MANHUNT

WORLD’S MOST POPULAR CRIME-FICTION MAGAZINE

APRIL-MAY, 1967 50 CENTS

Craig
Rice
COLLINS
GILBERT
AMTAMIPU
the word
is out...........

GET
MAN­
HUNT
160 pages
of
MAYHEM
MISCHIEF
MURDER
MALICE

see back cover

VOL. 15, NO. 2 MANHUNT APRIL-MAY, 1967

CONTENTS

MANHUNT CLASSICS
Bad Blood by John Ross MacDonald ......................... 2
The Dead Undertaker by Craig Rice .............. ............... 74
Circumstantial Evidence by Hunt Collins. .................... 91
NOVELETTE
The Snatchers by M. G. Wesleder ............. 106

SHORT STORIES
A Good Man Is Hard To Find by Lawrence E. Orin .......... 16
The Lesson by Gene Wilson ................................. 20
Blow-Up by Jacl( Lynch ..................................... 31
Flood by Jackson Bowling ................................... 40
The Scavengers by J. Bachman ............................... 54
The Lucky Prey by Dale L. Gilbert ......................... 65
The Cool One by George Antonich .......................... 85
Two-Sided Triangle by Larry Dane .......................... 98
No Fair by B. J. Starr ....................................... 151
Buddies by Herbert Leslie Greene ............................ 156

MICHAEL ST. JOHN, Publisher

GERALD ADAMS, Art Director JOHN UNDERWOOD, Editor
MICHAEL SHAPIRO, Advertising Director B. WADSWORTH, Business Manager

1 1 A K.ILJI IK.IT Volume 15,Number 2, April-May, 1967. Single copies50cents. Subscriptions. $3.00for(5
MAI Nil UI N I issues in the United States and Possessions: elsewhere $4.00 (in U.S. Funds) for 6 issues.
Published bi-monthly by Flying Eagle Publications. Inc., 545 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10017. Telephone
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of this issue are copyright 1967 by Flying Eagle Publications Inc., under the International Copyright Conven­
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coincidental. Printed in U. S. A.
Nic\ needed a body-guard ... so he called on Lew Archer. It seemed
simple enough until you realized there wasn’t a soul around who wasn’t
better off with Nic\ dead.

BAD BLOOD
Copyright 1953 by Flying Eagle Publications, Incorporated.

