
He swung
off
and
stout figure in blue
in
his
The Limited came
momentum
to a stop.
almost bowled over
tall,
and two plainclothes men.
"You the pullman conductor?" the stout officer shouted. "I'm Braden, chief of police here. We've got your train covered.
What's the
story?"
Stanley gave it to him tersely.

"Any passengers getting off here?" Braden barked.
"No. Only three or four pickups for St. Louis."

The station was deserted except for the police and men loading
mail. The last of the pickups for St. Louis was climbing
the steps of
the car reserved for Muncie space, a plump traveling salesman
with a
loud, green suit.
Stanley
He
felt tense, strained.
said slowly. "We'll have to
go
in
and take him. Give us the two
plainclothes men."
347
Braden nodded silently and the two dicks walked
down and got on
the observation car with him and Kelley. Stanley explained to them
tersely with set jaw.
"We'll
work
right through from here forward. I'm checking every
passenger's ticket.
He
ing himself away.
And
can't
if
he
show
can't
the stub for
show
Lower Ten without
a ticket that puts
giv-
the finger on
him."
The two dicks kept their hands in their pockets, ready for trouble.
Most of the passengers were still asleep. Stanley woke them and made
them show their stubs. Some wanted to start an argument but he
moved on, left them spluttering.
There was only one car further ahead when he took the
the
last
Muncie passenger,
ticket of
a heavily built, ill-tempered fellow.
"What's the big delay?" he growled, drawing his watch and waving
it
before Stanley's eyes. "We've been sitting
half
Am
hour now.
in this station
on the Mississippi Limited or
almost a
a milk train?"
"Sorry," Stanley apologized.
"Sorry, sorry,
"
the passenger exclaimed. 'That won't get
me
into St.
Louis on time."
The pullman
conductor's eyes flashed but he handed back the stub
in silence.
He
glanced
expected.
more
car
in
the lavatory on the
way
out.
It
was empty,
as
he had
He was getting into that frame of mind. There was only one
ahead. He wondered how the killer had tricked him. He had
air more completely than the hazy, blue pall of

smoke that hung in the stuffy lavatory.
Everything was in order in the last car.
"Come back to that drawing room in the next car," he said, still
vanished into thin

cigarette
frowning.
Stanley knocked on the door again and pushed
ately.
The man from Muncie was standing
"Now
in
it
open immedi-
the middle of the
floor.
what?"
Stanley smiled apologetically.
you again. Was there anyone in this drawing

room when you came on board?"
The man raised dark, heavy eyebrows curiously.
"Why, no. don't get you."
Stanley opened the lavatory door again. The air inside was still
thick with cigarette smoke and stale. Four or five butts were mashed
on the floor. The drawing room was supposed to have been unoccupied until the man from Muncie boarded the train.
"Sorry to disturb
348
They
Stanley regarded the passenger with shrewd, appraising eyes.
smooth black
rested on his
His glance turned toward the upper
hair.
berth.
"Open that up," he said to the porter standing

The passenger started and leaned forward.
about?" he rasped.
"What's this
all
The
key
porter's
doorway.
in the
As the
rattled in the lock.
shelf
hoarse cry burst from the negro and he sprang back.
swung down,
man's head and
shoulders rolled over the side, and dragged by their weight, the whole
body crashed
strips torn
The
to the floor.
bound and gagged with
fellow was
from the sheets. His plump
figure
and loud green
suit be-
trayed him as one of the passengers Stanley had seen getting on at
Muncie.
The
black eyes of the other passenger flamed and his hand stole
toward
his coat.
"Hold
that pose," cried
one of the
Stanley knelt and examined the

"He's alive.
at the
Got
good crack
crouched, tense figure
"A clever
"What's
it
trick,"
all
dicks, flashing his service pistol.
man on
in the
the floor.
head, though."
in front of
He
glanced up
him.
he said harshly. "You almost got away with
it."
about?" the other spat.
you murdered Saunders and got away from us you hid in

When this man got on at Muncie and the porter
left, you cracked him down, took his tickets and hid him up there.
Passed yourself off as getting on at Muncie. Very clever except for
one thing you forgot."
The fellow's dark face worked with fury.
"After
here in the lavatory.
"You meddling old
He struck with
When he came
fool,"
his foot
he hissed.
quicker than Stanley could dodge.
was lying on the side cushion of the drawing

room. Jeb and Kelley were the only ones in the room. Jeb was leaning
over him, dabbling his head with a wet towel, muttering unintelligibly,
to he
while Kelley looked on. Beneath him came the
hum
of the
wheels.
"We're moving," he exclaimed, sitting up.

"Sure," grinned Kelley.
"Where are the others?"

"Done take the one to jail and
t'other to the hospital," Jeb drawled.
Stanley lay back with a great sigh of

"There's
grinned.
one
thing
those
"How'd you spot
dicks
relief.
couldn't
understand,"
Kelley
that guy?"
349
"Remember when we came through the first time and

Muncie ticket? He was so damned ornery and kept waving
in front of
my
took his
his
watch
face?"
"Yeah."
"And complainin' about the
delay?"
"Yeah?"
"His watch was on Eastern Standard time. Muncie's on Central

Standard time. I thought it was phony his watch should be on Eastern
time,
him supposed
to be getting
on
at
Muncie."
Stanley shook his finger at Jeb with a quizzical smile.

"Can't fool a couple of old railroad men, eh, Jeb?"
The Mystery
of the
Rue de Peychaud
hy O. Henry
midnight
'Tis
in Paris.
myriad of lamps that
line the
Champs
Elysees and the
Rouge
Noir, cast their reflection in the dark waters of the Seine as
gloomily past the Place
Vendome and
it
et
flows
the black walls of the Convent
Notadam.
The
It
is
great French capital
the hour
is
astir.
when crime and
vice and wickedness reign.
madly through the streets conveying

Hundreds
as beautiful as dreams, from opera
and
women, flashing with jewels
rooms of the Cafe Tout le
supper
bijou
and concert, and the little
while
bon mots, persiflage, and
groups,
Temps are filled with laughing
and conversation.
thought
of
the jewels
repartee fly upon the air
of fiacres drive
Luxury and poverty brush each other in the streets. The homeless
gamin, begging a sou with which to purchase a bed, and the spendthrift roue, scattering golden louis d'or, tread the same pavement.
When
The
other
first
cities sleep, Paris
scene
of
our story
has just begun her wild revelry.

is
cellar
beneath the Rue de
Peychaud.
The room
350
is
filled
with smoke of pipes, and
is
stifling
with the
reeking breath of
scene,
which
is
inmates.
its
single flaring gas jet dimly lights the
one Rembrandt or Moreland and Keisel would have
loved to paint.
gar9on
is
out in niggardly portions
it
Leaning against the bar

as the
He
He
such of the motley crowd as have a
selling absinthe to
few sous, dealing
is
in
broken teacups.
Carnaignole Cusheau
generally known
Gray Wolf.
man
is
the worst
is
more than
in Paris.
and
four feet ten in height,
his sharp, ferocious-
looking face and the mass of long, tangled gray hair that covers his
face
and head, have earned for him the name he bears.

is wide open at the neck and falls outside of
His striped blouse
dingy leather trousers. The handle of
from
his belt.
One
stroke of
its
his
deadly looking knife protrudes
blade would open a box of the finest
French sardines.
"Voila,
Gray Wolf,"
tims today? There

forgotten
how
is
cries
Couteau, the bartender.
"How many
to bite?"
by George,"
"Sacre Bleu, Mille Tonnerre,
hisses the
"Monsieur Couteau, you are bold indeed to speak to

"By Ventre
There
is
no
vic-
no blood upon your hands. Has the Gray Wolf
St.
Gris!
living in Paris
me
Gray Wolf.
thus.
have not even dined today. Spoils indeed.
now. But one rich American have
garroted
in a fortnight.
"Bah! those Democrats. They have ruined the country. With their
income tax and their free trade, they have destroyed the millionaire
n it!"
business. Carrambo! Diable! D
"Hist!" suddenly says Chamounix the rag-picker, who is worth
20,000,000 francs, "some one comes!"
The cellar door opened and a man crept softly down

The crowd watches him with silent awe.
the rickety
steps.
He went
absinthe,
to the bar, laid his card
and then drawing from
his
on the counter, bought

pocket a
little
a drink of
mirror, set
it
up on
the counter and proceeded to don a false beard and hair and paint his
face into wrinkles, until he closely resembled an old
man seventy-one
years of age.
He
then went into a dark corner and watched the crowd of people
with sharp,
ferret-like eyes.
Gray Wolf slipped cautiously to the bar and examined the card left
by the newcomer.
"Holy Saint Bridget!" he exclaims. "It is Tictocq, the detective."
Ten minutes later a beautiful woman enters the cellar.
Tenderly nurtured, and accustomed to every luxury that money
351
could procure, she had,

Saint Susan de
la
when
young vivandiere
at
the
Convent of
Moutarde, run away with the Gray Wolf, fascinated
by his many crimes and the knowledge that his business never allowed
him to scrape his feet in the hall or snore.
"Parbleau, Marie," snarls the Gray Wolf. "Que voulez vous? Avezvous le beau cheval de mon frere, ou le joli chien de votre pere?"
"No, no, Gray Wolf," shouts the motley group of assassins, rogues,
and pickpockets, even their hardened hearts appalled at his fearful
words. "Mon Dieu! You cannot be so cruel!"
"Tiens!" shouts the Gray Wolf, now maddened to desperation, and
drawing his gleaming knife. "Voila! Canaille! Tout le monde, carte
blanche embonpoint sauve que peut entre nous revenez nous a nous
moutons!"
The
back
horrified sans-culottes shrink
in terror as
the
Gray Wolf
Marie by the hair and cuts her into twenty-nine pieces, each
seizes
exactly the same size.
As he stands with reeking hands above the corpse, amid a deep

gray-bearded man who has been watching the scene
springs forward, tears off his false beard and locks, and Tictocq, the
famous French detective, stands before them.
Spellbound and immovable, the denizens of the cellar gaze at the
greatest modern detective as he goes about the customary duties of
silence, the old,
his office.
He
first
measures the distance from the murdered
woman
to a
down the name of the bartender and

year. Then drawing from his pocket a
point on the wall, then he takes

the day of the
month and
the
powerful microscope, he examines a
upon the
"Mon
He
little
of the blood that stands
floor in little pools.
Dieu!" he mutters,
then enters rapidly
"it
in a
feared
human blood."
as
memorandum book the result
is
of his
and leaves the cellar.

Tictocq bends his rapid steps in the direction of the headquarters
of the Paris gendarmerie, but suddenly pausing, he strikes his hand
upon his brow with a gesture of impatience.
investigations,
"Mille tonnerre," he mutters.
man with
It
is
"I
should have asked the name of that
the knife in his hand."
reception night at the palace of the Duchess Valerie du Bel-
lairs.
The apartments
are flooded with a
mellow
light
from paraffine can-
dles in solid silver candelabra.
The company
352
is
the most aristocratic and wealthy in Paris.
Three or four brass bands
are playing
behind
the coal shed, and also behind time. Footmen
bring
a portiere
between
gay-laced livery
in
beer noiselessly and carry out apple-peelings dropped by the
in
guests.
Duchess du
Valerie, seventh
est,
and the handsomest courtiers
on
leans back
Bellairs,
ottoman on eiderdown cushions, surrounded by the
a solid
gold
wittiest, the brav-
the capital.
in
"Ah, madame," said the Prince Champvilliers, of Palais Royale, cor-
ner of Seventy-third Street, "as Montesquiaux says, 'Rien de plus bon

tutti frutti'
Youth seems your
beautiful, the wittiest in
when
senses,
"Saw
The
remember
are tonight the
can scarce believe
that thirty-one years ago
you
most
my own
says the Duchess, peremptorily.
off!"
it
Prince
You
inheritance.
your own salon.
bows
low, and drawing a jewelled dagger, stabs himself
to the heart.
"The displeasure of your grace

takes his overcoat and hat from
is
worse than death," he
says, as
he
corner of the mantelpiece and leaves
the room.
Beebe
"Voila," says
way with men.

moment the silken
the
Franqiillon,
Flatter
fanning herself languidly. "That
them, and they
kiss
them captive through
leash that holds
and self-opinionativeness, and the son-of-a-gun gets on

once.
The
mon
"Ah,
go with him,
devil
is
your hand. Loose but a

their vanity
ear at
his
say."
Count Pumpernickel, stooping and

ear. "You are too hard upon us.
not to themselves what no one else is to
Princesse," sighs the
whispering with eloquent eyes into her

'All women are
Do you not agree
Balzac says,
another.'
"Cheese
it!"
with him?"
upon me.
I'll
shake
young pianissimo danseuse from the
Folies
says the Princess. "Philosophy palls
you."
"Hosses?" says the Count.
Arm and arm

Armande de
Bergere,
She
is
they go out to the salon au Beurre.
Fleury, the
about to sing.
slightly clears her throat
gum upon
the piano as the
and
first
lays a voluptuous
cud of chewing
notes of the accompaniment ring
through the salon.
As she prepares
to sing, the
Duchess du
Bellairs grasps the
arm of
her ottoman in a vicelike grip, and she watches with an expression of
almost anguished suspense.
She scarcely breathes.

Then,
as
Armande de
Fleury, before uttering a note, reels, wavers,
353
turns white
as
snow and
breathes a sigh of
dead upon the
falls
The Duchess had poisoned her.

Then the guests crowd about the
and shuddering
piano, gazing with bated breath,
they look upon the music rack and observe that the
as
song that Armande came so near singing
Twenty minutes
from
the Duchess
floor,
relief.
later a
a recess in the
"Sweet Marie."
is
dark and muffled figure was seen to emerge
mullioned wall of the Arc de Triomphe and pass
rapidly northward.
was no other than Tictocq, the detective.

of evidence was fast being drawn about the murderer
Marie Cusheau.
It
The network
of
It
is
It
is
The
midnight on the steeple of the Cathedral of Notadam.

also the
same time
at
spire of the Cathedral
by making
a casual observer,
have readily perceived that
other given points

is
20,000
a rapid
mathematical calculation, would
Cathedral
this
the vicinity.
in
above the pavement, and
feet
height of others that measure only 10,000
at
is,
double the
least,
feet.
At the summit of the spire there is a little wooden platform on

which there is room for but one man to stand.
Crouching on this precarious footing, which swayed dizzily with
every breeze that blew, was a
man
closely muffled,
and disguised
as a
wholesale grocer.
Old
who
Frangois Beongfallong, the great astronomer,
the ethereal spheres from his attic
window
is
studying
the Rue de Bologny,
in
shudders as he turns his telescope upon the solitary figure upon the
spire.
"Sacre
Bleu!"
he hisses between his new celluloid teeth.
Tictocq, the detective.
While Tictocq
tre,
is
wonder
whom
he
is
watching with lynx-like eyes the
he suddenly hears
"It
is
following now?"
hill
of
Montmar-
heavy breathing beside him, and turning
gazes into the ferocious eyes of the Gray Wolf.
W.
Carnaignole Cusheau had put on his
U.
Co. climbers and
Tel.
climbed the steeple.

"Parbleu, monsieur," says Tictocq. "To
honor of this visit?"

The Gray Wolf smiled
softly
indebted for the
said.
am."
"Then
listen.
am
the murderer of Marie Cusheau. She was
wife and she had cold feet and ate onions.
354
and depreciatingly.
"You are Tictocq, the detective?" he

"I
whom am
What was
to do? Yet
my
life
is
sweet to me.
are
on
my
do not wish to be
track.
It
guillotined.
true that the case
is
is
in
have heard that you
your hands?"
"It is."
"Thank
le
bon Dieu,
The Gray Wolf
then,
am
saved."
carefully adjusts the climbers
on
his feet
and de-
scends the spire.

Tictocq takes out his notebook and writes in
"At
last,"
he
says,
"I
have
it.
a clue."
Monsieur le Compte Carnaignole Cusheau, once known as the

Gray Wolf, stands in the magnificent drawing-room of his palace on
East 47th Street.
Three days
after his confession to Tictocq,
he happened to look
in
the pockets of a discarded pair of pants and found twenty million

francs in gold.
Suddenly the door opens and Tictocq, the detective, with
dozen
gens d'arme, enters the room.
"You are
my
"On what
prisoner," says the detective.
charge?"
"The murder of Marie Cusheau on the night of August 17th."

"Your proofs?"
"I
saw you do
it,
and your own confession on the
spire
of
Notadam."
The Count laughed and took

"Read
this,"
he
said, "here is
paper from his pocket.
proof that Marie Cusheau died of heart
failure."
Tictocq looked
It
was
check
at
for
the paper.
100,000 francs.
Tictocq dismissed the gens d'arme with a wave of his hand.
"We have made
a mistake, monsieurs," he said, but as he turns to
Count Carnaignole stops him.

"One moment, monsieur."
The Count Carnaignole tears from his own
leave the room.
reveals the
flashing eyes
face a false beard
and
and well-known features of Tictocq, the
detective.
Then, springing forward, he snatches

from his
visitor,
and the Gray Wolf, grinding
wig and
false
eyebrows
his teeth in rage, stands
before him.
The murderer
of Marie
Cusheau was never discovered.
355
Naked
Darkness
in
hy Hugh
They were
near the entrance now. Sheppard could see the
Had
daylight ahead and hear the rain pounding the mountain.
cane Flora been drowning the island
She probably had.

weather
B.
all
had issued
down over Cuba. The
slit
of
hlurri-
the time he was in the cave?
just before his departure
office at Palisadoes
Cave
from Moore
Town
the
was slowing
a warning. Flora
island of Jamaica could expect torrential rains
picked up speed again.
until she
Sheppard frowned. The return
down
trip
the mountain would be a
nightmare, and he had already gone 36 hours without sleep.
Ahead
of him, his prisoner stumbled
on the rough stone
began cursing again. Sheppard only raised the barrel of
The man looked
inch.
floor
and
shotgun an
his
back, his small eyes blazing in the gleam of his
captor's flashlight.
"You could
take these handcuffs off before
least
at
break
my
neck!" he snarled.
"Keep moving."
"Why
you shoot me and get
don't
me
"Try jumping
again,"
Last time he hadn't.
had come
cave,
the
little
at
Sheppard
McCoy,
him
like a
it
over with?"
said,
"and
will."
taken by surprise in the depths of the
madman, but Sheppard had simply spun
single-bore Beretta in his hands and slapped
the man's jaw.

shot, true, but
McCoy
He was
it
was
fond of that
little
Beretta.
It
its
stock against
gave you only one
feather-light for quick action.
looked into the muzzle of
it
now and stumbled on toward
the entrance.
Then Sheppard heard

It
began high above
came
denly
a spectral train
it
the muttering.
their
heads and swelled to a thunder.
careening
down
be-
exploded into a monstrous, earthshaking convulsion.
Sheppard braced himself and watched the
mouth of the cave. He had lived

had seen landslides before. The
356
It
the mountain at top speed. Sud-
in Jamaica's
slit
slit
of daylight at the
mountains
was vulnerable.
It
boy, and
opened on a
as a
scrap of ledge about the size of his yard in Kingston.
above the ledge was
all
The mountain
but vertical.
boulder crashed on the ledge, rolled, and dropped over the edge.
up with
rain of debris followed, piling
fantastic quickness.
Then
came the slide itself, earth and trees and rocks, with a roar so loud
that the shockwave staggered him.
He watched the earth fill the opening and block out the light. By
the gleam of his flash he watched it flow toward McCoy and himself,
filling
the tunnel from floor to ceiling.
They backed away and
it
followed for twenty, thirty
worm, before it
had stopped, too. The only sound now was
slowed and
giant
stopped.
finally
The
feet,
like a
awful thunder
a soft slithering as the
face of the earth wall settled.
For a long
moment
good schooling, but he looked
ton-born, with a
thought
amusing to
it
McCoy turned his

McCoy was Kingslike a
peasant and
talk like one.
Sheppard said slowly,
"No way
man moved. Then

you suppose now, huh?"
neither
head. "Well, mister, what
"Is
there another
way
out of here?"
'ceptin' this one, mister."
Sheppard was silent. He did not know the cave well, himself. He
had only known there was one in this almost inaccessible region, and
it was a logical place to look for his quarry. He did know it was a big
cave, with dozens of chambers and a maze of tunnels. To explore it
would take more days than he could hope to stay alive.
He walked forward to examine the great worm of earth. Behind
him McCoy said dryly, "Us can't dig through it, mister. It want a
bulldozer, and them couldn't get any 'dozer up here even if them
knew we was trapped. Anyhow, them would never know where to
begin. That slide cover the cave mouth."
"Talk English," Sheppard said.
"Certainly, pal.
Sheppard gave
back to that
last
the smell of
you
McCoy
Any
it
we
other orders while
moment's thought.
sit
"Yes,"
chamber we came through, and
here and wait to die?"
he said then. "Walk

sit
down.
don't like
in a tight place like this."
grinned. "You hide in a cave for two weeks, pal, and
mightn't smell so sweet yourself.
It's
you
these clothes."
"Walk," Sheppard ordered.

TTie
chamber was not
a large one. In
drawn-up knees and gazed calmly
"What
are you, mister?
What
it
McCoy
their backs against opposite walls.
they
sat
laid his
twenty
feet apart,
manacled hands on
at his captor.
kind of work you do?"
"I'm in coffee."
357
"So you a planter, huh?"

like that," Sheppard said quietly.
"Then why you so down on me? What me ever do you?"
Sheppard fixed him with a cold stare. "In the past two months
"Something
you've assaulted four
women, McCoy."
"So?"
"One was my
McCoy
what
me
sister."
shaped
a thing
you
his slack
say.
mouth
That too bad,
into an
mister,
of astonishment.
me know
if
she you
"Now
sister,
never do that."
"And you've murdered two policemen."
'Them
get too close to catching me."
McCoy."
The handcuffed man lifted his massive
"Me told you is not me you smell. Is me
"You're an animal,
rags.
shoulders and
clothes."
He
let
them
frowned
"You change clothes with me, you be the one that
fall.
at his
His
stinks."
laugh was half grunt. "You got any cigarettes, mister?"

don't smoke."
"I
"A
flash of
white rum
in
you pocket, maybe?"
don't drink."
"I
"Shoo!
some
"
McCoy
said.
"You not very good company.
Me
goin' get
sleep."
Sheppard's eyelids were heavy with fatigue, too, but he willed them
to remain open.
He
glowing on the
floor beside him.
with the Beretta across his knees, the flashlight
sat
the light but they were in
were
finished,
"Naked
he and
He had
brought extra batteries
now, burning themselves up.
When
for
they
McCoy would
in darkness,"
McCoy opened
it
be in darkness.
Sheppard murmured, gazing
one eye. "What that you
at his prisoner.
say?"
"You wouldn't understand."

"
'Naked
in darkness.'
Me
hear you say
it.
What
that suppose to
mean?"
"1
said
darkness
you wouldn't understand.

sit and wait.'
It's
a line
from
poem. 'Naked
in
we
"Very good,"
McCoy
said,
dropping the
patois.
"1
like that."
He
closed his open eye and seemed to doze for a moment, then opened
both eyes and looked

darkness'
"How
did you find
They
couldn't
"I
do
Sheppard and grinned.
"Yes,
man. 'Naked
in
remember that." After a while he said,

me, mister? You must be smarter than the police.
it."
studied you."
"Studied me?
358
at
good.
that's
How?"
I'll
"When
you.
worked
a
man
that last girl identified you,
went to people who knew

you grew up with and
talked to your teachers, and people
with.
could write your
life
when
given to wild rages
about your hunting pigeons
story,
McCoy.
things go
in this region,
wrong
found out you're
for you.
learned
and how when you shot
left hand you began calling yourself Threeyou admired the original Three-finger Jack so
those two fingers off your

finger Jack because
He was a
McCoy
much.
killer too."
"So?"
'The
knew
So
said.
when he was hunted, McCoy.

where you did your pigeon shooting.
original Jack hid in caves
there was a big cave here
tracked you down."
McCoy
enough
chuckled.
remained
out of here."
he chuckled again.
silent
You should be almost smart

waited, and when Sheppard
"Are you married?"
smart.
"You're
way
to figure a
He
Sheppard nodded.
"Kids?"
Again Sheppard nodded.
McCoy
hangman
shook
his head.
sooner or
yourself into. Well,
He
was only the
it
hangman but look what you've got

your own damned fault. I'm going to sleep."
it's
closed his eyes again. This time he slept.
Half an hour
very
me
"You poor slob. For

the
later,
tired.
neck and
later
McCoy
The muzzle
Sheppard, too, allowed his eyes to close.
He awoke
triumphantly standing over him with the shotgun.
was an inch from Sheppard's head.
of the Beretta
me
"Just give
He was
with a grime-encrusted foot nudging his
McCoy
the key to these handcuffs, mister,"
said.
Sheppard did not move.

"The key! You think
was
loaded, mister.
so
looked.
won't shoot you for
long black tunnel
in front of
it
loaded, mister
that key!"
Sheppard took the key from

fall
to the floor.
were
McCoy
is
was sleeping,
pocket and watched the handcuffs
said slowly, "So there
is
laughed. "You're dumb, mister.
when
you, didn't
"I
He
his
while
way
out of here. You
lying."
crazy-wild
when
Beretta's barrel
thought maybe you'd emptied
so hand over
It's
The
it?"
Sheppard's right eye. "This gun
I?
things go wrong.
even with
this
You
When you
gun aimed
at
said yourself
first
my
found
gut.
turn
me jumped
1
Did
go crazy
that slide blocked the entrance?"

see,"
Sheppard
"But only
said.
one of us
those clothes
all
is
leaving here, mister. Take off your shoes and
of them. They'll be a big help to
me
outside."
359
Sheppard looked away from McCoy's face
McCoy
himself naked.
at last
and slowly made
reached for the handcuffs. "You can wear
these."
The
Then with
shoes.
on Sheppard's
cuffs clicked shut
rags, dressed himself in
shotgun and
wrists.
McCoy
took off his
Sheppard's clothing, and laced on Sheppard's
his rags
wadded under one arm, he gathered up
the
flashlight.
"So long, mister."
Sheppard said slowly, "You're leaving me

"
'Naked
my
into
the gun.
in darkness,'
"
McCoy
like this?"
chuckled. "You put the idea right
was only going to swap clothes with you and take

head
Anyway, you wouldn't feel clean in these rags of mine, not
I
even crawling under them to keep warm. You said yourself they
He
looked
down
at
the naked
your way out of here," he
man and
laughed.
said, "in the
"Now
stink."
just try finding
dark and without using your
hands."
He
along the wall to one of the chamber's openings. Just be-
slid
he turned
fore disappearing
good.
I'll
have to
just
He was
Spanish Town."
Sheppard lay
He
shivered.
still
that to a
'Naked
little
in darkness.'
girl
Man,
that's
got picked out in
gone.
as the
sound of
footfalls
Then he squirmed along
hands touched
He
tell
"
his head.
died away
in
the dark.
the floor until his manacled
a flat stone.
turned the stone over. His fingers found the spare key he had
hidden beneath
it
and he stood up.
McCoy
McCoy slept. The handcuffs fell from him

He walked slowly toward the tunnel into which
while
had vanished, and slowly along
floor before
each
step.
His hands kept up
it,
testing the shape of the
a continual
weaving
in front
of him.
In
time he reached a place where the tunnel branched, and he
hesitated. But not for long.
Naked
in
darkness,
On
he went again, groping.
he thought. Naked he was, naked he
felt.
Still,
bare feet were better than shoes for feeling out the irregularities of the
floor or the
edge of an unseen
pit
around which he must make
his
way.
The
strain
on
his senses
began to
tell.
He
stopped to
rest.
But after
he had rested he went on again through the maze, step by step by

step.
Near the end of the second hour he found McCoy's discarded rags.
did not touch them. Twenty minutes later he saw daylight. It was
only a shining pinpoint far ahead, but it grew in size as he approached
it. It became an opening large enough for a man to crawl through.
He
360
The
He
floor of the tunnel, slanting
He
studied them.
stooped.
up to
the opening and found himself on a
stunted tropical growth.
was
it,
A moment
littered
with stones.
he wriggled through
yard-wide ledge thick with
The mountainside
later
fell
steeply to a lush valley
where wisps of kitchen smoke rose from a cluster of peasant houses.

Rain was falling.
Twenty feet distant on the same ledge, McCoy snatched up the
Beretta and lurched to his feet from a study of the houses.
His expression of astonishment changed slowly to one of amusement
as the naked figure of Sheppard emerged from the mouth of the cave, straightened, and then faced him.
"Well,
McCoy
be damned,"
I'll
said.
Sheppard's hands were at his sides.
"You found
He was
it."
very
tired. Still,
he was
relaxed.
"You
left
your
McCoy."
trail,
"Don't move, mister. This gun
"What
trail
did
is
still
loaded,"
McCoy
warned.
leave?"
"The smell, McCoy. The smell of your clothes. Even after you
dropped them, the smell stayed with you." With his gaze fixed on the
gun, Sheppard shifted his bare feet ever so slightly, to grip the
ledge
better.
You
you
told
in coffee.
"I
McCoy,
smell the
"There
isn't
moment
didn't say
was
a planter,
McCoy.
can smell you from here."
of silence, said with a sneer, "Can
you
in this shell, mister?"
any to smell."
laughed.
The naked man

if
after a
powder
McCoy
see
was
said that. I'm a coffee taster.
"I
looked, mister. You forgot."
at the
cave mouth shook his head. "You looked to

it. You should have taken the
shell out
the gun had a shell in
and looked
at that.
Pull the trigger.
McCoy
the gun
emptied
it,
McCoy, while you were
sleeping.
Find out."
True to form, when there was no explosion he flung

the mountainside and hurled himself, cursing, at his
fired.
down
adversary.
Sheppard's right hand flashed up. As a boy, he too had hunted

in Jamaica's mountains. Not with a gun, of
course. With
pigeons
stones.
He was
still
good
at
it.
He
didn't miss.
361
Night Watch
hy
At
five
minutes of
five
Scott
O'Hara
the disc jockey topped off his program with a
recording by the All Stars. Barney Bigard's clarinet was sweet and
strong, to the counterpoint noodling of Fatha' Hines.
He
kept the car
rhythm was a whisper, the tune

the mind. As the piece ended he turned off the
like a
hands around the lighter from the dashboard
he
radio tuned so low that the
memory
cupped
in
his
as
radio,
lit
another cigarette.
When
was finished he eased the car door open and stood out in
predawn air, the wet spring-smell of the woods. Four
months of waiting and watching. The tiredness was deep in him, and
the boredom. A leaden-muscled, sag-nerved tiredness.
Behind the house, three hundred feet away, the roosters screamed
brassy defiance at distant hen runs, and, lonesome through the dregs
of night, came the far-off sigh and pant of a train.
Barry Raymes leaned against the side of the government sedan,
sensing, for the hundredth time, his own unreality
neatly dressed, as
the Bureau demanded, the regulation special making its familiar bulge,
the regulation hammer on the regulation empty chamber, the entire
it
the crisp,
picture anachronistic in the threat of dawn, in the sleepy peace of the
Georgia countryside.
In
the war there had been the long time on
the ship, so long that things that happened before faded away, and
the future was immeasurably distant. This was not unlike that time
on the
ship.
At eight Sturdevant would relieve him, to be relieved
turn at four in the afternoon
midnight,
when once
by French, who would carry on
in
until
again Barry Raymes, with the thermos of coffee,
the bundle of sandwiches from the hotel, would begin the vigil that
had begun to seem pointless. But no agent of two years seniority can
hope to point out to the Special Agent in Charge that the assignment,
in his measured opinion, is of no value. Patience is a quality more
precious than gold to the Bureau.
A man
without patience does not
last long.
And
362
so there has to be reconciliation to the night after night, the
hundred and twenty-six nights thus spent, and the possible hundred
and twenty-six yet to come. Even though each night added another
cumulative factor to the deathly weariness. Weariness came from
current alertness, the adrenalin that
whenever
seemed
a car
unidentifiable
to slow
came hard and
fast into
re-
the blood
on the highway. Or there would be an
sound that made necessary
cautious patrol of the
grounds with the Bureau variation of the wartime, infra-red snooperscope.

All
because the Bureau was gambling that Craik Lopat would return
had intended
to see the girl he
As dawn paled the eastern
to marry.
sky, the kitchen lights
yellow-orange oblongs out onto the packed
he could see her,
tall,
as she
moved about
coffee on before going back to her
in
bedroom
heavy maroon cardigan, too large
for her,
this past
dooryard, and
the kitchen, putting the

to
exchange the robe
The
the cotton dress and sweater that she usually wore.
belonged to Lopat. Somehow,
went on, slanting
dirt of the
for
sweater was a
and he suspected that
it
had
month, when he thought of
Marra Allen wearing Lopat's sweater, an ugly anger thickened within

him.
He
recognized the potential danger of his attitude and sought to
recover his original indifference, but without any particular success.

In the night
watch you could think of taking
this
Marra Allen, with
her ignorance and her superstitions and her unlettered tongue, and
becoming Pygmalion, because there was no denying that her slim

loveliness was more than just an attribute of youth. The bone structure was good and she would take beauty to her grave. And French
told of the innate fastidiousness, the kitchen shades drawn, the water
heated each night
in
the big tub in a countryside where Saturday
baths were a mark of eccentricity.
And
from
long night, you could think of her breathing softly

on her bed and think of how her warm breath would come
also, in the
in sleep
lips
parted just a
bit,
probably, and the golden hair spread over
the pillow. She was three hundred feet away, and one night
calmly stepped over to the birch which was white
clubbed
it
hard with your clenched
fist,
later
you
quite
in the starlight
and
sucking the swollen
moment.
Raymes had always been a quick and competent, though
somewhat shy young man with a wide, dark line in his mind separating right from wrong. The frequency with which his thoughts and his
dreams turned to Marra Allen disturbed him because he sensed
knuckles, but cured for the
Barry
wrongness
in
Bureau agent involving himself personally with any

363
female
any
in
case,
no matter what
intrinsic
worth said female seemed
to possess.
Sturdevant and French both
about the midnight-to-eight
made
trick,
the usual, the expected, jokes
and the obvious advantages pertain-
ing to the hour, and in the beginning he had laughed in the expected
way and hinted broadly

ment, but of
late
of the mythical delights of such an assign-
he had
felt
the flush on the back of his neck and
laughter had not been as easy.
When
she returned to the kitchen the
paling the
dawn
light
was
door and looked over toward the small side road where
hidden
in
brighter,
from the kitchen. She opened the kitchen
light
artificial
his car
The light behind her outlined her and

the hem of the cotton dress.
the heavy brush.
was
the
morning wind caught at

He had long since decided that there was no compromise of BuSpecial Agent in Charge
had
reau directives involved. The SAC
made it quite clear that it would be impossible to carry out the assignment without tipping off the girl. And so his conscience had been
made easy. And it had become a morning custom.
He came across the dooryard, taking out the Special when he was
She stepped aside, as

that look of amusement on her face
forty feet from her.
usual, saying,
mister,"
as
"
'Morning,
though he were
a small
boy playing some absurd variation of cops-and-robbers.

He went through the house as he had been taught in the School. It
did not take long. Four rooms, like small boxes, on one floor. Bedroom, sitting room, storeroom and kitchen.
When he came back into the kitchen she had put the coffee cups
on the table, taking, as usual, as the one without the handle.
Without turning she said, Tind any crooks in my house?" She
stood
wood
the
at
stove, turning the eggs.
"Not today."
"Gives
me
do you?"
"Of course
funny
feeling, kinda, mister.
trust you,
Marra.
"Sure," she said, her tone weary.
just
He
You don't
trust
me much,
have to follow orders."

sat
down
in his usual place, his
She brought over the two plates of eggs, the

cut bacon, taking, as usual, the chipped plate for herself.
back to the
They
wall.
thick-
on every morning, she lowered her face

woman it would have
amused and partially revolted him. In Marra it seemed oddly pathetic.
It seemed as though a girl of breeding sat there, intent, for some
strange reason, on playing this part that had been given her. And in
364
ate in silence, and, as
almost to the plate for each forkful. In another
the depths of her grey-blue eyes he saw the deadness, a nothingness,

as
though a part of her had been dead for four months.

They finished breakfast and he found the fifty-cent piece
pocket.
He
him do
it.
slipped
it
under the edge of the
plate,
in his
without her seeing
They had never spoken
lected as proper for the
of the fee he had arbitrarily semorning breakfast, and he knew that she
away until he left.
would not take the plate

"When you people goin'
"When we
ta give up?"
she asked.
get Lopat."
"He hid good, eh?"

"He hid very good. Maybe
we'll find
Maybe
him.
come back
he'll
to be found."
She took one of

just as well
while.
'em.
Now
be
jail.
none of the
They know
She sighed. 'Tor me, mister, it might

got to go jukin' once in a
ask me. Solly, or Tad or Jesse or any of
his cigarettes.
When
Craik was around
boys'll
be you G's taggin' along."
there'll
"Are you in love with Craik Lopat?"
"Love
is
a big
word, mister. Craik's always good for laughs. Big
mean eye on him. Like a well, like one of them

Mean. Big white teeth. See him work out once on one
of them Turner boys from Patton Ridge. Gouged an eye out of him in
husky guy with
mountain
cats.
about three seconds."
"Did he get into trouble
just
do you
out of meanness,
think,
Marra?"
She frowned, took her time answering. "I can't say. He always
wanted a big shiny car and money in his pocket. He got fired off the
gas station and they wouldn't take him back in the mill again because
of the trouble last time.
guess he was sore at the mill and that's why
he done it."
Barry Raymes, thinking aloud, said, "And he had beginner's luck, all
right. If they'd gotten the safe closed ... if it hadn't been payday
1
...
that guard hadn't lost his nerve
if
thirty-five thousand, in small bills
Lots of
ifs.
and change, and drove
He
got
off in the
plant manager's car to boot and took that payroll clerk with him.
That's
how we come
into the picture."
"Because of the state line?"
"He
remember, and
rolled the clerk out into the brush in Alabama,
shot him through the stomach.
"He was always
The
clerk didn't die easy, Marra."
wild-like," she said softly. "Even
when he was
just a
kid."
"You were going to marry him," he said accusingly.
"Oh,
know what you mean. He'd have
given
me
bad time,
that's
365
for sure.
me
Other women and getting likkered up and maybe slamming

He done that once, you know." She laughed, almost
around.
fondly. "Gee, did
have
eye on me!"
a fat
"After what's happened," he asked,
"if
you had
chance to go with
him, would you?"
She regarded him
steadily. "Mister,
couldn't rightly say."
"You would, wouldn't you?"

"I
might."
He wanted
He
to hurt her.
said, "You'll find the
pushed
his chair
back and stood up.
He
half-buck under the plate."
She flushed. "That's all right."

Anger didn't fade entirely until he was back at the car. And then he
was ashamed for speaking of the money, knowing that it would make
a difference between them.
Sturdevant showed up a
little
before eight and Barry Raymes drove
back to the small city eight miles away and went to bed.
He was up
at five,
had another breakfast and went
to a movie.
At
eleven he finished his lunch, picked up the sandwiches and coffee and
went out and relieved
The long
to the kitchen door.

"1
want
bored and sleepy Paul French.
night hours went by without incident. She did not
He
to search the house," he said harshly.
She stepped aside without
He went
fast,
"1
come
waited longer than usual and then went over.
word. As before the house was empty.
back into the kitchen and
said,
"I
could use some break-
Marra."
can
sell
you
coffee, eggs
and bacon
acted like
did yesterday, Marra."
for half a buck,
if
you want
it."
"1
I'm sorry
She looked
"1
had
"What
was
directly at him. "You
a reason."
reason?"
"You said you might go away with

what's
ugly."
happened
She moved
to
me, but
don't
know
a half step closer to
face to look directly
with him. Marra,
."
.
up into
him and, with
his eyes.
He
felt
dignity, lifted her
the
warmth
of her
breath against his chin. As he bent to kiss her, her hands fastened
with hard force around his arms above the elbows. His reactions were
delayed.
"I
He
twisted away, reaching for the revolver.
wouldn't try that," a
was aimed
thank you for
366
man
said softly.
at Barry's belt buckle.

it.
Back
real
The Army Colt
in his
hand
"You did right well, Marra, and
slow against the wall next to the stove
Hands way
there, mister.
wad
Marra, a
of
Lopat wore an expensive-looking
Craik.
Go
up. That's right.
me some
git
cloth,
it.
but the knees were
suit,
stained with dirt and one button was missing from the suit coat.
wore no
and
tie
his
white
the shoulder, slim and
shirt
flat in
was open
at the collar.
He was
He
thick in
the belly and hips. Black eyebrows
met
over the bridge of his nose and the mouth was heavy with cruelty and
sensuousness.
"A cop," he
said, "tryin' to love
my woman! They
up
outa the bottom of the barrel, sonny.
up
the
in
around,
until
hills
been here
figured out your hours.
for
When you
was outside the bedroom window. And
musta got you
two days,
it'll
layin'
looked
be nearly two
hours before the next one shows up. You couldn't find me before, and
got a good car stashed over
you won't find the two of us, either.
beyond the grove
I
"
Marra came back into the kitchen with

"You want
me
"No. Give
it
to tear
here.
it
wad
of sheeting.
into strips, Craik?" she asked.
got to
wad
it
around the end of
this
here .45
You want to see me shoot

him, you kin stand over there, f'you want. Sonny gets it low down in
the gut. He woulda got it in the head except for what see him trying
to do to you."
Barry Raymes felt the sweat run down his ribs. His mouth was dry
and he was dizzy. Some of it was genuine fear. More of it was anger
and frustration that he should have been taken in so easily. He looked
at Marra. Her face was pale and she moistened her lips.
because
it
makes too damn much
noise.
"Right
right here in the kitchen?" she asked weakly.
"You got no more use for

it,
go on
in
this little old shack,
'They'll never give
up
you kill me, Lopat. Never," Barry

came into his voice.
if
despised the tremble that
"They got no pictures of me, sonny, and no
name and
'em
in
all
a lot of
good neighbors
prints.
my
find.
He wrapped
wife."
said.
got a nice
never
in a place you'll
was going back to pick up
honey. You don't
like
the next room."
He
new
told
the barrel
the sheeting. "Brace yourself, sonny."

"Craik," she said. "Wait a minute. Let
afore
you
run for
"I'm
it
kill
him.
without
It'll
my
make some
we
get
1
my
don't
stuff
want
together
to have to
things."
going to buy you new
"After
me
noise and
stuff,
honey."
get married?"
367
Craik Lopat frowned.
honey.
You'll get the
hurry. Don't shoot
"I'll
man
see a
we
"If
new
stuff
him
get time to
make out the
papers,
anyway."
yet.
want
to see
it,
Craik.
never did
get hisself killed yet."
She smiled, quite merrily.

"Make it fast, baby," Craik growled.
She hurried out of the room. Craik stood, whistling
muzzle, shrouded
plans.
They
watch
Craik's eyes.
in
tonelessly, the
made
sheeting, steady as a boulder. Barry
They might
over to the
flick
girl
when
she
came
back into the kitchen. At that moment he'd throw himself to the
snatching the revolver as he
He
fell,
hoping to get
in the
back of
his thick,
full
in the
bedroom
caught
blast at short range
tanned neck. The big
man
stum-
bled one step forward, his head nearly severed from his body, and
heavily,
full
fell
length, the .45 spinning out of his dead hand, his face
smashing against the worn

Barry
left,
one shot.
in at least
heard Marra's quick footsteps. She appeared
door. She lifted the shotgun and the
Craik Lopat
his
hadn't taken the revolver. That was an oversight. He'd
Raymes bent
floor boards.
stupidly and picked up the .45. Marra Allen
up the dead hand, sat back on her heels

and crooned a low, sad tone that was without tears.
"You were going to go with him."
"He was changed, mister. Changed. He was like a dog I see once in
knelt beside the body, picked
town, with suds on his mouth and his eyes crazy."
"Was it because he was going to kill me?" he asked softly.

She turned her head slowly and looked at the wall against which
Barry had been standing. Her voice sounded far away. "You see that
blue color, don't you? Last year
wanted to fix the place up. He
bought the paint and painted it.
got those little red things. Funny
little things. You wet the paper and then they slide right off onto the
1
wall.
He
thought they were pretty.
And we were going
to live here,
you know."
She
held the
still
lifeless
hand.
He
saw the expensive band of the
watch, the black hair curling harshly on the back of the hand, be-
tween the knuckles of the fingers.

'That's where he was going to kill me, against that
"It
didn't
mean anything
to him, mister.
It
didn't
wall."
mean
damn
thing to him."
He shifted his weight uneasily and said, with mock joviality, "Well,
no matter why you felt you had to do it, I want you to know that I
really feel
368
."
.
She wasn't listening. She had started that toneless crooning again,
and he suddenly realized that it was the sound many women make
when they wish to soothe infants, wish to send them off to sleep.
He walked out the open kitchen door, then turned,

you say something?"
"1
just said, mister, that
it'll
scrub off the floorboards.
saying, "Did
It
sure
would
have messed up that wall."
He
walked through the door yard and across the vegetable patch,
careful not to step in the freshly planted rows.
The
night mist was
drying on the hood and top of the black government sedan.
warmed up he
When
hand mike off the prongs and

said, knowing as he did so, that not only had Craik Lopat died, but
also a girl who had existed almost entirely in his mind, "Raymes reporting, Raymes reporting in."
"Go ahead, Raymes."
He licked his lips and planned how he would phrase it.
the sending set
lifted the
Night Work
hy Gerald
Tollesjrud
Hogan's Roadhouse.
I'd
never been there before.
Damn
sure wouldn't
Harry Doyle Investigations had been
go there
stiffed again,
again.
for the third
my territory, what
had looked like an easy fee. A strange twist with the fat, gray-haired
old guy in expensive Burbridge coat and raw silk suit wanting me to
find out what his shorts refused to believe in spite of what his head
told him. Was his ripe, young plaything suckering him with her occasional steamy romps for the expensive gifts and paid ocean cruises he
bestowed on her? With pledges of undying love? Was she at the same
time hanging on to the young, yuppie stockbroker she had married
and had sworn to have left for him?
time in two years. Chicago suburbs, usually out of
Easy surveillance.
in
Some thousand-speed
the middle-aged Buick Century
in the
coin of the realm to
still
film, a
few red-eyed nights
hadn't paid
two large when

exchanged for the
start,
of glossies and audio cassettes
off.
Five
hundred
delivered. Package
fee.
369
Screwed without being
kissed.
Guy had
des that turned out to be rented under a
hundred
six
in
disappeared
in his
Merce-
phony name leaving me with
expenses to cover with the front
five
hundred and
week of my life down the sewer.

Got madder as each mile of Interstate slipped away in the rainsplattered rearview mirror through the smoky haze my porous muffler
spewed in my wake. Speed needle hit eight-five, faster than five minutes
ago.
enough
to
My
pocket contributed about twelve bucks to
buy
a tonic of
Scotch
next
at the
my
fist,
exit.
Hogan's Roadhouse.
what
needed. Not a fancy, upscale oasis where I'd have to
up with the rosy-cheeked affluent. That would depress me even
more, just a dump with booze and a lonely waitress with an empty
Just
belly
mind and
The
a full
body.
more neon than bricks, more noise than therapy,

more bad than good. But what the hell. On the way across the dark,
puddled parking lot wondered if there was a camper-club meeting
inside. The back lot was bordered with a string of truck campers, popups, and one rusty-looking Winnebago. Inside, while my eyes accommodated the dimness, my ears fought against the heavy-metal shriekplace was
ing that passed for music and the sour smell of old beer and
new
toilet
chemicals.
Perfect!
I
hung
my
wrinkled London Fog raincoat
at the far
end of
dark
alcove ringed with wall-hooks and crowded by empty beer cases.
With
buck stuffed into one of
tolls, just in case,
its
pockets for the remaining highway
took the balance of
my
wealth to the bar.
end a large room was filled with electronic dartboards,

more noise, enough smoke to cure half the ham in Kentucky, and
occupied by most of the population of northern Illinois. A long,
scarred bar stretched along one wall of the nearest section of the
dump where one man sat huddled in a trench-coat like mine. Newer
and cleaner. All the stools beyond him were covered by young
women, mostly white, one black girl about six-three, and a Hispanic
At the
far
spilling out of her blouse.
As
drink in
approached the
my
bar, blinking
away the smoke and
mind, trench-coat heaved to his
feet.
The
girl
tasting the
next to him
walked ahead of him, hips pistoning under tight, denim cut-offs as she
tugged her red halter top up with her left hand and reached the other
for a transparent plastic
bar's end.
onto the narrow border
370
poncho hanging on an oak
The man shoved

at
his full
beer
the bar's edge,
mug and
nodded
hall-tree at the
small pile of bills

to the
woman
be-
hind the bar, and followed. His shoes and the bulge under his coat
and the way
his quick eyes
scoped out the joint before fading into the
haze spelled cop.
That was
I
came
all
right.
in for a
mood-altering snort, not to knock over the
Now knew why

I
The
joint.
place was a hot-
providing havens for whatever games the clientele
the rigs
bed,
the campers were out back.
wanted to play.
Nice choice of watering holes, Doyle.
ordered a beer and a shot instead of my usual J and B. It seemed
more fitting for my mood and for the joint. The old war-horse behind
the bar served me silently, her pancake-makeup face impassive. She
looked like every woman's worst nightmare whenever a birthday came
along, like the proverbial twenty miles of muddy gravel road. She
I
slapped
freely
my
change next to
under
my
a sweatshirt that
drinks, pendulous breasts swinging
had never become acquainted with
Maytag, and went down to chat with the members of the ecstasy
corps.
I
would soon become acquainted with the stocky,
who slipped through the entry door,

the moment my attention was drawn
ing
my
left
"Buy a
at the
edge of
flat-nosed
my
man
vision. But at
to the red-nailed fingers squeez-
knee.
girl a drink, pal?"
Her eyes locked on mine, but they couldn't see anything. The
pupils were the wrong size.
checked her out as she pressed one hard,
I
siliconed breast into
my
needle or nose candy?
how young? how had
how soon would
shoot?
arm, wondering a long
she die, and how?
who would be
hadn't seen in nine years,
two months with her
list
of wonderings,
she fallen into this crap-
thought of the daughter
eighteen, starting at Arizona
money, her mother
in
and
out of booze wards. Eighteen and probably pretty and probably
still
State in
step-father's
and always would be wonderful.

"Not tonight, honey," answered. "It'd have to be
certain that
life is
pay
for
it."
Male macho pride
bullshit.
And
a freebie.
bucks
six
"Freebie?" she whispered, then reached with her other
under
my
left
hard under
arm and across
my
get a whip-freak,
buy me
back where
it
never
hand
to feel
stopped on the gun,
sport coat. "Aw, shit!" she spat. "You must be the other
guy Eddie said would stop by

at least
my
left.
now
a beer?
it's
for the grease.
Support Your Local
We
hafta wait for Eddie
anyway." She must have thought

tion instead of confusion
My
my
lucky night.
Sheriff. Jeez!
First
Could you
and Bambi to get back
eyebrows were raised
as a ques-
and explained, "Same pad."

371
Nice.
The guy
only glimpse
had
I'd
Occasional cream
and
my
Thing by
"Later,"
headed
for
the
my
need
looked
mineshafts produce
girls'
I
ashes hauled by the Sweet
side.
mumbled, and
my
glanced
around
know Eddie and
didn't
some
slid
be followed by
coat, to
in
bills
my
car,
my own
him
the swarthy guy near the door and saw
at
place and
dream tonight.
didn't
his face
Then
front of her.
then forty minutes on
the high road to the relatively chaste sanctuary of
hopes that
me, the
like
Vice. Perks of the job.
wasn't thirsty any more.
sure as hell didn't
kinda
maybe even
^was cop,
in his coffee for letting
the gold. Suddenly,

didn't care
other raincoat
in the
from
stumpy cigar and saw the
cold,
puff
smoke
dead eyes that
followed me. Must be the guy Eddie said was coming. Enjoy the bufbutt-head.
fet,
where my coat hung

hook when the guy's stocky body blocked
some of the light. He was coming fast, leaning toward me, his right
arm held stiffly straight at his side. At the end of it a long knife began
an upward arc.
At the
was
far
end
just pulling
of the narrow, closet-like space

off the
it
Instinct. Survival. Before
and launched
face
soft belly
from
his
at the
mouth under
death
in his
my
snugged
tossed
my
coat over his

it
caught the
sides of his black coat. Air

it.
exploded
glanced
hand, pushed his heavy, doubled-up body against
my
gun. His
his ear. Soundlessly,
blocking
was high, and
the tangle of trenchcoat covering
just before the barrel of
behind
brain reacted
his groin.
between the spread
the wall and dug for
head
my
knee into
my
left
arm clawed the
fabric off his
Beretta sank into his skull above
and
he crumbled and lay motionless, almost
path between the wall and the stacked boxes.
my
piece back into
its
holster, gathered
up
my
coat,
and
bent over the guy, hearing his hoarse breathing, smelling sweat and
wet wool and bad breath.
kneed him to the
and button-retracted the blade, and put

pocket a thin wallet, mine now.
pocket to mine. Then

Scotch. Neat.
needed
it
side,
inside
thick envelope
picked up the knife
my
shirt. In his
went from
walked unsteadily back to the
bar.
hip
his breast
This time,
it.
The ladies glanced at me appraisingly until my earlier friend leaned

way and whispered, then they turned their backs and some very
their
nice bottoms to
me and washed me from
The Scotch had

away, shrugged into
The
372
wallet ID'd
my
hit
my
my
their minds.
gut and was burning
coat,
and used
it
fiercely.
to shield
my
turned
movements.
attacker as Vito Inglese, Chicago, a meaningless
Couple hundred
address.
No
shit.
why
clues
The envelope was

Six thousand,
put
dered
if
back
it
All bull-
a shocker.
in crisp
my
in
six
hundreds.
My
pocket.
hands were shaking
some
big ones or the fact
a little.
gorilla
had
won-
tried to
with the big sleep.
Was he
Also wandered why.
and the guy was
had
same name.
cards,
mechanic?
was the
it
me
provide
all
Hit money"
Charge
in bills.
he'd picked me.
really after
He'd
a stranger to me.
my
me? This wasn't
tried to ventilate
me
as
turf
he
if
a mission.
stood up to leave. Forever would do it.

As headed for the door I saw the girl who had led the way
cop fifteen minutes earlier. Her shoulders slumped under the
I
for the
among her
coat as she took her place silently
wore
a self-satisfied smile
Then
hit
it
ginmill.
Maybe
l.O.U.
I'm a closet moralist.
saw the chance to
my
pocket, sorting, dividing.
walked past him to the bimbo who'd
bill.
"And your bosom buddy's
last
name,"
the guy. She hesitated, then whispered
somewhere out
Then
just serviced
it
added, jerking
me and
to
mut-
on her glossed
a smile
my
head
stuck the
at
bill
of sight.
turned back to the man.
'To the end of the bar, Sarge."
led
him
to the curved corner of the
dark oak where a waitress's station interrupted
turned around he was about
hand
him and
"For your sick mother, sweetie,"
watching her confused frown melt into
tered,
lay out an
I'm stupid.
held out a hundred dollar
lips.
Maybe
fingered the envelope carefully in
Then
the same grungy roadside
in
at the right target.
could collect another time.
Or maybe
I
He
tan, all-weather coat as mine.
me. Same build, same coat,
was looking
and the same
plastic
business associates.
the other with
at his side,
its
contours.
When
away, operating distance, one
five feet
thumb hooked
in his belt.
Near the
leather strap that ran across his chest to his holster.

"So?" he said.
"Who
th'
fuck put
you
charge?
in
know me, pal. Out of town cop.

the Four Two station in the city."
"You don't
tin
out of
He
his
raised his eyebrows, jerked his
head to
time was valuable. Say your piece.
the pocket of
hand, too.
It
my
slacks.
He watched my
came out with
didn't reach out.
five bills.
tell
slowly
Da
me
to keep going,
moved my hand
eyes, but
into
my
he could see
handed them
dropped them on the
you want?"
Used to carry
hell
Private.
to him, but
he
bar.
373
'That's just to get
lucky day.
your attention
a hired hit
added, 'This could be your
"
named Vito
Inglese?"
He knew
flicker of recognition in the eyes.
seen
I'd
it.
"Who're
him measuring me, looking at the scar that ran into

sideburn, the nose that wasn't straight any more, the bulk in the
you?"
my
Know
could
feel
shoulders.
"Doesn't matter.
know, Sutton."
need
a favor
from you down the pike
my
reached, slowly again, into
I'll
let
you
hip pocket while he
watched, and put Inglese's wallet on the bar. "Same
size, same tan

guy got mixed up. Tried to put a knife in me. While you were
out back massaging Bambi's tonsils. Thought I was you. used to be a
coat,
somebody had your number."

waited while he thought about it. While he tried to decide where this
was going. Then, "The five hundred is for you to stay at the bar until
I'm gone. After that you can send it to your favorite charity. Vito is in
cop, figured you'd appreciate knowing
the nearest closet sleeping with a headache.

hero.
Sound
He shook
"Nahl"
to
head slowly from side to
his
into me. "You're
Needs
goddamned
said.
wanted
eyes
side, his
at his back.
Name
You
for that favor.

bills
is
Harry so
went
to the
still
me
give
still
boring
a cop.
minutes. Deal?"
five
and the wallet next to him, and
went through the door. The
rain
was
still
1
falling,
the
remembered.
edge of the mass of cars and waited while the sound of
eighteen -wheelers carried through the wet
hind Hogan's the lights went out
in
air
from the
Interstate. Be-
one of the campers and two
people dashed back into the bar, the pale legs of the
girl
the darkness. Inside, the sound of music and people pulsed.
come
be a
know who
you'll
parking lot was muddier, the night seemed darker than

1
you'll
crazy."
nodded, collected the
moved away.
he's
"Even a cop gets some take now'n then's
know who's
might be calling you
He
If
fair?"
out behind
me
so
walked to
my
flashing in
He
didn't
old Buick and drove back to
the highway.
Stiffed by the gray-haired guy in the fading light of early evening
on a rainy day. Made a lady of the night smile. Dodged a shank
meant for someone else but aimed at my gut. Got five thousand dollars richer.
I
patted the bulge of the envelope
Not
374
bad
night's
work
for
momma
in
my
pocket lovingly.
Doyle's
little
boy Harry.
Novel Forgery
hy Rodriûes
Ottolenûi
Mr. Barnes was wondering whether he would soon have a case which
would require special mental effort in its solution. "Something that
will make me think," was the way he phrased it to himself. The same
idea had occupied him for some time. Not that he had been idle, but
his "cases" had all been of such a nature that with a little supervision it
had been safe to intrust them entirely to his subordinates. Nothing
had occurred to compel his personal investigation. On this morning,
however, fate had something peculiarly attractive for him. His officeboy announced a visitor, who, when shown into the detective's sanctum, introduced himself thus:
"I
am Stephen
West, cashier of the Fulton National Bank.
Is
this
Mr. Barnes?"
"Yes, sir," replied the detective, "is
"It is
your business important?"
very important to me," said Mr. West.
"I
am
interested to the
extent of forty thousand dollars."

