Show T r i N I Wa W s n 9 J iZ I 7 J i i i i r By FREDERIC F REDER IC F F. VAN DE WATER WATe n m W. W H No U. U u S r. r r v. v c ee e oJ David Mallory SYNOPSIS In search of newspaper work In New York Is forced to accept a ajob ajob ajob job as switchboard switch operator in a swank apartment house managed by officious Timothy Higgins There David meets Miss Agatha Paget Facet a crippled old lady and her charming niece Allegra One day talking with Higgins In the lobby David is Alarmed by a p piercing scream David finds the scream c came me from the Ferriter apartment not far from the Pa gets gets' The include Lyon and Everett and their sister lone Everett a genealogist is helping Agatha Paget write a book about her blue blooded blue an Inside the apartment they find finda a black bearded man man dead No weapon can be found The police poUce arrive Higgins Big Hig Biggins gins who actively dislikes David Informs In Informs forms him that he is fired David is called to the Paget apartment Agatha Paget offers him a job helping write her family history which history which will wUl unearth a few family skeletons lie He accepts the offer Meanwhile police poUce suspect Lyon Ferriter of the murder Jerry Cochrane of the Press often offers David a job helping solve the murder David accepts lie He Is to keep on working for Miss bliss Paget Later David meets Grosvenor Paget Allegra's brother Then that night David sees Grosvenor prowl through the Ferriter apartment David ld confronts Grosvenor with the story He is told to mind his own business Then David goes to lUg gins gins' basement flat fiat to retrieve his lug gage In the darkness he brushes against an unknown person and In attempting to capture him falls faUs over his own suitcase CHAPTER C APTER VII VII Continued Continued 9 D i The cabs cab's brakes squealed Coch Coch- Cochrane Cochrane Cochrane rane thrust open its door The Artists and Writers he hc said and Just in time to save one very precious life He Hc led me down a crooked hall to an iron door with a wicket and rang the bell bellA bellA bellA A newspaper hangout he ex ex- It masqueraded as a res res- restaurant restaurant restaurant during prohibition Now it poses as a speakeasy Newspaper Newspapermen men are romantic because I told him they meet so many interesting peo pee pie Gene Cochrane bade the face that appeared at the wicket two hot Scotches quick and Ill I'll close the door myself Cochrane was sipping his second drink and talking in a low voice Blackboards Blackboard's body lay in the morgue still unidentified The Fer Fer- had been easier to trail Lyon and his sister had been in Alaska where he had run a combined saloon and store on the Tanana River RiverA RiverA RiverA A year ago Cochrane went on on onit it seems lone and Lyon and a new newcomer newcomer comer a guy named Horstman went prospecting and were out all winter They found gold but Horst Horst- Horstman Horstman Horstman man got lost In a blizzard and his body never was recovered Lyon sold his claim and came to New i York Hes He's comfortably fixed His I sister aI doesn't do anything either And right now she doesn't look as asif asif asif if it agreed with her ber He made a design of wet rings on the table with the bottom of his them glass and asked still watching Do you know anything of a tie- tie up lone Zone between the Paget boy and Why I stalled and my voice must have been sharp for he grinned You and I I. I said Cochrane have the same sort of dirty mind The idea may lead nowhere but the lad comes into an Inheritance in a few days now three now three million or thereabouts which is no small sum to shoot at even in inflated ln curren curren- currency cy lone lone lone- He broke off oU A man came walk- walk walkIng walkIng walkIng Ing stiffly from the barroom He said Hi Jerry to Cochrane started to pass on and then stopped staring at me It was Duke of ot the Sphere I 1 found myself disliking him again Hello Larry Cochrane said and his face was guileless Have a drink Thanks T tanks Duke answered Ive had mine mine He had He swayed as ns he spoke and ond kept on looking at ot me We watched each other like like hostile dogs Cochrane said quietly This Is David Mallory He He- He Weve met before I 1 broke In Duke sat down with a long sigh Drink had turned him pale and sweating I knew he was trouble- trouble hunting bunting and felt my own temper rise to meet his He asked carefully for his tongue was thick Private conspiracy or can I Ihorn Ihorn Ihorn horn In Cochrane grinned I knew Dave in Omaha he said so smoothly that the lie sounded like like uth Ive been trying to pump him Help yourself Thanks Duke replied and looked at me briefly Turned in your copy Jerry Still trying to find something to write about Duke mopped his glistening face You