A MANHUNT CLASSIC

BY JOHN ROSS MACDONALD

man was waiting for me at the

A gate at the edge of the run­

way. He didn’t look like the man
I expected to meet. He wore a
stained tan windbreaker, baggy
slacks, a hat as squashed and dubi­
ous as his face. He must have been
forty years old, to judge by the grey
in his hair,and the lines around his
eyes. His eyes were dark and eva­
sive, moving here and there as if to
avoid getting hurt. He had been
hurt often and badly, I guessed.
“You Archer?”
I said I was. I offered him my
hand. He didn’t know what to do
with it. He regarded it suspiciously,
as if I was planning to try a Judo
hold on him. He kept his hands in
the pockets of his windbreaker.
“I’m Harry Nemo.” His voice
was a grudging whine. It cost him
an effort to give his name away.
“My brother told me to come and “They’re gunning for him, that’s
pick you up. You ready to go?” why. He went to the beach this
“As soon as I get my luggage.” morning. He has a private beach
I collected my overnight bag at along the back of his ranch, and he
the counter in the empty waiting went down there by himself for his
room. The bag was very heavy for morning dip. Somebody took a shot
its size. It contained, besides a tooth­ at him from the top of the bluff.
brush and spare linen, two guns Five or six shots. He was in the wa­
and the ammunition for them. A ter, see, with no gun handy. He told
.38 special for sudden work, and a me the slugs were splashing around
.32 automatic as a spare. him like hailstones. He ducked and
Harry Nemo took me outside to swam under water out to sea. Lucky
his car. It was a new seven-passen­ for him he’s a good swimmer, or he
ger custom job, as long and black as wouldn’t of got away. It’s no won­
death. The windshield and side der he’s scared. It means they
windows were very thick, and they caught up with him, see.”
had the yellowish tinge of bullet­ “Who are ‘they’, or is that a fam­
proof glass. ily secret?”
“Are you expecting to be shot?” Nemo turned from the wheel to
“Not me.” His smile was dismal. peer into my face. His breath was
“This is Nick’s car.” sour, his look incredulous. “Christ,
“Why didn’t Nick come him­ don’t you know who Nick is? Did­
self?” n’t he tell you?”
He looked around the deserted “He’s a lemon-grower, isn’t he?”
field. The plane I had arrived on “He is now.”
was a flashing speck in the sky “What did he used to be?”
above the red sun. The only human The bitter beaten face closed on
being in sight was the operator in itself. “I oughtn’t to be flapping at
the control tower. But Nemo leaned the mouth. He can tell you himself
towards me in the seat, and spoke if he wants to.”
in a whisper. Two hundred horses yanked us
“Nick’s a scared pigeon. He’s away from the curb. I rode with my
scared to leave the house. Ever since heavy leather bag on my knees.
this morning.” Nemo drove as if driving was the
“What happened this morning?” one thing in life he enjoyed, rapt in
“Didn’t he tell you? You talked silent communion with the engine.
to him on the phone.” It whisked us along the highway,
“He didn’t say very much. He then down a gradual incline be­
told me he wanted to hire a body­ tween geometrically planted lemon
guard for six days, until his boat groves. The sunset sea glimmered
sails. He didn’t tell me why.” red at the foot of the slope.
 Before we reached it, we turned Harry Nemo went over the fence
off the blacktop into a private lane like a weary monkey, snagging his
which ran like a straight hair-part­ slacks on the barbed wire. He knelt
ing between the dark green trees. beside his brother and turned him
Straight for half-a-mile or more to a over and palmed his chest. He
low house in a clearing. stood up shaking his head.
The house was flat-roofed, made I had my bag unzipped and my
of concrete and fieldstone, with an hand on the revolver. I went to the
attached garage. All of its windows gate. “Open up, Harry.”
were blinded with heavy drapes. It Harry was saying, “They got
was surrounded with well-kept him,” over and over. He crossed
shrubbery and lawn, the lawn with himself several times. “The dirty
ten-foot wire fence surmounted by bastards.”
barbed wire. “Open up,” I said.
Nemo stopped in front of the He found a keyring in the dead
closed and padlocked gate, and man’s pocket and opened the pad­
honked the horn. There was no re­ locked gate. Our dragging footsteps
sponse. He honked the horn again. crunched the gravel. I looked down
About halfway between the house at the specks of gravel in Nicky
and the gate, a crawling thing came Nemo’s eyes, the bullet-hole in his
out of the shrubbery. It was a man, temple.
moving very slowly on hands and “Who got him, Harry?”
knees. His head hung down almost “I dunno. Fats Jordan, or Artie
to the ground. One side of his head Castola, or Faronese. It must have
was bright red, as if he had fallen in been one of them.”
paint. He left a jagged red trail in “The Purple Gang.”
the gravel of the driveway. “You called it. Nicky was their
Harry Nemo said, “Nick!” He treasurer back in the thirties. He
scrambled out of the car. “What was the one that didn’t get into the
happened, Nick?” papers. He handled the payoff, see.
The crawling man lifted his When the heat went on and the
heavy head and looked at us. Cum- gang got busted up, he had some
brously, he rose to his feet. He came money in a safe deposit box. He was
forward with his legs spraddled the only one that got away.”
and loose like a huge infant learn­ “How much money?”
ing to walk. He breathed loudly “Nicky never told me. All I
and horribly, looking at us with a know, he come out here before the
dreadful hopefulness. Then died on war and bought a thousand acres of
his feet, still walking. I saw the lemon land. It took them fifteen
change in his face before it struck years to catch up with him. He al­
the gravel. ways knew they would.”
 “Artie Castola got off the Rock Somewhere behind the thick
last Spring.” walls of the house, there was a
“You’re telling me. That’s when creak of springs, a crashing bump,
Nicky bought himself the bullet­ the broken roar of a cold engine,
proof car and put up the fence.” grinding of tires in gravel. I got to
"Are they gunning for you?” the door in time to see a cerise con­
He looked around at the darken­ vertible hurtling down the drive­
ing groves and the sky. The sky way. The top was down, and a yel­
was streaked with running red, as if low-haired girl was small and in­
the sun had died a violent death. tent at the wheel. She swerved
“I dunno,” he answered nervous­ around Nick’s body and got
ly. “They got no reason to. I’m as through the gate somehow, with
clean as soap. I never been in the her tires screaming. I aimed at the
rackets. Not since I was young, right rear tire, and missed. Harry
anyway. The wife made me go came up behind me. He pushed my
straight, see?” gun-arm down before I could fire
I said: “We better get into the again. The convertible disappeared
house and call the police.” in the direction of the highway
The front door was standing a “Let her go,” he said.
few inches ajar. I could see at the “Who is she?”
edge that it was sheathed with He thought about it, his slow
quarter-inch steel plate. Harry put brain clicking almost audibly. “I
my thoughts into words: dunno. Some pig that Nicky picked
“Why in hell would he go out­ up some place. Her name is Flossie
side? He was safe as houses as long or Florrie or something. She didn’t
as he stayed inside.” shoot him, if that’s what you’re
“Did he live alone?” worried about.”
“More or less alone.” “You know her pretty well, do
“What does that mean?” you?”
He pretended not to hear me, but “The hell I do. I don’t mess with
I got some kind of an answer. Nicky’s dames.” He tried to work
Looking through the doorless arch up a rage to go with the strong
into the living room, I saw a leop­ words, but he didn’t have the mak­
ard-skin coat folded across the back ings. The best he could produce
of the chesterfield. There were red- was petulance: “Listen, mister, why
tipped cigarette butts mingled with should you hang around? The guy
cigar butts in the ashtrays. that hired you is dead.”
“Nicky was married?” “I haven’t been paid, for one
“Not exactly.” thing.”
“You know the woman?” “I’ll fix that.”
“Naw.” But he was lying. He trotted across the lawn to the
body and came back with an alliga­ He manipulated the alligator
tor billfold. It was thick with wallet. “Here’s another hundred. If
money. you got to hang around, keep the
“How much?” lip buttoned down about the dame,
“A hundred will do it.” eh? Is it a deal?”
He handed me a hundred-dollar I didn’t answer, but I took the
bill. “Now how about you amscray, money. I put it in a separate pocket
bud, before the law gets here?” by itself. Harry telephoned the
“I need transportation.” county sheriff.
“Take Nicky’s car. He won’t be He emptied the ashtrays before
using it. You can park it at the air­ the sheriff’s men arrived, and
port and leave the key with the stuffed the leopardskin coat into
agent.” the woodbox. I sat and watched
“I can, eh?” him.
“Sure. I’m telling you you can.”
“Aren’t you getting a little free We spent the next two hours with
with your brother’s property?” loud-mouthed deputies. They were
“It’s my property now, bud.” A angry with the dead man for having
bright thought struck him, disor­ the kind of past that attracted bul­
ganizing his face. “Incidentally, lets. They were angry with Harry
how would you like to get off of for being his brother. They were se­
my land?” cretly angry with themselves for be­
“I’m staying, Harry, I like this ing inexperienced and incompe­
place. I always say it’s people that tent. They didn’t even uncover the
make a place.” leopardskin coat.
The gun was still in my hand. Harry Nemo left the courthouse
He looked down at it. first. I waited for him to leave, and
“Get on the telephone, Harry. tailed him home, on foot.
Call the police.” Where a leaning palm-tree reared
“Who do you think you are, or­ its ragged head above the pave­
dering me around? I took my last ments, there was a court lined with
order from anybody, see?” He jerry-built frame cottages. Harry
glanced over his shoulder at the turned up the walk between them
dark and shapeless object on the and entered the first cottage. Light
gravel, and spat venomously. flashed on his face from inside. I
“I’m a citizen, working for heard a woman’s voice say some­
Nicky. Not for you.” thing to him. Then light and sound
He changed his tune very sud­ were cut off by the closing door.
denly. “How much to go to work An old gabled house with board­
for me?” ed-up windows stood opposite the
“Depends on the line of work.” court. I crossed the street and set-
tied down in the shadows of its Moving very quickly, she relieved
verandah to watch Harry Nemo’s my pocket of the weight of my gun,
cottage. Three cigarettes later, a tall and frisked me for other weapons.
woman in a dark hat and a light “Who are you, mister?” she said
coat came out of the cottage and as she stepped back. “You can’t be
walked briskly to the corner and Arturo Castola, you’re not old
out of sight. Two cigarettes after enough.”
that, she reappeared at the corner “Are you a policewoman?”
on my side of the street, still walk­ “I’ll ask the questions. What are
ing briskly. I noticed that she had a you doing here?”
large straw handbag under her “Waiting for a friend.”
arm. Her face was long and stony “You’re a liar. You’ve been
under the streetlight. watching my house for an hour and
Leaving the street, she marched a half. I tabbed you through the
up the broken sidewalk to the window.”
verandah where I was leaning “So you went and bought your­
against the shadowed wall. The self a gun?”
stairs groaned under her decisive “I did. You followed Harry
footsteps. I put my hand on the gun home. I’m Mrs. Nemo, and I want
in my pocket, and waited. With the to know why.”
rigid assurance of a WAC corporal “Harry’s the friend I’m waiting
marching at the head of her pla­ for.”
toon, she crossed the verandah to “You’re a double liar. Harry’s
me, a thin high-shouldered silhou­ afraid of you. You’re no friend of
ette against the light from the cor­ his.”
ner. Her hand was in her straw “That depends on Harry. I’m a
bag, and the end of the bag was detective.”
pointed at my stomach. Her shad­ She snorted. “Very likely.
owed face was a gleam of eyes, a Where’s your buzzer?”
glint of teeth. “I’m a private detective,” I said.
“I wouldn’t try it if I were you,” “I have identification in my wal­
she said. “I have a gun here, and let.”
the safety is off, and I know how to “Show me. And don’t try any
shoot it, mister.” tricks.”
“Good for you.” I produced my photostat. She
“I’m not joking.” Her deep con­ held it up to the light. “So you’re a
tralto rose a notch. “Rapid fire used detective. You better do something
to be my specialty. So you better about your tailing technique. It’s
take your hands out of your pock­ obvious.’”
ets.” “I didn’t know I was dealing
I showed her my hands, empty. with a cop.”
 “I was a cop,” she said. “Not any She hesitated, a grim and anx­
more.” ious woman under pressure. I won­
“Then give me back my 38. It dered what quirk of fate or psychol­
cost me seventy dollars.” ogy had married her to a hood, and
“First tell me, what’s your inter­ decided it must have been love.
est in my husband? Who hired Only love would send a woman
you?” across a dark street to face down an
“Nick, your brother-in-law. He unknown gunman. Mrs. Nemo was
called me in Los Angeles today, horsefaced and aging and not pret­
said he needed a bodyguard for a ty, but she had courage.
week. Didn’t Harry tell you?” She handed me my gun. Its butt
She didn’t answer. was soothing to the palm of my
“By the time I got to Nick, he hand. I dropped it into my pocket.
didn’t need a bodyguard, or any­ A gang of Negro boys at loose ends