"Forty thousand dollars! Forgery?" Receiving an assenting nod, Mr.
Barnes arose and closed the door of the office after instructing the
to prevent his being disturbed. Returning to his seat, he said:
boy
"Now
tell me the story. All of it, as far as you know it. Omit
however unimportant it may seem to you."
"Very good. My bank has been swindled out of forty thousand
dollars in the most mysterious manner. We have received four checks,
each for ten thousand dollars. These were signed with the name John
Wood, one of our best customers. In making up his monthly balance
these checks were sent to his house in the usual order of business. Today Mr. Wood came to the bank, and declared them to be forgeries."
"Were these checks paid by you personally?"
"Oh, no. We received them through the Clearing-House. They had
been deposited at the Harlem National Bank, and reached us in the
routine way. They were taken on four different days."
"Who was the depositor at the Harlem Bank?"
then, Mr. West,
no
detail,
"There
is
mystery there. His name
is
Carl Grasse. Inquiry at the
375
Harlem Bank shows that he has been a depositor for about a year. He
had a seemingly flourishing business, a beer-garden and concert place.
Recently he sold out and returned to his home in Germany. Before
doing so he drew out his deposits and closed his account."
"How is it that you did not yourself detect the forgeries? supposed you bank people were so expert nowadays that the cashing of a
worthless check would be impossible."
"Here are the forged checks, and here is one cashed by us since the
accounting, which is genuine. Compare them, and perhaps you will
admit that anyone might have been deceived."
Mr. Barnes examined the checks very closely, using a lens to assist
his eyes. Presently he laid them down without comment, and said:
"What do you wish me to do, Mr. West?"
should like to
"To me it seems like a hopeless task, but at least
will gladly pay five hundred dollars as a
have the forger arrested.
1
reward."
Mr. Barnes took up the checks again, examined them most carefully
with the
desk a
his
and once more
lens,
moment and
laid
them down. He strummed on
then said suddenly:
"Mr. West, suppose that
not only arrest the guilty man, but
re-
cover the forty thousand dollars?"
"You don't mean to say

"I
"
began Mr. West, rather astonished.
said, 'suppose,' interrupted
"Why,
in that case," said
Mr. Barnes.
Mr. West,
"I
would gladly give
thousand
more."
"The terms
suit
me," said the detective.
checks with me, and
I'll
you
report to
as
"I'll
do
my
promptly
best.
Leave these
as possible.
One
moment," as Mr. West was about to depart,- "1 will make a memorandum of something you must do yourself." He wrote a few lines on a
sheet of paper and handed
today,
if
it
to Mr. West, saying, "Let
me have
those
possible."
One week
later
Mr. West received the following note:
Stephen West, Esq.:
Dear
call at
Sir
my
have completed
office at four o'clock.
with you a check for
fifteen
my
If
investigation of your case. Please
may as well
made payable to
John Barnes
convenient, you
hundred
bring
dollars,
"Great heavens!" ejaculated the cashier upon reading the above, "he
tells
me
to bring fifteen
the money.
376
hundred
dollars.
Thank God!" He dropped
That means he has recovered

overcome at the
into his chair,
sudden release from the suspense of the previous week, and a few
tears trickled down his cheek as he thought of his wife and little one
now be
who would
not
make good
his loss.
Promptly
at four
obliged to give up their pretty
right?
home
once:
at
You have succeeded?"
"Most thoroughly," said the detective. "I have discovered the

in prison.
also have his written confession."
and have him
thief,
"But, the forty
thousand dollars?"
and sound. Your bank does not
"All safe
to
he was ushered into the presence of Mr. Barnes.
Impatient to have his hopes confirmed, he exclaimed
"Am
little
reward." Mr. Barnes added the
last after a
except the
lose a dollar
pause and with a twinkle of
his eye.
"Oh, Mr. Barnes, that

tell
how was
me,
"Suppose
riddle?
more
am
is
this trick
give
you
just in the
compared
a trifle
played on us?
a detailed
humor
account of
for telling
is
just
what
did
expected. But
it?"
my work
in solving
and besides you
it,
will
the
be
should most desire."
"We
"Very well," began Mr. Barnes.
after scrutinizing the checks,
the recovery of the money.

tered
what
appreciative."
"That
when,
to
Who
my
mind, and
arrest of the criminal
taneous.
will
knew
go back
will
asked that because
that
if
it
to the
moment
asked what you would give for
a suspicion
had en-
should prove to be correct, the
and the recovery of the money would be simul-
not explain
now why
that should be a necessary se-
you what made

you know, of course,
John Wood uses a private special check. The forgeries were upon
blanks which had been stolen from his check-book. Thus the thief
seemingly had access to it. Next, as is commonly done nowadays, the
amount of the check was not only written, but also punched out, with
the additional precaution of punching a dollar mark before and after
the figures. It would seem therefore almost impossible that any alterations had been made after the check was originally drawn. Such
things have been done, the holes being filled up with paper pulp, and
new ones punched afterwards. But in this case nothing of the sort had
been attempted, nor indeed was any such procedure necessary, for the
checks were not raised from genuine ones, but had been declared by
Wood to be forgeries outright. That is, he denied the signatures."
"Certainly. They were declared to be spurious."
"Exactly. Now that was all that
knew when you were here last
except that the signatures seemed to be very similar, it was possible
377
quence, as you will see that
me
was
entertain the suspicion, in the
right. But
first
will tell
place, as
were
that they
tracings.
The
plain deduction from this
was that the
John Wood's establishment, some one who

could have access to the checkbook, to the punch, and also have a
chance to copy the signature, if it was copied."
forger was
"All that
some one
is
in
how
quite clear, but
to proceed?"
you to send me a list of all the checks which had been

paid out on John Wood's account, giving their dates, numbers, and
amounts.
also asked you to procure for me from the Harlem National Bank a similar list of checks paid on order of Carl Grasse. These
two lists you sent to me, and they have been very useful. As soon as
you left me, and whilst awaiting your lists, tried some experiments
"I
instructed
with the forged checks.

traced, having
been made,
necessarily that they
upon the
other.
similarly a
First
as
argued that
would exactly coincide
Now whilst a man
thousand times,
if
from habit
doubt
if
the signatures were
were, from a model,
it
could, exactly reproduce his signature.
The
tracings.
test of placing
one over
me
that they
compared each check with each
with the genuine one which you also

counterparts of one another.
Still this
they were not tracings, for an

as to trace
each check from
left
artistic
with me.
of the others, and
No
two were exact
did not completely prove that
criminal might have
a different
name very
times he would, or
the other and examining with transmitted light satisfied
were not
would follow
will write his
in a million
if
it
superimposed the one
gone so
far
model, thus avoiding identity
whilst preserving similarity."
"Mr. Barnes," said Mr. West, admiringly, "you delight
me
with your
care in reasoning out your point."
"Mr. West, in speculating upon circumstantial evidence the most
thorough care must be used,

cent. Nothing, to
my
mind,
one would avoid arresting the inno-
if
is
stronger proof against a criminal than a
complete chain of circumstantial evidence, but again, nothing

misleading
if
at
any stage
be allowed to occur.
what was merely

indeed
may prove
in either of
glass or agate.
was
starting out to prove
at
any time.
careful,
suspicion
for
is
hindrance to correct reasoning. Not
took the next
two ways: with
The former
determined to be most
up suspicion
entirely satisfied, therefore,
made
so
is
an omission, or a misconstruction
In this case, then, as
a suspicion,
dislike following
prejudgment, and
a mistake,
step.
a lead-pencil, or
tracing can be
with a stylus of
leaves a deposit of the lead, whilst the
makes an indentation upon the paper. In the first case the forger
will attempt to remove the lead with an erasing rubber, but will not
succeed thoroughly, because some of it will be covered by the ink,
and because of the danger of injuring the surface of the paper. In the
latter
378
if he be a very thoughtful man, he might undertake to

remove the indentation by rubbing the opposite side with the end of
latter instance,
with an ivory papercutter. In either case a careful scrutiny
his knife or
with
show the burnishing upon the
strong glass would
could find nothing of the
remove the
solution to
ink.
reverse side.
Taking one of the checks
sort.
applied a
thorough examination disclosed that
there was no sign either of the graphite, or of the indentation from
the stylus. In
fact,
became
satisfied that the signatures
had not been
traced."
"But
by
what did that prove? They might have been imitations made
penman.
'They might have been, but
a clever
my
give
reasons. In the
first
doubted
it,-
and since you
place, the signatures
ask,
will
were accepted
at
sibility
would be a remarkably clever

deceive experts so well. However, did not abandon this posuntil further developments showed conclusively to my mind
that
it
would be
Had
it
been necessary to do
your bank not once, but four times.
man
to
It
waste of time to follow up that

so,
line of research.
should have discovered
who
in
the
place had the opportunity to do the work, and by examining their

past
should have received
my
to be
a hint as to
man. For any man
who
which of these was most
such a clever forgery must have acquired

skill
and aptitude with
Once
zant.
his
pen of which
looked up such
likely
could have the ability to commit

as a
it
sequence of special
his friends
man, and found that
would be cognias a boy he had
forged his parents' names to excuses for absences from school. Later
he turned to higher things.
In this instance
was
satisfied that the
only person having the access to materials, the knowledge of the
fi-
nancial condition of the concern, and the ability to write the checks,
was Mr. John Wood himself."

"John Wood!" exclaimed the
mean
cashier. "Impossible!
Why,
that
would
"
that
"Nothing is impossible, Mr. West.

know what you would say.
That it involved his having an accomplice in this Carl Grasse? Well,
that is what
suspected, and that is why
asked for an additional
I
reward for the recovery of the funds.
made the checks
If
could prove that John
himself, they ceased to be forgeries in
one
Wood
sense,
and
the bank could rightfully charge the amounts against his account. But
let
me
was
at
tell
you why
abandoned your theory
that an expert
work. Observe that though you would have honored
for forty
were four
penman
a
check
thousand dollars drawn by John Wood, yet the forgeries

in
number. That showed that the man was not afraid of
arousing your suspicion.
The only man who could
feel
absolutely sure
379
upon that point was John Wood. But there is another pretty point.
These checks being spurious, and yet being numbered, could arouse
your suspicion in two ways. If the numbers upon them greatly varied
from those upon genuine checks coming in at the same time, the fraud
would have been detected quickly. On the other hand, he could not
give you correct numbers without being either in collusion with his
bookkeeper or else duplicating the nurribering of other checks. That
the latter course was pursued, exempted the bookkeeper. All the numbers on the forged checks were duplicates of those on genuine ones."
"But,
Mr. Barnes, "but
"Just so," interrupted
why
is
"
Mr. Barnes, that did not arouse our suspicion, because
me
let
tell
very significant link in our chain. Your
checks helped
me
About
there.
a year
you why,
list
as the
of this man's
ago Carl Grasse appeared upon
the scene in Harlem, buying out a beer-garden, and starting an ac-
count
Harlem National Bank. Now observe that prior to that

first check sent to you by Wood, the strictest regularity
numbering obtained. There is not a break or a skip anywhere.
in the
time, from the

as to
But in February, the
month
after Carl
Grasse
moved
to Harlem, there
Wood's checks. Two have the same numbering, but

both are for trifling amounts, sixteen dollars in one instance and forty
find two
in the other. You possibly passed it over. Next month,
duplications, and from then on this apparent mistake happens no less
is
a duplication in
than ten times."

"Mr. Barnes, the bookkeepers did notice
Wood,
but he said
it
was simply
this,
and we spoke to Mr.

own due to
a clerical error of his
haste in business hours."

"Exactly, but
he was paving the way for
the right track, but your
February
1st
find that
list
gave
Wood
me even
He was
his big coup.
disarming you of suspicion. This one fact satisfied
me
that
was on
better corroboration.
On
cashed a check payable to himself for
ten thousand and fifty-nine dollars.
On
February 2d, Carl Grasse
opened an account with the Harlem Bank, depositing ten thousand

dollars, paying in the amount, in cash. This might seem but a coincidence, but by looking over the books of the beer-garden, which is still
in existence, Grasse having sold it out,
find that on February 2d,
Grasse paid his employees just fifty-nine dollars. The difference, you
see, between Wood's draft and Grasse's deposit."
"It certainly seems to connect the two, when we remember that the
final forgeries were checks signed by Wood in favor of Grasse."
"Precisely, but follow this a little further. For several months there
is nothing to connect the two so far as their banking goes, but note
that during this lapse Grasse does not draw a single check in favor of
380
I
any checks from others. His transactions
himself, nor does he deposit
with his customers are
who
his balance
On
October
day before
12th, this
for twelve
fully,
his
checks are
all
he deposited
five
to dealers,
of these are for large amounts,
does not exceed twelve thousand dollars
1st
thousand dollars
any time.
at
in cash.
Wood
drew that amount out of your bank.

repeated by both, and on the 14th, Grasse cashes
that.
is
and
None
supply him with his stock.
and
thousand
made
is
to see that Grasse
large amounts. This
November, and again
quite ready to pay out
is
repeated
in
December, the bank by
in
money
to Grasse.
On
On
On
a
the
the
check
This goes through success-
dollars, taking cash.
and the Harlem Bank
amounts and uses

in
strictly cash,
On
commands
large
varying amounts
time being
this
Wood
January 2d,
has
Wood's check
for ten thousand dollars. This goes through the Clearing-House, and
is accepted by your bank. The Harlem Bank is therefore satisfied of its
authenticity. On the 5th, Grasse deposits check number two, and at
the same time cashes a check for ten thousand dollars. The second
spurious check goes through all right, and on the lOth and 15th, the
transactions are repeated. On the 20th, Grasse explains to the Harlem
Bank that he has sold his business, and is going home to Germany. He
closes his account, taking out his money, and disappears from the
scene. You are forty thousand dollars out by a clever swindle, with
his
check account balanced.
the 3d, Grasse deposits
nothing to prove your suspicions save
few coincidences
the bank-
in
ing records of the two men."

"But assuredly, Mr. Barnes,
enough evidence upon which
to arrest
Mr. Wood?"
'To arrest him, yes. But to convict him? That is another affair.
Without conviction you do not recover your money. No, my work
did not
was by no means finished.
first sought to follow Grasse.
found him booked,
have far to go. At the Hamburg-American line
but investigation showed that he never sailed. The ticket which he
I
"
bought has never been taken up
'Then the accomplice

"No,- the
accomplice
is
is
still
in this
country?"
not in this country," said Mr. Barnes, dryly.
"Don't get ahead of the story. At this stage of the

singular discoveries.
his saloon, but that
learned that
o'clock in the
he
morning
went 'down-town'
five
he frequently would be absent
when he
slept elsewhere,
game
made some
found, for example, that Carl Grasse slept over
night.
for that mysterious realm, 'down-town.'
he usually reached the saloon
at nine.
in the afternoon.
all
also
did sleep there, he would leave about nine
It
was
his general
Extending
my
at eight,
When
and
still
custom to get back about
researches in the direction of
381
learned that he was customarily at his office at ten

John Wood,
o'clock, seldom leaving before four. Moreover, at his apartment the
janitor told me that he frequently slept elsewhere, and that when he
passed the night at that place, he would leave about seven in the
I
Do you follow me?"

"Do you mean that John Wood and Carl Grasse
morning.
one and the
are
same person?"
"That idea entered
rriy
mind about
found some other small evidences that

a
man may
to
change
Wood
empty
difficult for
him
found that Mr.
Moreover, the bottles are of
style of figures as that
the
is
he was never
has the same antipathy to
this
men used
though Carl Grasse
a beer saloon,
Wood
most singular is the fact that

should have actually bought
same make and
see,
observe that both
man was keeping
the
seen to drink beer himself. John
his plans,
of stub pens. Again note that
German name and
it is
You
and Mr. Grasse had the same
bottles attest.
the same size in both places. Next
same make
fluid,
the saloon
at
a probability.
with his clothing. For example,
always uses Carter's writing
predilection, as the
malt. But
was
disguise his personal appearance, but
his habits
Up
this time.
this
man,
who
so carefully laid
check-punching stamp of the

used
in
the
Wood
establish-
ment."
"Perhaps he did that so that he could make the spurious checks uptown instead of down-town, where he might be discovered."
"More than likely, but he should have taken it away with him.
There is always some little detail of this kind that even the most
skillful
He
overlooks.
probably thought that the similarity of the
struments would never be detected, or
nothing
one
in itself,
fact,
but as a link in a chain
however,
at
the two men.
Wood
shaven
Grasse
face.
whiskers.
Of
made
it
to count against him.
mends
a break.
is
of ordinary build, with black hair and smooth-
is
transformed himself into
described as very stout, with red hair and
a stout
man,
if
Wood
totally different clothing
would
be needed for the two parts which he played.

in
found that
determined to find the man from
whom
false whiskers,
he had procured them.
guessed that he would avoid any well-known place, and

in
the costumers' shops on Third Avenue.
out obtaining any clue,

place where,
upon
and whiskers'
382
for
Wood
the finest broadcloth, whilst Grasse wore conspicu-
ous plaids. Supposing that he wore a red wig and
hunt
There was
wide variance with the theory of the identity of
course, following the theory of impersonation,
always dressed
inIt is
when
went
began
my
to several with-
found a
was a record of 'red wig
the same costumer. Moreover, they had furnished
at last fortune
their books, in last January
favored me.
person with a 'make-up' for a
this
fat
German, giving him the neces-
sary 'pads,' as they are called, a suit of underwear
increase the proportion of the body.
wadded
guess what
so as to
did next?"
think not."
"I
"It
was an
the plaid
in
Can you
them,
soon
as
inspiration.
suit.
ordered a similar
outfit for myself, including
me
induced the costumer to go with
was shown
This morning they were delivered to me, and, dressed

into his presence,
Wood's
to
began to
place.
talk in a
As
most
said, 'Mr. Wood,

come for satisfaction. am
man you have been personating up-town. am the
man whose name you forged to the back of your own checks. And
not right?' This
this is the costumer who sold you the disguise. Am
excited, angry tone.
Carl Grasse, the
last
speech
addressed to the costumer, who, to
tion, said, 'Yes, that
is
the gentleman, but
did not
my
intense satisfac-
know he was going
to impersonate anybody.'
"What happened
then?" asked the cashier.
"Well," said Mr. Barnes,
though,
in line
my
him,
"I
had better luck than
had expected,
my hopes. You see, my sudden appearance before

and my rapid speech, all tended to confuse him. He
with
words,
suddenly heard himself accused of forging the name of 'Carl Grasse,'
and
for the
moment thought
He was
charge.
forge anybody's name.
endorsement
only of defending himself from that
utterly taken back,
that
and stammered
The checks had my own
was "Carl Grasse." There
is
'I
did not
signature,
and the
out,
no such
person.'
Then
suddenly seeing that he was making a mistake and incriminating himself,

"
he exclaimed, 'Who the devil are you?'

'I
am
a detective,'
answered, quickly seizing his arms and putting
on a pair of manacles, 'and arrest you for swindling the Fulton Bank,
whether your offense be forgery or not.' That settled him. He wilted
and began to cry for mercy. He even offered me money to let him
I
escape.
delivered
him
to the Central Office officials,
and since then
the Inspector has obtained a voluntary confession from him. Are

satisfied,
"I
you
Mr. West?"
am more
than
satisfied.
am amazed. Mr.
Barnes,
you
are a
genius."
"Not
at
all,
Mr. West,
am
a detective."
383
Old Calamity's Stick-up

hy Joseph
"The new warden's here,
Fulling Fishman
sir."
Deputy Warden Fletcher looked up from his desk at his inmate

clerk's announcement, betraying on his placid face or in his keen gray
eyes none of the interest which he felt. For weeks the prison had
seethed under the surface. Warden Anderson had been forced out by
politics. For weeks the place had been vacant while rumors flew
around concerning this and that politician who was to get this political plum. Nor was this interest impersonal on the part of the prisoners. If the new man was easy or soft there might be more recommendations for parole. If he was hard-boiled, it might be too bad.
Old Calamity, as Fletcher was known to the three thousand prisoners in the institution, left his office and went to the warden's office in
the administration to meet his new boss. "Probably never been in a
stir in his life," he told himself. "Have to educate him like the rest of
them."
He was
right.
The new
official,
who
introduced himself as James
J.
Beckwith, greeted the deputy cordially and immediately announced
was entirely new to the game, with the usual witticism which
Old Calamity had heard so many times that he guessed it was easy
that he
enough to get into a prison but hard to get out.

"Have to rely on you to help me," he said genially. "Governor told
me a lot about you. Praised you a lot. Could you show me around a
bit,
so that
"Certainly,
certificate of
can sort of get acquainted?"

sir,"
Fletcher replied with his usual courtesy. "You have a
appointment,
"Yes, indeed.
Here
it is."
assume?"
Beckwith handed Old Calamity
a piece of
parchment informing the world in general that the Governor did, by

virtue of the powers invested in him by law, hereby appoint James J.
Beckwith Warden of the State Prison at Cosmopolis, and so on.
"By the way," the warden went on, "could you have one of the
prisoners
make
"Yes, indeed,
384
a little
I'll
frame for
be glad
to.
it? I'd
Shall
like to
we
start
hang
it
now?"
up
in
my
office."
"Might
The
as well,
guess."
next three or four hours were spent
making
in
a tour of the
huge prison, with its twenty-three buildings and its thirty-foot wall
which was nearly a mile around. The deputy went patiently over various details of administration which he had explained so many times
during the past thirty years to so many politicians who had come and
gone
was
as
The warden,
wardens.
those unfamiliar with prisons,
like all
particularly interested in inmates about
whom
he had read
in
the
members of gangs, and highly placed

who had come to grief.
papers, the notorious swindlers,
bank and business
officials
"You've got the Darnley

"Yes,
mob
here, haven't you?"
seven of them."
"Pretty
bad bunch,
aren't they?"
Old Calamity smiled
to himself.
The
not exactly Sunday school boys," he
usual questions. "Well, they're
said.
"How're they behaving?"

"All right.
They
Men
don't give any trouble.
They
ever break any of the minor rules.
of that kind scarcely
don't have to earn a reputa-
it. You never have to put them

moment, and then went on. "It's only
when they make a break that you have to look out for them."
"Well, thank you very much, Mr. Fletcher," said the warden, at the
end of the tour. "I'm tired walking. Suppose we leave the rest of it
until tomorrow. I'll probably familiarize myself with some of the book
guess the boys who work in my office understand it,
stuff tonight.
tion for toughness, they already have
He
in the hole."
paused for
don't they?"
Old Calamity. He was deep in thought as he

own office. For a few moments he sat intent in
his mind was made up, he reached for the tele-
"Perfectly," replied
walked back to
his
thought. Suddenly,
phone and
called the Daily Dispatch.
"That you, Fred?" he inquired

editor. 'This
me,
will
is
Fletcher,
up
when he
at the Pen.
finally got the managing

want you to do something for
you?"
"Sure," the editor replied, "anything
An hour and
a half later.
you want."
Old Calamity,
in
received from the managing editor a small
walked across the
the office of the Dispatch,

flat
street to the telegraph office
package.
The deputy
and had the chief clerk
there pick out one of his brightest boys.

"Son," said
Old Calamity, with
his
winning
leaves for Springfield in about twenty minutes.

to
Governor Husted. Don't give
it
to
anyone
smile, "there's a train
want you
else.
I'll
to take this
telephone him,
385
so
be expecting you. Here's
he'll
about three dollars and
fifty
cents.
five dollars.
Make
it
The
you
fare will cost
snappy, now, and keep the
change."
Old Calam-
After the call to the Governor's office was completed.

ity
hurried back to the prison.
"Mr. Enslow," he telephoned the record clerk, "come

office right
In the
away,
will
moments Mr. Enslow appeared. He
course of a few
the oblong piece of heavy paper which the deputy
then glanced inquiringly
to
my
stared at
handed him and
twenty-three years at the
at Fletcher. In
insti-
Enslow had received some strange requests from Old Ca-
tution Mr.
lamity. But this
opened
down
you, please, and bring your fingerprint powder?"
was
much. His eyes widened and
a little too
mouth
his
slightly.
"You mean
on
this
this
Old Calamity.
"Yes," said
"That's
Mr. Enslow sprinkled the
fine
what
mean."
black powder as directed. Ten or
twelve fingerprints became plainly visible.

"See
if
you can
classify them."
Mr. Enslow took out of his pocket

magnifying glass which were
legs.
There was
after the other,
and
a small pointer
much
a part of
him
powerful
as his
arms and
long silence as he went patiently over one print
counting and checking the ridges, and then re-count-
ing and re-checking.

straightened up.
which
as
"1
Old Calamity stood
can classify
five of
patiently by.
them," he said,
At
last
Enslow
them
"five of
on one hand. Probably where someone held it."

me the classification right now. Then search our
are
"All right, give
records and see what
The record
"Nothing
in
we
have."
clerk departed
our
files,
sir,"
and
few moments
later reappeared.
he reported.
thank you."
"All right,
Old Calamity
again picked up the telephone. "Get the Fingerprint
Bureau of the Department of Justice in Washington," he directed the

operator.
He
sat
drumming on his desk, waved Mr. Enslow out.

came the voice of the Bureau's director. "What's
"Hello, Fletcher,"
on your mind?"
"Want to give you
WO
L-6 L-9.
He
Got
rap,
September
Five Years, Joliet."
"Nothing
"No,
else?"
that's all."
3,
a pencil? All right:
L-10
it?"
waited a few moments. Then, "Yes,
"Only one
386
a classification.
Have you got
we have
it,"
came the
reply.
1921, Chicago, Robbery in the Second,
"Thank you." Old Calamity hung up the receiver and once again
walked slowly back to the warden's
office.
"You going to be here tonight?" he inquired.
The warden glanced
at
the clock.
"Why, yes," he replied, "1 might as

for two or three days yet."
had planned to go to the
"Well,
well.
stay
be glad
I'll
My
family won't be
theater. But
if
down
you want me
to
to."
"No, indeed," said the warden, "not
want anything explained
see
I'll
at
all.
you about
You go
in
it
right ahead.
If
the morning."
II
It
was
cold
December
night and darkness had already set
Calamity started toward his
home
at
in.
Old
the far corner of the grounds,
then changed his mind and walked rapidly along the wall which
on the side of the administration building to the corner where

He rounded the corner and started down along
started
the wall turned east.
the side of the thirty-foot-high piece of masonry until he reached the
south sallyport, which constituted the entrance to the prison yard for
trucks
and
around to
"Oh, I'm
"All
freight cars.
He was
when he heard
startled
find himself facing a

sorry,
right,
Who's on the
"Fredericks,
in thought that he was

"Where you going?" and whirled
gun in the hand of the outside patrol.
sunk so deeply
sharp,
Deputy," the guard said as he saw
who
it
Madison, don't say anything about seeing
was.
me
here.
sallyport tower?"
sir."
him to open the gate, will you, please?"

Madison yelled to the tower guard, who could be seen peering
"Tell
down from
the balcony surrounding the tower. In a few seconds the
solid steel gate operated
by
electricity slowly rose
and Old Calamity
entered.
He
hurried across the
empty and dimly
lit
yard and
let
himself into
the end of the main corridor, through which the prisoners entered to
go into the mess
hall
from the shops. Guard Delafield was on duty
in
the lower corridor.

"I
thought you went out the cage
few moments ago,
sir,"
he
said.
"I
did,"
Old Calamity
replied.
He
whispered, "Get Henry, Martine,
Shea, Crispen, Endicott and Rogers and
you come with them
to the
chief clerk's office."
387
The deputy walked

O'Brien, the guard
down
rapidly
on duty
the
same
"Anything wrong,
sir?"
not sure. Got a couple of pieces of chewing
"I'm
"Yes, sir," the
guard
said,
"Save
in his
mouth, put
he explained. "Warden's car
it
till
later,"
"Yes,
sir.
Right out there."
six
it
in his
pocket.
it?"
to find Delafield
guards he had sent for awaiting him. "All right, boys," he
me
"go out the south sallyport one or two at a time and meet
him. "Just a
field ran after
someone
that
in Springfield called
The Warden had

he finished
He
watch.
his dinner sent to
he sent
it
I'll
go
first."
up and said to
him
Captain Kearney,
for
in his office.
in
you
tell
first
want
night
list
men down
about twenty-five names of prisoners. "Bring these

"I
'No.'
Immediately
charge of the
introduced himself and then handed Kearney a
he directed.
list,
eyes widening in surprise.
turned to go, hesitated, and then faced around. "Excuse me,
he said courteously, "but
assume you know these
men
are
"Yes,
If
know," said the warden. "That's the reason

start
want to
talk to
anything while I'm here
I'll
that they're mistaken."
"Very well,
sir."
Fifteen minutes later
on benches outside
of each
to the
they think they're going to
show them
sir,"
members
mobs we have in the place. Four of them belong

McGiven mob, seven to the Darnley mob, six to the
of the worst
them.
of
here,"
to talk to them."
Captain Kearney glanced over the
Spider
at
As he hurried out Delasecond. Deputy," he said, "I forgot to tell
the southeast corner of the wall.
He
with you?"
here, isn't
still
anybody came back."

Old Calamity returned to the chief clerk's office
"All right; don't tell
and the
gum
and handed two pieces to the deputy,
who, instead of putting the gum
you
cage.
front
surprise as Dela-
had.
field
said,
the
to
hall
there, exhibited the
mob
all
the
his office.
at a time.
while the inmates were
all
men on the warden's list were sitting

The warden interviewed the members
Captain Kearney was vigilant and nervous

together in the small side corridor in which
they were placed while waiting to be called, but
as
another was interviewed and sent back to their
one gang and then
cells, until
Darnley gang remained, he began to breathe more
freely.
only the
One
guards had been sent to accompany each gang back to the
cell
or two
house,
by the time the Darnley gang was summoned, only three remained. From the muttered conversations of the members of the gang
who had been interviewed, Captain Kearney gathered that the warso that
388
den, as he had announced, was "laying
cerning their future behavior
down
the law" to them con-
decidedly impressive manner.
in a
Kearney whirled around. Before
"Stick 'em up!"
his startled
gaze
in front of
them
And
stood the seven members of the Darnley gang.
stood the warden, agitated and perspiring, his hands held high above
him, beside him Ed Darnley, gun in hand, shifting the
weapon from
the warden to the guards and then back again.
"One squeak out
of
you screws and you're dead men.
All right,
boys, tighten 'em up."
The men
in
back of him stepped forward. Four of them held ropes.
Within three minutes Captain Kearney and the guards were gagged
and bound and lying on the

seconds more the gang was
at
floor of the warden's office.
In thirty
the end of the side hall where
it
en-
tered the main corridor.
With
fifty feet
bound they sprang
into the
main corridor and ran up the
of hall to the front cage. O'Brien
was looking out the front door.
He
had
heard a soft
back turned and
his
rustle
back of him and
was too late. "Open up, you," said Darnley, "or

we'll croak this bird and then you, too. C'mon, snap into it."
"All right," said O'Brien sullenly, "you've got the drop on me." He
opened the door, and then as they crowded in the second door
whirled sharply.
It
forming the cage. At the outer door McCabe, Darnley's chief lieutenant, turned.
He
raised his hand, there
was
a soft "plop,"
then a sighing
exhaled breath as O'Brien sank unconscious to the stone
Darnley slammed the
steel grille
followed by his gang, raced like
door with
floor.
resounding clang and,
mad down the steps and over the

They piled in. The warden,
brick path to the warden's automobile.
evidently hurried
by Darnley's prodding gun, fumbled
and inserted the key
wrong
in
the ignition lock.
"Why
in his
there's
pocket
something
choked
"Give it to me, you damn fool," hissed Darnley. He grabbed the
key from the warden and jammed it into the lock! Something there!
"It's chewing gum, Ed," came from the other side of the car.
it's
Ill
Darnley straightened up. There stood Old Calamity and

"I'll
never go back
But
Old Calamity was too quick
alive!"
his guards.
Darnley screamed.
for him.
He
jerked the car door
open, grabbed Darnley's arm as he turned the gun on himself, gave
powerful wrench which pulled the gangster sprawling out on the road.
389
Within
back
in
five
the
minutes the prisoners and the frightened warden were
latter's office.
The warden
finally
found
his voice,
and told
his story.
"And finally came to the Darnley mob, he concluded. "No sooner

had they come into the office than Darnley stuck this gun in my ribs
and told me he'd kill me if I didn't come along."
"You're a liar, said Old Calamity. His voice was soft, almost caress1
"
"
ing.
"What was
"I
that?"
said you're a
liar,"
repeated
Old
Calamity. "Where have you got
him?"
"Who? Are you
talking to me?"
I'm asking you what you did with the

warden and where you've got him. And I'm not going to ask you
again." As if by magic a gun appeared in his hand. "I'm going to count
I'm talking to you.
"Yes,
three. I'm
going to shoot.
One
two
don't do that. I'll tell you, I'll tell you! He's all right. We
him any. We've got him tied up in a house out on the
Morgan Road. About ten miles away. I'll take you there, swear will!"
"My God,
didn't hurt
"But
what made you suspicious
demanded. Old Calamity had
the
in
first
just related to
place?" the
him the
Governor
details of the
attempted break the night before.
"Why, several things, Governor. The first was when he used the
word mob, referring to the Darnley crowd. Only gangsters, cops and
prison men refer to them as mobs. Other people call them gangs."
"Yes, but
he might have picked that up from somewhere."
"No," admitted
Old Calamity, "it wasn't. But after he did that I

'hole' when referring to the solitary.
waited
purposely used the word
him
me what
was before
went on talking. But he didn't.

This practically convinced me that he was prison-wise. Then there
was something else which made me sure that he was a fake."
"What was that?"
"He told me," said Old Calamity, "that you had lavishly praised me
to him.
know you are not the kind of man who does that, no matter
what you may think of him."
The Governor looked searchingly at the man in front of him. Then
he smiled. "Well," he said, "you're right, but if ever felt like praising
any man, it's you, particularly after the events of yesterday."
Old Calamity raised his hand. "So," he went on, "after all these
things had aroused my suspicions I had the Dispatch take a photograph
of him which they told him wouldn't appear until the next afternoon,
for
to ask
it
390
and
the real warden

with,' as
with
when they waylaid
got his fingerprints
him.
And
found that 'Mr. Beck-
but someone entirely different."
Darnley gang led you to believe
his interest in the
"When
these other facts were coupled with his interest in the
Darnley mob,
all,
appointment, which he had, of course, taken from
suspected, had been in prison, and that he wasn't Mr. Beck-
at all,
"And
at
up to you. And then
sent this photograph
off the certificate of
it
made me
but someone
else.
and the machine gun.
you know."
"Was he actually
suspicious.
found out he wasn't Beckwith
searched his car and found the
simply planted the
men
six revolvers
out near the car.
The
rest
"Yes.
He knew
member
in a
general
of their gang?"
way how
to
go about
it
because of the
time he'd spent in prison."
For a
moment
the Governor sat
Fletcher. You're really the

there's politics
"Oh,
one
you know how
sure," said
silent. Finally
he spoke: "You know,
should appoint warden, but of course
it
is
Old Calamity.
Old Guy
hy Maitland LeRoy Osborne
"This
is
a stick-up old guy,"
announced the hard-eyed youth, showing
the storekeeper a revolver and then replacing
"Don't get funny with
me now,
it
in a side coat pocket.
old guy, and you won't get hurt. Just
that money you got this afternoon and I'll be on my way."

The hard-eyed youth might have been a broker's clerk, or perhaps
hand over
a college
undergraduate
if
you noticed only
his expensive-looking
well-fitting clothes, his slicked-back hair, his rather elaborately
expression.
Only
entire normality
Smoke
his
and
movements were
his voice
spiraled slowly
a little
was tonelessly
up from
a cigarette
flat.
which drooped from
corner of his mouth as he leaned against the counter of the
He
tilted his
head
slightly to
bored
too jerky and abrupt for
keep the smoke out of
little store.
his expressionless
unwinking eyes.
The
storekeeper himself was a spare, ramrod-straight
man
with
391
once black hair that was mostly gray. The well worn, carelessly baggy
draped his form somehow
suit that
were
military bearing. His eyes
been piercing.
of a store, as
Hands
He
if
failed to entirely disguise a faintly
Once they must have
a frosty blue.
looked somewhat incongruous behind the counter
He had
he never really belonged there.
that looked as
big hands.
though they could batter the pasty white face of
the youth on the other side of the counter into bloody pulp.
young
But there was a revolver in the
dangerous
tially as
because he was unpredictable.
He was
thug's pocket.
most hardened
as the
killer.
The amateur
More
gangster
poten-
so,
perhaps
still
intent
on
building up an underworld reputation.
"Why
"there's
lars
"
the storekeeper said slowly with studied deliberation,
only a
or so
small change in the
little
and
a few small
bills.
till
maybe
Hardly enough
for
couple of dol-
you
to bother
There was no discernible trace of excitement in the storekeeper's voice. He was taking the hold-up, it appeared, pretty calmly
with."
almost,
"We
you might have thought,
much
don't have
as a
now
trade here
matter of course.
since that other store around
the corner on the main street opened up. This place used to take in
sometimes
that
fifty,
worth of goods
but
good day
week now. We're lucky
or sixty, dollars on a
much money
in a
any one day. As
in
keep the place open.
If
it
if
we
matter of fact
it
it
don't take in
sell
ten dollars
hardly pays to
wasn't that
His emotionless voice flowed smoothly on. With his calmly considering gaze fixed
on the
face of the
seemed, for some doubtless
young
bandit, the storekeeper
sufficient reason, to
be deliberately talking
against time.
"Aw!
Can
the chatter, old guy," the hard-eyed youth impatiently
Anger dangerously tinged

you to tell me the story
of your life
and never mind the chicken feed in the till. What want
is that rent money you collected this afternoon.
know you've got it
right here in the store, so you'll only be wasting my time if you try to
lie out of it
and I don't like to have old guys waste my time. Come
on hand it over!"
He stuck his hand in the pocket of his coat where the revolver was
concealed and motioned suggestively.
The big green Brazilian parrot that had been shuffling sideways
back and forth on his perch eyed the intruder malevolently. "Hell's
bells!" the parrot suddenly squawked stridently. "Splice the main
brace. Lively, lads
lively now!" He cocked his head and preened the
sleekly irridescent feathers on his breast importantly.
broke
in.
His
flat
nostrils flared suddenly.
the edges of his cold,
flat
voice.
"I
didn't ask
392
The hard-eyed youth whirled suddenly and swore with vicious emphasis. "Smart bird, ain't you? Maybe you won't be so smart, if take a
I
notion to wring your neck."
with the hand that was
He
turned again and motioned once more
in his side
coat pocket.
"The rent money?" The storekeeper's face in some fashion

held no expression. "Why,
ously like the face of an old eagle
ways
"Don't
tell
me you
put
it
in
curiI
al-
the bank," the hard-eyed youth snarled,
going to do you any good to
was watching
lie.
you through the window when that woman paid you this afternoon.
You go around the first of the month to those four houses, collecting
impatiently.
"It ain't
know all about it, old guy. Like know all

And last month you did put it in the bank but
the rent.
things.
about a
lot of
afternoon
this
you were late in getting around, and came back here with the money.
And you haven't been out of the store since. So you've got it right
know all about you, old guy.
here, hid in a crack maybe. You see,
never get
that's why
don't mind letting you know that I'm smart
why I've only been nabbed a couple of times and both times beat
I
the rap.
"I've
been keeping an eye on you, old guy,
sometime you'd
money
slip
and then
myself. This
is
She
ain't
for quite a while.
in
and collect
the kind of
dame
knew
a little rent
Come hand it over. I've

me spend some of it, and
the time.
with a classy dame who'll help

to keep her waiting.
could walk
got
a date
don't
want
that likes to be kept
waiting."
The
parrot cocked his head inquiringly sideways. "Who's a fool
now?" he inquired raspingly. "Who's

fool
"
fool
who's
a fool
he seemed to run down suddenly, discordantly,
who's
like a
clock
the mainspring of which has been abruptly released.

in
"It's
the safe here, under the counter," the storekeeper told him
evenly, "and the safe
have been afraid
is
locked.
It
has a combination lock. You see,
all that." The hard-eyed youth shifted his feet impa"Open it up, and hand me over the money. And no funny
business, mind you. Don't keep me waiting any longer, old guy. It
"Never mind
tiently.
ain't
exactly healthy for old guys to keep
The
again,
parrot, sliding along his perch,
you old
soak!"
he moaned
me
waiting."
hiccupped
realistically.
in a shrill falsetto,
"Drunk
then relapsed into
inarticulate mutterings.
The
storekeeper thoughtfully rubbed the ball of his right
along his stubborn jaw.
He seemed
thumb
to be considering. His gaze
was
393
open the
to
on the
fixed speculatively
still
face of the intruder.
he confessed
safe yourself,"
pretty dark here under the counter,
My
the dial very well.
suppose
and
"All right
eyes are not quite as
right!
all
Can
"It's
make out the figures on

good as they used to be.
can't
ought to be getting some new glasses
guess you'll have
"I
after a slight hesitation.
the chatter.
open the
I'll
safe.
What's the
combination?"
The hard-eyed youth came around

looked
the end of the counter and
"Do you
the small cheap safe contemptuously.
at
call that sar-
dine can a safe?" he asked with a sneer. "What's the combination?"
The
storekeeper squinted his eyes in an effort to recall the figures.
He shook
I
guess.
head
so seldom lock
it,
is.
his
have to keep
Sometimes
up.
with
me
helplessly.
have to
down on
quit
your
till
I'll
it's
because
a card.
stalling,
get the figures
old guy.
Old guys
mixed
all
that try to
Where's the card?"
are apt to get hurt.
right here in the
"It's
"Funny
written
it
I
"For cripes sake

stall
never seem to be able to remember what the combination
get
it
for you. I'm not trying to
stall.
wouldn't want to get hurt, you know. Here's the card, tucked away in
a corner. I'd forgotten just
think this
my
eyes.
is it.
If
When
where
put
it,
to
tell
the truth. Anyway,
I'm a trifle nervous, things sort of
you'll wait
till
get
my
The hard-eyed youth snatched
glasses
dance before
the card from his hand. "I'm getting
kind of nervous myself, old guy," he snarled. "Old guys that make
nervous sometimes get something to quiet their
own
nerves.
me
guess
nothing but some figures on

where can keep one eye on
you and don't try to get funny, old guy. You might get hurt if you
try to get funny
and that wouldn't be so funny, would it, old guy?"
He crouched on his heels before the safe and began to twirl the
this
is
the combination,
dial
all
right. There's
You stand
the card, anyAvay.
right there,
with nervously supple
fingers.
on a showcase,
The
watched the proceedings with interested eyes. There was the faintest
suspicion of a smile on his thin lips, but otherwise his face was expresstorekeeper, leaning at ease with one elbow
sionless.
"Nine

four
eight
seven
three
"
The hard-eyed youth was
speaking the figures aloud as he worked the combination. "Hear 'em

click,
old guy," he exulted. "But you wouldn't be able to hear 'em, of
course.
The
You
ain't
smart like me. Well
attention as the bandit
a blinding flash
394
here
it
is."
storekeeper straightened up suddenly in an attitude of strained
swung back the door. There was
a strangled cry, as the
loud report
hard-eyed youth slumped
backward
He
to the floor.
lay there quite
huddled
still,
an inert
in
mass.
The
storekeeper permitted his thin-lipped smile to measurably
broaden.
"Well
it
worked
he remarked conversationally to the
perfectly,"
parrot that had emitted a startled
squawk of amazement and was now

on its perch with head drawn in
agitatedly shuffling back and forth
and feathers
He
ruffled.
stooped down and took
on the counter.
carefully
He
pride.
17/ get the thing pate}ited
safe-breaker's trap
line
Catches 'em
a small metal case
hand camera from the
bling an old-style
now
regarded
there
that ought to be a
alive.
ought
it
to be
oj
lot
good name jor
it.
Takes their picture and calls the
this store six
and
set
it
with a sort of restrained
have thought again of working out that old idea of mine,

thug hadn't held up
somewhat resem-
interior of the safe
money
And
And
police.
if
in
it.
Williams'
then for a catchI
might never
that other tough
months ago. Funny how that
sort of thing
young
sure
is
to be repeated.
The
loud, penetrating, banshee-like wail of a police siren stridently
rose and
door.
the distance,
fell in
and presently
Two
filling
the whole street with horrid sound,
prowl car stopped with a squeal of brakes before the
blue uniformed
men
burst into the store with automatics in
their hands.
"They got the alarm
way
at
Headquarters and notified us over the two-
radio," the older of the
two policemen
told him. 'There'll be a
couple more cars here inside of a minute. That's sure
you worked
that
there he
many
so
were
is.
out, Inspector.
He's a pretty guy,
on the
The pseudo-storekeeper shook

touch of
"Just a
gas,
He'll
be
all
on
in
dead,
supposed to render
for the police to
Oh
off?
the days while you

is
he?"
a safe-breaker insensible
show up and gather him
By that time
It
his face at the
back the door and sprung the
I'll
have the
ought to be rather
very instant
in.
film
interest-
when he swung
trap."
The two policemen had dragged

dit
isn't
couple of prints made.
the expression
invention
it
his head.
right in an hour, or so.
developed and
ing
He
set
guess they didn't have quite
young thugs
force, old timer.
and allow plenty of time
he?
isn't
of these slick looking
still
a swell
Where's the bird that
the unconscious form of the ban-
from behind the counter.

"He's so
and correspondingly
young
hesitated just a
trying out
my
little at
the
last
foolish,"
he explained, "that
minute about using him
invention. Even after
I'd
spent so
much
as a subject for
time in the
last
395
couple of months playing
took
this place
being
at
my
a vacation at
while the owner of
a storekeeper
expense
besides
carefully baiting
him along to stick me up. If he hadn't rubbed in the 'old guy' stuff
quite so much,
might have just slapped him down, taken his gat
away from him, and thrown him out."
I
The policeman who was stooping over
to
lift
the unconscious ban-
by the shoulders looked up and grinned.
dit
"Well
guess you could have done that, all right. Inspector. I
happened to overhear the Skipper bragging about you only the other
day. He was telling the Commissioner that you're the best instructor
I
in jiu jitsu that
The
the Department has ever had."
parrot sidled along his perch.
He
he squawked. "Lively now,
lads!"
"Lively,"
cocked
head knowingly.
his
The Outside Ledge

hy
T.
Meade
and Robert Eustace
my old friend Miss Cusack for some time, and

wonder whether anything was the matter with her,
had not heard from
was beginning
when on
to
a certain
Tuesday
in
the
November
of the year 1892 she
called to see me.

"Dr. Lonsdale," she said,
cannot stand defeat, and
"I
am
defeated
now."
"Indeed,"
What
"I
is
it
replied, "this
all
is
interesting.
have come here to
tell
are defeated.
you. You have heard, of course, of Oscar
Hamilton, the great financier?

that have been going
perpetrated.
You so seldom
about?"
He
on during the
is
the victim of a series of frauds
last
two months and
So persistent and so unaccountable
are
still
being
are they that the
London have been employed to detect them, but

are, as you know, in South African
Gold Mines, and his income is, believe, nearer fifty than thirty thousand a year. From time to time he receives private advices as to the
gold crushings, and operates accordingly. You will say, of course, that
cleverest agents in
without
result.
His chief dealings

I
396
he gambles, and that such gambling is not very scrupulous, but assure you the matter is not at all looked at in that light on the Stock
1
Exchange.
"Now, there is a dealer in the same market, a Mr. Gildford, who,

by some means absolutely unknown, obtains the same advice in detail,
and of course either forestalls Mr. Hamilton, or, on the other hand,
discounts the profits he would make, by buying or selling exactly the
am given to understand, is usually
same shares. The information,
cabled to Oscar Hamilton in cipher by his confidential agent in South
Africa, whose bona fides is unquestionable, since it is he who profits by
I
Mr. Hamilton's gains.

"This important information arrives as a rule in the early
about nine o'clock, and
my
put straight into
is
friend's
morning
hands
in his
Lennox Court. The details are discussed by him and his partner, Mr. Le Marchant, and he immediately afterwards goes to his broker to do whatever business is decided on. Now, this special broker's
name is Edward Gregory, and time after time, not invariably, but very
often, Mr. Gregory has gone into the house and found Mr. Gildford
doing the identical deals that he was about to do."
office in
"That
"It
is,-
is
strange,"
answered.
but you must listen further. To give you an idea of
channel possible has been watched,

done. In the
first
place
is
it
will
tell
how
every
you what has been
practically certain that the information
way from Mr. Hamilton's office to Mr. Gildford's, because

no one knows the cipher except Mr. Hamilton and his partner, Mr. Le
found
its
Marchant."
"Wireless telegraphy/'
suggested.
Miss Cusack smiled, but shook her head.

"Listen," she said. "Mr. Gildford, the dealer,
an office
in
Lennox Court,
ton, also close to the
third floor back,
Stock Exchange.
and has no
is
man who
also has
four doors from the office of Mr. Hamil-
clerks.
He
Now
has one small
room on
the
Mr. Gregory, Mr. Hamilton's
morning an imand extraordinary precautions were
broker, has his office in Draper's Gardens. Yesterday
portant
cable
adopted.
course
Two
was expected,
detectives were placed in the house of Mr. Gildford, of
unknown
to
him
one
actually took
up
his position
on the
landing outside his door, so that no one could enter by the door
without being seen. Another was

if
at
the telephone exchange to watch
any message went through that way. Thus you
grams and telephones were equally cut off.

"A detective was also in Mr. Hamilton's
rived, the object of his presence
being
office
known
will see that tele-
when
the cable ar-
to the clerks,
who were
397
not allowed to use the telephone or to leave the
opened
in
The
by Mr. Hamilton
also in the presence of the detective,
one
office.
cable was
the presence of the younger partner, Mr. Le Marchant, and
No
himself.
the office, and no communication with the outside world took
left
place. Thus,
both
Mr. Gildford's
at
and
office
at
Mr. Hamilton's, had
it
must have been de-
the information passed by any visible channel
tected either leaving the former office or arriving at the
"And what happened?"
inquired, beginning to be
latter."
much
interested
in this strange story.
"You
will
soon know what happened.
minutes' time Mr. Hamilton
Gregory,
at
left
call
it
witchery. In about ten
Mr.
his office to visit his broker,
the Stock Exchange, everyone else, including his partner,
Mr. Le Marchant, remaining
in
the office.
On
his arrival at the
Exchange he told Mr. Gregory what he wanted done. The

to carry out his wishes, but came back after a few moments
Stock
latter
went
to say that
the market was spoiled, Mr. Gildford having just arrived and dealt
heavily in the very same shares and in the same manner.
make
of
it,
"There
is
What do you
Dr. Lonsdale?"
only one conclusion for
me
information does not pass between the
to arrive
offices,
at,"
answered, "the
but by some previously
arranged channel."
"1
should have agreed with you but for one circumstance, which
am now going
Do you remember a pretty girl, a

whom you once met at my house? She is the
to confide to you.
certain Evelyn Dudley,
only daughter of Colonel Dudley of the Coldstream Guards, and
at
her father's death will be worth about seven thousand a year."

"Well,
and what has she to do with the present
"Only
this:
she
week. They are both going to dine with
will take place next
night.
want you
state of things?"
engaged to Mr. Le Marchant, and the wedding
is
to join the party in order that
me
me know frankly afterwards what you think of him."

what has that to do with the frauds?" asked.
"Everything, and this is why," She lowered her voice, and said
and
let
"But
emphatic whisper,
"I
"Good heavens!"
his own loss."
"Not
at all.
He
cried,
"you cannot mean
short,
difficulties,
imagine
his crash until
that.
and
mind,
in
don't accuse
in
frauds are to
the business.
learned that he was
the hands of
in great
some money-lenders,-
him yet
an
Le
in the plot."
The
has only at present a small share
Yesterday from a very private source

financial
in
have strong reasons for suspecting Mr.
Marchant, Mr. Hamilton's young partner, of being
398
to-
you may meet them
that
he
is
in
staving off
he can marry Evelyn Dudley, when he hopes to right
himself.
came
the crash
If
Colonel Dudley would not allow the
first,
marriage. But
when
do something
to prevent his son-in-law
know about
much
as
and
friend of mine,
We
scoundrel.
quickly
ready.
If
place next
is
it is
in
already at
Monday. You
it
now
my
my
Now
want her
don't
past seven, so
if
brougham. Evelyn
you
think
is
to
dear
marry
it,
the
is
you
will dress
to
spend the
is
house. She will entertain you
see, therefore, there
to
We
not,"
is
wedding
no time
replied, rising. "Well,
many
not keep you
will
went up
short time.
at
can prevent
were, forced to
it
do myself. Evelyn
nothing happens to prevent
"There certainly
and
if
will be, as
going under.
till
to take
is
to lose in
up the mystery."
wait here
I
he
of the situation as
can drive you back
clearing
a jait accompli
dine at eight
night with me, and
am
is
it
my
you
if
room, dressed quickly, and returned
entered the brougham which was standing
once drove
will kindly
minutes."
in
Miss Cusack's house. She ushered
off to
the drawing-room, where a
tall,
dark-eyed
girl
very
at the door,
me
into
was standing by the
fire.
"Evelyn," said Miss Cusack, "you have often heard
great friend Dr. Lonsdale.

tonight. Dr. Lonsdale,
I
may
have
I
just
me
talk of
my
persuaded him to dine with us
introduce you to Miss Evelyn Dudley?"
took the hand which Evelyn Dudley stretched out to me. She had
face, and during Miss Cusack's absence we each

engaged the other in brisk conversation. spoke about Miss Cusack,
and the girl was warm in her admiration.
"She is my best friend," she said. "I lost my mother two years ago,
should have done but for
and at that time
do not know what
an attractive, bright
Florence Cusack. She took
me
to her
house and kept
me
with her for
some time, and taught me what the sin of rebellion meant. loved my
mother so passionately. did not think when she was taken from me
that
should ever know a happy hour again."
"And now, if report tells true, you are going to be very happy,"
continued, "for Miss Cusack has confided some of your story to me.
You are soon to be married?"
1
"Yes," she
answered, and she looked thoughtful. After a
she spoke again.
"You are
1
right:
hope
have ever been before.
else
I
on
happy in the future happier than

Henry Le Marchant better than anyone
to be very
I
love
moment
earth."
felt a
intuitions
certain pity for her as she spoke. After
were wonderful, and she did not
nay, more, she suspected
like
him of underhand
all.
Miss Cusack's
Henry Le Marchant
dealings. Surely she
must
399
be wrong.
divert
hoped when
my
saw
this
friend's suspicions into
hope you will be happy,"

"Thank you," she replied. She
and unfurled her fan.
"I
"Ah! there
know
young man
perhaps that he
is
should be able to
down
sat
my
"you have
said;
a ring," she said, the next
is
that
another channel.
near the
best wishes."
moment. "He
dining here tonight.
she spoke,
fire as
coming. You
is
be so pleased to
shall
introduce you."
At the same instant Miss Cusack entered the room.
"Our guest has arrived," she said, looking from Miss Dudley to me,
and she had scarcely uttered the words before Henry Le Marchant
was announced.
He was
a tall,
young-looking man, with
moustache
a black, short
and very dark eyes. His manner was easy and self-possessed, and he
looked with frank interest
The
and
my
next
moment
was considering
at
me when
his hostess introduced him.
dinner was announced. As the meal proceeded

in
what words
could convey to Miss Cusack
wrong
impression that she was altogether on a
occurred which
thought very
something
tack,
of at the time, but yet
little
was des-
tined to lead to most important results presently.
The
servant
peculiar
had
just left the
room when
and rather disagreeable odor caught
ing across the table to see
if it
a slight whiff of
my
was due to any
nostrils.
some
was glanc-
particular fruit,
when
noticed that Miss Cusack had also caught the smell.
"What
lyn,
a curious sort of perfume!" she said,
frowning
slightly. "Eve-
have you been buying any special new scent today?"
"Certainly not," replied Miss Dudley,-
"I
hate scent, and never use
it."
At the same moment Le Marchant,

from his pocket, quickly replaced
it,
who had
and
taken his handkerchief
wave of blood suffused
swarthy cheeks, leaving them the next instant ashy
pale.
rassment was so obvious that none of us could help noticing

"Surely that
it
is
the smell of valerian,"
said, as
the
his
His embar-
memory
it.
of
what
was came to me.

