| Show 0 GERALD BROWN FEATURES duke cale private detective li is the 0 wedding presents at the be S mansion lie senses that old vials alsi A adelaide bigelow Is afraid of tome some Is athing moye more serious than theft lie meets awe alie bilde bride and ad broom groom to lc be A veronica re ronica and yourt curt Vallain court and veronicas veronicaa Vero nicas moth er sybil and hr her brother and sister stephen and ad victoria while at a night club mccale spots in corn com bany ot the clubs singer sharl shari lynn ile he talks to jerry tate taie a newspaper man band and learns that Vallain court Is a big ah spender spender and gambler gambl tf and that he was ax the llie heart interest of mrs stephen digs dice ow or a short hort time according to rumor vas as su soon as he met veronica he concen grated on her CHAPTER VI P 1 for almost nothing but thanks inoway 1 1 l ile he left the club and trudged hirough through the midnight city a sullen gloom curtaining his thoughts I 1 the lights of an all night lunch room winking through the murk drew duke inside it was a dismal lenough enough place peopled with a few down at heels stragglers i the restaurant door banged and a tall wasted figure in a bedraggled and nat hat slouched to the counter there was something familiar about that back instinctively halt hall rose to his feet to see but his movement was too late joe leach saw him as he turned tray tn tn in hand band he shuffled over and sat down HI shamus he said well all burned turned out in tails I 1 see excuse if me me but you look as though just been thrown out of the ritz what are you disguised as asa a ma goclan gl clan mccale grunted noncommittally if K wont talk huh it lust just happens jim I in a bit of f a dick alck myself bud so hilll ill dig down in my bag of tricks jand and pullout pul lout the fact that youve been een hobnobbing hobnob bing with uie ibe elite the bigelow tribe to be exact what chave have they been having a soiree H good G god od have you had a tall all gon rime me aj deduction on shamus no tobe to be honesty every cry agency in town knows youve cocked knocked off the bigelow j job ob d you do it ats it all about you give to know on lord im just curious it might be worth your while look I 1 wont argue with you either you tell me or tell it to the I 1 narl nes im indifferent now what matter ater he made a slight Ibo as it if ho he were about to J eket up and go 3 all right all right I 1 just thought jl I 1 might soak you for a five I 1 lost my pants in a game tonight the hils stephen bigelow called our 4 office to get the lowdown low down on you late this a afternoon Called your office to get dope ion on me duke gave arau cods de howl too darne darneil a fun ny ny What what s ahe connection between ayour your outfit and stephen bigelow Bl gelow I 1 I 1 mean we did d some work for him once you did S uh uh 1 I 1 what kind of work the usual sure 0 who was the camei dame his wife macales Mc Cales spine began bedah to prickle prick I 1 he hoped his sudden interest did not show too much on his face he not show too much on his face five dollars worth I 1 0 of f information you may not thi think kats its w worth the five but here it is about 9 six fx i months ago this stephen bigelow I 1 came in to see watkins wanted di tall put on his wife he say much but out the boss figured it was W the old divorce routine I 1 got the night job following her arlund to td the nightclubs she went out a ek lot alone I 1 trailed along for or a couple of weeks shed stop in at a lounge bar now and then always met people she knew but never seemed to gather in anyone particular then one night I 1 followed her as far as a studio building in copley square A dumb elevator boy boi place her or tell me where tn in the building he took her ild id wait and in a few hours shed come out alone this happened two jwo or three times a week until one night late she came out with a middle aged guy they went to a quiet little restaurant around the corner I 1 tagged along it looked like the old old story to me me i you found out who the man flan was sure well heres where the drama falls apart hmm amm I 1 see where I 1 dont get paid oft off he was a piano teacher name of Pare cint not an old foxy grandpa with it a weakness tor for blondes after all we turned the news over to stevey boy and damned it if ha seem relieved e he c came ame 1 in a week or so afterwards to pay his bill lie he told us his wife had once shown arpa great talent tor for the ibe piano but had lost the use of an arm from dom nervous shock or arthritis or something she was g getting etting back her old wallop again slowly shed been going to the old bird bira tor for lessons keeping it from the e family tor for a surprise or so he said now how do you like thab that 1 I like I 1 it you fail it was the truth row ow see herein ar n spit eio the fact fac that thatah it looked on tae aieveli think tt it was elsby I 1 pulled right off the tall see it was over a week before stevey come came in to pay up we heard from him to the contrary so I 1 kept on the job but the bende bombshell never went near Pare cinis studio again she must have backed down somewhere along the line they probably had a nice old fashioned heart to heart talk and patched hitup it up my guess would be that she wanted to continue her studies with the idea of going on the stage or something of the sort but stephen put his foot down the family probably stand sta n d for it yeah funny it not that either of them seem socially conscious sc lous your insight is amazing they are both good family but not quite as you say well whether you know it or P not ot stevey was quite a gay dog once used to do a bit of chasing in the old days 1 I dont doubt that but I 1 unk think hes in love with his wife better to have loved et ct c etera cetera lie he sure seems nuts about her decidedly one night late she came out with a middle aged guy all of my little offering do I 1 get the fin oh sure take it he slid the money over to the big man he had agthe the exasperating feeling that hed been cheated he shrugged it away mccale hadnet his alarm for sev en thirty the next morning it had shrilled in vain A feeble rays ray of sunlight i flickered across his face as someone shook him by the shoulder sh shrugging out from fro under the none n 0 ne too gentle pressure he blinked yawned dawned and saw by the clock that it was much