thing. But I thought I’d stick went by in the street, hooting and
around and see what I could find whistling purposelessly.
out about his death. He was a cli­ She leaned towards me, almost as
ent, after all.” tall as I was. Her voice was a low
“You should pick your clients sibilance forced between her teeth:
more carefully.” “Harry had nothing to do with
“What about picking brothers-in- his brother’s death. You’re crazy if
law?” you think so.”
She shook her head stiffly. The “What makes you so sure, Mrs.
hair that escaped from under her Nemo?”
hat was almost white. “I’m not re­ “Harry couldn’t, that’s all. I know
sponsible for Nick or anything Harry, I can read him like a book.
about him. Harry is my responsibil­ Even if he had the guts, which he
ity. I met him in line of duty and I hasn’t, he wouldn’t dare to think of
straightened him out, understand? killing Nick. Nick was his older
I tore him loose from Detroit and brother, understand, the successful
the rackets, and I brought him out one in the family.” Her voice rasped
here. I couldn’t cut him off from his contemptuously. “In spite of every­
brother entirely. But he hasn’t been thing I could do or say, Harry wor­
in trouble since I married him. Not shipped Nick right up to the end.”
once.” “Those brotherly feelings some­
“Until now.” times cut two ways. And Harry had
“Harry isn’t in trouble now.” a lot to gain.”
“Not yet. Not officially.” “Not a cent. Nothing.”
“What do you mean?” “He’s Nick’s heir, isn’t he?”
“Give me my gun, and put yours “Not as long as he stays married
down. I can’t talk into iron.” to me. I wouldn’t let him touch a
cent of Nick Nemo’s filthy money. was a drunk, believe it or not." She
Is that clear?” glanced at the lighted cottage across
“It’s clear to me. But is it clear to the street, and I saw one half of her
Harry?” bitter smile. “I wonder what makes
“I made it clear to him, many a woman go for the lame ducks the
times. Anyway, this is ridiculous. way I did.”
Harry wouldn’t lay a finger on that “I wouldn’t know, Mrs. Nemo.
precious brother of his.” Okay. I lay off Harry.”
“Maybe he didn’t do it himself. But I had no intention of laying
He could have had it done for him. off Harry. When she went back to
I know he’s covering for some­ her cottage, I walked around three-
body.” quarters of the block and took up a
“Who?” new position in the doorway of a
“A blonde girl left the house af­ dry-cleaning establishment. This
ter we arrived. She got away in a time I didn’t smoke. I didn’t even
cherry-colored convertible. Harry move, except to look at my watch
recognized her.” from time to time.
“A cherry-colored convertible?” Around eleven o’clock, the lights
“Yes. Does that mean something went out behind the blinds in the
to you?” Nemo cottage. Shortly before mid­
“No, nothing in particular. She night the front door opened and
must have been one of Nick’s girls. Harry slipped out. He looked up
He always had girls.” and down the street and began to
“Why would Harry cover for walk. He passed within six feet of
her?” my dark doorway, hustling along
“What do you mean, cover for in a kind of furtive shuffle.
her ? ” Working very cautiously, at a dis­
“She left a leopardskin coat be­ tance, I tailed him downtown. He
hind. Harry hid it, and paid me not disappeared into the lighted cavern
to tell the police.” of an all-night garage. He came out
“Harry did that?” of the garage a few minutes later,
“Unless I’m having delusions.” driving a prewar Chevrolet.
“Maybe you are at that. If you My money also talked to the at­
think that Harry paid that girl to tendant. I drew a prewar Buick
shoot Nick, or had anything—” which would still do seventy-five. I
“I know. Don’t say it. I’m crazy.” proved that it would, as soon as I
Mrs. Nemo laid a thin hand on hit the highway. I reached the en­
my arm. “Anyway, lay off Harry. trance to Nick Nemo’s private lane
Please. I have a hard enough time in time to see Harry’s lights ap­
handling him as it is. He’s worse proaching the dark ranch-house.
than my first husband. The first one I cut my lights and parked at the
roadside a hundred yards below the She tried to shut the door. I held
entrance to the lane, and facing it. it open.
The Chevrolet reappeared in a few “Get away from here. Leave me
minutes. Harry was still alone in alone. I’ll scream.”
the front seat. I followed it blind as “All right. Scream.”
far as the highway before I risked She opened her mouth. No sound
my lights. Then down the highway came out. She closed her mouth
to the edge of town. again. It was small and fleshy and
In the middle of the motel and defiant. “Who are you? Law?”
drive-in district he turned off onto “Close enough. I’m coming in.”
a side road and in under a neon “Come in then, damn you. I got
sign which spelled out TRAILER nothing to hide.”
COURT across the darkness. The “I can see that.”
trailers stood along the bank of a I brushed in past her. There were
dry creek. The Chevrolet stopped dead Martinis on her breath. The
in front of one of them, which had little room was a jumble of feminine
a light in the window. Harry got clothes, silk and cashmere and
out with a spotted bundle under his tweed and gossamer nylon, some of
arm. He knocked on the door of them flung on the floor, others
the trailer. hung up to dry. The leopardskin
I U-turned at the next corner and coat lay on the bunk bed, staring
put in more waiting time. The with innumerable bold eyes. She
Chevrolet rolled out under the neon picked it up and covered her shoul­
sign and turned towards the high­ ders with it. Unconsciously, her
way. I let it go. nervous hands began to pick the
Leaving my car, I walked along wood-chips out of the fur. I said:
the creek bank to the lighted trailer. “Harry did you a favor, didn’t
The windows were curtained. The he?”
cerise convertible was parked on its “Maybe he did.”
far side. I tapped on the aluminum “Have you been doing any favors
door. for Harry?”
“Harry?” a girl’s voice said. “Is “Such as?”
that you, Harry?” “Such as knocking off his broth­
I muttered something indistin­ er.”
guishable. The door opened, and “You’re way off the beam, mis­
the yellow-haired girl looked out. ter. I was very fond of Uncle Nick.”
She was very young, but her round “Why run out on the killing
blue eyes were heavy and sick with then?”
hangover, or remorse. She had on a “I panicked,” she said. “It could
nylon slip, nothing else. happen to any girl. I was asleep
“What is this?” when he got it, see, passed out if
you want the truth. I heard the gun “Sure,” I said. “And Nick was
go off. It woke me up, but it took really your uncle, and you were
me quite a while to bring myself to having a family reunion with him.”
and sober up enough to put my “He wasn’t any blood relation to
clothes on. By the time I made it to me. I always called him uncle,
the bedroom window, Harry was though.”
back, with some guy.” She peered “If Harry’s your father, why
into my face. “Were you the guy?” don’t you live with him?”
I nodded. “I used to. Honest. This is the
“I thought so. I thought you were truth I’m telling you. I had to get
law at the time. I saw Nick lying out on account of the old lady. The
there in the driveway, all bloody, old lady hates my guts. She’s a real
and I put two and two together and creep, a square. She can’t stand for a
got trouble. Bad trouble for me, un­ girl to have any fun. Just because
less I got out. So I got out. It wasn’t my old man was a rummy—”
nice to do, after what Nick meant “What’s your idea of fun, Jean­
to me, but it was the only sensible nine?”
thing. I got my career to think of.” She shook her feathercut hair at
“What career is that?” me. It exhaled a heavy perfume
“Modeling. Acting. Uncle Nick which was worth its weight in
was gonna send me to school.” blood. She bared one pearly shoul­
“Unless you talk, you’ll finish der and smiled an artificial hus­
your education at Tehachapi. Who tler’s smile. “What’s yours? Maybe
shot Nick?” we can get together.”
A thin edge of terror entered her “You mean the way you got to­
voice. “I don’t know, I tell you. I gether with Nick?”
was passed out in the bedroom. I “You’re prettier than him.”
didn’t see nothing.” “I’m also smarter. I hope. Is Har­
“Why did Harry bring you your ry really your stepfather?”
coat?” “Ask him if you don’t believe me.
“He didn’t want me to get in­ Ask him. He lives in a place on
volved. He’s my father, after all.” Tule Street—I don’t remember the
“Harry Nemo is your father?” number.”
“Yes.” “I know where he lives.”
“You’ll have to do better than But Harry wasn’t at home. I
that. What’s your name?” knocked on the door of the frame
“Jeannine. Jeannine Larue.” cottage and got no answer. I turned
“Why isn’t your name Nemo if the knob, and found that the door
Harry is your father? Why do you was unlocked. There was a light
call him Harry?” behind it. The other cottages in the
“He’s my stepfather, I mean.” court were dark. It was long past
midnight, and the street was de­ was the reason for it, though. We
serted. I went into the cottage, pre­ had it coming.”
ceded by my gun. Those were his final words. I
A ceiling bulb glared down on caught his body as it fell sideways
sparse and threadbare furniture, a out of the seat. Laid it out on the
time-eaten rug. Besides the living­ sidewalk and left it for the cop on
room, the house contained a cubby­ the beat to find.
hole of a bedroom and a closet I drove across town to the trailer
kitchenette. Everything in the pov­ court. Jeannine’s trailer still had
erty-stricken place was pathetically light in it, filtered through the cur­
clean. There were moral mottoes tains over the windows. I pushed
on the walls, and one picture. It the door open.
was a photograph of a tow-headed The girl was packing a suitcase
girl in a teen-age party dress. Jean­ on the bunk bed. She looked at me
nine, before she learned that a pret­ over her shoulder, and froze. Her
ty face and a sleek body could buy blonde head was cocked like a
her the things she wanted. The frightened bird’s, hypnotized by
things she thought she wanted. my gun.
For some reason, I felt sick. I “Where are you off to, kid?”
went outside. Somewhere out of “Out of this town. I’m getting
sight, an old car-engine muttered. out.”
Its muttering grew on the night. “You have some talking to do
Harry Nemo’s rented Chevrolet first.”
turned the corner under the street­ She straightened up. “I told you
light. Its front wheels were weav­ all I know. You didn’t believe me.
ing. One of the wheels climbed the What’s the matter, didn’t you get
curb in front of the cottage. The to see Harry?”
Chevrolet came to a halt at a “I saw him. Harry’s dead. Your
drunken angle. whole family is dying like flies.”
I crossed the sidewalk and She half-turned and sat down
opened the car door. Harry was at limply on the disordered bed.
the wheel, clinging to it desper­ “Dead? You think I did it?”
ately as if he needed it to hold him “I think you know who did.
up. His chest was bloody. His Harry said before he died that you
mouth was bright with blood. He were the reason for it all.”
spoke through it thickly: “Me the reason for it?” Her eyes
“She got me.” widened in false naivete, but there
“Who got you, Harry? Jean­ was thought behind them, quick
nine?” and desperate thought. “You mean
His mouth grinned, ghastly red that Harry got killed on account of
like a clown’s. “No. Not her. She me?”
 “Harry and Nick both. It was a “This accounts for Harry,” I
woman who shot them.” said. “You didn’t shoot Nick with
“God,” she said. The desperate this gun, not at that distance.”
thought behind her eyes crystal­ “No.” She was looking down at
lized into knowledge. Which I her dripping hand. “I used my old
shared. police gun on Nick Nemo. After I
The aching silence was broken killed him, I threw the gun into the
by a big diesel rolling by on the sea. I didn’t know I’d have further
highway. She said above its roar: use for a gun. I bought that little
“That crazy old bat. So she killed suicide gun tonight.”
Nick.” “To use on Harry?”
“You’re talking about your “To use on you. I thought you
mother. Mrs. Nemo.” were on to me. I didn’t know until
“Yeah.” you told me that Harry knew
“Did you see her shoot him?” about Nick and Jeannine.”
“No, I was blotto like I told you. “Jeannine is your daughter by
But I saw her out there this week, your first husband?”
keeping an eye on the house. She’s “My only daughter.” She said to
always watched me like a hawk.” the girl: “I did it for you, Jeannine.
“Is that why you were getting I’ve seen too much—the awful
out of town? Because you knew things that can happen.”
she killed Nick?” The girl didn’t answer. I said:
“Maybe it was. I don’t know. I “I can understand why you shot
wouldn’t let myself think about it.” Nick. But why Harry?”
Her blue gaze shifted from my “Nick paid him,” she said. “Nick
face to something behind me. I paid him for Jeannine. I found
turned. Mrs. Nemo was in the Harry in a bar an hour ago, and he
doorway. She was hugging the admitted it. I hope I killed him.”
straw bag to her thin chest. “You killed him, Mrs. Nemo.
Her right hand dove into the What brought you here ? Was Jean­
bag. I shot her in the right arm. She nine the third on your list?”
leaned against the door-frame and “No. No. She’s my own girl. I
held her dangling arm with her came to tell her what I did for her.
left hand. Her face was granite in I wanted her to know.”
whose crevices her eyes were like She looked at the girl on the bed.
live things caught. Her eyes were terrible with pain
The gun she dropped was a and love. The girl said in a stunned
cheap .32 revolver, its nickel plat­ voice:
ing worn and corroded. I spun the “Mother. You’re hurt. I’m sor­
cylinder. One shot had been fired ry.”
from it. “Let’s go, Mrs. Nemo,” I said.
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A GOOD MAN ...
IS HARD TO FIND

