Show s i J 3 y t Nr t d 1 I r PIS A p I Richard Powell owe AN INNER SANCTUM MYSTERY STARRING ARAB ANDY BLAKE WHO RES CHAPTER I I Wartime Washington was quite restful until my wife Arab arrived Of course there had been a certain upsetting q quality q about it like living inside a concrete mixer but until Arab came there had been positively no chance for me to win a decoration decoration decoration decora decora- tion for valor posthumously Like most of Arabs Arab's actions her arrival in Washington was unan unan- I 1 was sitting at my desk studying the latest A 2 cables from my theater As usual they didn't give the answers to half the questions questions questions ques ques- the General was sure to ask nobody could answer all his questions questions questions ques ques- short of the German High Com Com- mand You cant can't however tell a general please to refer his questions to the German High Command and so I I 1 was worrying along and not noticing things including what felt vaguely like something brushing the back of my neck A voice behind me complained Even if there are eight girls to every man in Washington when I kiss one I expect him at least to realize hes he's got company I jumped up and gasped Arab and grabbed her My colonel cleared his throat like a B 24 warming up and remembered an errand down the corridor my one fourth of a secretary secretary secretary sec sec- dove into the files and my two majors picked up their telephones telephones telephones tele tele- phones and called each other I held Arabs Arab's slim body closely and for a eh w nf f rr Denlo bu u V gon seemed to spin and dip like a rickety merry go r J She pushed me back to arms arm's length finally and laughed and s said id Oh Andy its it's been so long and if you'd been overseas I could have managed but I couldn't stand it just a hundred and forty miles away andI and and- andI and I should have dragged you down here by the hair two months ago I said but you were being patriotic patriotic patriotic patri patri- otic and saying useless people shouldn't move to Washington and and you are going to stay arent aren't you Arent Aren't you Really want me Ill give up my rubber heels I babbled Ill take my old-fash- old without sugar They can have the car for scrap I wont won't deduct deduct de de- deduct de- de duct you from my income tax Ill I'll be patriotic any other way but but but- Oh were we're still patriotic darling dar dar- ling Swell How Im not going to be useless See She flipped the identification tag she was wearing It was the type they hand o out t to new employees for use until their photograph badges are ready Gosh I Does that mean youre you're going to work here Uh Uh flUh huh Im I'm going to take a job as a secretary That ended the pause for romance You can whisper Here comes the General or Greer Garson's Carson's in the corridor and cause less general disturbance disturbance dis- dis r than if you say Heres a girl looking for a job as a secre- secre tary My one fourth of a secretary looked up from her files as if she had heard the first words of a new Emancipation Proclamation My majors dropped their phones and swung around wolfishly My l colonel got back in the room and up to us like a Commando heading for an ob ob- f c Where did you sign up I asked grimly Well Andy it was this way I just happened to to- to E Where did you sign up r r All right With Ordnance I Oh Lord I said Shotguns f were bad enough around the house r f Now it'll be bazookas f Im awfully so sorry rry Arab said r f but 1 Id I'd d Pay tuition to work for fori i Ordnance I The chiefs chief's fist hit the desk like an D antipersonnel bomb Its an outrage out- out 4 k rage he said I wont won't stand for it its How do they expect us to i ate operate oper oper- Either they get me another girl of I put in for a transfer Four officers and one secretary and tv we e can cant can't t get half haU the work out Id I'd trade any Throw two officers for a good typist myself in too too- Ordnance Guns He took a deep breath then I growled Bowled Got Got a place to live Uve t. t not N yet E X Blake thinking of yoU come to Washington before Vettin letting he her r gets a place for r you You'd better f start Clear looking Good Good Good-by by Mrs Blake t p out Blake Help h her tIed get setI set- set I said Sir I was going to tonight ht and finish stay stav tomorrow up the re report fo foS for r S r ow on my theater i theaters theater's Major Jor Ingliss can do i it t. t Hi His s quiet I I cant can't take Andy And fr away Way from war Arab protested m th the thc e Young Yung Ung lady lady the the col colonel oriel said F to finding rig a a. a place to live in Washingto Washing Washing- is twice tv as tough as winning this IS war And he a tided added gloomily It may take twice as I long grabbed my service sneaked cap and tv we e out of the office while be be- hind us Colonel r to cam complain plain that Parker he was start in g t the the personally woul would d hun aim next man who s showed howe d a n u secretary he couldn't have Sure I said Im glad to see I you The way a guys guy's glad to see his right arm when he wakes up inthe in inthe in inthe the morning The way hes he's glad theres there's enough air to breathe The way look I cant can't say these things properly You could try You could start courting me all over again You only spent about two weeks at it last spring Andy and I always felt a little cheated Cheated I said How about me on our honeymoon You got us in a shooting scrape so fast we almost almost al al- almost most used the wedding flowers for a joint funeral You needed to be stirred up Andy You were turning into a vege vege- table You were in a rut Vegetables are in furrows said looking looking looking look look- And Im I'm afraid she ing at me seriously youre in one now Youve You've been here two months Youre You're still a first lieutenant No citations No ribbons Not even evena a badge for pistol marksmanship I growled The liThe way I handle guns I Ill I'll get a pistol badge and a military funeral at the same time Youre getting fat Andy I bet your joints are starting to creak IA A QU I S h 4 i I On Andy its it's Been so longIn longIn long long long- In other words meet Lieutenant Blake of the Chair-Borne Chair Infantry No hero Just a guy doing a job that calls caBs for a uniform I know all that What am I supposed to do about it I dont don't know yet darling But I Im I'm going to find out how holy is the war getting on All right I guess She said softly This is October 1942 The Japs may take back Guadalcanal The