| Show i r 7 Hidden H dd I e n W a s sIB IB r f 71 FREDERIC n Q vm VAN Ii F. F DE WATER WATE-R W. W rv C O v r SYNOPSIS David Mallory in search of ot newspaper cork nork ork in New York Is forced to accept a aJob Job fob as switch board board operator in a swank apartment house managed by officious Timothy Higgins There David meets Miss Agatha Paget a crippled old lady and her charming niece Allegra One day talking with Higgins In the lobby f w David Is alarmed by a piercing scream David finds the scream came from the Ferriter apartment not far from the thet k t Paget The Include Lyon and Everett and their sister lone Everett a is helping Agatha Paget write a book about her blue blooded blue blooded an Inside the apartment they find finda a black black bearded man man dead dead No weapon can be found lound The police arrive CHAPTER PTER HI m III-Continued Continued 4 It wasn't completed Shannon replied If It If it had been wed we'd have been here an hour sooner He was calling Police Headquarters when he was killed He plumped into his chair as though the weight of jumbled facts had pushed him over From three thirty on there was someone in the hall all the while I I think so I left Higgins there when I brought Miss Paget upstairs Hoyt was there when I went down again And neither of them saw anyone go out he snarled like the victim of a practical Joke And you didn't No He jumped up and began beg n to walk the room his jaw hard bard Miss Aga Aga- Agatha Agatha Agatha tha leaning forward In her chair watched him with the interest of a spectator at play Could anyone leave without pass pass- passIng passIng Ing tag through the foyer Shannon i threw at me Theres the fire escape I suggested sug sug- suggested suggested or the dumb Thanks he said e savagely The fire escape hasn't been used In months I happened to think of that And the waiter dumb rope broke this morning and that tub of lard Hig Hig- Higgins Higgins gins hasn't fixed It yet yett Yet some some- somebody somebody somebody body stabbed that guy next door and got away How Stabbed him with what I asked and only made him angrier If I knew he squalled Id not be suffering here A knife you goof goot A knife that was In this He darted to the desk and held a aleather aleather aleather leather sheath blackened by long wear up before me Ever see that before he de de- demanded demanded de- de demanded and scarcely waiting for formy formy my denial plunged on We found this under Blackbeard's armpit armpit- empty Wheres Where's the knife Gone with the murderer The hands bands he ran so frantically through his reddish gray hair seemed at last to control his his mind He asked me suddenly Higgins had a key to that flat fian Yes Anyone Anone else beside these Ferri I dont don't think so Higgins says not he growled Higgins goes In m and messes up that phone receiver with his big paws until theres there's nota not a clear fingerprint on it Wait a minute His eyes sparkled Where was Higgins when you took that call I saw Miss Agatha shift shUt a little in her chair start to speak and check herself I said Upstairs on the elevator Doing what I kept all feeling out of my voice He said he was fixing the water tank on the roof root You can go Shannon decided Jake bring that big beef back here Miss Agatha said mildly as I rose Timothy was on the fourth floor Im I'm certain Captain Sure he was he agreed I just want to see If anyone saw him there He H was pacing the floor again and the old lady was smiling oddly as Jake led me out I felt Miss Agatha would confide in Shannon when I was gone Hoyt was on the elevator He looked at me hard but said nothing while Jake took me downstairs Hig Hig- Higgins Higgins I gins was arguing with a half dozen I men in the foyer and getting no no- where I could tell they were re re- reporters reporters re- re reporters porters and the sight of them made me homesick home ick Higgins looked worse than I felt when Jake led him back to the car His face was gray and his eyes made me think of a steer in a slaughterhouse chute I waited by the elevator shaft till Hoyt came down again With him was a po po- policeman policeman po- po policeman who shooed the reporters off oli the settees and out of the door I followed Eddie over to the switch switch- board You dont don't think I asked and the words sounded foolish that Hig Higgins Higgins gins is tied up in this thing Be your age Hoyt advised me and then grinned The big boy looks sick dont don't he That's what made me wonder Look Eddie muttered You know that smart little trick on the fourth floor floor Mrs Arnolds Arnold's maid Well Mrs Arnolds Arnold's out this after after- afternoon afternoon noon and Mrs Higgins