BY LAWRENCE E. ORIN

Lord hnows, she had her cross to bear.

Imagine . . . him out there in the
night burying that good-jor-nothing
dog. He was such an impractical man.

artha Nealy stood by the her husband’s progress. Wiping a

M sink, a damp, checkered corner of the pane with her ging­
towel in her dishwater-reddened ham apron, she peered out into the
hands, listening to the rhythmic barnyard.
thud-thud of Abner’s pick striking Outside, the brief twilight had
the ground as he loosened the hard surrendered to the deep gloom of a
soil for the grave. Only one other late-autumn night, and Abner had
sound broke the silence in the little, lighted his Coleman lantern. Hiss­
old-fashioned kitchen: A cheap ing gently in the cool air, it sat on
alarm clock noisily ticking away the ground near where he worked.
the minutes from its perch on a A dozen yards beyond, against the
shelf over a shiny-black, nickle- backdrop of the barn’s blank wall,
trimmed cookstove. Now its hands the toiling man’s shadow, Hke a
stretched to six o’clock. huge, black giant, aped his every
Spreading her cloth over a rack movement. A few feet to his left,
to dry, Martha crossed to a rear still and quiet, lay Mortimer’s
window. The glass was quite body.
opaque, steamy from condensed For a fleeting moment, Martha
moisture in the warm room. She felt a twinge of sympathy for her
started to pull the shade, then re­ husband. She really hadn’t meant
membered she’d better check on to kill the dog. It was true enough
she’d never wanted to have it eggs, and at the messy conglomera­
around, not from that first day, tion in her lap, she’d grabbed a
four years ago, when Abner had shovel Abner sometimes used to
brought the animal home with him. clean the floor. She must have
As far as Martha was concerned, struck a harder blow than she’d in­
every living creature on their effi­ tended, for Mortimer hadn’t even
cient, tightly-run, little farm had to yelped. He’d just fallen, a shapeless,
pull its own weight. But Mortimer, furry heap at her feet.
as Abner had named the clumsy, Martha drew the blind and
big-footed, playful pup, was good frowned in annoyance. Her hus­
for nothing but to chase the cows, band had no business to be out
frighten the chickens, and harass there digging in the hard, rock-
the cats, who, although themselves infested ground when he should
sometimes a nuisance, at least kept be getting his rest for tomorrow’s
the place relatively rat-free. work. She’d tried to convince him
Even as he grew older, it was to wait until morning, then just
very seldom Mortimer strayed far take the dog’s body over to the
from Abner’s heels. But this morn­ county dump. But honestly! He
ing he’d been skylarking out in the could be stubborn on occasion. Not
fields when his master had often, but sometimes. Well, she sup­
warmed up their old Ford pick-up posed, if he wanted to be a senti­
to take a load of produce to town. mental old fool, that was up to
Abner had stalled and puttered, him.
waiting for Mortimer to show up, Leaving the kitchen door un­
but finally his wife had prodded locked, Martha snapped off the
him enough to get him started on light and made her way down the
his way. Honestly! Sometimes she hall and up the stairs. Near the top
didn’t know which of the two, the landing one of the steps creaked
man or the dog, was the more irre­ beneath her slight weight. Again
sponsible. she frowned. How many times had
It had been nine o’clock before she asked Abner to repair that
Mortimer had returned from his tread? Honestly! That man was
jaunt. Frantically, he’d dashed getting to be more of a procrastina­
about, searching for Abner. Mar­ tor every day. Well, she’d just have
tha was just leaving the henhouse, to get after him again tomorrow.
a half-dozen fresh-laid eggs cra­ In her bedroom, Martha turned
dled in the folds of her apron, on the silk-shaded lamp that sat on
when Mortimer had barged her dresser. She stood a moment
through the door. He’d scooted be­ contemplating her reflection in the
tween her legs, tripping her to the mirror, and she wasn’t pleased with
ground. Infuriated at the loss of the what she saw. It didn’t seem possi­
ble this grim-faced, gray-haired of prosperity. Why, as recently as a
woman could once have been the couple of years ago he’d wanted to
pretty, teen-aged bride Abner had draw out a sizable portion of their
carried across the threshold of this hard-earned savings and go traip­
very house so long ago. Those thir­ sing off to Hawaii, or some other
ty-five years of work and worry outlandish place, for a vacation.
bad certainly taken their toll. Honestly! Sometimes he was most
Sometimes she wished she’d lis­ impractical; like tonight, for in­
tened to her mother’s advice and stance—out there in the cold dig­
accepted old Timothy Barstow ging a grave for a worthless dog.
when he’d proposed. But no, she’d Except for the muffled sounds of
had to play hard to get, and Timo­ Abner’s shoveling and the sooth­
thy hadn’t had time to play the ing music on Martha’s little radio,
waiting game. Only a few weeks her room was quiet. She worked
after she’d turned him down, he’d diligently, recalling as she stitched
married Alice Patterson, one of how it had been when she and Ab­
Martha’s former schoolmates. ner were first married. Then too,
Then, less than five years later, he’d she’d had to scold him for being so
died, and Alice had found herself a easygoing. But he’d just laughed,
wealthy widow. and called her his little slave driver.
Martha heaved a martyr’s sigh, Later, when the honeymoon had
and pulled open a drawer and took ended, they’d begun to quarrel in
out her darning. Honestly I She earnest, but she’d held her ground
didn’t see how Abner could wear and insisted they keep their noses
out his socks so fast. Not that she to the proverbial grindstone. Fi­
minded the mending; in fact if she nally, he’d given in, and only occa­
didn’t check on him constantly he’d sionally did he become obstinate
throw his holey socks away, just as if about something—as, for instance,
money to buy new ones grew on the matter concerning keeping that
bushes. How her husband would no-good Mortimer.
ever have gotten along without her No, Abner didn’t give her many
to keep a tight rein on his spending, reasons to wrangle with him now­
she didn’t know. adays. Even this evening, when
Oh, it was true they’d never been she’d told him about the accident
hungry or wanted for warm clothes to Mortimer, he didn’t appear an­
on their backs. The mortgaged farm gry. He’d only looked at her as
Abner’s father had left them was though he doubted her story about
now free and clear. And their nest the broken eggs. Well, let him think
egg in the local bank amounted to what he pleased. He’d get used to
a tidy sum. But Abner could hardly not having the dog around soon,
take any credit for this modest state and she resolved to see to it that he
didn’t bring home another useless lifted the shade. Strange! The lan­
pet to squander his time on. tern was still there, burning a bright
The announcer on the radio told hole in the dark night, but Abner
her it was nine o’clock. It was time was nowhere in sight. And that
she was getting to bed. She’d wager hole he’d dug—it was twice the size
the “Widow Barstow” wasn’t retir­ needed for the dog’s body. No won­
ing this early, just so she could get der he’d been so long.
up at an ungodly hour to make sure But, on second thought, that
the chores got done. But then, her wasn’t like her husband at all. He
friend Alice hadn’t married a lazy, wasn’t that fond of hard work.
daydreaming farmer. Then, suddenly, she felt a draft on
After putting her work away, it the back of her neck as the bed­
took Martha but a few minutes room door opened. She turned to
to slip out of her clothes and don a see Abner’s bulky form filling the
long, warm, flannel nightgown. opening. Her mouth fell open in
She’d turned off the light, shut off surprise.
the radio, and was about to crawl The icy fingers that now trickled
into her bed, when she noticed she up and down Martha’s spine came
could no longer hear Abner work­ from no draft of cold air. She knew
ing. Well, it was about time. Al­ they belonged to the clammy hands
ready he’d wasted over three hours of death when she saw the shovel
out there. And for what? Just be­ her husband had brought upstairs
cause he wanted his precious Mor­ with him, and when she realized
timer buried nearby. the awful significance of the over­
She went to the window and sized grave.
THE
LESSON
He was a wild one, this long-haired
%id, and his father was tired of paying
his way out of trouble. A night in jail
would teach him a lesson.