Germans have half of Stalingrad The wars war's getting getting get get- getting ting on all right he guesses I gulped Hes glad to see me the way a aman's amans amans aman's amans aman's mans man's glad to see his right arm in inthe inthe inthe the morning In other words he takes it for granted as long as its it's there Look Andy Blake youre you're not going to take me for granted And youre you're not going to guess the wars war's getting along all aU right Youre You're going to start worrying about things I don dont don't t know how Im I'm going to do it but Im I'm going go go- going ing to uproot you if I have to use dynamite I shivered Arab really means things like that Its getting near six six I mumbled Can we have dinner first I understand the troops often get a final hot meal before the jump She squeezed my arm I do love you Andy So much that it aches And well we'll get a nice apartment and have fun even if I do have to stir you up No apartment I said glumly I got a feeling we better rent a fox fox- hole We walked silently through the building a half mile to South Parking Parking Park Park- ing where the temporary bus terminal terminal nal was tuns still located It had been raining lightly all afternoon and Arab had come prepared for it with an umbrella and white raincoat We had to wait outside a while to get a Twelfth and Pennsylvania bus Arab tried to lend me her umbrella I explained umbrellas were contrary to the customs of the service service ice ice and Arab began worrying about me catching cold and I began feeling better We went to O'Donnell's for dinner and had Shrimp Norfolk and that cheered me up even more Then we tackled the problem of finding g Arab a place to sleep She had come down with only a suitcase which she had checked at Union Station Station Station Sta Sta- tion and she hadn't made an attempt attempt attempt at at- tempt to wire ahead for a room Probably it wouldn't have mattered you have to be entered for a Washington Washington Wash Wash- Washington ington hotel room almost at birth like getting into Groton or St. St Pauls I was rooming with a family out I near Falls Church in Virginia they might put Arab up for the night inan in inan inan an emergency but it would be better betterto to get her a place of her own We Ve checked the newspapers ne and made a few phone calls calIs and located a couple of possibilities way out in Chevy Chase That made us feel very gay and carefree and we boarded an L 5 bus for the Circle and I had no suspicion that it was the last carefree moment Id I'd have for a long time Riding a Washington bus in any of the rush hours is like holding a wrestling match in a revolving door You dont don't even dare let out your breath all the fhe way because then they'll get somebody else in the bus busand busand and you have to give up inhaling until somebody gets off The bus had traveled only a few blocks when Arab gripped my hand and whispered Did you hear what that man said The one behind me No uNo What Something about shipping locomotives locomotives locomotives loco loco- motives to England I think he mentioned mentioned mentioned men men- twenty not so good I muttered People talk too much We Ve listened a moment and a girls girl's voice cut across the babble saying and he always used to write three times a week so when Jane told me that I said Jane if you haven't had a letter in two weeks those parachute boys have moved out and his next letter will have anAPO an anAPO anAPO APO number on Arab whispered Are they crazy Dont Don't they even know how to read She pointed up Right in front of the man talking about locomotives was a car ad reading NEVER DISCUSS DISCUSS DISCUSS DIS DIS- CUSS MILITARY OR NAVAL INFORMATION INFORMATION INFORMATION IN IN- FORMATION IN A PUBLIC VEHICLE Arab went on Is there much of this kind of loose talk Yeah I suppose so I said Something ought to be done about 11 it It uIt ought to and its it's going to be right now Now listen Arab I said uneasily uneasily uneasily uneas uneas- ily youve got to take things ier ier A lot of people are working on this business of loose talk and and and- And maybe I can help them Im I'm going through this bus and listen to what people are saying and make notes And Im I'm going to write letters letters letters let let- to newspapers and do a report for everybody high up I can think of and make speeches and every every- thing I tried to calm her without success suc suc- cess cess She dug out a pocket notebook notebook notebook note note- book and a stubby pencil and scrawled a few lines of symbols It was my introduction to the Arabella Ara bella beIla Blake Shorthand System a method which combined the worst features of Pitman Gregg and the way Arab marks checkbook stubs You stay here she said Im going to work my way up to the front of the bus She wriggled two feet up the aisle and paused She swayed there looking looking looking look look- ing like a dreamy schoolgirl If I hadn't been watching for it Id I'd never never never nev nev- er have seen her make a few quick notes You wouldn't have thought she was interested in anything more important than the relative merits merits mer mer- its of chocolate nut sundaes and malteds with ice-cream ice floats In a few minutes she had edged her way up the aisle out of my sight Gradually I began to realize that something was wrong I couldn't figure fig fig- figure ure what The big Capital Transit bus was still rocketing up Connecticut cut Avenue through its bright tunnel of raindrops Voices still chattered but there was a difference The passengers didn't seem the same It was almost as if I had been transferred while I drowsed to a bus filled with utter strangers The impression was so strong that I looked carefully at nearby faces They hadn't changed Here in the middle of Washington in a brightly lit bus filled with mid mid- aged dle-aged service civil-service workers workers' and government girls and housewives and businessmen a witch hunt was assembling Sixty normal people were being slowly fused into a mob A mob with one idea Shreds of talk whipped by my ears like leaves in in a gale It was a girl while I was talking about Jane she standing right by me and listening a girl in a white raincoat listening to every word I said I was telling you about that British British Brit Brit- ish carrier and she had a notebook and and I peeked down and she was tuns writing writing writ writ- ing in some kind of code u. u a girl ina in iii a white up in the front of the bus bas now u. u listening to every word said TO BE DE CONTINUED |