"Yes,
it
is,"
composure and forcing a

have been rather nervous lately,
he replied, recovering
his
"I must apologise to you all.

and have been ordered a few drops of valerian in water.
how it got on my handkerchief. My doctor prescribed
smile.
cannot think
it
for
me
yes-
terday."
Miss Cusack made
went on
Perhaps
400
common-place
reply,
and the conversation
as before.
my
attitude of
mind was
preternaturally suspicious, but
it
me
occurred to
Valerian
is
man
very lame one.
of his evidently robust health,
wondered if he were speaking the

Having a case of some importance to
and
was
that Le Marchant's explanation
not often ordered for a
truth.
attend,
took
my
departure
shortly afterward.
During the three following days
my mind
Cusack, and made up
heard nothing further from Miss
that her conjectures
and that the wedding would of course take
were
all
wrong
place.
But on Saturday these hopes were destined to be rudely dispersed.
was awakened
my
who
servant,
entered with a
saw at once that it was in Miss Cusack's handwriting, and tore

open with some apprehension. The contents were certainly star-
note.
it
an early hour by
at
follows
tling. It ran as
"/
want your
help. Serious developments.
nine this morning.
Do
After breakfast
Meet me on Royal Exchange
steps at
not fail."
sent for a cab, and drove at once to the city,
The
alighting close to the Bank of England.
streets
were thronged
with the usual incoming flux of clerks hurrying to their different offices.
made my way
person
me
turned to
'This
hurry.
We
across to the Royal Exchange, and the
saw was Miss Cusack standing
is
first
the entrance. She
of you, doctor,-
shall not forget this kindness in a
quickly, will you?"
entered the throng, and
Lane into Throgmorton

found ourselves
1
at
eagerly.
good
Come
just
followed
in
my
Street,-
moved
down Bartholomew
rapidly
then, turning round sharp to the
left,
Lennox Court.
guide with the greatest curiosity, wondering what
The next moment we entered a house, and,

way up some bare, uncarpeted stairs, reached the top
could be her plans.

threading our
Here Miss Cusack opened
landing.
with her, pushed
me
the door behind us both.
The
little
door with
room was
glanced around
quite bare,
were the marks of where
will
is
some
in
and locked
alarm.
had once stood. The window

in
Lennox Court.
act quickly," she said. "At 9.30 an important cable
reach Mr. Hamilton's
ourselves
key which she had
and here and there round the walls
office furniture
looked out on to the backs of the houses
"Now we must
into a small room, entered herself,
office.
This room
next door to Mr. Gildford's office
in
in
which we now
find
the next house, and
is
between that and Mr. Hamilton's office two doors further down.
have rented this room a quarter's rent for one morning's work. Well,
401
if
am
successful, the price will
be cheap.
It
was great luck to get
it
at
all."
"But what are you going to do?"

queried,
open the window and peep cautiously out.
as
"You
will see directly,"
she proceeded to
make
she answered,- "keep back, and don't
noise."
She leant out and drew the ends of her boa along the
ledge
little
below the window. She then drew it in rapidly.

"Ah, ha! do you remember that, Dr. Lonsdale?" she cried softly,
raising the boa to my face.
I started back and regarded her in amazement.
exclaimed. "Miss Cusack, what is this strange mystery?"
"Valerian!"
that ran outside just
"Hush! not another word yet," she
Her eyes
said.
sparkled with
excitement. She rapidly produced a pair of very thick doeskin gloves,
put them on, and stood by the

alertness.
was
stood
window
in
an attitude of the utmost
the middle of the room, wondering whether
in
still
dream, or whether Miss Cusack had taken leave of her senses.
in a
The moments passed

expecting something.
by, and still she stood rigid and tense as if

watched her in wonderment, not attempting to
say a word.
We
must have remained
when
ter of an hour,
in this
extraordinary situation fully a quar-
saw her bend forward, her hand shot out of the
window, and with an inconceivably rapid thrust she drew it back. She
was now grasping by the back of the neck a large tabby cat,- its four
legs were drawn up with claws extended, and it was wriggling in evident dislike
"A
cat!"
at
being captured.
cried, in the
down and began

rubbed
itself
most
sweet pretty
"Yes, a cat, a
utter
and absolute bewilderment.

you, pussy?" She knelt
cat, too,- aren't
to stroke the creature,
who changed
against her in evident pleasure.
The
darted towards her fur boa and began sniffing at
it
as,
moment
greedily.
so Miss Cusack deftly stripped off a leather collar round
cry of delight broke from her lips
mind and
its
next
its
As
it
it
did
neck.
unfastening a clasp that held an
inner flap to the outer leather covering, she drew out a slip of paper.
"In
drel!
Henry Le Marchant's handwriting," she

have him now."
"Henry Le Marchant's handwriting!"

slip as
she held
"Yes,"
I
cried.
"What
scoun-
We
it
in
exclaimed, bending over the
her hand.
she answered,-
"see!"
read with bated breath the brief communication which the tiny
piece of paper contained. It was beyond doubt a replica of the telegram which must have arrived at Hamilton's office a few moments
402
Cusack
ago. Miss
the ground.
also read the words.
picked
"We must keep
She flung the piece of paper
this,
evidence,"
is
it
said.
answered, "but this has upset me.
"Yes," she
methods
fore.
was the wildest chance, but thank
have heard of some
God it
man with whom
shall save Evelyn from marrying a
been
one
of communication, but never such a
curious
It
to
up.
it
as this be-
has succeeded.
her
life
We
would have
intolerable."
what could have
"But
led
you
to this extraordinary result?"
said.
"A chain of reasoning starting on the evening we dined together,"

she
"What puzzled me was
replied.
on
this.
What had Henry Le
Marchant
to
do with
which
me
thinking. His explanation of using
set
was so obviously
valerian
on the
a lie
for a single
moment.
it,
and
his
medical book that the
on
was not
it
first
course know, doctor, a plant

effect
it
was that
it
as a
fact
nerve sedative
embarrassment was so
way
out of the mystery
went through every conceivable hypothesis
with regard to valerian, but
maddening
face of
did not trouble myself with this
evident, that
his handkerchief?
till
came
which has
clue
much
cats, so
looked up
its
to me. Valerian
properties in
is,
as
a sort of intoxicating,
you
of
almost
so that they will search out and
follow the smell to the exclusion of any other desire.
They
independent race of creatures, and
not easily trained like a dog.
the amazing possibility suggested
itself to
Then
method em-
me
that the
are an
ployed by Mr. Le Marchant to communicate with Mr. Gildford,
which has nonplussed every detective

one of employing
"Come
to the
in
London, was the very simple
a cat.
window and
You see
will explain.
that narrow ledge
along which our friend pussy strolled so leisurely a

runs, as
you
moment
ago.
It
perceive, straight from Mr. Hamilton's office to that of
Mr. Gildford. All Mr. Gildford had to do was to sprinkle some valerian
along the ledge close to his
would be detected by
Hamilton's office
my
is.
own window. The
a cat quite as far off as the
thought
this all out, and,
peculiar smell
house where Mr.
being pretty sure that
on Henry Le Marchant at
the office with the express purpose of seeing if there was a cat there.
"I went with a message from Evelyn. Nestling on his knee as he sat
at his table writing in his private room was this very animal. Even
surmises were correct,
then, of course, there
called yesterday
was no certainty about
view of the event which hung upon them

Evelyn
the
test.
my
suspicions, but in
namely,
his marriage to
was determined to spare no pains or trouble to put them to

have done so, and, thank God, in time. But come, my
403
now
moment to
course
is
clear.
have
a painful
duty before me, and there
is
not a
lose."
As Miss Cusack spoke she took up her

backwards and forwards to remove the
fur boa, flicked
taint of the valerian,
slowly
it
and put
it
round her neck.

Five minutes later
we were both communicating
her extraordinary
story to the ears of one of the sharpest detectives in London. Before
Henry Le Marchant and James Gildford were both con-
that night
demned
punishment that the law prescribes
to suffer the severest
in
such cases.
But
why
follow their careers any further? Evelyn's heart very nearly
broke, but did not quite, and
married a
man
am
glad to be able to add that she has
every respect worthy of her.
in
Packed House
hy Robert Zacks
stared at Mr. Stanhope, the office manager.
dare
"I
show
can't
it.
As he knew damn
come,"
"My
said.
was burning but
didn't
well.
wife and
have an appointment. With
friends."
I
promptly
my
cations,
felt sick at
the
last
remark.
hadn't intended any impli-
subconscious had intercepted
my
tongue and run
it
for a
touchdown.
Mr. Stanhope
He nodded
sweat as
thought
reluctantly took
"1
lifted his
eyebrows. "Ah," he said politely.
thoughtfully and went back to his desk.

it
me
over. After five minutes
"If
can
rest of the
see."
me up and
it,"
said,
each word coming
at
hard as a
me, and kept writing.
afternoon was an exhausted blur. At
went home. Mary had
as
will."
Mr. Stanhope nodded, didn't look
The
legs got
"I
began to
over to Mr. Stanhope.
might be able to make
pulled tooth.
my
five o'clock
hot supper waiting. She was brushing her hair
before the mirror.

"Listen, honey,"
office get-together
404
said sourly, "Stanhope invited us to attend an
Wednesday
night at
some
joint called the Pink
Palace Bar.
It
seems that Mr. Markham the big boss
going to be
is
there and
Mary stopped combing her

date
hair.
She said indignantly, "But our
You know how it is. You don't have to go, but if

."
you show up. If Mr. Markham is coming.
"What's the occasion?" demanded Mary. Her face was flushed.
"No occasion," muttered. "Just a get-together. suppose Stanhope
wants to show Markham how he keeps morale up."
"Was he insistent?" asked Mary hopefully.
I
shook my head. "I'd better go," F said. Mary understood. She
tried to say no.
"I
you're smart
made
a face.
Mac and
wasn't pleasant, phoning
It
Mac was
them.
telling
noyed
We
as the devil.
nice about
it,
our best friends, and
Ellen,
but
could
tell
he was
always had such wonderful times
as an-
when we got
together.
Over the phone Mac

two hundred
player and
said, "Well,
dollars
it's
a pity.
just got that record
worth of records. From Beethoven to
Josh White."
I
groaned. TTiat hurt.
felt
down
We
both loved music.
Wednesday night when Mary and
pretty savage myself
to the Pink Palace Bar.
Brooklyn has thousands
like
I'd
it:
went
never heard of the place, but then
dim with
ornate, brassy,
indirect light-
ing, a noisy jazz
band blaring
floor so small
helped utter strangers get extremely acquainted.
was
it
also out of the way,
until
which
you get
didn't help
headache, and a dance
my mood
Mr. Stanhope waved casually to us when
we came
It
any.
in.
forced a
smile back at him.
When we
were seated
at a regular table for
Mary
two,
said doubt-
"This doesn't look like a get-together. Every body's at separate
fully,
tables."
"Stanhope probably wants the boss to himself,"

TTie
crowd was
terrific,
growled.
the heat oppressive, the ventilation poor
and the service terrible. After a few moments of jazzy blaring by the
band took my hand away from my ear and saw Joe Halliday, the
I
fellow
who works
next desk to
came over and pulled up
me
in
the office.
He waved
gloomily,
a chair.
"You get roped

"Yes," said
"It
like,"
in too?" he asked.
Mary. Joe grunted and looked around.
sure doesn't look like the kind of place Mr.
growled Joe,
looked
at
Mary and
Markham would
at me queerly.
she was staring
405
Markham was
Mr.
a nice, old, quiet guy.
He had
the tact and delicacy
of the well-bred, educated man, and his tastes ran to literary and
He
tic things.
artis-
wasn't the night club type, and this joint was far from a
night club.
my
watch. It was well into the evening. No Mr. Markwas beginning to burn. So was Mary.
"I'll bet he doesn't come," said Mary.
She had crystallized the feelings we all had. Joe said, slowly, "Well,
don't get it. Unless Stanhope
looked
ham
at
yet and
He
didn't get a
chance to
finish
because Stanhope's bland face sud-
denly appeared above him smiling
"Having a good time,

under control
"Just
down
at us.
he asked.
folks?"
He was
little
high, but
yet.
Mary
dandy," said
brightly.
said, politely,
it
was
terrific.
"Where's Mr. Markham?" Joe asked bluntly.
Stanhope shrugged. "Well," he murmured,
He wished
good
us a
time.
It
would
"1
told
him we'd be here.

if he dropped in
certainly be nice
tonight."
There was
moment
smoothly, "By the way,

dime. Just
He
We
a
initial
smiled
of stunned silence.
this party
the check with
tonight
my
is
Then Stanhope
on me.
It
initials."
and nodded, then walked over to another
at us
said
won't cost you a
table.
him in stunned amazement. Joe recovered first.

"Well, what do you know about that?" he breathed. "I'll bet he's got
piece of this place. He's a pretty nice guy after all."
got up slowly.
"Where are you going?" asked Mary. She was really mad, but constared after
trolling herself.
"To look for a man,"
As
Intently
my
would be
It
said.
walked away the pieces of the puzzle
fell
neatly into place.
eyes went over the joint looking for the fellow
knew
there.
wasn't hard to find him.
He
looked
like
thought he'd look,
anxious yet pleased, with a worried, calculating look as he watched

the crowd.
ing. That's
until
want anybody
"Why don't you join the
just to
be
sure,
said,
didn't
smiled anxiously. "No, thanks," he
"Nice crowd,"
"Isn't it?"
Raphaels.
406
could get him alone because
Then,
He
He wasn't drinking and he wasn't having fun, just

how knew. He was middle-aged, pudgy, and
he
said, feeling
said.
You know
He
"
my
watchwaited
to see this.
fun?"
said.
way.
offered his hand.
"My name
he grinned sheepishly
is
Raphaels. Jack
"I'm thinking of
buy-
ing this place. Been saving
he
boss. This,"
what
like
"Is
my
all
to get a chance to be
my own
want."
that so?"
giving
said,
coming
to
it
were anxiously coming toward

into
life
looking with satisfaction over the crowd, "looks
said,
us.
him fast because a couple of men

was wondering why got roped
"I
here."
Raphaels stiffened. "You what?" he said sharply.

I
told
him
before the
straight
man came
and quick, with no holds barred.
the house on you, mister,
make
finished just
filling
it
with friends for
week or two
to
business look good."
Then, with
my
within hearing distance, with, 'They're packing
table.
a polite smile, like I'd told a dirty joke,
drifted
back to
noticed Mr. Raphaels was smart enough to turn to the
with an agreeable look on his
men
face.
"Who's that man?" asked Mary.

I
didn't get a
chance to answer because Stanhope was making the
rounds of the tables again and had come to ours.

high, giggly and getting
He
was now
really
silly.
"Having fun?" he asked gayly, wagging

you glad you came?"
"I never had so much fun in all my life,"
every word of it.
reproving
finger. "Aren't
said happily,
and
meant
The Pattern
hy Alex Saxon
At 11:23
P.M.
on Saturday, the twenty-sixth of
wearing rimless glasses and a dark gray business

detective squad
room
in
a small
April,
suit
man
walked into the
San Francisco's Hall of Justice and confessed
to the murders of three Bay Area housewives
whose bodies had been
found that afternoon and evening.

Inspector Glenn
thought he might be
draws
its
Rauxton,
a crank.
who
first
spoke to the small man,
Every major homicide
in
any large
share of oddballs and mental cases, individuals
who
city
confess
to crimes in order to attain public recognition in otherwise unsubstantial lives,"
or because of
some
secret desire for punishment,- or for
any
407
number
of reasons that can be found in the casebooks of police psy-
But
chiatrists.
He
left
went
wasn't up to Rauxton to
it
the small
man
in to talk to his
company
the
in
a decision either
Dan
way.
Tobias, and
immediate superior. Lieutenant Jack Sheffield.
who
"We've got a guy outside
women
make
of his partner,
says he's the killer of those three
"Maybe a crank, maybe not."

away from the portable typewriter at the side of
he had been making out a report for the chief's office. "He
today, Jack," Rauxton said.
Sheffield turned
his desk;
come
in his
own
volition?"
Rauxton nodded. "Not three minutes ago."

"What's his name?"
"He says
"And his
"So
He
far,
it's
Andrew
Franzen."
story?"
just that
he
killed them,"
Rauxton
said.
"I
didn't press him.
seems pretty calm about the whole thing."
"Well, run his
name through
one of the interrogation

reports again before
"You want
"It
me
we
Rauxton
and then put him

"I'll
in
look through the
question him."
said,
good
idea."
and went
Sheffield rubbed his face wearily.

late forties,
file,
to get a stenographer?"
would probably be
"Right,"
the weirdo
cubicles," Sheffield said.
out.
He was
a lean,
sinewy man
in his
He had
dark-
with thick graying hair and a falconic nose.
brown eyes that had seen most everything there was to see, and been
appalled by a good deal of
they were tired, sad eyes. He wore a
plain blue suit, and his shirt was open at the throat. The tie he had
worn to work when his tour started at 4:00 p.m., which had been given
to him by his wife and consisted of interlocking, psychedelic-colored
concentric circles, was out of sight in the bottom drawer of his desk.
He picked up the folder with the preliminary information on the
three slayings and opened it. Most of it was sketchy telephone comit,-
munications from the involved police forces
in
the Bay Area, a precur-
sory report from the local lab, a copy of the police Telex that he had
sent out statewide as a matter of course following the discovery of the
later alerted the other authorities in whose
two subsequent corpses had been found. There was also an
Inspector's Report on that first and only death in San Francisco, filled
out and signed by Rauxton. The last piece of information had come in
less than a half-hour earlier, and he knew the facts of the case by
memory,- but Sheffield was a meticulous cop and he liked to have all
first
body, and that had
areas the
the details fixed in his mind.
The
408
first
body was
of a
woman named
Janet Flanders,
who had
been discovered by
neighbor
at 4:15 that
afternoon in her small
duplex on 39th Avenue, near Golden Gate Park. She had been killed
by
several
blows about the head with an
as yet unidentified blunt
instrument.
The second body, one
neighbor
in
Viola Gordon, had also been found by a
shortly before 5:00 p.m.
in
her neat, white frame cottage
South San Francisco. "Cause of death: several blows about the head
with an unidentified blunt instrument.
The
by
third body, Elaine Dunhill,
had been discovered
at
who had
stopped by to return
acquaintance
a casual
book. Mrs. Dunhill lived
wooded
in a
6:37
p.m.
borrowed
modest cabin-style home clinging to the

just north of San Francisco.
of several blows about the head with an
above Sausalito Harbor,
hillside
She, too, had died as a result

unidentified blunt instrument.
There were no witnesses, or apparent clues, in any of the killings.

have, on the surface, appeared to be unrelated if it had
not been for the facts that each of the three women had died on the
They would
same day, and

factors as well
similarities,
in
the same manner. But there were other cohesive
factors, that,
item: each of the three
and
taken in conjunction with the surface
undeniably linked the murders.
thirty-five,
women had been between
on the plump
Item: each of
side,
the ages of thirty
and blonde.
them had been orphaned non-natives
of California,
having come to the San Francisco Bay Area from different parts of the
Midwest within the past six years.

Item: each of them had been married to traveling salesmen who
were home only short periods each month, and who were all according to the information garnered by investigating officers from
neighbors and friends currently somewhere on the road.
Patterns, Sheffield thought as he studied the folder's contents. Most
cases had one, and this case was no exception. All you had to do was
fit the scattered pieces of its
particular pattern together, and you
would have your answer. Yet the pieces here did not seem to join
logically, unless you concluded that the killer of the women was a
psychopath who murdered blonde, thirtyish, orphaned wives of traveling salesmen for some perverted reason of his own.
That was the way the news media would see it, Sheffield knew,
because that kind of slant always sold copies, and attracted viewers
and listeners. They would try to make the case into another Zodiac
thing. The radio newscast he had heard at the cafeteria across Bryant
Street, when he had gone out for supper around nine, had presaged
the discovery of still more bodies of Bay Area housewives and had
409
advised
women whose
all
bludgeon
"the
husbands were away to remain behind
The announcer had
locked doors.
repeatedly referred to the deaths as
slayings."
had kept
open mind. It was, for all practical

body had been found in San Francisco,
during his tour, and that gave him jurisdiction in handling the investigation. The cops in the two other involved cities would be in constant
touch with him, as they already had been. He would have been foolish to have made any premature speculations not based solely on fact,
and Sheffield was anything but foolish. Anyway, psychopath or not,
Sheffield
purposes, his case
the case
Or
blessed events
a
first
promised a
still
Now, however,
Crank?
a strictly
the
Andrew
Franzen.
Was
Or was
multiple murderer?
not very pleasant work.
hell of a lot of
there was
simple case?
this
going to be one of those
Franzen only the beginning of
long series of very large headaches?

Well,
and got
Sheffield thought,
to his feet
In the
squad room, Rauxton was
He came
weirdo
we'll find out
over to Sheffield and
He
soon enough.
and crossed to the door of
just finishing a
Sheffield inclined his
head and looked
walled interrogation cubicles
at
in
the
off
toward the row of
inside,-
the
glass-
the rear of the squad room. In the
second one, he could see Dan Tobias propped on

sitting
computer check.
"Nothing on Franzen
said,
Jack."
file.
metal desk
closed the folder
his office.
man who had
confessed,
with his back to the squad room,
stiffly
corner of the bare
Andrew
Franzen, was
erect in his chair. Also
waiting inside, stoically seated in the near corner, was one of the
police stenographers.
Sheffield said, "Okay, Glenn,
He and
let's
hear what he has to say."
Rauxton went over to the interrogation cubicle and
stepped inside. Tobias stood, shook his head almost imperceptibly to

Sheffield
let
and Rauxton know that Franzen hadn't said anything
him. Tobias was
and
like
tall
Rauxton
and muscular, with

a
to
and big hands

strong dedication to the life's work he had
a slow smile
chosen.
He moved
the
left
to the right corner of the metal desk,
and Rauxton to
corner, assuming set positions like football halfbacks running a
bread-and-butter play. Sheffield, the quarterback, walked behind the

desk,
cocked one hip against the edge and leaned forward
that he
on
was looking down
at the small
man
sitting
slightly, so
with his hands
flat
his thighs.
Franzen had a round, inoffensive pink face with tiny-shelled ears
and
410
Cupid's-bow mouth. His hair was brown and wavy, immacu-
and shaped, and
lately cut
saved him from being nondescript,
it
it
gave him a certain boyish character, even though Sheffield placed his
age
around
at
forty.
behind
spaniel,
His eyes were brown and
liquid, like
those of a
his rimless glasses.
Sheffield got a ball-point pen out of his coat pocket

lightly against his front teeth,
and tapped
he liked to have something
in his
it
hands
when he was conducting an interrogation. He broke the silence, finally, by saying, "My name is Sheffield. I'm the lieutenant in charge
here.
Now
before you say anything,
it's
my
duty to advise you of your
rights."
He
did so, quickly and tersely, concluding with "You understand
all
of your rights as I've outlined them, Mr. Franzen?"
The
small
"Are
you
man
sighed softly and nodded.
willing, then, to
answer questions without the presence of
counsel?"
"Yes, yes."
Sheffield continued to
teeth. "All right,"
he said
tap the ball-point pen

at length. "Let's
against his
have your
full
front
name."
"Andrew Leonard Franzen."

"Where do you live?"
"Here
in
San Francisco."
"At what address?"
"Nine-oh-six Greenwich."
"Is
that a private residence?"
"No,
it's
an apartment building."
"Are you employed?"

"Yes."
"Where?"
"I'm
an independent consultant."
"What
sort of consultant?"
design languages between computers."
"I
Rauxton
"It's
firms
said,
"You want to explain that?"
very simple,
really,"
Franzen said tonelessly.
have different types of computers, and would
"If
two business
up a
like to set
communication between them so that the information stored in the

memory banks of each computer can be utilized by the other, they
call
me.
design the linking electronic connections between the two
computers, so that each can understand the
other,- in effect, so that
they can converse."

'That sounds
like a
very specialized job," Sheffield
said.
"Yes."
"What kind
of salary
do you make?"
411
"Around eighty thousand
a year."
Two
appeared
thin, horizontal lines
in Sheffield's forehead.
Franzen
had the kind of vocation that bespoke of intelligence and upper-class

respectability,- why would a man like that want to confess to the brutal
murders of three simple-living housewives? Or an even more puzzling
question: If his confession was genuine, what was his reason for the
killings?
"Why
Sheffield said,
did you
come
here tonight, Mr. Franzen?"
"To confess." Franzen looked at Rauxton.

I
walked
in a
"1
told this
man
that
when
few minutes ago."
"To confess to what?"
"The murders."
"What murders,
specifically?"
Franzen sighed. "The three
women
in
the Bay Area today."
"Just the three?"
"Yes."
"No others whose bodies maybe have not been discovered
as yet?"
"No, no."
"Suppose you
"And
that's
Francisco
decided to turn yourself
I'm guilty. Because
in?"
killed them."
the only reason?"
Franzen was
pose not.
me why you
tell
"Why? Because
moment. Then
silent for a
went walking
Aquatic Park
in
slowly, he said, "No,
when
came back
afternoon, just walking and thinking.
this
thought, the more
knew
that
time before you found out
it
was hopeless.
was the one,
It
sup-
to San
The more
was only
matter of a day or two.
know how
matter of
I
do that.
I've always done things on impulse, things
would never do if
stopped to think about them. That's how killed them, on some insane impulse,- if had thought about it
never would have done it. It
."
was so useless
Sheffield exchanged glances with the two inspectors. Then he said,
"You want to tell us how you did it, Mr. Franzen?"
guess
could have run, but
wouldn't
to begin to
"What?"
"How
did you
kill
them?" Sheffield asked. "What kind of weapon
did you use?"
"A tenderizing mallet.

rated ends that
One
women keep
of those big
in
wooden
things with ser-
the kitchen to tenderize a piece of
steak."
It
was
silent in the cubicle
then at Tobias, they were

released
412
no
details to the
all
now. Sheffield looked
at
Rauxton, and
thinking the same thing: the police had
news media
as to the
kind of weapon
in-
volved
other than the general information that
in the slayings,
blunt instrument. But the
report on the
initial lab
preliminary observations on the other two
each had been made by
had sharp
victim
stated the
it
was
and the
wounds
of
roughly square-shaped instrument, which
making
"teeth" capable of
bit into the flesh.
first
a series of
deep indentations
as
it
mallet such as Franzen had just described fitted
those characteristics exactly.
"What did you do with the
Sheffield asked,
"I
threw
mallet,
Mr. Franzen?"
away."
it
"Where?"
some bushes along the

"Do you remember the location?"
"In Sausalito, into
"1
think so."
'Then you can lead us there

"I
road."
suppose
later on?"
so, yes."
"Was Elaine Dunhill the
woman you
last
killed?"
"Yes."
"What room did you
her
kill
in?"
'The bedroom."
"Where
in the
bedroom?"
"Beside her vanity."
"Who was your
first
victim?" Rauxton asked.
"Janet Flanders."
"You killed her

"No, no,
in
in
the bathroom,
the kitchen
is
that right?"
."
.
"What was she wearing?"

"A flowered housecoat."
"Why
did you strip her body?"
Why
would
"Mrs. Gordon was the middle
"I
didn't.
victim, right?" Tobias asked.
"Yes."
"Where did you
kill her?"
'The kitchen."
"She was sewing, wasn't she?"
"No, she was canning," Franzen
serves.
She had mason
cookers
all
jars
over the table and stove
There was wetness
in Franzen's
took his rimless glasses

left
hand.
He seemed
Sheffield,
The
relief
said. "She was canning plum preand boxes of plums and three big pressure
to be
watching him,
was due to the
."
He
stopped talking and
at the tears
with the back of his
eyes now.
and wiped
off
swaying slightly on the
felt a
chair.
curious mixture of relief and sadness.
fact that there
was no doubt
in his
mind
413
nor
the minds of Rauxton and Tobias, he could read their eyes
in
Andrew Franzen was
that
thrown
and
detail
and he had had
all
the slayer of the three
the right answers, he
women. They had
one right
"trip-up" questions at him,
knew
after another,
particulars that
had
also
not been given to the news media, that no crank could possibly have
known, that only the murderer could have been aware of. The case
had turned out to be one of the simple ones, after all, and it was all
but wrapped up now,- there would be no more "bludgeon slayings," no
public hue and cry, no attacks on police inefficiency in the press, no
pressure from the commissioners or the mayor. The sadness was the
result of twenty-six years of police work, of living with death and
crime every day, of looking at a man who seemed to be the essence of
normalcy and yet who was a cold-blooded multiple murderer.
Why? Sheffield thought. That was the big question. Why did he do it?
He said, "You want to tell us the reason, Mr. Franzen? Why you
killed
them?"
was very happy, you see. My

was fulfilled but they were
going to destroy everything." He stared at his hands. "One of them
had found out the truth
don't know how
and tracked down the
had come to Janet this morning, and she told me that
other two.
they were going to expose me, and just lost my head and picked up
the mallet and killed her. Then went to the others and killed them.
couldn't stop myself; it was as if
were moving in a nightmare."
"What are you trying to say?" Sheffield asked softly. "What was
your relationship with those three women?"
The tears in Andrew Franzen's eyes shone like tiny diamonds in the
The
life
small
man moistened
his lips.
"I
had some meaning, some challenge.
light
from the overhead fluorescents.
"They were
414
my
wives," he said.
Point of
Honor
by Larry
Se^rijj
directing, not fencing, when it happened. We were in the finals

women's epee. My own event, men's sabre, wasn't scheduled until
the afternoon, and I'd agreed to call these last few bouts.
I
was
of
Janet Aubrey, the top seed in the tournament, was on
She was an atypical
epeeist, a small blonde, slender but
power. Her opponent, Laurie

taller,
I
Thompson from Kansas
my
right.
packed with
City,
was
thicker brunette.
gave the
wicked
command
attack.
to fence and Janet launched a strong, fast, and

She brought her blade around Laurie's, binding it with
a quick, tight spiral,
and pressed her attack home.
which had been high all through the bout, snagged

somewhere in Janet's sleeve. As they both drove forward, Laurie's
blade snapped, and the short, jagged end leaped free of Janet's bind.
had just enough time to feel a moment's relief that Laurie kept her
Laurie's point,
point high. Personally,
anywhere
I'd
rather take a broken blade in the
else. Steel is a lot
mask than
stronger than either nylon or duck, and
Kevlar's too uncomfortable to fence in for long.
At
least, that's
what
I'd
always thought.
The two women came together, either unaware of the broken

blade or unable to stop. The end of Laurie's blade thunked solidly into
Janet's mask, but it didn't stop there. It penetrated, finding a weak spot
somehow, and passed on through.
Janet never screamed. She simply dropped, moving forward a little
ways with the momentum of her attack. We found out later that the
point had punctured her left eye and went directly into her brain. She
never had a chance.
had the command, "Halt," on my lips, but it died along with
Janet. The whole thing, from the breaking of the blade to the moment
that the broken end entered Janet's brain, had taken somewhat less
1
than a second.
415
think
buzzing
my
had
among
ing to rise
about them.
My
box
suspicions even then, with the scoring
the background, and the
in
horrified
first
murmurs
the spectators, but there was nothing
detective's
badge was
still
just start-
could do
and not valid
strictly private,
in
this state.
had gone
Laurie
shock when,
into
tugged on her epee.
the end, she'd automatically
at
resisted briefly before pulling free,
It
and we
all
got to see the blood on the end. She collapsed then, falling into a
heap right next to Janet.

felt like doing that myself.
I
"And you
are?"
"Carl Jackson.
My
friends call
His name tag read, "Malone,
me
with campus security. "And you saw

"I
Jax."
Jeffrey,"
and
his
badge said he was
it all?"
was directing the bout."
He
gave
me
a pained look.
'The director
calls
"What does
that mean?"
the action, kind of like the referee in a boxing
match."
Malone gave me
Officer
was going
a long, searching look.
to say before he said
it.
knew what he
"So you were responsible, eh?"
gave him a level stare in return. "I was officiating, yes, which
makes me about as responsible as the ref at a football game where
some kid gets his leg broken."
'This is a lot worse than a broken leg," he replied.
nodded. "Yes, but much more rare." thought he might take that
opportunity to dig a little, but he didn't. I mean, the last recorded
fencing-related death occurred in an Olympics thirteen years earlier,
1
and had been almost exactly the same thing
The only
other death
when
fore that,
as
we'd seen here today.
knew about happened some twenty
a fencer in
Hungary, sweaty from
years be-
a series of
up against an outlet and electrocuted himself.

No, these kinds of things didn't happen often. One like
hard
bouts, leaned
this
was
certainly suspicious.
Officer
Malone simply nodded.
staying at the same hotel as

"Yes.
Room
"We'll
be
in
all
"All right, Jackson,"
he
said.
He
started to
"You
the other fencers?"
317."
touch
if
we need any more
information."
turn away.
"Um, Officer Malone?
He
versity property.
416
When
will the police
be contacting me?"
turned back, glaring. 'They won't be. This happened on UniIt's
our baby."
JesMS,
He
thought.
tion wasn't over.
and
Janet's dead,
turned away again, and
Not
couple of hours
for
me,
him go, but
knew
but
fries,
the investiga-
wasn't.
most of us ended up
later,
ordered a hamburger and
it
worried about prerogatives.
he's
let
found
in a
nearby
bar. I'd
could only stomach the
beer.
We
could
had
a table
The
get.
toward the back,
from the blaring
as far
team was on, playing
local football
TV
as
conference
we
rival,
filled with yelling fans. Our group was out of place,

somber and subdued as we were.
ended up next to Chuck, and it wasn't totally by accident. He was
and the bar was

to say the least,
I
man
the armorer for the meet, the
equipment, and also for checking
some questions
He was
little
responsible for maintaining
it
the
had
for him.
drinking whiskey, and he was drinking
more than
guy, no
all
out before the fencing, and
fast.
it
A dumpy
five-seven or five-eight, his dark hair
was
already receding, and he looked at least ten years older than the
twenty-six
of times
knew
his
wasn't
much
of an athlete,- the couple
seen him on the strip he'd been almost comical, but he
way around equipment.
"Chuck,"
said,
keeping
heard over the raucous
He
He
thought he was.
I'd
my
fans.
turned startled, haunted eyes
from the pain
saw
in
could and still be

need to ask you something."
voice as soft as
"Chuck,
my direction, and
He took another deep
in
them. "Yeah?"
recoiled
drink of
whiskey.
I
sipped
at
my own
Did you check
beer. "Janet's mask.
it
in?" Stan-
dard tournament rules required that every piece of every fencer's gear
be checked by
This had been
looser.
a qualified
a smaller
My own
person and stamped prior to any fencing.
meet, though, and things tended to be a lot
mask, for example, had not been checked.
"We had weapons check at eight

went over all her stuff then."
had another sip. "You didn't check mine."
"Yeah," he said.
this
morning.
"Hell, Jax,"
he slammed
his glass
down on
the table and glared at
me. "You were fencing sabre. For one thing, that wasn't even scheduled to start
till
this afternoon.
For another, you
about the worst thing that ever happens

bruises. Epee's different.
are
all
thrusts. There's
with the
up
foil,
his drink
The
in
know damn
sabre
blades are a lot
is
stiffer,
well that
few welts and
and the attacks
more chance of injury with the epee, or even

more careful about those weapons." He picked
and I'm
and took another long
pull.
noticed his hands were
417
know
trembling. "Dammit, Jax," he added. "You

like this
is
the
tournament we've been
first
at,
all that.
Christ,
it's
not
you and me. Of course
stamped her bib myself."

nodded and finished my beer. "Thanks, Chuck." dropped a couple of dollars on the table. "The next one's on me." And
took myself
back to the motel.
checked her mask, and
passed.
it
Laurie was in her motel room, alone.
Her eyes had the glazed look

She gave me a hug as
of Valium,- even so, they were red with crying.
she
let
"Oh,
"I
me
and clung to
in,
me
know,
Laurie.
for a long time.
was so
know."
Jax," she said. "It

I
horrible."
After a moment, she pulled away, heading toward a table near the
window. There was a Kleenex box there, and lots of them wadded up
on the floor around one of the chairs. followed her and took the seat
I
across from her.
"That campus policeman called a

out
at
the parking
lot.
little
"They've agreed
it
while ago," she
said, staring
was an accident. There won't
be any charges."
I
reached out and covered her hand. "That's great,"
couldn't
felt
remember ever being
awkward
as hell.
crimes, but
I'd
said.
questioned a lot of people about a
I'd
things, including several
in a situation like this one,
who
I'd
never had to ask
and
lot of
thought guilty of some pretty awful

difficult
questions of a friend before.
had turned to look out the window. studied her profile for
a moment, trying to marshall my thoughts.
She was not pretty. Even taking her condition into account the
red-rimmed eyes, the lack of make-up, the sweat from her earlier fencing
wondered, could she have been jealous of
she was not pretty.
Laurie
Janet?
"You've fenced Janet a
lot,
haven't you, Laurie?"
She kept her gaze directed at the parking

gone flat, as though the Valium was kicking
couple of tournaments
in
Omaha
every year,
Her voice had

"We went to a
and they came to Kansas
lot. "Yes."
in again.
City to fence maybe three or four times."

I
nodded,
still
holding her hand.
"I've
probably seen most of those
bouts."
"Hell, Jax," she said,
a hint of life returning to
her voice, "you
directed most of them."

I
nodded
was glad that she had faded
again. "Don't
implications of
418
my
you
usually try for wrist shots

again.
If
question, our friendship
on her?"
she ever understood the
would be
over.
She nodded, though, without turning her head toward me. "Sure. 1
know if you knew it or not, but Janet started out as a foil fencer.
don't
She tends
tended
make her moves
to
and opened up her wrist on her

squeezed her hand and
were going high
wider than necessary,
a little
attacks."
said, as softly as
could, "But today
you
Why?"
line, Laurie.
She shrugged. "The wrist shots weren't working. You asked how
many
times
She was
fenced
I've
right.
you
her,-
didn't ask.
how many
didn't ask
need
didn't
patted her hand, a patronizing gesture
moment
the
was
it
all
had.
know,"
"I
won."
always hated, but
I've
been working with Chuckie
"Besides," she continued. "I've
height more, keep
nents run onto
my
my
at
said softly.
point out there
a bit,
me that should use

and let my shorter oppo-
these past couple of months. He's pointed out to
my
never beat her."
"I
I
times
to.
blade."
nodded a third time. It was a standard tactic, and Janet was cerone of the shorter fencers. Maybe the campus cop was right.
Maybe it really was just an accident.
didn't know any more. The only certainty had left was the pain
could see on Laurie's face.
1
tainly
I'd
run out of questions. Or, at
ask them.
It's
a person,-
too
hard
line
much and
"Thanks, Laurie."
headed
find
said,
run out of the strength to
compassion and you're not
you're not a private eye.

a
final
squeeze, the rose and
as
reached the door.
turning to face her once more.
killed her, Jax.
mean,
it
was an accident and
all,
but
killed her,
I?"
looked
The
the bright window, and could
at her, silhouetted against
no words
to
answer her with.
pathy for her, and
left
it,
still
but so
appeared to touch anything.
stiffened.
felt
my
lips
tighten in silent sym-
up at the field house.

didn't see
none of the basketball players had
was looking at some fencing gear
set
far
I
mask, several blades, and such
Chuck showed up.

"What are you doing,
without replying.
armorer's table was
anybody guarding
little
gave her hand
Her voice stopped me
"Yes?"
"I
least, I'd
walk: too
for the door.
"Jax."
didn't
we
unattended when
that
had been
girl,
wasn't she. Chuck?"
left
Jax?"
"She was a pretty
"Who?"
419
and her smile could
light up a
making everyone feel special."
picked up the punch test from the table. It looked something like a
pistol. There was a metal bar that, after cocking, was designed to
strike a mask with a very specific amount of force. Grabbing the mask,
started almost idly punching it with the test, snapping it against the
same spot, over and over again.
pressed. "Did you mistake her
"Is that what happened. Chuck?"
friendship for something more? Did you ask her back to your place
last night, and did she turn you down?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
We'd known each other for a lot of years, he and I, and been good
friends for most of them, but none of that showed on his face or in his
voice now. Mine either, for that matter.
I'd snapped the mask about a dozen times, more or less. Setting the
punch test down, wedged the mask up against some other stuff on
the table and picked up one of the epees lying there.
"I talked to Laurie,"
said. "You've been coaching her. You knew
she'd be keeping her point up against Janet. What
don't know is
why. Chuck? Why?"
didn't let him finish. Lunging forward,
"I don't
" he started, but
"Janet, of course. Petite, but cute,
room. Friendly, too. She had
way
of
drove the point of the epee into the very spot
I'd
mesh on the
the mask, one of the holes in the
been snapping on
right front side.
The
epee tore through the metal and struck the object behind the mask.
I
turned to
Chuck and presented him with
the impaled mask.
"Three years ago that hotshot Canadian showed up
at one of our
you pretty badly a few months earlier.
That was, in fact, the last time you ever fenced in competition. You
were still mad about that, and didn't blame you, but thought you
took it a bit too far when you doctored the punch test. It passed right
through his mask on the first try, and he wasn't allowed to fence. I've
meets. As
recall,
he'd beaten
never forgotten that. Chuck."
He
took the mask
was holding out
and putting
it
ball players
and away from me.
back on the
He
table.
to him, slipping
"She was pretty," he said eventually. "And
And
date.
did ask her out
not to
last night;
it
epee
off the
turned, then, toward the basket-
my
She laughed. Oh, she apologized,
thought she was
room, but
like
it
just
nice.
out on a
was an accident or
something, but she laughed, Jax."
He
fell
silent again for a time.
and waited
mask, but
420
for
I
him
looked
to continue. "Yeah,
swear to God, Jax,
didn't
at the
set
up
mean
mask I'd punctured

weak spot in her
for her to die.
just
wanted Laurie to cut her
somebody asked her
He
1
turned, now, and
had been
that
a little,
out,
maybe
leave a scar so that next time
might not seem so Rinny."
it
could see the same haunting pain
in Laurie's.
"My God,
Jax,
didn't
in his
eyes
want her dead."
didn't say anything to that.
His eyes flicked to the mask and then back to me. "What are you
going to do?"
I
sighed.
mind:
his
was
What
could do? That campus cop had already made up

was an accident, and not even the doctored punch test
it
likely to
convince him otherwise.
wouldn't be able to prove that
Chuck had actually used it on Janet's mask. Besides, believed him

when he said it was an accident. If Laurie's blade hadn't broken, Janet
I
would probably
still
be
So, "I'm not going to
upon
my
alive.
do anything,"
make
tongue, "except to
said,
the words a bitter weight
sure that
you never touch another
piece of fencing gear. Ever."
He
nodded, but
could see resentment shining out beneath his
relief.
"And one more
thing,"
added.
"Yeah?"
I
thought about Janet, and the way she'd collapsed on the
thought about Laurie, and

if
how
she ever did. Mostly, though,
would carry with me
for the rest
strip.
would be before she recovered,

thought about myself, and the pain
of my life. Everyone had liked Janet,
long
it
myself included.
And
then
down, but
hit
him, as hard as
could.
He
cried out and
was already walking away, heading back to
went
my room
to
pack.
The Rosary
Michael A. Black
crunched under the sole of Doyle's shoe. He stopped to pick it up.
bead. Dark colored. Almost black, with a hole through the center,
as if it had been strung on some kind of necklace. But it was wood. As
It
he rolled
it
in his
hand
it
seemed out of
place, but at the
same time
421
strangely
familiar.
scanned the
floor.
Like something out of his past. Doyle's eyes

There was another bead. And another, leading like
Doyle knelt and saw the
a trail to the buffet near the front hall.
tan-
gled heap of the remaining beads, the string, and the crucifix.
"Hand me an evidence
bag," he said.
"I
think
found something."
I've
Doyle used a pen to extricate the rosary from under the furniture.
Then he bagged it and scribbled the crime report number on the seal.
"Find something, Jim?" asked his partner, Roger McKay, coming
into the room.
Doyle
"Yeah,"
said,
holding up the bag.
"A rosary?" said McKay, his brows furrowing. "What do you make
of
it?"
Doyle shook
know."
his head. "Don't
'They're ready to take out the body," said
and grinning. "You got anything

"Huh-un." He put the bag in
It
had been an exceptionally
McKay, holding
his pocket.
brutal crime,
made more heinous by
the obvious defenselessness of the victim. Margaret

in
her mid-seventies.
Now
his nose
else?"
S.
Page had been
semi-invalid, partially crippled
by
a stroke.
she lay half folded around the base of the stairway in a
fetal
position. The crime scene photographer snapped another picture,
then looked
at
McKay, who nodded. Two men moved forward with
the stretcher.
me
more facial shot before you cover her," the photographer said. He was breathing through his mouth because of the
smell. The dress that Margaret Page had put on now barely contained
"Let
get one
her swollen body.
'The person that did

"Nuts too," said
this
McKay,
was
a real sociopath," said Doyle.
trying to break the grim pressure. But from
the intensity in his partner's eyes, he

fallen
flat.
back and
"I
He
The
talk to
some
one
attempt
of the neighbors
canvass proved negative.
woman who seldom
had
"Let's go
at levity
said,
up."
No
suspicious or out of the ordinary.

quiet
his
placed a hand on Doyle's shoulder and
start writing this
want to
knew
first,"
said Doyle.
one had seen or heard anything
They
all
described Mrs. Page as a
ventured out since her husband died a few
nephew and his

Most
communion.
wife, and the priest who came weekly to bring her
over
week
she'd
been
dead
for
a
of the neighbors expressed shock that
without them knowing it, but she was not frequently seen around the
years ago.
Her only
neighborhood.
422
regular visitors were her devoted
"I
Aunt Peggy
can't believe that
is
Ed Roberts covered
dead."
His wife inhaled on her cigarette,
eyes briefly.
then
his
patted his
shoulder.
McKay. "Was your aunt
"Mr. Roberts," said
in the habit of talking
to strangers?"
Roberts raised his eyebrows quizzically, then accepted a cigarette
He
from his wife.

"1
lit
before answering.
it
don't know," he said, fingering his nose.
Then added,
don't
"I
think so."
know how
"You
old people are," said Paula Roberts. "Sometimes
they're too trusting."
Ed scratched
some stranger?"
"It
his head. "Is that
appears that she
the offender
let
He moved
signs of forced entry."
what you think? That she
armchair as he spoke.
The
but looked as though
it
in,"
said Doyle. "There
uncomfortably
furniture
fit
the house
in
let
in
were no
the chintz-covered
upscale suburban
had been bought wholesale from
a decorator,
without any eye for taste or comfort.
"Dead
dered
"It
is
bad enough," said Ed, shaking
"But
mur-
wasn't a very pleasant note to return from our vacation to
this," said Paula,
blowing
bracketed by hard
Ed put
in
head.
his
."
.
his
cloud of smoke
at
all
Doyle. Her mouth was
lines.
hands over
his face
and Paula snubbed out
his cigarette
the ashtray.
"Is
any more of
somewhat
He was
band?
"We
realize
some
'Then
"It's all
with.
how
part-time
stare of her green eyes.
difficult this is," said
on the
find out
who
did
it
it
is.
again.
to
is
who
did
"We were
They looked
McKay.
and quit badgering
I'm a special
baliff's identification
out
this
nasal
and
my
hus-
protective.
"But we're trying to
investigation."
right," said Ed. "I'd rather talk to
know how
will find
down
leads
you see how upsetting
very close to his aunt."
Doyle caught the

Almost feral.
get
Her voice was
this necessary?" she asked.
bellicose. "Can't
this,
all
us,"
deputy myself."
and showed
she said.
them now and get

it
He
it
over
pulled out a
to the detectives. "You
won't you? You see," he started to break

she had."
423
They devoted the next day to the case, completing

The only one lacking was Mrs. Page's priest,
interviews.
van.
He was
in Ireland
on
and
reports
Father Sulli-
his annual vacation.
The Medical Examiner discovered
had been
Quick
and neat. However, there was also evidence that the victim had been
tortured before she died. Numerous bruises were found on her face
and body. The fingers on her left hand had been bent backwards,
fracturing the bones. The body had lain in the house for approximately a week. The more brutal aspects of the crime were not released
killed
by
9mm
bullet that
had entered
that Margaret Page

at
the base of her
skull.
to the press.
When
the Robertses returned from their vacation and were unable
by phone, the police were called. The responding

door and found the old woman's body in the
hallway. The house had been ransacked. An apparent burglary/home
invasion. Only small items, jewelry, and cash appeared to have been
to reach the victim
officer forced the front
taken. But without any solid leads the investigation slowed to a stand-
Other urgent work crowded Doyle and McKay's schedule two

drunk who might have been murdered, a drive-by shooting in
which a young teenager had been shot. But the Page case seemed to
gnaw at them because of its brutality and senselessness.
still.
rapes, a
The
first
real
break came almost by accident. Doyle sat
mulling over the
fice
file.
McKay was
in
the of-
He
who now worked in
going through his messages.
found one from Frank Morrison, a retired copper
security as an investigator for a large metropolitan bank.
"Hey, Frank,"
"How's
it
McKay
said,
glad to reach him on the
first
ring.
going?"
you called. You're working on that homicide of

on the south side, right?"
"Roger, I'm glad

that old lady
"Right."
"Well,
got something that might interest you," Morrison
said.
"I
got notified about a week ago that they'd pinched a junkie for shoplifting
so
and he had one of our cards on him.
didn't think
much about
it.
Then this morning

read about
whose card this fucker had?"
I
McKay
"Margaret Page?"
It
wasn't reported stolen
Wasn't able to contact the owner.

the murder in the papers. Guess
asked, the excitement creeping into his
voice.
Doyle looked up.

'Trank,
424
where
is
He
this
stared at
guy now?"
McKay, who nodded.
McKay
said.
He
looked
"So
like a sick
McKay
runny nose.
tell us,
monkey on
gave him
Jesus,"
McKay
lighter.
card?"
his
head cocked,
in
me?"
for
it
detectives looked at each other.
gotta know," Jesus said. "What's in
"Listen, asshole,"
Doyle
County Lockup for

woman's charge card
got
"How'd you get the
said.
hoarse whisper.
"What's
"1
and held the
him through the haze,
Jesus Garcia looked up at

his voice a
The
fidgeting, shivering,
string:
a cigarette
a
in
for
it
me?"
been
said, leaning forward. "You've
week. You were arrested with
your possession. You're gonna
tell
us
in the
murdered
how you
it."
"Then we
"Maybe
McKay.
good enough," Jesus
talk deals," said
that ain't
said.
He
took
long drag on
the cigarette.
"If it ain't,"
said
McKay, "we can up
the charge from
retail theft to
suspicion of murder.
The
cupped
banter went back and forth,
hands around
his
Garcia leaned forward and
finally,
He had no more
his face.
Sensing
cigarettes.
had worn him down, Doyle leaned forward.

"You want to tell us your side of it?"
that they
"Okay, okay," Jesus
McKay
said. "It
and Doyle glanced
was Herman."
at
each other, then quickly looked back
in
the joint. Cellmates. Both from Chi-
to Garcia.
"Herman
Brinx.
met him
We
exchanged numbers, you know. Then, a couple of weeks

ago he calls me up. Says he got something going. An easy job." Jesus
looked up at both of them and accepted a new cigarette from McKay.
"1 don't do no heavy stuff.
Just shoplifting, auto theft, a couple of
cago.
burglaries
what
that's
my record."
McKay nodded
thought
this
was gonna
be.
You can
check
reassuringly.
'Then when we get
in there's this
her in a closet or something, but
old lady.
thought we'd
Herman ... he goes
just put
on her.
by one, asking her where her
stash is." He lowered his eyes and shook his head. "I ain't never been
in on something like that before.
keep telling him to hurry up. Let's
get outta here,
say, but he just laughs and says to be cool.
mean,
off
Really bad. Breaking her fingers, one
he's like an iceberg, he's so cool
right there. Tells
me
to
about
it.
go mess the place
Then he ojfs the old bitch

up. To take small stuff like
cash and jewelry. Nothing big. Nothing that can be traced. But
the card, figuring
could maybe score something with
it
before
took
it
got
425
He
reported stolen."
shrugged
his
narrow shoulders. "But then
busted on this two-bit shit and got the fucking card
McKay
above
offered
him another
his ear, then quickly
cigarette.
He
in
my
get
pocket."
took one and put
grabbed another one and grinned.
it
He had
very bad teeth.
"How'd you get
Doyle asked.
on his square. "That's the weird thing."
Residual smoke lingered around his mouth as he spoke. "She let us
right in. Herman made me dress up like a priest."
The
in?"
inhaled deeply
Jesus
address that Brinx's parole officer gave
them was Herman's
An old, dilapidated, wooden structure on the south

side. No, Herman wasn't there, she told them. Nor did she care where
he was. They left the bitter old woman and went to the second admother's house.
dress that they'd gotten from running the
had given them.

Uptown.
It
came back
to a
phone number
pay phone
that Jesus
in a transient
hotel in
They radioed for two uniforms to meet them at the hotel. Doyle
showed them Herman's mug shot. It was easy to picture him as the
shooter. The smug expression, the blank eyes. Killer's eyes.
"He's served time for offenses ranging from auto theft to
armed
robbery," Doyle said. "He's probably armed."

"Just recently arrested for
out of County
Jail
attempted break-in," added McKay. "Got
on an I-Bond."
"They give those fucking things out to anybody nowadays, don't

they?" one of the uniformed patrolmen said with a grin.
His partner, an older veteran smirked. "The
jail's
so fucking over-
crowded they got to. They got that fucking federal judge telling them
he don't want no poor inmates sleeping on the floor."
They paired off and McKay and the older uniform went into the
hotel. Once it had been a well-kept building. But after several years
on the downslide, it had slipped into a state of disrepair and neglect.
Dollops of paint hung from the ceiling in the lobby. McKay showed
the mugshot to an ancient, bleary-eyed deskclerk. He gave them the
pass-key to room 304.
They headed upstairs, The halls reeked of vomit, booze, and urine.
Standing on either side of the door, McKay slipped the key into the
lock and turned it slowly. The knob turned, but the door held fast.
Double locked.
"Who
is
it?"
"Police," said
a voice called
from inside the room.
McKay. "Open
up."
He
signaled the uniform that he
was going to kick the door. Suddenly two shots pierced the
426
anti-
McKay flattened against the wall, hoping

He waited, looked at the other copper,
quated wood.
than the door.
home,
his foot
it
was
sturdier
then slammed
below the doorknob. The door flew open, bounc-
just
ing against the wall. Surveying the room, one aiming high, one low.
No
movement, except
window. They heard

"Jim,"
the
McKay
escape."
fire
the room.
for curtains that drifted
a clattering
said into his radio. "He's
Then
McKay
inward from an open
sound.
armed and coming down
uniformed copper, "Stay here and
to the
dashed down the
seal
hall to the stairs.
Doyle and the other uniform had been waiting at the mouth of the
They heard the sound of shoes striking the metal stairs. Doyle
saw that Brinx was already jumping from the metallic scaffold to the
ground. The big automatic in Herman's hand exploded twice, and
Doyle hit the alley floor, calling out a warning to his uniformed partalley.
ner.
Herman turned
to run
and the two
officers rose, starting
on
cautious foot chase. Another shot. Doyle threw himself behind a
dumpster, leveled his .38 Chief's Special, and squeezed off a round.
The young uniformed copper
ran past him.
Doyle followed.
Brinx ran across the street. Doyle had a chance to get a clear shot,
many
it. They headed down the

two more rounds. People screamed and
cover. The uniformed cop crouched behind a parked car and
but there were too
block, Brinx pausing to
ran for
returned
pedestrians to risk
fire
off
fire.
"Watch out
for civilians," yelled Doyle.
Herman rounded
the corner. Doyle got there seconds later to see
Brinx at mid-block, disappearing into a perpendicular alley. Jogging
behind, Doyle got to the
ploded over
muzzle
mouth
flash,
of the alley. Particles of brick ex-
from
his head, inches
his face.
Doyle
fired
twice at the
then quickly dived to a big metal dumpster. Lying
arms extended, Doyle suddenly had Herman framed

detective squeezed off three
in his sights.
more rounds, seeing Herman
flat,
The
jerk with
each one. Then, after a stutter-step, Brix curled forward, dropping to

the ground.
The uniformed copper was

moved forward to check
at his
they
away from Herman's limp

was empty.
let
When
had entered
"Well," the
shoulder.
the body.
fingers
With guns outstretched,

Doyle swept the 9mm
When
he realized that his Chief's Special
they flipped Brinx over, they saw that Doyle's bul-
just
under the
young copper
killer's left
eye.
said. "At least
we won't have
to
worry
about the fucker getting another I-Bond."
427
Doyle fingered the
room
as
he
"Jim," said
and
fee
be
they had recovered from Brinx's
priest's collar
sat at his desk.
McKay, entering the room carrying

"What the fuck you doing here?
a donut.
off for three days
at
paper cup of cof-
You're supposed to
because of the shooting."
Doyle's lips compressed into a thin
"You slept
line.
He
asked McKay.
all?"
sat
down
at his
desk and
leaned forward.
Doyle shook
his head.
"Go home and
some
get
rest.
finish
I'll
up the paperwork."
Doyle said, handing him a copy

form from the County Jail and holding up the
"There's something missing, Rog,"

of Brinx's I-Bond release
clerical collar.
"I
already seen
it,"
McKay
said. "So?"
Doyle turned and looked up
number.
"I'm
going to see
if
Father
Sullivan got back yet."
"Yes, detective,
was
in
the practice of going there every week."
There was an almost triple-tonguing effect to his Irish accent. "But

the past few weeks I've been out of the country."
"Yes, Father,
know. But what
need to know
is if
for
another priest
could have visited her?"