BY GENE WILSON

is face flushed with anger, Ja­ “Whaddya mean, you’re sorry?”

H son Morrow clutched the tele­ he sputtered into the phone. “You
phone in a white knuckled grip that
knew the goddam car was stolen
revealed the intensity of his struggle when you got into it.” He listened
for self control. Behind him, his to the reply, jaw still pulsing. “Quit
wife fluttered nervously, trying to crying, dammit!” he snapped.
hear the conversation. Beneath her “Jason, honey,” his wife tried,
makeup she was pale, and the touching him. He shrugged her
brightness of tears was in her eyes. away. “Listen, Paul,” he said, “You
want us to come down and get you There were two new prisoners
out of it, huh? Well, you’re mother who were clean shaven and decently
and me didn’t get you in it. I might dressed. They stood aloof and calm.
be down tomorrow to get you, but Paul heard one of them say he had
tonight you’re gonna learn to be a just gotten out of prison. There was
man. I’ve been paying your bills all a redhead in white painter’s overalls,
your life. Maybe you’ll start appre­ splattered with blood. He rocked
ciating all we’ve done for you after back and forth, talking to himself.
a night there. Who the hell do you A group of negroes, in stingy brim
think you are stealing somebody’s beaver hats and long pointed shoes,
car?” He listened again, though were clustered together in one cor­
blinded by his own anger. “No, ner, phony diamond rings flashing
dammit! And quit that caterwaul­ from their fingers. They had been
ing. You’re lucky you’re where I picked up for gambling, and were
can’t get my hands on you.” Jason awaiting the bail bondsman.
hung up, and, still puffing swollen- Hours ago, when he and Sonny
ly, turned to his wife. "I don’t want and LeRoy were brought from the
any arguments out of you, either,” outlying police station, Paul had not
he said to her before she could been afraid. He had even managed
speak. “He’s got to learn something to joke a little. Now, though, he was
sometime, and maybe a night in jail alone. Sonny and LeRoy had left
will teach him.” with their parents. Paul had lost
* « • count of how many times he had
Paul Morrow put the pay tele­ dialed the number of their telephone
phone on the hook and looked hes­ at home, always with the same lack
itantly around at the madness of the of success. Now, after his father had
booking office bullpen. There were hung up, Paul felt resentment at be­
thirty or more bodies in the airless, ing the only one left to spend the
sweltering room, and others were night in jail.
brought in at irregular intervals, The deputies had been holding
scooped from the streets of the city, back his booking, not through soli­
to await their booking. Every twen­ citude, but to ease their own burden
ty minutes a burly deputy, his shirt of work. If the parents were coming,
darkened at the armpits with sweat, there was no need going through
came in another door and bellowed the procedure, and then releasing
a few names from a list. Often a him.
name did not reply, for half the The burly deputy entered again,
melee was winos, and many of these, and Paul told him that his parents
in their rags, lay unconscious or were not coming. The deputy
trembling in the mess of mashed out shrugged. “Too bad,” he said, and
cigarette butts on the floor. turned away.
 Ten minutes later, his name was side were blank walls, and on the
bellowed, along with half a dozen other were endless bars of tanks. Be­
others. In another room he stood be­ yond the bars were walkways and
fore a purple negress with flying fin­ barred cells, now with their gates
gers that were a blur across a type­ open. Prisoners stared out at the col­
writer; name, age, weight, address, umn of new arrivals.
aliases; a brief, routine history that Paul stumbled along, following
was recorded before he finished ut­ the man in front of him. He was
tering it. conscious of the gloom, the stench
On the other side of the room, his of bodies and antiseptic; and, espe­
fingerprints were rolled onto several cially, of the eyes watching from be­
form cards, recording the whorls hind the rows of bars.
for history, and smudging more They went down several of these
than his fingertips. passages, turning at sharp angles, to
Under harsh, burning lights, a the right, to the left. It was a world
small sign with numbers was hung without windows, and what light
from his neck, and photographs there was came from widely spaced
were taken. The processing was im­ bulbs. Paul’s mind rang from the
personal, and the people who did it, constant hum of sound, like a cloud
so expressionless, that Paul felt they of insects, and he finally realized that
were not humans, but machines in it was the combining of countless
a factory of which he was merely a voices in the tanks, echoing down
product. the passages.
As he obeyed the impersonal or­ At a storeroom, they were each
ders; go there, stand here; he felt a given a bedroll, clean blankets, and
growing and terrible loneliness. Re­ a dirty mattress—the latter, stained
morse and self-pity welled up from with the sweat of a thousand naked
churning stomach to sting his eyes. bodies.
The whole of it gathered into a sin­ They retraced their journey down
gle, silent cry, “I want to go home!” the passages, the rolled bedding on
and one that he was barely able to their shoulders. The filthy mattress
hold back. If one of the blank-faced was against the boy’s cheek,
automatons had showed the tiniest its stench adding nausea to loneli­
glance of interest, he would have ness and exhaustion. The new ar­
sobbed it out in a repetitious chant. rivals were sent to various tanks,
They did not. and the group lessened in number.
The batch of new prisoners fin­ Paul was next to last. The deputy
ished being booked. Another dep­ called his name, and when he
uty herded them through a steel stepped forward, looked him over.
door into the maze of the jail. They “They’re sticking you in a felony
went down corridors that on one tank. How old are you?”
 “Seventeen.” half formed words of inquiry some­
“What’s your charge?” how sticking in his throat.
“I think it’s car theft.” From the first cell, which had a
“You know damn well what it solid door and plywood panelling
is I” The deputy grunted, and over the bars to make it a room, a
shrugged. He banged on a barred man emerged. Shirtless, the wide
gate with a giant key. “Fish on the expanse of bare chest was covered
line,” he called inside. with a mat of tightly curled black
Paul stepped through the un­ hair. Clenched in his teeth was the
locked gate, and it crashed shut be- stub of an unlighted cigar, and in
hing him. He was in the cage. The one hand was the stub of a pencil.
tank was twenty yards long. On the In the other hand, he had a clip­
right were the faces of the cells; on board with a list attached. He
the left, the bars. Between the cells looked at the youth with a direct
and the outer bars there was a walk­ and curious gaze. Paul was aware
way about six feet wide. Two card of the eyes noting his long hair, and
games were in progress on blankets he blushed involuntarily.
on the floor of the walk near the “What’s your name?” the man
front of the tank. Further down, asked.
prisoners sat against the bars, or Paul told him, and watched it be­
paced the confined area. They were ing written on the list.
crowded, and they seemed dirty. “I’m Masovich. I run things in
Some wore T-shirts, yellowed and here.” He said it matter of factly,
time grayed; others wore no upper neither apologetically nor conde­
garment, and one had on only scendingly.
BVd’s. Most had the pallor of being Paul nodded. “Can I put this
many weeks without sunlight, and down?” he asked, jiggling the bed­
almost all were in need of a shave. roll.
There was something almost ani­ “Throw it in cell seven. That’s
mal like about them. One of the where you’re living. Ever been in
card players nudged another and jail before?”
made a comment that brought “No.”
turned heads and grins. Paul knew Masovich didn’t say anything. His
he was the subject of their com­ face was expressionless, except for
ments. Self-consciously, his right the hardness that was always there.
shoulder beginning to ache from the He looked the slim boy up and
strain of holding the bedroll, he down and turned wordlessly away,
shifted his weight from one foot to entering the first cell.
the other. The grins widened, as he Paul hesitated, and then started
stood indecisively, wondering down the walkway toward cell sev­
where he was supposed to go; the en. He had to pass the card game,
and there was no room, unless he “He said cell seven,” Paul an­
stepped through the middle of it. He swered.
stopped. “Who said ?” the other card player
“C’mon, kid,” one of the card asked. He was as pimply faced as the
players said, clearing the cards from other, with the addition of a bed­
the blanket. The others leaned back. raggled wisp of mustache and a
Paul passed through, tiptoeing. straggly goatee.
“Did you get a load of that hair­ “The guy in the first cell. Maro-
do?” a voice said behind him. vich, or something. He said he runs
“I been here six months ... After things.”
that, he looks like Kim Novak to “Christ!” the one with the hard
me.” There was laughter, but Paul eyes said. “There’s four of us in here
did not turn around. His checks now. How come, when he’s got a
were flaming. cell all by himself?”
Cell seven was crowded. There “Why don’t you go tell him about
were two bunks attached to one it, Jeronsek?” It was the fat man. He
wall. The upper had a two-handed chuckled while he unrolled the toi­
card game in progress. On the lower, let paper.
a tall youth was stretched out with “Yeah, well I might just do that,”
a paperback. There was a washbasin Jeronsek said.
and toilet. On the toilet sat a fat The other card player, the one
man, the few long strands of hair on with the goatee, broke in, “While
the top of his scalp combed care­ you’re thinking about it, let’s play,
fully sideways in an attempt to cov­ huh?”
er the naked pinkness. His pants “I’ll go somewhere else,” Paul of­
were dropped around his ankles, fered timidly.
showing fat, hairless legs with blue “You might as well stay here,”
varicose veins. The occupants of the the fat man said, flushing the toilet.
cell seemed oblivious to the fat man. “At least you’re not a wino, puking
Paul stopped in the doorway, all over the place.”
thinking that there must have been Jeronsek muttered his disgust.
a mistake. Eyes turned to stare at Jumping down from the bunk, he
him. went out the cell door.
“Where you supposed to go?” one Paul turned back to the others.
of the card players asked. The “Where’ll I sleep?” he asked.
speaker was sallow looking, with an The stringbean on the lower bunk
acne-blotched face. Though only a spoke without looking up from the
few years older than Paul, a cynical pocket book he was reading. “On
wisdom in his eyes showed the the floor, beneath the bottom bunk
school of hard knocks which had . . . under me,” he said. “And let’s
matured him beyond his years. keep it a little quiet, huh ?”
 Paul lowered the mattress care­ wrapped in waxpaper. As the fat
fully past the reader, and pushed it man unwrapped the paper, Paul
under the bottom bunk. There were saw two slices of dry bread. His
two mattresses in the space already, stomach reminded him that he had­
or he would have spared it out and n’t had anything to eat since break­
layed down. He imagined that at fast, and that was over twelve hours
night the other mattresses were ago. Saliva began to flow in his
pulled out, onto the floor in the cen­ mouth as the other produced a milk
ter of the cell. carton, cut in half, filled with cold
The remaining card player had red beans. Hungrily, the boy
gone to solitaire. The reader was ab­ watched as the fat man spread a
sorbed in his book, and the fat man thick layer of beans on one slice of
had slumped back on the toilet. He bread, then made a sandwich by
had his pants on now. Paul won­ topping it with the other slice.
dered what he should do. Paul had just reached for the
“Sit down,” the fat man said, sandwich, when the trouble began.
pointing to a clear space at the foot Jeronsek appeared at the cell door,
of the bottom bunk. face flushed. “That nut is on the
The boy glanced hesitantly at the loose again,” he announced, shak­
lanky figure with the paperback ing his head and looking at Paul
propped on his chest, obscuring the with a worried expression, then
face, then lowered himself tentative­ turning and leaving again.
