Show n An All Over But the 12 ir Richar fl Powe Powell Powell- J aN N INNER SA SANCTUM MYSTERY Y rf STARRING ARAB AND ANDY BLAKE FEATURES I i THE TIIE STORY THUS FAR Lt Andy Blake assigned to Operations was agreeably agree abl ably surprised by the arrival of his wife Arab who had come to Washington to take a Job with Ordnance On the bus while looking for quarters for Arab she said she was gol going g to write down all aU of the loose talk taking place on the bus While While- she was In the act she was noticed and the Cl cry of Spy ran rang out Arab and Andy were able to Jump off oft the bus but In following her Andy tripped and passed out When he came to the FBI questioned him and he told all about Arabs Arab's work and that she had been mistaken mistaken mis taken for a spy Andy was told to be sure that Arab did not Interfere but rather to report to FBI In the future CHAPTER III Andy Please Andy Youve You've got gotto gotto gotto to help me You You You- I jammed my foot on the starter Am I You arent aren't staying here She wrenched 1 out of my grip flung open the car door and jumped to the sidewalk She turned for a mo mo- ment And HAnd if you wont won't help she Her heels choked Ill do it alone clattered on the walk and up the curved steps and then the door opened and she was gone I sat there in the car I sat there doing nothing I wish I could even claim that dozens of reckless plans boiled through my head Only one plan went through my head and it limped through I wanted to call a cop That of course might be the very worst thing to do It would Ident Identify y Arab publicly as the girl in inthe inthe inthe the white raincoat without solving any of the mystery Probably I would have waited there until arrested for overtime parking if the problem hadn't been decided for me The door of the Q Street house opened and a rugged- rugged looking guy came out He was tall talland talland talland and had shoulders which crowded the doorway He eased himself down the steps and came limping slightly td my carA carA carA car A guy wants to see you outside Jack he saidI said I I dont don't get it I said the idea He drawled Are you coming out nice or do I dig for you I wasn't happy The Army likes its officers to stay out of trouble and has a few dozen regulations to that effect You can get a court for fora a street brawl But this case seemed to call for taking a chance I shucked off my blouse and cap so that I wouldn't be wearing any any insignia insignia insignia in in- signia and started to get out of the car on his side That was a mistake I was only half hall out when he hit me My head bounced off the door doorframe doorframe doorframe frame and got caught in a rip cross-rip of Df short hooks It felt like having my head rattled in a giant dice box Galahad was smiling He could have dropped me with a real punch but buthe buthe buthe he didn't try He seemed to be having having having hav hav- ing fun I got a foot up against his ribs and shoved hard He staggered back and fell in the hedge and I had a chance to scramble out There wasn't time to clear my I- I h d t. t b t. t 1 U ea e uig lg UV oy came v off the un hedge like a fighter using the ropes and rushed me Then instead of dropping off to sleep ep I found my head clearing I had been doing a little instinctive work on his groceries and he didn't like it He was trying to push me away That was swell I got a good footed flat-footed stance and threw hooks at his middle as fast as I could He was tough It was like I I hitting an tire He would take a lot of softening He Her HeI He- He r I looked down blinking The guy I had wilted He was down But he wasn't writhing slowly the way a aman aman aman man does when you really get getto to his groceries He was sitting down holding his right knee Get up I snapped Go to hell Buddy I said if you dont don't get getup getup getup up Ill I'll Ill I'll- you do kick me Go on Jack kick me It'll look swell in the sunrise edition Army Lieutenant Kicks Cripple This was getting silly Youre no cripple He yanked up his right trouser leg legand legand legand and said There you are Jack Bad knee J Jeez eez they ought to give you youa a medal He had a brace on the knee bu buit buit buit it didn't necessarily mean a thing Ive I've seen guys with braces like that rack up ten baskets in league big-league basketball Youre just yellow I said A strange voice said Joey Raeder Raed- Raed er only likes fighting when he is winning It was a harsh voice It scratched like a bum needle on a phonograph record I I turned and saw a short fat man The street light reflected on his glasses and made him lo