is away till tomorrow And two and two makes makes- Y f hah Ah I 1 said Right Hoyt agreed Higgins has got an alibi all aU right but I think they'll have to tear it out o of him That's why he looks so sick f Well I told him an an alibi ali l Is Isan isan an alibi aibl k f r fr A hour half went by A couple of the homicide men went away with their black satchels A few Indig indig- Indignant indignant indignant nant tenants tennants worked through the blockade beyond the front door and hurried along the foyer talking to themselves Eddie turned the car over to Boone of the night shift and went home and Fineman my relief had just come in when Higgins came downstairs again He looked sick till he saw me and then he looked hearty once more Hey he called You Come here I had been through a lot that aft aft- afternoon afternoon and I suppose my mind had slowed up I really thought he want want- wanted wanted wanted ed to thank me for saying he had been on the roof so when he spoke I stood and stared His voice sound sound- sounded ed as if it he he was afraid someone would overhear but he could have been no angrier If he had screamed You had your chance he told me You didn't want It eh All Allright right I dont don't want you Get your things and scram Wait a minute I stalled If youre you're canning me what's it for After what Ive I've been through up up- upstairs upstairs upstairs stairs he be wheezed and his big fists were clenched youve got the guts to ask that Slandered me and anda a poor innocent Inno ent girl so ye did You ought to thank me Im I'm m just kicking you out Into the gutter where you belong instead of calling a cop His voice had got away from him A blond young man one man one of our ten ten- tenants tenants tenants ants but I didn't know which which- paused an instant and stared at us before he be went Into the elevator He looked so sleek and handsome and andI f f t f I a h ry rye e I III want my book to keep them from going Paget contented and so much else I was not that the anger Higgins had kin kin- kindled kindled blazed up in hi me I didn't even try to keep my voice down You two-timing two tomcat I told him Go ahead and kick me out and well we'll see who lands in the gut- gut guter gutter gutter ter er first Now get this I never knew where you'd been this afternoon after after- afternoon afternoon noon till I came down here Now that Im I'm wise that leaves just one onen In n the house who isn't Isn't Mrs Hig Hig- Higgins Higgins Higgins gins Will you be still he asked in a hushed voice and I knew from his eyes he was going to hit me Go ahead I invited Theres plenty of reporters outside It'll make a good story The tabloids will have pictures too One of you in Wilsons Wilson's uniform maybe I waited He stood still and at last opened his mouth I never found out what he was going to say for Fineman at the switchboard called Hey Mallory Youre You're wanted up in hi Three A right away Dont bother to pack for me I told Higgins Ill do it ft myself when I come down Boone on the elevator kept glanc glanc- glancing ing lag at me as he be took me up Maybe I looked as sick as I felt Anger Is worse than liquor on an empty stomach They had closed the door of the Ferriter fiat flat but there still was movement inside I rang the Paget belL The girl in hi uniform Id I'd seen in hi the hall while Miss Ferriter was screaming let me in hi She led me down the hall and stood aside at an open door I started to enter but astonishment stopped me I could only stand on the threshold and stare without belief CHAPTER IV Miss Agatha Paget laid a red ten tenon tenon tenon on a black jack ja k A tall glass stood beside the cards on her table A cigarette dangled from her lips Through its smoke her eyes shone bright as the diamond pin phi at the throat of her black silk gown She should have been knitting In Instead in in- instead stead of playing Canfield The drink the cards and the tobacco seemed as out of place as a cuspidor in church She blew a cloud from her nose ground out the cigarette on a tray and nodded toward a chair Come In In David she said Sit down I obeyed She held a card above the layout placed It and then looked square at me If that is an air of affronted pi pl piety piety ety she told me I can get along without It it When youre you're my age David you'll take to the small vices remaining as compensation for oth oth- others others others ers youve you've missed Have a drink She looked toward a in inthe inthe inthe the corner I shook my head Her sharply angled eager eater face made me wonder whether the vitality dc dr d nied her crippled legs had not flowed upward to invigorate the rest c cI her She took a long pull at hot hel