ly onto one corner of the bed. Paul managed to swallow the
“What’s your beef?” the fat man mouthful of bread and beans and
asked. said, “What’s wrong?”
“Car theft.” “There’s a crazy man in here,”
“Joy riding?” the solitaire player on the top bunk
“I guess you’d call it that. We answered. Before he could say more,
were just cruising around.” there was an explosion of sound
“Ever been in jail before?” from the walkway outside the cell;
Paul shook his head, answering struggling grunts, excited voices,
negatively. The other man asked if and shuffling feet. The men in the
his family was going to get him a cell hurried out, Paul following.
lawyer, and the boy said he didn’t Several of the younger prisoners,
know. The fat man went on talking, Jeronsek among them, were grap­
asking questions and probing, in an pling with a bizarre figure. It was a
inoffensive way. man, with a great wild beard and
“You hungry, kid?” he said. tangled hair. His eyes had a mad,
Without waiting for an answer, he blank look, and saliva ran from the
reached under a comer of the mat­ corners of his mouth.
tress and pulled out a flat package “I’ll get him . ♦ . kill him . . .
kill . . .” the madman raved, while “They got him now ... if they
those holding him puffed, “Hold can hold him,” said his rescuer.
him . . . get an arm . . . Christ, Paul saw that it was the solitaire
but he’s strong!” player with the straggly mustache
The whole tank was watching, a and goatee. A wave of gratitude
few seeming to take pleasure in the surged briefly through him, to be
excitement, but most of them just quickly replaced by fear.
looking silently. Paul stood, frozen “Why don’t they call a guard? He
into immobility, his skin prickling, shouldn’t be in here.”
and the short hairs on the back of “We don’t call guards,” the other
his neck standing up, as he gaped said sternly. “They’d put him in the
at the insanely contorted face of the hole, in a straitjacket. Anyway, he
violently struggling figure. ain’t like this all the time.”
Suddenly, the crazy man saw the Paul, at the sound of a renewed
boy, and lunged toward him, outburst of scuffling struggle in the
screaming and cursing in rage. walkway outside the cell, said,
Jeronsek and the others who were “Why does he want to get me ? ”
struggling with him, though half a “He’s nuts,” the other answered.
dozen to one, were dragged for­ “He caught some guy in bed with
ward with the advancing madman. his wife, and went nuts. He cut the
“It’s you he wants,” someone said guy on the ass, as he was going out
to Paul, and stringbean yelled, the window, but he got away. He
“Lookout, he’s got a knife!” killed his wife, cut her head almost
Paul, eyes bulging with fear, and off .. . and he’s still lookin’ for the
his muscles turning so weak that he guy. Ever so often he thinks some
could hardly stand, saw Jeronsek fish is the guy, and he goes crazy
drop to the floor and wrap his arms again.”
around the insane man’s legs, bring­ “He thinks it’s me? But that’s
ing him crashing down. Some of crazeee . . .!” his voice rose to a
the spectators leaped in to help, and squeak as the madman loomed in
three men clung to the arm holding the doorway, swaying and glaring
the knife. That part of the boy’s insanely. As he lurched forward,
mind which was still able to func­ into the cell, the others caught up
tion, registered the fact that the and swarmed onto his back. He was
knife was crudely made, of some forced to the floor, and mumbling
kind of sharp metal. and glaring, dragged away.
Some one grabbed his arm, as “You better hide somewhere, ’til
Jeronsek yelled to get the kid out of he calms down.”
here, and pulled him into another Paul looked dumbly around at
cell where he stood trembling. the guy with the goatee, and let
“Don’t let him get me. Please!” himself be led to another cell and
hidden beneath a bottom bunk. Too “Show him your ass before some­
exhausted and afraid even to cry, he body gets hurt.”
lay shivering, the muscles in his legs With fumbling fingers, Paul un­
twitching, as the rolled up mat­ did his belt and unzipped his fly.
tresses were pushed in around him. He hesitated, and Jeronsek said im­
His mind lost track of the time as patiently, “Come on, show him!”
he lay, listening to the snarls and Other voices took up the words,
whimpering growls of the crazy “C’mon, show him . . . show him
man, who the others had finally . . .” they chanted.
turned loose, and who was still Paul dropped his pants around
looking for him. Jeronsek, and some his ankles, and turned around, look­
of the others, would whisper from ing back, shamefaced, over his
time to time for him to stay quiet, as shoulder. The crazy man bellowed,
the spell hadn’t passed yet. and began to struggle again.
Finally, Jeronsek and his friends “Bend over, so he can see good,”
pulled the mattresses away and told someone advised.
him he might as well come on out. Paul did, turning his face away
“It’s no use,’’ Jeronsek said, “He from the ring of watching eyes. He
won’t quiet down ’til he finds you. gasped, and stumbled forward
There’s just one way, maybe.” against the toilet, as something wet
“What’s that?” Paul implored. and gooey sloshed onto the middle
“Show him your ass,” said the one of his bare and quivering backside.
with the goatee. “He cut the guy His hand went down, reflexively,
he’s lookin for on the ass, on the and brought up some of the sub­
way out the window. Show him you stance. It was red, and his first
ain’t got a scar, and he’ll know it thought was of blood. Then he saw
wasn’t you.” He looked question- it was some kind of thick baker’s
ingly at Paul, and added, “You ain’t jelly.
got no scar there, have you?” Laughter exploded in the con­
Paul shook his head in denial. fined area of the cell, and he jerked
“Hell no, he ain’t got no scar,” up his pants. As he turned around,
Jeronsek said. “I’ll bet he ain’t even the sight of the crowd of men
got no fuzz.” packed in the doorway and peering
Raving and snarling, the crazy between the bars, all laughing or
man appeared in the door. At sight smiling, sent the blood surging to
of Paul, he began to moan and his face.
shake. The others grabbed him as He stood there, fastening his belt
he tried to lunge forward. Paul with shaking hands, flushing hotly.
shrank against the back of the cell, Jeronsek was braying like a jackass,
beside the toilet. the crazy man grinning hugely,
“Quick, kid,” Jeronsek said, while the others laughed and
whooped. Tears of humiliation something else. Their hands pawed
welled up in his eyes, and he fought and petted at him from all sides.
to keep them from spilling over. Struggling helplessly, Paul felt his
The bakers jelly, warming, began belt buckle being undone and his
to trickle down his legs, and he clothes stripped from him. They
slumped onto the toilet, putting his pushed him onto the lower bunk,
head on his arms to shut out the and held him face down with his
grinning faces. head buried in the pillow.
“Look at him, crying like a girl,” “Let him go!” a new voice com­
Jeronsek ridiculed. manded. “Get your hands off of
Other voices chimed in . . . him!”
“Yeah, and lookit that hair.” The clutching hands released
“Hair, hell. Lookit that skin.” him, and he turned over, gasping
“Ain’t she about the purtiest thing for air. Through his tears, Paul saw
you ever seen?” Masovich, the man from the first
A hand reached forward and cell. Jeronsek was facing him de­
stroked Paul’s bare arm. He slapped fiantly, as the others shifted back.
it away. “What you buttin’ in for, Maso­
“She’s playin’ hard to get,” Jeron­ vich?” Jeronsek demanded. “This
sek said. “C’mon, honey, don’t be ain’t none of your affair.”
that way.” He came forward, and “Pm making it my affair,” the
started to run a hand through Paul’s other man answered.
hair. The boy threw it angrily aside. “You’d better do your own time.”
“Leave me alone, you bastard. “Better? You telling me what to
You had your big joke. Now leave do?”
me alone.” “You ain’t tellin us what to do,
“Relax, baby,” Jeronsek said, either.”
stroking Paul’s hair. “Us?” Masovich questioned.
Enraged, Paul lunged at his tor­ “Yeah, us. You may be pretty
mentor, driving him back with the tough, but you sure as hell can’t take
suddenness of his charge. Jeronsek on the whole bunch!”
laughed as he caught the flurry of As Jeronsek spoke the final word,
blows on his arms, then stepped in Masovich’s hand slammed into his
and grabbed him. Some of the oth­ throat, bending his head and shoul­
ers closed in around them, and Paul, ders back over the edge of the top
looking into the flushed faces and bunk. The other hand reached in
feverish eyes, sensed a change in his pocket and came out with a
their mood. short, sharp bladed knife.
What had started out as only cruel Jeronsek’s eyes went wide with
horseplay, to relieve the boredom of fear as he felt the razor honed point
confinement, had degenerated into penetrate the skin over his heart.
His face was as pale as though the large as the rest. The solid door and
blood had already stopped pump­ plywood partition over the bars iso­
ing. lated it, gave it privacy. There were
“God!” he croaked, “Don’t, Maso­ shelves and clothing hooks, a bat­
vich . . . don’t kill me.” tered desk, and two chairs—one of
“You’re nothing but a punk, them ancient but upholstered. There
Jeronsek. Tell your friends here was a lid for the toilet. And there
what you are!” was an army cot with springs and
As the other man hesitated, Maso­ clean white sheets instead of the
vich pressed the point of the blade steel slats of the regular bunks.
a little deeper, and said, “Go on, tell Paul sat down to wait. He had
them you’re a punk!” been wrung dry of emotions and
Jeronsek forced out the words, now felt his battered nerves making
“I’m . . a . . punk . .” he gasped. his body twitch and jump.
Masovich released his grip on the Masovich strode in a few minutes
other man’s throat and pulled the later, shutting the door. He care­
knife away, holding it at his side. fully stuck the knife into the straw
Jeronsek slumped onto the lower center of a small broom, hiding the
bunk, and Masovich turned to Paul. weapon, and stood the broom
“Get up to the first cell, kid. against the wall beside the bed.
That’s where you’re staying now.” “If you’re hungry,” he said,
Paul had watched the drama with “There’s a couple bacon and egg
horrified disbelief. He was dazed sandwiches in the top drawer.” Ma­
and certain he was going to see a sovich stretched out on the cot.
murder. He hesitated. “I couldn’t eat,” Paul said. “But
“Go on,” Masovich ordered. “No­ thank’s for doing that.”
body’ll bother you.” “That’s been brewing between
Paul started to ask if he should him and me for a long time. You
take his mattress, and then decided were as good a reason as any to set­
against it. He went through the si­ tle it.” Masovich was propped on an
lent men around the doorway, not elbow, watching the boy, and al­
looking at their faces. They made a though his case hardened face was
passage for him. expressionless, there was something
Paul felt safer, as he entered the in his look that made Paul turn his
first cell and waited for Masovich. eyes away.
For a moment he wondered if Je­ “This is pretty nice, for jail,” Paul
ronsek and the others could get an said.
upper hand, but realized immedi­ “For a jail, yeah. I’m used to
ately that Masovich was too much jails.”
for them, a lion among jackals. “Should I get my mattress and
This cell was almost twice as stuff?”
 “No.” Paul nodded.
Paul looked up. “Where’ll I “Then come on over.”
sleep?” As Paul walked toward the cot,
Masovich snorted a single half he wondered what his father would
laugh, and meaningfully patted the think about this.
cot where he was lying. “Right
here.” In the suburbs of the city, in
Their eyes met, and the boy’s a split-level dwelling behind a
stomach turned over. neat lawn and trimmed hedges,
“So it’s like that?” he asked, man­ Jason Morrow was preparing for
aging more matter-of-factness than bed, trying to avoid the reproach
he felt. in his wife’s eyes. As he climbed
“It’s like that . . . unless maybe in beside her, he squeezed her
you want to go out to Jeronsek and arm.
the rest. Me or them!” “Okay, okay,” he said. “Don’t
Paul was overcome with weary look at me like that. I’ll go get him
resignation. “You’re not giving me out first thing in the morning. But
much choice,” he said. don’t worry. What could happen to
Masovich laughed. "You sleepin’ him in jail ? I can’t think of anyplace
here then?” safer than that.”