had no trouble yesterday Why dont don't you let your stool loose on young Paget's affair with lone Zone Cochrane glanced at me and I 1 held fast to myself He said easily Just one of Shannon's theories Theres There's nothing In It It there Duke asked The reason this thing is locked up so tight is because the are in it up to their necks The are arc people In this town They've got the immunity of cash and tion If It we could tear the lid off ofT this thing wed we'd find a Grove Zone r up tie-up and probably Allegra mixed i up in it itI I got up upI upI I 1 hope Duke said fumbling with his words that Im I'm not offend offend- offending ing tug you I said Enid to Cochrane j. j K i I 1 dont don't care for your friends friend's manners or his mind or his smelL smelt Unless he cares to argue it It Ill I'll be beon beon beon on my way I My voice must have been loud for formen formen formen men at other tables looked at me mc and Gene the waiter walter came hurry hurry- hurrying hurryIng hurrying ing across the room Breath went from Duke with a hiss He lurched and tried to rise but Cochrane threw himself sidewise and held him down Easy Larry he soothed youre drunk and to me Make it fast fastI I 1 obeyed He overtook me at the Broadway corner Young he hc said panting I dont don't like that guy I told him sulkily He grinned So I gathered It was a fool play to bring you there We better meet in your room hereafter ac ac- He left me at the subway station I 1 walked on uptown and wished that I had thrown his Job after him And then I was sorry that I had not told Cochrane all I had learned of Gros Gros- venor I knew that I could not do that either Loyalties pulled me two ways I stood aside on the stair to let my landlady descend She stopped and peered down severely If U anyone calls when Im I'm away Mrs Shaw I told her you can let him in my room Him said Mrs Shaw and sniffed Ive no objection to hims I You may when you yon see my copy I told her Mr Mallory but you simply cannot receive well well ladles ladies here She glared at me with the sour air of morality that fat women so often wear Good God I answered what put that into your mind Im not she told me more suspicious than most Mr Mallory but a lady called to see you an hour ago A lady I asked with what breath I had Did she have blue blueeyes blueeyes blueeyes eyes and blond hair Mrs Shaw might have looked so at Brigham Young This said she was a II dark lady Anxious to see you she was Im I'm sure But she would leave no message or name I watched her go on down the stairs At the landing she flung back Very looking good if you like that type CHAPTER VIII V I It was long before I got to sleep There were too many things in the room with me The visit of the woman who had roused Mrs Shaws Shaw's morality joined the procession of puzzles that marched endlessly round my bed It made no sense Neither did my conclusion that the caller must have been seeking some other David Mallory Neither did anything else When slumber caught me at last I overslept and again reached the Paget apartment breathless and ant just juston I on time Annie led me to the work I room The sanity of winter sun sunlight sun sun- sunlight light streaming in through the win win- window dow the thc stacked papers on the desk the typewriter the very couch on which Grosvenor had sat glowering the evening before all were solid normal things that tangled further furth r my suspicions I looked through the theo o 0 window Beyond the Ute casement across the air shaft I had seen the boy at his furtive mission As I Iwa watched wa a dim figure drew up the shade The had come home I 1 turned and faced Miss Agatha Good morning David she said briskly You and I are among the few punctual people In this world Mr Ferriter hasn't arrived I I haven't seen him I replied Perhaps he Is next door The apart apart- apartment apartment ment ment- She bit through an Invisible thread and nodded Yes They have come back Ive I've Invited them all to lunch Perhaps my precious genealogist thinks bt M lytis is not to report till then She peered at me and pursued You needn't look shocked Da Dh vid Ive I've broken bread during a long life vit with many more disreputable people than probable perpetrators of ofa a murder Her mind was straight and merci merci- merciless merciless merciless less as a bayonet thrust I stammered stam stam- stammered stammered You think then that that that-that- that Never mind boggling Miss Aga Aga- Agatha Agatha tha ordered I think that t. t at any any- anywhere anywhere where but in detective fiction the persons nearest to a crime are those tho e most likely to have been Involved That need not prevent my asking them to lunch You forget that a spectator of life must have her vi vi- vicarious vicarious vicarious carious