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Show I IT AcERALDftBROWN 4f w N.U. FCATORC "Okay, boss. What's cooking?" "Something yes but nothing that I can get my teeth into. I know there's something wrong, though." "Do you want me to watch out for anything in particular?" "No-0-0. Just keep your eyes and ears open. I wun't even give you my reactions to the Bigelow clan. I want an unbiased opinion from you in the morning. You're supposed sup-posed to be guarding those precious wedding gifts. Miss Bigelow will be expecting you at eight o'clock. Ask for her. You'd better run along now and get yourself some grub. Put Ann on the line, will you?" "The power behind the throne," quipped Rocky, "took her royal departure de-parture at the stroke of six." "Just like that?" "Yeah. She had a wicked gleam In her eye when she sealed the note she left for you. I'll lay odds that she's up to some deviltry." "No doubt. Well, I'll be seeing you in the morning. Don't let any of 'em rattle you. Be seeing you. Night, now." The desk light was on in the outer office. In the small, round pool of light It threw lay a note from Ann Duke McCale, private detective, In engaged en-gaged by wealthy old Miss Bigelow, to guard her niece's wedding presents. McCale Mc-Cale guesses there Is something sinister In the situation, and 10 accepts. He meets Mrs. Sybil lllgelow, the bride's mother, Victoria and Stephen Bigelow, the bride's brother and slater, and Mrs. Stephen Illgelow, a strikingly beautiful blonde woman. Later he becomes acquainted ac-quainted with Christopher Storm, a noted not-ed architect, who Is too Inquisitive to suit McCale. Then he meets Veronica, the bride-to-be, an attractive, and Intelligent Intel-ligent girl, and the brldegroom-tobe, the extremely handsome Curt Vallaln-court, Vallaln-court, big and masterful. He gives Veronica Ve-ronica a strange, meaningful glance. CHAPTER IV When Curt began to take his leave, he doled himself out. Stephen he treated like a brother, Storm as an affectionate friend. It was the women who bit at his heels most avidly. Miss Adelaide glowed, turned coy. Sybil shook herself out of the sulks, simpered. Victoria looked at him hotly, and Karen's eyes kindled with an Icy fire. Veronica waited tolerantly, as If she could well afford to do so. He crossed to her finally In his negligently negli-gently graceful stride. He took her hands In his big ones and, leaning over, whispered in her ear. She laid her bronze head against the massiveness of his chest for a moment. mo-ment. Everyone must have heard her say, ". . . But It's all right now, darling. All right I'm so glad I was devastated." Victoria's eyes were half-closed, mere pencil strokes In her Beards-ley Beards-ley face, and Karen's only movement move-ment was the tapping of a carmine fingernail on the arm of her chair. Curt kissed his fiancee. And then McCale knew. There was no acting In that kiss. This was no embrace in the thundering animal way of a Tarzan. This was not the selling power behind perfect merchandise. In spite of the stories, In spite of the man's reputation, he was really In love with Veronica Bigelow. It was In his eyes. It was unmistakable. unmistak-able. How could anyone In that room not know It? Then the party broke up. It was after that that Victoria laughed derisively, de-risively, and In passing Christopher said slyly, "You big, big fool! To give them The Nest. Don't tell me you wanted to." Christopher smiled in a depressed manner, got up and took her arm. As they headed for the door, McCale Mc-Cale heard him say, "Calm yourself, your-self, Vicky, my girl. 