"Well, as devout as
poor old Mrs. Page was,
wouldn't want to miss her communion.
arranged for Father Lopez to substitute for me.
handyman with him
bring the parish
told her
knew she surely

nephew that I'd
He was
to see about
supposed to
some chores
for
her."
"Did Father Lopez see her?"
"When
"A
asked him, he said he got a
call?" said
They
stood
at
cancelling the
visit."
Doyle. "Could you explain that Father?"
room
sat in the interview
the
call
far wall.
McKay
at District
sat across
Headquarters. Doyle
from
her, his
came
to the
arms rested on
the top of his chair.
"So you see, Mrs. Roberts, the
killers
door masquerad-
ing as a priest and a handyman," said Doyle.
"A
priest?"
she
said.
"Father Sullivan
McKay
slid his chair closer.
went there every week to bring her communion."
"Since she wasn't able to get to church," added Doyle.
"So what does that have to do with anything?" she asked.

"Father Sullivan's been in Ireland recently," said Doyle.
428
"To
McKay.
visit a relative," said
"But he
made arrangements
for
another priest to substitute for him."

deference to Margret," Doyle said. "Because she was such a
"In
special lady."
Her head
twisted back and forth as the two partners continued
their consecutive statements.
Lopez received
"But Father
Mrs. Page was
"A
call
from
he pulled
rette,
a call cancelling the visit the
day before
Doyle.
killed," said
woman," added McKay. Then, lighting up

and said, "You might as well
a ciga-
his chair closer
tell us,
Paula."
"You see," said Doyle from across the room. "We've already picked
up Ed. From work. He admitted arranging the Individual Recognizance Bond for Brinx when he was working at the jail."
McKay
waited for a second, gauging her reaction, then
said, "He's
already spilled his guts." Staring directly into her eyes, he added,
'Told us that
was
it
all
your
"You badgered him into
same
idea."
it,"
said Doyle.
She glared
at
him with the
look that he'd noticed before.
feral
'That asshole never could keep his fucking mouth shut," she spat.
"So
forced him into
much forced
The corner
I
huh?
it,
Gimme
that son of a bitch to

of
a cigarette and
do anything."
McKay's mouth twisted
I'll
tell
you how
into a slight, almost im-
perceptible grin as he glanced at his partner.
Doyle stood before the mirror and rinsed
his face.
could cleanse himself of the sins he'd witnessed
wash the
city grime
from
his face. Lately
He
wished he
as easily as
he could
even the grim seemed harder
And the memories, too. The memories of this case bothMore than he felt they should. But why? The actual trigger
man was dead. And those that had hired him, the poor victim's family,
to remove.
ered him.
had been charged. They'd probably plead to a lesser charge, but

least they'd be brought before the court. There was some justice
at
in
that, wasn't there?
Justice.
had seemed so
It
clear
and exact to him when he'd gradu-
ated from the Academy. Right and wrong, indelible in black and
white.
Roberts
He wondered
.
if
the law had ever
seemed so exalted
Ed
to
before he'd used his part-time deputy status to recruit a
killer to collect
an early inheritance.
Maybe nothing
existed in black
and white anymore. Everything,
even the most sacred of values, eventually was compromised into

varying shades of gray.
The dripping
face in the mirror stared
back
at
429
him. He'd glimpsed so

lurks
many
times into the primordial essence that
Was
beneath the thin veneer of society.
Margaret Pages of
this
Slowly he dried
off,
world?
No
there no mercy for the
solace?
He
then went into his bedroom.
found
it
in
the top drawer along with a discarded watch from his long ago graduation, his forgotten military medals,
Doyle grasped
it
and
in the semi-darkness.
"Our
father
down on the
Then he began:
sat
and
his old patrolman's shield.
bed.
He
felt for
the large bead
."
.
Safety Deposit
by
B. B. Fowler
Ace Davis, the detective, stopped under the street lamp on the corner
and stared at the screaming headlines of the paper the newsboy thrust
before him. They were scare headlines, big and black across the head
of the page.
BIG
TOM ARNOLD MURDERED
Mechanically he handed the boy

trailed
lines.
down
Big
Tom
The hard
whistle and
as
if
a coin
Arnold found shot
lips of
little
and read the type that
Not much beyond
the page to give the details.
the head-
in his office. Just that.
the headquarters dick puckered into a soundless
lights
danced
in his
black eyes.
he had suddenly thought of something.
second ago under the
street lamp.
Now
Then he looked up
He had
been alone,
there were three
men
with
him, one on each side, another one behind him.
One
at
of
them was
in a
big polo coat with wide pockets.
Davis and his eyes were blandly speculative. His
lustrous white.
bulged.
coat,
The
He had one hand
other hand was bandaged, and stuck
which had one button unfastened
The
fellow on the other side
in
He
face
looked
was
pocket that
the front of the
to act as a sling.
wore a Harris tweed ulster. He had a

a hooked nose. He was very cool,
peaked face with shiny eyes and
430
pushed down into
fat
just as
if
he had stopped casually to look
He stared unsmilingly
"Funny how many guys get it
shoulder.
at the
paper over Ace's
at the headlines.
that way," he said in a conversational
tone.
Ace
show by a muscle of his face that

damn funny. But it does happen."
didn't
him. "Yeah,
The man
it
meant anything to
the polo coat said:
in
"You'd be surprised.
We'd
like to
go up
to
your apartment with you,
Ace."
Ace
agreed.
The
felt
"I
the hard pressure in his side. 'That
was
four of
would be
them
started walking
down
the street, not too
walking along, three of them abreast, the other
just
nice,"
he
going up anyway."
just
fast
man coming along
made no attempt to see it. It

what the gunman looked like, anyway.
The elevator boy glanced at them as they rode up. Polo Coat made
conversation. "Funny, us running into you right on the corner that
way. We'd been looking all over for you. Haven't seen you since hurt
behind. Ace hadn't seen his face, and
didn't matter
my
hand. Ace.
What have you been doing
with yourself
lately?"
Ace grinned. "You'd laugh if you knew. He winked at the elevator

No use making a holler. That would only get the kid a busted
'
boy.
head.
Outside the apartment they stopped while Ace unlocked the door.
Polo Coat went
whose
face
in
first.
Ace hadn't
"Stay outside.
We
Then Polo Coat

Ace brushed
He
halted in the
doorway and
said to the
man
seen:
wouldn't want to be disturbed."
jerked his head for
against
him
as
Ace
to
go
in.
he went by. The man swore thickly.
"Jeeze, look out for that arm!"
There were little beads of sweat on his forehead and the white
was more lustrous than ever. Ace grinned crookedly. He walked
face
into
the apartment and dropped into a chair and stared up at Polo Coat.
"So what?" he asked.
The peak-faced man
in the Harris tweed walked over and struck

Ace left and right hard.
Ace looked at him impassively, his dark face darker,- especially at
the corner of his mouth where a trickle of blood ran down. Polo Coat
sat down on the divan, nursing the bum arm. He looked at Ace with
eyes that were coldly blank.
"Come
We know you were working to get the dope on

We know that Big Tom had all today. We know now
clean, dick.
the big-shot.
that he got jittery before he got
it
bopped and gave
it
to
you
to
hand
431
on
DA.
to the
come up
for
TTiat envelope will burn the big-shot.

this
it
Ace
"Nice,"
way, wasn't
Nice of us to
it?"
He
said tonelessly.
when
hardly seemed to notice
Peaked-Face was taking his gun away from him.
"Not so nice
Ace shook
got
it.
if
got rid of
you get
nasty," Peaked-Face said flatly.
on a bum steer. haven't

Think I'm sap enough to carry
his head. "Sorry, boys. You're
quite awhile ago.
it
that dynamite around with me?"

"I
Go
you were," Polo Coat
think
on
give
said.
Peaked-Face hit Ace twice more, a
one hand
in his
that thunked
muddy
"I
think you're a hell of a sap.
to him!"
it
on Ace's
ribs.
when
harder. Peaked-Face put
little
came out he had a blackjack

The dark face twisted and was turning a
pocket, and then
it
color.
Polo Coat stopped the battering. "Hell,
we
didn't
come here
just to
enjoy ourselves. Frisk him and get that envelope."

TTiey laid Ace out on the floor and went through every pocket.
Peaked-Face yanked
fully.
He
his pant legs to see
"He
it.
got
ain't
he picked
What
off the coat
along Ace's
felt
it!"
if
legs.
and vest and went over them care-
He
pulled off his shoes.
said Peaked-Face.
up from Big Tom. And he
it
the hell do
He
rolled
anything were snapped underneath the
up
garters.
"And he ain't been home since

ain't had a chance to get rid of
we do now?" he swore.
Work him
Polo Coat got up. "Stay with him.
over some more
when
he comes to. I'm going to see Lantz. We've got to have that envelope.
They've got the big-shot down at headquarters now. That envelope
will burn him
and us." He walked out, closing the door softly.
Peaked-Face rolled Ace over on his
were
far out.
kicked him
face.
He
rolled heavily as
if
he
down at him. He
detached viciousness. Then something
Peaked-Face got to his feet and stared
in
the ribs with a
happened that Peaked-Face hadn't figured on.

Ace caught the foot and jerked. Peaked-Face came down on top of
him with one hand diving into his pocket for a gun. The hand stayed
there. Ace's fist crashed on the narrow chin and Peaked-Face rolled
over and out. Ace yanked the hand out of the pocket and took the
gun. He reached in the other pocket and got the blackjack.
He walked over to the door shaking his head. He opened the door
and whispered hoarsely:
"Here
it
is!"
head came around the corner and Ace slapped down with the
blackjack. He carried the lookout in and threw him on the bed,
432
snapped
around
a cuff
his wrist.
He
stuck the other cuff through the
bed and snapped it on Peaked-Face.

"Try and get out of that," he said.
He shook his head vigorously as he stuck his feet into his shoes
and shrugged into his coat. He raced down the stairs and went
through the lobby on the run. He went out and stared up the street.
Polo Coat stood out in the light a block away. He was looking for
bars at the foot of the
was none
a cab, but there
in sight.
That was
Polo Coat got to the corner and glanced
jammed
way. Something
were you,
"I'd
freeze
He
looked around
neath his
if
bum
"Where
into his back
arm.
in hell
as
he
and Ace's voice
felt
that envelope?"
in Ace's
hand.
he asked.
eyes once more. "In your pocket, sap.
little
1
lights
slipped
were dancing
it
pushed past you into the apartment. Nice of me, wasn't

"Nice," Polo
Coat grunted.
ing toward Ace.
and sunk into
He
looked
a corner,
his
said:
something twitch the pocket under-
an envelope
Ace's battered face was impassive. But the

in his
break for Ace.
two cops coming
rat."
He saw
was
a
at
He
looked
at the cops,
at the taxicab
there
when
it?"
who were
hurry-
he had summoned, got
in,
nursing his arm. In the light from the street
lamps the lustrous white face was wet and glistening.
The Seventieth Number

Stephen Dentinger
Gordan Kahn did not set out to kill someone every day, and so this
particular Wednesday was special in his life. He dressed carefully,
making certain that the conservative striped tie was positioned just
right, taking an extra few moments to polish his shoes.
He was meeting Dennis Marret for a drink in a private room at the
College Club, supposedly to discuss the possibility of a settlement.
But he already
knew
there was no chance of a
Marret had robbed too
work away
Now
for a
many men
few thousand
Dennis Marret must
Gordon Kahn took
like
dollars.
fair
settlement. Dennis
Gordon Kahn, taken their life's

The time for talking had ended.
die.
subway
to
42nd
Street
and then walked the

433
two blocks
to the College Club.
even glance up
as
The woman
at the front
desk didn't
he entered. She was used to luncheon guests and
business appointments held in the club's private dining rooms.
only the waiter to contend with, and that wouldn't be
He had
difficult.
padded armchair and greeted Kahn

to see you again! Glad we could
meet here like this. Gets me away from the office for a few hours. I
have a room reserved. Do you want lunch?"
Dennis Marret rose from
with
broad smile. "Well,
Gordon cleared
much time."
He
his
well!
his throat.
Good
"No, just a drink,
think.
don't have
followed Marret into an elegantly furnished private
which could
easily
room
have held twelve people for dinner. The walls were
decorated with elaborately spacious campus scenes, and the two
men
seemed lost along the sides of the big table, facing each other like
opponents in some ritualized chess match.
Marret touched the service bell and almost immediately an elderly
waiter appeared to take their order. Kahn managed to blow his nose
and turn his head at that moment, so the waiter could not see his face.
He mumbled an order for a Scotch and water through the folds of his
handkerchief, and held it in place until the waiter had left.
"Well," Marret said again. Gordon Kahn remembered that word
from the first time he'd ever met him, in the plush presidential offices
of Marret Enterprises, Inc. "You asked for this meeting. Just what did
you have in mind, Gordon?"
Kahn cleared his throat. It was a nervous habit that dated from his
youth, and he'd never quite got over it. "About the transducer.
thought we might come to terms." He produced a little notebook and
a ballpoint pen from his pocket, and carefully placed them on the
table in front of him. The notebook was blank except for a single
number he'd written on the first page months earlier.
'Terms, terms! Gordon, you don't seem to understand. That's all
settled and done with. The transducer is now the property of Marret
Enterprises. You were paid for it
a perfectly fair and aboveboard
I
transaction."
"1
received a payment of three thousand dollars with a promise of
royalties for as long as

I
also received
with the proviso that
employ. Six months
my
remained an employee of Marret Enterprises.
one thousand shares of stock

it
in the corporation, again
reverted to the corporation
later
you
fired
me.
when
left
your
ended up with nothing
for
invention but the original three thousand."
"Gordon," Marret said with an exasperated sigh, "these are the ways
of the business world.
434
had
to let
you go because we're cutting back
along the
all
You were our employee, so the transducer belongs

among corporations everywhere, and
line.
to us. That's standard practice
the courts have upheld
it."
"The transducer was developed on
my own
time, before
joined
Marret Enterprises."
"You would have a
took certain
difficult
risks in
time proving that
development.
its
We
in court. Besides,
invested a
good
we
deal of
money."
The
waiter returned with their drinks, and again
Kahn covered
his
seem to have a bit of a cold," he mumbled. As the waiter shut the door behind him, Kahn returned the
handkerchief to his pocket. "You were saying?"
face with his handkerchief.
"I
was saying you were damned lucky to have gotten what you
"I
did,"
Marret told him, his patience obviously wearing
thin.
"Three thousand for an invention worth millions?"
Marret shrugged. "Or worth nothing. You had no money to develop and produce
"How many
it.
did."
you cheated
others have
like this?"
Kahn
asked.
"Others?"
"We should
out of their
really start a club.
life's
People cheated by Dennis Marret
work."
Marret sipped his drink and then waved

have nothing more to
talk about,
hand
in dismissal.
"We
my
even
Kahn. There's no point
in
civil to you any longer."

Gordon Kahn slipped the pen back into his pocket. When his
hand reappeared it held a .22 caliber automatic.
"What in hell put that gun down, you fool!"
"Do get a fair payment for my invention, Mr. Marret?"
Marret's hand reached for the service bell. Kahn's hand went
being
quickly across the table until the gun was only inches from Marret's
head.
left
When
temple.
Marret kept reaching, Kahn shot him once through the
Kahn coughed loudly
on coughing
for a
to help cover the sound,
and kept
few seconds afterward.
Dennis Marret slumped

blood widening into
in
a stain
death across the table, a thin trickle of
on the white
cloth.
Kahn held
his breath
anyone would come running, but the sound of the little .22
had not passed through the massive oak door. He glanced around the
room, seeking anything he might have touched, but his fingers had
carefully avoided the glass of Scotch and water, and the gun was now
to see
safely
if
back
For a
in his pocket.
moment he
considered cutting the cord of the service
but then decided against
it.
bell,
Marret wouldn't be ringing for help any
435
more.
He
up his open notebook next to the glass when

on the door. He froze.
he managed to say, quite loudly. He stepped quickly to the
started to pick
there was a tapping

"Yes?"
door to prevent
'Telephone
"He
can't
its
opening.
Mr. Marret,"
call for
a voice
be disturbed now. Take
announced.
a message."
"Yes, sir."
Kahn cursed
silently
and opened the door
receding back of the old waiter.
The hallway was
clear
He
a crack,
watching the
couldn't stay there any longer.
and he stepped into
it,
closing the door behind
him.
Marret had told his
Kahn
apartment
him
office
where he was, and that was one thing

phoned Marret's New York
hadn't figured on. He'd purposely

last
evening to arrange the meeting, rather than contacting
where an
at the office
Kahn's name
efficient secretary
and there was no one
Florida,
else
might have recorded
He knew
Marret's wife was in
he would be
likely to tell of the
an appointment book.
in
meeting.
But of course Marret had called his office and told them where he'd
Had
be.
he mentioned Kahn's name? That was something Kahn had
to find out
at once.
and sought out

fice
and asked
"Ah
ret at the
he's
on
The
his
paused
in
the downstairs lobby of the club
Then he
a pay telephone.
quickly dialed Marret's of-
for his secretary.
this
is
Mr. Rogers.
was supposed
to
meet Dennis MarDo you know if
College Club, but he hasn't shown up yet.
way?"
girl's
Rogers.
He
voice was puzzled as she replied. "He's there now, Mr.
phone him and they said he couldn't be dishad another appointment first at the same club. He
me who he was meeting."
just tried to
turbed. Perhaps he
didn't
tell
"Well,
him.
I'll
wait a bit longer, then,"
He hung
not
up and
left
Kahn
said, relief
the booth, feeling good.
No
flooding over
name, no clue
him with the killing. His revenge had

one of his inventions.
And then he remembered his notebook on the table.
That damned waiter had interrupted him as he was about to pick it
up. He'd left so quickly he'd forgotten it till now. There was no danger of fingerprints on the notebook's pebbled cover, and he hadn't
touched the pages at all but there was that damned number he'd
scrawled on the first page months before. That number could send
him to prison for the rest of his life.
He headed back upstairs toward the private dining room. There
436
a single thing to link
been carried out
as skillfully as
was no choice but to
retrieve the
notebook before someone
else
found
it.
But as he turned down the hallway he saw the elderly waiter just
opening the door. The waiter was holding a slip of paper in his hand
the phone message from Marret's secretary. No one had answered
knock and now he was going in.

hit him from behind, slamming his head against the oak
door, but he was an instant too late. A scream sprang from the waiter's
lips as he saw Marret's body.
Kahn tried to push him aside, but the man's frail body remained
jammed in the doorway. His forehead was bleeding but he still kept
screaming. Finally, hearing the sound of running footsteps, Kahn
scrambled across the hallway and out through a fire door.
The fire stairs led directly to the street, and he hurried until he was
his
Kahn
outside mingling with the afternoon crowd. He'd gotten away, but
just barely.
He knew the waiter hadn't seen his face, and no one in the lobby
had noticed him. The secretary back at Marret Enterprises didn't
know his real name, and he'd left no fingerprints. He'd gotten away
with it except for that notebook with its damned number written on
the
page.
first
He
could only hope
now
that the police
would
fail
to discover
its
significance.
The
came
case
to Lieutenant Burns of
Homicide
the sort of case he could easily have done without.
East,
and
it
was
The murder
of
some bum or pusher was one thing, but the murder of Dennis Marret
in a private dining room at the swank College Club was something
else again.
time in his
The story hit

Bums had
life
the front page of The Times, and for the

a personal call
from City Hall inquiring
first
as to
his progress.
That progress, 24 hours
after the
murder, was just about
nil.
Only
the waiter's prints were found on the Scotch glass, and there were no
on the notebook. The
prints at
all
half the
men
when
in
New
she told of only one phone
who had
waiter's
meager description could
fit
York, and Marret's secretary dissolved into tears

call
from
a mysterious
Mr. Rogers
never called before.
"Nothing," Burns said, speaking mostly to himself, but including

the other detectives in the squadroom. "Frost, have
enemies
who had
you found any
a motive?"
"Hundreds, Lieutenant." Sergeant Frost flipped open his notebook.

"Marret might have been a hero on the financial pages, but
in business
437
dealings he was a villain. His favorite trick seems to have been finding
with promising inventions and persuading them to join the
scientists
Marret got them to assign their patents to his company
firm.
change
for a cash
few months he'd

left
payment, some stock, and
fire
out in the cold,
in ex-
a lot of promises. After a
them and get back the stock. The inventors were

with maybe a few grand if they were lucky."
"A good enough motive
for murder,
Burns agreed. "Let's take a
"
closer look at these guys."

'That's the trouble. Lieutenant.
ret pulled the
same stunt on
There are too many of them! Mar-
thirty, forty
people over the years. There
are a
dozen lawsuits pending against him
prises
was big business, and bad
right
now. Marret Enter-
business."
Burns began tapping his pencil against the edge of the desk. "What
else?"
"The usual business enemies, and
who
couple of disgruntled husbands
claim he was fooling around with their wives."
"How'd he have time?" Burns asked. Then, to another of the de"You've checked all the employees of the College Club,
tectives,
Riggs?"
Nobody saw
stared down at the
"Every one.
a thing except the old waiter."
Burns
murderer's notebook on the desk before
him. "That brings us back to the number. 5560894.

it
What
in hell
does
mean?"
"Does
have to mean anything. Lieutenant?"
it
Burns went on tapping his pencil. "According to the waiter's
mony, the
in the
room.
since he'd
ceptional
Why?
left
It
could only have been to retrieve
nothing else
^you
in
the room.
can buy them for
that leaves us with the number.
bring the
"But
killer
testi-
returned and hit him from behind, trying to get back
killer
back
what does
it
after
this
The notebook
a dollar in
notebook,
itself is
any stationery
unex-
store.
The number was important enough
So
to
it."
mean?"
Burns walked to a blackboard they kept at one end of the squad-
room
for
diagraming the scene of
a crime.
He
brushed away some
chalk dust and wrote the number, very large, in the center of the
board.
5560894.
"Seven
digits.
digits. Let's list
He
some
sort of identification
continued writing, and after a
the board:
438
It's
number with seven
the obvious possibilities."
moment stepped back
to look at
number
1.
Social Security
2.
Telephone number
3.
Army
4.
Credit card number
5.
Membership number
serial
number
with these," he suggested. "Any comments?"
"Let's start
Frost shifted his weight in the chair, reaching for his wallet. "Social
security
"So
ing.
numbers have nine
digits,"
he said
moment
after a
of check-
that's out."
"And Army serial numbers have eight," Riggs said.

Burns nodded and crossed out those two. "But it could be a phone
number. 556-0894. Most cities use only numbers now, and even New
York is gradually doing away with the old exchange letters."
Frost still had his wallet out, checking credit cards. "Most cards use
eight or nine digits, but
suppose
a smaller store
could use seven.
We
can check some of the more likely ones."
"And check
all
the clubs in town for membership numbers, starting
with the College Club
itself."
For the next few hours four detectives were on the phone, checking out various possibilities. Burns himself took a break only long
enough
at
to
phone
his wife
and
tell
her he'd be
late.
Then he was back
it.
By dinnertime they had nothing to show for their efforts. The ColClub numbers never exceeded five digits, and a random sampling
of a dozen department stores had turned up only one Fifth Avenue
men's shop that used a seven-digit charge number. They informed
Burns that 5560894 was unassigned at present.
Burns sipped some water from a paper cup and called across the
squadroom to Frost. "How about the phone numbers?"
lege
"Nothing
with
yet. Lieutenant.
double number
like 55.
None of
Some of
the old exchanges started off

the newer ones do
we've got
777 and 889 now, but no 556."

"Put somebody on checking out-of-town phone companies. Especially the suburbs and large cities across the country. Our killer
wanted that number back because he thought we could trace him
it. Let's show him he was right."
They came back to it in the morning, knowing that the phone
number theory hadn't worked out. In the 20 largest cities they'd found
only one 556-0894, and it was the number of a West Coast car wash.
through
"All right,"
Burns decided.
"It's
back to the blackboard."
what he'd written the previous day and
started
on
new
He
erased
list:
439
2.
Auto
Auto
1.
license
number
number
registration
3.
Laundry or dry cleaning mark
4.
Prison serial
5.
Gun
number
number
registration
"Auto license numbers usually have a
letter in
them," Frost pointed
out.
Burns rewrote the number on the blackboard. 556-0-
"All right."
894. "Suppose the
is
a letter rather than a digit.
Somebody check the Motor Vehicle

messages to other
They worked
That would do
it.
Bureau, and send out teletype
states."
day, and into the night, and by midnight Burns

was ready to give it up. There was no such license number as 556-0894 issued in New York or in any of the surrounding states. The New
all
York State Motor Vehicle Bureau used seven-digit numbers
for auto
and other forms, but the number in quesSeven-digit numbers also appeared on auto
registration, driver's license,
tion failed to
check
out.
inspection stickers in the state, but here again they drew a blank.
number
The
question hadn't yet been used that year.
in
Riggs reported on the laundry marks.
"It's
like
the private clubs
Membership numbers and laundry marks
yesterday. Lieutenant.
just
aren't that long."
By midnight they had received teletyped
Only
prison in the country.

their prisoners,
gun
registration
margin of the newspaper. 5560894.

"Betty,
what would
She eyed
sister in
this
Minnesota
He went
feeling
case
at the
in
in
the
code?
My
to his wife.
his coffee. "Zip
digits?"
number. "Couldn't you
him
that the
they could only decipher
"All right,"
it
to you?"
poured
back to the squadroom and stared
had grown
if
wrote the number
He showed
55614."
is
"What about the other two

She frowned
sleepily
number mean
indifferently as she
it
from every major
and 5560894 meant nothing to them. Likewise, the

number failed to check out. Burns went home.
morning over breakfast he
In the
replies
the largest used seven-digit numbers for
just cross those out?"

at
the blackboard.
number was the key

it.
he said to Frost and Riggs and the others.
hear the wildest ideas you can
The
to the entire
come up
with.
"I
Anything that
want to
this
num-
ber could possibly be. Start talking."

After fifteen
board.
440
The
list
numbing minutes he stepped back

was truly amazing:
to look at the
1.
2.
Lottery
code of some
sort
number
3.
Horse race winners
4.
Football signals
5.
Latitude and longitude
6.
date or time
number on currency
7. Serial
8.
Baseball lineup
9.
Magazine
"We could go on
circulation
Radio station
10.
call
like this all night,"
numbers
he decided. "Things
are out because our killer wouldn't have
number back
ber, but
if it
was
in
we can check
code.
It's
New
the
codes
like
been so anxious to get the
too long for the usual lottery num-
York State
lottery."
"They keep no record of who buys what number," Frost pointed

out.
"Horse-race winners wouldn't include a zero," someone else
"And how would
"Ham
radio stations use letters along with their numbers."
"Baseball lineups,
ing,"
Burns
would
said.
football signals point to a killer?"
that
magazine circulation
said, crossing
tell
them
out.
us? This has to be
all
nothing, a big noth-
"Currency
number what
had a reason
serial
something the
killer
let's see
down. Latitude and longitude would be
latitude, and 89 degrees, 4 minutes longitude."
He consulted the atlas in his desk. "Without north and south or east
and west indicated, it could be in four spots on the earth all of them
for writing
55 degrees, 60 minutes
near the north or south poles."
"A date or time doesn't make sense,
either," Frost
grumbled.
and rummaged around

on his desk at the other end of the room. "Can borrow your stapler,
Lieutenant?" he asked finally, coming forward to get it.
Burbank, a cop on robbery
detail,
came
in
"Sure." Burns leaned over
"Any break
"None."
in
He
and passed
it
to him.
your murder case yet?"
pointed to the number. "What does
it
mean
to you,
Burbank?"
"This
is
the Marret thing?"
He went on
stapling his papers.
about an employee payroll number or something

Enterprises
is
"Nothing
like that?
"How
Marret
a big outfit."
in
seven
digits,"
Burns mumbled.
"We checked
it
the
first
day."
"How
about the numbers of golf clubs?"

441
Burns sighed with growing
connects the
something, or the
irritation. "\t
has to be something that
with Marret. The number
killer
killer
the notebook meant
in
wouldn't have tried to get
it
back."
Burbank finished attaching the papers and returned the stapler to
maybe
Burns. "Thanks. Say,
combination, or
a safe
it's
no,
guess
not."
"Not
He
a safe combination," Burns said.
glanced
at a
pad scribbled with
out sixty-nine types of numbers
about
hit
rock bottom
"
"And no dog
license number."
checked
We've just
notes. "Actually, we've
sixty-nine dead ends.
He stopped talking and stared at the bottom

He could feel his heart beating faster as he
for the telephone. "Get me Washington," he
of the stapler in his hand.
reached across the desk

told the operator.
"I
don't
know
the number, but
want
to speak to
Gordon Kahn was humming a little tune as he opened his apartment door and stepped into the hallway. He stopped humming when
he saw the three men waiting there.
"Gordon Kahn?" the oldest of them asked. He was a ruddy-faced
man
with graying hair
"That's me.
Can
who
looked as
if
he hadn't slept
in days.
help you?"
The man
ant Burns,
flipped open his wallet and showed a badge. "I'm LieutenHomicide East. We'd like to question you about the murder
of Dennis Marret."
Kahn glanced around, looking for a way out. One of the younger
men placed a hand on his shoulder. "Well," Kahn said with a sigh, "it
took you three days to find me."
"You need not make a statement until a lawyer
know, know," Kahn said with a wave of his hand. "How'd you
me? It was the number in the notebook, wasn't it?"
The man named Burns nodded. "That, and a seven-digit number
finally noticed on the bottom of a stapler on my desk.
phoned the
Patent Office in Washington, and they told me 5560894 was the patent number on the invention you assigned to Marret Enterprises."
"I
get
442
Shroud
with a Silver Lining
by Marion Lineaweaver
Daisy Baldwin was a typical chorus
blonder, her skin whiter, her
mouth
girl,
only more
Her
so.
hair
was
her curves curvier. Under-
riper,
neath she was as tough as nails and, true to the romantic notion about
her profession, pure as the driven snow.
"Be good," her father had told her
her looks, "but don't broadcast
"Men
when
she decided to
make
use of
it."
are suckers for flattery,"
added her mother. "You can bank on
that."
Such parental advice had brought her
far
on
ning to the snow-banked entrance of a very secret
this particular evelittle
chalet in the
Adirondacks. Daisy had just skied four miles, and she was
tired.
"Where have you been?" The door was flung open by the chalet's
owner, whose unwinking black eyes, and the mustache inadequately
hiding a long razor scar made him look more like a gangster than a
sportsman.
"Oh,
I've just
been trying to
tured vaguely. "Gee!
ski
Peak Lodge tomorrow, Louis
that
"Stop kidding. There's nothing

it.
on
a hill
could hardly stand up.

if
is,
back
I'll
there,"
disgrace
you get the
wrong with the
Daisy ges-
you
at
White
car fixed."
car
and you know
You're not so dumb!"
Daisy pouted
as
they entered the
firelit,
pine-paneled room. "A
"We won't be
Daisy's
female
like to
who might
rior decoration.
and
alone.
show you off."

room was mirrored and chintzy, designed
fancy, baby.
girl
man overnight. Her reputation

The gang's coming at seven. Put on something
shouldn't be alone with a
inhabit
it,
While she insinuated
pink satin excuse for
darts in the next
to please any
but Daisy was not concerned with inteherself into a black velvet skirt
a blouse,
room. Louis was good
she could hear Louis playing

at darts,
he could throw them
almost as well as knives. Thoughtfully, Daisy completed her dressing
443
by placing
her pink satin bag a tiny mother-of-pearl-handled re-
in
volver.
"Your twenty-first birthday present,
my
dear," her father
had
said.
"You're a big girl now."
But her mother had admonished her, "Use your brains instead.
They'll keep
you out
of trouble."
Daisy was trying to use her brains. With the graceful walk that was
second nature to
a
her,
and
her job
a feature of
in
the Palace Hotel
show, she sauntered to the closet and took from her coat pocket
floor
newspaper photograph.
It
showed an assortment
of diamonds: rings, bracelets, earrings, and
a necklace of startling magnificence.
The
caption read: Wealthy
robbed at her Palace Hotel apartment. Police bajjled
Daisy
felt
socialite
that pricking
was not alone, and turned. Louis had

and was watching her as a
snake watches its prey. She was petrified for just a second, then she
asked coolly, "Do you like my dress?" She paraded before him with
one hand on her hip, the other swishing the clipping through the air.
of the scalp that told her she
come
"1
room
into the
like
it
fine,"
as quietly as a snake,
Louis said, not moving.
Daisy sank languidly down
comb
the dressing table and began to
at
in the mirror and stud"Diamonds would go fine with this dress, Louis."
He strode over to her and clasped his flexible hands tentatively
around her neck. "Pretty baby. It would be a shame if anything happened to you."
She leaned back against him and gazed up at his expressionless
ied
her golden
hair.
She stuck the clipping
it.
face in the mirror with her beautiful violet eyes. "You're wonderful,
Louis.
"It
How did you get away with

was simple."
it?"
You can get anything you want."

you meant that, you'd let me off the string." His eyelids flickered. "I want you, baby." He leaned down and rubbed his cheek
against hers. It was hard and dry, rather like snakeskin, Daisy reflected, but she didn't draw away.
"You're a brain, Louis.
"If
"You're
handsome, Louis."
"Think so?"
"1
know
so.
"
Her rosy
lips
parted in a dreamy smile. "We'd go well
together."
"You can say that again."
Gently she pushed back the sleeve of

of seven, Louis, or
"Kiss me, baby."
444
would say
it
again,
his coat. "Your
watch says ten
and then some."
"A
fluttered her long lashes demurely.
She
of jewelry from her
boy
girl likes to
wear
a piece
friend, especially in front of his gang."
Louis laughed outright.
"1
said
you weren't so dumb! Here." He
pulled a handful of rings and bracelets out of his inside pocket and
arranged them
in front of her. 'Try
one
for size
one
of the brace-
lets."
leaned over her again, but she whispered, "Listen! Don't you
He
hear something?"
them." Louis thrust the jewels back,
"It's
spectacular of the bracelets.
my
take
"I'll
except one, the most
all
cut now," he said. "For you."
Daisy had met the gang before, two nights ago
when
Now
at the Palace Hotel,
them had walked out on the party for a whole hour.

fire at a round table laden with sandwiches
three of
they sat before the
for a large supply of drinks.
and the mixings
"Have
"Relax, everybody," said their host.
a drink.
We're miles from
nowhere."
"Let's get
down
to business
first,"
muttered somebody.
"Yeah," agreed another, "excluding the ice
on baby-doll's arm."
"My
can't give
cut," said Louis shortly.
"No, but
my
to
it
girl?"
get the business over, then worry about the babe."
let's
They looked
"Any reason
strangely alike to Daisy, hard,
nervous. Louis put
evil,
the jewelry in the center of the table, then his gun, and the others
followed
suit.
Daisy helped herself to
chicken sandwich with one
hand, with the other she opened her pink satin bag and withdrew the
revolver.
"Mine too?" she asked
seriously.
burst of astonished laughter and various
got her trained, Louis!" "Can she use
comments
"But natch." Daisy tossed her golden curls.
"Why
not?" Louis leaned back in his chair,
baby. Shoot at the darts target."
resulted.
They
all
"Want
to see?"
proud of
laughed
at
her.
"Show
Then
silence that followed she heard
ning
that
an
in
bull's
eye three times.
what she wanted
My Dad
me how
says a
girl
to shoot
is,"
It
helps
men run"My Dad gave me
me
in vaudeville.
should be ready for anything
Louis interrupted. "Your old
"Oh, he
it.
man must be
Daisy assured him,
as
it
In the
to hear
answer to her shots, and she said quickly,
and he taught
act.
skirt
she pushed up the diamond bracelet so
wouldn't dangle, took aim, and hit the
us,
the idea.
Daisy wiped her red mouth daintily and rose, swinging her
like a velvet bell.
"You
it?"
do
some tough racket."

the door burst open to admit a
in
445
large
detachment of the constabulary, "Chief of Police James Baldwin

help him and the boys out."
sometimes
and handcuffed, addressed himself
Five minutes later, Louis, sullen
to Daisy as she lounged before the
fire
in
her velvet and
satin,
the
picture of feminine helplessness.

"Just
one thing
away and you

"Oh, but
want to know: the nearest phone
can.
why?
Why
does a dame
me
if
like
to ski for?"
"Because," Daisy explained, widening her limpid eyes,

told
two miles
learned on that borax slide at Macy's."
Louis' voice rasped with irritation. "But
you want
is
can't ski."
a girl
wants to get around, she ought to learn
"my mother
sports."
The Sign
hy Tom Curry
The warning
Green Spring and Arizona State

two lost greenhorns, improvised one
by scrawling. Poison, Arsenic, on a report sheet which he fastened to
sign
was missing
Trooper Ben Hale, on the

a
trail
at
of
sharpened stake driven into the ground.
"They stopped
here,"
he told Whitey,
had brains enough not to
Men
his sleepy-eyed horse, "but
drink."
did, but occasionally
some
thirst-crazed animal drank the poi-
son water, as attested by sun-whitened bones near

sign proclaimed, 17 Mi.
at
hand. Another
to Next Water.
Trooper Hale permitted himself
swallow of tepid liquid from
Whitey would have to hold out.

Mounting, he went on, sun wrinkles thick
canteen,-
at the
corners of his
slitted eyes.
"Three days since they passed here, Whitey."
Hale was twenty-four hours out of Gila Bend, the point from which
the two easterners, a
nephew and
his uncle,
had ridden
into the
painted desert.
When
their horses, carrying canteens
with empty saddles the storekeeper,
mounts, had notified Trooper Hale.
446
and food, had come home

also rented rooms and
who
The
had been staggering around, up to their ankles in

baked by the brassy sun. The beauty of flowering yucca
and giant cactus, and other colorful blooms, would not appeal to
them, they would crave water.
Trooper Hale, rangy and smoothly browned, was experienced in
pilgrims
shifting sand,
the desert, he
felt
optimistic about their chances, figuring he
would
reach them before they perished. From the storekeeper he had learned
George Vernon, the nephew, had been around Gila Bend for a
month and knew a little about the country, although the uncle, whose
name was Stone, had arrived only a couple of days before.
that
By the running off of their horses, the two were bereft of supplies
and water, but they could hold out, for the next spring was good to
drink.
Yet
when Hale reached
began sucking
They
them.
in
this
tank three hours later and Whitey
mouthfuls of the brownish
had, from the sign they
left,
stuff,
he did not find
been here and
rested, but
gone on.
"Now
in
what's that?" he
wondered
aloud, as he noted a hole an inch
diameter and several inches deep
where the steps led down
He
in the earth close to
shrugged, for he found no explanation and, forging on after
canteens and letting Whitey replenish

Next Water 22 Mi.
filling his
reading.
On
the point
to the spring.
horseback he made
it
by
dark, afoot
it
himself, passed a sign
would mean
long,
weary
hours, staggering through sandy stretches and across sharp rock.
He came
to the waterhole, cursing his
sense to remain in one spot by
men
good water
because they hadn't the
until found.
Unable to trail in the dark he slept till gray dawn. Spruced up, he
wide hat on his bullet-shaped head, as he saddled up and put a
boot in the stirrup to mount Whitey, he saw another small hole in the
set his
ground, similar to the one
at
the other spring.
Pushing on he read the weakening of the two,

trail;
it
showed
in
the
they stopped more often to rest and their foot indentations were
dragging. Sometimes their prints overlapped and at others both sets

ran close together.
"Nephew
helpin' his uncle along,
He began
was not
reckon," decided Hale.
the long run between waterholes, forty-two miles, and
until the following
day that he came up with the
it
lost green-
horns.
They were
lying near the edge of a shrunken waterhole,
muddy
but
drinkable.
447
fellow around thirty- five pushed weakly to his knees.
tall
Trooper Hale had never seen him before but concluded
this was
George Vernon, the nephew,- he had sparse black hair and his face
was burnt lobster-red, his dark eyes were sunken and wild, lips dry.
The elder, stouter man, Robert Stone, the uncle, lay on his stomach,
face turned aside.
"Howdy," sang out Hale.

'Thank God you've come!
My
uncle's dead,
and
nearly am!"
"Dead!" exclaimed Hale.
He
dismounted, turned over the body.
was gone,
It
was
as
Vernon
said;
Stone
lips bluish.
"He drank the
water," babbled Vernon, "and keeled over!"
Hale stared
him, for the water was good. Whitey was calmly
partaking of
The
at
it.
trooper found no marks of violence on Robert Stone. 'This
he informed Vernon.
Uncle Bob. He'd hardly taken
water's okay,"
"It
killed
it
when he
died.
me
Give
drink, will you?"
Hale handed the

head, greedily
The
thirsty
man
canteen and Vernon put back his
filling up.
trooper was puzzled. Looking Vernon over, he decided he
nephew: Vernon seemed uneasy. As his trained eyes

went on, searching the ground, he saw one of those unexplained
didn't like the
holes.
"How come you
let
they pulled
'They
your horses get away, Vernon?"
and ran."
on the ropes they brought in." His eyes hardened
as he watched Vernon. "I understand your uncle was a very rich man.
You his heir?"
"Yes." Vernon's voice grew defiant. "What do you mean by that?"
Hale was suspicious, yet there was nothing on which to base this,
no evidence of struggle, no weapon in sight. He pushed back his
Stetson, scratched his close-cropped head: Vernon watched him,
"Huh!
No
their stakes
stakes
plainly worried.
"How
about getting
me
back to town,
officer?"
he demanded.
"I'm
exhausted. There's nothing to be done for Uncle Bob now."
"Why
did you bring your uncle
way
out into the desert, Vernon?
You've been around long enough to understand what

told
me
he wasn't very
it's
like.
They
well."
'That was the reason," replied Vernon sullenly. "He came to Ari-
zona
for his health.
wrong
448
in that?"
We
got lost and our horses ran away. Anything
Hale walked around the spring, beside the hole he found

"A stone lay there," he thought.
a bare
spot, indented in the dirt.
A sudden hunch sent him to his knees, peering closely at the earth,
Vernon watching every move he made.
Hale said, "Reckon I'll wash up, I'm mighty dusty." He unbuckled
his gunbelt, holding his .45 caliber Colt revolver, and put it on a flat
rock.
Lying on his belly, he began splashing water over his
reached
wasn't long
Spring.
till
he pulled out the
then he
a skull-and-bones
It
from Green
sign, the missing sign
was of wood, and under
It
face,
arms to the shoulder and fished around the bottom.
in his
were carved the
words
Do Not
Poison, Arsenic,
It
Drink!
had been weighted by that stone, to hold
"Now
under.
it
savvy," said Hale, voice hardening. "You toted that sign
along with you from waterhole to waterhole,
Vernon,
your uncle wouldn't dare take
so's
hid
in
your
shirt,
You lagged behind

each new spring. You
a drink!
to stick it up at
you could grab a mouthful of water when
you had to. All those springs save the first were good but your uncle
read the warnin' sign you put up and wouldn't drink!"
to pull
it
"You
and ran on ahead
up,
didn't suffer
much
lie!"
"Nobody
him
snarled Vernon.
else has
dyin' of thirst,
finally
yourself,
drank
if
"I
didn't
touch that
been through here
for a
his heart didn't kill him,-
here,- thinkin'
it
sign!"
month! You figured on
he couldn't hold out and
poison, the fright finished him."
George Vernon's eyes blazed.

"No one'll believe that crazy yarn," he shouted.
"I'll
have to
arrest you," declared
Hale solemnly. "What with your
being his heir and havin' the motive, you should get you
at
least
twenty years."
Vernon crouched close
to the
flat
rock on which rested Hale's
gun,-
Hale stood further away, firmly accusing him.
Suddenly Vernon jumped, got

big revolver from
"All right,
wouldn't give
The
it's
its
his
hand on the
belt,
dragging the
pleated holster.
true,"
he screamed. "Damn him, he wouldn't
me any more
old coot was wrecking
than enough
my
life,
money
to
die,
wasn't he, staying alive?
He
scared
himself to death, thinking he'd drunk poison water, but that's not
fault
and
you'll
he
skimp along on.
never get a chance to accuse me. Stand back
my
449
Hale was
but the
starting for
hammer only
him and Vernon pulled the
Hale was on him, wrested the
down with
"Maybe
a
I
hard brown
his
hand, knocked him
couldn't have proved the story of the sign, Vernon, but
gun would stampede you.
hammer
from
pistol
fist.
attempted murder'll put you

the
trigger of the Colt
clicked harmlessly. Before he could try again,
in prison!
We
thought
hold of the
gettin'
always keep an empty cylinder under
to prevent accidents!"
The Sign
of the ''400''
by R. K. Munkittrick
For the nonce, Holmes was slighting his cocaine and was joyously
jabbing himself with morphine
his favorite
70 per cent solution
when a knock came at the door, it was our landlady with

Holmes opened it and read it carelessly.
"H'm!" he said. "What do you think of this, Watson?"
I
picked
CHINCHBUCCE
"Why,
it's
it
up.
PLACE, S.W.,"
the
at
once,
were soon
Holmes,-
we need you.
seventy-two
read.
from Athelney Jones,"
"Just so," said
We
"come
a telegram.
remarked.
"call a cab."
at the address given,
72 Chinchbugge Place being
town house of the Dowager Countess of Coldslaw.
fashioned mansion, somewhat weather-beaten.

the broken pane in the drawing
room gave
The
It
was an old-
old hat stuffed in
the place an
air
of unstud-
which we both remarked at the time.

at the door. He wore a troubled expression.
"Here's a pretty go, gentlemen!" was his greeting. "A forcible entrance
has been made to Lady Coldslaw's boudoir, and the famous Coldslaw
diamonds are stolen."
Without a word Holmes drew out his pocket lens and examined
the atmosphere. "The whole thing wears an air of mystery," he said,
ied artistic negligence,
Athelney Jones met us
quietly.
We
trated
then entered the house. Lady Coldslaw was completely pros-
and could not be seen.
We
went
at
once to the scene of the
robbery. There was no sign of anything unusual in the boudoir, ex-
450
cept that the windows and furniture had been smashed and the pic-
had been removed from the
tures
walls.
An
attempt had been made by
the thief to steal the wallpaper, also. However, he had not succeeded.
had rained the night before and muddy footprints led up to the
from which the jewels had been taken. A heavy smell of
stale cigar smoke hung over the room. Aside from these hardly noticeable details, the despoiler had left no trace of his presence.
In an instant Sherlock Holmes was down on his knees examining
the footprints with a stethoscope. "H'm!" he said,- "so you can make
It
escritoire
nothing out of
"No,
sir,"
this,
Jones?"
answered the
detective,- "but
hope
there's a big re-
to,-
ward."
all
"It's
very simple,
my good
fellow," said
Holmes. "The robbery
was committed at three o'clock this morning by a short, stout, middleaged, hen-pecked man with a cast in his eye. His name is Smythe, and
he lives at 239 Toff Terrace."
Jones fairly gasped. "What! Major Smythe, one of the highest
thought-of and richest men in the city?" he said.
"The same."
In half
tions,
an hour
we were
at
Smythe's bedside. Despite his protesta-
he was pinioned and driven to prison.
"For heaven's sake,
Holmes," said
when we
1,
returned to our
rooms, "how did you solve that problem so quickly?"
"Oh,
room,
it
was
had been given
made
dead
easy,
husband by
a study of cigar
we
entered the
was cigar smoke from
a cigar that
easy!" said he. "As
noticed the cigar smoke.
smoke.
It
his wife.
Any
soon
could
as
tell
that,
other but a hen-pecked
for
have
man throws
the man had
Then could tell by the footprints that

had appendicitis. Now, no one but members of the '400' have that.
Who then was hen-pecked in the '400,' and had had appendicitis recently? Why, Major Smythe, of course! He is middle-aged, stout, and
such cigars away.
has a cast in his eye."

1
could not help but admire
my
companion's reasoning, and told
him so. "Well," he said, "it is very simple

Thus ended the Coldslaw robbery, so
It
may be
as well to add,
if
you know how."
far as
we were
concerned.
however, that Jones's arrant jealousy
caused him to resort to the lowest trickery to throw discredit upon

the discovery of
a
my
most conclusive
as the thief,
gifted friend.
alibi,
on the
He
allowed Major Smythe to prove
and then meanly arrested
flimsiest proof,
a notorious burglar
and convicted him. This burglar
had been caught while trying to pawn some diamonds that seemed to be
a portion of the plunder taken from 72 Chinchbugge Place.
451
Of
course, Jones got
He
counts to Holmes.
all
the credit.
showed the newspaper
only laughed, and
Watson, Scotland Yard,
as usual, gets the glory."
going to play "Sweet Marie" on his
violin,
"You see
said:
As
how
ac-
it
is,
perceived he was
reached for the morphine,
myself.
Smoke
Sign
by Dale Clark
Tourists were queer people.
Some weeks
drove up the steeply winding
dirt
as
many
as a
dozen
parties
grade to Jim Riley's station on
Mountain,- and they all seemed to think they were the first,
no one and nothing else ever broke the monotony of Riley's
Round
that
solitary vigil.
"Don't see
said
how you
stand
by
typically. "All
it,
young fella," the

go crazy."
must have been an idea they got out of
It
didn't square with the facts spread in front of
Round Mountain,
from the
state
the county.
The
groves.
big, blue-suited
book. Certainly
or under
elevation eighteen hundred feet and only
highway, was the unlonesomest
The
man
yourself. I'd
Fire Patrol
it
their eyes.
two miles
lookout
in
below were parallelogrammed into citrus

sunstruck blue rectangle was the swimming pool
valleys
smaller,
on Dolores Deanne's ranch. A man isn't exactly wilderness-bound

when he can look from his kitchen window across a movie star's backyard,
is
he?
There was the Patrol truck crew housed at the foot of the two-mile
grade. Daily, Chuck and Lew or Ed Sturgis came up with water and
rations and small-talk. When he unhooked the phone, he could gossip
with lookout men at Wheeler, Big Bow, and the Pass, he had his one
day
week
off-duty. Tourists included, Jim Riley led an existence less
solitary than the average farmer in his fields.
He
did not
tell
the blue-suited
man
so.
Knowing he wouldn't be
had evolved a stock rejoinder.

"Civilization's close enough to satisfy me." He pointed, chuckling.
"Gray dot over behind Sawtooth is Tepaki State Penitentiary. figure
believed, anyway, Riley
I'm better off right here."
452
This one always rated
a laugh.
laugh heartily as he scrawled his

Paso.
made
It
name
in
the big, blue-suited
man
the guest register. T. Smith, El
bet plenty of 'em would be mighty glad to change cells with
"1
you."
His glance went around the small, single-roomed, glass-walled stakerosene stove filled one comer. His chair and table filled
tion. Riley's
another. In the third stood the cot.
The
fourth corner held a desk,
with the phone and radio.
"The radio must help you

haven't been using
a lot of time," T.
him
Smith
said.
dryly, "and the battery's low, so
much."
it
The most prominent

in the
kill
a battery set," Riley told
"It's
middle of the
article in the
room stood on
tall steel
table
floor.
"You probably never saw one of these before," Riley said. He

T. Smith how the Osborne fire-finder worked. By swinging
the turntable, you could peer through the rear aperture and draw a
showed
bead on a smoke signal anywhere around the horizon. The turntable

was marked in degrees. "When headquarters get readings phoned in
from two
they plot the lines on a chart. Your
stations,
fire is
where
those lines meet."
Little
brush
fires
couldn't always been seen from
how
course. Riley pointed out
two
stations, of
the front lens of the finder was crossed
by upper and lower hairlines. A calibrated gauge sight could be

moved up and down the rear aperture. "So we take an elevation reading along with the direction finding. Headquarters and the different
crew houses
all
have panoramic photographs taken
The photographs
and
are
marked
across, so they can put a
at
each lookout.
same degrees, up and down

pencil right on the trouble."
off in these
T. Smith didn't seem interested.
He peered speculatively toward

the eon-old, wrinkled flang of Sawtooth. "I'm just wondering how you
get to a fire after you spot one?"
"We
use
fire trails."
map on the desk. It showed trails threading

back-country where not even horseback trails ran. The big, bluesuited man looked at this more intelligently than tourists generally
Riley spread the Patrol
did.
His plump finger came down: "Looks
Cresida.
"No,
we have
Not open
it's
to
privately
cany
like a short-cut
through to
to the public?"
owned
keys.
way. Plenty of places
land.
They keep
the gates padlocked, so
You couldn't get an ordinary
we
car through any-
can't take a truck in," Riley said.
"You notice
453
that rebuilt jalopy of
mine
"You help fight the

"You
to carry that
Patrol
guy
on
sits
thousand acres of watershed go up
Four days
it
ratio
back sometimes."
his tail while twenty, thirty
in flames."
T. Smith presently went away, saying:
did not think
my
on
too?"
fires,
no
bet. Brother,
and low
outside, special high wheels
had
gears. Well, I've just about
"I'll
be seeing you." Jim Riley
very probable.
later, at
high noon, Jim didn't even look up from his task
of recording the twelve o'clock humidity score
when
footfalls
came up
the steps. "You're early. Chuck."

"Riley!"
He jerked
around then.
Chuck with
wasn't
It
the pork chops,
was
it
T. Smith with a gun in his hand.
Jim Riley hadn't heard about any prison break.

as
soon
face,
as
he saw the second man's
unshaved, with a
lot of
face.
Riley
felt
was
He
knew, though,
a harshly
sunburnt
And
quarry dust bedded into the stubble.
was the only active quarry within
Tepaki's
It
a cold, tightening
knot
hundred
miles.
in the pit of his
admitted to himself that he was as scared as
stomach.
He
hell.
announced
"Where we won't run into any posses."
Riley's noon meal warmed on the stove. The percolator bubbled
busily. His heart thudded about as loud, and much more rapidly.
"You're going to drive us over that Cresida short-cut,"
T. Smith.
"I
can't."
It
sound
didn't
like his
own
voice at
all. "I
can't leave
my
station."
T. Smith laughed
"I
lips.
mean
it,"
a brittle
Jim Riley
and dangerous sound.
insisted.
He
passed his tongue between dry
to. If
headed my jalopy down the
whole truck gang would be out to see why."
take care of them," the man with the quarry dust on his face
"Look, I'm not supposed
grade, the
"We'll
said.
what I'm afraid of. They aren't cops, and they're friends of
want to get them mixed in this, shot up or killed."
T. Smith asked: "You don't want to get yourself killed, either, do
"That's
mine.
don't
you?"
Riley had thought of this. Supposing he drove the pair to Cresida,
would they turn him loose alive to set the police on their fresh trail?
The chance looked slight.

"Wait." The first sweat drop
fix it
454
for you.
So the coast
is
on his forehead. "Maybe

There was little strength or
started
clear."
can
sure-
ness in his voice. "Let
me
call
up and send the gang out on
a false
They won't know about me leaving here, see?"

