Show f E legram leg ram Serial I 1 j Gateway to Death By Brett Halliday Read a new mystery serial complete every week in The Telegram The tory tery ao 10 o fart fau Michael Shayne I U b bed ed In b by Capt Calt Ott otto of military I In In- to ln e In the y Moore a Jn by Fr Frate ate m Carson Canon while the tt Il latter r wa a. a on ond lard d duty at a camouflaged submarine EM In 10 Florida Shayne meets IA 1 Laura aura re widow and learn Iam she be beI he tare ces I at the Lido Udo a club dub patron patron- M b by from th the po pot t. t H Harn HeI R He arn I that D Dinky didn't t work and t that f l I l lD rU to collect o his hl t In In- also nce-also alto that Dink Dinky Was KAI hi his wife wi Now ico yo o on with the tOrT lory or 1 CHAPTER THREE THREET T J 1 WAS VAS 11 1142 42 when S Shayne h hay a y n e estopped estopped stopped in front iron t of an open gate In a foot 10 fence of cIo closely ly shed hed galvanized wire vire at right lei lea across the road A sentry gentry th a bayoneted rifle stood in the thedie die of the road between the Beyond him the un- un brush rUSh had been cleared off a acre acre area of flat land none of ot ch was more than five feet feete ve e high tide There long long- longun un- un ted buildings stood in the cen- cen of the clearing grouped around flagpole surmounted by the r. r It American flag Another small frame building stood behind the sentry near the gate As Shayne got out the sentry called caned over his shoulder sergeant of the guard Post number one one And to Shayne he said Advance 10 paces to be recognized A sergeant came trotting from the little frame shack He was puffing a little as he reached them and he said No civilians ci allowed in here without a special ial i pass Shayne said Captain Richards is expecting me Michael Shayne Shane Prove it Shayne got out his wallet and flipped lipped it open to show his private private vate ate license The sergeant carefully carefully carefully care care- fully compared the picture on the license with Shayne's face then grunted All right I guess You'll have to leave your jalopy outside Right up there This end of the first building is the orderly room T 1 HE sentry stepped back and Shayne passed between the two men He looked about keenly as ashe ashe ashe he approached the orderly room but could see nothing whatever except except except ex ex- the small clearing clearing- to denote human activity on the key It was wasa a masterful job of camouflaging a submarine base Captain Richards was sitting silting behind behind behind be be- hind the desk He Hc surveyed the Miami detective stonily Ha Have ve you made any progress A little Shayne tossed his hisha ha hat t on the desk and lowered his body into a R chair Id like to see all the men who were on guard duty last night The captain called caned through the open door Corporal Yonkers Bring last nights night's guard detail into the orderly room I replaced them with a new v detail this mornin morning morning morn morn- in ing he added to Shayne The redhead nodded We Ve probably probably probably ably wont won't learn much from them I 1 consider this entire investigation tion a waste of time Richards told him emphatically Captain Otts Ott's fear lear of sabotage seems to me utter nonsense Shayne said I agree with you I think it was murder your job isn't it To turn accidents into murder That's the way you jOU make a livEr liv liv- ing M II EN r tramped into the Orderly y room ou outside ide Captain Richards made an impatient gesture and said Lets get bet this over with He got up and stalked out of the private private vate ate office Shayne followed him out Twelve privates were lined up at attention atten atten- tion Sergeant Blake saluted and said Reporting the guard detail Sir Richards growled At ease This is Mr Ir Shayne men A Miami detective investigating the trouble last night Tell him anything he wants to know He turned abruptly abrupt abrupt- ly and went back into his office shutting the door Shayne grinned at the soldiers They were all young and all serious He said even though it embarrasses your captain captain captain cap cap- tain I think Im I'm going to prove that a man was murdered last night One of the privates gave a start and opened his mouth as though to protest It was Private Car Car- son Shayne said Dont take that personally Carson Moores Moore's murderer didn't necessarily pull the trigger that killed him He paused then demanded How many of you knew the dead man No one replied d. d 0 ONE ON NE of you knew him Shayne told them casually He wouldn't have kept coming that way unless unless unless un un- un- un less he felt sure he knew the man who vho was pretending pretending- to halt him That is is- is He glanced at the sergeant ergeant it if if were we're sure Carson did id try to halt him Has that been verified 1 Yes sir a soldier down the theline theline thene line ne spoke up unexpectedly I was