Convict?
No. This man is a patient in a men*
tai hospital. Held prisoner by a
tortured mind. Psychiatric drugs
and other treatments help some of
the mentally ill, but for many forms
of mental illness no effective treat­
ment has yet been found. The an­
swer is research. Your financial help
is needed.
Give to the National
Association for Men­
tal Health through
your local chapter.
 ortrait photographer Ronnie ther, wiping his narrow mouth and
P Haspurtin, with ascot cinched
and mustache trimmed, came out of
his bachelor home atop Island
rising. “But whatever it was will
draw a crowd of Yahoos intent on
blocking traffic and generally mak­
Heights as if he were late for an ap­ ing a nuisance of themselves.”
pointment. He crossed to the dark­ Twenty minutes later Deputy
ened drive, slipped behind the Johnson parked in front of the Has­
wheel of his station wagon and be­ purtin home and made his way
gan humming a happy tune to him­ through the milling volunteer fire­
self as he turned the ignition key. men, auxiliary deputies and half-a-
The explosion was heard the hundred commuters who had just

He opened the stove door and began feeding negatives into

the flames ... negatives of nailed girls in various poses.

BLOW-UP BY JACK LYNCH

length of the island and across Pu­ driven off the ferry boat from Seat­
get Sound as far as Seattle. tle when they heard the explosion.
Down in Island Center, Deputy He paused beside Joe Wilson,
Harlin Johnson lowered his fork standing next to the pumper. Wil­
with a quick glance at his wife. His son’s men were spraying the
daughter Marline, apple of her fa­ charred remains of Haspurtin’s sta­
ther’s eye and those of half the males tion wagon by the eerie glow of
on the island, paused in her de­ floodlights and red blinkers.
scription of a new cheer leader rou­ “What happened, Joe?”
tine with a tilt of her pretty head. “Looks like Ronnie Haspurtin
“Whatever do you suppose that got himself blowed up,” said Wil­
was?” she asked. son, spitting at the pavement.
“Don’t know,” grunted her fa­ “He’s in the wreck ?”
 “He was,” said Wilson. driving off the ferry when it sound­
“ Where is he now ? ” ed like the whole hilltop blew off.”
Wilson threw out one hand. “All The deputy grunted and crossed
the way from the house to the road to a telephone. “What are you after
by the looks of things.” in here?”
Harlin called to a pair of his aux­ “Feature photos,” Geoffrey ex­
iliary deputies and directed them to plained, his heart thumping. “Plan
start herding onlookers back out of to run a whole page of them: the
the yard. dead man’s study; the pipe he may
“Get some rope and seal off the have been smoking just before
whole area,” he told one. “And a shooting to his glory. Stuff like
couple of you better plan on spend­ that.”
ing the night to keep folks away Deputy Johnson scowled darkly
until the county lab people get over. as he began to dial, but Geoffrey
May not be ’til morning.” doubted that the scowl was on his
Inside the house Geoffrey Baxter, account. More likely it was because
publisher of the island’s weekly Harlin had to call in other members
newspaper, discovered what he’d of the sheriff’s department from the
been searching for just as the depu­ city. It ran counter to the deputy’s
ty’s voice began shouting orders. It approach to law enforcement in a
was a thin packet of negatives closed little community like the
nearly concealed between two vol­ island. He viewed the local popu­
umes on photography in the living lation as one big family that could
room bookcase. The negatives were best work things out by itself, even
35 millimeter; small enough so the if it meant ignoring the letter of the
subjects’ faces weren’t immediately law.
recognizable, but large enough to As a newspaper man, Geoffrey
confirm Geoffrey’s distasteful sus­ Baxter didn’t like to ignore any­
picions. The grizzled little printer thing. At least he never had until
slipped them into his pocket and now. As luck would have it, the
raised his Speed Graphic to take a one time Geoffrey was more than
flash photo of the room just as Dep­ willing to turn his back on the prin­
uty Johnson entered. ciples of journalism, Deputy John­
“Evening, Harlin,” said Geoffrey, son was prepared to follow the let­
slapping another pack of film into ter of the law. The dramatic fash­
his camera. “Exciting night, isn’t ion in which Haspurtin departed
it?” made the difference.
“How’d you get here so soon, Geoffrey sniffed and lifted his
you old busybody?” camera to get a shot of Harlin just
“Luck of the press, Harlin. Had as the deputy finished his conversa­
business in Seattle and was just tion with the city.
 “What was that for?” Harlin frey’s reply, and the older man was
asked, putting down the phone. more than happy to leave it at that.
“Just more feature stuff: ‘Deputy He followed the deputy back out­
Johnson calls in reinforcements side.
minutes after the explosion.’ Shows “Seems funny a professional pho­
you’re on your toes, Harlin.” tographer wouldn’t have any of his
“Routine, is all,” said the deputy, equipment around,” said Johnson,
wandering down a bedroom hall­ staring off in the distance.
way. “We don’t even know what “Must keep it all at his studio
sort of crime we have yet.” over in Seattle.”
Geoffrey tagged along with an The deputy grunted. “No neigh­
annoyed expression. “In my own bors for half-a-mile . . .” He
stumbling manner I would suggest turned, frowning. “Who was the
either homicide or suicide.” first one here after the explosion?”
“What makes you say suicide?” “I was, I guess. I was first off the
asked the deputy, poking through ferry and led the whole parade up.
a closet. Joe and the pumper arrived about
. “Why not? It’s clean and pain­ ten minutes later.”
less. Oh, I suppose a man bent on “Anyone beside you been inside
self-destruction could go over to the the house?”
city and leap off a bridge, but on the “Nope. They all were too fasci­
way down he’s apt to have all those nated by the grisly scene out here.”
discomforting second thoughts. Harlin opened his mouth as if to
The house here’s all electric, except say something more, and Geoffrey
for the oil furnace, and while oil fiddled busily with his camera, but
fumes can be noxious they certainly the deputy changed his mind and
aren’t deadly. And with a gun you turned back toward the house.
run the risk of doing little more “Any official comments for the
than painfully wounding yourself. press, Harlin? Before I race off to
So why not lash together a few develop this stuff?”
sticks of dynamite and wire ’em to “Nope,” said the deputy. “None
the ignition system? Any boob at all.”
could do it.” Late Friday, the day after the
“I’ll be surprised if that’s what weekly Island Express came out,
this is all about,” Harlin observed, Geoffrey Baxter was running off
making his way out to the kitchen. Lillian Spencer’s wedding an­
“Well, what else?” asked Geof­ nouncements on his job press when
frey. Deputy Johnson entered.
The deputy glanced at him “Afternoon, Deputy,” Geoffrey
sharply. “You know what else.” He greeted him, shutting off the press.
turned without waiting for Geof­ “What’s the good word?”
 “Haven’t any for you,” Harlin “What about the dynamite it­
muttered, tossing a copy of the Ex­ self?” asked Geoffrey. “You say
press atop a make-up bench. they stuffed this little hole until it
“Now what’s wrong?” Geoffrey was full?”
demanded. “Didn’t you see the “Uh-huh. Guess they wanted to
pretty picture of yourself on page be sure they got their man. And
three?” they sure did.”
“I saw it. I also saw the story; “Then they may have carried off
especially the end of it where you some extra sticks with them.”
quote me as saying a solution to the “Possible,” Harlin agreed. “But
Haspurtin killing is imminent.” in a rural community like this it
“That’s just newspaper talk, Har­ ain’t exactly the hardest thing to
lin. Keeps the readers curious and come by. Most everyone on the is­
prompts them to pick up next land’s had occasion to use it at one
week’s copy. Shouldn’t let it get time or another for blowing stumps
your goat.” and things.”
“But there’s nothing imminent Geoffrey pursed his lips. “When
about it,” said the deputy. “I don’t do you figure they rigged it ?”
know a whole lot more than I did Harlin shrugged. “Haspurtin’s
the night I was sitting at the supper studio in the city was in walking
table and heard it.” distance of the ferry terminal, so he
“You mean all those experts the never drove his car to work. Just
county sent didn’t come up with hitched a ride down to the North
anything?” Ferry Landing in the morning,
The deputy shook his head. and back up at night. It could have
“Couldn’t tell anything from the been done any time Tuesday, while
wreckage?” he was at work, or even the night
“Not much,” Harlin told him, before.”
leaning against a bank of type. Geoffrey picked up one of Lillian
“Somebody had plenty of dynamite, Spencer’s announcements and stud­
though. Just kept stuffing it in a lit­ ied it clpsely as he asked, “Find any­
tle pocket behind the firewall ’til it thing in that studio of his?”
wouldn’t hold any more.” “Nope. Was hoping we might,
“Anything special about the elec­ too.”
trical lashup?” “Like what?”
Harlin shook his head. “Like you “Like the kind of trash you were
said, any boob could have done it. talking about after little Annie Jen­
Same principle as that practical joke kins’ death last year.”
torpedo someone put under the Geoffrey sucked in his breath,
hood of my patrol wagon last sum­ but if Harlin noticed he didn’t show
mer. Scared hell out of me.” it. The deputy just strolled back to
 warm his hands over the trash bur­ Her manner had perplexed Geof­
ner in the rear of the shop. Geoffrey frey, but what she’d done next had
turned back to finish running off thoroughly shocked him, along
the announcements, remembering with the rest of the island. She’d
the day little Annie, frightened and gone home and hung herself from
shy, had come into his shop. She a peach tree in the back yard. The
and her widowed mom managed ensuing autopsy had disclosed she
to scratch out a meager living with was pregnant.
only a few chickens, a cow and a Geoffrey hadn’t connected up the
garden patch toward the south end two at the time. He still couldn’t
of the island. Annie had been a re­ figure out why she should resent
tarded youngster, but she was be­ her graduation photo. As for the
ing graduated last year anyhow. pregnancy—well, the girl’s mature
Nobody ever expected her to leave figure and slow mind was the sort
the island, and there was no sense of dangerous combination that
humiliating her with flunking could have gotten her into trouble
grades all the time. with any number of boys on the
Annie had stood at the front island.
counter that day, her large, brown Nope. It hadn’t been until six
eyes darting about the shop, and months later that the light dawned,
asked, “You aren’t really going to when young Tim Bowen, a boy
run the pictures, are you, Mr. Bax­ who used to clean up Geoffrey’s
ter?” shop on Saturdays, came home on
“Sure I am; next week, prob­ leave from an Air Force base down
ably,” Geoffrey explained, plan­ in Texas. He’d shown Geoffrey a
ning his annual high school gradu­ little photo booklet one of his bud­
ation issue with pictures of the dies had picked up over in Mexico.
senior class. It was the sort of pornography com­
He thought she’d be pleased, but mon to border towns: photos of
she backed toward the door with naked girls in various poses. One
one fist raised to her mouth, like a of the girls pictured had been Annie
terrified child. Jenkins. Geoffrey had sworn Tim
“Mr. Haspurtin said you would, to secrecy, kept the book, and at the
if I didn’t do like he said. But I first opportunity had shown it to
been kind of sick lately—and Deputy Johnson.
couldn’t.” Geoffrey sighed at these painful
“But that’s a fine picture of you, memories and shut off his press.
Annie. Your ma should be real “You didn’t seem much inter­
proud.” ested at the time.”
She just shook her head, and fled Across the room, Harlin turned
the shop. with a shrug. “Oh, I was interested
all right, but I didn’t have anything starting back toward the front of­
to go on. Just your theory about fice. “Anyhow, Mr. Publisher, you
Haspurtin having taken the picture don’t need to print any more stuff
that ended up in the book, and that about a solution being imminent.
being the photo she was talking to Because it isn’t.”
you about, not the graduation pic­ “Harlin?”
ture. And that maybe Haspurtin The deputy turned at the door.
was holding it over her head to Geoffrey hesitated, rubbing one
make her do certain things.” hand across his nose.
“Like get pregnant,” said Geof­ “What is it,Geoffrey?”
frey. “Oh, nothing I guess. I was just
“Well, it wasn’t a bad theory,” wondering if you consider the case
admitted the deputy. “But where closed, then.”
was your proof? Where was your The deputy stood a moment, one
crime, for that matter? The girl hand on the doorknob; his eyes
killed herself. There was no way on calmly studying Geoffrey. "No,” he
earth to prove who was responsible said finally, “I wouldn’t exactly say
for her condition, and God knows that either.”
the publishers of such trash would­ Geoffrey watched him go out
n’t tell you their sources for it.” and cross to his patrol wagon.
“You told me all that at the time,” The old newspaper man turned,
said Geoffrey with a sniff. “Sound wiping his perspiring palms on the
reasoning, I must admit. What seat of his pants. If he’d been going
makes you bring it up again now?” to spill the beans to the deputy, that
“Lack of motive for what hap­ would have been the time to do it.
pened the other night, that’s what. He’d planned to, God knows. A
When we talked about this before man doesn’t spend a lifetime ad­
I figured even if your theory was hering fearlessly to a code of ethics
right, the girl’s death would have surrounding his profession only to
been enough of a shock to keep turn his back on it when personal
Haspurtin from doing anything consequences were involved. Yet
that stupid again. But maybe I was that’s just what he’d done. Maybe
wrong. Maybe he was up to his old if he weren’t so old; so tired > . .
tricks again, and maybe there was Anyway, he’d decided. Changing
an angry pa, or boy friend some­ his mind for about the hundredth
where.” time, Geoffrey had decided to end
“Or maybe he got so ashamed of it once and for all. He went back
himself that in a fit of remorse he into his shop, past the job press and
decided to kill himself.” Lillian Spencer’s wedding an­
“And maybe I’ll run for Presi­ nouncements; past the long row of
dent next year,” said the deputy, type cases and the flatbed press
36
which had recorded the island’s about his killing. A person would­
joys and sorrows for a quarter cen­ n’t even have to be as slow witted
tury; past the old potbelly trash as Annie Jenkins. He could turn
burner, and into his darkroom. the heads of any number of young
He knelt and groveled through girls, promising to make them fa­
a storage cabinet filled with boxes mous models and getting them to
of developing paper and packets of pose for him. And later, if he had a
film until he found the box he special yen for a gal, he could
wanted, and returned with it to the blackmail her into doing most any­
shop. He opened the stove door and thing. It’d take a spunky kid to say
began feeding negatives into the no.”
flames; negatives of naked girls in “That’s what I figured,” said
various poses. He fed the material Geoffrey with a dry mouth.
slowly, making certain each hand­ “Uh-buh. But supposing even
ful was completely burned before that one of these girls did work up
adding to it. At the very bottom of enough nerve to go to her pa, or
the carton were the 35 millimeter boy friend. I think they’d either
negatives he’d taken from the Has­ bring the matter to me or else try
purtin home. He was holding to handle it personally by beating
them, waiting for the blaze to die the daylights out of the man. I
down, when he had an uneasy sen­ don’t think they’d blow him to
sation. Looking up he saw Harlin kingdom come.”
Johnson in the doorway to the front Geoffrey Baxter removed his
office. The deputy stood with arms printer’s apron and walked slowly
folded, watching him. out to the front office. He slumped
The old man’s hand began to down at his desk.
tremble. “But somebody else might,” the
“Go ahead, Geoffrey,” the dep­ deputy continued. “Somebody who
uty told him softly. “Get rid of it might have known what Haspur­
all.” tin was up to, but had no way of
Geoffrey threw in the remaining proving it. Somebody who may
negatives, slammed the door and have held Haspurtin responsible
rose unsteadily to his feet. for the death of one girl, and feared
“What’s the idea of sneaking something similar might happen to
back in here that way?” he de­ others. Somebody maybe not young
manded. enough or strong enough to physi­
Harlin smiled sadly. “Just satis­ cally whip the man, but who felt
fying my curiosity,” he explained. he had to be stopped; and stopped
“You see, Geoffrey, your theory permanently. Somebody, Geoffrey,
about Haspurtin’s little sideline is who decided to play God.”
the only thing that makes sense Geoffrey opened his mouth, but
then shut it again without a word. the rest of his life he’d have to won­
He sat with hands folded on his der whether he’d done the right
desk, listening. thing in not telling the deputy all
“If all this theorizing is correct,” he knew about Haspurtin. And he
Harlin continued, “if none of the knew plenty, because one day he’d
girls told anyone about it, there’s gone to Haspurtin, confronting the
only three people who might have man with the photo booklet and
suspected what Haspurtin was up what Annie Jenkins had said that
to. Me, and I didn’t kill him; young time in his office. Haspurtin had
Tim Bowen, who died last month blandly admitted his part in the
in Vietnam; and you, Geoffrey.” business and dismissed the girl’s
Geoffrey looked up then, his eyes death as an unfortunate mistake.
moist. “You’re saying I killed Has­ “Unfortunate mistake indeed,”
purtin?” sighed Geoffrey, looking at his
“Nope. I’m not saying anyone watch. He closed up the shop and
did. Haven’t any proof. Like I said, went out to his car, got in, and
I’m just satisfying my curiosity. I drove north.
figured, though, that if Haspurtin’s One thing Geoffrey had to give
little sideline was the motive for Haspurtin credit for: the man had
killing him, then whoever did it nerve. He’d boldly suggested that
might also have the presence of Geoffrey join him in his sideline, by
mind to go through his house and letting him process and store his
get any negatives he might have girly negatives in the newspaper
had. And he’d destroy them, I fig­ dark room, explaining he was nerv­
ure, so none of the folks involved ous about keeping them in his Se­
could ever be embarrassed again.” attle studio. Haspurtin said that in
Geoffrey stared back down at his return for Geoffrey’s cooperation,
hands. he’d pay a substantial fee and prom­
“Speaking as a law enforcement ise to stay away from the island
officer, I can’t say that I’m in favor girls, concentrating instead on
of such personally inspired justice, those in Seattle.
but I can sympathize with how a Geoffrey’s eyes never strayed
man might be driven to it if he fig­ from the road as he drove past the
ured it were the only way.” dark and empty Haspurtin home.
Harlin crossed to the door, He steered carefully down off the
opened it, and turned back. “Like hill and joined the line of cars wait­
I said earlier, the solution isn’t im­ ing to board the ferry which would
minent. I don’t expect it ever to take them across the water for the
be.” night’s high school football game
Geoffrey sat there several mo­ in a small town north of Seattle.
ments after the deputy had left. For As he waited, Geoffrey shook his
head at his own stupidity. He had girls had been snared by Haspurtin.
agreed to Haspurtin’s scheme; not Geoffrey sniffed vigorously into
for the money, but figuring it the wind. He turned up his coat
would allow him to keep an eye on collar, planted his feet and jammed
Haspurtin and make sure the man his hands deep into his pockets. Let
kept his promise. All along Has­ the deputy believe what he wanted.
purtin was just using him, bringing It wouldn’t matter a hundred years
him into the operation to keep him from now.
silent. He hadn’t stopped fooling A movement on the darkened
with the island girls at all. He’d auto deck below caught his atten­
just kept their negatives—the ones tion.
Geoffrey found after the murder— The deck gang had come up­
in his home. stairs. As the solitary figure went
The line of cars moved slowly quickly to the back edge of the
across the ramp. Geoffrey parked deck, Geoffrey Baxter recognized
his car on the auto deck and her: Marline Johnson, the deputy’s
climbed the stairs, then strolled out­ daughter—apple of her father’s eye
side to watch the departure from and those of half the males on the
the dock. A cold wind blew off the island. She opened her purse and
water, and the old newspaper man drew out what appeared to be a lit­
stood by himself at the rail, as the tle booklet. She hurled it out into
big boat churned out into the the water and groped once more
sound. down into the large bag, this time
Abruptly, Geoffrey uttered a dry bringing out a slender tube, about
laugh at the irony of it. The one the size of a stick of dynamite. She
time he had ignored his ethics and threw it after the book, and both
instincts to embrace Harlin’s phil­ disappeared in the boat’s frothy
osophy of letting sleeping dogs lie, wake.
it turns out the deputy was con­ Marline snapped shut her bag
vinced he was a killer. Well, that with a nod of her pretty head,
would be an easier cross to bear turned, and disappeared back into
than knowing who the real mur­ the shadows.
derer was, Geoffrey decided. He Geoffrey Baxter felt a sudden
didn’t want to know. That’s why chill in his old bones. He turned
he hadn’t bothered to go through slowly from the rail and went in­
the negatives, to learn which island side for a cup of hot coffee.

blow-up 39
 he rain was still blowing hard There were four others in the
T against the window o£ the cafe cafe, the counterman and the
and in the filling station next doorDutchman from the flooded farm
the college kids were still on the down the road and the little man
telephone. There were two of them who sat with a pretty, dark-haired
and they were standing in the pas­ girl in one of the booths. Outside, a
sageway between the two buildings, man was trying to start a car on the
and now and then the one who was concrete apron, but after awhile the
not talking came back into the cafe starter ground down and he came
for more change. back in, filling the doorway, his hat

