Show U t Telegram e Serial Gift From the Dead 1 By Leonard Finley Hilts I The llIe story so f far tar Tim fol- fol ile be the run bit death of his hh wife Ue e ei i H Helen ea Is s 1 called II back to to San Francisco t. t help belp Jot Joe Thomas Thoma Investigate tho death drath of Panl Norton Tim l r a race tiro TIm r tun un bAd hod been n found beside the he body Four automobile rift certificates r are are found In Norton Norton's pockets pocket TimI Tim I discovers that Helen had traded In his hb ear car ar and b had bad wP wrapped Md a rift tf for new one In a Christmas package t riot for Dir Dirr him Fie e finds find that th the e ce certificate t II li false and determines to break the heo thinks the i slack pd r racket fatse t. t He tells Joe he think the Ulet ha have a tu on Norton Norton's o death Ret r ome h home Tim finds find his bis hiso his hAt been searched Ii Is I- i c nr andRas' andRas and Tim Im believes believes the marauder marauder iwas Iwa Ras' Ras looking Ina a for thelo lo the tho certificate f Tim puts pais a an n ad Inthe In the n c paper of offer offer- e e r the en ena a auto certificate f I I as a caP a aP reward for Information to tf the Identification Uon f f his bis wife's lIc killer He lit hopes hoPt In this way way J to trap trop the murderer and break brenk the Ib racket t. t 1 ow go 10 on OD with th the story I CHAPTER SIX r HE advertisement ad was run the rE fHE I next day in the morning edi- edi v And the newspapers carried tarried a feature story on it telling telling tell tell- ing ng the circumstances behind the I accident ft l The newspaper boys smelled a bigger story in the making a and cooperated beautifully The thing got ot a pretty big play for such short hort notice I decided that if our ur man read newspapers at allie all lie e ie couldn't miss it f r I didn't expect him to take any before nightfall because thought it would take him that l long ong ng to make his plans So I 1 made ip jp my mind to go out to the house 0 o make another attempt at out Helens Helen's things f As I 1 went out I found myself icing eing very ery cautious when I crossed the he streets I wasn't exactly but just the same I want to be caught from 11 pI I wandered around the house or or half an hour doing little things nd not very much dished Then Then 1 I l ra ran across Helens Helen's liar Lary again and took it into the iving Lying room Of all the things n t the house it seemed to bringer bringIer bring er Ier closest to me LI II I had barely started to read the when there was a knock l in n the front door I rt T T TV V WAS AS Mr Mullins the nce ce man who had taken Helen 6 the hospital after the accident Mr ancy he said may I Iome Iome ome orne in Id I'd like to talk to you I 1 said Sure and invited him ito the living room I sat ite him and picked up the diary gain I 1 tried to get you Jou on the phone sat 1St night he said when he hc was but you weren't home hen I saw you Jou walk up this and decided to come ver ver LI tzI I couldn't sleep here I told im He nodded sympathetically Ian Ian I Ian an imagine how you feel he Then he launched into is subject I r wanted to call you bout that ad in the paper You Youe ee ee e Im I'm pretty sure that the gift youre you're offering as award a ward award is a phony My interest perked up instantly Yeah What m makes a k e c s you sink jink so Well my wife was interested i t a a. and got one of those ift certificates from some fellow ut lut I investigated the thing before let her put any money into it nd found out it was a fake I bought Nought Id I'd let you know because d hate to see a neighbor swin- swin led t IS S THAT right Isaid Well Vell m certainly glad you warned me mei i 1 time I might have made a fool ut of myself giving that thing things a s a reward He had called me last night bout the ad But it hadn't ap- ap eared until this morning There Thereas as something here that needed attle a attle attle probing My fingers were idly turning g ver the pages of Helens Helen's diary while my thoughts were up my eye caught an I hadn't seen before The lOrds fords jumped from the page and an anit d it me with a terrific jolt Rage Rag e nd grief swept over me again II I started to get up The look in my face must have hav e lamed arned him By the time I too took k swing at him he was out of th the ke e hair bail and his knuckles had d mashed into my mouth The blow blot v tung Lung and suddenly the salty taste of blood was in my mouth But it didn't stop me His body crashed into me and andI I started to go backward over my chair His face was very close to tome tome tome me now and I could see the fear and hate in his eyes His fist came crashing into my face again and then I couldn't see him at all A red curtain blurred out ut every every- thing S V I got my knee up I brought it up hard and felt him him sU stiffen fen with pain when it connect connect- ed A groan bubbled in his throat and he staggered back a step I He recovered fast after the first i shock of the pain was past straightening up and coming at me again There was a look on his face like Ive I've never seen on any mans man's face But then he wasn't aman a aman aman man any more He was an animal and animal noises were hissing from his lips He was out to kill But this time I was ready He went to the floor when I licit hit him I dived on top of him and we rolled around driving in punches whenever there was an opportunity I could feel my senses slipping blurring under the sledge-hammer sledge blows he pushed through to my head and face I But I couldn't quit I lowed owed this this this' I guy uy everything I could give him I because he had killed Helen taken her away from me in cold blood I mustered my last strength But his size had begun to tell Ve We rolled one more time and he came up straddling me pounding my head and face into the floor r I began to lose track of everything everything every every- thing but that painful pounding in my mj head WHEN y FT HEN I woke up there ori oni the couch in my living room the place was vas full of people My vision was blurry lurry and my head was aching like ike the worlds world's greatest collection of toothaches I strained to see and the fog began to lift until I finally spotted Joe ThomasH Thomas H Hey y Joe I called as loudly as asI asI I could It came out little more than han a whisper It was Mullins Dont Don't ont stand there Go after him I cant can't move Get going man roan Joe came canIe over and sat next tome to me ic Dont worry Tim he said j jovially o i ally as if he were attempting to o humor me we got him But Buthe the he next time you OU want to spring a trap you'd better figure out something that wont won't get you so battered You look like hell What happened I asked feebly but with an attempt at dignity Joe grinned I put a tail tall on you figuring that you weren't safe out ut alone after putting that ad in n the paper When the boys heard the he fight in here they came in and got ot your man But what happened in n here 7 H HE E MADE the mistake I was waiting for Joe I answered smiling smiling smil- smil ing ng as broadly as I could He came ame here to fool me by warning me that the certificate was a phony thinking that I wouldn't I suspect him if he did But he mentioned that he tried to call me last ast night about the ad and the ad didn't appear until the morning editions of the papers He knew all 11 along that I had the certificate I think but this was the first chance hance lIe he had to try to get it from rom me Hell get his last chance when they hey close the door to the gas chamber hamber Joe remarked amiably Then I continued while we were vere talking I happened to be thumbing through Helens Helen's diary and nd saw an entry in which she said that hat she had lent my gun to Mullins' Mullins wife because she was afraid to be home alone at night That answered the other questions for me and I knew I had the right man I grinned feebly again I r Iguess guess I r was just a little untactful in my approach Joe patted my shoulder gently as he stood up Why dont don't you etry try leading with your left the next time 7 he laughed more tactful and it always works for me THE END Copyright L. L F. F F Hilts Distributed buted by King Features Syndicate |