later mccale began to dress as rocky headed for the inner sanctum it take him long his toilet completed he went directly to the office windows to pull backs back the curtains on in another dreary morning he took the ile cup of coffee his assistant handed him and waited until they sat facing each other across the desk before beginning conversation k well he said between sips of the hot black liquid lets have your birdseye birds eye or keyhole view of the goings on of last night A 4 jitt jittery ery family things rocky I 1 nothing sensational to report boss outside of a lot of nervous running in and out till abo about ut one ne a am m I 1 had a look see at about everyone but b ut the dame called victoria shed gone gone out someplace to dinner when I 1 got gougere there anti and must have slipped in without my tamping lamping her if she caine home at all flito ro trouble with the servants 1 I only saw the buter ve very ry su guy hekert looking in the dining room where I 1 was sitting with an eye on the door I 1 dont 1 know whether hel he thought I was going to snitch some of the or r sample the family bourbon anyhow i he kept popping up at odd M moments 0 until around ten thirty say what a parade of junk accumulated eu mu yeah what do you think of the setup set up in general I 1 mean at kind of thing 1 I maybe wrong but 0 outside of th the e little old lady a bunch ot of screwballs screw balls ashes okay A little jumpy but for that matter the hole caboodle aint my idea of what t ive been led to think etnas calm quiet lei unruffled blue bloods all as jittery as R a hangover Definitely 1 well heres five to your one that theres something cooking that th atsuo sg 0 ing to smell to heaven youve no taker in me mccale 9 grinned finned and lit a cigarette smart as usual the old dame acts els as though she was wa si walking through a bad dream but dare wake up vory very aptly put she meets me last night shows me around sort of impersonal like so far as sho she was concerned I 1 might have been the plumbers helper come to repair a leak very cool and calm but burning up with something inside her acts all the time as if ashes seared scared stupid but wont admit it it if it kills her rocky poured himself a second cup of coffee and took a deep breath before he continued she went to her room e early arly about ni nine e I 1 dian didn t see ce her a after ft e r that veronica the bride and joy he looked at mccale to see whether he was amused by the play on words of the old lady she Is that she it sticks out all over stayed home all evening too she was in the back library most of the time did she look good to you oh yeah it if you like the placid type she had two visitors gue guess s s ill buy it dont play guessing games with me so early in the morning well the present and the past glamour boy number one and good d old dog like ever lovin chris oh he impressed you that way christopher storm I 1 mean I 1 remember I 1 only got a short gander at the past and present crown princes as they entered and left lie he was the second one by the way mr big came first go on well id just got settled in the silver and crockery department when johnny Wel comes swinging from tree to tree calling tor for his mate such a flutter they get into over him dont they the butler scuttled around after him as if hed just brought the fatted batted calf then the bride to be ba comes do down wn the stairs in a flurry but a hurry flurry I 1 said andee and he just tells her hes off to dinner with some friends she looks at him with the trust of a bird fascinated by a python you know what enormous eyes you have grandmother 0 and off they go to the library 1 I take it you warm to romeo 11 not me obvious as heck beck dont don it you think 1 I dont know the boys got something just what is it its ts as old as the world chief the Vallain court can just make his eyelashes go boo 11 take that needle out of your arm iles hes in love with the girl all right so hes in love with her or your impression of the girl you show a great deal of sal 1 I guess I 1 dont like ern em quite so wide eyed chief ashes nice you know whasil mean nice and when youve said that youve said everything right out of a mignon eber hart novel it if you get what I 1 mean just beautiful and wispy and too dumb to take 0 off ff her rose colored glasses rocky had already settled for himself the fact that veronica big bage low was both beautiful and dumb duroc mccale leaned back in his c chair hatic and smiled tor for roe roch was a good guy 9 uy mostly amusing searching tor for the coffee pot dukes eyes slanted up quizzically at rocky al aa he said well boy the word on christopher i storm now that youve dusted duste d ev v elyone else off odd goings on tn fit the Mait mansion sion J P marquand has done him to a turri turn on both sides and in the middle more thal lorice that guy was born to the yankee purple has gone to the best schools and never stepped out of line in his we life he may bea be a little shocked at the bige lows but they are Bige lows arent they so they be wrong veronica a has tossed him overboard but would he say a word about abou tIt it would he rido ride up in n his stanley steamer and rush her off to the nearest justice odthe of the pea before bedfor she makes a fool of herself no mo sirree it just done by people in in our set boncha know he did coms come to see her oh yes had a short confab with her in the library idida I 1 t get a chance to eavesdrop of c course but them when they said goodnight at the door he had the most miserable little lettle boy who has been kicked expression on his puss when he kissed her goodby good by 1 phe he kissed her dont don it let it throw you it was juist the old ill be a alster to er toy acte act she sort of put her ter head up api and he gave her a solemn br brotherly otherl y kiss on the forehead before he went into the night like the last act of an old melodrama I 1 I 1 could have spit in his eye the copel i my my you are taking this to heart not so notice it wel weir r do I 1 go on in the order of t their heir appearance pe arance aranco he asked a sour smile on his tips lips oh of course mo No offense offen sc p pal rocky waited a moment looking at mccale e skeptically not quite sure he hb being made fun of then he h resumed acs lets see first there Is mr stephen now theres a lumpy jumpy guy surly wedded jo to the buttle bottle too TO ITO FE |