thrills I 1 never said a n word I told her With a face like yours she re re- replied re- re replied plied you didn't have to Of course I suspect the So do you She rolled her chair to the desk side and Jumped upon her project For a hour half we talked Or rath rath- rather er I 1 listened while she elaborated her purpose to me and outlined the scope and set the tl-e tone for the first chapter At last lat she paused and grinned Any question I shook my bad Let me do doe few pages and see whether Ive I've caught your Idea Excellent Miss Agatha said with a jerk of her head Everett would have spent the next hour half in qualms and objections You may hen you see my copy I told L Lr hr r. r She chuckled again as os she rolled toward the door dos What hoi hol lIe Jie said in response to my greeting and waved a plump hand I thought of Allegra standing pro pro- provocatively provocatively vocatively beside him I thought of Dukes Duke's slander and bent again to tomy tomy tomy my work Everett Ev ett had a softness that shook instead of hardened un un- under under un- un under der stress but eten in his agitation he had not forgot en his cologne I dont don't like cologne With the reek of it In my nose I found him standing beside me He smiled and picked up the two pages I had completed Do you mind he asked and I read them without waiting The points of the waxed mustache I twitched and color came to his bis pudgy checks cheeks It isn't pleasant to have another recast your own work I understood his Irritation He dropped the sheets on the desk and dusted his hands together before he helit helit helit lit a cigarette Of course he said with a ages gesture gesture ture of resignation if that's the sort of thing she wants wants- wants wants-to So what I asked but his faint faint- faintly faintly faintly ly popped eyes slid away from mine He laid his cigarette on an ash tray and shrugged No offense my dear chap I mean mean well well isn't it a n bit ghoulish and horrible this this this-er cr exhumation of all the family skeletons I mean- mean its it's really not my sort of or- work He stood quite still a minute be be- before before before fore he said In a voice that tried hard bard to be careless Anything new Dont you read the papers I asked or is journalism too too ghoul ghoul ghoulish ish and horrible He didn't resent that but an an- answered answered quite humbly Of course I just meant have you you has has anyone I mean mean found found out anything else I shouldn't have deviled him fur fur- further further further ther but he asked for it I shrugged and put a fresh sheet of paper In hi the typewriter Im a rewrite man I told him Not a detective I heard breath go through his nose He mopped his face with a plaid bordered silk handkerchief The smell of cologne drove away my pity I But he faltered you do know something eh I Plenty I answered What he asked as though the word hurt him I shook my head Youre nervous enough already He made a desperate gesture with both hands as though trying to push something away Nervous I Why shouldn't I be nervous Ive I've been humiliated by a alot alot alot lot of foul police Asses that have no respect for the commonest de de- Weve We've all been hounded by them because they're too ignorant ever to find out who did that dread dread- dreadful dreadful ful thing Something clicked inside me and andI I looked at him hard It might be i ionly only the indignation of the innocent that rode him It might be some some- something something something thing more I couldn't picture Ev Ev- Everett Everett Everett erett Ferriter as a murderer but butI I had been fooled too often in thelast the thelast thelast last two days to trust my own senses So I said Dont underestimate the cops They are unrefined but the Homi Homi- Homicide Homicide Homicide cide Bureau in this town ranks pret prete pretty pretty ty high Ive I've been a newspaper man manlong manlong manlong long enough to know that when a de detective de- de detective seems dumbest hes he's proba probably probably bly being smartest Ill I'll bet you even money that they clear up this case in a week I knew I 1 had hit him He gagged a little and gave a sick smile I hope youre you're right he told me It cant can't be a minute too soon for forme me for me-for for all of us He lIe left so quickly and silently that I heard the thc front door dooz shut before I knew he was gone I sat and scowled at the wall while I 1 tried to pull pulI that jittery fig fig- figure ure Into a pose of guilt Then I remembered Ills his alibi It had bad been the nature of this alibi and Alleg Allegra's ras ra's part in it that had made me vindictive I thrust my mind away from current crime and into the an annals pals nals of Miss Agathas Agatha's forebear arr TO BE LIE CONTINUED fI |