| Show I I Telegram eera m J eria i t 1 l Footed Bare Murder By Paul W. W Fa Fairman irman I I Read a new mystery serial complete i every week in The Telegram 1 h. ft 1 fJ r TORt STORT SO FoO FAR o h t mt Tin rate elite 1 AC tI za g for k II IU Arthur Biddle burglar bUr alarm ann r IM n P f l or of a hank yn j rob robi fc rT dl trl dIO W hi his corpse rP without theSS the i SS t after a reputed haunted I Coil by Helen m Nd e who ho It I. r ir dt young hillbilly Kennedy sl 4 t t to 1 hen ry Bur e s Miller en r le S b bank k and en sen Samuel l J Its II l who nho employs IA le e W. W lo L toad hit hi hl old Stone pIA place property properly tn l lf k dy y III a oun 1 1 i Wr r.- r. footprint tp leda led to Ih the hidden crate ae etney refilled the erase e and noU notified r Iff lt CM t 1 plan to trap tap t jk lay t t the n nut neat x night and are arc ap sp D Ih Ib Ih dismal tune fOnt A hoot hot owl Lila his fan Ju Just t l een heard and answered d. d GOON 0 OS nTH THE STORY r CHAPTER VI VIS VIr r came toward us and andI S Shad SOMEONE I 1 v. v wished that the heavy clouds r had held off for one more Bi right ht so I could see the the rest rest of i the party Nothings happened Chief r a ai ais is i tavy vy voice oice muttered If In In fact I 9 8 dont don't t think anything anything's going to tot t tit Ei 5 hippen- hippen 1 I At the moment I wasn't so con- con Where there is this grave located exactly exactly- You said it was close to the well ell so I had Marty stationed 1 th there ere ere- Get me as far as the well I 1 Mid Hid lId and Ill I'll show you d lit Once I had a landmark I walked II right to it Chief bent over ird d examined the place with a 3 ah h dimmed flashlight Uh Some Something's Something's Something's things thing's buried here all aU right Well We'll p gO back about twenty five yards Theres There's some trees there If no noore ore cne shows up in two hours well we'll t tart fart digging on our own How did you handle the pub pub- end 7 I asked in part to toI I relieve e the tension of waiting Talked to Charley Schrieber i He sells real estate Had him call Sam Sun Primrose but Sam was out to ranch lunch Hes He's cashier at the bank and owns this land Charley gave the message to Hank Burgess the I 14 president Sam got it all right j i f t THIS 1 HIS hillbilly Lee somebody somebody- i jiny I nyc p way he could have got wind of cf it I qu queried ried a Sure Sam would have got in touch ouch with him Just like tr tying ng up the e. e watch dog dos when company comes t 1 I thought of the rifle out there fa la the woods somewhere and I was 1 happy about the whole thing Time dragged b by It seemed like I SO years Conversation lagged lagged- then died 1 Half Bali a an hour saida said b holding balding a watch against his flash- flash t light then nj e eYe everyone v e r y yon o n E perked up I 1 tightened We were not alone Someone was as moving quietly through the darkness towards Arthur Biddles Biddle's grave I think we all lived five years inthe in inthe inthe I. I the next few minutes I felt Jim Spraggs lips close to my ear L t 1 who ho you think it is he heA A Whispered j J r I grinned In the darkness Dont r you JOu know I breathed i j Hes starting to dig Well We'll let Urn him do some work first Hell He'll be i vj 1 easier wier to nail if he gets down into 1 the hole 0 H given his orders the IH thief chief was silent We Ve listened to I the scrape of the thc shovel quite a while hile Then there was an exPlosion ext ex- ex t r at my elbow Not a 8 gun It was Marty and Ill I'll bet he hadn't l k that loud in years There was nothing to do but 1 move nOve now I dashed straight toI to to- I f bard ard the place where the digging I had stopped and someone Was I t scrambling rambling frantically to get out r o of the hole I got there in time Knowing exactly what I was up I didn't fight like a gentle- gentle C ran n. n I X went in with every dirty trick ick I Id I'd d learned since my old alley II days on the east cast side I A knee first In low A sharp j moan n resulted and something I t It Jammed rimmed against the side of my I f head ad ead It could have been an anvil d W but ul I knew it I shook say any the cobwebs and went in M I gain In the dimness I saw a ajl jl 1 I i heck teck With the edge of or my hand I slashed at i ft rt like a butcher chopping through a soup bone That brought a throaty scream and a hand clamped on my wrist I felt the thc wrist snap and made a n note not not to use that arm anymore that night BUt Bud he was going