| Show I tJ 1 I e n w tV a s S A 8 FREDERIC FRED ER RIC I C F R VAN DE WATER n 0 r. r w. w F. F No VAN u. u OlE service SYNOPSIS David Mallory In search of at newspaper work In New York is forced to accept a ajob ajob job as switch board operator In a swank apartment house managed by officious Timothy Higgins There David meets Miss Agatha Paget P a crippled old lady and her charming niece Allegra One day talking with Biggins in the lobby David DavJd Is 15 alarmed by a piercing scream David finds the scream came C from the Ferriter apartment not far from the The Include Lyon and Everett and their sister lone Zone Everett a genealogist Is helping Agatha Paget write a book about her blue blooded an Inside the apartment they find finda a black bearded man man dead No weapon can be found CHAPTER II Continued II-Continued 3 3 Hoyt had brought down a thick thick- shouldered person with an unlighted cigar clamped in his Jaws who ad advanced and tapped Higgins on the shoulder so that the superintendent jumped Higgins his asked Cm on Captain wants you My employer cast a look of ap ap- appeal appeal appeal peal over his shoulder as he was marched away It puzzled me I could not imagine him a murderer yet he had asked me e for an alibi An elderly young man in a Ches Ches- Chesterfield Chesterfield Chesterfield overcoat with a cane hooked over his arm and glasses tethered to a black cord approached the po policeman policeman at the door stood for some minutes not in argument but con con- conversation coni i a with the sentinel and then pushed past him undeterred Something In his cocksure swag swag- swagger swagger ger irked me and woke foggy lection As he spoke I recognized him He had strolled through the anteroom of the Spheres Sphere's offices that noon while I had waited for the scornful office boy to tell me once t r again that Lomax the city editor could not see me 4 r II Evening said the intruder I t briskly Im from the Sphere Duke Larry Duke It was childish to vent my grIeve grievance grievance ance against Lomax upon his report report- reporter er ere er but my nerves were jangled angled j and andI I had had no lunch thanks to my fruitless journey to the Spheres Sphere's of of- fice five Yes I said Duke leaned against the switch switch- switchboard switchboard board and lit a cigarette That made me angrier I needed one so Had a little killing upstairs eh he asked Know anything about it Plenty I told him I 1 found r- r rit the body That shook him up He jerked so that his eyeglasses fell off oft He hauled copy paper from his pocket p Aint Aint he grinned aint this First lets let's get your name right I gave gave it t to him He He printed printed it it carefully at the top of the page Now he gloated tell me all alli i about it How did you know there'd been a killing When did it happen Easy I said Im not work working ing fag for the Sphere He put on his glasses again and stared at me meI meI meI I dont don't get you he said at ai last Sure you ou dont don't I told him and andI I loved it I was landing a punch at last after aUer being hammered all over the ring You dont don't get me or me-or or a word out of me He lie looked at me harder Now wait walt he wheedled d. d Dont be that way If you can give this to tome me exclusive therell there'll be a piece of change in it for you I can I said but I wont won't and Ill I'll tell you why It felt so good to get a little of my own back that I wanted more And besides I never saw a man with a black tie rope to his glasses whom I liked In my mind I com com- combined combined come e Duke and his boss Lomax retaining the worst features of both Believe it or not I told the re reporter reporter porter I used to be a newspaper newspaperman man myself I came to this town with a letter to Lomax from Doc Gilchrist When Lomax didn't have two nickels to rub together Doc gave him a job and taught him all he knows I sent in the letter Lo Lomax Lomax max was busy come back in a week In a week he was still busy And the week after aUer and the week after that Boy said Duke there are a alot alot alot lot better newspaper men than you'll ever be looking for work in this town and not finding any Maybe I granted If you knew the story I I could write at present I you'd charge chae cha a your mind Not get get- getting ting a job isn't what gripes Your boss is too important even to to give old DId Doc Doe Gilchrist Gilchrist's friend a hand hand- handshake handshake shake and wish him luck Doc read me his letter to Lomax Which is isone one ne lne of the reasons why I say hell with him and with you The thick man stood beside me P be had chewed an inch off his cigar since lince I had seen him last Hi Larry he said to Duke and turning to me If It youve you've finished the lecture r mug