Show f i Serial S. S I f z leaf teath h Holds Downbeat By Wi William Irish Read a new mystery serial complete every week in The Telegram I fit torr w to O f far Mx tit fax Jone Jonn Jone iDe Sid r In a n Dar Dar- r rL r- r land tire I U d ll L Sp SpIn In night nl bt spot Do in In hl hi ho hotd by United Kendall n Fresh Freih- U detect tithe S State tat United i from froma n s J. J murder back home borne Ti of a Van be he ofin a m in m b bf lynched back bad backa is fra a night of He lie beC tor for one last ti Sir and when beI be bt threw an extra extra- irr r deuce drut with lIh the dice I hran I aT to him to the the- club and andt Tie let others other know Mar I. I li II under art ar- ar t t. t to mode frier rr the tbt detective t n. n leads 14 hi ht his s hand During an a I Inn In- In 10 n he lit ln Insists on confessing murder to ton n while e denying any murder with the story elory K ro o on oa r t CHAPTER IV ESHMAN ESHAN sighed with a sort of w we wearied e a r i e d patience Go ahead head he said Im listen listen- l I i was the dr driver er for the Cars Cars' Car Car- s s' s 5 the old man the sheriff and sonin son law law Greg Dwyer They fa a limousine old as but but it Jt still sUU ran Then they is ia a little coupe She used to tore tore re that re-that that Miss Amy Young Mrs yer ier It was a present from father I still sUU see it all in my Pea green Shed She'd go out in it in the af after after- terM ter- ter M rii ria alone Always out in the atry for a couple of hours slope working his way toward towar a disused cabin He kept getting smaller as he went The cabin was facing the theother theother theother other way toward a footpath and he came up to it from the rear He went around to the front then I couldn't see him any more All AU of a sudden I heard two cracks way off in the distance Widely Videly spaced One count ten and then another It took me al almost almost almost al- al most a minute to realize it must have been that gun I gave himI himI himI him I said to myself he must have got two rattlesnakes not just one Or else he fired twice at the same one But I knew I Iwas Iwas Iwas was just trying to keep my courage up by talking to myself Something was starting to scare me stiff while I sat there and I knew it wasn't rattlesnakes J Joi ONES NES took several seconds before before before be be- fore he resumed I sat there and couldn't take my eyes off the cabin I rubbed my eyes hard and stared That only made the white smokey tendrils come out more places Jt ut it E the time Id I'd go in and pick hOe he two ls is is musicians were coming back the stand He turned his I l abruptly called Buzz lead next t three for me will viII you telling my story life to this i mes Ines went ahead telling it first shed she'd just go once a week rl a two or three times Then ty nearly every day There Therean an old backwoods woman did washing for tor them I met her herat at sat the gate coming in She me shed she'd spotted the pea- pea n coupe standing off the road 5 3 i out She asked me what I wised Miss Am Amy went all the Out but there alone like that for fore foretold told me she thought she spot- spot another car a tan roadster empty on the opposite side he ie road And she sort of ofed ofed ofed ed at me you me-you you know how these do told her she better keep that th of hers closed Maybe J she sheI 1 I Maybe it was somebody s 5 s mouth f thought Greg Dwyer acted of ot of strange pretty soon after His face was kind of white set like there was something bUng bling him lien hen the very next time shed she'd off on one of her lonesome s all of a sudden there he was wasat wasat c at the gate in the middle of afternoon I wasn't supposed ick him and the sheriff up un un- I E DIDN'T even come into the I i. i e. e I think I was the only one saw him He Just stayed e c by the gate He beckoned LI II I dropped the garden hose went Avent over to him He said r felt lt like taking a little drive into the country Vc Ne went for miles farther than Id I'd ever been before enly denly he said Stop here tax Jones drew a f lout f out of his pocket and careri care- care ri mopped his brow didn't see anything to stop the maestro went on On Onside side aide there was a wooded ih cb And on the other a big a 11 meadow sloping downward n the road Dwyer er got out and asid Wait Vait me and went off among the l w. w watched him That's when I I t Maw saw it it A little fleck of pea- pea en visible through the trees It Itt Hant t t have driven straight ugh gh from the place where we 5 parked He Re took about ten minutes U m H he came back stood beside car and rested his hand on the ther r top Finally wally he said I near- near stepped on a rattlesnake in inre re e Just now You that got gun gunyou gunyou you you eyd given me a gun It t with the job Give ive it to me he said Td to go back in there and kill kiU it II Be e easier to club it with a ae e of wood I suggested took the gun from the side Jt et and handed it to him He it t in his pocket and didn't i go back the way he had e He strolled straight down road d instead started to turn my engine to 10 follow him along so he get back in again whenever ok k a notion to S e turned his head and ed stay Slay where you are t t. t Was the he last thin thing g gC r he evel eve to me e C turned off the road on th thE OW side and went down UK tilt 1 f A t 3 They darkened to dirty gray then thena a big blur with orange teeth tearing tearing tearing tear tear- ing at it The cabin was on fire All AU of a sudden I heard a man screaming Not a woman I jumped out of the car Then Thena a tan roadster came bolting around the side of the cabin and went heaving along the dirt trail It was Mark Claybourne's roadster road road- ster You couldn't tell it was a man screaming any more it was more like a horse I once heard locked in a burning b barn Then it stopped I was glad it did I couldn't have stood another second