The quarry dusted man cried: "Let you talk on the phone! You
alarm.
think we're nuts?"
Suppose some other
"Listen,
you got
to.
noon's the
likeliest
time they would.
said,
fire,
station
might
"somebody's going to get busy and find out why.

though, they'd think
went
me, and
call
they can't raise me," Jim Riley
If
to help put
If
turn in a
out."
it
T. Smith said: "Dutch, he's got something there."
He
pressed his
you keep your fire away from

Cresida." He closed his hand on the phone receiver. "Tell them it's
west of here, and remember I'm the guy that hears what they say
gun against Jim
Riley's ribs. "Just so
back."
mouth was almost too dry
Riley's
into the phone. T. Smith's
"There's quite a
smoke
vation plus nine.
The
Ed
It
for speech.
gun gave him
on
sign
Bow.
Little
He
gasped his name
warning prod. Riley
One hundred
said:
seventy, ele-
looks like plenty of trouble from here."
sounded thinly through the big man's fingers. It was

talking from the foot of the grade. "Which side of the
receiver
Sturgis,
ridge, Jim?"
"This side.
The
Coming
this
way."
receiver issued fresh sound,
busy on
Ed
Sturgis saying they'd get right
it.
"All right, Riley.
Where's your keys?"
Jim Riley drove his jalopy

of the revolver
down
Dutch gripped
the grade, always painfully aware
Smith, behind them, pored over the

at Riley.
hairy,
his
in
fire-trail
quarry-dusted
map and
fist.
T.
fired questions
Since Riley hadn't been over the Cresida short-cut in two
years, his
memory
The pair
Then their
frequently failed to tally with the map.
were becoming darkly suspicious of
his hesitant replies.
attention shifted grimly to the buildings
beyond the bridge
at
the foot
of the grade.
At the
last
minute, Riley braked hard. Four planks torn out
left a
hole big enough to drop the front wheels of the jalopy through the
bridge. Six paces away, the barrel of a deer
roadside bushes.
The
voice belonged to
Ed
rifle
pointed through the
Sturgis:
"Get out. You're covered."
Two
shotguns pushed into sight along the bank of the dry water-
course. Jim Riley
saw with enormous
relief that
his
compan-
figure
anything
both of
ions held their hands high and empty.
He
out of
exhaled: "Gosh, Ed.
didn't
know
if
you could
it."
455
figured
"It
There was
itself.
a radio
broadcast right after you told us
coming from."
where trouble was
T. Smith spoke dazedly. "You told
?"
laugh sounded neither Homeric nor heroic,
Riley's
it
was more
like
a nervous giggle.
know that one

"Sure. One hundred seventy, elevation plus nine.
by heart because darned near every tourist has me draw a bead on
1
Tepaki prison."
Smothered Mote
hy
When
Stephen Dentinêr
Sara Blake played chess with her husband after an especially
busy day
at the
agency,
it
was often the only relaxation she
got.
She enjoyed the games even though he usually won, enjoyed

perhaps because
sweet, simple
pondering
it
man
she had married.
his next
Hunched over
move, there was no time
schemes that seemed to
fill
his
check and
in
all
for the
the chessboard,
money-making
waking hours.
"Check!" he announced in triumph.
knight has you
them
was almost the only time he reminded her of the
"It's
smothered mate.
My
your moves are blocked by your own
pieces!"
"Oh,
all
right.
Ken." She started to clear the pieces from the board.
"Another game?"
"No! You always win!"
"I
thought you liked to play," he
said,
searching his pockets for a
cigarette.
"I
do!
He
just don't like to lose."
picked up a magazine that was open on the
pursuing a conversation that had started
agency
is
"We're only judging
'The
456
intent
on
contest your
running
it.
promotional contests for
"It's
floor,
at dinner. "This
first
prize
is
fifty
Ken. That's what our division does
judges
clients."
pounds of
their fiftieth anniversary.
gold!"
They wanted something
to
pounds of gold
"Sara, at today's closing price fifty
is
worth over
when
the market
three hundred thousand dollars!"

didn't cost
"It
them
was lower, when they
that
first
much. TTiey bought
had the idea
it
for the contest."
what it's worth. And you draw the winning postcard."

was the same old conversation all over again. "Ken, sometimes
do it and sometimes Marian does it. There'll be probably fifty thousand cards in that drum, and twenty people in the room watching us.
Everyone comes in for a drawing. You think 1 could cheat and draw
"But that's
it
your card? You couldn't win anyway, you're

got
"I've
it
all
my
husband."
figured out."
She put the chessboard and pieces away.
want to hear
it.
But that night, her subconscious remembering the chess game's
fi-
"I
don't
going to bed."
I'm
move, she dreamed Ken was smothering her with a pillow. She
woke up choking, gasping for breath. Beside her, he was snoring.
nal
Over
is
breakfast he resumed the conversation. "Look,
count the number of Lazylark trademarks
on the back of
a postcard
with name and address.
can see there are thirty-four of them.
I've
all
in this picture
It's
have to do
and write
it
Anyone
simple!
counted three times and
always get thirty- four."

'Thirty-four
is
in the
of
drawing.
It's
And you'd be surprised at

Some people just can't count,
strictly luck.
wrong guesses we
else
make
the right number," she conceded. 'They
easy so a lot of people will enter. But the winning postcard
get.
is
the
it
chosen
number
suppose, or
they think we're trying to trick them."
He
nodded.
"I'm
going to win that gold, Sara.
We're
going to win
it!"
"Don't talk crazy. Everything

"I
don't like living
on your
is
money with you
salary.
Is
"No, but what you're thinking about
these days."
that a crime?"
is.
And
it
wouldn't work any-
how."
"We'll see."
He
mention it again for several weeks, and for

had gone out of his mind. She buried herself
didn't
hoped
it
time Sara
a
in
her job,
lunching occasionally with Marian Lendel, watching the daily mail

arrive
and the postcards get dumped into the big revolving drum
in
the conference room.

"This
is
going to be the biggest one
yet,"
Marian decided two days
before the contest deadline. "We've passed sixty thousand entries
al-
ready."
457
"Will they
"Oh,
all
the drum?"
in
fit
No
sure!"
one ever took the time to separate the correct en-
On
from the incorrect ones.
tries
the day of the drawing, either Sara
would simply keep drawing postcards

with the correct number 34 on it.
or Marian
On
home along Third
the evening before the drawing, Sara walked
Avenue, enjoying the
first
warm day
they chose one
until
of spring.
When
she reached
was surprised that Ken wasn't home, and when he

an hour later he seemed nervous and agitated.
their apartment she
came
in
"What's wrong with you?" she asked.

"Nothing's wrong.
He
the drawing."
just
want
to
tell
took something from
you about tomorrow, about
his
pocket
where one might have expected
a flat surface
a signet ring
with
a seal or initial.
"What's that?"
for you."
"It's
a gift
"It's
awfully large,
"You can wear
"What
He
is
all
it.
more like a man's ring."

want you to wear it tomorrow."
Ken?"
this.
took some cards from his pocket. They were the size of post-
cards,
but light gray in color, with postage affixed by hand. "See
these?
It
cost
me
plenty to have
are tiny iron filings

net.
Look
the card clings to
row, and turn the

into the
embedded
drum
flat
total.
it!
surface in toward your
of cards.
percent of the
hundred of them made up. There

and this ring is a magwant you to wear this ring tomor-
five
in these cards,
mailed
palm when you reach
hundred, and
in five
You dig through those cards
that's
about one
few times and
you're sure to attract one."

'That's crazy," she argued.
the
first
"No,
the
"Maybe
won't do
it
a few times.
Maybe
card out will be the winner."

it
won't.
If it isn't
one of these gray
wrong winning number and
toss
it
back.
cards,
You
you
told
just say
me
it
has
that happens
a lot."
"It
won't be
me
anyway," she
insisted.
"It's
Marian's turn to draw the
winner."
"It'll
be you," he said
quietly.
After dinner the telephone rang.

calling to
tell
It
was Mr. Foxe from the
office
her that Marian Lendel was dead. She'd fallen in front of
subway train on the way home from work.

Sara hung up the phone and turned to face her husband. "My God,
what have you done?"
"It was an accident," he murmured. "I only wanted to hurt her so
458
a
she'd miss
work tomorrow. But
through with
it
you're part of
it,
Sara.
We've got
go
to
now."
That night she dreamed again that she was being smothered.
The
detective's
name was Sergeant Gresson, and he
office shortly after nine o'clock.
He
arrived at the
spoke with Sara and the others
who worked with Marian, asking about

mies. He was still there when they went
boyfriends or possible eneinto the conference
room
at
eleven o'clock to draw the winning card in the Lazylark contest.
While one of the others turned the drum, thoroughly mixing the
Gresson said to Sara, "I understand this would have been Miss
entries,
Lendel's job today."
She shrugged, nervously fidgeting with the ring on her finger. "We
she answered simply. "It's no big deal who does it."
take turns,
The
"
others had
crowded
into the
room and she waited
He was watching
for Sergeant
opened the
drum and stuck her hand inside without looking. The first card out
had the number 33 on it. "A loser," she announced. "A thirty-three!"
She tossed it back in and dug for another. Her vision was clouded so
that she could barely see, but she knew it was a government printed
postcard and not one of Kens special ones. "Thirty-five," she announced without looking. "Another loser."
Gresson to leave but he
On
didn't.
as she
the third try she saw one of the gray cards clinging to her ring
finger as she
withdrew
it.
She
felt
sudden surge of
she
relief as
closed her fingers around the card and blinked her eyes to clear her
vision.
Erica
"It's
a winner!
thirty-four! Mrs. Erica
Manning
of Philadel-
She passed the card over to Mr. Foxe, wondering vaguely
phia."
Manning was, wondering about Ken's
who
occasional trips to Phila-
delphia.
"All right,"
Mr. Foxe confirmed. "That's the winner."
Lazylark vice president who'd flown

call
in for
He
turned to
the drawing. "Should
we
her with the good news?"
"Maybe you'd
better wait just a few minutes," Sergeant Gresson
suggested.
"Look here," Foxe
bristled,
"I
know
you're investigating a violent
death, but our business has to continue."

"Just a
into
your
He
the
sat
few minutes," Gresson repeated. "Mrs. Blake, could we go

office?"
down
empty desk
across the desk from her, and she tried not to stare at
that
had belonged to Marian Lendel. "How can
be of
help?" Sara asked.
459
The
glanced
some folded
detective took
at
reports from his inside pocket and
them. "She was murdered, you know. Someone pushed her
in front of that subway train. It wasn't any accident. It may have been
someone who knew her, even someone from this office."
"No," Sara insisted. "Marian hadn't an enemy in the world. Every-
one liked
her."
"Was she
occurred to
"Oh
debt? Watching you draw that winning postcard
in
me how
no! We're
all
done anything
like that." Staring across
an instant like
Ken on
"1
"Could
the desk
at her,
he seemed for
the other side of the chessboard.
suppose not," he said with
to his pocket.
it
one of these contests could be rigged."

standing there watching. Marian couldn't have
easily
have
He
a sigh.
started to return the reports
paper clip for these?"
She reached out and picked one from the little plastic conon her desk. It was only as she handed it over to him that she
"Sure."
tainer
saw the other
"1
clips clinging to the face of her ring.
Sergeant Gresson seemed saddened. "Don't bother, Mrs. Blake. You

forgot to turn the ring back after
it?
And
that, so
the card was attracted by

1
figured
I'd
give
it
a test.
you drew the

it?
thought
card.
it
magnet,
isn't
was something
knew you'd reach
like
for the paper clip
with the same hand you reached for those cards."
She shook her head.
"1
"When you announced

looking
at
don't understand."
that second card
was
a loser,
you were
the address side, at the printed government stamp.
How
know it said thirty-five when the number was on the back?"

Then she knew it was like the chess games, and her king was in
did you
check again. "But was
it
so necessary to
Marian Lendel," he asked
kill
draw the card today?"

Somehow she wasn't being smothered any more. She could
breathe, and she knew what she had to do. "Let me tell you about my
quietly, "just so you'd get to
husband," she began. "His
460
name
is
Ken.
."
.
Snapping Out of
It
hy Bruce Holland Rogers

He
felt
emptied out
way
feel this
He
after
as
he walked along the dark beach. Did he always
he killed someone?
stopped walking
for a
moment
He
couldn't remember.
to think about
it,
to try to re-
member. The sea was grey and the shore was a long curving line of
black. Orange light tinted the farthest clouds, and the wind tousled
his hair.
It
good.
felt
The Sea Breeze terrace was up ahead. He could stop there to watch
rise. Of course, they'd look for him there. They always did.
the sun
Blake always did.
Thinking of Blake made
it
easier to
remember.
They had argued about his medication. He

didn't want to take it any more, but Dr. Weber insisted.
There were pillows on the couch and Dr. Weber wasn't a strong
Dr.
man.
Weber was
It
wasn't
face until
all
the
first.
one of those pillows against
that hard to hold
After he killed Dr. Weber, he had walked to the beach.
the
smell and the sound of the waves rolling
salt
laxed him.
He walked
all
But they found him.

terrace, Blake
On
him,
the
When
all
Weber was Nurse
room and
"it
way
in.
visit
doesn't do
But he didn't
he stopped to
liked
The beach
re-
rest at the
Sea Breeze
to the Center.
about the murder.

Fitzgerald.
with the others
you any good
come
He
to the big hotels.
came with the van and took him back
the way, he told Blake
After Dr.
of his
his
he stopped struggling.
in
She wanted him to get out
the lounge. "Craig," she told
to be alone so
much.
Now come
on. Instead he strangled her, hid her
der the bed, and then slipped out the window.
on."
body un-
He walked
off the
grounds and down to the beach.

Blake found him at the Sea Breeze terrace. Again, he told Blake
about
all
it.
"You don't fool me, Craig," Blake told him. "You don't fool
minute. You could snap out of
it
if
you wanted
to.
me
for a
So snap out
al-
461
ready.
got better things to do than chase after you and haul you
I've
back, okay?"
But Nurse Fitzgerald wasn't the
There was the
last.
fat
guy
the
in
room who wanted to talk when Craig didn't want to talk. Craig
blew him up with dynamite. And then there was Dr. Weber again. He
was still being pushy about Craig's medication, so Craig drowned him
dining
in
the fountain out front.

"Craig, just stop
Blake said as they drove back.
it!"
What
things to do.
everybody
if
at
"I
have
a lot of
the Center just decided to walk
away?"
"1
killed Dr.
"You didn't
"Oh
yes
Weber," Craig
did.
pushed him into the fountain and held him under.
When we
You'll see.
"Uh-huh. Just
said.
anybody," said Blake.
kill
like
get back, the police will
the
come
for me."
time you killed Dr. Weber?
last
When you
suffocated him? But he was there at the Center, waiting for us
And Nurse
drove you back, wasn't he?
Fitzgerald
was
when
you
fine after
killed her, right?"
"That was different.
really killed
him
"Craig," Blake said, "you wouldn't
You're not even very crazy.
worked
at
You
this time."
kill
just don't
the Center a long time, and
anybody. You're harmless.

want to be responsible. I've
can
tell.
You're the kind
who
chooses to be crazy."
"I really killed Dr.
"Craig,
Weber. He's floating in the fountain. You'll see."
who do you
Craig looked
think told
at Blake,
me
to find
you and
drive
you back?"
uncertainty in his gaze.
was Dr. Weber," Blake
'Looks like Craig's gone for a stroll

on the beach, Blake. Would you mind driving him home?' " Blake
shook his head. "The thing is, do mind. mind because shouldn't
"It
said.
"
have to do
this."
Craig was looking

"Life at the
Center
at his
is
just
hands, twisting his fingers nervously.
too easy for you," Blake went on. "You're
not willing to face things. Being crazy
is
an excuse to be irresponsi-
ble."
"You shouldn't talk to
"Why
"Dr.
Weber wouldn't
"Aha!
me
this
way," Craig said.
not?"
He
like
it."
has to be alive to not like
it,
doesn't he?"
Craig frowned and twisted his fingers some more. "He wouldn't
like
you shouldn't talk to me this way."

"Listen," Blake went on, "I know how you feel. Life is hard. Look at
me, for instance. I'm married, but it's no good any more. My wife and
462
it.
You're just an orderly, and
I,
we might
kids.
I've
as well live
got
braces and
stuff.
ation for that at
So
We
different planets.
it's
stay together for the
expensive keeping them
work two
home
Blake's knuckles
on
and
five,
jobs. You'd think
I'd
some
have something to run away from, don't we?

like to
"I
appreci-
were white on the steering wheel.
"Well, anyway," he said, relaxing his grip, "the point
Id
clothes and
in
get
is
that
we
all
mean, don't you think
be crazy and have people take care of me?"
don't like you," said Craig.
my
"You can hate me," said Blake, "so long as you make
easier,
okay?
If
you
snap out of
can't
it,
then
at least quit
life
little
running away
me drive up to get you any more!"

you at all," Craig said.
Neither of them spoke during the rest of the drive.
from the Center! Don't make

"I
don't like
He
used a
They were back on
the grounds of the Center,

and thought about Blake's five kids and
the braces and the clothes and the wife from another planet. It all
made him furious somehow. He brought the tire iron down hard.
tire iron.
and he picked up the
He knew
tire
iron
they'd look for
him on the beach. He hid
in a culvert
until dark.
This time he'd done
it.
He'd
really
done
it.
After dark, the pull of the beach was irresistible.
slowly along the strip of wet sand, thinking about
He had killed Blake.

Or had he? Now, as he walked up
it.
He had
It
was
walked
real this
time.
terrace,
the steps to the Sea Breeze
he thought about what Blake had
ing to be crazy.
Maybe he
Or
hadn't killed Blake.
wpuld come with the
said, the stuff
about choos-
not.
van.
He
sat
Maybe, when the sun
down on
rose, Blake
the terrace to consider not
being crazy any more.

But as the sun climbed into the sky,
it
wasn't Blake
who
came.
It
was Dr. Weber.
The
psychiatrist came and sat down beside him and said, "I had a
you might come here."
"I expected Blake, Dr. Weber. It's always Blake who comes."
Dr. Weber hesitated like he was about to say something and
changed his mind. 'This time, it's me," he said simply.
For a moment, he was afraid. "Blake's alive, isn't he?"
"Yes," said Dr. Weber. "Blake's alive."
On the drive back, he told Dr. Weber about what Blake had said.
Maybe it was true. Maybe he could snap out of it.
feeling
463
Weber looked
Dr.
at
"Blake's right, isn't he,
him thoughtfully.
Doc? People can decide
to stop being crazy,
can't they?'
"Not
necessarily," said Dr.
Weber
as
he drove onto the grounds of
the Center. "But in your case, perhaps."
"Then
going to do
I'm
it,"
he
said. "I'm
going to snap out of
it.
I'm
going to take responsibility."
There were two police cars in the circular drive. Dr. Weber got out
and talked to the officers. When the psychiatrist came back to his car,
the policemen came with him.
Again, he was afraid. "You said Blake was alive!"
The policemen looked

he
"Yes,
is,"
said Dr.
at
each other.
Weber.
"Blake's alive."
him with the tire iron?"

"No," said Dr. Weber. "But you have to go away with Officer Garner, here. You have to answer some questions. All right?"
"I
didn't hit
Detective Kelly frowned as the squad car drove away. "Doc, are
you
sure he
"But
to
"Well,
One
is
it.
had
"1
You
Weber
didn't,"
said he
work
"It's
his head.
don't get
"No,
one.
faking?"
isn't
Weber shook
doubt very much that he
said he
was perfectly
concept, not a medical
said. "Sanity's a legal
a well integrated, healthy personality
for the Center. All of our
what happened
is."
sane."
employees are
when he came
tested."
to him?"
hazard of working with the mentally disturbed, Detective.
can begin to identify with their symptoms.
It's
not that psychosis
catching, exactly. But with an existing predisposition
"So Blake really thinks he's Craig Brown, the
"Apparently
man he
killed?"
so."
Kelly shook his head. "Well, I'm no expert.

atrists will
judge
if
guess the DA's psychi-
he's responsible for his actions. They'll
know
if
he's
really crazy."
"Mmm." Weber nodded

out of
464
it
by then."
thoughtfully.
"If
Blake hasn't talked himself
Something Green
Edward D. Hoch
It
was Sid
led to his
capital
Frazier's radio series

first
on Washington's working women
meeting with Ginny Pratt
swarmed with young men
in
1942.
late in
uniform and young
The
that
nation's
women who'd
taken their places in every conceivable job. Frazier had been inter-
viewing them
over Washington, in congressional offices and

all
crowded apartments, on rooftops, and in the gray office buildings the
Navy had erected for temporary use east of the Lincoln Memorial.
Late one Thursday afternoon in October, Frazier stood across the
street from the main post office, waiting for the car pool from the
Agricultural Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland. Like
many
other
Department employees had been squeezed

out of the city into Maryland and Virginia. An elaborate system of car
pools had resulted to ease the 12-mile journey. Women commuting to
work was another change brought on by the war, one unusual enough
office workers, Agriculture
to rate an interview for Frazier's radio series.
The
car-pool vehicle was late that day, and he passed the time
watching two helmeted soldiers

roof of the post office.
days,
One
drilling
though the rumor was that
replicas, like the

earlier. Frazier
with antiaircraft guns on the
could see soldiers

at least a
over the city these
all
few of them were wooden
wooden rifles the Army had trained with a few years

at them wistfully. One good war story would get
gazed
him back on the hard-news
beat.
Presently a gray sedanbus, an odd, stretched-out automobile with
room for a dozen people, pulled up to the curb. He watched the

young women and older men getting out. A slender woman in her late
twenties with clear, pale skin and bright blue eyes caught his attention. He found himself wishing he weren't on the job. He'd prefer a
flirtation,
She
not a professional encounter.
listened politely as he introduced himself.
for an interview, she smiled. 'Til miss
"Could
come
along?
We
my
When
he asked her
trolley."
can talk during the
She glanced around uneasily and then looked
trip."
at
him
again, taking
465
and ready
in his neat haircut
He
smile.
was
said after a pause, "but I'm sure
more
interesting jobs than
some
10 years older
at least
than she was, but his voice had a youthful quality.
"If
of the other
you
insist,"
women
she
have
far
do. I'm a nutritionist with the Agriculture
Department."
He
"That's great!"
followed her onto the trolley and they found a
Taking out his notebook, he began writing rapidly.
seat together.
"What's your name?"
"Ginny
Pratt.
what you want
that
He
We
been with the
I've
menus for the Armed

know?" Her smile was mischievous
a year.
to
28 years old and
I'm
P-r-a-t-t.
department for nearly
plan
Forces.
Is
this time.
smiled back.
"That's fine, but
for some funny little details. Human

which the war effort has complicated your
was hoping
ways
interest stuff,
in
work."
"Well,
have no secretary," Ginny
brushing a wisp of brown
said,
no extra typewriter for me to type

the reports onto wax cylinders and ship them
hair from her forehead, "and there's
my
to
So
reports.
New
dictate
York for transcribing.
"Well,
not exactly
it's
Is
that a funny
little detail?"
."
.
"My roommate, Nancy,
could give you a few more. She's a secre-
The FBI won't hire

The women would have to
climb up on ladders to check the file drawers, and men could look up
their skirts." She smiled at his embarrassment. "You see, Mr. Hoover
She paused. "Oh,
tary for the FBI."
women
work
to
won't allow
women
to
wear
"Those are interesting
what
had
in
here's one.
in their fingerprint files.
mind."
He
slacks,
even for the war
stories," Frazier
effort."
admitted, "but not exactly
tried to think of questions that
would loosen
her up, making quick notes of her replies as the trolley jostled them
past gray
"Here's
government buildings.
where get off," she said suddenly
1
a stop in a residential
you, Mr. Frazier.
"Everyone
calls
"All right, Sid."
If
neighborhood.
you want
to
"It's
walk
as the trolley
been
a bit
slowed to
a pleasure talking
.
with
."
me Sid," he said, following her onto the street.

She walked briskly toward a row of big old houses
converted to apartments.
"Tell me about your personal
He hoped he wasn't being too
"Nancy and
else?"
466
Your apartment, your boyfriends."
obvious
share one tiny room.
stand in line for the bathroom.
where
life.
My
in his interest.
Most mornings we have to

is in the Navy some-
boyfriend
in the Pacific.
haven't had a letter in two months. Anything
She stopped walking and turned to face him. "Forgive me for
I
snapping
Do you
on edge.
at you. I'm a little
The one
street?
see that
man
Frazier turned to look in the direction she indicated.
He
saw
man with a fedora pulled down to shade his face.

me home every night this week," she told Frazier.
middle-aged
squat,
"He's followed
why suggested you

"Who is he?"
'That's
"1
across the
the black raincoat?"
in
walk with me."
don't know. He's beginning to frighten me."
He
find out," Frazier said.
"I'll
The man
street.
she'd indicated
He
with ex-convicts.
When
stood
her and casually crossed the
left
had
a pale
look that Frazier associated
at the trolley stop,
smoking
a cigarette.
he started walking away, tossing the
Frazier reached the curb,
half-smoked cigarette into the gutter.

"Wait a minute!" Frazier called out.
The man turned. "What is it?"

'That young lady says you've been
"She's crazy!"
He winked
at Frazier.
following her."
"You
know how
they get, with
so few guys around."
met the man's
Frazier
her,"
with a grim
sly smile
stare. "Stay
away from
he warned.
The
man shrugged his shoulders and walked away. Frazier

moment and then followed at a distance. In the next
the man got into a dark green Hudson and drove away. Frazier
down the license number and hurried back to where he'd left
squat
watched
block,
jotted
for a
Ginny.
"Maybe
that'll scare him off."

hope so. And if you really want to thank me, come into the
studio this weekend and let me interview you on my show."
Ginny hesitated. "Why don't you talk with my roommate? Nancy is
"Thanks," she said with
relief.
"Let's
much more
of a talker than
friends with stories about
"Well
rant,
am. She
all
tells
me
she bores her boy-
the time."
."
.
"She's
Why
work
working
late tonight,
but
you come by around six?

and you can interview Nancy."
don't
know
We
"Sounds good," he agreed, "but only
if
she'll
be
home tomorrow.
can eat at the corner restau-
you
let
the network pick up
the check."
"Fair
He
enough!" She gave him a parting smile. "Tomorrow at
left
and asked
her
at
the door of the house, then
his secretary to
went back
six."
to the station
check on the license plate number he'd
jotted down.
467
As Frazier left the station the following afternoon, his secretary

handed him a note. The green Hudson was registered to a Joseph
Taylor at 3387 O Street in Washington. He shoved the paper into his
pocket. Since gasoline rationing, he hadn't been driving his car to
work, but the station's Nash was available.
apartment
He made
it
to Ginny's
10 minutes.
in
She met him
at
the door in a panic. "Sid, that
me is inside. He's been murdered!"

He followed her to the second floor,
man who was
follow-
ing
down
construction, and
wood around
past a tiny
bathroom under
hallway to a half-open apartment door.
The
the lock had been splintered. In the center of the small
room, between two beds, lay the squat man Frazier had accosted the
in the back, the knife was still buried
wound. If Frazier had been worried about Ginny before,
his worry doubled now.
He bent to examine the body. "Have you called the police?"
'They should be here any minute."
Working quickly, Frazier used his handkerchief to remove the dead
man's wallet. He found some small bills and a Washington driver's
license in the name of Rosco Keen.
"Keen," he muttered. He looked at Ginny. "That car he was driving
previous day. He'd been stabbed
deep
in the
yesterday was registered to
somebody
else.
And
think Keen's re-
cently back from Hawaii."
"Why's
"Look
they heard an approaching
siren.
They had orange-and-brown
seals
that?" In the distance
at these dollar bills."
the front and the
word Hawaii overprinted
on
across the back.
'Tve heard about those from Nancy," said Ginny. "They're used in
Hawaii so currency can be devalued quickly

"I
didn't
know
'There are a
if
the Japanese invade."
that."
lot of things
about Hawaii the government doesn't
publicize."
Suddenly there was
blond
woman
gasp from the doorway. "What's happened?"
stood there, horrified, holding a bag of groceries.
"Nancy!" Ginny hurried to her, taking the groceries. 'This
roommate, Nancy Lambert," she told
is
my
Frazier.
Nancy demanded. "Who's that dead man?"

you was following me. This is Sid Frazier, the radio
"What's going on?"
'The one
commentator
Nancy was
shivering in
told
mentioned last night."

and attractive, a bit younger than Ginny. She stood
her raincoat, trying not to look at the body. "My God,
I
tall
Ginny! What's happening to us?"
468
The
siren
stopped
footsteps on the
Frazier stuffed the license
the wallet and returned
uniformed
officers
and they heard heavy
front of the house,
in
stairs.
and
it
and money back into
dead man's pocket
to the
just before
tered the room. Frazier
knew him from Headquarters. He had
look and
hanging from the corner of
a short cigar
know
'You
two
dour-looking detective named Schwartz en-
his
jowly
mouth.
the dead man, Frazier?" he asked without any greeting.
"He's been following Miss Pratt here. That's about
all
know." Fra-
zier fingered the paper in his pocket, deciding against revealing Taylor's
He wanted
name.
to understand Ginny's involvement before
he
gave away any clues.

"You really get around town, don't you?" Schwartz commented with
'The
a sardonic smile.
Army
could use you for reconnaissance work."
'The Army doesn't want 40-year-olds," Frazier answered.
As an
officer
took
flash
photographs of the murder scene, Schwartz
women. "Anyone
"He probably brought it with him
turned to the young
ever see the knife before?"
on the door,"
to use
Frazier
suggested, remembering the splintered wood.
"Looks
like a
kitchen knife," the detective observed. "Where's your
kitchen?"
Nancy answered. "Each
"Downstairs,"
tenant gets part of the refrig-
erator."
"The landlord
"In the
Norman
live
on the premises?"
house next door." Ginny gestured to her
right.
"His
name
is
Dengler."
Schwartz turned to one of the
Dengler was
He had
balding
bandaged
Frazier guess
it
was
women and viewed
left
officers. "Bring
man wearing work
here."
hand, and the whiteness of the gauze
a recent injury.
the
him over
pants and an old
body with
Dengler nodded to the
shirt.
made
young
distaste.
"Do you know the dead man?" Schwartz
asked, shifting the cigar to
the opposite corner of his mouth.
"Nope."
"How
"No,
about the knife?
sir!
Is
it
from your kitchen?"
That's not one of ours."
"How'd you hurt your hand?"
The
landlord covered the bandage with his
length of pipe this afternoon.
bathroom
at the
end of the
It's
just a cut. I've
good hand. "Sawing a

been putting in a new
hall."
"Could one of you show
me
the downstairs kitchen?" Schwartz
asked.
469
"I'll
go,"
Nancy
volunteered.
"I
have milk and oranges to put
in the
refrigerator."
After Schwartz had completed his questioning and the
removed, Dengler stared
two were nice

peared
down
girls,"
the
bloodstained carpet.
at the
He shook
he told Ginny.
his
"I
body was
thought you
head
as
he disap-
stairs.
two women. "Dinner would get us away

You can't sit around this room all evening." Now that the body and the police were gone, Frazier realized
just how small the room was. Besides two narrow beds, it held two
dressers, a radiator, and a bookcase. A half-open closet door revealed
hatboxes and suitcases.
Frazier turned to face the
from here,
if
you're up to
it.
He's right," Ginny decided. "Gome on, Nancy. Let's have the Blue
Network buy us dinner."
Nancy led them to her favorite booth and hung up her raincoat.
Wearing a light blue sweater with a string of pearls and neatly tailored
navy
"I
looked
slacks, she
know
we should
you're upset,
anyone's
like
"
next door.
girl
Frazier said after they'd ordered, "but
try to figure out
why
"Maybe he was watching
man was
that
to see
think
following Ginny."
what time she got home," sug-
gested Nancy.
"Or when we both got home," Ginny added.

"But why?" asked Frazier. "And hadn't Dengler been there all day?"
"Yes," Ginny agreed, "but apparently he left early when he cut his
hand."
"So Keen saw his chance to get upstairs unnoticed."
"What was he
"I
though?"
after,
don't have a clue,"
"Do
either of
Ginny
Nancy
asked.
sighed.
you ever bring work home from the
"Oh, no," Nancy answered quickly.
"In
my
job
office?"
that's forbidden."
"Is there any way that Keen could know both of you? How'd you
two get together anyway?"
"Mr. Dengler ran an ad for the furnished room and we were the
first two arrivals," Ginny explained. "With the city so crowded we
decided to take
"The rent
fighting this
is
it
together."
outrageous,"
war
Nancy chimed
for the red, white,
lords are only after
and
something green,
After dinner he walked
them back
in.
"We're supposed to be
blue, but
like
Washington land-
money."
to their apartment. Both
were nervous about spending the night there, but they

better
470
when they saw
a patrol car parked across the
felt
street.
women
a little
"Don't worry," Frazier said, trying to reassure them. "Murderers

don't really return to the scene of the crime."
phoned Ginny and Nancy Saturday morning
Frazier
were
all
Taylor's
then he decided to drive out to
right,
Georgetown
When
address.
green Hudson was parked
Rosco Keen drive away
in
to see
if
they
Street to Joseph
he reached Taylor's house, a
the driveway, the same car he'd seen
Thursday afternoon.
up the driveway just as a young man
with a deep tan came out the side door and headed toward the back
of the house. Frazier followed, confronting him at the trash cans.
He
in last
car and started
left his
"Joseph Taylor?" he asked.

"That's me."
"I'm Sid Frazier,
was murdered
from the Blue Network.
A man named
Rosco Keen
You know him?"
last night.
"Never heard of him."

"That's odd.
He was
on Thursday."
driving your car
Army
Taylor started to turn away, then swung around, pulling an

.45 automatic
from beneath his jacket. Frazier dodged behind
can as the gun went
a trash
off.
Suddenly two men appeared from the driveway.

a flying leap at Taylor's back, bringing
again.
The
"Who
One of them made

him down before he could fire
other knelt quickly to handcuff him.
are you?" the
man with
the handcuffs asked Frazier.
"Sid Frazier from the Blue Network.
"Mr. Taylor
under
is
the
arrest,"
man
came
to interview Taylor."
answered, showing his FBI
credentials.
"May
ask
what the charge
is
against him?"
"Theft of currency from a Federal Reserve shipment."
"Hawaiian bank notes," Frazier
The men exchanged
When
said, as
if
Ginny
Frazier reached
found Ginny and Nancy
Pratt's
in slacks,
known
he'd always
glances. "You'd better
come with
apartment
scrubbing the
it.
us."
later that day,
floor.
he
"Hard work,"
he sympathized.
"We're almost finished,"
"That's good.
Nancy
said with a sigh.
thought you'd want to know the mystery
is
just
about wrapped up. Rosco Keen's partner, Joseph Taylor, was arrested
by the FBI
this
"I'm glad to
all
morning."
hear that," Ginny told him. "Nancy and
night, terrified the killer

"Tell us
were awake
might come back."
what happened," Nancy urged, putting down her scrub

471
brush and going to the closet. She started to
from the
one of the hatboxes
lift
shelf.
'Taylor and the dead man, Keen, learned about a special Federal
Reserve shipment of currency to Hawaii.
They
stole
two packages
containing $100,000 each, but one of the packages got away from
them. Keen was trying to recover
"Why was
he trying to recover
it
when he was
it
in
stabbed."
our apartment?" Ginny asked.
the door with the hatbox when Frazier

where it is. That's right, isn't it, Nancy?"
She tried to pull the hatbox away from him, and it fell to the floor.
Two summer hats spilled out and a package that split open as it
Nancy was walking toward
reached for
it.
"Because this
is
landed.
"Nancy!" Ginny gasped. "\5^here did that
Nancy
money come
from?"
struggled in Frazier's grasp, fighting like a cornered cat. "Sit
down," he ordered, dumping her onto the nearest bed.

Ginny. "Taylor was one of her boyfriends.
When
He
turned to
she heard about the
special Federal Reserve shipment, she misplaced the request for additional guards
and sent Taylor and Keen
Nancy
"That's crazy!"
"The
theft
was
burst, "until she
instead."
insisted, struggling to
her
feet.
a success," Frazier continued, ignoring Nancy's out-
made
off with half the loot. But
Keen spoiled her
plans."
The color drained from Nancy's face. "Did you kill him, Nancy?"
Ginny asked softly.
"I
it was self-defense! He had a knife. He would have killed
.
me!"
who was still frozen with disbelief. "Reyou told me about Hoover not allowing women to
wear slacks? Nancy was wearing them last night when she came in,
supposedly right from work and grocery shopping. She covered them
Frazier looked at Ginny,
member
the story
with her raincoat."
was too upset to notice," Ginny admitted.

"Nancy had been home earlier and changed her clothes. Why try
to hide the fact unless she was the killer? After stabbing Keen she
needed an alibi so she went out for groceries." He turned to Nancy.
'That was something else that gave you away. You carried the groceries upstairs rather than putting them away in the kitchen. You wanted
"1
Ginny
to see them."
Nancy stood there, shaking her head.

sisted. 'That money belonged to me!"
"It
was
self-defense," she in-
She broke away and ran into the hallway. Two FBI men were waiting for her at the top of the
472
stairs.
Ginny sank back into her

awake with me all last night,
chair.
as
"I
still
worried as
can't believe
I
it!
She was
was!"
"But for a different reason. With Keen dead she feared Taylor
would come after the money," Frazier explained.
Ginny looked at Nancy's rumpled bed and shook her head. "But
why did she do it?"
"Like she said last night
for something green."
Something Wrong
by
The
I
instant
walked into
stopped
my
flat,
Bill
Pronzini
knew something was wrong.
couple of paces through the door, with the hairs
ing at the nape of
my
neck. Kerry had entered ahead of
pull-
me and
she
was halfway across the room before she realized

wasn't following.
She turned, saw me standing rigid, and said immediately, "What's the
1
matter?"
I
didn't answer.
mismatched
kept searching the room with
furniture, the shelves containing
than six thousand pulp magazines, the bay
my
my
eyes: the old
collection of
more
window beyond which
thick San Francisco fog crawled sinuously across the night. There
were no signs of disturbance. Nor was there anything unusual to hear.

And yet the feeling of wrongness remained sharp and urgent. When
you've been a detective as long as
tective sixth sense
Somebody had
and you
have,
learn to trust
gotten in here while Kerry and
North Beach movie.

Somebody who was still here now?
Kerry came back toward me, saying
and
you develop
kind of pro-
it.
were out
to dinner
"Go out into the

"What for?"
hall,"
again, "What's the matter?"
said.
do it."
had been together long enough and she knew me well enough
not to argue. Frowning now, worry-eyed, she moved past me and out
"Just
We
into the hall.

I
shut the door after her and turned back to face the room. Noth-
473
...
ing out of place in here

quite right, but
now
or was there? Something didn't seem
couldn't identify
it
couldn't focus on anything right
except the possibility of the intruder
This was one of the few times
still
regretted
being on the premises.
my
fundamental distaste
do not carry or even own one.

picked up a heavy alabaster bookend, not much of a weapon but the
only one handy, and went across to the half -closed bedroom door.
Nobody in there, opened the closet and looked under the bed to
some
for guns; unlike
licensed Pis,
make sure. No evidence of invasion or forced entry, either not that

anybody could get in through the bedroom window, or any of the
other windows, without using a tall ladder. The bathroom was also
empty and undisturbed. So were the kitchen and the rear porch. The
back door, accessible by
Laguna
I
was
Street,
of outside stairs from an alley off

its
spring lock and chain lock.
returned to the bedroom, opened the middle dresser drawer.
which
leather case in
keep
amount of spare cash was

jewelry and
But
all
money were
my
my
still
few items of jewelry and
in place
under
my
The
a small
clean shirts.
The
likewise untouched.
of that reassured
of a violation of
it
set
secured by
still
me
only
private space,
seemed, somebody had gotten
in
a little.
The
feeling of wrongness,
would not go away. As unlikely as

during our absence. was as sure of
I
you can be of something unproven.

In the front room again,
opened the door and motioned for Kerry
to come back inside. Just in time, too. She is not the sort of woman to
stand by passively for very long, danger or no danger.
She said as she entered, "What is it? Burglars?"
it
as
"Something
I
got
like that."
down on one knee and examined
the front door.
made, but he
do
can't
either of these locks.
without a key
I
asked Kerry
the two dead-bolt locks on
professional burglar can get past the best dead-bolt
it
without leaving marks,- there were none on
Nobody could have come
in
this
way, then,
if
she had lost or misplaced her key recently,- she said
Mine hadn't been out of my possession either. And ours

were the only two keys to the flat. Not even the landlord had one:
had lived here for more than twenty years and had had the locks
changed more than once at my own expense.
she hadn't.
Kerry asked,
"Is
anything missing?"
"Doesn't seem to be. Nothing disturbed, no sign of forced entry.

But
can't shake the feeling
"For
"I
474
what reason,
don't
know
if
yet."
someone was
not to
steal
in here."
something?"
"How
"I
could somebody get
don't
We
know
prowled the
together,
flat
was absolutely nothing missing.
and on the back door,

with as
far as
could
come from
hadn't
We
to room and back again. There

checked the locks on the windows
did find a half-inch sliver of metal on the
same
sort of brass as the chain lock. But
make sure. It could

about anything made of brass, then,-
the lock because
have been splintered

could have
room
I
were secure and had not been tampered
all
tell.
floor of the utility porch, the

it
with everything locked up tight?"
in,
that either."
off just
room
the front
in
checked
to
'
lain there for days.
were
again
when Kerry
said,
with an edge of
exasperation in her voice, "You must be wrong. There couldn't have
been an
intruder."
wrong,"
"I'm not
said.
"Even great detectives have hot flashes sometimes."

'This
"Did
isn't
say
her patience
funny, Kerry."
was?" She sighed elaborately, the
it
is
being
way she does when
going to make some coffee," she
tried. "I'm
said.
"You want a cup?"

"Yes. All right."
She went out
into the kitchen.
and kept looking around
stayed in the middle of the
turning my eyes and my body both
in
room
slow
quadrants. Couch, end tables, coffee table, leather recliner Kerry had
me on my
given
last
birthday, shelves
secretary desk. All just as we'd

be.
made another slow

bookshelves, desk.
cliner,
The
The
left
circuit:
And
full
of gaudy-spined pulps, old
Yet something wasn't as
it.
it
should
couch, end tables, coffee table,
a third circuit:
re-
couch, tables, recliner
recliner.
chair's footrest
was pushed
in,
out of sight.
make it any less wrong. The

good one, comfortable, but the footrest has never worked
quite right. To get it folded all the way back under on its metal
hinges, you have to give it a kick,- and when you sit down again later,
you have to struggle to work it free so you can recline. So
don't
bother anymore to boot it all the way under. always leave the footIt
chair
was
is
a sm.all thing,
but that didn't
rest part
Why
way
out,
with
its
metal hinges showing.
would an intruder bother
conceivable reason: he thought
wanted the chair

messing around
"Jesus,"
it
to kick
it
out of sight?
was supposed
to look completely natural. But
my
chair in the
said aloud,
and the
first
place
Only one
way and
to be that
why would he
be
hair pulled again along
my
neck.
475
moved over
to the recliner, gingerly eased the seat cushion out so
could see under
it.
What was looking at then was a bomb.

Two sticks of dynamite wired together with some
I
plate
on
top, set into a
the fabric so that
The weight
chair's inner springs.
would depress the
slit in
kind of detonator
was resting on the
it
of a person settling onto the cushion
and explode the dynamite
plate
"My God!"
Kerry was standing behind me, staring open-mouthed
in
the chair.
"Not
"I
a burglar after all,"
said
in to
don't hear any ticking," she said.
"It's
a pressure -activated
about as long as
who
"But
bomb, not
we stay away from

?"
why
.
a time
bomb. Nothing
to worry
it.
caught her arm and steered her into the bedroom, where
phone.
named
rang up the Hall of Justice, got through to a cop
Jordan, and explained the situation.
bomb
with the
When
hung
How
did whoever
just don't
it
by the time the police
for her then. But
along with
Howard
it,
still
underlocked.
arrived,
the
did have an answer
had the who and the why.
only
He and Kerry and

bomb squad to finish up inside.
on Clement. He hired me about a month
Lynch,"
said to Jordan.
the hallway, waiting for the
in
"Owns
is
"I
And
possible answer.
name
keep
knew
be right over
and windows were locked they're

was get in and back out again?"
had done some hard thinking and
"His
said he'd
up, Kerry said in a shaky voice,
had no answer
were
He
squad.
stand. All the doors
the thing
something. This."
leave
my
at
come in.
grimly. "Somebody who came
hadn't even heard her
hardware store out
ago to find
his wife, said she'd run off
but nobody could blame her.
with another man. She had, too,
found out
later
Lynch had been abus-
ing her for years."
why would he want to kill you?"

"He blames me for his wife's death," said. "I found her, all right,
but when
told her Lynch was my employer she panicked and took
off in her boyfriend's car. She didn't get far
a tree stopped her three
"So
blocks away."
"Pretty story."
'That's the kind of business we're
"Don't
know
it.
"No. He's the kind
476
in.
Mack."
Did Lynch threaten you?"
who
nurses his hatred in silence."
'Then what makes you so sure
who
the one
he's
planted the
bomb?"
"He showed up here one night

was
to give
me
check
for
my
week
after the accident. Said
and to
services
me
tell
knew about
there were
it
no
the wife abuse by then, but still felt sorry

enough not to be suspicious and to let him in. He
wasn't here long, just long enough to sneak a look around."
Kerry said, "I don't see why the bomber has to be somebody who
was here before tonight."
hard feelings.
for
him
sorry
'That's the only
way
it
makes
sense.
To begin
with, he had to have
The winempty space below them.

There are no marks of any kind on the front-door locks, no way he
could have gotten a key, and he would have had a hard time even
gotten in tonight through one of the doors, front or back.
dows
are
all
secure and there's nothing but
getting into the building because of the security lock on the main
entrance downstairs. That leaves the alley staircase and the back
door."
"But that one
"Right. But
was
double-locked
is
one of the locks
is
too."
a spring type, the
kind anybody can
pick with a small tool or a credit card."
"You can't pick
a chain lock
with a tool or
a credit card,"
Jordan
said.
"No, but once the spring lock

inches
wide enough
floor.
Easy work for a

it:
When
man who owns
he was here the
lock on the rear door,-
tonight was an exact
the door will open a few
free,
That explains the brass
snip the chain.
rest of
is
to reach through with a pair of bolt cutters
among
first
sliver
hardware
store,
and so
is
new ones
the
time he noted the type of chain
the other things he brought with him
duplicate of that lock.
After he was inside, he un-
screwed the old chain-lock plates from the door and jamb and
stalled the
and
found on the porch
using the same holes
in-
job that wouldn't have
taken more than a few minutes.
Then he reset the spring lock, put the

new chain on, and took the pieces of the old lock away with him
when he was done planting the bomb."
"If he relocked the door," Jordan said, "how did he get out of the
flat?"
"Walked out through the front door. The locks there
are
but you can open them from inside by hand, without a
can reset them the same
Simple
way
to lock automatically
dead
key,-
bolts,
and you
when you
leave.
as that."
There were
few seconds of ruminative
silence.
Then Kerry shud477
dered and
down
sat
said,
God you
'Thank
in that chair
felt
something was wrong.
If
you'd
."
.
"Don't even think about
it,
"
said.
Souls Burning
hy
Hotel Majestic, Sixth
address
Street,
a hell of a place for
up housekeeping. Sixth
used to be called
more than
for
I'd
hell of
an
an ex-con not long out of Folsom to set
Street, south of
Market
South
the heart of the city's Skid
A name
recognized
years since
Francisco.
Pronzini
of the Slot,
it
Road and has been
half a century.
Eddie Quinlan.
which
is
downtown San
Bill
and
when he
a voice out of the past,
neither of
called that morning. Close to seven
had seen or spoken
to him, six years since
I'd
even
thought of him. Eddie Quinlan. Edgewalker, shadow-man with no
real
substance or purpose, drifting along the narrow catwalk that separates
conventional society from the underworld. Information
seller, gofer,
small-time bagman, doer of any insignificant job, legitimate or other-
would help keep him in food and shelter, liquor and cigaof man you looked at but never really saw: a modernday Yehudi, the little man who wasn't there. Eddie Quinlan. Nobody,
loser
fall guy. Drug bust in the Tenderloin one night six and a half
years ago,- one dealer setting up another, and Eddie Quinlan, smalltime bagman, caught in the middle, hard-assed judge, five years in
Folsom, goodbye Eddie Quinlan. And the drug dealers? They walked,
wise, that
rettes.
The kind
of course. Both of them.
And now Eddie was out, had been out for six months. And after six
months of freedom, he'd called me. Would come to his room at the
Hotel Majestic tonight around eight? He'd tell me why when he saw
me. It was real important would
come? All right, Eddie. But
couldn't figure it.
had bought information from him in the old days,
bits and pieces for five or ten dollars, maybe he had something to sell
now. Only wasn't looking for anything and hadn't put the word
I
out, so
If
478
why
pick
you're smart
me
to call?
you don't park your car on the
street at night.
South
of the Slot.
put mine in the Fifth and Mission Garage at 7:45 and
walked over to
were
that
as
is
Sixth.
It
now
wet, but
still
had rained most of the day and the
The kind
the sky was cold and clear.
hard as black
glass, so that light
of night
seems to bounce
dark instead of shining through
it,
and sharp
and the wet surfaces that the
reflecting off the night
lights
and
streets
off the
their colors so bright
glare
is
your eyes.
like splinters against
Friday night, and Sixth Street was teeming. Sidewalks
jammed
old men, young men, bag ladies, painted ladies, blacks, whites, Asians,
addicts, pushers, muttering mental cases, drunks leaning against walls
in tight little clusters
while they shared paper-bagged bottles of sweet
wine and cans of malt
new
outfits
topped
men and women
liquor,
off
red-and-white canes, some of the canes
who
in filthy rags, in
smart
with sunglasses, carrying ghetto blasters and
could see as well as
in
the hands of individuals
could, and a hidden array of guns and
knives and other lethal instruments.
Cheap
hotels,
greasy spoons,
seedy taverns, and liquor stores complete with barred windows and
open well past midnight. Laughter,

and dickering. The stenches of urine
cynical proprietors that stayed

shouts, curses, threats, bickering
and vomit and unwashed bodies and rotgut
liquor,
and over those
like
an umbrella, the subtle effluvium of despair. Predators and prey, half
hidden
shadow, half revealed
in
in
the bright, sharp dazzle of fluores-
cent lights and bloody neon.

It
was
warily.
I
mean
may be
look like what
hooker
in
am.
Two winos
an orange wig tried to
no one gave me any
The
one of the meanest, and
street, Sixth,
fifty-eight but I'm a big
Majestic was
brick, just off
man and
tried to
sell
me
walked
it
walk hard too, and
panhandle
me and
a fat
a piece of her tired body, but
trouble.
five stories
Howard
of old
wood and
Street. In front of its
plaster
and
narrow entrance,
dirty
a crack
dealer and one of his customers were haggling over the price of a
baggie of rock cocaine,- neither of them paid any attention to
moved
night.
past them.
It's
regularly;
Drug
deals
go down
in
me
as
the open here, day and
not that the cops don't care, or that they don't patrol Sixth
just that the dealers
it's
Skid Road any crime
less
outnumber them ten
severe than aggravated assault
is
to one.
On
strictly
low
priority.
Small, barren lobby:

nia
old
hung
in the air like
man with dead
want
to see.
said,
no
furniture of
swamp
gas.
any kind. The smell of ammo-
Behind the cubbyhole desk was an
eyes that would never see anything they didn't

"Eddie Quinlan," and he said, "Two-oh-two" with-
479
There was an elevator but it had an Out of

went up the adjacent stairs.
The disinfectant smell permeated the second floor hallway as well.
Room 202 was just off the stairs, fronting on Sixth,- one of the metal
used
2s on the door had lost a screw and was hanging upside down.
out moving his
Order
sign
on
lips.
dust speckled the sign.
it;
my
knuckles just below
"Yeah?"
Scraping noise inside, and
it.
identified myself.
wobbled open, and
for the
voice said,
lock clicked, a chain rattled, the door
time in nearly seven years
first
was look-
ing at Eddie Quinlan.
He
hadn't changed much. Little guy, about five-eight, and past
now. Thin, nondescript
forty
The
features, pale eyes,
hair the color of
was thinner and the lines in his face were longer and
deeper, almost like incisions where they bracketed his nose. Otherwise he was the same Eddie Quinlan.
sand.
hair
"Hey," he said, "thanks for coming.
mean
it,
thanks."
"Sure, Eddie."
"Come on in."
The room made me
packing
them
think of a box
the
inside of a
huge rotting
Four bare walls with the scaly remnants of paper on
crate.
like psoriatic skin,
bare uncarpeted floor, unshaded bulb hanging
The bulb was dark,- what light there

was came from a low- wattage reading lamp and a wash of red-andgreen neon from the hotel's sign that spilled in through a single window. Old iron-framed bed, unpainted nightstand, scarred dresser,
straight-backed chair next to the bed and in front of the window,
alcove with a sink and toilet and no door, closet that wouldn't be
from the center of
much
larger than a coffin.
"Not much,
I
a bare ceiling.
is
it,"
Eddie
said.
didn't say anything.
He
it. "Only place

on the bed? Sheets
shut the hall door, locked
there. Unless
you want
keep things clean
as
to
sit
to
sit is
that chair
are clean.
try to
can."
"Chair's fine."
I
went across
to
it,-
Eddie put himself on the bed.
Some
A room
with a
you could look

down past Howard and up across Mission almost two full blocks of
the worst street in the city, it was so close you could hear the beat of
its pulse, the ugly sounds of its living and its dying.
"So why did you ask me here, Eddie? If it's information for sale, I'm
view, he'd said on the phone.
view. Sitting here
not buying right now."
"No, no, nothing

"Is
480
that right?"
like that.
ain't in
the business any more."
me
"Prison taught
casm or irony
"I'm glad to
been
"I
hear
good
drink, ain't even
"What
are
goods
got rehabilitated." There was no
been
got out.
No
lie.
haven't had a
in a bar."
you doing
money?"
for
"Shipping department at a wholesale sporting
said.
nodded. "What
sar-
it."
on Brannan.
outfit
he said them matter-of-factly.
citizen ever since
got a job," he
"I
a lesson.
in the words,-
don't pay
It
much
but
it's
honest work."
you want, Eddie?"

"Somebody can talk to, somebody who'll understand that's all
want. You always treated me decent. Most of 'em, no matter who they
were, they treated me like
wasn't even human. Like
was a turd or
I
is
it
something."
"Understand what?"
"About what's happening down there."
"Where? Sixth Street?"

"Look at it," he said. He reached over and tapped the window,stared through it. "Look at the people
there, you see that guy in
the wheelchair and the one pushing him? Across the street there?"
.
The man in the wheelchair wore a

had a heavy wool blanket across his lap,the black man manipulating him along the crowded sidewalk was
leaned closer to the
glass.
military camouflage jacket,
thick-bodied, with a shiny bald head.
"White guy's name
him
in
on
tic,
'Nam and now

this floor
is
see them."
"I
Baxter," Eddie said.
"Grenade blew up under
he's a paraplegic. Lives right here in the
down
at the end.
room. Elroy, the black dude,
is
his
Majes-
Deals crack and smack out of his
bodyguard and roommate. Mean,

killed a guy over on Minna
head with a brick. You believe it?"
both of 'em. Couple of months ago, Elroy

that tried to
stiff
believe
"I
"And they
"Before
see
went
to prison
lived
never saw what they were.

it
clear
Not
the worst."
and worked with people
mean
just
every day walking back and
from up here.
you
the worst on the street.
ain't
believe that too."
"I
and
them. Busted his
it."
It
makes you
never saw
it.
like that
Now
do,
forth to work, every night
sick after a while, the things
you
see
when
see 'em clear."
"Why
don't you move?"

"Where to? can't afford no place better than this."
"No better room, maybe, but why not another neighborhood? You
don't have to live on Sixth Street."
"Wouldn't be much better, any other neighborhood
could buy
I
481
into.
They're
Used
to be
Now
over the city now, the ones
all
was
it
just
like
Baxter and Elroy.
Skid Road and the Tenderloin and the ghettos.
more and more every
they're everywhere,
day.
You know?"
know."
"I
"Why? It don't have to be this way, does it?"

Hard times, bad times: alienation, poverty, corruption, too much
government, not enough government, lack of social services, lack of
caring, drugs like a cancer destroying society. Simplistic explanations
at all and as dehumanizing as the ills they
didn't want to repeat
was tired of hearing them and
said nothing.
them, to Eddie Quinlan or anybody else. So
He shook his head. "Souls burning everywhere you go," he said,
and it was as if the words hurt his mouth coming out.
that
were no explanations
described.
Souls burning. "You find religion at Folsom, Eddie?"

don't know, maybe a little. Chaplain we had there,
him sometimes. He used to say that about the hard-timers,
that their souls were burning and there wasn't nothing he could do to
put out the fire. They were doomed, he said, and they'd doom others
"Religion?
talked to
to burn with 'em."
had nothing
to say to that either, in the small silence a voice
from outside said

pipe?"
was cold
It
Next
the window.
cold
in
too,-
what you
distinctly, "Dirty bastard,
to the
doin' with
my
with the hard bright night pressing against
in there,
door was
the heat would not be on
a rusty
steam radiator but
more than
few hours
it
a day,
was
even
the dead of winter, in the Hotel Majestic.
way
"That's the
long,
"Don't
let
"Don't
it
".
.
way
said, "If
too
it's
burning. All day
his
head up and down. "You want to do something, you

fix it somehow, put out the fires. There has
to try to
"
can't tell
He
said. "Souls
Sometimes."
Yes.
Eddie
fire."
get to you."
it
know? You want

"I
in the city,"
get to youi"
He bobbed
to be a
it is
night long, souls on
all
you what
we
all
it
is,"
said.
just did something.
It
ain't
too
late.
You
don't think
all,
you
just
late?"
"No."
"Me
neither. There's
"Hope,
faith,
still
hope."
blind optimism
"You got to believe," he
said,
sure."
nodding. "That's
got to
believe."
Angry voices rose suddenly from

482
outside,- a
woman
screamed, thin
and
brittle.
damp
air
Eddie came off the bed, hauled up the window sash. Chill
and
came pouring
street noises
shouts, cries, horns honk-
in:
ing, cars
whispering on the wet pavement, a Muni bus clattering along
Mission,
more
shrieks.
He
leaned out, peering downward.
"Look," he said, "look."

I
On
stretched forward and looked.
in a leopard-skin
one doing the
the sidewalk below, a hooker
coat was running wildly toward Howard,- she was the
Chasing behind
yelling.
her, tight black skirt
over the tops of net stockings and hairy thighs, was
rouged transvestite waving
pocket knife.
hiked up
hideously
group of winos began
laughing and chanting "Rape! Rape!" as the hooker and the transvestite
ran zig-zagging out of sight on
Eddie pulled his head back

face
seem
Howard.
The
in.
flickery
he said sadly. "Night
after night,
day
way
my
room and Eddie Quinlan and

what
skin.
his
it
intense,
it
had enough of
I'd
penetrated
my
and of
this
it,
Sixth Street.
you want from me?"

already told you. Talk to somebody who understands how
"Eddie, just
"I
down
is
it
"Ain't
it
you asked me
here?"
enough?"
"For you, maybe."
He
is
it
there."
that the only reason
"Is
is,"
after day."
With the window open, the cold was

clothing and crawled on
got to
didn't argue. "Sure,
my
else
"Nothing
else."
feet.
"I'll
say?"
to the door with me, unlocked
then put out his hand. 'Thanks for coming.

