Show Tele Telegram ram M Mystery ster Serial A p Taste for Cognac By Brett Halliday J 0 CHAPTER SIX Jq E car panted over a a. JitU II rise and he saw the weathered weathered g ered rock walls of ot John I mans Grossman's fishing lodge through the left x on h pines nines Two o t the TwO men stepped into th the I. I Kiddle of the lane to block hi his dale I J I when hen he was fifty feet from the the yay building He opened the door doo and tod nd stepped out quickly to showe show and to prevent he was unarmed h e them from coming to the side of the carr car W. r One of the men was very cry tall tal 1 features rd d thin with cadaverous and Nd deep hollows for eye sockets companion was a head shorter IBis Sui than Slim He stood footed flat-footed with his hand openly gripping the of a revolver thrust down be- be Dind the waistband of his trousers Shayne l-Shayne said I thought this l Jw Wu a social call all Wheres Where's Grossman Gross- Gross man Bin 7 He sent us out to see you were yere dean titan before re you come n in Slims Slim's lips barely barcly moved to utter the words I Pug moved behind Slim He blinked in the bright sunlight And said Why dont don't we let im irn have bye it here F If Slim said We Ve do Shayne pretended he didn't hear hearer hearit it er didn't understand the byplay t tween the two killers They had both moved to the side of the car carDOW carnow now flow and were circling slowly toward toward to- to ward him FHe He He said I I brought along some told cold tie beer r. r Its It's here in the back He flung himself to the ground Jerking the door wide open as he did so 10 gun flashed in the sunlight sun- sun light at the same instant that fire tire blazed I from the back seat l R S SHAYNE lay flat on the ground Pug spun around by the of a 45 45 slug in his thick shoulder He stayed on his feet t id d hi his gun rained bullets into the thet t meau Slim fired tired twice before a bullet the saturnine grin back Into Int his mouth He crumpled slowly slowly slow slow- ly forward onto the pi pine l needles s and lay very still went down at almost the erne came instant with a look of complete complete com com- bewilderment on his broad face fice There was no more shooting And Arid there was as no sound from the lick of the car f Shayne went around to the right-hand right side and opened the lick teck door to peer inside Both Blackie and Lennie were quite dud dead Will Gentry came puffing up behind behind be be- hind bind Shayne Other men were dressed like farmers and Shayne r te d half lf a a- a d dozen zen of G Gentri Gentrys Gen Gen- n tr i plainclothes d detectives ele im c t i v e s samong among o n g them He saw Tim Rourkes Rourke's grinning face Gentry caught his arm and pulled him about angrily demanding What the bloody blazes are you pulling Mike Shayne arched his red eyebrows sardonically at the chief of detective detectives de de- de- de Can I help it if some Borne dunned hoods choose this place to settle one of their feuds He saved aved toward the rear of the theor or eu Couple of hitchhikers I picked up is ones one's still alive Rourke idled ailed out cheerfully kneeling be- be ilde Pug But I dont don't think he heill till ill be long sauntered around behiM be- be hiM bind Gentry Pugs Pug's eyes were pea fen and when Gentry shook him sad and demanded to know where I Grossman was as he muttered thick thick- i 1 ly Inside Ineide Cellar Yancy Yancy and Marks Gentry Gentry Gentry Gen Gen- try directed two of his men Stay titre and get a statement from him Ma The rest of you fan out and the house i Shayne leaned close to the dying turn and asked Wheres Theres the Inside Pug H i Shayne pulled away from him ad sad started stalking toward the fishing lodge He mounted thee the aide We e stone atone steps and went on to tot t togging sagging screen door S SAYNE went in and saw Myr- Myr aa Hastings sitting upright in a heaVY avy chair fashioned of twisted Mangrove ove roots Her legs and srn a were bound tightly to the thc Clair cair and her mouth was sealed with adhesive tape i 1 He slashed the cords binding her ner r arms and legs pulled her upright up- up J right ht and put his left arm about t r shoulders This is going to urt he warned JIBe Re ripped the adhesive loose in ate Je jerk She clung to him cry- cry It b lUY tHe He gave a g grunt runt of satisfaction lihen n he saw a square of water water- a canvas on the floor with a t PUe pile of straw and bottles on top of et It It An bottle its empty lay on side lide we and arid another stood open f. f Re lie ie l leaned do down to pick up the e epen pen bottle He studied the water- water i lIt label and his eyes glinted was Monet cognac vintage of 1926 The bottle was half He t p jn In a long gulping breath of pine bouquet Gentrys Gentry's voice bellowed a at t him front cod outside Shayne What's PP ply ning ening g gayne in there 4 sh hayne Shayne ayne called back hack A lad lady d I arc are having a drink ci Gentry glared Blared across the dim m In at t Shayne and the girl o 01 that a and d how did she get et re 7 g Shayne said You met Miss bliss Missi astir Other Othe gs mal last night Will men began bean to file cau Call i iJ into the hallway behind leaders Gent Gentry pry turned toa to and growled Find thee the cel eel a And nd take