glass and wiped her lips on a lacy lac handkerchief I Grove she began tells ma mG youve you've been discharged I didn't know Grove but I said I have Im I'm supposed to have hava bared the amours of the basement I Casanova She gave her husky chuckle chuMle It lilt was I who bared them Only a remarkable man could be wrong as often as Timothy She tinkled the ice in hi her glass sipped it again and then looked straight at me What are you going to do When you sent forme tOr me I said I was just going to take a poke at Higgins Biggins The wrinkles about her eyes deep deep- ened You quote Kenneth Grahame I you want wa t to punch Timothy What other recommendations have you I did not understand She prompt prompted ed Youve been a reporter What else can you do I could not see where all this led lcd but I answered Im a fair blocking halfback and anda a good fencer I also ride swim and know a couple of card tricks College eh I wondered if this was her idea of amusing herself herselt B A A. I told her The diploma is in hi Omaha I also had a Phi Beta key but I 1 haven't now there now there are rules against hoarding gold you see I can ransom my dress clothes though if you feel you need a but but- ler They're in hi the trunk my former landlady is keeping for me She in In- insisted Insisted on it itI It I had begun to feel like a labora laboratory laboratory tory specimen under her regard It bothered me When Miss Paget asked Would you care to work for forme forme forme me I shook my head Kind of you I told her but 1 I think not Ive I've got relatives in hi Ne Ne- Nebraska braSKa If I want charity I think that surprised her She lit another cigarette My boy she said through a smoke cloud Im beginning to un understand un- un understand why Higgins doesn't like you It isn't charity People I help have to work for what they get get- getIs Is that clear It Wasn't but I nodded She went wenton on Im working with Mr Ferriter on a genealogy of the Paget family Youve You've heard of the Sorry I said and hoped my de de- denial denial nial would irk her Instead she grinned and for an Instant it ft seemed time ti ne had h d worn her ber old face so thin that a valiant spirit shone through the mask you lucky said Miss Agatha to have been raised In hi Ne Ne- Nebraska Nebraska braska If It you'll stop being suspicious suspicious cious Ive I've something to tell to you She finished her drink Her eyes were bright and mocking Paget David isn't I nt just a family name Its It's a religion religion-a a very exclusive exclusive sive comfortable religion The only reason there wasn't a Paget on the Mayflower is that the ship had no royal suite There arent aren't any D. D A. A ARs ARs ARs Rs R.'s or Sons of the Revolution among the You see the pa patriots were rather a mixed lot I Iwas Iwas Iwas was raised in hi the fear of and Im I'm doing a book about my fore fore- forebears forebears bears by way of reprisal I need a aman aman aman man preferably one who never heard of the who can take what the heliotrope Mr Ferriter digs up and write it He cant can't cant or or hes he's afraid to A uA genealogy is just a catalogue I told her You wont won't need a writ er Wrong all the way she told me briskly just what I do need Theres There's never been a genealogy gy like this one Im I'm prying the highly polished veneer off Im I'm going to tell the story of a fam fame that ily is full of cowards and scoundrels scoundrels and hypocrites and cheats cheats' and sluggards sluggards like like your family like all families Im I'm going to give as much space to my ancestors' ancestors frailties as asto asto asto to their virtues It'll be a big book Again she gave that robust chuck le Ie I asked defensively for I felt felther felther felther her sweeping swe ping me along dare to publish it I I will she said and her teeth bit through an invisible thread One copy for each of the Most of them are too far gone for the truth to reach them but I want my children to know all about before they're much older They The arent aren't really my children though 1 J raised them My brother and sis sis- sis sis- law ter-in-law died when Grosvenor was thirteen and Allegra ten Grove is working In a bond house for all hes he's worth which worth which is about half of what he gets Allegra Is too pretty to have brains yet she has them I want my book to keep them from going Paget Every family should have a factual account of its ancestors their weaknesses and foi tol foibles foibles bles and misdemeanors and felonies The will be the first to get it ft I dont don't want my youngsters to get the family delusion that just being a Paget is all that should be expected of anyone TO BE lIE CONTINUED |