"Yeah.
Good
"You too," he
went out
be going now."
you go ahead."
you want to
He walked
"Nothing
neon wash made
surreal, like a hallucinogenic vision. 'That's the
appreciate
it,
and
it,
really do."
luck, Eddie."
said.
"Keep the faith."

and the door shut gently and the lock
into the hall,
clicked behind me.
Downstairs, out of the Majestic, along the

the garage where
I'd
left
my
car.
And
all
mean street and back to

way kept thinking:
the
more he wanted from me

him by going there and listening to him. But what?
There's something else, something
and
gave
What
I
tins
it
to
did he really want?
found out
later that night.
It
was
all
over the
TV special
bulle-
and then the eleven o'clock news.
Twenty minutes
dow
after
left
him, Eddie Quinlan stood
at
the win-
of his room-with-a-view, and in less than a minute, using a high-
483
powered semiautomatic rifle he'd taken from the sporting goods outfit
where he worked, he shot down fourteen people on the street below.
Nine dead, five wounded, one of the wounded in critical condition
and not expected to live. Six of the victims were known drug dealers,all of the others also had arrest records, for crimes ranging from prostitution to burglary. Two of the dead were Baxter, the paraplegic exVietnam vet, and his bodyguard, Elroy.
By the time the cops showed up. Sixth Street was empty except for
the dead and the dying. No more targets. And up in his room, Eddie
Quinlan had sat on the bed and put the rifle's muzzle in his mouth
and used his big toe to pull the trigger.
My first reaction was to blame myself. But how could I have known
or even guessed? Eddie Quinlan. Nobody, loser, shadow-man without
substance or purpose. How could anyone have figured him for a thing
like that?
Somebody
No.
self
I can talk
What
he'd
wanted was somebody
what he was about
note.
somebody who'll understand
to,
to do.
Somebody he could
Somebody
trust to pass
it
that's all I
him
to help
want.
justify to
him-
to record his verbal suicide
on afterward,
tell it
right
and
true to the world.
You want
out the
fires.
to
do something, you know? You want
There has
to be
to
try
Nine dead, five wounded, one of the wounded

and not expected to live. Not that way.
Souls burning. All
The
The
soul that
day
to
j\x
it
somehow, put
a way.
long, all night long,
souls
on
in critical
condition
fire.
had burned tonight was Eddie Quinlan's.
Spell of the Black Siren

by Dick Donovan
when Trill was

which had in it all the
elements of a startling romance. The gentleman whose name figured
so prominently in the story was very well known in London society,
and was regarded as one of the brilliant band of young men whom the
It
was towards the end of
spring,
some
suddenly called upon to investigate
late Earl of
484
Beaconsfield
then
plain
years ago,
a case
Mr. Disraeli
spoke
of as 'the
coming moulders of England's destiny.' This prediction has been

somewhat falsified, although one or two of the band have certainly
distinguished themselves.
At the period that the events
am
about to relate occurred, the
Hon. Richard Shaw Fenton was a confidential clerk in the War Office,
where he was looked upon with very great favour by his superiors. He
was the son of Lord Jeffery Fenton, who so greatly distinguished himself during the Crimean War, and was honoured by being presented
with the freedom of his native town and a jewelled sword subscribed
for by his fellow townsmen.
Young Fenton was a handsome man, endowed apparently with almost all those qualities which are calculated to endear men to men,
and beget the love and admiration of women. He was unmarried, and
consequently he was in much request by designing mammas,- for although he had little to look forward to apart from his own efforts, it
was confidently anticipated that he would rise to high position, as he
had powerful friends at court. And xhis advantage, backed up by his
own
abilities
and ambition, could not
fail
so
people said
to ulti-
mately give him power and wealth.
One
evening, about nine o'clock, he
left
the
War
Office in a han-
som, bearing some very important documents, which he was charged

to deliver personally to a distinguished General temporarily residing
at
Hyde
Park Gate, where he was confined to his room by
attack of gout.
It
was during
a severe
period of excitement caused by strained
between Great Britain and France. A territorial difficulty had

between the two countries, and there had been such a conflict
of opinion that matters had reached an acute stage, and in both countries the shameless catch-penny representatives of the press had inrelations
arisen
dulged in threats and recriminations, and had openly talked of war.

There had been an unusual number of 'Meetings of the Cabinet.' The
air was thick with rumours. The public mind was in that supersensitive
condition when definiteness would have been hailed with joy as a
relief
from vagueness and suspense. The ignorant oracles of the
half-
penny evening rags had produced a morbid tension of the nerves

and sensational innuendo had lost its
was
effect. A real sensation
needed, a something that would divert
attention for the moment from the one burning topic of conversation
the topic which had completely overshadowed that ever-fruitful
one of the weather. People talked of war instead of the weather. Even
amongst the unthinking
classes,
the barber
who
shaved you forgot his stock theme, and questioned his
victim as to what he thought the issue of
The
sensation so
much needed came
it
all
would
at last. In
be.
the early light of
485
the spring morning, a policeman pacing his weary rounds in the
neighborhood of Sloane Square noticed
The
hansom cab drawn up by
was on his
accustomed rank, stood limp-legged and with drooped head. The
the railings of the square.
reins
were hanging loosely on
horse, probably thinking he
his back.
The
driver
was on
his perch,
but the upper half of his body was prone on the roof of the cab.
Inside
was
feet.
Like the driver he
efforts of the
on
policeman
and
his highly polished hat lying at his
seemed sunk
either of them. Indeed
it
in
profound slumber, and
aid,
police station.
its
men were
do not
dead. So he
burden were taken to the. nearest
There the two insensible men were hauled
once the police inspector on duty proved that

force
hastily
jump
all
out,
members
to the conclusion that because a

is
the
suddenly dawned upon the policeman,
and the cab and
speechless and helpless he
all
produce the slightest arousing effect
failed to
with the suddenness of a shock, that both
summoned
crum-
a fare, a gentleman, well dressed, but with shirt front
pled, his neckgear disarranged,
and
for
of the
man
is
necessarily drunk, for he secured the
assistance without loss of time of the divisional police surgeon.
When
pronounced the cab-driver in extremis, and

that pronouncement was soon verified, for a ghastly pallor spread itself over his face and his heart ceased to beat. The fare still breathed
stertorously, and vigorous means were taken to restore animation. Visiting cards which he had on his person proved that he was no other
than the Hon. Richard Shaw Fenton of the War Office.
After about an hour's treatment the patient was so far reanimated
that his removal with all speed to the hospital was decided on, and an
ambulance having been secured, he was conveyed to St. George's
Hospital, and a messenger was despatched to inform his friends.
Now here at once was a first-class mystery, but, as was subsequently proved, it was only the beginning. For the succeeding two or
three days Fenton lay in a half-dazed state, and was incapable of answering rationally the questions put to him,- but one thing and a
very important thing, too was brought to light. The documents he
was conveying from the War Office to the General had not reached
the person to whom they were addressed,- they had disappeared, and
Mr. Fenton could give no information about them. His mind seemed a
that gentleman arrived, he
perfect blank.
The post-mortem
examination, which was perforce made, of the
remains of the unfortunate cabman, revealed the fact that he had

fallen a victim to
some powerful
drug,
which had acted
as a heart-
depressant, and his heart being constitutionally weak, he had suc-
cumbed.
486
In Fenton's case his heart
had managed
to struggle against
the effects of the drug, but
and
irritable state that
condition of absolute
In the
it
had been
left in
such a highly nervous
was considered advisable to keep him
it
in a
rest.
meantime Vincent
documents were precious
Trill
had been
set to
The
work.
missing
indeed, of such vital importance that his
were that he must recover them, if possible, at all cost.

As may be supposed, there was a great deal more beneath the surface than appeared. The prying and inquisitive reporter got hold of
the broad facts as given above, but he could get no more, for the
friends of the Hon. Richard Shaw Fenton, and the authorities alike
instructions
were desirous of hushing the matter up,

reporter,
obvious reasons, so the
for
with the monumental impudence
for
which he
invented a highly plausible story one day, to contradict
it
framed,
is
and invent
another the next.

In
order to supply the necessary evidence at the adjourned inquest
the viscera of the
cabman had been subjected
to analysis, and the
report that was finally brought up was to the effect that the
man had
died from the administration of a very powerful narcotic, but what
was could not be determined. Mr. Fenton, who had so

as to
be able to give evidence
far
it
recovered
adjourned inquest, stated that he
at the
hired the cab in Pall Mall, that on his
way
an hotel, where he met two friends, with
to
Hyde
whom
Park he called at
he remained
con-
in
versation for nearly an hour. That previous to leaving the hotel he
ordered some whisky and soda to be given to the cabman.
and was driven
got into the cab,
off,
This remarkable story was promptly investigated.
be
true.
The
He
then
and remembered nothing more.
hotel was a highly respectable house.
It
was proved to
The two
friends
mentioned were well-known gentlemen, who swore that when Fenton

left
there was nothing whatever the matter with him, while the land-
lord of the house indignantly disputed the insinuation that the fatal
drug had been administered

tently. Trill's
tion, so
mystery
Trill
as ever.
It
may be
failed to disprove this asser-
as well to state
to the conclusion that for
Shaw Fenton had
cealing something
house either wilfully or inadver-
an open verdict was returned, and the mystery was as great a
came
Richard
at his
most searching investigation
lied,
here at once that Vincent
some
terrible reason the
Hon.
and, for reasons of his own, was con-
which might have thrown
light
on the
affair. It
only too evident that the drugging was done after the hotel was
was
left,-
but as Fenton persisted in his statement, and nothing else could be
dragged from him, there was no other course

solve the mystery
left
but to endeavour to
by such means as the clever detective was capable

487
of
commanding. There were three things
that suggested themselves to
Trill:
Fenton had called somewhere
Firstly,
Secondly,
it
else after leaving the hotel.
was known that he was the bearer of very important
papers.
Thirdly, he had been drugged in order that the papers might be

stolen.
seemed logical enough, did

cabman should have been
drugged too. At least, at first it did not, but on pondering on the
subject, it gradually dawned upon Trill that whoever had administered
the drug intended that it should (and hoped that it would) prove fatal
in each case, so that the mystery would remain a mystery for ever. It
was very obvious that Mr. Fenton had strong reasons for concealing
the truth, and that seemed to suggest
to Trill, at any rate, it did
that he had been where he ought not to have been, and the attraction
that had drawn him there was, in all probability, a woman. That
woman held the key to the problem, and unless she could be found
the problem would go unsolved.
It has been stated that Fenton was a bachelor, and in much request
at houses where there were marriageable daughters, and was very well
known to a large number of ladies moving in good society in London.
He occupied apartments in St. James's Street, and was regarded as a
very reserved and secretive man, by no means given to making confidants. Although all Fenton's friends believed, or professed to believe,
that no blame was attachable to him, the authorities took another
view,- and as the loss of the papers was not only a very serious thing in
itself but proved that Fenton was not reliable. Trill did not abandon
This reasoning, however, although
not suggest a rational theory as to
it
why
the
his quest.
When
for
some
Fenton
left
the hospital he was
time, during
visitors save his
which he kept to
most intimate
still
unwell, and remained so
his
rooms, and received no
friends. But three
weeks
after leaving
the hospital he had so far recovered his health and spirits as to accept
an invitation to be the guest of a lady of fashion
Haslemere. This lady
She was, or was supposed

those
who
who
resided near
was very wealthy.

but
did
was very
Mrs. Gerald Vandelour

to be, the
widow
partook of her hospitality
of a military officer,
^which
lavish
not allow any vagueness or uncertainty as to her past to stand as a
between them and her entertainments. Her house was a magarmy of servants, and lived in a style
that suggested that money was no object.
When Fenton arrived he found a large number of guests already
488
barrier
nificent one,- she kept quite an
assembled.
On
the following day there was to be a garden
on
Jete
magnificent scale, and a huge marquee was in process of erection on
showy and
the extensive lawn. Mrs. Gerald Vandelour was a very
seductive-looking
woman, with
and white complexion
due
mass of
in a large
measure to
She was
lithe.
he had been
and
pink
a figure
seemed
him under her wing, and treated him much as
particularly attentive to Fenton: indeed, she
to patronise him, took

if
art
was graceful withal
that inclined to stoutness,- but, nevertheless, she
and
and
fluffy fair hair,
a great boy.
Amongst the
was
guests
a singularly striking
woman:
woman
so
dark that she might have passed for a Spanish gipsy. She had ravenblack hair, intensely dark flashing eyes, an imperious bearing, and a
commanding, haughty manner. She was a woman

beauty, and yet there was something
a something
lutely indescribable
about her
age she was under
thirty-five,
was known
'Madame
as
Fenton looked
near
it
seemed
as
ill,
if
of
marvellous
that
was abso-
that repelled rather than attracted. In
but might have passed for thirty. She
Revel.'
haggard, and worn, and whenever
he
tried to avoid her.
And
yet,
Madame was
when opportunity
on him sweetly, her white
offered, she courted his society: she smiled
teeth gleamed, and her dark flashing eyes peered into his until his
drooped and he turned from
The
jete
was
her.
a brilliant affair.
Beauty and youth were strongly
evidence. Light, flowers, music, sweet scents, laughter, gaiety

difficult to
imagine that there was
heavy heart amongst that
throng, or sorrow and suffering anywhere.

air
was
heavy,- the stars
shone through
was
It
made
it
brilliant
a languid night.
a haze,- a crescent
in
moon
The
sailed
dreamily amongst filmy clouds. At eleven o'clock dancing and music

ceased, in order that the guests might partake of supper in the great
marquee, where an army of waiters were ready to minister to the
wants of the (apparently) light-hearted people. But when the guests

took their seats two persons were absent. They were
and Fenton.
fellow,
waiter was also absent
Madame
mooning, clumsy
Revel
sort of
who had been rated several times during the evening for his
He was known as John Stokes, and when the supper was in
stupidity.
full
swing John Stokes was nowhere to be found. Not that
it
mattered
very much, for there were plenty of attendants without him,- but
he ought to have done

length in the
shadow
his duty. Instead of that
of
some beech
he was lying
still,
at full
trees in a secluded part of the
grounds. But he wasn't asleep: oh, dear, no!
With
senses keenly alert,
with eyes and ear strained, he was witnessing a scene as weird, as
489
startling
and dramatic
as
even the most vivid imagination could con-
ceive.
The night was not dark. The crescent moon and the stars shed a
dreamy Ught over the scene. The trees were sharply outlined, and
looked ghostly and grim. The light breeze that stirred the foliage
somehow sounded like a human moan of pain,- and the laughter and
conversation of the revellers
subdued by distance only seemed to
accentuate the silence of the night that brooded like a spell of enchantment over the landscape. From his concealment in the shadow
of the beeches, Stokes, the waiter, gazed on a lawn, in the centre of
which was a very fine statue, by Canova, of Apollo stringing a lyre.
Against the pedestal of the statue was a rustic seat, and two persons
occupied it. They were the wonderfully handsome Madame Revel
who might have been the spirit of the scene, the goddess of night
and the Hon. Richard Shaw Fenton.
At such a time and under such circumstances, it might have been
supposed that the man had led the lady to the seclusion, away from
the fret of the throng, that he might pour into her ears an impas-
sioned tale such as a

charms, but so
of being
The
ill
far
man
from
tells
this
when he
has fallen a prey to beauty's
being the case Fenton had given evidence
at ease.
conversation between the twain was carried on in low tones,
so that the strained ears of Stokes could catch no portion of
it,
but his
would have found no

difficulty in interpreting. At times Fenton would start up as if he intended to break from his companion,- but then would she stretch forth
a white jewelled hand which touched his and caused him to sink into
keen vigilant eyes saw signs that even
the seat again.
Two
a fool
or three times he covered his face with his hands
and sighed; and once while
in this attitude
repeated twice floated to the ears of the
wrung exclamation from one who was
word
the
listener.
It
'Never, never!'
was
like
mind. Almost immediately after he sprang to his feet as

influence of
some
forth her hand,
stern resolution, but
though
this
subtle
air,
magic he stood motionless
like
under the
stretched
and
for a
as
if
made
she had put forth some
few moments, and then sank
one whose volition had gone. She passed her hand over
head and down
his face twice.
He
shuddered
as
otherwise remained motionless and statue-like.
drew from her pocket a little book, and with

write down something that he was saying.
if
his
convulsed, but
The charmer then
gold pencil began to
This strange scene lasted for about ten minutes. Then
490
if
Madame
once more
time she did not touch him. She
strange and mystic passes in the
back
the soul-
suffering unbearable torture of
Madame
rose
and departed
time the
the rustle of her silken
silently, save for
man
sat in a
zen into the stony
He
heap and motionless.

but at
stillness of death,
some
For
skirts.
might have been
fro-
the influence of the
last
and with another convulsive shudder and a muffled cry

on his face on the sward. Stokes emerged from his hidingplace, and kneeling down examined him, and as he seemed to be in a
faint, Stokes hurried away, and procuring brandy returned to find Fen-
spell passed,
he
fell
ton partly revived and sitting up.

'I
beg your pardon,
Thank
ill
found you lying here,

some brandy. Here it is.'
said the man,- 'but
sir,'
and thinking you were
hurried for
you, thank you,' answered Fenton, and seizing the glass
down
with a nervous clutch he tossed the potent liquid

face
filled
was of
them with
a strange, unnatural,
his feet and, pressing
bless
my
life!
How
both
his
how
strange!
tion. Please leave me,-
light.
He
His
his eyes
staggered to
murmured: 'God
must have
been
am
ill,-
obliged for your atten-
wish to be alone.'
bowed and withdrew,
waiter
on
his temples,
strange! Yes, I've

will do!
his throat.
rays falling
unearthly
hands to
thank you, that
fainted. There,
The
moon
a ghastly pallor,- but the
he beheld Fenton sink into the
seat
but not
and,
far,-
still
once more and bury
watching,
his face in his
hands, though he did not maintain this attitude long, but, rising suddenly, he rejoined the
company, where Madame Revel was the centre

The hostess caught sight of him, and
of an admiring group of friends.
hurrying to him exclaimed:
'O you
truant!
wherever have you been
hurriedly over her guests, she added:

pretty girl have
you been
flirting with?'
from banter to alarm, she

face
is
cried:
to?'
'Now
Then running her
then,
confess!
sir,
eyes
what
But suddenly altering her tone
'Why, man, how
ill
you
Your
look!
ashen. What's the matter with you?'
'O nothing,' he
Well, that
is,
with
said,
a ghastly laugh,- 'nothing,
not being very strong yet,
overcome by the heat of the evening and

so, for there
is
blank
can't
fill
think
and
assure you.
must have been
fainted, well,
fancy
in.'
murmured the hostess sympathetically. 'Come

you some champagne cup it will revive
you,' and, taking his arm, she led him into the marquee, as the band
was beginning the strains of a strange and dreamy waltz.
The following morning Stokes, the waiter, was summarily dis'Poor boy! poor boy!'
with
me now, and
charged
as
will give
an 'incompetent, clumsy, and lazy fellow.' Fenton remained
under the roof of his hostess
for three or four days, for
she had to nurse him. In the meantime,

departure, and returned to her
Madame
town house
in
he was
ill
and
Revel had taken her
Sloane Street.
The
491
morning
after
her return
gentleman called
her residence and sent
at
which bore the name 'Adolphe Coppe,' and
in his card,
of the card was this sign

***
he was ushered into Madame

her boudoir, and
that
is,
three stars.
Revel's presence.
in
one corner
few minutes
later
She received him
in
him
to
stretched forth her white, delicate
hand
for
touch. She was attired in an elegant and costly robe, in her raven hair
was
red rose. She looked singularly handsome, and her white
a tiny
teeth gleamed as she smiled graciously on her visitor.
name
'Your
unknown
is
evidently one of us.
to me,' she remarked prettily, 'but
You belong
you are
Three
to the Brotherhood of the
Stars?'
'You will see
my
have the sign on
though she did not seem to notice
card,'
he answered evasively,
his evasion.
'You have business of importance?' she asked, with a shade of anxiitself over her handsome features.
madame. The president of the Brotherhood in Paris is
pleased that you have succeeded in obtaining such valuable informa-
ety shedding
'1
have,
tion from Mr. Fenton.'
'Monsieur
le
President has received the papers then?' she remarked
quickly.
strange and gratified expression
answered:
seems
'It
'Ah! that
is
Fenton and
came
into her visitor's face as
good,' exclaimed the
lady,- 'but
were guests the other night
friend at Haslemere,
from him valuable
he
so.'
and
secrets,
at
have done even
better.
the house of a mutual
placed him under a spell and extracted
which
intend to convey to the president
myself.'
'Yourself?'
'Yes.
leave
to-morrow evening by the
Paris mail
from
Victoria.'
'You are a wonderfully clever woman,' said the guest. 'You seem to
have made good use of Fenton.'
She smiled
tool,
my
finger.
slave.
My
Again
Coppe's
pleased
and
is
my
will
yes.
is
tremendous.'
gratified
expression
spread
itself
over
features.
'Of that there
you was
have bent him to
power over him
the
He my
twisted him round my
sarcastically as she answered: 'Poor fool
is
no doubt,' he answered. 'My object
to say that your presence
is
earnestly desired in
in calling
Paris,-
have already anticipated that by your resolve to leave to-morrow.'
'O
yes.
'Then
492
had determined on
need not trouble you
that,'
she answered.
further,
and
my
on
but you
mission ends.'
In a little
while
Coppe took his

Madame.
departure, after
some
hospitality
dispensed graciously by
The
following evening the lady duly drove up to Victoria Station
registration of her luggage when a hand

upon her shoulder, and a stern voice said:
'Madame Revel, hold a warrant for your arrest.'
She turned quickly, her eyes flashing like an enraged tigress'.
'A warrant for my arrest? What for?' she demanded haughtily.
'Firstly, on suspicion of causing the death of William Pritchard, a
cabman, and, secondly, for having stolen Government papers.'
She staggered a little, as if from a shock, but quickly recovering,
and was superintending the
was
laid
said with a sneer:
'You are mistaken. This
is
infamous. You shall pay dearly for this
insult.'
am mistaken, that is my affair, and will accept the penalty,do not think am mistaken. My name is Vincent Trill.
am a
detective. As John Stokes, the waiter,
witnessed the scene on the
lawn at Haslemere, when by your infamous designs and arts you deprived Fenton of his power of independent action.'
'If
but
Madame
looked very uneasy,
glance round about, as
if
and
cast
momentary, nervous
contemplating some means of escape from
the trap in which she had been so cleverly caught. But
Trill
again
and indicating two men who stood beside him, he said:

These are plain-clothes policemen. You would like, perhaps, to
touched
her,
avoid a scene.'
She took the hint, merely remarking:

must yield to force,- but,
repeat, you are mistaken.'
Trill and one of his men accompanied her to a cab, while the other
man was left behind to take charge of her luggage. Trill had made a
'I
clever capture of
one of the most daring and dangerous of
band of
whose
notorious conspirators in the pay of the French Secret Service,

ramifications extended to every capital of Europe.
suspect
Madame by
he was
in
He had come
the habit of regularly visiting the lady, with
become madly
to
having closely shadowed Fenton, and found that
infatuated.
On
whom
he had
the night that he was ordered to con-
vey the papers to the house of the General at Hyde Park, there is no
doubt he called at Madame Revel's house on his way in compliance
with a note he had received from her. There he and the cabman were
dosed with some subtle drug. The unfortunate cabman was included,
presumably because it was deemed advisable that he and his fare
might fall into the hands of the police as 'drunk and incapable,-' and in
order to avoid a scandal, Fenton would necessarily have preserved
493
movements.
silence as to his
Madame
When
from
managed
Revel
she arrived at
however,
In spite of Trill's cleverness,
checkmate him, but at a fearful cost.

Bow Street it was found that she was suffering
to
and before medical aid could be summoned she had
illness,
lapsed into insensibility from which nothing could arouse her, and in
had ceased
four hours she
breathe.
to
woman, she had played for high

losing side she had managed while
to her lips,
daring and determined
and finding herself on the

the cab to convey a deadly drug
stakes,
in
and thus paid the penalty of her crimes with her
life.
The Stolen Cigar-Case

hy
found Hemlock Jones
fore the
in
my
fire.
in
Bret Harte
the old Brook Street lodgings, musing be-
With the freedom of an old friend
old familiar attitude at his
feet,
at
once threw myself
and gently caressed
his boot.
me to get
one that it
concentrated
face,
and
the
other
that it
a good look at his bent,
seemed to indicate my reverence for his superhuman insight. So absorbed was he, even then, in tracking some mysterious clue, that he
was wrong as always was
did not seem to notice me. But therein
was induced to do
this for
two
enabled
reasons,-
in
my
attempt to understand that powerful
"It is
raining,"
he
said,
without
"You have been out then?"

"No. But
lifting his
head.
said quickly.
see that your umbrella
which you threw
intellect.
is
wet, and that your overcoat,
on entering, has drops of water on it."

pause he said carelessly,
dismissing the subject: "Besides,
hear the rain on the window.
1
off
sat aghast at his penetration. After a
as
if
Lis-
ten."
1
listened.
my ears, but there was the soft

was evident, there was no deceiving
could scarcely credit
pattering of drops on the pane.
It
man!
"Have you been busy lately?" asked, changing the subject. "What
new problem given up by Scotland Yard as inscrutable has occu-
this
pied that gigantic intellect?"
He drew
494
back
his foot slightly,
and seemed to hesitate ere he
re-
turned
trifles
my
to
it
Then he answered
original position.
its
nothing
The
to speak of.
wearily:
"Mere
Prince Kopoli has been here to get
advice regarding the disappearance of certain rubies from the
Kremlin,- the Rajah of Pootibad,
The Grand Duchess
elled sword.
beheading
after vainly
my
bodyguard, has been obliged to seek
his
entire
assistance to recover a jew-
of Pretzel-Brauntswig
is
desirous of
discovering where her husband was on the night of the 14th of February,
and
he lowered
night"
last
very house, meeting

don't answer his
me on
stairs,
wanted
to
lodger in this
"a
know 'Why they
bell.'
could not help smiling
the
his voice slightly
until
saw
frown gathering on
his
inscrutable forehead.
"Pray to remember," he said coldly, "that
apparently
and 'What happened
his Wife,'
I
question that
trivial
became dumb
at once.
He
paused for
pitiless,
"When
are so in
say these are
now
is
before me.
trifles
have been
you.
in
amazement,
"Yes,- listen.
my
lowed
career,
admired
he
comparison to an
affair
who would
"you wonder
said,
has been done.
Jones, the Terror of Peculators!"
I,
nevertheless,
Hemlock
rising
and gripping the

it
who know my
it
conceals
my
to
no
my
table as
other. But you
methods, yea, for
faced him.
who
whom
have
fol-
have partly
plans from ordinary humanity,- you,
for years rapturously accepted
my
confidences, passionately
inductions and inferences, placed yourself at
become my
call,
start,"
So did
would confess
lifted the veil that
who have
they
moment, and then sud-
analytical style, he said:
robbedi"
"You robbed
gasped
it!
Ferroll killed
crime has been committed, and, singularly
enough, against myself. You

have dared to attempt
was through such an
to Jones'!"
denly changing back to his usual
that
it
found out, 'Why Paul
slave, grovelled at
my
feet,
my
beck and
given up your practice
except those few unremunerative and rapidly-decreasing patients to
whom,
in
moments
of abstraction over
istered strychnine for quinine
my
problems, you have admin-
and arsenic
for
have sacrificed everything and everybody to
Epsom
me
you
salts,I
you,
who
make my con-
fidant!"
I
in
embraced him warmly, yet he was already so engrossed

at the same moment he mechanically placed his hand
watch chain as if to consult the time. "Sit down," he said,-
rose and
thought that
upon
his
"have a cigar?"
"I
have given up cigar smoking,"
"Why?" he asked.
hesitated, and perhaps coloured.
I
said.
had
really given
it
up because,
495
with
my
a pipe.
What
diminished practice,
prefer a pipe,"
"I
have you
He
it
was too expensive.
said laughingly. "But
could only afford
me
tell
of this robbery.
lost?"
and planting himself before the fire with his hands under
looked down upon me reflectively for a moment. "Do
you remember the cigar-case presented to me by the Turkish Ambasrose,
his coat tails,
sador for discovering the missing favourite of the Grand Vizier

fifth
chorus
the Hilarity Theatre?
girl at
crusted with diamonds.
"And the
mean
It
was that one.
"Ah," he said with a reflective smile, "you
me
"You told
yourself.
in
the
was
in-
the cigar-case."
one had been supplanted by
largest
It
paste,"
know
said.
that?"
remember considering it a proof of your

by Jove, you don't mean to say you
extraordinary perception. But,
have
lost
it."
He was
shall
still
fellow,
moment.
silent for a
find
when
And by
member is
it.
"No,-
it
has been stolen,
matter in
my own
true,
but
my
dear
he does not prescribe
for
him-
severely
ill
but calls in a brother doctor. Therein
self,
it is
myself alone! In your profession,
we
differ.
shall take this
hands."
"And where could you find better?" said enthusiastically. "I should
say the cigar-case is as good as recovered already."
"I shall remind you of that again," he said lightly. "And now, to
show you my confidence in your judgment, in spite of my determinaI
tion to pursue this alone,
am
willing to listen to any suggestions
from you."
He drew
memorandum book from
could scarcely believe
his pocket, and,
with a grave
took up his pencil.
smile,
my
reason. He, the great
Hemlock
accepting suggestions from a humble individual like myself!
hand
his
"First
and began
reverently,
1
in a
Jones!
kissed
joyous tone:
should advertise, offering a reward,-
should give the same
intimation in handbills, distributed at the 'pubs' and the pastry-cooks.

I
should next
visit
the police station.
the different pawnbrokers,

I
search the house and
my own
with a laugh, "of course,
He
gravely
"Perhaps,"
should give notice
should examine the servants.
made an
pockets.
speak
relatively,"
496
added
entry of these details.
added, "you have already done this?"
"Perhaps," he returned enigmatically.
until
mean your own."
"Now,
my
dear friend," he
continued, putting the note-book in his pocket, and rising
you excuse me
at
should thoroughly
for a
return, there
few moments?
may be some
Make
things,"
"would
yourself perfectly at
home
he added with a sweep of
hand towards
his
his
heterogeneously
may
filled shelves, "that
interest
you, and while away the time. There are pipes and tobacco in that
And nodding
corner and whiskey on the table."
he
inscrutable face,
methods
to think
left
much
no doubt he was
the room.
me
to
with the same
was too well accustomed
of his unceremonious withdrawal,
off to investigate
some
clue
to his
and made
which had suddenly
occurred to his active intelligence.

Left to myself,
number
cast a cursory glance over his shelves.
There were
of small glass jars, containing earthy substances labeled
"Pavement and road sweepings," from the principal thoroughfares and

suburbs of London, with the sub-directions "For identifying foot
tracks."
There were
from omnibus and
several other jars labeled "Fluff
road-car seats," "Cocoanut fibre and rope strands from mattings
in
public places," "Cigarette stumps and match ends from floor of Palace
Theatre,
Row
A,
to 50."
Everywhere were evidences of
this
wonder-
man's system and perspicacity.
ful
was thus engaged when
heard the slight creaking of a door, and
He was a rough-looking man, with a

more disreputable muffler round his throat,
and a cap on his head. Considerably annoyed at his intrusion turned
upon him rather sharply, when, with a mumbled, growling apology
for mistaking the room, he shuffled out again and closed the door.
followed him quickly to the landing and saw that he disappeared
I
looked up
as a stranger entered.
shabby overcoat,
still
down
the
stairs.
With my mind full of the robbery, the incident made a singular

impression on me.
knew my friend's habits of hasty absences from
his room in his moments of deep inspiration, it was only too probable
I
that with his powerful
intellect
and magnificent perceptive genius
own
concentrated on one subject, he should be careless of his

ings, and,
no doubt, even forget
locking up his drawers.
tried
although for some reason

tent.
dirty
one or two and found that
was unable to open one
The handles were sticky, as

fingers. Knowing F4emlock's
if
my
fell
and
lulled
asleep.
was right
its fullest
ex-
someone had opened them with
forgot
it,
resolved to
alas! until
but
am
story.
His absence was strangely prolonged.

fire,
to
fastidious cleanliness,
inform him of this circumstance, but

anticipating
belong-
to take the ordinary precaution of
by warmth and the
may have
at last
seated myself by the
patter of the rain
dreamt, for during
my
sleep
consciousness as of hands being softly pressed on
doubt induced by the story of the robbery.
When
on the window,
had
my
vague semi-
no
pockets
came
fully to
my
497
senses,
found Hemlock Jones
sitting
on the other
deeply concentrated gaze fixed on the
his
"1
side of the hearth,
fire.
found you so comfortably asleep that
could not bear to waken
you," he said with a smile.
my
rubbed
"And what news?"
eyes.
asked.
"How
have you suc-
ceeded?"
he
expected,"
owe much
"Better than
note-book
his
Deeply
membered
he added, tapping
think,"
to you."
"1
gratified,
awaited more. But
in vain.
ought to have
moods Hemlock Jones was
that in his
him simply of the strange
told
"and
said,
intrusion, but
reticence
re-
itself.
he only laughed.
me playfully. "If you were a

would advise you not to go home until you
had brushed your sleeve. There are a few short, brown seal-skin hairs
on the inner side of the fore-arm ^just where they would have adhered if your arm had encircled a seal -skin sacque with some presLater,
when
rose to go, he looked at
married man," he
"1
said,
sure!
"For once
you
are at fault,"
said triumphantly, "the hair
is
my own
had it cut at the hair-dressers, and no

doubt this arm projected beyond the apron."
He frowned slightly, yet nevertheless, on my turning to go he embraced me warmly a rare exhibition in that man of ice. He even
helped me on with my overcoat and pulled out and smoothed down
the flaps of my pockets. He was particular, too, in fitting my arm in
as
you
will perceive,-
have
just
my
overcoat sleeve, shaking the sleeve
cuff with his deft fingers.
"Come
down from
the armhole to the
again soon!" he said, clapping
me on
the back.
"At any and
all
times,"
said enthusiastically.
my
utes twice a day to eat a crust at

night,
and the
rest of
my
time
is
office
only ask ten min-
"I
and four hours' sleep
devoted to you always
as
at
you
know."
"It is,
indeed," he said, with his impenetrable smile.
Nevertheless
afternoon,
when
did not find
nearing
vourite disguises
him
home when
at
my own home
a long,
blue,
Of
next called.
in
one of
One
his fa-
swallow-tailed coat, striped cotton
trousers, large turn-over collar, blacked face,
tambourine.
met him
and white
hat, carrying a
course to others the disguise was perfect, although
it
was known to myself, and passed him

standing between us without the slightest recognition, trusting to a
was making a professional visit
later explanation. At another time, as
saw him in the disguise of
to the wife of a publican at the East End,
window
of an adjacent pawna broken-down artisan looking into the
498
1
according to an old under-
shop.
was delighted
and
gestions,
my
in
to see that
joy
he was evidently following
ventured to
him
tip
a wink,
my
sug-
was ab-
it
stractedly returned.
Two
days later
ings that night.
my
rence of
I
life,
will try to set
received a note appointing a meeting at his lodgThat meeting, alas! was the one memorable occurand the last meeting ever had with Hemlock Jones!
I
down
it
recollection of
calmly, though
found him standing before the
which
which
fire
had seen only once or twice
may
my
pulses
throb with the
still
it.
with that look upon his face

in
our acquaintance
look
an absolute concatenation of inductive and deductive
call
ratiocination
from which all that was human, tender, or sympathetic,
was absolutely discharged. He was simply an icy, algebraic symbol!
Indeed his whole being was concentrated to that extent that his
much reduced
clothes fitted loosely, and his head was absolutely so
in
by his mental compression that his hat tipped back from his forehead and literally hung on his massive ears.
After
had entered, he locked the doors, fastened the windows,
and even placed a chair before the chimney. As watched those sigsize
with absorbing
nificant precautions
volver and presenting
"Hand over
Even
in
my
involuntary.
He
reply!
my
to
it
he suddenly drew
that cigar-case!"
my
bewilderment,
"I
haven't got
it,"
reply was truthful, spontaneous, and
said.
me now
let
down
his revolver.
expected that
"I
confront you with something more awful,
more deadly, more relentless and convincing than that mere

weapon the damning inductive and deductive proofs of your
He drew
from
"But surely,"
believe
"Silence!"
I
a re-
temple, said in low, icy tones:
smiled bitterly, and threw
Then
interest,
his
pocket a
roll
of paper and a note-book.
gasped, "you are joking!
he roared.
"Sit
lethal
guilt!"
You could not
for a
moment
down!"
obeyed.
"You have condemned yourself," he went on
demned
my
yourself on
processes
plauded by you, accepted by you for years!

time
when you
first
saw the
cigar-case.
it
were mine.' This was your
indication.
mere
From
detail,
'I
'How
lence! But as in
my
wish
can
it
I
first
were mine' to
make
methods,
it
it
"Con-
We
will
go back to the
Your expressions," he said
cold, deliberate tones, consulting his paper, "were:
wish
pitilessly.
processes familiar to you, ap-
'How
step in crime
'1
will
have
mine,' the advance
it
in
beautiful!
and my
mine,'
first
and the
was obvious.
Si-
was necessary that there should be an
499
overwhelming inducement
yours for the mere trinket
unholy admiration of
to the crime, that

itself
was not enough. You
are a
smoker of
cigars."
"But,"
burst out passionately,
told
"I
you
had given up smoking
cigars."
he said coldly, "that
"Fool!"
yourself.
Of
course,
you
told
the second time
is
you have committed
me! what more natural than for you to
blazon forth that prepared and unsolicited statement to

tion. Yet, as
said before, even that
your tracks was not enough.
still
in passion,
would
call
the strongest of
he added
it,"
find that
overwhelming,
man
like you.
That motive
it
impulses
"that night
bitterly,-
brought the damning proofs of

"But,"
all
in
accusa-
had to
impelling motive necessary to affect a
found
prevent
wretched attempt to cover up
your
love,
you
suppose you
called!
You had
sleeve."
almost screamed.
"I know what you would say. You would

you had embraced some young person in a sealskin
sacque what had that to do with the robbery. Let me tell you then,
that that sealskin sacque represented the quality and character of your
fatal entanglement! If you are at all conversant with light sporting
literature you would know that a sealskin sacque indicates a love
induced by sordid mercenary interests. You bartered your honour for
it
that stolen cigar-case was the purchaser of the sealskin sacque!
Without money, with a decreasing practice, it was the only way you
could insure your passion being returned by that young person,
whom, for your sake, have not even pursued. Silence! Having thoroughly established your motive, now proceed to the commission of
with
the crime itself. Ordinary people would have begun with that
an attempt to discover the whereabouts of the missing object. These
he thundered.
"Silence,"
say that even
if
are not
my
methods."
So overpowering was
innocent,
licked
my
his penetration, that
lips
this lucid exposition of
my
after
had
and
carelessly
knew myself
crime.
"You committed that theft the night
and
although
with avidity to hear the further details of
thrown
it
in that
showed you the cigar-case

drawer. You were sitting in
had risen to take something from that shelf. In that

you secured your booty without rising. Silence! Do you remember when helped you on with your overcoat the other night?
was particular about fitting your arm in. While doing so measured
your arm with a spring tape measure from the shoulder to the cuff. A
that chair,
instant
later visit to
your
tailor
the exact distance between
500
confirmed that measurement.
your chair and
that drawer'."
It
proved to be
sat stunned.
"The
mere corroborative
rest are
when
with the drawer
details!
You were again tampering
discovered you doing
Do
so.
room with the
stranger that blundered into the
not
muffler on
The
start!
was my-
a little soap on the drawer handles when

The soap was on your hand when shook it
at parting.
softly felt your pockets when you were asleep for further
developments. embraced you when you left that might feel if you
self.
More,
purposely
had placed
you
left
alone.
had the
any other
cigar-case, or
me
confirmed
manner and
the belief that
in
for the purpose
you had already disposed
have shown you. As
capable of remorse and confession,

track twice,
once
in the
"But,"
burst out,
how
you
allowed you to see
of
it
the
in
believed you
still
was on your
in the
window
of the
pawnshop
had asked the pawnbroker you would
"if
unjust
garb of an itinerant negro minstrel, and the
second time as a workman looking

where you pledged your booty."
have seen
hidden on your body. This
articles,
he hissed; "that was one of your suggestions to search the
"Fool!"
pawnshops.
Do you
suppose
On
suggestions of the thief?
the
followed any of your suggestions

the contrary, they told
me what
to
avoid."
"And
suppose,"
said bitterly, "you have not even searched
your
drawer."
"No," he said calmly.

I
was
for the
and pulled
it
time really vexed.
first
out sharply.
It
stuck as
it
went to the nearest drawer

had before, leaving a part of
1
the drawer unopened. By working
it, however,
discovered that it was
impeded by some obstacle that had slipped to the upper part of the
drawer, and held it firmly fast. Inserting my hand, I pulled out the
impeding object. It was the missing cigar-case. turned to him with a
I
cry of joy.
But
was appalled at his expression. A look of contempt was now
added to his acute, penetrating gaze. "I have been mistaken," he said
slowly. "I had not allowed for your weakness and cowardice.
thought
I
too highly of you even
in
your
guilt;
but
see
now why you tampered
with that drawer the other night. By some incredible means

another theft
you
possibly
took the cigar-case out of pawn, and
whipped hound restored
it
to
me
in this feeble,
like
clumsy fashion. You
thought to deceive me. Hemlock Jones: more, you thought to destroy
my
infallibility.
three policemen
Go!
who
give
you your
liberty.
wait in the adjoining
shall
room
not
summon
but out
of
my
the
sight
for ever."
501
As I stood once more dazed and petrified, he took me firmly by the

and led me into the hall, closing the door behind him. This reopened presently wide enough to permit him to thrust out my hat,
overcoat, umbrella and overshoes, and then closed against me for
ear
ever!
I
my
never saw him again.

business increased
my
few of
am bound to say, however, that thereafter

much of my old practice and a
patients recovered also.
and a house
in
the
recovered
West End. But
had a brougham
often wondered, pondering on that
became
wonderful man's penetration and insight,

sciousness,
had not
if,
rich.
some
in
lapse of con-
really stolen his cigar-case!
Summer's End
by William Manners
Nature was playing the bully.

flat-bottomed,
bent, straining
own
heat.
Jim looked
moved
habit strengthened
He'd
tell
at
by endless
And
then he marched
at
his
knees.
its
with
across his
wet
had
just
moved, out of
habit, a
he was thinking. To get
out.
A man
down
Down
the rows of corn, their premature
the yellow, clod-paved
washed
again that noon. He'd just
road. She'd been to Greeley, she'd

in
it
repetitions.
in
her arms.
It
aisles.
He
was
her eyes. He'd seen
and was drying
himself,
still
when the truck pulled up

come toward him with two
the
up,
standing there under the catalpa tree,
bags of groceries
someone
fighting
clouds crouched along the hori-
thinking of Bernice now. That laughing sparkle

it
field,
moved mechanically
his brother to get out,

.
corn
white, squashed out and quivering in
at the
it,
wasn't picking on
hoe.
as his forearm
can stand only so much.
tassles
little
The sun overhead was
zon. His eyes
It
in his east
straightened. His forearm
forehead.
its
body and
big bully of sun and endless heat, of
clouds.
Jim Schlieper, standing
size in
He
mocking gray
was then he saw her

a cooky jar. He was
big
eyes. Big. Brown.
Those of a youngster caught in

afraid. He turned
his head and there was his brother, on the flagstone beside the pump.
His brother Garrote McGee, Johnny Wilson, Abe Fineberg, Abe
Fine,
502
The Piecework
Kid.
All afternoon,
self,
do
thinking of
this to
him.
working under the burning sun, he'd talked to him-
it.
He
Words
He
he'd say to his brother.
wouldn't
him take
let
Bernice.
wouldn't
let
him
there'd only have
If
a baby, if there'd only be money now, that would hold her. The
same words over and over again to make his tongue strong, so that
when the time came he'd be able to say them. Get out, he'd say. Get
been
out.
He
walked along the fence. Slid down the clay bank. Cut across
meadow. His heavy shoes were on the cinder road now, crunching loud in the stillness with each step. He held the hoe at his side
the
He moved like a soldier advancing over No Man's Land.

He'd waited long enough, he was thinking. Maybe too long. Clear
like a rifle.
out, he'd say.
Between the brown -weathered barns. Around the empty
silo.
Across the flagstones.
There was
the hoe, he leaned
it
it.
ran the soles and
Noticing that he was
carrying
still
against the trellised pillar of the porch.
went through the screen door and
He
He
a steel scraper at the porch's edge.
heels of his shoes aimlessly over
Then he
into the kitchen.
stopped inside the door. The high-ceilinged kitchen, long and
wide, with the giant, black coal stove, the varnished kitchen cabinet,
window
the geraniums in the
though the
that Bernice watered even
were dry and the wells low.
cisterns
The
kitchen was too quiet.
fly
sunbeam. The
He
walked across
buzzed through
clock ticked loudly, importantly.

"Bernice," Jim called out with tentative restraint.
the linoleum. "Bee
Bee
!"
He
stopped
came back into the kitchen.

The milk bottle, empty and in the center
at the
dining
room
door, turned and
of the kitchen table,
caught his eye. There was a piece of paper under

Standing there, looking down, he read
read
it
many
times before, as
remained on the penciled

Jim
if
He
it.
it.
read
it
as
he were obliged to read
lines after
he had
it.
if
he had
His eyes
finished.
dear,
I've
gone
off with John. Forgive
clear to me, to the happiness I've
His eyes moved down

of the note,
Months
me for hurting you.
It's
the
only
way
that's
always wanted.
now
to his wife's
and John's name under
ago, Jim might have
let
it
name signed
in bold,
at
the bottom
mocking, ribald scrawl.
out an animal cry, gone racing in
503
was September. The sun had melted
pursuit. But this
him. All that was
left
him was
of
dot
a little
in
the
ferocity out of
fields, a little
and entreaty, day
that scratched the earth in abject supplication
dot
after
day, day after day.
Jim picked up the sheet of paper and walked about the house holding
He
hand.
in his
it
did not blame Bernice. She was a smart
always
knew what she was
from
burning building
doing.
You
can't
blame
this house, these fields, his
girl;
she
person fleeing
life,
they were a
burning building. Winter was running toward him, and his house with
its
bare shelves,
empty smokehouse,
its
its
barren
cellar.
burning building. The words obliterated time and space, spot-
memory. It was the night the tenement on East

burned. His mother and father his stepfather really
lighted a night in his
Eleventh Street
had been trapped

He
fleshy face.
wanted
in that fire.
spoke German.
His stepfather,
When
bawling hulk with a
he was angry, however, and
be certain that he was understood, he yelled
to
John stayed on
in
Jim had. John was
New
hard,-
York
He
after that.
he was
like his father.
of his mother, soft, easy going, kind.
in English.
hadn't taken
it
way
the
Jim was a male image
Saint Bernard. John was a
bulldog mixed with wolf and fox.
Jim landed
in
Greeley, Ohio, because he was walking across the
man who'd
country and was tired and the
him
offered
a job.
He worked
given him his
last
hitch also
in the general store for eight
months.
Gas Station. Then for old man Atkinson, in his

abbatoir at the south end of town. And then he met Bernice.
For years, while he was yet a kid in New York, he'd said that some
day he would be a farmer. And now that he'd met Bernice, and had
saved every cent he possibly could out of his earnings, he bought this
Then
in
little
farm
the Challenge
...
acres, ten in
house,
outbuildings,
And
woodland.
scattered
fruit
mortgage was thrown
trees,
forty
the
in as part of
transaction.
He
never dreamed,
marry him. She was

ing to be a farmer.
let
The
didn't escape his ears.
made Jim
all
the
talk
same time. She danced

cause she was so
alone dared to hope, that Bernice would
beautiful.
He
was
clumsy ...
fat,
hundred fellows were courting
at
nobody
her,
all at
more self-conscious, and

far beyond him.
him and they were married.
time fellows, unimportant episodes
504
the
the Redmen's with strangers. All this merely

all
the
more miserable
But his awkward, groping advances were miracles. Bernice

love with
try-
around Greeley, that she was a wild one,
in
All the others
her
life.
be-
fell
in
had been good-
Jim was big and
serious,
man she could

way she put it.
the only
the
Now
Jim walked about
from Bernice
in his
still
in
Walked
The note
though the house was a part

he wanted to be near it, in every
as
they had
come up
the
together, and she
hill
had seen
She laughed then. "What
it
for
"What
time, she cried out, her hands clasped in excitement:
first
huge
home. That was
it.
When
the
the big, empty, silent house.
hands.
of Bernice, and being a part of her,

part of
and help build
love, marry,
huge family of kids it'll take

to fill it." That sparkle, mischievous, bright as a morning star, was in
her eyes when she had said that. It was the first time he had seen it. It
hadn't frightened him that time.
But he saw it many times after that. The time she spoke of going to
place!"
the World's
forgetting the financial impossibility of such a
Fair,
The evenings
trip.
he'd look up from his paper to see her huddled over a
detective story, her eyes wide, shining. She read thousands of them.
The day
the plane flying over their farm circled,
and then seemingly getting out of
fire,
out of sight.
its
engine missing
spasm, shooting away and
its
She's a wild one, the people in Greeley said. But he only laughed at
them and
their tepid standards. Bernice
was vibrant with
with spring surging inside. Beside her, he was

the
field.
That was what made him
How
afraid.
life,
robin
gray clod of earth in
could she love him?
Every day that she spent with him was a heavenly
gift.
Every day,
every single day.
memory brought Jim to the present. The day, a week

come to stay awhile. Bernice was surprised,- she didn't know that Jim had a brother. He covered his confusion with silence. And when she wanted to know what he did for a
Cruelly his
ago, his brother had come,
he
living,
It
lied to her, told
her that he was a traveling salesman.
didn't take the polished John, in his tailored clothes, a very long
time.
didn't
You could see he liked Bernice ... in his way. And she he
want to think about that. And then this noon, when she'd come
back from Greeley, her eyes sparkling with joyous, excited

the note
fire.
And
This note. Jim looked
at
it,
watched
it
as
it
dropped from
his fin-
gers, floated easily to the floor.
The shotgun, with

pegs
in
the
initials J. S.
the wall of the hallway.
Long
walked out of the screen door with
on
its
strides
it.
stock, rested
on wooden
took Jim's hands to

hot dusk
filled
it.
He
the back
porch.
505
Tomorrow would be Sunday, he thought. Long, empty,

meaningless hours. Not Sunday alone, but
Rock. Together they had watched
the right place
Sunset Rock.
many
day end
painfully
He'd go to Sunset
days.
all
there.
would be
It
Shadows sprang out at him as he went down the road between the
The gun was wrenched out of his hands. "He's goin' rabbit
barns.
huntin'," a voice laughed. "Rabbit hunting."
Jim struggled
in the
arms that were around him. They came
him. His heart pounded.
men were around

'Take
a
it
whine of
He
stood back, breathing hard.
The
off
three
him.
easy, brother," the
man
impatience making
want some information, that's
at his right said,
We
his voice. "Easy. Easy.
all."
Jim looked
at
them. Between their heads he saw the hood of a
car,
engine purring.
its
We
"We're looking for a certain party.
gotta get in touch with him.
He's stayin' with you. Detroit's a long ways to come. Well
Jim
The
said: "There's
three
men
no one
here.
The house
jostled past him.
He
Lights blinked on, one after another, in
He
stood there looking
at
is
?"
.
empty."
stood there without moving.

all
the
windows
of the house.
the windows, listening to the echoing
moving across the floors inside.

meaning of these three men broke through his daze,
splashed cold reality into his face. Bernice was in danger! These men
were killers! They were out hunting John! They wanted to kill him!
Bullets would be flying everywhere! Bernice
The three men came out of the house. "We got a bum tip, mister.
Excuse please." They went by him. They slid into the car, which
backed, turned. Its headlight beams flashed over him. The car
tramp of
Then
feet
the
straightened, roared straight ahead.
There was no daze in Jim's mind now. It was cold and clear as a
He had to get to Bernice. He had to take her away
from John. Those were orders he gave himself. Greeley. The
Redmen's Hall. This was Saturday night. Maybe
maybe. It was a
long shot, but there was no other choice.
frosty morning.
The
truck tore over the
Eastman
Street,
two and
a half miles to Greeley.
over to Main and the dance
hall.
The
noisy jam, with music blaring proudly, triumphantly above
lows and
stairs
girls sat in
the opened windows.
filled
it all.
Fel-
the hall and the
leading to the second floor.
Jim pushed his way
506
They
Down
place was a
in
and up the
stairs.
A young
girl
giggled at his
He moved
set face.
dance
floor,
along the bar, searching
around
its
The number
rim.
out on the crowded
faces,
finished with a double toot
on the trombone signifying an intermission. Jim hurried to the stand.

musicians were putting their instruments down and standing up.
"Mrs. Schlieper!" he called out loudly. "Bernice! Bernice!"
Faces turned and looked up at him. Jim stood there, waiting.
He stepped down and across toward the door. The bartender
called to him, finished putting a wine bottle on the shelf behind him.
"Your missus was here earlier in the evenin'," he said. "Sport she was
with said something 'bout goin' over to Elmwood, over to the
Bordertown night club they got over there."
The
'Thanks, Ed," Jim
He
"Thanks."
said.
turned, only to face the three
They wore new

boy
lady's
clothes.
They stood
friend look like?"
who were
stiffly.
out hunting John.
"Say, Ed,
what did
this
one of them asked.
TTie bartender told them.
He
leaned on the bar and went into
details.
One
of the three, shorter than the others, a dent across the bridge
up close to Jim. The bar was against Jim's back.

away from the slap that caught him hard across the
cheek and mouth. It came again, landing on the same place. Jim took
it. The other two stood there, ready to back the play of the fellow
with the banged-up nose, if Jim should be fool enough to make that
necessary. That was plain. Satisfied, they turned and left.
Then Jim was racing down the stairs and into his truck. The shotgun was in the seat beside him. Though he knew following these men
was hopeless, what else could he do? Perhaps John and Bernice hadn't
stayed at the Bordertown. His prayer was made of that hope.
of his nose, stepped
He
couldn't get
He
line
pushed the truck to the
and entered the
in the
wide,
empty
village of
limit,
crossed the Pennsylvania state
Elmwood. He couldn't
see the other car
street.
tracks, he saw it. The car

whizzed by. Jim's body chilled into a single piece
of ice, for he knew what that meant. They had already seen John.
Their murder visit was over. John was dead killed. And Ber-
Then,
as
he crossed the double railroad
was coming back.
It
nice.
But then he saw the prowl cars ahead.
They were
pure white.
Lined along the curb, they reflected the glint of red and green and
blue neon that ran up and
down
the gables of the Bordertown.
'Thank God! Jim exclaimed. Those three hard men in new clothes
who'd come to murder John
one look at the white cars of the
law and they'd been frightened off. Or was that it? "Oh. God!"
507
"
Jim hurried out of the truck, ran across the walk and down the
tree-bordered path that led to the night club. State troopers were at
its
double doors.
One
of
them stepped in his way. "Not so

Where yuh goin'?"
What's the matter
fast!
there, mister?
"My
Jim gasped, out of breath.
wife!"
pounding hollowly inside him. "My

Ill-
wife!
He
She
could
his
feel
heart
she's in there."
,11
Jim!
The trooper turned at the shrill shout behind him. Jim dashed past
him into the amber light of the foyer and into Bernice's arms. Tears
were running down his cheeks. He held Bernice with both arms tight
about her.
Over her
shoulder, he saw a police officer, gold braid
"She's a swell
swell
little
little
nodding
lady," the officer said,
on
his head.
his coat.
"You got a
lady."
Beyond him, on the small rectangle of dance floor, was John. He

was alive. He was bent forward in a straight-backed chair, his black
hair, usually plastered into one solid piece, was mussed into wildness
now. There was a circle of troopers about him.
The
was rambling on: "Can you imagine her nabbing the

all by herself? Can you tie that? And him a guy
that put the three McGovern boys to the wall up in Detroit, blastin'
officer
Piecework Kid, and
'em down!"
"Let's get
out of here," said Jim. "Let's get out of this place."
Bernice's tiny
got to see the
hand was on
officer.
his arm. "But,
Jim
wait
a minute. I've
something about some money we
It's
get."
Jim was glad to get out of the Bordertown. Bernice stepped up

beside him in the truck. Softly he put his fingers to the curve of her
cheeks. She was here beside him. Alive. Real. Taking her into his
met
arms, his lips

"I
way
had
"He
was saying.
knew
all
You mean,
was the only
trap John?"
about him the
tried to kiss
me.
first
night he came," she said excitedly.
And gave him

I
good
stiff
he got ahold of me. Squeezed up against him.

arm.
him
in
recognized him then.

magazines.
his business
"Darling,"
508
"It
to trap him."
"Trap him?
"I
hers.
to write that note, dear," she
How
you had
he
punch
felt
The Piecework Kid.

women. Or
didn't like
to leave
them both
Jim said proudly, happily.
alone."
in
the jaw. But
the gun under his
I'd
read lots about
liquor. Said that in
"Honestly, Jim, you didn't want to turn him
he was your brother. But
couldn't;
don't
"I
didn't
Bernice
"May
know what
want
wanted
made
just didn't
do with
about me. Said
a small-girl display of twisting
then another one.
wasn't a drinker.
of that.
"He
"I
her shoulders proudly.
woman-hater went wild

of chrome and blond upholstery like the
wasn't a lot
women he knew
.
want him around.
it."
those are his
with him, and got him out here for a drink

sour
thought."
brag?" she asked. "Thanks. Well, this
other
to do.
to have anything to
did you? You
in
knew what you
He
knew he
Then he had
Tom
own
in
words. So
my
couldn't take
Collins,
honor.
believe
it,
it
eloped
whiskey
because he
was, on top
asked for that one himself."
surely must have been drunk!"
phone
told the waiter to
about the reward

This morning
for the state
that's really
when
was
why
at Greeley.
did
.
cop then. Of course knew

that's why
had to do it.
I
it,
."
"You're wonderful, darling," Jim said, putting his
cheek to
hers.
you listen to me? This morning when was at Greeley, Doc Moorhead
Jim dear, we're going to have a little Jim."
Her eyes were sparkling in that way again.
"Jim dear, will
The Terrarium
Principle
by
Andrea Parker was on the back porch, working on her

the planting of seeds in a bottle terrarium
in
J.
V. Drexel
latest project
when she heard
Jerry's car
the driveway. She took off her gloves, brushed flecks of potting
off her
gardening
shirt,
and went
into the kitchen to
meet him
as
soil
he
opened the garage door.