wasn wason wason on n No 3 post I heard Carson yell halt alt three times Shayne nodded Yet none of you rou admit knowing Moore 1 All right ight How many of you knew his wife 1 There was a shuffling of feet No o other reply How many of you have ha been at athe atthe atthe the he Lido club Shayne snapped Sergeant Blake answered for him Hell they've all been there Me le too If youve you've been to the Lido dont don't tell me you dont don't know Laura Not a bunch of soldiers Blake grunted Maybe we do They're all hot numbers at the Lido But you dont don't have to know a dames dame's name to dance to dance with her Shayne's gaze travelled down the line of men He said All of you go except go-except except Blake and Carson I want you to show me where it happened He went into the captains captain's room Richards looked up grunted Well Which one are you going to frame for murder Shayne's eyes were cold and bright I dont don't know know yet yet How friendly were you with Laura LauraMoore LauraMoore LauraMoore Moore T HE captain rose slowly better get out of here Shayne I told Ott this morning that the military should handle its own in in- in lion Shayne said I want all of the guard detail given a six-hour six pass tonight t Richards was breathing breathing- heavily i Ill issue the orders around here Shayne said fine I want to see them all at the Club Lido He went outRight out I Right Rig here is where it hap hap- Sergeant Blake stopped in I front of a ten-foot ten gate in the wire fence The gate was the same heavy mesh wire wire The sergeant ergeant pointed through the gate at a pair of ruts leading through the under under- brush He fHe was walking up that road You can see the blood where he fell About 20 feet awa away Shayne stared through tho the wire There was a worn well path along the inside of the fence A soldier soldie wearing a webbed pistol belt came cam marching along the path as they stood tood there He passed them with a curious urious glance Hes the guard on post No 2 the he sergeant explained S O HAYNE glanced at the ruts leading through the gate and the underbrush toward the camp clearing behind them Where does this road go What's this gate for 7 It goes to the supply dump Mess and commissary The trucks come ome in this way This road runs east ast about half a mile and then swings wings north to the highway And this gate is kept locked right Show me exactly where you were vere standing last night Shayne told old the young private who was standing landing a few paces back Private Carson gulped I was coming from fromback fromback back ack there He pointed behind him nm I saw this man walking up the he road I hurried a little to get here in front of the gate and called ailed my first halt when he was about 40 paces away He kept I right on coming like he didn't I hear me I I-I I I yelled halt twice more and then l I-I I I didn't know what else to do but shoot He set his lips tightly and gave Shayne an agonized glance You did some damned good shooting Shayne said calmly to Carson He frowned Why Vh the hell was Dinky Moore walking up that hat road at two o'clock in the morning 1 Could he have mistaken mistaken mis- mis taken aken it for another road 1 D ONT see how Blake said doubtfully Heres something else that hat looks funny Mr Shayne When we came back from Miami tiami this morning we found the car he was vas driving Hed He'd left it parked about a quarter of a mile down the road Captain Ott found his fingerprints on t the h e steering wheel What kind of car A station wagon It was re reported reported reported re- re ported stolen from the Club Lido catl early this morning A quarter down the road Shayne mused He asked Carson Did you hear the car stop No sir I didn't hear anything Its nuts Shayne said impatiently impatiently He parks his car and walks up here herc to a locked gate armed with a pistol But didn't he make any att attempt to shoot you 7 he demanded sharply i N No 0 SIR I cant can't rightly claim self He didn't make any motion towards his gun till Id I'd said Id I'd fire Seemed like he just suddenly got the idea I meant it But I had to shoot the second time because I saw his gun was out Sure you did Blake growled g He turned his head and spat on the ground It aint murder when you obey orders No matter what anybody says Shayne said I know youre you're alsore al all sore because Im I'm a civilian investigating investigating investigating what you consider a purely military affair But this is still murder and dont don't forget forge it He turned and stalked away following the road back to the clearing He was just emerging from the thick underbrush when he heard a alow alow alow low Hey from one side He saw a uniform behind a clump o of palmetto and an extended finger finser beckoning to him He turned aside and recognized d one of the privates who had faced him in m the orderly room a short time previously pre pre- Continued Tomorrow |