'To the victor vic-tor belongs the spoils'." "Rats," she answered. "You're a congenital Idiot." Adelaide Bigelow had been snuffing snuff-ing out candles here and there. She switched off a table lamp and came over to McCale, who stood in the firelight, a dark figure, sorting his Impressions. The old furniture and trappings seemed to flicker and dissolve dis-solve in the half-light. The fire pulsed in the grate. "You won't need me tonight?" he asked, as if it were finished. "No I think not" she faltered. "Will you telephone me in the morning?" morn-ing?" "Of course." "I shall need you," she said with emphasis. She looked older and more huggard in the gloom. He nodded as she followed him to the door. "I think I should have one of my operators on duty here tonight" "Oh, no it won't be at all necessary." neces-sary." "The wedding gifts." There was ed to recount carefully the affair Bigelow as far as it went When he finally paused, she said, "No more?" "No more." "So far as I can see from where we're sitting then, there isn't any mystery unless it's your Irisn hunch." "Have I ever been wrong. "Oh, you must have bien, once or twice." "But I swear there is something going on there-some deep trouble. I tell you, the whole family has the jumps. They're shaky, nervy-out of sorts. It sticks out like a sore thumb." Ann selected a salted nut and bit into it with her strong white teeth. She said, an amused look In her eyes, "What sticks out Is that the whole family Is crazy about the gor-; geous Curt. And he takes the one; with the money. He must be quite a boy." "I assure you he Is. Can't you Just see them all from my description? The old lady at wit's end; Sybil drowning something or other in sherry; Karen cold and lax. taking It out on the piano; Veronica dazzled; daz-zled; Victoria cruel and fighting back; Stephen lost and floundering. Why-" "Of course, darling. I see them all." "But what do you think?" "I think you're smitten with this Karen wench." McCale roared. "Good Lord, are you jealous? Of me? Now, see here " "If course Tm Jealous, you wretch." She waggled a finger at him, then pointed. "And here, If I'm not mistaken, comes another member of our cast." Lights went down suddenly and a girl stepped into the yellow oval of a spot. She was dressed in some silver business so cunningly draped that It turned her Into a shimmering shimmer-ing pillar. She had a wide raspberry rasp-berry mouth and dark brown hair with strange lights in It. The saxophones saxo-phones wailed and subsided to a moan. The drums were a tom-tom accompaniment. She stood perfectly perfect-ly still, a cigarette hanging from the corner of her mouth while she sang. Her voice was a husky contralto con-tralto and she wrenched the lyrics from the commonplace Into the realm of the boudoir. It was top-notch top-notch old-school singing. "Wow!" exclaimed McCale. "That's showmanship. What were you saying, my pet, when Love Walked In?" "That was Shari Lynn." McCale raised an eyebrow. The girl had walked out onto the floor again to take a bow. She accepted the acclaim In the same slow, sultry sul-try way she had sung. "I hope you won't go Into a jealous jeal-ous rage if I say I think she's got something there," said McCale slyly. sly-ly. "Not at all. She's got something with her, too, If you'll look where she's headed." McCale turned and saw the top of a curly black head, the set of unmistakable shoulders. He whispered whis-pered under his breath. "Curt Vallaincourt" he murmured. mur-mured. Ann sighed. "So that's the boy himself. I can certainly see why the girls drop their handkerchiefs whenever he goes by." "I'll admit he's handsome." "Handsome, darling. Is not the word for it." "Ann I'm flshameri nf vnn I riiA Lights went down suddenly and a girl stepped into the yellow oval of a spot. Marriot reminding him that he was taking her to dinner. She had underlined un-derlined the final word dress. He knew what that forecast. It meant The White Abbey, the season's sea-son's socially renowned "saloon." He grunted, turned off the desk light, and went through the quiet inner ofllce to his bedroom and bath at the back. He shaved and showered, show-ered, dressing automatically, his mind busy in a treadmill of its own. He went over the events of the afternoon, trying to docket his impressions im-pressions in some way, to relate them to the dark omen he had carried car-ried away from there. He wished Rocky were with him now to talk it over. He called a cab and rode cross-town, cross-town, deep in the groove of his mood. They drove up to a row of old brownstone houses which looked deserted, their flat, unlighted fronts a deceptive sepia blank. One of them had an oyster-white door. McCale Mc-Cale made for it. an oh-so-subtle tinge of sarcasm in his tone. She smiled uncomfortably. "They'll be all right." "Very well." "He