There was a preoccupied scowl on Jerry's face. He looked rumpled,
the way Columbo used to look on television. Which was unusual,- her
husband may have been a police lieutenant attached to the Homicide
Division, but he definitely was not the Peter Falk type.
He brushed his lips over hers not much of a kiss, Andrea thought
and said, "I could use a drink." He went straight to the refrigerator
and began tugging out one of the ice trays.
509
"Rough day?" she asked him.

"You can say that again. Except that the operative word
ing.
One
most
of the
is
frustrat-
frustrating days I've ever spent."
"Why?"
"Because a man named Harding committed murder in a locked
room this morning and can't prove it. That's why."
"Want to talk about it?"
He made a face. But he said, "I might as well. It's going to be on
my mind all evening anyway. You can help me brood."
Andrea took the ice tray away from him, shooed him into the
living room, and made drinks for both of them. When she brought
them in, Jerry was sitting on the couch with his legs crossed, elbow
1
resting
on one knee and chin cupped
like
Columbo
and
a cigar.
tonight. All
in his
palm.
He
really did look
he needed, she thought, was
a trench coat
She handed him his drink and sat down beside him. "So why can't
you prove this man Harding committed murder? You did say it happened in a locked room, didn't you?"
"Well, more or less locked. And
can't prove it because we can't
find the gun. Without it we just don't have a case."
"What exactly happened?"
I
"It's
house out
money
except for the missing gun.
a pretty simple story,
kind of simple,
classic
or had
wealthy guy, made
a lot of
in
Roehampton
in oil stocks
Estates,-
over the years. Harding, on the other hand,
your typical black-sheep nephew

a job, has a
The
mean. Harding's uncle, Philip Granger, has
penchant for
fast
women and
is
down
drinks too much, can't hold
slow horses.
"This morning Harding went out to his uncle's house to see him.
The housekeeper
let
him
in.
According to
her,
Harding seemed upset
about something, angry. Granger's lawyer, Martin Sampson, happened
some papers for Granger to sign,

and he confirms the housekeeper's impression that Harding was upset.
"So Harding went into his uncle's study and either he or Granger
locked the door. Fifteen minutes later both Sampson and the houseto be there at the time, preparing
keeper heard a gunshot.
They were
sure
it
came from the
study,-
both ran straight for that door. But the door was locked,
They pounded and

somebody had shot
away.
It
510
they
said.
shouted, and inside Harding yelled back that

his uncle.
Only he
didn't
open the door
right
it."
"Eight and a half minutes?" Andrea said.

all
took him eight and one-half minutes by Sampson's watch to
get around to
doing
as
that time?"
"What did he
say he was
first of all, for some sign of a phantom

window was open and Granger was shot
through the window from outside, he says Sampson and the housekeeper must have been mistaken about where the shot came from.
The rest of the time he was supposedly ministering to his uncle and
didn't stop to open the door until the old man had died."
"Looking out the window,
killer.
Harding's claim
is
that
you think he spent
"But
that time hiding the
gun somewhere
in
the
room?"
"I
know
what he was doing," Jerry
that's
and he'd had arguments with
ble
said.
"His story
and sometimes to the point of violence. He's guilty
as sin
is
implausi-
over
his uncle before, always
money
I'm sure of
it!"
"Couldn't he have just thrown the gun out the window?"
We
"No.
searched the grounds, we'd have found the gun
been out there
maybe he climbed out
"Well,
if
it
had
"
where, and hid
the window, took
it
away some-
it."
"Remember the rain we had last night?

window and the ground there
was muddy from the rain, nobody could have walked through it without leaving footprints. And it's too wide to jump over from the windowsill. No, the gun is in that room. He managed to hide it some-
"No chance,"
Jerry said.
There's a flower bed outside the study
where during those eight and one-half minutes. His uncle's stereo unit
was playing, fairly loud, and if he made any noise the music covered it
Sampson and the housekeeper didn't hear anything unusual."
"Didn't one of them go outdoors to look in through the study window?"
"Sampson did, yes. But Harding had drawn the drapes. In case the
phantom killer came back, he said."
"What's the study
wall
"I
full
Andrea asked.
decor: hunting prints, a stag's head, a
of books, overstuffed leather furniture, a large fireplace
guess
He
like?"
room with masculine
"Big
you looked up the
gave her a wry smile.
"What
else
was
in
fireplace
chimney," Andrea
"First thing.
Nothing but
And model
planes, a clipper ship in a bottle, a miniature train layout

stuff scattered
said.
soot."
the room?"
"A desk that we went over from top to bottom.
model
all
air-
kinds of
around.
"Oh?"
"Evidently Granger built models in his spare time, as a hobby.
There was
"I
also a small
workbench along one
wall."
see."
511
"The only other thing

player, tape deck.
was the stereo unit
in there
radio, record
thought Harding might have hidden the gun
one of the speakers, but no soap."

Andrea was sitting very still, pondering. So
in-
side
still
that Jerry frowned
at her and then said, "What's the matter?"

"1
had an
just
idea. Tell
me, was there any strong glue on the work-
bench?"
"Glue?"
The kind where you only need
"Yes.
and
it
"I
few drops to make
bond
dries instantly."
guess there was, sure.
"How
"I
suppose
"I
think
minutes,"
Andrea, what are you getting
so.
at?"
know what Harding was doing for those eight and a half
think
know just where he hid the gun."
she said. "And
I
Jerry sat
up
straight. "Are
you
Come
serious?"
want to show you something."

him out through the kitchen, onto the rear porch. "See that
"Of course
She led
Why?"
about a glass cutter?"
I'm serious.
on,
terrarium?"
"What about
"Well,
Like a
it's
it?"
a big glass jar with a small
bottle. There's nothing
it
now
opening
except
at
one end,
soil seeds,
right?
but pretty
be flowers and plants growing inside and people
soon
there'll
don't
know anything about
how
in
terrariums will look at
it
and
say,
who
'Now
you get those plants through that little opening?' It doesn't occur to them that you didn't put plants in there,- you
put seeds and they grew into plants."
"I don't see what that has to do with Harding
in
the world did
"But there's also a
way
to build a bottle terrarium using full-grown
anybody. All you

bottom of the container with a glass cutter,then, when you've finished making your garden arrangement inside,
you just glue the bottom back on. That's what some professional florists do. You can also heat the glass afterward, to smooth out the line
so nobody can tell it's been cut, but that isn't really necessary. Hardly
plants," she
have to do
went
is
on, "that almost never occurs to
slice off the
anyone looks that close."

A light was beginning to dawn in Jerry's eyes. "Like we didn't, look
close enough at a certain item in Granger's study."
"The ship in a bottle," Andrea said, nodding. "I'll bet you that's
where Harding put the gun inside the ship that's inside the bottle."
"No bet," Jerry said. "If you're right, I'll buy you the fanciest steak
dinner
512
in
town."
He
no longer looking
hurried inside,
phoned
police headquarters.
When
Columbo, and
like
tele-
he was through talking he told
Andrea that they would have word within an hour. And they did
when
exactly fifty-six minutes had passed
took
the telephone rang. Jerry
listened, then grinned.
it,
"You were
he said when he'd hung up. "The bottom of the
right,"
bottle
had been cut and glued back, the ship
lowed
out,
and the missing gun was
we
because
bottle neck that small.

to put
it
It
"I
overlooked
it
gun through
never occurred to us that Harding didn't have
through the neck to get
Andrea smiled. 'The terrarium

guess that's a pretty
it
inside."
principle," she said.
good name
go have that steak dinner
we'll
We
nobody could put
automatically assumed
had been hol-
inside
inside the ship.
for
it.
Come
on, get your
coat,-
right now."
"With champagne, maybe?"

"Sweetheart," he said, "with a whole
Men and
Three
magnum."
a Corpse
hy
The
Victor K.
Ray
black coupe slid along the dark street, and a gun spat flame.
three of them,
explosions,
shoved Joey Sciortino sideways,
fell
black Ford.
beside him, listened to the echoes
reverberate in the narrow canyon of the street.

car, a
The
punctuated the engine's high whine.
twisted to look at the
saw part of the license number, 26
34
some-
thing.
Joey's
hand had dug
up he had
a .38.
inside his coat as
Then he
put
it
he
fell,
back inside
and when he raised
his coat.
"What hap-
pened?" he gasped.
When
The
car
mixed and
for us.
got
The
my
breath back,
said,
'They missed."
had already turned the corner, the noise of
lost in the
sounds of the
light at the far
city.
The
end of the block
street
its
engine
was vacant, except
cast long
shadows
in
our
direction.
Then we saw
the alley
mouth
that
had been only
a few feet
ahead
513
We
of us.
a
hadn't even noticed
crumpled
figure
which
before.
it
We
looked
down
the alley at
on the cement.
lay
"Look, Steve!" said Joey. "They weren't shooting at us." Joey's voice
sounded young and

enced
in this
who
trying to be, the kind
moved down
He was
Behind me, Joey

said,
"I
know
"Cops'll
He
usually packs a .38.
said, "Steve, let's get
my
be swarming
he
quick!"
you
moved back
can't
my
pen-light into
out of here."
said.
"We ought
light.
all
to report this, Joey."
over the place
in three minutes."
was
could
sweat on
a film of
it.
He
to the sidewalk, looked both ways.
stood there for a minute thinking
ing
shined
dead.
see Joey's face in the dimness. There
wheeled,
wasn't the kind of guy he was
this guy, Joey."
get out of here
turned out
was pretty inexperi-
realized he
all.
the alley to the figure.
the gray, thin face.
"Let's
and
relieved,
kind of thing, after
walk into
we ought
to report this. Think-
murder, and then walk out on
it.
Not when
you're a private detective.

I
was thinking about
my
and what he'd said
force,
friend
this
Hamp
Sprague, a detective on the
morning. He'd
said, "Steve,
you guys
are
always on the wrong side of the law. Murder's not very pleasant any
when
way you
take
worse.
wouldn't like your kind of work
it,
but
you're looking at
stood there over the body
eyes of a
Then
in
from the wrong
the alley, thinking
in
heard Joey's voice again, strained, tense. "Steve,
ford to be tied up with a thing like this."
He
started to
it's
into the
can't af-
move down
the street.
I
side,
maybe Hamp was
town twenty-four hours, and was looking

dead man, and thinking about not reporting it.
been
right. I'd
it
at all."
"Wait a minute, Joey. I'm coming."
said,
joined him, and
we walked
we'd come, back toward the
fast
little
back
in
the direction from which
bar one street over.
could hear his
breathing.
"You
"No.
We
in trouble
with the police, Joey?"
As we came to the corner, he looked back.
"
turned the corner, and kept walking, faster and
faster,
with
Joey a couple of steps ahead.

"I
haven't got any trouble with the cops, Steve," he said. "But
they're laying for me,
"Not
Hamp
"Yeah,
514
think."
Sprague?"
Hamp. You wouldn't
think
Hamp would
try to pin
some-
thing on me, would you? Looks like he'd have better things to do with
his time."
At the next corner, the lighted front of the
and we went down to

police siren split the
Joey
it.
bar was visible,

a
air.
out his breath. "There
let
little
Then, two or three blocks over, we heard
it
is,"
he
said. "Let's
have
a drink.
could use one."
We
went
We
both hoisted our first one fast.

had told me about Joey, that Joey was heading for
finally asked Hamp to join my agency in San Franno, and steered the conversation quickly onto Joey.
and had grown up together.
in.
Hamp Sprague
trouble. When I'd
cisco, he'd said
Joey and
Of
Hamp
course, Joey
Hamp
thing on him.
Hamp
was dead wrong about
known
ever had. Joey had
trying to pin some-
could have been the best friend Joey Sciortino

that once, but he'd forgotten
Things had been pretty hot then, the
time
last
I'd
hadn't been able to have a drink, mull over old times.

I
it.
We
seen Joey.
We'd been on
wo.
Joey had come
But good.
hadn't
home shortly after that. He'd been rehabilitated.

come home. I'd stopped in San Francisco on the
way, had set myself up

But
finding guys
Hamp
He'd
knew
my
business.
And
"I
wasn't having
much
well.
luck
could depend on.
hadn't even wanted to talk about
said,
was doing pretty
as a private detective,
needed help to run
it.
hate to see Joey digging his grave, Steve. He's running
with Shade Cantrell's
outfit.
too deep to pull out."
Hamp
It's
just a
matter of time before Joey's in
had brushed
his
hand back through
his
thick, prematurely graying hair, his eyes troubled.

I'd said,
'llt's
hard to protect
a guy,
when he
doesn't
want to be
protected."
"The mortality
till
Joey gets
The
before
till
it's
picture
was
somebody
too
Hamp
rate
is
high," said
Hamp.
"It's
just a
matter of time
it."
late.
had
clear.
else did
Hamp
it
wanted
to
do something for Joey

sit on their hands
to him. Mostly, cops
That gives you some idea of Hamp Sprague.

morning we picked up a guy in a ditch
said, "Just this
the edge of town, with four bullets in him.
We
don't even
at
know who
the guy was." He'd looked at me, and grinned.
"Maybe he was a priAnyway, it may take us three or four days to find out.
Then any hope of running down his killer will be gone. That's the
way Joey will end one of these days. In a ditch, or in an alley. The
vate detective.
mortality rate
is
high."
515
Maybe
contact with an old friend would snap joey out of
When
said.
he'd
private detective.
job with Shade Cantrell. Well,
We'd met on the
street. I'd
made my
I'd
He'd
said,
"It's
offer.
But
made
it
thinking about
Joey and
had
money
my two
in
base with him.
first
friends.
said,
"It's
it."
One
The other thought
detecting was too dirty.
drinks, talked over old
hadn't gotten to
look like an accident, because
not for me, Steve." His tone of voice had
too tame. There's not enough

I'd sat
we'd
could take him back to San Francisco.
Joey was already getting touchy. We'd had our

times.
it,
come back, Joey had talked about setting up as

Then he'd found it profitable to drop the idea for
first
them thought
was too clean.
of
it
private
started walking a couple of blocks over to a joint
owned by Shade Cantrell, the Crystal Club, and we'd run into the
gunfire, and the body in the alley.
Now, back in the little bar, the drinks had their effect. began to
I
calm down.
I'll
never learn to
death in any form.
like
bar mirror at Joey beside me. His face was
looked
in
the
pale, tight.
still
my drink, set the glass down. "Drink up, Joey," said.

him out of his reverie. He jumped a little, grinned. "Sure."
motioned the bartender for another.
"Steve, who was that guy?" asked Joey suddenly. "You said you
finished
It
jarred
knew him."
"Nobody you'd know,"
Our drinks arrived. We
spirits
from the coast."
said. "He's
raised our glasses. But
some
of our high
were gone.
"Did you know him well?" Joey pursued.

"He was just a guy mixed up in the rackets.
didn't
know him
very
well."
Joey turned on
couple of nickels
his stool,
Joey came back.
"The guy back

"I
went over
to the juke box,
and put
The music came up full and solid.

"What was that guy's name, Steve?"
in.
in
the alley? Bruce Wardell. Something like that."
wonder why he got
it,"
said Joey softly, his
words almost
lost in
the music.
We
two.
up.
It
thing.
listened.
could
began getting an
made me know
feel Joey's
idea.
The
eyes turn on
thing
in
again that he was pretty
That was good. There was
still
time.
me
every minute or
the alley had shaken him
young
Hamp
in this
kind of
Sprague had been
right.
When
the two records were finished,
the guy in the alley?"
516
said,
"Did you get
look at
"No."
"He was a young guy. The last I saw of him was a couple of
months ago. He was working his way up, carried a Russian automatic,
remember.
don't think he'd used it yet, but you couldn't be sure.
Nobody could be sure. He was on his way up."
spun around on my stool, went over to the juke box, played the
first number over again.
said, "There's been quite a bit of hell raised
in San Francisco lately. Everybody's trying to set himself up in some
nice spot. This guy, Bruce Wardell, was going up fast.
don't think
he'd bumped anybody off, but when somebody got bumped, Wardell
was there to take his place." waited to see how he took it.
I
Joey shifted nervously,

"It
was
catch his
time
just a question of
killer,
a cigarette.
lit
maybe they
till
he got
One
won't.
it,"
said.
thing certain,
"Maybe
they'll
won't make
it
any difference to Bruce Wardell."

Joey pulled
at his collar,
wiped
'These drinks are hitting me, Steve.
show up
We
at the Crystal
with his handkerchief.
his face
Let's get
out in the
air. I've
got to
Club."
got off the stools, and started for the door. Joey stopped.
"Steve,
take a taxi over there."
let's
He was
thinking of the two blocks
of dark, narrow streets.
"Okay."
went over
He waved
ting.
down
and called one.
to the wall telephone
turned, Joey was back at the bar.
He
When
wasn't drinking again, just
sit-
the bartender away. His face was pale, a line drawn
his jaw.
Suddenly he spun around on the

the bar, "Steve.
I'll
do
it!
I'll
stool,
and yelled halfway across
take your offer."
His voice was too loud, and he turned
red, grinned.
He
got off the
and walked toward me. "San Francisco, here we come!" He was

laughing. He stuck out his hand and
shook it. He was happy as a
stool,
kid,
and so was
Hamp
I.
had been
could do for a guy
The
I
right.
like
taxi arrived then.
said,
'The
He'd said there ought to be something you
Joey
with
that, Steve. There's
128 West Grand was
home.
ear.
It
got over there
We
told
in
want
Hamp
about
to
a fine
at
killing
had done
it.
the Crystal Club."
one guy
tell
him
want to
tell
about
right now."
Sprague's address.
five
minutes.
Hamp
him the good news. His heavy
"By golly," he said softly. "By golly,
was
The
there was.
thought you had to show up
"I
hell
taking you up on that job.
We
and
"128 West Grand," Joey told the driver.
that's
had
just gotten
face split from ear to
wonderful."
excuse to break out a bottle, and
Hamp
did.
517
kept thinking about that body back
had
to report
the alley, the thin gray
in
Bruce Wardell.
face, the staring eyes.
Maybe some
it.
private detectives take
murder
as
casually as they take a drink of bourbon.

I
it
happened
got out of there
There
you
Hamp,
could say, "By the way,
Yeah,
find
is
Hamp
"
Whyuh.
one magic time to report
poured drinks around
the kitchen,
In
it?
a killing tonight.
even knew the victim. Boy,
we
."
a homicide. That's the
minute
it.
kitchen to get more
Hamp.
Report
fast!
we saw
old man,
right in front of us.
ice.
"Joey and
said,
tried to say
it
said, "Yeah?"
He
for us again.
Then he went
into the
followed him.
saw
my
calmly, but
a little trouble tonight,
voice wouldn't keep a level
pitch.
Hamp
"We saw
pulled the ice tray out.
a murder."
"Yeah?"
"Did you hear what
He
said?"
put the ice tray under the hot water faucet,
let
the cubes
fall
into a bowl.
"I
said
He
we saw
refilled
a murder.
We
didn't report
it."
the ice tray with water, and went back to the ice box.
don't think you understand, Hamp."

felt like my voice might
away from me again. "We were walking down the street, a guy was
shot in an alley about ten feet away from us. We thought they were
shooting at us.
saw the car. License number, 26 J 34 something.
You should be able to do something with that much of the number."
Hamp turned around, went back to the sink for the bowl of ice.
"I
get
"Yeah," he said.
I
grabbed him by the arm. "What's the matter with you,
Are you drunk?

"Okay, Steve.
Hamp?
I'm reporting a murder!"

I
don't guess this
is
the
first
murder you ever
re-
ported."
got a cigarette out, lit it. "Aren't you going

and give them that license number?"
"Yeah," he said. "I'll call 'em." But he didn't make any move to do it.
There was a funny look in Hamp's eyes.
The telephone was in the little hall just off the kitchen. went to
it. "I'm going to call headquarters,"
said.
I
"Wait a minute."
said,
to call headquarters
"What
already.
518
you so worried about, Steve?

punk named Bruce Wardell. Four
are
We
picked up the body
bullet holes in him.
You
probably knew him
working up too
the rackets out there,
in
turned around and picked up the telephone.
on the
dial.
And
minute. TTien
then
maybe
"Four
"It
er
was
me on
stopped.
was
it
Hamp. You
four,
put
held the receiver
holes did
you
my
down
finger
mid-air for a
in
say?"
three."
began to understand. He'd had

Watching Hamp Sprague shrug off
getting punched on the chin.
remembered the
said four."
the ropes for a few minutes.
murder was
like
story he'd told
me
morning.
this
"You picked up Bruce Wardell,
said,
it down slowly.
"How many bullet
put
turned around.
He was
San Francisco.
in
fast."
you picked him up was
all
right.
But the
time
first
morning in a ditch at the edge of town."

thought of the way Hamp had talked this morning: There ought to
some way to snap Joey out oj
this
be
it.
"You staged a
said,
Wardell, because
me
on
He
1
my
looked
at
Joey's benefit.
business to
be sure Joey got the
to
himself."
it's
'killing' for
Hamp
know guys
parallel
figured
I'd
know
him. You counted
between Bruce Wardell and
standing there holding that bowl of
ice.
grinned.
was thinking of that dark
street,
the high whine of an engine, the
three shots.
I
You
like
"That
said,
number 26
car, license
34
That was
yours."
"That's right, Steve."
Then
body,"
thought of the body.
"You had to
said.
And
steal the
it
suddenly came to me. 'The
body
of Bruce Wardell from the
morgue."
Hamp
looked
at
me
mock
with
seriousness. "Steve!
wouldn't do a
thing like that!"
"The
hell
you wouldn't. But what
if
I'd
reported that
'killing'
to
headquarters?"
'The desk sergeant was working with me," said Hamp.

That gives you some idea of Hamp Sprague.
"I
slipped," continued
bullet holes in him.
even
if
you thought
only three shots were
Hamp
"When said Wardell had four

known you'd count those shots,
was breaking loose. You'd remember that
sadly.
should have
hell
had only three blank cartridges tonight."

you slipped before that, by knowing too much about Bruce Wardell. If he'd actually been murdered
tonight, you couldn't have found out this quick that he was from San
Francisco, and mixed up in the rackets out there."
"Yeah,
guess that's right," he admitted. He laughed suddenly, and
519
"You slipped on
fired.
that,"
said. "But
We
laughed, too.
thought of Joey
hard,
his ear
He
us,
winked. "I'm pretty smart,
went
where Joey was.
in
glued to
bowl of melting ice then, and

We were laughing so
and come in.
at that
other room, waiting.
thought Joey would hear
Hamp
We
both looked
in the
ain't
He was
I,
kid?"
sitting
over by the radio with
listening to the high wail of a trumpet.
it,
looked up, and
said,
"I
thought you guys had found another
bottle out there."
We
I
looked
We raised them. I looked at Joey. The

and tension had disappeared.
Hamp, and he winked, saying again with his look, "I'm
our glasses again.
filled
lines of strain
at
pretty smart, ain't
kid!"
I,
nodded.
thought, yeah, you're pretty smart,
can't get along
without you.
The
Hamp.
You're so smart
we
three of us are going to bust San
Francisco wide open.

I
thought, you're going back with
blackmail.
And
could do
it,
too.
us,
if
have to try
a little friendly
detective on the force stealing a
corpse from the morgue!

I
winked back
at
him, and
Today's Special
we
drank.
Poison!
by
V. E. Thiessen
When
Dermott Slade turned to murder he did so with the same rehad made him a successful confidence man.
Sitting in the one room that was his temporary quarters, Dermott
lifted his head to stare out the window at the man he intended to kill.
Rex Whitehall, a tall, grey-haired man, was walking down the street
toward him. Dermott glanced at his watch. It was precisely seven in
the fall evening, almost dark. As he glanced out the window, Dermott
could see Whitehall turning into the entrance of the Vopopulous
Grill, across the street. Dermott grinned. Whitehall was on schedule
as usual. Dermott could set his watch by the punctual arrival of
lentless precision that
Whitehall
at the grill.
That meant that Dermott had

520
fifteen
minutes to
finish
the murder.
He had one more menu
Dermott seized the printed blank,

marked today's special was under his keys. He glanced at the stack of finished menus
beside him. Today's special was the same as yesterday's, though some
other items had changed. Dermott had only to type this final line:
Deluxe Hamburgers with French Fries 25c
The thought occurred that Whitehall would be eating across the
street, that he would be eating the day's special as was his invariable
custom, and so, in a sense, this last might be considered as his obituary. The thought amused Dermott, and he let his mind run over the
murder plan, and grinned.
He jerked the menu from the machine, dropped it on the others
and glanced at his watch. Thirteen minutes. He got up, opened a
small cabinet and drew out a vial of chemical and a Roi-Tan cigar.
Carefully he stripped the wrapper from the pierced end of the cigar.
He rolled a bit of paper to a funnel shape and began to sift the chemical until about a quarter of a gram had gone into the hole. He tapped
the cigar, compacting the chemical somewhat, then carefully folded
the cellophane wrapper back to its original condition.
rolled
it
into his
machine
to type.
until the printed square
When
mouth and drew smoke he

it would taste
funny, but for a moment Whitehall would blame it on the sulphur in
the match. Then it would be too late.
The acids of the stomach, working on the potassium cyanide,
would have converted it to hydrocyanic acid prussic acid and
death would be almost instantaneous.
would
Whitehall put that cigar
also
draw
in his
few grains of potassium cyanide. Sure
Dermott put the
rest of the vial
back
in a
drawer, slipped the cigar
of his room into

Going across the street he glanced at his watch. Eight minutes. Whitehall would be eating his hamburger now.
The beauty of this plan was that it was perfect. In addition to the
shrewd knowledge of human nature that is the tool of every confidence man, Dermott had a theory of crime, a theory on the simple art
in his side
pocket, picked up the
menus and went out
the night.
of murder.
The
secret of successful crime, according to Dermott, lay in never
being suspected. Modern police laboratories were so well equipped,

routine so perfect, that once a criminal was suspected, the evidence to
convict could be found.

If
one were hanged
for leaving a fingerprint, according to
Dermott,
the error was not in leaving the fingerprint, but in being suspected, for
only then did they take the second print for the comparison.
521
There was no reason for the poUce to connect Dermott with

Though Dermott had been watching Whitehall for two
weeks, he had never spoken to the man, never been seen with him.
Whitehall.
The only
possible connection
while companion
in
was through Sam Watt, Dermott's
Sam was
confidence games, and
erst-
dead.
Dermott pushed his way into the Vopopulous Grill. Nick Vopopuhim from the grill, and Nick's twelve-year-old kid
beside him said, "Hi, Dermott."
"Hi." Dermott tousled the kid's hair, handed the menus to Popo.
lous grinned at
"Here's tomorrow's garbage
list,"
he kidded.
'Thank you." Vopopulous dumped the menus in a drawer, then

flipped hamburgers on the grill.
Dermott stood a moment, looking down the counter. Several customers were in the little place. That made it better. At the far end,
Whitehall was finishing the last of his cup of coffee.
Any moment now, Dermott told himself. His hand was on the
cigar in his pocket. He grinned at the Vopopulous kid. "Gimme one of
those cigars," he said.
The kid held the box toward him. Dermott extended his hand,
picked
"I'll
a cigar.
take one of those too," Whitehall said, behind him, at the front
counter.
As the kids eyes flickered toward the sound of Whitehall's voice,

Dermott dropped the palmed cigar. He struck a match to give him
time while he watched Whitehall. If Whitehall changed his habits
now, Dermott would have to act fast to get that cigar back.
Whitehall's routine was right in the groove. He took only one cigar, the handiest one, and thrust it in his upper coat pocket.
Dermott eased out his breath. The murder was done. He tousled
the kid's hair again, called, "I'll get the new menu copy in the morning, Popo," and turning, walked out of the grill. In the street, Dermott
stood a moment, considering, before he mounted the steps to his
room.
Once
inside the
took only one
room he poured himself
Dermott was not the kind
a quick, short drink.
of
man
to
He
hamper himself
much alcohol. Besides, he had only twenty minutes,- after

had to go to the park to find Whitehall's body.
He sat down and began to think methodically over the entire chain
of events, probing for any weak spots, for any link that might throw
him under the fatal suspicion of the law.
with too
that he
His knowledge of Whitehall had begun with the death of

Watt, Dermott's partner. This death was
522
in
Sam
no wise due to an unsuc-
cessful
scheme,
it
was due
one of those quirks of mother nature.
to
Sam Watt had died of pneumonia.

Sam Watt had been versatile. He had been involved in the notorious Gatesville jewel robbery. The last of the proceeds of that robbery,
a
huge perfect diamond, was
at
present reposing in the heel of White-
diamond was
shoe. According to Watt, half of that
hall's
interest in illegal
booty he had willed Dermott
his,
just before
and
this
he died.
The more Dermott had considered the facts, the less it appeared he
demand the diamond, or that Whitehall would honor such a
could
Never one to plan without first determining the facts, Dermott

had located Whitehall and watched him. The arrangement whereby
claim.
he lived
in
tiny
this
across the street,
who
ate there.
tirely alone,
When
It
means
Popo, the Greek
for
to study the man, Whitehall,
the fact had developed that Whitehall was en-
without connections, living quietly on his bank account

should be better to fence the stone, Dermott's mind
until conditions
first
room and typed menus
was merely
began to consider the direct method of getting the stone.

appeared to be the perfect opportunity. His connection with
Though he had watched the man

weeks they had never met, never spoken.
Whitehall could never be traced.
And
for
so Dermott Slade had decided. There had been only the prob-
lem of determining whether the stone

Whitehall's shoe heel, or whether
some new
it
hiding place
in
had been fenced or concealed
in
lay in
still
its
place.
The matter had been determined to Dermott's satisfaction by the

simple expedient of a wad of gum dropped under Whitehall's shoe.
Whitehall's reaction to Popo's innocent offer to clean the shoe with a
kitchen knife had been slight but revealing. Dermott was
Dermott glanced
at his
watch. By
now
another step
in
satisfied.
the lonely
would be complete. Whitehall would

have gone to the park that lay nearby and would be sitting on one of
the benches on the west side. He would sit there in the dark, quietly
consuming a small bottle of whiskey, a lonely, thoughtful old man.
When the whiskey was gone Whitehall would take from his pocket
the cigar he had bought at supper and smoke that until it was the
merest fragment of a butt. Then he would rise and go to his apartment
pattern of Whitehall's habits
and
It
retire.
must, Dermott thought, be a lonely sort of
wealth that lay

ous,
made any
in his heel
was
thing that
publicity undesirable.
Still,
life,
made
for a
knowing
that the
friendships danger-
hundred thousand,
523
man could
stand a few months of the simple
had liquor and tobacco.

Dermott rose, shrugged into
And
life.
at least
White-
hall
and
his coat, slipped a short screwdriver
a pair of gloves into his pocket.
down
Then he went out
of the
room
the stairs into the night and began to walk slowly toward the
park.
There was no problem with Dermott as to disposal of the stone.

a private collector who would pay more than a fence for the
jewel, and the jewel would never again be seen in public.
He knew
Dermott could see the hundred thousand. He began thinking about

Bermuda. It would be lovely there, and good hunting if he
could pick up another helper as good as Sam Watt had been.
He pulled his thoughts up short. Trouble with you, Dermott, you
think too much, he told himself. You start spending it before you get
it, and you'll goof up somewhere.
By now the black night shape of willows that fringed the park was
in his view, and he cut across the street and onto the grass of the
park. On the other side of the willows, deep in shadow, was the solitary bench that Whitehall had established as his own.
When Dermott reached the fringe of trees he looked at his watch.
By now Whitehall must be finishing the whiskey. Dermott crept
slowly between the trees.
He could see Whitehall through the foliage, and for a moment he
had the fear that he had mistimed it, that he was late. Then Whitehall
moved and some object came hurtling toward Dermott. He ducked,
and the hard glass of a whiskey bottle crashed against a willow.
Whitehall had finished his pint. Now his dark bulk was fumbling in
a trip to
pocket for matches.
his
Dermott tensed, turned his head this way and that. The crucial
moment had arrived. If luck held there would be no wandering lovers.
His luck held. The match flared, and Whitehall drew on his cigar.
The end of the cigar glowed for an instant. Then Whitehall took the
cigar from his mouth, looked at it. He choked once, half rose from
the park bench, then fell twisting onto it again. Dermott's heart hammered. The diamond if only the diamond were still there.
By the time Dermott had slipped noiselessly beside him, Whitehall
had stopped breathing. Dermott wasted no more than a single glance,
dropped to one knee and began to use the screwdriver on the right
heel of the dead man's shoe. A moment later the heel came away and
a cool hard lump fell into Dermott's hand.
He
gasped
at the size of
it,
risked holding
the moonlight that filtered through the trees.
524
it
It
momentarily under
glittered with the
thousand irridescent
it
gems
lights that perfect
He
into his coat pocket.
contain.
Dermott
thrust
picked up the cigar. Might as well
let
Popo's hamburgers take the blame for the poisoning.
Then he
back to
put the heel back on and began an even, unhurried walk
room.
his
Once there, he set about the final steps of destroying evidence.

The cigar was shredded, and cigar and remains of the potassium cyanide were washed down the drain, washed long and carefully, to clear
the trap of poison. The poison itself would not be traced. Dermott
had flown to
lytic
California, visited an old school friend
chemistry at the university. While looking
cyanide had
The
somehow found
police
hundred
miles,
actions traced,
way
its
who
taught ana-
at the laboratory,
the
into Dermott's possession.
would check for poison sales within a radius of two

Dermott figured. Unless he were suspected and his
there was nothing to lead the police to the California
laboratories.
And
filled
there was nothing to connect
him with the crime. Dermott
the clean vial with aspirin and placed
in his
it
desk drawer,
now
an innocent receptacle.
The diamond he placed

this carefully
in a
small cardboard cylinder.
He wrapped
with tape and thrust a copper wire entirely through the
cylinder thus developed. Then, opening the back of his radio and
pulling the chassis out, he
and
densers
dropped
The
it
resistors
added
with other tools
in a
pattern was complete.
for bed.
He
slept as
soundly
mass of odd conwas ordinary,- he
this to the similar
The
inside.
screwdriver
drawer.
Dermott smiled and began
to prepare
as a baby.
When he arose, the pattern of the night before came back to him,
and he checked it again, smiling at the neat perfection of the plan. He
would have to show up for the menus, tell Popo he would be leaving
at the
end of the week.
It
wouldn't be wise to draw attention by
leaving now.
When
he reached the
grill
he found Popo
in a dither.
The boy was
trying to comfort him.
Dermott tousled the kid's hair. "What's eatin' your pop?"

Vopopulous waved fat hands wildly. "Police," he shouted. "Police
come here and drive all my trade away. It's in the morning paper." He
"Hi, kid."
pointed a pudgy, shaking finger

Whitehall's
their
at
the paper.
body had been found by
ten-thirty that night.
With
customary vigor, the police had completed identification and
swift autopsy in time to
make the
final
edition of the
morning paper.
525
Dermott ordered
hamburger, french
carefully.
Ac-
meal had consisted of
two police
the afternoon
in
He
last
and cyanide. Dermott grinned.
fries
At two o'clock
and
coffee, read the article slowly
cording to the analysis, the dead man's
detectives were at
mind began
had anticipated this.
As a bare possibility, Popo or the kid had mentioned him, and the
cops were merely making the routine check of anyone known to have
Dermott's door.
stared unbelievingly at them,- then his
to click like a well-oiled machine. Certainly he
eaten at the
One
grill.
you some questions about
to ask
we want
knew
of the detectives, a big, blond man, said, "Mr. Slade,

a
man named
Whitehall. You
him?"
Dermott's breath was tight in his

would be the final questioning. After
the dead man and himself.
He
said,
"I
didn't
know
chest.
all,
With
a little care this
there was no link between
Whitehall, never spoke to him."
what connection did you have with the grill?"

"A slight one," Dermott explained. "I'm looking for a job, somedon't have a lot of money, and the first
thing in the advertising line.
"Just
time
ate across the street
Popo
can't write
worth
noticed the greasy, handwritten menus.
a darn, so
menus
offered to type his
for
meals."
"When do you
type these menus?"
"In the afternoon.
hunting the
Popo
rest of the
gives
me
the copy at breakfast.
morning. Then after lunch
go job-
type the menus.
them over to Popo's at supper time."

"Did you take these menus over last night, the night before Whitehall was killed?"
take
"Yes."
"Did you see Whitehall?"
Dermott considered.
"What did he eat?"

Dermott's mind was
"Yes,
come
racing.
to think about
it,
Popo would have
did."
told
him about
Whitehall's always eating the day's special. That had been hamburger
the
last
couple of days. Might be best not to
noticed such
"1
let
them know he had
facts.
didn't notice,"
Dermott
said.
"The paper said hamburger and
They were on special yesterday and today."

The blond man nodded at his companion. "I guess that does
french
fries.
said.
Dermott
526
relaxed. Suspicion
would never touch him.
it,"
he
to
The other man came up beside him and took

come to Headquarters with us, he said.
Dermott pulled away,
The blond man

is
his arm. "You'll
have
"
lifted
thinking about something
without realizing
to Whitehall's
after
he was
amazed
eyes. "But
said softly, "A lot of times
it.
man
he writes what he
is
writes
and
thinking about
you made that mistake. Your confession

on one of those menus. If they were written
then anyone might have made a mistake like
I'm afraid
murder
killed,
else,
why?" he demanded.
when
is
you typed this menu before Whitehall ate his fatal meal."
His mind whirling, Dermott lifted his eyes to the menu that was
thrust before him. The day's special was before his eyes, the typed
letters as black as the maw of a dungeon. In the dim recesses of his
mind, imagination flared fiercely, and he could see the tentacles of
yours. But
the law, reaching, plucking a fact here, a fact there, learning about the
laboratory in California, finding the jewel after days of
combing the
room.
He
was suddenly aware that sweat had started
in the
palms of his
hands.
The menu
read simply:
WITH Cyanide 25c

Deluxe Hamburger
The
Trailer
Murder Mystery
hy Abraham
In the
year 1841, there resided, at different points
in
Lincoln
the State of
by the name of Trailor. Their Christian names

were William, Henry and Archibald. Archibald resided at Springfield,
then as now the seat of Government of the State. He was a sober,
retiring, and industrious man, of about thirty years of age,- a carpenter
by trade, and a bachelor, boarding with his partner in business a Mr.
Myers. Henry, a year or two older, was a man of like retiring and
industrious habits,- had a family, and resided with it on a farm, at
Illinois,
three brothers
Clary's Grove, about twenty miles distant from Springfield in a north-
westerly direction.
William,
still
older,
and with
similar habits, re-
527
sided on a farm in Wanren county, distant from Springfield something

more than a hundred miles in the same North -westerly direction. He
was a widower, with several children.
In the neighborhood of William's residence, there was, and had
been for several years, a man by the name of Fisher, who was somewhat above the age of fifty,- had no family, and no settled home, but
who boarded and
whom
for
he did
lodged
little
while here and a while there, with persons
jobs of work. His habits were remarkably eco-
nomical, so that an impression got about that he had accumulated a
considerable amount of money.
May,
In the latter part of
in
the year mentioned, William formed
the purpose of visiting his brothers at Clary's Grove and Springfield,-
and
Fisher, at the time
having his temporary residence
at his
house,
accompany him. They set out together in a buggy with a

horse. On Sunday evening they reached Henry's residence, and
resolved to
single
staid over night.
On Monday
morning, being the
first
Monday
of
Henry accompanying them on

horseback. They reached town about noon, met Archibald, went with
him to his boarding house, and there took up their lodgings for the
June, they started on to Springfield,
time they should remain.

After dinner, the three Trailors and Fisher
avowed purpose
left
the boarding house
in
company,
in
looking about the town. At supper, the Trailors had
for the
of spending the evening together
but Fisher was missing, and some inquiry was
all
returned,
made about him.
one they returned, the

stating that
The
last
coming
in after late tea time,
he had been unable to discover anything of
After
One by
supper, the Trailors went out professedly in search of him.
and each
Fisher.
next day, both before and after breakfast, they went profess-
edly in search again, and returned at noon,

again being had, William and
still
Henry expressed
unsuccessful.
Dinner
a determination to
give up the search, and start for their homes. This was remonstrated
by some of the boarders about the house, on the ground that

in the vicinity, and would be left without any
conveyance, as he and William had come in the same buggy. The
remonstrance was disregarded, and they departed for their homes reagainst
Fisher
was somewhere
spectively.
Up
to this time, the
ance had spread very
knowledge of
little
Fisher's mysterious disappear-
beyond the few boarders
at Myers',
and
excited no considerable interest. After the lapse of three or four days,
Henry returned
to Springfield, for the ostensible purpose of
further search for Fisher. Procuring
528
some
making
of the boarders, he, together
with them and Archibald, spent another day
when
in
ineffectual search,
was again abandoned, and he returned home.

general interest was yet excited.
it
No
On
the Friday,
week
after Fisher's disappearance, the
Postmaster at
Springfield received a letter from the Postmaster nearest William's residence, in
Warren county,
stating that William
had returned home
without Fisher, and was saying, rather boastfully, that Fisher was dead,
and had willed him
his money, and that he had got about fifteen

by it. The letter further stated that William's story
and conduct seemed strange, and desired the Postmaster at Springfield
to ascertain and write what was the truth in the matter.
The Postmaster at Springfield made the letter public, and at once,
excitement became universal and intense. Springfield, at that time,
had a population of about 3,500, with a city organization. The Attorney General of the State resided there. A purpose was forthwith
formed to ferret out the mystery, in putting which into execution, the
Mayor of the city and the Attorney General took the lead. To make
search for, and, if possible, find the body of the man supposed to be
murdered, was resolved on as the first step.
In pursuance of this, men were formed into large parties, and
marched abreast, in all directions, so as to let no inch of ground in the
vicinity remain unsearched. Examinations were made of cellars, wells,
and pits of all descriptions, where it was thought possible the body
might be concealed. All the fresh, or tolerably fresh graves in the
graveyard, were pried into, and dead horses and dead dogs were disintered, where, in some instances, they had been buried by their partial
hundred
dollars
masters.
This search, as has appeared,

until
commenced on Friday. It continued

when it was determined to
Saturday afternoon without success,
despatch officers to arrest William and Henry,
The
at their residences, re-
on Sunday morning, meanwhile, the

search for the body was continued, and rumors got afloat of the
Trailors having passed, at different times and places, several gold
pieces, which were readily supposed to have belonged to Fisher.
On Monday, the officers sent for Henry, having arrested him, arrived with him. The Mayor and Attorney Gen'l took charge of him,
and set their wits to work to elicit a discovery from him. He denied,
and denied, and persisted in denying. They still plied him in every
conceivable way, till Wednesday, when, protesting his own innocence, he stated that his brothers, William and Archibald, had murdered Fisher, that they had killed him, without his (Henry's) knowledge at the time, and made a temporary concealment of his body,
spectively.
officers started
529
immediately preceding his and William's departure from Spring-
that,
home, on Tuesday, the day after Fisher's disappearance, Wilcommunicated the fact to him, and engaged his
assistance in making a permanent concealment of the body,- that, at
field for
liam and Archibald
the time he and William
left
professedly for home, they did not take
the road directly, but, meandering their

tered the
woods
at
the North
West
way through
of the city,
the streets, en-
two or three hundred
yards to the right of where the road they should have travelled, en-
woods some few hundred yards, they

somewhat different route, on foot, and
William and Archibald then stationed him (Henry)
tered them; that, penetrating the
came
halted and Archibald
joined them,- that
on an old and disused road that ran near by,

warning of the approach of any
intruder, that
then removed the buggy to the edge of
buggy, they entered the thicket, and

the body, and placed
few minutes returned with
in a
in the buggy,- that
it
from
Archibald then
moved
off
buggy was
size of Fisher,- that
with the buggy
in
he could
his station
distinctly see that the object placed in the
man, of the general appearance and

mill
dense brush thicket, about
from his (Henry's) position, where, leaving the
forty yards distant
and did
as a sentinel, to give
William and Archibald
dead
William and
the direction of Hickox's
pond, and after an absence of half an hour, returned, saying they
had put him in a safe place,- that Archibald then left for town, and he
and William found their way to the road, and made for their homes.
At this disclosure, all lingering credulity was broken down, and
excitement rose to an almost inconceivable height.
Up
to this time,
the well-known character of Archibald had repelled and put

suspicions as to him.
Till
then, those
who were
murder had been committed, were almost
had had no part
in
it.
down
all
ready to swear that a
as confident that
Archibald
jail,- and
by no means objectionable to
But now, he was seized and thrown into
indeed, his personal security rendered
it
him.
And now came the search for

The thicket was
the brush thicket, and the search of

found, and the
the mill pond.
buggy
tracks at the
point indicated. At a point within the thicket, the signs of a struggle
were discovered, and

traced.
In
thicket,
it
from thence to the buggy track was
was found to proceed
could not be traced

that a
a trail
attempting to follow the track of the buggy from the
all
in the direction of the mill
the way. At the pond, however,
buggy had been backed down
to,
and
it
pond, but
was found
partially into the water's
edge.
Search was
now
to be
made
in
the pond,- and
it
was made
in
every
imaginable way. Hundreds and hundreds were engaged in raking,
530
fish-
ing, and draining. After much fruitless effort in this way, on Thursday
morning the mill dam was cut down, and the water of the pond partially drawn off, and the same processes of search again gone through
with.
About noon of
this day, the officer sent for
ing him in custody, and a
man
William, returned hav-
calling himself Dr. Gilmore,
came
in
company with them.

own house, early in
the day on Tuesday, and started to Springfield
with
dark awhile, they reached Lewiston, in Fulton
him,- that after
It
seems that the
county, where they stopped for the
officer arrested
William
at his
the night this
night,- that late in
Dr. Gilmore arrived, stating that Fisher was alive at his house, and
had followed on to give the information, so that William
that he
might be released without further
trouble,- that
the officer, distrusting
Gilmore, refused to release William, but brought him on to
Dr.
Springfield,
On
and
and the Dr. accompanied them.
reaching Springfield, the Dr. re-asserted that Fisher was
at his
house. At
founded. Gilmore's story was communicated to Henry Trailor,
without
reaffirmed his
faltering,
Henry's adherence to his
and
at
once the idea
that
Gilmore was
tale
he was
own
started,
own
story
was communicated to the crowd,
and became
nearly,
if
not quite universal,
and had invented the
secure their release and escape.
Excitement was again
at its zenith.
About three o'clock the same evening, Myers, Archibald's

started with
partner,
two-horse carriage, for the purpose of ascertaining
whether Fisher was
him back
who
story about Fisher's murder.
a confederate of the Trailors,
telling, to
alive,
the multitude for a time, were utterly con-
this,
alive, as stated
by Gilmore, and
if
so, of
bringing
to Springfield with him.
On Friday a legal exarnination was gone into before two Justices,

on the charge of murder against William and Archibald. Henry was
introduced as a witness by the prosecution, and on oath re-affirmed
at the
end of which he bore
thorough and rigid cross-examination without
faltering or exposure.
his statements, as heretofore detailed,

a
The
and
prosecution also proved, by a respectable lady, that on the
day evening of
Fisher's disappearance, she
well knew, and another
man whom
Mon-
whom she
know, but whom
saw Archibald,
she did not then
she believed at the time of testifying to be William, (then present,)
and
still
timber
and
at
after
another, answering the description of Fisher,
the North
West
all
of town, (the point indicated
enter the
by Henry,)
one or two hours, saw William and Archibald return without
Fisher.
Several other witnesses testified, that on Tuesday, at the time Wil-
531
Henry professedly gave up the search
for Fisher's body, and

home, they did not take the road directly, but did go into
the woods, as stated by Henry. By others, also, it was proved, that
since Fisher's disappearance, William and Archibald had passed rather
an unusual number of gold pieces. The statements heretofore made
about the thicket, the signs of a struggle, the buggy tracks, &c., were
fully proven by numerous witnesses.
liam and
started for
At
this the prosecution rested.
by the defendants. He stated that

Warren county, about seven miles distant from William's
residence,- that on the morning of William's arrest, he was out from
home, and heard of the arrest, and of its being on a charge of the
murder of Fisher,- that on returning to his own house, he found Fisher
there,- that Fisher was in very feeble health, and could give no rational
account as to where he had been during his absence,- that he (Gilmore) then started in pursuit of the officer, as before stated,- and that
Dr. Gilmore was then introduced
he resided
in
he should have taken Fisher with him, only that the
state of his health
did not permit. Gilmore also stated that he had
known
Fisher for
and that he had understood he was subject to temporary

derangement of mind, owing to an injury about his head received in
several years,
early
life.
There was about Dr. Gilmore so much of the air and manner of
truth, that his statement prevailed in the minds of the audience and of
the court, and the Trailors were discharged, although they attempted
no explanation of the circumstances proven by the other witnesses.

On the next Monday, Myers arrived in Springfield, bringing with
him the now famed Fisher, in full life and proper person.
Thus ended this strange affair and while it is readily conceived that
a writer of novels could bring a story to a more perfect climax, it may
well be doubted whether a stranger affair ever really occurred. Much
of the matter remains in mystery to this day.
woods with
Fisher,
The going
and returning without him, by the
going into the woods
into the
Trailors,- their
same place the next day, after they proup the search, the signs of a struggle in the
thicket, the buggy tracks at the edge of it, and the location of the
thicket, and the signs about it, corresponding precisely with Henry's
story, are circumstances that have never been explained. William and
at the
fessed to have given
Archibald have both died since
William
in less
than a year, and Ar-
chibald in about two years after the supposed murder.

living,
It
is
not the object of the writer of this to enter into the
curious speculations that might be indulged
532
Henry
is still
but never speaks of the subject.
upon the
many
facts of this
narrative, yet
most
he can scarcely forbear

have been the
certainly,
Fisher not been found alive.
It
in the vicinity,
it is
remark upon what would,
of William and Archibald,
seems he had wandered away
derangement, and, had he died
found
fate
in this condition,
difficult to
and
his
in
al-
had
mental
body been
conceive what could have saved
the Trailors from the consequence of having murdered him. Or,
if he
had died, and his body never found, the case against them would have
been quite as bad, for, although it is a principle of law that a conviction for murder shall not be had, unless the body of the deceased be
discovered,
Fisher's
it
to be remembered, that
is
Henry
testified that
he saw
dead body.
A Tulip
in
the
Snow
by John McCurnin
The yellow
eyes of the big sedan shone brightly on the criss-cross
new fallen snow. Here and there,

windows blinked by through the branches of front lawn
puzzle of automobile tracks in the
warmly
lit
evergreens. Street lamps, getting farther apart now, stood like desolate
sentinels against the
low hanging horizon.
Behind the wheel, his face

light, a
man broke
and then
let it
a sullen
mask
in
the glow of the dash
the speed of the big sedan around a sharp corner
out across the city limits and out into the
flat,
snow-
covered countryside.
At
his side,
another
man hunched
his red
head deeper into
his
pulled-up coat collar and shifted two trench spades in his freckled
hands to an easier riding position.

back seat two indistinct forms rode in silence, and in the
match lighting a cigarette, a dapper young man in a leather
jacket, derby hat, and white scarf cast a sharp, searching glance at the
man on the seat beside him. Instantly, he recognized the sunken
cheeks and high face bones of his older companion and his seeking
eyes narrowed. It was Bleeker lieutenant and Number One rod-man
for Stoney Joe Hellman. Bleeker's presence meant something was underway, that Stoney Joe trusted only to Bleeker or to himself.
For only a moment the face of the younger man showed the exIn the
flare
of a
533
pression of a trapped animal and then relaxed again into a practiced

carelessness.
He
sound
tried to
forced a laugh, an almost self-mocking laugh, and
casual. "So
Bleeker sucked
Joe's.
in
on
Bleeker
it's
vously flippant. "Where are
we
Big Gun
Bleeker,"
he said ner-
going, Bleeker?"
his cigarette
and
smoke
the
let
curl out.
'To
Joe wants you," he said dryly. Each word was spoken so that
hung by
it
complete and alone.
itself,
The younger man grew
and turning
silent
his sleek, thin face to the
window, watched the telephone poles flashing by and the snow, like a
great white sheet streaking away from the car. Nervously, his hands
stole into his jacket pockets
tulip bulbs he'd
and
for a
moment he
bought only an hour before.
If
fingered the loose
only he'd stayed
hideout tonight instead of going out for those bulbs.

that crazy
yen
for red tulips,
Joe would
still
be looking for him.
had
to be planted quick
fore the
first
snow.
And
up with him. Joe was
The
blood red
tulips,
Still,
If
in the
he didn't have
he'd have stayed in and
he had the yen and the bulbs
should have been planted before now,

then, sooner or later Joe
be-
would have caught
like that.
big sedan swerved, half skidded, and the trench spades grated
together as
it
straightened into a side road and rolled on. At the sight
of the side road, a strange, ominous feeling
whipped through him and
he turned and gazed thoughtfully through the window
at the endless
stretch of flint-colored sky.
He
how barren and

He knew, because
knew, now, where they were and he knew
deserted the river-end of Joe's country place was.
other times he had sat where Bleeker was now, ready to do the job
Bleeker was going to handle.
shudder chilled through him
at the
thought of the lonely spot but quickly he tried to think of something

else,
tried to shake off the
down his back.

Then he saw
the open
off the side road.
rolled
yellow streak that was creeping slowly
maw
of the river ahead and the car turned
Scrub brush scraped the fenders and the big sedan
and lurched over uneven ground. Then
and they stopped. The driver cut
He
could hear the
recklessly
on the bank cut
Bleeker
lit
finally asked.
534
tried to see
He
it
full,
rushing
strained his sleek,
but the small
haw
off his view.
a cigarette
through the darkness.
late fall rains.
window and
over them
and they waited.
now, close by, muddy and
on with the load of the
thin face toward the

trees
river,
trees closed
off the lights
and he could
"Why
did you
feel Bleeker's
kill
cold eyes on him
Joe's kid brother?" Bleeker
The
blood
blunt question jolted
knew everything
trying to settle
him and he could
why blow
But
in his face.
the flush of hot
feel
up? Joe knew. Bleeker knew. They
"Gimme
the cops didn't know.
a cigarette,"
he
said,
down.
him the pack and
Bleeker handed
lit
match.
"Why
did you
kill
him?" he asked again.
The younger man

to,"
pulled deeply on the cigarette.
"1
didn't intend
he answered, letting the smoke out. "But he was cutting
with Joe.
aimed low. Thought maybe
me
out
could scare him yellow so he
wouldn't rate with Joe anymore."
you
"But
hit
him
clean. In the head."
"1
didn't
aim
"1
wish
could aim wrong
right."
like that," Bleeker said. "Joe's
been
a kill-
crazy maniac ever since the kid died."
black form, straight and
crunched through the snow out of
tall,
pine thicket, stopped, flashed a light, and
Even
the dim reflection light of the
in
ultra neat,
of.
snow he could almost see Joe's

homberg hat, and he
of the expensive cloth Joe's clothes were
feel
But that was Joe
imported fabrics made

tailors.
the car.
expertly tailored figure, his smart
could remember the
made
moved on toward
Even
Nothing too good
over.
strictly to his
his buttons
"Okay, Bleeker," Joe
all
had
said,
be
to
own
just right
opening the door.
Bleeker pulled his feet back to
let
for Joe. Strictly
design by only the best

exclusive.
"Let's go."
the younger
man
out
The
first.
other doors opened and the trench spades grated together harshly as
man laid them on the ground.

now and he was conscious of a
stopped. So this was how it was
had gone
the red-headed
All the feeling
out of his legs
dull, violent silence.
breath
"Joe!"
he suddenly sputtered.
"Listen, Joe.
didn't
mean
to
kill
His
the
kid"
"Ready, Bleeker?" Joe cut him
'Joe! Listen,
Joe's
Joe
"
off.
Desperately he grabbed the front of Joe's coat.
powerful hands reached up and slowly he could
pried loose, his hands dragging
down
feel his
hold
the front of Joe's heavy, exclu-
One of his clutching hands clung to a button and

hand locked in a helpless grip. Roughly, an open hand uppercut
caught him full on the chin and he reeled weakly backward.
sively tailored coat.
the
"For a rod that could eat a steak a half hour after handling a job,
you look pretty good, Guido," Joe sneered.