it Jt careful e e crossed the room heavily And ou Ca Shayne start talking Mike took a pull from Lac tIe th N Next ext time send Bend x you a stool to cover the switchboard on my hotel tel dont don't use a guy with wit k i written all over him Gentry gulped back his anger I wonder who sent Tim Rourke to me with a tip there'd be fireworks fire fire- works Shayne laughed and sank down on the couch beside Myrna How much of the deal do you know Plenty I always suspected Captain Samuels was running stuff for Grossman when he los lost his boat in 30 That's why Grossman Grossman Grossman Gross Gross- man killed him last night Fighting Fighting Fighting Fight Fight- ing over division of the liquor that was cached here when Grossman was sent up I You Youre re fairly close Shayne admitted When you find Grossman Grossman Gross Gross- man man man-If Hell talk Gentry promised Want Vant to bet on it Shayne set the bottle on the floor and sat up straighter when a detective trotted in and reported excitedly Weve searched the cellar and the whole house Chief Not another soul here Shayne got up I dont don't think your men knew where to look in inthe inthe inthe the cellar Lets Let's take a look s ij HAYNE led the way down into a small dank furnace room with witha a dirt floor He flashed a n. light around then walked over to a small rectangular area where the ground showed signs of having been jeen recently disturbed Try digging digging dig ging here You mean hes he's dead Unless hes he's a Yogi or some damned thing Shayne shrugged Nothing else made any sense You mean nothing makes sense Gentry said perplexedly Shayne sighed and said Ill draw raw you pictures One question first though Did Guildford make a phone call between the time you checked for Miss Hastings at the Crestwood last night and before you came to my place looking for her Well Ven yes es I think he did come cometo cometo to o think of it He called his home from rom the public booth in the Crest- Crest wood Sha Shayne Shane ne nodded But you didn't go jo in the booth with him and listen sten in on his conversation Of course not Gentry ered Shayne took his time about lighting a cigarette If you had you ou would have heard him calling Pug ug or Slim at Chunky's joint and telling elling them to hang bang around the Crestwood until Mryna Hastings came ame in and in-and and then grab her He was covering e eve every v e r y angle Shayne hayne went on earnest earnestly after he e discovered that empty hiding place lace in the captains He knew the captain knew the location location loca- loca tion ion of the liquor cache after Samuels amuels brought in a case and sold old it for a hundred bucks to tomake tomake tomake make a payment on the mortgage And when the poor old guy died while he was torturing him he must have been frantic for fear hed he'd never find the stuff Are you talking about Mr Guildford The attorney S 'S HAYNE nod nodded d e d. d Leroy P P. P Guildford Once a junior member of f the firm of Leland and Parker which specialized in criminal practice practice tice ice and defended John Grossman Grossmann in n 1930 After he killed Grossman Samuels amuels was his only chance to learn earn where the liquor was hid- hid den en Are you ou saying Guildford k killed Grossman Sure Or had Pug and Slim do dohe dothe dothe the he job for him He brought Grossman Grossman Gross Gross- man out here last Tuesday then went to Samuels and told him what had happened and suggested that hat with Grossman dead they might as well split the liquor But Grossman talked to you over the phone just this morning Gentry argued Shayne shook his head I knew that hat couldn't be Grossman He had to be dead The only other person it could be was Guildford disguising his voice to lure me out here so he could get rid of the only two wo people who knew about the log book and the liquor Why asked Gentry with forced breed calm did Grossman have to be dead Nothing else made sense Shayne spread out his big hands Captain Samuels knew where the liquor was all the time and he was practically starving yet he never touched it Why Because he was an honorable man and it didn't belong belong be- be long ong to him Why then would he suddenly sell a case Because Grossman was dead and it no longer belonged to anybody In the big room upstairs Shayne knelt beside the bottles and straw Do you know where this came from Myrna Its all in the bottom of the lagoon Just where Captain Samuels and his crew dumped it overboard as he described in his log Shayne got up with a a. bottle dangling from each bony hand He slipped them into the side pockets of his pants as Detective Yancy came hurrying in to tell Gentry excitedly We got the whole story from that man before h he died Grossman is' is dead Chief Buried in the cellar ellar And the thereal thereal rc real al guy is isI isI is is- I know said Gentry wearily Get to a telephone and have Guildford rounded up What are you doing he demanded demanded demanded de de- de- de as us he turned in time to see Shayne slide a third and fourth bottle into his hip p pockets Makin Making hay while the sun Bun shines Shayne stooped stiffly to get two more bottles from the floor Myrna laughed delightedly I Ican Ican 1 can carry a few for you THE END Copyright by Brett Halliday iI |