look k blind He was so fat that his arms stuck out at angles instead of hanging straight down Joey Raeder scrambled to his feet and grabbed the fat mans man's coat with his left hand He snarled Ive been taking that stuff off you ever since I came here Youre You're gonna learnt learn to o keep your mouth shut I saw Raeder drop his right shoulder I der and start a punch and I jumped forward to stop him I wasn't need need- ed What happened was almost too loo fast for me to follow The fat mans man's hands made short white blurs J against the darkness Not hitting hitting- slashing With the edges of his i palms Raeder's arms dropped as asif if numbed and the edge o of f a palm II clipped under the ear He crum crum- pled The fat man said He works for me He needed this lesson He moved up close end and the blind glasses glared with reflected light People think a fat man is a joke They think he cannot fight or make love or plan His voice was higher scratchier Perhaps you think so Perhaps you think so Take it easy I said I never gave it a thought The voice came down a pitch Raeder lives in there he said tilting his head at the fake embassy Take him in Tell Ten him to report as usual tomorrow I picked him up in a firemans fireman's lift and staggered up the steps to the house The door opened The next ten minutes were among the worst in my l life e. e The place was filled with excited girls None of them knew exactly what had happened except that poor Joey was hurt and that I had done it As I entered there wasa was wa's wasa a gasp of horror The way they shrank back I might have been a aJ J Jap ap task force It was too much for me I said brutally Where do you girls want the body A lovely little blonde ash-blonde Southerner Southerner Southerner South South- erner breathed Is Is is he daid No I growled He uHe swooned Can I drop him just anywhere Dont you dare drop Joey one of them cried You bring him back U 0 l t I II I r i l r The big boy came off oft the hedge like a fighter here to his room and be careful or orwell orwell orwell well we'll call the police l lI I carted him to a bedroom bath combination on the first floor and flopped him on the bed Half Hall a dozen dozen dozen doz doz- en girls clustered around him twittering twittering twittering twit twit- with grief and smoothing his forehead and making him comfort comfort- able I saw his eyelids flicker but buthe buthe buthe he didn't open them In his place Id I'd have done the same If you really want him to move I said call calI his draft board They stormed at me that Joey was wasa a genuine F 4 and had a terribly bad knee from fighting the Nazis in Spain long before persons of my type thought of fighting and he had gone up in a frightfully old plane the Spanish Loyalists had given him and had knocked down five new brand-new and now wasn't I ashamed Not yet I growled on account of the Germans didn't use any Mes Me's in Spain A weak voice said They got things wrong Jack It was and only four I might of got five but I caught a slug in my knee It was Joey and md he was starting to sit up at last His admirers crowded around him and patted him and told him not to overdo it but buthe buthe buthe he shook them off bravely Jack he said we still got something to settle I said hopefully Something we can disagree about A teen-age teen kid cried Now you just leave Joey alone You knocked him out once Just for the record I said I didn't knock him out He decided to sit out our waltz and then his boss came along and they had an argument and his boss rocked him to sleep Arab fell into a chair whooping like an Indian bearing down on pale pale- faces I stamped out out of of the room Luckily it didn't have a revolving door As I reached the hallway a cool hand touched mine and a woman said Let me fix those cuts before you leave Lieutenant Her face was in a shadow but I could see a slim figure with legs that deserved a triple-A triple priority on nylon She wore a tailored suit with witha a flaring white while collar opened one more notch than a really shy girl would have opened it Im all right I said You better better better bet bet- ter take care of Joey though Hes He's just been shot down by a mess of r And besides hes he's pretty Youre n not t all right she said You have a cut over your left eye and a bloody nose and your vanity is terribly bruised With Joey around I grumbled there isn't any vanity left for anybody anybody anybody any any- body else to have She laughed softly and patted my hand Youre a little boy like most men But a nice one I think Come along I am Mrs Fielding and this is my home I lumbered down