down now head twisted oddly sideway from the paralyzing chop- chop blow His feet kicked out viciously vicious vicious- ly and I was beginning to wonder if everybody had gone home homer homerT T 1 HEN there were lights lights bori boring g in out of the darkness and gasped Its Hank Burgess The banker gave up then like Jike a a. balloon collapsing He folded was through A trick he mut mut- Just a trick I should have known His eyes were on me Howd How d you know How could you possibly know Wheres the mone money Hank asked His voice wasn't tough It was sad sad even even a little hurt Howd you know Stop me if Im I'm wrong Tong Buress Burgess Burgess Bur- Bur gess ess I said sad but wasn't it a the spur idea He stared at me dully and I went on As I figured it Primrose has las been pushing you around Hes He's been een moving in on you and maybe your job was about to pop Or maybe it was plain jealousy jealousy- knowing you were only a front while Primrose ran the show You probably got the idea when you saw Arthur Biddles Biddle's bags sitting there in the bank No Noone Noone Noone one was in sight so you emptied one bag and filled it with currency That way the money would walk right out of the place and even the nose nosey woman across the thc street couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary Afterward the phony burglary would be a cinch Just leave eave the door open Mrs would swear no one had been around in the night but who could prove she hadn't missed them u T T lunch HEN you went to lunch but you didn't stop to eat Instead you ou waylaid Biddle where this road oad turns off the pike You killed him and brought him here and buried him The burying you probably did later at night because because be- be cause ause you'd have had to hurry back and get Biddles Biddle's car Well We'll find ind that in duck slough wont won't we Burgess Will Vill we Hank Chief asked gently T TI I could understand his feelings Here lere was a man hed he'd known Intimately intimately In- In played cards r with with with-a th-a. th a pal al That's the way it is in a small mall town When one man goes wrong it hits everybody you kill him Hank continued the chief I can understand understand under- under stand tand the money Money does things to people and I know how Primrose has been riding you jOU But this fellow hadn't hurt you any You had ho call to kill him It tied the whole plan up I Isaid said aid With Biddle under ground the he police would be looking for a nonexistent robber Burgess could pull mil out after a while and live without suspicion The bankers banker's voice came thick choking Walk away from here Jima Jim im Just walk away and leave me your gun For just a minute shook his head slowly Cant Can't do that That blue light really tripped you I put in Did Lee Wade Vade see you here I wasn't sure he lie mumbled Seemed like a good idea Superstitious Superstitious Superstitious Super Super- hillbilly W ELL lets let's get set going the chief hief said as though he dreaded it t. t I think we could have gotten you out of the robbery Hank Nobody Nobody Noody No- No body ody loves Sam Primrose Could have lave had you paroled maybe in my custody But murder murder- Burgess wasn't any trouble on the he way back to town but we all See Page rage 7 Column 2 Z MYSTERY SERIAL Continued from Page 3 gripped our guns He wanted one pretty bad As it turned out ho he didn't need the gun He hung himself himsel that night in his cell and Ill I'll always suspect that Jim went out after coffee on purpose They found the money in the Burgess home a neat white house at the edge of town where he lived alone His sister had died the previous previous previous pre pre- year I think everybody was glad he didn't have a wife Tri-State Tri got a nice reward from the insurance company and andI I got a citation from the bankers' bankers association Very nice but you cant can't eat cat a citation as I pointedly told the old man He was very generous Gave me a vacation while m my wrist was mending Id I'd half halt expected to get a mop shoved in my other hand so 80 I could make myself useful around the office Helen Morley was still going after Lee Wade Vade tooth and nail Or she was when I left M Maybe she's got him by now She figured that shed she'd educate him bring him to town marry him and turn him into a civilian chilian If the deal runs true to average however however however how how- ever shell she'll end up running around in the woods with no shoes on THE END Copyright Paul W. W Fairman |