the Captain wants you up- up hairs As a matter of fact he wants you anyway On your feet Hey Uey listen Jake the reporter give me me a steer will you What's going on Is it big Colossal the other replied pushing me toward the elevator see you boys later I ant nt stop now He glared at me all the way up up- stairs I glared back I felt better somehow They bad had cops like him himin himin himin in my own town and besides fo for forthe forthe the first time since I reached New NewYork Vork York I 1 felt elt I 1 was important to CHARTER CHAPTER C APTER III HI HIThe The patrolman still sUll stood before the he Ferriter door It was open and andI i iI I could hear men inside talking and furniture being moved and I saw the he short white glare of a flashlight Jake Fake pushed me off oft the elevator and andI I kept from asking him how hed he'd hedike like ike a sock in the nose remember remember- remembering ing ng just in time that this wasn't my town own Whoa he said as I turned to toward ward the open door Not there sap In here He jerked his head toward the Paget Jaget apartment turned the door door- doorknob knob mob and waved me in before him It was dark by now and all the I lights were on in the workroom Three men were there The ember head who I learned was Captain Ma Ma- Malachi achi Shannon of the Homicide Squad kept walking up and down before Higgins who sat and sweated In n a chair by the desk where a greasy little dick took shorthand In Inthe he the the corner calmly alert Miss Paget occupied her wheel chair She seemed more out of place yet even more wholly enjoying herself herselt than a bishop ishop in a crap game I must have showed what I thought for in the moments moment's silence while Shannon walked up and down the rug again and Higgins perspired more the old lady said The Captains Captain's associates arc are still busy in the Ferriter flat David So SoI I put my own at his service The grin that lent her withered face ace youth heartened me Shannon s 11 M rM r I Ita ta y yi f J i ti 1 i i I I I 1 came East for or work I didn't get turned on Higgins again started to speak peak bit his lip rumpled his hair and said at last All AU right You can go But not far ar I may want you later Yes sir Higgins grunted heave lag ing ng himself up The chair I took was warm from the superintendents superintendent's stewing Jake stood in the doorway door- door doorway way vay and chewed his cigar Shan Shan- Shannon Shannon non rumpled his hair some more and then wheeled on me meNow meNow meNow Now get this he stormed I want the truth out of you Partly it was the presence of the theold theold theold old lady partly it was because I hadn't liked being pushed around by Jake My squabble with Duke had boosted my morale too And get this I told Shannon and he gaped Ill tell you just justas as much more if you dont don't yell His eyes were clever for all the Irish rish obstinacy of his freckled face Tough eh he asked at last With tough guys I thought I 1 saw traces of amuse amuse- amusement amusement ment on his face I did not know whether Miss Agatha coughed or snorted Shannon hesitated I said To save us both time lime my name names Is s David Mallory twenty nine em ern employed employed since last Saturday as a hall hall- hallman hallman man here living in the superintend superintendents superintendent's ent's flat fiat in the cellar Ah Shannon purred looking at atme atme atme me hard one of these wise birds I passed for one I replied in my home town Even the cops said so Cops knew quite a lot about you eh the Captain asked politely They did I 1 admitted I I was wasa I a reporter on the News in Omaha You can check up on that though Id I'd rather you I see see said Shannon in a deceptively deceptively deceptively mild voice then what are arc you doing on a job like this I I have a yen for food I 1 an an- answered answered and wished that Miss Paget were somewhere else I just cant can't get along without it I 1 came East for work I didn't get I 1 ran into Eddie Hoyt Hoyt-he's Hoyt he's hes on the elevator elevator- last week His father had worked for mine Eddie got me this job We were kids together And if you were so hard up as that the Captain went on and I 1 felt something tense behind his pleasant manner why didn't you go back to Omaha I drew a breath th thIll Ill make this I said trying to tobe tobe I Ibe be jaunty about it it as short and as cheerful as I can Hunter who was city editor of the Sphere liked my work He sent for me to come on Hunter was canned the thc day Id I'd planned to come and a and so-and-so s named Lomax took his place I know him Shannon nodded Its It s nothing no to boast boas o s about bout They The gave me a farewell dinner on the News and a gold watch I haven't either cither of