The uppercut blow and the caustic tone of
Joe's voice
stopped him
535
and he groped
get
for control.
"Okay, Joe," he said thickly. "Where do
it?"
"Go
to the house," joe
commanded. Then
to the driver
and the
red-headed man: "Stay here."

Bleeker flashed a light toward the path Joe's tracks had
he
started, his
hands feeling the loose
made and
tulip bulbs in his pockets.
Joe and Bleeker followed, one on either side, Bleeker flashing the
torch so he could pick his way.
They
derby
shot him in the back of the head just under the brim of his
hat,
right near the pine thicket,
and
for
only a second his
clenched hands shot upward, he lunged once to the
right,
once to the
and then crumpled.

And with each lunge, his head had spilled a bright red splotch over
the white snow, brilliant, like the deep red of a Dutch tulip lying on a
left,
right again,
white tablecloth.
The driver and the red-headed man with the freckled hands buried
him there in a shallow grave in the soggy wet earth under the snow
and within an hour the spot was as lonely and deserted as it had been
for months and years before.
April came and the swollen river almost overflowed its banks with
the spring thaw. May came and the marsh grass turned to livid green.
June came and a boy, barefooted, with overall pants rolled up to his
knees, stopped and dropped his fishing line into the river just near the
row of small haw trees along the banks.
And when his young eyes fell on a single, deep red tulip blooming
near the pine thicket, he arose at once and wondered what his
chances were of digging it up and transplanting it to his own front
yard at home. With his bare hands, he dug carefully around the roots,
and he kept digging until his eyes, horrified, glued themselves on a
hand, a human hand, holding the bulb from which the deep red tulip
had grown.
In the other hand, the police found one large, imported horn button and it was of such an exclusive design that they had very little
trouble in tracing down the tailor that had sewn it on the coat of the
ultra neat, well-tailored man who had ordered it
exclusively.
536
The Umbrosa Burglary

hy R.
During one of
few days
at
my
short
summer holidays
happened
the delightful riverside residence of
ver, the extent of
whose
hospitality
is
my
C.
to be spending a
friend
that
is
name
summer months
the attractive
during the
the
that he provides for them.
Upper Thames.
It
The
of his house) are
pass up (or
was there that
James
beauties of
known
to
by the varied
Umbrosa (for
all
who
those
down) the winding reaches
of
witnessed a series of startling
Had
events which threw the whole country into a temporary turmoil.

it
Sil-
only to be measured by the
excellence of the fare that he sets before his guests, or
amusements
Lehmann
not been for the unparalleled coolness and sagacity of Picklock
Holes the
results
might have been fraught with
disaster to
many
dis-
tinguished families, but the acumen of Holes saved the situation and
the family plate, and restored the peace of
mind
of one of the best
fellows in the world.
The
party at
Umbrosa
consisted of the various
Silver family, including, besides

ited
Mr. and Mrs.
and unmarried youths and two charming
was of course one of the
guests. In fact,
it
members
of the
Silver, three high-spirgirls.
Picklock Holes
had long since come
to
be
went Holes should accompany

me in the character of a professional detective on the look-out for
business,- and James Silver, though he may have at first resented the
calm unmuscularity of my marvellous friend's immovable face, would
have been the last man in the world to spoil any chance of sport or
excitement by refraining from offering a cordial invitation to Holes.
The party was completed by Peter Bowman, a lad of eighteen, who to
an extraordinary capacity for mischief added an imperturbable cheerfulness of manner. He was generally known as Shockheaded Peter, in
an understood thing that wherever
allusion to the brush-like appearance of his delicate auburn hair, but

his intimate friends sometimes addressed him as Venus, a nickname
which he thoroughly deserved by the almost classic irregularity of his
Saxon features.
We were all sitting, remember, on the riverbank, watching the
537
I
countless craft go past, and enjoying that pleasant industrious indo-
lence which
had
is
one of the chief charms of
skimmed
just
by, propelled
by an
life
athletic
on the Thames. A punt

young fellow in boating
costume. Suddenly Holes spoke.
he
strange,"
"It is
the
said, "that
man should be
at large."
still
"What man? Where? How?" we all exclaimed breathlessly.

"The young puntsman," said Holes, with an almost aggravating
coolness. "He is a bigamist, and has murdered his great aunt."
cannot be," said Mr.
"It
and
well,
distress.
know
"I
the lad
speak the truth," said Holes, unemotionally. 'The induction
"I
He
perfect.
is
wearing a red
by blood.
stained
That
tie.
was not always
tie
by something. Blood
stained
therefore,
is
with evident
Silver,
never breathed."
a better fellow
Now
of a lighter shade,
blood that stained
it
it is
known
well
is
red.
that the
red.
was,
It
It
is
was,
therefore,
blood of great aunts
and the colour of that tie has a lighter shade. The

was, therefore, the blood of his great aunt. As for
the bigamy, you will have noticed that as he passed he blew two rings
and they both floated in the air at the same time. A

symbol of matrimony. Two rings together mean bigamy. He
of cigarette smoke,
ring
is,
is
therefore, a bigamist."
For a
this
moment we were
"Holes,"
You
silent,
struck with horror at this dreadful,
convincing revelation of criminal infamy. Then

I
will of
broke out:
"you deserve the thanks of the whole community.
said,
course communicate with the police."
"No," said Holes, "they are fools, and
do not care
to
mix myself
up with them. Besides, have other fish to fry."

Saying this, he led me to a secluded part of the grounds, and whisI
pered
in
"Not
my
a
ear.
word
of
what
am
about to
tell
you. There will be a bur-
glary here to-night."

"But Holes,"
science of
vants,
my
said, startled in spite of
friend,
warn the
anything
dreadful expectancy.
you
May
at
the calm omni-
and bar the windows, and
would be
not
tell
are amiable, but
And with that enigmatic reply

The evening had passed as
myself
not better do something, arm the
police, bolt the doors
with blunderbusses
"Potson,
we
"had
Mr.
you
better than
this
ser-
sit
up
state
of
Silver?"
will
my
methods."
in the
meantime.
never learn
had to be content
pleasantly as evenings at
Umbrosa
al-
There had been music,- the Umbrosa choir, composed of

members of the family and guests, had performed in the drawingroom, and Peter had drawn tears from the eyes of every one by his
touching rendering of the well-known songs of 'The Dutiful Son" and
ways
538
pass.
"The Cartridge-bearer." Shortly afterwards, the
ladies retired to bed,
and the gentlemen,
in the
followed.
We
were
after the
customary interval
smoking-room,
many
high good-humour, and had made
in
plans
morrow. Only Holes seemed preoccupied.
for the
had been sleeping for about an hour, when was suddenly awakheard the voices of the
ened with a start. In the passage outside
youngest Silver boy and of Peter.
I
"Peter, old chap," said
the house.
Johnny
Silver,
"I
believe there's burglars in
Isn't it a lark?"
"Have you told your people?"

no use waking the governor and the mater,
"Ripping," said Peter.
"Oh,
it's
job ourselves.
told the
girls,
and they've
got under their beds, so they're
safe.
all
we'll
locked themselves
do the
in and
Are you ready?"
"Yes."
"Come on
then."
With that they went along the passage and down the stairs. My
mind was made up, and my trousers and boots were on in less time
than it takes to tell it.
went to Holes's room and entered. He was
lying on his bed, fully awake, dressed in his best detective suit, with
his fingers meditatively extended, and touching one another.
I
"They're here,"
said.
"Who?"
'The burglars."
"As
thought," said Holes, selecting his best basket-hilted life-pre-
server from a heap in the middle of the room. "Follow

I
did
silence
so.
No
sooner had
was broken by
"Good
we reached
me
silently."
the landing, however, than the
a series of blood-curdling screams.
heavens!" was
all
could say.
obeyed him. The screams subsided, and

heard the voices of my two young friends, evidently in great triumph.
"Lie still, you brute," said Peter, "or I'll punch your blooming head.
Give the rope another twist, Johnny. That's it. Now you cut and tell
your governor and old Holes that we've nabbed the beggar."
By this time the household was thoroughly roused. Agitated females and inquisitive males streamed downstairs. Lights were lit, and a
remarkable sight met our eyes. In the middle of the drawing-room lay
an undersized burglar, securely bound, with Peter sitting on his head.
collared the beggar," said Peter, "and bowled him
"Johnny and
"Hush," said Holes.
over. Thanks,
think
could do with a ginger-beer."
The man was of course tried and

thanks of the County Council.
convicted, and Holes received the
"That fellow," said the great detective to me, "was the best and
539
cleverest of
and
my
tame team of country-house
his associates
Those
count.
Through him
burglars.
have fostered and foiled more thefts than
boys nearly
infernal
care to
They
advice, never attempt a master-stroke in a houseful of boys.
understand
can't
my
spoilt everything. Potson, take
Had they not interfered should

He had wired to tell me where
scientific induction.
have caught the fellow myself.
should find him."
Waiting
Jim Knapp
There was another murder
was powerless
last night.
to stop
it.
wanted to stop
it,
but
couldn't.
It
happened.
had waited
had
empty house
the dark,
in
woman
screaming "Another
will
for hours.
mind was
woman
died.
You can read about
The
sketchy.
victim's
The
today's newspaper.
in
it
name was withheld pending
article
about the victim. She was middle-aged and financially

her husband
ing hours
and they
the hospital.
well
it
is
When
no match
much.
can
tell
affluent.
you
And
came home alone after visitThe struggles are always brief
distraught, unsuspecting, middle-
for an attacker trained in martial arts.
After her struggles stopped and the

lay sprawled
very
she
didn't take long.
really don't suffer
woman
aged
in
is
.
is
notification of fam-
members, but you don't need to read the paper.
ily
My
not die tonight." But another
on the kitchen
floor
it
doughy mound
was
a simple
of lifeless flesh
matter to remove
all
the valuables. There was the whole night to remove cash and jewelry
and
Now
ings
isn't
anything
might
robbery.
police detective
else.
as well say right here that the
The cops have
and he
he shouldn't, but we're

chological profile of the
tells
me
friends.
killer.
motive for these
figured out that
things.
He
The police
They figure
much.
probably
it's
kill-
know
me
things
done
a psy-
tells
shrinks have
a male, in his thirties,
with an intense hatred of his mother. She was probably wealthy and
540
she most likely rejected him. That's

wealthy.
why
also
It's
why
his
victims are
always
they're in their sixties or seventies.
This was the eleventh
killing.
hope
it
be the
will
last.
hope
can
more from happening.
stop
The
victim was Vivian Fairgate. She was murdered on June
first
was thirteen months ago. The
third, nineteen-ninety, that
waited in the
still
darkness until she returned
Then he snapped her
home from
killer
had
the hospital.
neck.
had to find out exactly what the police knew about last night's
punched in the number to my cop
murder. Grabbing the phone
buddy. He answered on the third ring. His voice had the mellow
I
New-
raspiness of a heavy cigarette smoker. "Homicide. Detective
man."
Me. You on the Elwood
"Hi, Eddie.
case?"
"Yeah."
"Anything new?"
"You know, buddy,
think you're starting to take advantage of me.
you more than should because we've been friends for a

long time and because of, you know, what happened. But keep this
up I'm gonna end up with my ass in a jam."
There was too much at stake to allow him to put me off. "Anything
new?"
asked again.
had to know.
"Jesus. You don't quit. O.K. Same M.O. They were pretty well off.
Not servants and homes all over the world and invitations to the
I've
talked to
whitehouse
rich,
but they were very high into the upper-middle
Nice home, cottage

in the hospital.
at the lake, winters in Florida
That goddamn rag of
We
hospital admissions.
say
it's
asked nice, and
class.
kinda rich. Husband
newspaper won't quit printing
we
threatened nasty, but they
What
policy. Freaking policy littering the city with bodies!
crap!
"Anyway, no signs of forced entry. The dame walks

waiting inside, and he snaps her neck.
late a
robbery.
No
prints,
He
steals
it's
just
our bad fortune that
Not enough manpower

just
in,
the perp
stuff to
we
when
live in
to stake out every rich
he'll
is
simu-
no witnesses, no nothing. Not enough of
time pattern to project with any accuracy

guess
enough
strike again.
a
I
such an affluent burg.
dame whose husband
died or was admitted to the hospital or whatever.
We
need
a little
luck."
'Thanks, Eddie.
"Listen,
guess
buddy, take
doesn't concern you,
it
heart attack should be
my
I've
got a morbid interest."
Think about something else. This

it lie. Take up fishing. One
make a guy your age wise up. Life's
advice.
really doesn't. Let
enough
to
541
too short. Learn to relax.
If
had your money
take a nice long
I'd
trip."
"Maybe
it lie.
It
you're right,"
And
suspect he
Damn
wouldn't be able to
knew
it,
let
too.
in. But that was

was when I was
forty. When
got out of the hospital started walking. Then worked
my way up to jogging. Even took up Tai-Chi,- an exercise regime and
life-style that promotes good health and harmony with the world but
is also a deadly Chinese form of the martial arts. There's another
hobby, too, that Eddie doesn't know about, took a mail order course.
Sure
had had
But of course
said.
wasn't that simple.

I
a heart attack.
over a year ago and I'm
in better
near cashed
now
shape
than
I'm a bonafide locksmith.
One month
later the hospital
reported that Elton
L. Collier
III
admissions section of the newspaper
had been taken by ambulance to
St.
Mary's Hospital, the victim of a severe stroke.

I
paced most of the afternoon.
drunk.
should leave town.
should get this terrible pounding voice out of
knew
should get
my
head.
Why
would do.
At three o'clock in the afternoon clipped the phone line to the
Collier residence, rendering the burglar alarm ineffective, and used my
locksmith picks to let myself into the lovely, silent home.
waited. Waited as
Then
had waited in other elegant, lonely
homes. Waited while the grandfather clock ticked and the air conditioner cycled on and off. Waited while the automatic ice maker
couldn't
stop myself from doing what
dumped
its
load into the plastic bin.
Watched
as light reflected off the
shimmering surface of the back-yard swimming pool. Waited with old

rubber gloves. Waited while a grieving and terrified
by a hospital bed wondering if the man she shared
would ever be the same.
her life with would ever return to her
Shadows grew longer as the sun dropped lower in the sky. A dog
barked a few houses away as he welcomed his master home from
work. A lawn sprinkler came on across the street. Still
waited.
Darkness came. It would be another two hours before visiting
hours ended. Finally, there was a scrape at the kitchen door. Someone
was coming in. moved on rubber soled shoes and was waiting when
hands sweating
woman
kept
in
vigil
the door opened.
He was in his mid-thirties. Just like the police

He wore dark clothes and rubber gloves. No mask
left a
psychologist said.
Before he had time to react to
my
presence
buried a
stomach, paralyzing his diaphragm. With practiced moves
542
He
needed.
never
witness.
fist
I
in his
snapped
his neck.
did
carried
him
quickly and cleanly and with no remorse, only the
it
my
faster beating of
heart. Hoisting his limp
second
to the
body
and dropped him
floor
my
to
head
shoulders
first
off the
balcony onto the apron of the swimming pool.
Then
carefully locked up, hauled
my own
my
highball glass.
heavy
in
Light from the crystal chandelier above rainbowed
from the tumbler
my
portrait of
frame to
sixty- five-year-old
lonely home, and mixed a very dry martini
as
raised
it
in salute to the painting
deceased beloved, and
on the
wall, the
said aloud, "Well,
Vivian,
maybe we can both rest now."

The phone woke me the next morning. It was Eddie Newman.
Detective-First. "I got some news, old buddy. It's over. The guy that
killed
your wife
He was
dead.
is
apparently trying to climb up to a
balcony to gain entrance to an upper bedroom.

fall
broke
but
we had
his neck.
wrong house staked out
the
He
slipped and the
wish we'd nailed him and put him away
forever,-
again. Well, at least he's out
of circulation."
"Yes,"
The
said.
'Thanks."
waiting was over.
Away
While the Cat's
by Dorothy Dunn
Bill
Vogel was slumped over his kitchen table asleep.
the
way
he'd looked
when
night
last
left
him
He
only
looked
messier,
just
more
bleary-eyed.
I
waded
knocking
across
empty
a glass over.
bottles
The
and shook him.
last flat
He
flung out an arm,
highball that he'd passed out on
spilled out, soaking into the cloth.
"Come
out of
it. Bill!
This
is
the third day. You're beginning to look

"
good corner for spiders

"Go away, Julien," he muttered.
like a
"You're always bothering me. Stop
bothering people. Quit shaking me!"
"Look
at this mess, Bill.
ing in on
"Damn
all this.
It
Nine o'clock
in
the morning.
The sun com-
stinks."
the sun!"
543
"And you,
you.
Come
know which
Don't
Bill.
on. At least take a
is
worse, this smelly kitchen or
shower and get into some clean
clothes.
coming home today."
xMartha's
"Have
And
a drink, Julien.
you
if
don't like the odor around here,
just scram."
"1
But
will.
if
you think
I'm
going to
Martha
let
find
you
way,
this
you're nuts."
Bill
gave
me
"Whaddaya
a sly
care
look out of his puffy eyes.
how Martha
finds
my sister.
"And my wife.
got the most say."
"Granted. Look,
Bill,
"She's
me?"
Bill."
don't get the idea I'm interfering.
just
know
you wouldn't want her to find you this way. You'll thank me later."
"I'll thank you to mind your own business."
."
"I'm doing that. Martha is my
"Cut it out, Julien. You're a little ridiculous, you know." He fumbled
toward the half-emptied bottle of bourbon and got it to his mouth
with a trembling hand. "Brrr!" he shuddered, as it went down. "Hair of
the dog ..."
.
"What got you
off
on
this bat?"
awake. "Just because Martha took a
now
asked,
little
that
he seemed
trip to see
the folks
fully
is
no
reason for you to get blind."

"I'm
not blind."
"Okay
so you're not blind. But you've certainly been on a bat."
"Not funny,
Julien."
"Not meant to
started
be,"
said.
"Look
fella, this isn't at all like
you.
What
anyway?"
it,
"Own business. Remember?"

He waved an imperious arm toward the door. agreed with him. it
was his own business if he wanted to stay drunk forever. But this was
different. Martha was coming home today and she'd be sore as a new
I
blister
if
that she
she found
Bill in this
condition. She hated drinking so
much
didn't
want
just four
hours
might even be sore enough to leave him, and
that to happen.
She was
to get
Bill
arriving
on the early afternoon
clean up the kitchen.

After
much
was plenty
decent
544
I'd
need
protest, Bill
tired,
but
gave
a shovel for that,

in
had
The
thought.
with a nasty smile. At two o'clock
we were ready
in a blue flannel sport shirt
cleaners.
train.
cleaned up and out of the mood. Four hours to do that and
for
Martha.
and gabardine
smell of shaving lotion didn't
kill
He
looked quite
slacks fresh from the
the alcohol odor, but
what's a couple of beers
among
friends?
had
a bottle beside
me
to
back him up.
We
dishes,
had scrubbed the linoleum, washed a mountain of

and walked blocks to throw the empties in somebody else's ash
were ready.
pit.
"You think of everything,
"One would think you were

"Ordinary,"
we sat there waiting.

What a mind for details!"
Julien," said Bill, as
setting a stage.
told him.
"Maybe," he
lighting a cigarette
said,
and holding
over the
it
more than ordinary.

Tell me, why all the pains? What's it to you that you spend four hours
of your pleasure-loving life to keep me out of the dog house? What's
stained places on his hand. "But
say that
I'd
it's
your angle?"
"Charity,"
said, "begins at
home."
"In a pig's eye."
my
"Martha's
sister.
She hates drunks and
she's not
good
con-
at
cealing her hates."
"No," said Bill, running a shaking hand across his face. "She's not
good at concealing things, is she?"
Something about the way he said that frightened me. He looked
bitter and harassed, as though the bottom had dropped out of his
dream house.
"What's wrong, Bill? What's eating you that you break one of
Martha's commandments? You've been a good boy for the two years
you've been married to her.
He shook
Why
the sudden urge for a binge?"
God knows what
himself back to attention.
thinking about.
doubt
if
he'd heard
much
of
what
I'd
he'd been
said until the
last part.
"Good boy,
Julien.
Yes,
indeed!
I've
been
model husband,
wouldn't you say?"
"Martha thinks
so,
no doubt about
that. That's
why
."
I
"Stuck your nose in this morning?"

"Skip
"Yes,"
it,"
said, getting sore.
"I
should have
he said pointedly. "You should have.
let
I
you wallow
feel
like
."
.
the devil
now."
I
tried to
be sympathetic.
"Want something
to eat?"
He
looked
like
he hadn't taken anything
solid for days.
His cheek bones seemed higher and his face was
drawn.
fix
He
"I
could
you
a sandwich."
winced. "Have a heart, Julien.
And
stop banging your fingers on
that table!"
545
"Sorry. But isn't that train late?
She was due
two.
in at
It's
almost
three now."
Bill
looking miserable. At
just sat there,
last
he
said:
"All right,
you asked for it. You had to hang around and wait. You had to
clean house and play nurse and now you've had your fun. The joke's
on you. Martha isn't coming hacki"
Julien,
"You're kidding!"
me
the day she
my
said, getting to
me
and told
left
feet angrily.
she'd be back
on the
"Martha called
fifteenth at
two
o'clock."
Bill
"Why
grinned unpleasantly.
ing back
should
kid, Julien? She's
not com-
ever."
didn't get
it.
looked around
at the house. All the stuff she'd
accumulated through the two years of her marriage. The

service, the
silver coffee
rosewood desk that she'd talked out of Grandma, the sew-
ing basket with her crochet needle stuck through a ball of thread.
she'd been leaving
Bill
for
good, she'd not have
left
If
any of the posses-
much. Not Martha. She was as acquisitive as a

and you could never pry her loose from so much as an empty
sions she liked so

squirrel
candy box.
"Where
is
Bill just
shrugged and that made
she?"
"Don't you even

I
asked.
know whether
you hear from
asked. "Did
me
furious.
or not she arrived safely in Peoria?"
her, or
from the
folks?"
Did you get any word?"

"No, but I'm on the black list with my family. You know that. Do
you mean to say that your wife has been missing for a week and all
you've done about it is soak your head in bourbon?"
"Not
a thing, julien. But they're
"Something
your
folks.
like that," said Bill.
"You don't care?"
"Why should I?"

He had me there. Martha
is my sister, but I don't like her much.

However, was anxious for her to get home and be
on good terms with Bill. wanted that desperately because needed
money again. Bill wouldn't let me have it, but Martha would draw it
She's overbearing.
out of her personal account the minute

to
do
it.
I'm
probably the only person
she killed her
sat
first
around
"Aren't
for
husband to collect
Why
world
who knows
that
his insurance.
Bill?"
should
quite a self-sufficient
546
spoke the word. She'd have
another hour, stewing.
you worried.
"Worried?
in the
be? Martha can take care of herself. She's
woman."
"Yes
she
is."
know
the half of that. Martha had plenty of money he

know anything about, and she'd got it all for herself. But
wanted to know where she was. I'd been banking on getting the five
thousand owed in gambling debts from her.
didn't
Bill
didn't
"Why
you phone
don't
Peoria, Bill? Find out from the folks
she's
if
there."
He
gave
me
them
"Call
a silly, disinterested smile.
your
yourself, Julien. They're
folks
and you're the one
that's worried. I'm not."
thought about the folks and decided against
necked and grim.
didn't like
them any
They were
it.
better than
stiff-
did Martha. But
needed money.
"How do you know

"Because
chase
not coming back.
she's
Bill?"
told her not to," he said, taking a shot of whiskey to
down with
his beer.
"You put up with Martha for two years and then decide that your
marriage
wanted
is
"She never tried to

I
gasped.
thought
Bill
If
kill
hadn't
me
did you wait so long
before," said
known about
knew her hunger
could see
my
first
bum
his
"Are you sure.
Bill?"
"Sure I'm sure!
sister in the role
hadn't intended to
me
too plainly.
else
tell
you, but
if
if
you're going to
as well
you drop
know. Cyait
into your
tea."
Lord,
Bill!
Why,
He took another drink.

"How right you are. Just
it
have
tried to act shocked.
nide, Julien. Lovely stuff, cyanide. Especially
"Good
I'd
money. Nothing
around here asking stupid questions, you might
husband's
husband,
jokes. Like letting
for possessions, her passion for
counted with Martha. But
putting
you
if
calmly.
Bill
Martha's
was pulling another one of
clean up the house. But
sit
Why
a flop? Just like that?
a divorce?"
just a
drop of that
drop or two.
into the cup with an eye dropper,
stuff
."
.
was just lucky. I saw her

and she didn't know was
standing at the door."
"Maybe you were mistaken," said. "Maybe it wasn't cyanide at all."

"Oh, no, Julien, my boy. was too smart for her. told her if she'd
get my check book I'd leave her a blank one for any shopping she
wanted to do. As soon as she left the table, poured the tea into an
empty mayonnaise jar and slipped it into my coat pocket. When she
came back, she thought I'd drunk it. That was very amusing, Julien!
I
547
You should have seen her

she waited for
suicide.
It
me
was
to die.
face
the expectant gleam in her eyes as
believe she'd have told people
a lot of fun fooling her, Julien. You've
"You're getting drunk again,"
no
committed
idea."
cautioned.
And why not? had that little mayonnaise jar,

remember? And own a drug store. Also a diploma for pharmacy. It
wasn't much of a trick for me to analyze a cup of tea! It was loaded
told her to get out and stay out. Would you care
with cyanide. So
"Sure. Sure
am!
for a drink, Julien?"

I
poured some of
Then
whiskey into
his
at his insistence,
excitement coming over

trying to find
me
then.
Martha to get
my
thousand.
a little
to get
it.
Maybe
had
a bird in
something on
Bill
that
change.
have happened to you.
'Terrible thing to
and drained
decided to forget about Peoria and
five
Maybe was going
the hand. Right here.
would be worth
a shot glass
took another. There was a strange kind of
Bill.
can't
understand
it.
She must have gone out of her head to try a thing like that. I just can't
."
imagine Martha attempting
"Can't you, Julien? Even if she was doing it for money?"
"Money? You don't have that kind of money," said. "Not the kind
.
people murder to
I
had,
wanted
to
how deep
get.
Or do
know about
I
you?"
Bill's
money
right then.
might be able to cut into him
How much
later on.
he
needed
permanent source.
He just
is money, Julien. Just like money to the

worth twenty thousand dollars on a slab. Imagine
that? Martha placed a high value on her husband, didn't she?"
laughed. "Insurance
beneficiary.
I'm
"Martha?"
She said she believed
"Yes.
taking the policy. Lovely

Incidentally, Julien
girl,
in
insurance and she talked
me
Martha. So practical about the
into
future.
"Yes?"
"Why
sister?
don't you resent these accusations I'm making

You were certainly being solicitous about her
against your
feelings
this
morning."
I
gulped
down another
Martha if
didn't seem
her
own
shot before
548
answered, trying to get
my
logical to
me
that she'd have left the house without taking
belongings with her. Not
"Resent what you're saying,

truth?"
wondered vaguely if Bill had done away with

they'd had a violent quarrel and he'd killed her. It just
angles figured out.
Bill?
sister
Why
Martha.
should
I,
if
you're telling the
He gave me a
"Why should
I
steady
stare.
lie?"
know why he should
didn't
that didn't quite ring true.
wondering how
far
but there was a look about him
lie,
got up and paced the room nervously,
could go with him. There was
huge oak chest
the windows, beautifully carved and as mellow as a mu-
in front of
Martha counted it as her prize possession and would

although it was worth a lot of money. Something else
she'd wormed out of Grandma, if she'd gone away of her own voli-
seum
piece.
never
sell
it,
have taken that chest with her,
tion, she'd
knew
that.
wondering what was kept inside. But

made me freeze, my hand outstretched.
"Stay away from that window, Julien!" he yelled.
I
walked toward
had
my
been
startled. But
He
open the
'The window. Bill?"
afraid that I'd
The
right.
three feet deep.
wasn't acting now. He'd been very
meant the
teased. "You
chest, didn't
moodily into
just stared
you? You
pretty confident
all
noticed.
once, pretty sure
at
was
About
of my-
his glass. But
chest was about six feet long,
felt
much
chest. Right?"
He
didn't answer.
was
His breathing was ragged
face.
Bill's
chest.
meant don't touch the
He
voice
your system for a few minutes

had another feeling, too, as
went
chair and looked at
and he looked white.
sure
Bill's
that funny feeling that stays in
after you've
back to
it,
self.
"Interesting piece of furniture,"
wild tales about the
house
in
way
it
came
"The bloodshed
It's
tell
out of a royal
hooked up with
Spain, according to her. All
bloodshed. Martha was crazy about
drawled. "Grandma used to
into her possession.
pirates
and
it."
or the chest?" he asked.
smiled.
"The
chest.
Bill.
She'd never have gone off for good without that
chest."
He
gave
me
a strange look.
"Something on your mind,

I
Julien?"
nodded, glad that the showdown was here.
"There's five thousand dollars on
my
mind,"
told him.
"I
was very
fond of Martha."
"And you'd be
"Sometimes
shrug.
"If
satisfied
man
with
money
she tried to poison you
only person
in
instead of justice?"
takes justice into his
^well,
own
hands,"
said with a
can see your point. I'm the
town who would ever think
of looking for Martha, or
549
reporting her disappearance to the police. You

are.
They're glad
And
if
you'd
when they
pay
like to
me
the folks
for
well, for clean-
enough
for that type of
."
.
thousand, Julien? That's
five
thousand dollars
five
ing your house this morning
"Why
know how
don't hear from their ungrateful children.
Would you want more later?"

"No
no, indeed. But if
have
little
work.
thousand,
five
can clear up a
certain debt that's pressing."

I
wished
made
I'd
when you
yelp
They always
ten thousand right off the bat.
it
ask for the second payment.
and we raised them in a mock toast.

You keep your eyes open."
"Or closed, according to the price." I was feeling pretty good.
Bill
two
filled
glasses
"You're a bright boy, Julien.
just
got another idea. "Incidentally,
Bill,
believe
item you'd be interested in buying for another
be very cheap
at that price
because
"Safety insurance?" asked

"Yes.
have a
little
it
have another
I'd
little
It
would
might insure your safety
later."
thousand.
five
Bill.
gadget
that's real
evidence against Martha
positive proof of her guilt in another matter."
eyes half-closed and he tensed in his chair.
Bill's
"I
see you're interested,"
said.
"Depending on what the evidence

"It's
is
and what
an eye-dropper with some cyanide
on the glass part.

Avery Chandler."
fingerprints
It
husband
left
suppose he had a
with Martha's
first
Chandler commit-
lot of insurance?"
he did have. But the insurance company couldn't prove
"Yes,
Martha's
killing
it,
proves that Martha killed her
'That's very interesting," he said. "I'd heard that
ted suicide.
proves."
it
in
They
guilt.
your
wife
paid
just
off.
wouldn't exonerate you. But
Now suppose you were

supposition,
it
of
course
ever arrested for
this
evidence
would help sway the
jury, lighten the
my
insurance policy
sentence."
"I
can see that
it
would," said
has a suicide clause, too.
I've
vanced to have
Bill.
"You know,
forgotten what arguments Martha ad-
it included, but
didn't suspect her at the time and let
go through. Later, began to wonder about it."
"Lucky for you that you wondered. Bill. Do you think ten thousand
is too much for my complete
uh cooperation?"
"Not at all, Julien. consider my life is worth that much. You see,
was in a very strange position. couldn't have Martha locked up be-
it
cause
couldn't prove that she'd put the cyanide in
would have sounded

550
foolish
if
she had denied
it.
my
And
tea.
I
My
story
couldn't just
let her go free, either, because

moment, couldn't accuse her
you know."
I'm sure she'd
of murder.
have
No
tried
again.
it
murder without
At the
body,
at the carved chest pointedly, sure that Martha was there.

where you have a body," said, "you have a very dangerous
set-up. Will you write a check, Bill, or would you rather draw out the
cash tomorrow?"
think. Unless you'd be able to get that evidence over here
"Cash,
looked
"But
tonight?"
told him. "It's in my safe-deposit box
needed time to go out and buy an eyedropper and there wasn't any point in looking too anxious.
"Tomorrow, then," said Bill, reaching out to shake hands.
"Afraid
couldn't
do
that,"
and the bank's closed."
He jerked me off my feet in a quick judo twist

me to a straight chair and walked over to
the chest behind my back.
could feel my scalp crawling as
heard
the lid of the oak chest creaking. Surely, he wasn't going to kill me
and dump me in there beside Martha to await a fool-proof method of
disposal! But maybe he was. I'd been an idiot to tell him so much. He
wasn't expecting
it.
Then he
over his knee.
tied
knew
that the folks wouldn't bother to look for me, either.
only been pretending to be drunk.
My
I
felt
back was toward the chest and
could just hear the noise of the
And
he'd
sure of that now.
couldn't jog
my
chair around.
and the scraping footsteps around
lid
it.
Then
came over to the desk and took a gun from the side
chamber open, making sure it was loaded.
"Don't shoot me, Bill! I'll give you the evidence for nothing
drawer.
Bill
He
flipped the
I'll
."
.
"Stop whining, Julien.
Of
course you'll produce that evidence for
nothing. You've probably bled Martha for years.
how you managed

"I'll
give
it
to you.
He worked
so that
The
knew
always wondered
Bill!
Only
don't
kill
me
the
way you
did Martha!"
my
chair around
jaw back and forth and then swung
could see the chest.
small
lot like
"I
took
It
his
I've
to live without working."
a little
man
while for
sitting
me
on the
to understand, for the panic to strike.
had yellow-colored
lid
Avery Chandler, Martha's
first
husband. But
and looked
wasn't Avery.
hair
it
was Tom Chandler, Avery's brother.

see that you recognize me, Julien," he said.
that.
"Yes. But
Tom
It
don't understand
Chandler's laugh was
."
.
bitter.
551
"You don't? Then

years ago,
murdered him. But
game and spent
couldn't prove
good
must be the one

felt
you, Julien.
tell
When my
it.
brother died three
suicide, that
money having you watched.
bit of
who had
trapped and cheated.
"No, Julien,
turned to
wasn't lying.
difference in the story
about
just
mother.
Bill.
is
this.
didn't say anything to her
encouraged her to take the
Then
you."
kill
did see her load the tea with poison.
The only
I
Finally,
evidence."
"You were lying, weren't you? About Martha trying to
it.
Martha had
decided to play a waiting
Martha was paying you blackmail and decided that you
realized that
I'll
was sure he hadn't committed
trip to see
her ailing grand-
did some checking with the insurance company.
Through them, got in touch with Tom Chandler and we decided to

concentrate on you for what we wanted.
believe we have that now.
The police can get an order to open your lock box at the bank."
"You had Chandler hidden in the chest to listen? Was that it?"
I
'To
why
trip
and record. There's
listen
wanted you
on the
wires. But
a dictaphone in there, too. That's
keep away from the window.
to
your type of mind has to jump
was
at its
afraid you'd
own
sneak-
ing conclusions."
Then my
that
senses returned and
would hurt me.
It
realized they didn't have anything
had been Martha
that killed
Avery Chandler
not me.
"Suppose you untie me.

killed
Bill,
and stop being dramatic.
haven't
anybody."
"Just sit
still,
she'd be here
cially that
Tom
home any
late train instead of
have you wait for
due
Julien. Martha's
on the
minute. She wired that
two o'clock and asked espe-
her."
Chandler went to the phone and called the
ready now," he
said.
The two
men
plain-clothes
police. "We're
got there just before
Martha's cab drew up.
She came
with a big smile, telling the
in
taxi driver to
be careful
with her bag.

"Greetings!" she called gaily. "I'm
I
"We have company,"

She saw
Tom
said
stand drinking parties,

"Julien has a
Tom
Bill in
at last."
all
this?"
all
the things she owned.
a grim voice.
Chandler then and turned
"What's the meaning of
552
home
believe she was talking to the house and
as
she demanded.
white
"Bill,
those bottles, and what
key that we'd
is
as a funeral
you know
Julien tied
lily.
can't
up
for?"
like to have," said Bill quietly.
walked over to the chest and turned on the record
for the
He
detectives.
spoke to Martha for the
time.
first
believe this will
"I
interest you, too."
When
it
"In
my
He
got
me
was over, she gave
"Your lock-box key

wallet,"
out of
it
?"
said
look of hatred.
one of the
detectives.
told him.
my
pocket and Martha watched him tossing
it
in
his palm.
"Shall
we
go?" he asked her.
"Never mind," she

lot of
money
to keep
brother helped
me
said.
it
"I
know what
hidden. Sure,
plan
it.
believe
because
you'll find
killed
I've
paid a
Avery Chandler. But
you ought
to take
my
him along,
too."
me
She flashed
inside of me.
look of contempt and
hadn't helped her!
dent and guessed the
I'd
And now
rest.
felt a
new crawling
fear
found that eye-dropper by
acci-
name me
as an
she was going to
accessory!
"That's a
"Come
I
lie,
officer!"
had
been untied.
same bored, quiet
just
along," he said in that
got panicky then and tried to bolt, but
detective handcuffed
my
Bill
voice.
tripped me.
The
wrist to Martha's.
on the way to headquarters,

hissed in her ear: "You
fool! You didn't need to confess. There isn't any evidence in my box at
the bank! Look at the mess you've got us into."
"No evidence, Julien?" Her voice was shaking. "You told me you
."
had the eye-dropper
"Well,
don't have it,"
told her. "1 found the thing that day and
threw it into a sewer. was just protecting you at first. It didn't occur
to me until later that it was worth money."
"So all this time I've been paying you, there was no evidence?"
"No evidence," I said. "But you couldn't wait to confess! You were
In the car,
just
too anxious to get even with me!"
Her
laughter was high-pitched and eerie.
going to put on an act and plead insanity, or

Personally,
didn't care
if
wondered
if
she was
she really was crazy.
much. At the moment,
wasn't feeling any
too bright myself.
553
The Wire-Pullers
hy Morris Cooper
Barry
is
dead,
a stiffened mass of inert flesh on a cold grey slab
silent,
morgue, an ounce of lead
in
The words kept running

themselves
a red
his heart,
circle
on
his throat.
my
endlessly through
in the city
.
head, repeating
cracked phonograph record. This must be part of a
like a
dream, a gag, and
in
moment
another
everybody would laugh and
the lights
and
yell "Surprise!"
would
flash
on and
would
Barry's laughter
be the longest and the loudest and the happiest.
Only
it
wasn't a dream and
was already awake. Nick, the bar-
my
tender at the Blue Parrot, laid a hand on
arm when
reached for
the brandy bottle.
"Why
does
1
is
don't
make
shook
you go home, Mr.
he
Travis?"
trouble look twice as big as
my
head dully and the
it
said. "All this stuff
really
ever
is."
face in the blue mirror stared at
me
stupidly.
"Barry's dead, Nick.
Barry's
and
pile dirt
ounce
said.
double-shot
wedding day, but

in a
dark hole
He tilted the bottle and two ounces of brandy

An ounce for the bullet in Barry's heart, an
glass.
for the bullet in Barry's throat.
"To Barry Dillon."

years
to be his
over him."
all
know," Nick
"I
filled a
Today was going
dead and pretty soon they're going to put him
I've
known
He
let
the brandy
roll
down
Nick, that was the only time
his throat. In
all
the
ever saw him take a
drink.
1
pushed myself away from the
juke box trumpet followed
me
ing sheets of water pelted against

barber's tonic in
my
hair, ran
down
my
"Wow!" Barry hopped out

his
reddened
of the
skin.
bare face, mingled with the
the back of
needle shower. Like twenty hours ago.
and toweled
554
and the muted tones of the
bar,
into the rain-swept streets. Hard-driv-
shower
He waved
my
neck. Like a cold
in the police
wet hand
in
locker
my
room
direction
ducked the miniature spray. slid down the bench, making room
him to get into his locker.
He was tying his shoelaces when said, "I guess it must be true."
could see the tiny bridge of
"What?" Barry lifted his face and
freckles that arched across his nose and disappeared into the dead-
and
for
white scar that gave his
"What must be
1
eye
a sort of puckered-up,
my hand
and
a cigarette
lit
word
pinch. 'The
left
impish look.
true?" Barry repeated the question.
is
shook
rookie making his
like a
out that you and Orchid
made
first
a little trip to the
city hall today."
Two
Barry said, "You heard right.
be married. Even wangled
we'll
ruling."
He
Krantz
is
stood up and got
bucks for a license and tomorrow
on the three-day
a special dispensation
a
polka-dot
from his locker. "Judge
tie
going to perform the ceremony. And, Ray,
want you
to
stand up with me."

I
nodded
my
head and watched the red-tipped ash fall from

and die. "If that's the way you want it."
my
cigarette to the floor
way
a thumb across the

remembered the night he got that
and the Silver Star. And along the line he managed to keep Uncle
from paying off on my Gl insurance.
'That's the
want
it."
Unconsciously he ran
scar that puckered his left eye.
'Take a ride with me," Barry said as
want
to
show you something."
the parking
police headquarters.
left
tried not to think as
but the thoughts
lot,
we
hammered
my
at
"1
followed him to
brain like tiny
trapped goblins.
We
rode
Princess
in silence.
At 9:15
P.M.
thought of Orchid and
Karl Melcig
would keep him from

plated
Dine von Konig-Hollerstein
window
in
the
rising,
little
would
III.
sit
And
J.
1
B.
van Nostrand and
thought of 9:15
in a chair
and buckled
p.m.
straps
witnesses would peer through the heavy-
concrete chamber and a hand would pull a
would drop and the sovereign state would have

it for the murder of one of its citizens.
Karl Melcig was going to die tonight because Barry was a good
cop, and because Barry hadn't yet learned that you've got to let a
couple of little fish get by while you wait for the big ones.
Barry didn't like the idea of kids going hungry because their old
man couldn't stay away from the horses, and he went to the back
room of Klymer's Cigar Store to tell him he didn't want him running a
handbook in his district. He found Klymer, but Klymer was no longer
interested in making book. And Karl Melcig still had the gun in his
lever
and
a pellet
exacted the penalty due
hand. As simple as that.

That's
what you
say.
J.
B.
van Nostrand
is
a big
man.
He
pays for
555
pew by
his
the year and he hasn't missed a Sunday at church for thirty
and people
years. He's big business
poppy on Armistice Day
But
B. sells influence.
J.
he was offered
with
it
him
call
pictures in
first
the newspapers.
all
work with
didn't
and he buys the
J. B.
Not even when
Barry.
job as chief security officer at a big plant a thousand
miles away, and at five times the salary he was getting. There was
only one requirement
poor
vision.
But Barry wasn't buying any.
but they
tell
me
his voice in a
When
that for the
fit
never found out what he told

time
the great
in his life
man
J.
B.,
raised
of temper.
the storm cooled off and while they were waiting for the
Orchid came into the
trial,
first
picture.
Orchid L'Morte. Some smart pub-
boy had tagged her with that name when she first became a
night club show girl, and it stuck. The Orchid of Death.
Whatever it was. Orchid had it. She wasn't beautiful, but when you
looked into her eyes something stuck in your throat and you became
the only man in the world and Orchid the only woman.
licity
Orchid handled
lots of
But Barry's vision was
message
Melcig
still
money
for
B.
J.
coming and
20-20 when Melcig came to
brought
after the jury
will
payoff
trial.
going.
He
got a
in a verdict of guilty:
wait jor you. He'd be lonely
he
ij
had
to
make
that trip
by
himself.
don't like death threats, but Barry only laughed and kept on strok-
ing Princess Dine von Konig-Hollerstein
III.
couldn't stand that
snooty Pomeranian, but Barry went for anything that belonged to
And
Orchid.
Princess
was her "bay-bee."
So now Barry and Orchid had a marriage license and a judge. And
Karl Melcig was waiting for 9:15 p.m. And J. B. van Nostrand was still
selling influence, only it didn't look as if Melcig was going to get his
money's worth. And a guy named Klymer, whom no one remembered,
was dead and buried because he'd been too greedy to keep on paying
a
money
few bucks protection
Barry
parked
1
nudged me. "Don't go
in front of Tylo's
followed Barry
was one of
in
his metal
plated padlock.
to the syndicate.
to sleep
Barry grinned.
on me now, Ray."
We
were
Jewelry Store.
and he showed
Army
me what
he'd had
made
up.
It
identification tags attached to a tiny gold-
read the engraving on the back of the dog-tag: From
One Mutt to Another.

556
"It's
for Princess. Cute, eh?"
"Yeah."
grabbed Barry by the elbow. "C'mon and
feedbag and maybe
let's
put on the
get drunk."
I'll
"Ray," he said, "I've got lots of time in front of me. I'm"
tated
"I'm
meeting Orchid
he
hesi-
at 9:30."
had to say something. "Guess it must be tough for her."

nodded agreement. "Orchid is saying good-bye to all the old
things. Beginning tomorrow she's going to live on a policeman's salI
Barry
ary."
"Don't forget the Princess,"

doesn't
come from
"Probably won't eat
said.
Barry laughed and laughed and slapped
world, Ray.
great world to be in love
They found
the meat
me on
the back.
"It's
a great
in."
the car parked under a giant elm. Barry was sitting
behind the wheel, and
were trying
if
pedigreed cow."
one
to get
his
puckered
last look.
left
eye was
still
open, as
if
he
the medical examiner was right,
If
Karl Melcig didn't have to wait more than half an hour for company
on that trip to the next world. But I've got a hunch that they didn't
stay on the same road long.
Police routine
Influence
some
is
automatic but
is
was
ite wall. J. B.
still
it
a thing that reaches far,
of the guys that
wear
always blast through
a gran-
and proving he could
deliver.
can't
selling influence
far enough to touch

badge and make them look the
sometimes
a copper's
other way.
down my neck and was in front of the

lived. The apartment that Orchid
was going to give up for the love of a cop named Barry.
There was something familiar about the geezer who came out of
The
rain
was
still
running
apartment building where Orchid
the front entrance without seeing me. They'll never learn that turned-
down brims and hunched-over
scurrying makes a cop look twice.
pegged him
in
as
was riding up
those holier-than-thou boys
the elevator. John Santos.
who had been
reform wave. By the time the voters
was
a substantial
Any
Hell,
portion of the
other time
woke
One
of
elected controller on a
up, Santos
was gone and so
city's treasury.
would have made
tracks after him, but not now.
wasn't born a cop.
Orchid opened the door and couldn't be sure if the shadow on

her face was sorrow or fear. She was wearing something long that was
made of sheer silk and it clung to her body like water. thought of
the slave markets in the days of the Caliphs and of the king's ransom
I
she would have brought.
"Come
in,
Ray."
followed her across a living room that was a
557
could understand
fantasy of orchid-shaded hues.
might be willing to die
why some men
for her,
why some men
would die because of
her.
Princess
had liked
Barry had
My
to
jumped
her, so
my
into
didn't
shown me
a drink, but
and made
wondered
idea
we'll
Barry's
felt
wet
like
plaster
did
me and
my
felt
me
I
woman.
vaguely uncomfortable
memory.
false to Barry's
voice sounded strangely loud in that
ghost somewhere near, watching, waiting. "Any
Her eyes widened slowly and then the
Why
lids
would anyone want to
dropped.
kill
Orchid was all things to many men, but the

was attempting now was not becoming.
me,"
tell
started
across from
Orchid?"
it.
faintest notion.
"Don't
and Orchid
down
head. She sat
never see him again." Orchid's voice was
were being
be casual, but
tried to
who
remembered Barry
fondled the engraved dog-tag
the devil ever bothered assuming the guise of a
if
almost as though
room.
for her chin with the backs of her hands.
a platform
low. She rested her eyes on
me
my
shook
hard to realize
"It's
down.
sat
off.
yesterday.
clothes were sticking to
mix
when
lap
shove her
said, "that
haven't the
role of
innocence she
you've forgotten the death threat Barry
wet tongue over
got." Princess ran a
"I
Barry?"
my hand
at the
mention of
Barry's
name.
"That."
Orchid shook her head impatiently and long black hair

last night and
tumbled across her shoulders. "Melcig was executed

don't believe in ghosts
spoke slowly,
who
carefully.
"I
can't afford to let his prestige
nothing
left
to
sell.
shoot people."
B. A man in his position
Once that's gone he's got
and now he's cold meat in the
believe in
J.
be shaken.
Barry defied him,
morgue."
Orchid shuddered. "Don't be so morbid. And stop jumping
to con-
clusions."
I
laughed, but there was no mirth in
it.
"Don't play coy with me.
Orchid. Barry believed what you said about making a clean break."
"And you?"
I
shrugged
when
was
my
five.
enough money
Orchid took
tightened.
558
shoulders.
I
"I
got them
asked Santa Claus for a pair of skates
when
was seven because
saved up
selling newspapers."
deep breath and the thin
"Maybe Barry believed
in
silk
Santa Claus."
across her
bosom
And maybe,"
"Maybe.
added
guy was
"the
softly,
just plain
in
love."
didn't answer and

went on: "It's
Having someone defy him is as bad
She
B.
a matter of principle with
J.
as finding a squealer in his
organization."
Orchid
1
felt
to do.
going to take a
said, 'That's
lot of proving."
the stone wall around me. "More proving than
I'll
ever be able
has long arms, but someone must have fingered Barry for
J. B.
him."
There was something
like curiosity in
was gone. Her voice was almost
a purr
Orchid's eyes, and then it

and Princess perked up her
ears.
"You don't honestly believe
"What
difference does
asked. "Barry was
it
no one's
J.
B. killed Barry?"
make whose
fool,
finger
and despite
all
was on the
his joshing
trigger?"
about that
death threat, he would have stayed on guard at least a few days after
Melcig's execution. But there wasn't the slightest sign that he'd been
suspicious
"I
wish
and done anything to defend

1
could help. Oh,
how
wish
himself."
could help." She pressed her
chin until the point was bloodless and white.

I
could
anything
the stone wall getting higher and higher. "Didn't he say
feel
last
night that might help?"
asked.
where he was heading when he left you."

"Last night?" There was a puzzled note
see Barry at
I
all
"Maybe he mentioned
Orchid's voice.
in
"I
didn't
yesterday."
kept on playing with Princess' padlocked dog-tag.
"I
thought he
a date with you last night?"

"He phoned and said something important had come up. He said
he'd meet me today"
her voice broke "and take me to city hall to
had
be married."
"Just that?
No
"Just that,"
she answered.
his voice
1
other message
"My
or
last
maybe
of Barry will always be
over the phone saying good-night."
felt as if
was going
to be sick
and
indignant yelp as she tumbled to the rug.

lips. "I've
a note?"
memory
1
stood up. Princess gave an

It
was an
effort to
move my
got to go."
pulled her to her feet. Her sharp

a hand and
dug into my palm and for a long moment her taut body swayed
against mine and there was fire in my blood.
"Don't stay away too long, Ray," she whispered. "Don't stay away
shook myself free. felt her eyes on me as crossed the room to
559
Orchid held out
nails
"
saw a pad on the telephone table and the scrawled number

on the damp paper and then was out of the apartment.
the foyer.
The
was
rain
stuck to
me
became
easier.
walked
for a long time.
shroud but the
fire left
my
still
like a
I
falling
made
and
a telephone call
and then
My
my
blood and
clothes
breathing
went back to the
Blue Parrot.
Nick was polishing

while
was
make
a call."
and
glasses
The room was
me
said to him, "Pour

full
a big
of shadows and the juke
one
box
silent.
phone booth and closed the door after me.

came under J. B.'s influknew that the phone wires were tapped and one of his
ence and
boys listened in on everything that was said. It takes a lot of informaI
went
The
to a
Blue Parrot was one of the places that

1
tion to keep the selling value of influence at par.
and when the desk sergeant anSend a couple of boys out to 298 Fillmore and they can pick up John Santos."
I
dialed precinct headquarters
swered
The
said, "This
Travis.
sergeant whistled. 'That a straight tip?"
'The McCoy.
is
got
it
from
his girl friend."
scrawled number on a pad and a
Santos? Orchid was a big
girl
call to
not on pads dampened by
bers lying around

a lot of
was
money
phone num-
left
rain-wet fingers.
for that intangible object called influence
a beautiful girl to collect the
Santos had
left in his
pocket
And
the chief operator.
but she shouldn't have
long green.
after he'd finished
It
takes
and Orchid
wondered how much

paying
off.
went back to the bar and to the drink that was waiting for me.
The face in the mirror watched and thought of tomorrow and of all
the days that would come after. The ground over Barry's grave would
thought of a
harden, and grass would grow and die and grow again.
girl named Orchid and a guy who loved her.
thought of Barry and a
dog-tag and a mutt who had gotten under his skin. And thought of J.
B. and what happened to a squealer.
A bell kept ringing in my head and then I heard Nick's voice.
'There's a call for you, Mr. Travis." He pointed to the same booth
had used.
The sergeant was jubilant. "That was a hot tip, Ray. Nabbed Santos
just as he was pulling out. He must have had a hunch we were comI
ing."
"Yeah."
"Ray. There's something
minutes ago
560
you ought
about Orchid."
to
know.
call
came
in a
few
waited.
"Someone
in
her apartment building heard a couple of shots.
the prowl car got there Orchid was dead.
Whoever
did
it
When
got away.
Tough."
I
hung up and went back
"I'm closing,
I
dropped
Mr.
to the bar.
a nickel into the
long time
later
Nick
said,
juke box and
and loud went out into the street.

was cold, and light was beginning
1
Travis."
It
when the music was good

had stopped raining and the air
to break the sky.
561
le
shor
Lck to the very origins oi
uetecuve ncnon.
ne
eariiesi s
100 Dastardly Little Detective Stories^ Abraham Lincol

rhe Trailor Murder Mystery," appeared in 1843, and in t,
,
ntury and a half since, the detective story has attracted the
of some of the most distinguished names in fiction,
terest
duding Charles Dickens, Jack London, Bret Harte, and

.e
;e
master of the short
The
s
story,
O. Henry. All of these writers
represented in 100 Dastardly Little Detective
scope of this volume
are short.
[e fiction,
Here we
find
is
as
wide
many
as
Stories.
some of these
sto-
different styles of detec-
including the hard-boiled tradition of Theodore
'A Hand of Pinochle" and B. B. Fovder's "Safety

the crime-suspense tradition of Tom Curry's "The
gn" and John McCurnin's "A Tulip in the Snow," and the
^dern ^zo/r-thriller elements of Bill Pronzini's "Soul's
Lirning" and Wayne D. Dundee's "Harsh Light of DayJ
bsley's
ieposit,"
The locales represented are equally diverse. We are take

Jamaica in Hugh B. Cave's "Naked in Darkness," t\
kterfront in
H. H. Matteson's "Hip and Thigh," and
th
in C.J. Henderson's "Bread Ahead." And tl

imes include a prison breakout in Joseph Fulling Fishmai
ban jungle
Did Calamity's Stick-up," grand larceny in
Marcia Mullef
id Bill Pronzini's "Cache and Carry," and, of course, se^
al cases of homicide.
100 Dastardly Little Detective Stories is your chance to mate
its with great detectives, devious criminals, and some i
[e
finest
k come
minds
easily
in
all
-just
detective fiction.
quickly.
ISBN 1-56619-920-4
781 566"1 99209
The
solutions will

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(&

MARTIN iH. GRE^NBERG

Digitized by tine Internet Archive

Robert Weinberg, Stefan Dziemianowicz,

and Martin H. Greenberg

1993 by Robert Weinberg, Stefan Dziemianowicz,

and Martin H. Greenberg

Thie edition published by Barnes & Noble,

by arrangement with Martin H. Greenberg

Book design by Steve Morse

the United States of America

"Behind Murder's Eight-Ball" by

C. William Harrison, "The

""Duck Behind that Eight-Ball!"

James, "'Calling Dr. Death by

the Lady" by Booton Herndon,

by Dan Gordon, "Heir-in-a-Hurry" by Morris Cooper, ""Mrs.

Scott O'Hara, "Packed House" by Robert Zacks, 'Today's Special

Thiessen, '"While the Cat"s

Corpse" by Victor K. Ray,

by Jon L. Breen Copyright

sion of this story appears as the

Books, a division of the Berkley Publishing

"Cache and Carry" by Marcia Muller and

"The Carnival Caper" by

Pronzini. First published in

FELONIES. Reprinted by permission

Heinrich Bauer North America

slightly revised ver-

Reprinted by permission of the author.

"The Case of the Barking Beagle" by

by Heinrich Bauer North America Inc.

FoxxCopyright 1969 by H.S.D. PUBLIpublished in ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYS-

"The Clincher" by Jack

CATIONS Inc. First

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ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY

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by Stephen Dentinger Copyright 1981

by March Chase Publishing. From

"The Deer that Ate a Diamond" by Edward D. Hoch

UTE. Reprinted by permission

"Escape" by Jack Foxx

Copyright 1993 by Gary

"Dogs Know" by Gary Lovisi

1969 by Renown Publications,

MIKE SHAYNE MYSTERY MAGAZINE.

printed by permission of the author.

D" by John Maclay Copyright

1990 by John Maclay. Re-

"Granny Gumption Solves

J. Henderson & Charles

by arrangement with the

"Harsh Light of Day" by

permission of the author.

Pronzini. First published in

EYE FOR JUSTICE.

printed by permission of the author.

The Shadow' " by

1971 by Mercury Press, Inc.

OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION.

Act" by Michael A. Black

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