of it The roadster turned my way bearing down on me It stopped short with a swipe of its rear wheels and Greg Dwyer got out The gun Id I'd given him was in his hand Hed stopped the roadster about 20 yards away He came cameon cameon cameon on the rest of the way on foot He was looking straight at me with terrible directness His stare was aiming at me concentrated on me nailing down my face like Jike a a. tar tar- get I HI jumped back in the limousine and shot toward him There was no time to turn the big job around He jumped aside just inches from the front fender Then he fired at me twice And both times missed I grazed the tan roadster by bythe bythe bythe the thickness of a coat of paint but I managed to get safely by it I looked back and I saw him jump into the tan roadster again and drive off oft the other way like a man going to raise an alarm I kept going I knew what those first two shots in the cabin were for now and what and what the shots at me on the road were for Dwyer's good name was involved and that of the two most important important important tant families in the town What was a hired chauffeurs chauffeur's life compared compared compared com com- pared to the honor of Sheriff Carney Carney Carney Car Car- ney and Town Councilman Asa Claybourne and Town Councilman whose daughter was young Claybourne's wife I knew by heart what the story would be before I ever read reada a word of it in the papers and when I first saw it in print days later and miles away there it was just as Id I'd known it would be word for word Miss Amy had gone out alone into the country to read just once too often Id I'd followed followed followed fol fol- fol- fol lowed her forced her into the cabin at gun point For a moment Jones paused looked intently at the detective then resumed his story C LA LAYBOURNE had happened to pass by that way in his road road- ster He was the hero of the piece Hed He'd glimpsed the pea- pea green coupe and the big car no not far off both empty He thought Miss Amys Amy's husband must have joined her in the second car But when hed he'd reached town he heran heran heran ran into Greg Dwyer who asked if hed he'd seen her Claybourne told him what he had seen Now thoroughly alarmed the two o of them went back together They got out and Dwyer went one way looking for her Claybourne the other The stories said it was Claybourne who reached the cabin unarmed and trying to save her paid for it with his own life The two of them were cremated alive the murders murder's bullets had only crippled them The coroners coroner's inquest established that fact Dwyer was luckier The two shots fired at him when he tried to intercept the fleeing I See rage Page 16 Column 1 r Death Holds Downbeat Continued from fromn Page 3 fiend both went wild but hed he'd hedeen i seen een who t it was j I I I kept going I crossed the state line before I ran out of gas Then I ditched the big bis- biscar car near some railroad tracks I hopped a a. freight Wanted Van ted dead or 01 alive that's how the official wording goes I knew I didn't have ha a chance Dead I couldn't talk And alive e all the talking I could do would be to scream myself to death In some ome other blazing shack they'd take me to and lock me mc in Persons unknown in the hc dead of night It I was just a matter of ot time then or a little later Inter Well Veil I settled for a little later and the worlds world's been very good g to me on the time I 1 borrowed And tins this is the little later Inter now tonight in a big Spanish city miles from there years from then The detective shook hU his hl head slowly said I believe you It wasn't the words you used its it's easy to lie with the mouth but its it's awfully hard to lie he with the eyes Thanks Jones said indifferently Too bad we couldn't have met otherwise I kind of like you too Freshman Freshman Freshman Fresh Fresh- man admitted It wont won't get you anything but I do A i FTER another hot trio of numbers numbers num num- bers Jones returned to the UlO table Hows your fan mall mail coming Freshman asked Jones chuckled This showed up in the last delivery He took I out a a. sheaf of request-notes request ex ex- one and deftly palmed it across the table to Freshman Dont let her see Bce me showing it to you ou Then he added You better re reread reread reread re- re read it to me I dont don't trust the waiter wailer It was in Spanish and read If you should like to know me I better perhaps you OU will pass I through Valencia street tonight Perhaps you will happen to stop outside number And if you do perhaps you will happen to find the key to apartment 44 If you look around But if you OU are afraid or if your heart is elsewhere elsewhere elsewhere else else- where do not pass through Valencia Valencia Val Val- encia street on your way home One who has watched you from irom Afar Freshman passed the note back to Jones without comment I suppose that's out said the maestro very casually Did you ever hear of three on a blind date 7 Freshman replied And OlAnd youre you're not going anywhere alone tonight Jo Jones nodded as though that was the answer hed he'd expected the legal method back home chair or rope he asked after awhile as though they'd changed subjects in the meantime I The detective took a long time When he finally replied that wasn't the question he answered I at all Tell her ol okay ay he hc said Ill walk w over there with you Jones crooked his finger and a waiter sidled over Tell whoever whoever who who- ever gave you that note note note-It The waiter said Oh the ladys lady's I gone long ago She told me to wait half halt an hour after she left leff before giving it to you Jones said to Freshman when the the waiter had hud gone Its Ils a n farewell farewell farewell fare fare- well performance one-night one stand And that's how one night stands should be no names and not even any faces Copyright by William Irish |