them now My boss in Omaha Gilchrist raised Lomax from a pup but not very far Gil GU Gilchrist Gilchrist christ gave me a letter He was certain it would get me the job Hunt Hunt- Hunter Hunter er had promised Well it didn't Or it hadn't up to noon today which was the last time I called at the tho Sphere office I wont won't crawl back home whipped That's why Im I'm in this handsome second hand uniform It lets me stay alive here and I make the rounds of the papers in my spare time Every office boy in town now locks the city eity room door when he sees me coming I hated the shaky quality of my laugh You can check up I invited through the Omaha chief or the thc News News but but you can see why Id I'd rath rath- rather er you He nodded thought a minute and then sat down with a sigh All right fella he said with the comradeship cops can always show when they need newspaper help Heres what we know so far He rattled through a catalogue of unrelated details Blackbeard had been stabbed through the heart No one knew how he got into the Morello for I there was no entrance to this main building except the foyer or by ele ele- elevator elevator elevator vator from the basement No identification iden identification had been found in n his clothes though there was money in his pocket No one knew whether the knew him lone was still sUll too hysterical to be questioned Neither of her brothers had come in Everett had gone out at four I No one had seen Lyon I Ithe the older brother since he left the apartment house that morning That That said Shannon Is as far faras faras I as weve we've gone What have you got gotto gotto gotto to add I was so slow in answering that I his eyes grew hard again Aston Astonishment Astonishment silenced me In the contu confusion confusion I Ithe sion before and after the finding of the dead man I had forgotten that last telephone call from the Ferriter I flat fiat Memory of it flashing back now blew my mind about I Sorry I told the Captain and gave a weak grin I just remembered remembered something I took a phone call from Three B a hour half maybe twenty minutes minutes before before Miss Ferriter began her screaming Per Perhaps haps I heard the man killed Even the oily little stenographer I stared at me What time was this Shannon asked hoarsely Just before Miss Paget's chair broke down That made made me me forget torget I told of the phone call from the Ferriter flat fiat of the comment in e a thick foreign tongue t ngue apparently to someone else in the apartment and of the muffled thump that followed What number was it Shannon asked I shrugged Spring Spring something Its It's on the pad downstairs Jake the Captain snapped The detective clumped down the hall Shannon ran fingers through his hair again and squinted at nothing Know anything about these Fer Fer- he asked suddenly No Nt Ive I've been here only a week Never heard why the three of them came here Miss Paget cleared her throat and then spoke precisely It was through me Captain Ev Everett Ev- Ev Everett erett Ferriter as I told you is a genealogist of some reputation He has been helping me with a book Im I'm compiling When Mrs Reynolds wished to rent her apartment I told Everett about it They are apparently apparently gentlefolk if that means any any- thing Not much begging your par pardon don Shannon retorted Miss Agatha nodded I 1 quite agree she said Amusement puckered the Cap Captains Captain's tams tain's eyelids He turned to me When did this other one this Lyon Ferriter go out I 1 thought and shook my head I haven't seen him today at all The others on tho the hall ball all Shannon's angry grunt cut me short They didn't see Blackbeard come comein comein comein in they didn't see this Lyon go out Yet he is out And Blackbeard is across the hall And you say some some- someone someone one made a phone call from that apartment and unless he was talk talk- talkIng talking Ing to himself there was another guy with him He rumpled his hair further 1 I asked Miss Agatha Are the foreign born She shook her head I believe not n t. t They speak ex excellent excellent English Then I 1 went on it was Black Black- Blackbeard beard who telephoned A thick voice that sounded as though it might be German Jake entered with the call sheet sheeL The half devoured cigar in to his mouth and his finger shook as ashe ashe ashe he handed the page to his chief and pointed The Captain said no word but looked for a n long minute before he held the paper out to me mc with his thumbnail indenting its margin That the call he asked in a n voice I felt elt he kept so mild by great effort Yes I said At three thirty by the clock on the switchboard 1 dont don't know whether it was completed ed cd or not I plugged In and then then- TO Fro BE DE CONTINUED |