was outside, in the corridor. "Mr. McCale." "Yes." "You saw the bridegroom. What do you think?" He hesitated. "Very handsome. ' He knew that wasn't the answer the wanted. "Is that all?" "Character? I couldn't say. I 6imply recognize him as a type-one type-one over which I'm not enthusiastic." enthusias-tic." "I watched you this afternoon. You are so calm. Don't you ever get excited?" He chuckled. "I have a very even temperament." She looked disappointed, but he would make no further comment. "Good night." "Good night." Dinner Date at The W hite Abbey As he walked crosstown, he felt trangely disembodied, like someone some-one coming from the theater a theater where one had seen a queer-ly queer-ly disturbing drama. On impulse he entered the first drugstore that he saw. He dialed the Bigelow number, waiting impatiently impa-tiently until he heard Miss Adelaide's Ade-laide's voice. "On second thought." he said, "I've decided that it if necessary to have my assistant in your house tonight. A Mr. Bjorkland. He will report to you at eight. Good night again." He rmng up before she could acquiesce or demur. Then he called his own number. Rocky answered. "Hello, Rocky. I want you to apend the night at the Bigelowi." Ann Sizes Up the Situation After a wait of less than five minutes, min-utes, Ann came from behind a door marked "Powder Room." She was slendrr and smart in a green draped affair that ended in a lot of gray foam. The gown had no straps that he could see and it seemed she might be rising out of it to be with him minus the surf she was riding at any moment. They climbed one of the staircases stair-cases and were bowed into the dinner din-ner room by another interior decorator. deco-rator. There was a lot of diffused light In here which made it rather better, although the white prevailed. pre-vailed. They sat on one of a number num-ber of semi-circular velvet divans which formed a series of alcoves around the room. They lingered over the exorbitantly exorbitant-ly priced dinner, McCale preoccupied, preoccu-pied, bored by the place. "All right," Ann said finally. "It's not so hot but I had to see it." "What do you reaUy think of it?" "It's fascinatingly dull. However, Howev-er, that's what it will be like when you marry me. Your week will be all mapped out for you. I'll want to dress up one night and go out to the place of the moment; a regular regu-lar night for the movies; then we'll have to take in all the good plays; maybe go dancing and" "Which leaves" "One night a week for me to sit by the fire at your feet while you discuss the Intricacies of your latest lat-est case. Yes, I know. You're full of the blasted Bigelows now. Tell me all." "I hope that's only your way of telling me that you're burning up with curiosity." "And so I am." He lighted a cigarette and start- not dream that girls" "You listen to me instead. Almost Al-most any man with a lot of money is on the hunt for the best deal he can buy. What's the matter with a woman who's got a few million lying ly-ing around loose buying herself a gorgeous piece of freight like that?" He was shocked, even though he knew she was enjoying his reac tions. Curf Goes to the Highest Bidder "That's Just it," was his rejoinder. rejoin-der. "It's just the fact that it's merchandise that makes it so so cheap." "Well, it's perfect merchandise, and any woman " "Women are supposed to have morals." "Phooey. darling. What a million dollars or a real mink will do to a gal's morals Just isn't funny." She'd stuck her chin out with that last observation, and McCale couldn't resist the temptation to take advantage of it. "I'll get you a platinum fox,'' he said with a perfectly serious expression. ex-pression. "You'll do nothing of the kind " she flared up, then suddenly dis solved into convulsive laughter It was true, however, that Curl Vallaincourt, that highly salable male, was going to the highest bidder bid-der on Saturday next. McCale thought of the clairvoyance that had made him sure only that afternoon that the man was truly in love with Veronica Bigelow. n hard, seemed credible now that he saw him here in a tete-a-tete with Shari Lynn. But there they were, a table or two away, deep in conversant, 1 TO BE CONTINUS"' |