the hall beside her like a small grimy kid with a anice anice anice nice aunt If you own this place I said why do you let a guy like Joey Raeder stay here The trim shoulders shrugged One needs a man aro around nd a house To take care of the grass and furnace furnace furnace fur fur- nace and to open stuck windows and and and- Yeah I said I bet hes he's great greaton on opening girls' girls windows From which side She opened a door and fumbled for forthe forthe forthe the light switch You have no right to say that she said coldly Sorry Sit down she said Dont worry about the girls coming in and bothering you Their community room is across the hall I sank into a chair and watched her rummage through a closet I dont don't have a photographic mind but butI I never have much trouble remembering remembering remembering bering a pretty face And I hadn't forgotten hers She came back from the closet with some absorbent cotton cotton cotton cot cot- ton and Band-Aid Band and alcohol and andI I said softly Do you still like those tall glasses of cafe nature and onion I soup at Les Halles HaIles at six a a. a m. m and the tango and buttered croissants Her eyes widened but she didn't seem very curious What would I be the use she said The Germans Germans Germans Ger Ger- mans have Paris I dont don't want to pry I said Shut me up if you want But your name was Renee something-or-other something and you were a hostess at Zelli's and half the college boys seeing I Paris that summer were in love with you It was August of thirty- thirty one She smiled faintly You have a good memory Why not pot You were Paris and mystery and all that I was seventeen and fresh from froma a Breton fishing village and nothing more What else do you remember remember remember ber I remember we all tried to make you and you laughed and didn't have time for anybody really except a abig abig abig big ha lucky go kid from Dart Dart- mouth He was half of one of their terrific pass combinations He set seta a new record one night in Harrys Harry's New York Bar for emptying that two-liter two beer mug Something under under under un un- un- un der twenty seconds What was his name Bob Bob Fielding She said it so calmly that for a moment I didn't click Sure Fielding Fielding Fielding Field Field- ing I said What happened to him I dont don't remember him playing playing playing play play- ing his senior year We Ve were married He didn't go back I kept quiet I had no right to get curious She began dabbing at my face My throat felt as if somebody had tied a knot in it and I wouldn't have known the difference if she had used carbolic acid My scratches didn't seem very important I had my throat untangled by the time she finished I thanked her herbut herbut herbut but she wasn't listening She tilted my face to the light and studied it After a few moments I muttered You wont won't remember my face Nobody Nobody Nobody No No- body does She gave a little start Im afraid I wasn't even trying to remember yo you she said That was not polite polite polite po po- po- po lite of me was it I was trying to remember a girl from Brittany She rose I stumbled to my feet and we turned toward the door And there was Arab She didn't look angry angry angry an an- gry or suspicious She looked like a college freshman hauled up before the Dean of Women Her feet were toeing in and her fingers tightly laced and her eyes wide and fearful I had never seen Arab frightened although there had been a few times in the past when it would have been sensible of herIve herIve herIve her Ive been fixing your lieutenants lieutenant's face Renee said calmly Oh Arab said She sounded relieved relieved relieved re re- re- re and I wondered if there had been a shade of emphasis when Renee said your lieutenant Women Wom Wom- en make me feel helpless Sometimes Sometimes Sometimes Some Some- times I get the idea that men dont don't have any choice at all but just get dealt out by women to each other like liJe cards From the bottom of the deck too I know that you two had some misunderstanding Renee said But you ought to forget it and start all over I think that you will win like each other We Ve Arab said Ill come back tomorrow night if I may I said Arab murmured I want to fix up my room tomorrow night but if its it's all right for Lieutenant Blake to help When we got out on the porch nobody nobody no no- nobody body was around and I said Do I know you well enough yet to kiss you Well no But its it's a nice way to get acquainted Arab looked at me hopelessly and said Ive got to get some sleep Do you mind Id better go anyway I said TO BE CONTINUED |