40
FLOOD manhunt
and heavy topcoat dripping water “I was easy to hit,” the counter­
on the scuffed linoleum by the door. man said, and turned away. In the
“It’s dead,” he said, “good and booth, the big man only shrugged
dead.” and went on brushing at the rain­
In the booth, the small man only spots on his hat. The small man lit
nodded. The girl looked almost re­ two cigarettes and put one in a tray
lieved. The big man beat water from before the girl. She did not touch
his dark hat and went to sit with it. He did not seem to care.
them. “Excuse me,” he said to the
“Coffee,” he told the counterman. Dutchman.” We saw a sign. There’s
The counterman checked the lev­ supposed to be a motel around
el of his big urn and draw a cup and here.”
set it on the edge of the counter. “It’s on the other side of the
“Over here,” the big man said. bridge,” the Dutchman said.
The counterman looked at him “I don’t get you.”
for a moment, little points of light “The bridge is under. Didn’t you
growing in eyes half hidden by hear the radio?”
brows that were laced with a net­ The small one shook his head.
work of old scars. Then the light The big one shook his head, too.
passed as quickly as it had come and The girl just sat looking at her small
he came around the counter and set hands.
the cup at the big man’s elbow. “You wouldn’t want to go there,
“Ten cents,” he said. anyhow,” the Dutchman told them.
The big one gave him a dime, “It’s a real dump, and they’d charge
then caught his sleeve as he started you extra on account of the flood.”
to turn away. The two men in the booth just
“I ever see you before?” he asked. looked at each other.
“I don’t think so,” the counter­ “You could stay at my place for
man said. nothing,” the Dutchman said, “only
“You ever fight? In Detroit, may­ you’re dressed too good to wade in,
be?” you and the lady.”
The counterman nodded and In the booth, the men said noth­
went around the counter to ring up ing, and he grinned uneasily and
the dime. pointed to the muddy legs of his
“I fought there, a couple of years overalls, soaked to a point some­
ago,” he said from the register. where between the knee and thigh.
“He done good, too,” said the The small man glanced at him, then
Dutchman, who was waiting to use lit a cigarette from the stub of his
the phone. last. The big one stirred his untouch­
“He don’t look it,” the big one ed coffee. He still had not taken off
said. his overcoat.
 “I just came down to make a “I never seen it rain like this be­
phone call,” the Dutchman said fore,” he said.
lamely. Then he got up stiffly and “No,” Eddie said.
went around the counter to draw a “I got to walk two miles back.
fresh cup of coffee. You think Charlie would run me
By the cash register, the man with out in the wrecker, soon as he gets
the scarred brows let his eyes slide those kids’ car out of the mud ?”
over the three in the booth, old “Sure. Sure he will.”
memories nudging at the fringes of The Dutchman nodded his
his mind. He did not like the small thanks and took a sip of his coffee.
one because he had seen too many Then he motioned back toward the
like him before, in the days before booths.
they had broken his hands with a “Ain’t them some hard lookers,
ball bat for refusing to throw a fight Eddie?”
in Chicago. “I seen harder,” Eddie said, and
The big one thought he had seen went on scraping the grill.
him somewhere but he did not re­ “Well, I never. And that kid with
member him and he did not really them, she looks scared.”
care. He was thirty-six and he had “They’re scarey types, Herman. If
survived very well in the time after she wants to run with them, that’s
they had broken his hands, simply her business.”
by not knowing and not remember­ “Maybe she don’t, Eddie,” the
ing. He ignored the men and con­ Dutchman said.
centrated on the girl, who did now “What?”
know him from anywhere and who “Maybe she don’t want to be with
had nothing to remember. them.”
She was small, he saw, with dark “You got some of this water on
eyes to match her hair, and the thin the brain, Herman. That’s big city
jacket she wore did a bad job of hid­ stuff you’re talking.”
ing the clean, curving lines of her “Well, ain’t they from Detroit?”
young body. Twenty-two, he fig­ Eddie shrugged.
ured. Maybe twenty-three. Or even “Yeah,” he said, “yeah, I guess
twenty-four. You can’t tell anymore, they are.”
he thought. “Well, there is it. Maybe. . .”
“Eddie?” “Listen, Herman, it’s none of
The counterman turned, and the your business. I been there and
Dutchman gave him a dime for the back, remember? You don’t butt in,
coffee. Eddie rang it up and went you hear ? You don’t butt in.”
back to scrape the grill. The Dutch­ “Maybe I should call the . . .”
man followed as far as the door and Eddie put the spatula down and
stood there, holding his cup. swung to face him.
 “Maybe you should go call and something went out of him and he
rent that truck and get your stock turned to the Dutchman.
up out of the water,” he said. “May­ “I’m sorry,” he said.
be that’s what you should do.” “It’s nothing,” the Dutchman
Turning quickly away, he went said, and then he looked back to­
out through the cafe, not looking at ward the telephone, where the boys
the three in the booth, and stopped were just hanging up. He left his
at the end of the passage. worn hat on the counter and
“Hey, you two,” he called. squeezed his heavy old body into
“There’s a man here waiting to use the passage, wheezing from the
the phone.” dampness as he fumbled in his
One of the boys looked over his pocket for a dime.
shoulder and nodded. At the counter, Eddie turned
“They’ll be out of here pretty from the coffee urn.
quick,” Eddie told the Dutchman. “When Charlie gets back, maybe
“As soon as Charlie gets their car he can get you through in the
back on the road, they’ll be going wrecker,” he told the three in the
back the way they came.” booth.
“The road open, back that way?” “We can’t go on without the car,”
the big man called from the booth. the small one said.
“The radio said it was,” the “Maybe Charlie can fix it,” Eddie
Dutchman told him. “You were the said. “Maybe the battery’s just
last to come down.” down.”
“But the road to Detroit is flood­ “Yeah. Charlie can charge it up
ed under?” and we can go on when the water
The Dutchman nodded. goes down.”
“The river’s still rising,” he said. Eddie nodded.
“I . . .” “Maybe you’d like to eat while
“. . . heard it on the radio,” the you wait,” he said. “It’s almost three,
big one finished. and maybe you skipped supper.”
The Dutchman’s mouth snapped The two men shook their heads.
shut and his old eyes narrowed as “Something for you, miss?” he
he debated whether to take offense. asked the girl.
In the booth, the small one saved “I’m not very hungry,” she said.
him the trouble. “Get her something to eat,” the
“Hoover,” he said, “shut up.” small man told him.
The big man’s jaw tightened, but “I’m not hungry,” the girl said
he took it. The small one nodded again, a trace of defiance hardening
toward the Dutchman. Hoover her small chin.
looked at him for a moment, defi­ “Get her a hamburger,” the small
ance kindling in his eyes, and then man said.
 When the girl said nothing, Ed­ “We don’t keep that kind of
die went back behind the counter change,” Eddie heard himself say.
and poured grease out of the sim­ “He’s got him a real classy joint,
mering pot, resting his broken don’t he, Augie ? ” Hoover said.
hands on the wooden rail while it “I like it all right,” Eddie told
began to sizzle in the close silence. him. “I like it just fine.”
He took a fresh beef pattie from the The one called Augie cleared his
locker and slipped it into the widen­ throat and found a dollar bill in his
ing pool of grease, pressing it and wallet.
shaping it with the spatule he used “Keep the change,” he said. “And
to scrape the grill. don’t let Hoover bother you. He gets
By turning orily slightly, he could nasty when he has a headache.”
see the girl in the booth. The small “Maybe he should take an aspi­
man was sitting on the outside, rin,” Eddie said.
blocking her, and he could not see Augie chuckled.
much of her face, just enough to “Yeah, maybe he should.”
catch the unnatural whiteness of it, Hoover didn’t laugh. Eddie could
just enough to see the trembling of see his jaw going tight, felt an old
her lips as she sat staring at her fear rising hard and tight in his own
folded hands. throat. He looked at the girl then,
As he watched, the Dutchman but she had not moved, did not
finished with the phone and went seem to notice the sandwich.
through the station to the garage to “Are you all right, miss?” he said.
wait for the wrecker. Alone then “She’s fine,” Hoover told him, the
with the three in the booth, Eddie edge unmistakeable in his voice.
found himself wishing very hard The girl’s eyes came up then, and
for Charlie, for some sign of the they were like the eyes of a fright­
wrecker with the big red danger ened bird. For a moment Eddie
lights, maybe bringing word that thought she would speak, but then
the water was down and the roads her eyes fell again and she said
were open again. nothing.
“She’s all right,” Augie said. “Just
He took the hamburger over on a little car-sick, is all. She doesn’t like
a plate with the pickle slices ringing to travel much.”
it and then he brought the little pots “The road’s open to the north,”
of mustard and ketchup. He ar­ Eddie said. “Maybe I could get a
ranged it all in front of the girl, doctor down from . .
looking for some sign in her small “Don’t bother,” Augie told him.
face, but she did not even look up. “Pretty soon the water goes down
In the uneasy silence, Hoover of­ and then no one has any problems.”
fered him a hundred dollar bilk “Maybe . .
 Hoover shifted in the booth then, said. Eddie went for it, and from
looked up at Eddie with his eyes the counter he could hear the low,
hard like stones. hard sound of Augie’s voice, half­
“Not to change the subject,” he heard, half understood, and when
said heavily, “but didn’t they call he came back the big man had a
you Soldier Eddie, one time?” packet of pills in his hand, fumbling
“They did.” out two, spilling the rest on the ta­
“I seen you fight once. A nigger ble.
damn’ near knocked your head off.” “Thank you,” Augie said, “for the
Eddie’s flat, dark eyes did not water.”
change under the scarred brows. Eddie said nothing. The low,
“That was Youngblood Thomas,” controlled edge of Augie’s voice
he said, “and I took him in the made him remember things he
ninth.” wanted badly to forget.
“I thought he whipped you,” “He got hurt once,” Augie went
Hoover said. on, “in the head.”
“You must not have stayed for all “It’s nothing,” Eddie said. “For­
of it.” getit.”
I-Ioover shook his head. Augie shrugged.
“I got called away,” he said. “See, we’re booking agents,”
“You should have stayed. Then Augie told him, his manicured
you’d know who won the fight.” hands tracing little patterns of logic
“I thought he whipped you,” in the air,” and Cindy, here, is a
Hoover said again. dancer. We have to get her to De­
Eddie shrugged. troit tonight to fill a contract. We
“The customer is always right,” get delayed, and maybe it makes
he said. Hoover a little nervous.”
“You’re a smart bastard.” “I see,” Eddie said, seeing it all
“That’s right,” Eddie said, warm­ too well.
ing to it. In the long silence that followed,
“Hoover,” Augie said. one of the college boys in the garage
Hoover didn’t hear him. went into the station for a pack of
“I seen a lot of you busted-down cigarettes. He waited, but he did
pugs,” he said, “and I never seen not come on into the cafe. Eddie
one I couldn’t . . .” watched him go back to the garage
“Hoover, we got a job to do!” and swing up to sit on the hood of
That got through, slowly. The the old jeep with the snowplow
fire in the big man’s eyes began to blade in the front.
fade, and before it could come back, “You’re a smart boy, Eddie,”
the little man caught Eddie’s eye. Augie said then. “Why don’t you
“Get him a glass of water,” he just relax and get yourself a cup of
 coffee? Like I said, pretty soon the “I got a few,” Eddie told him.
water goes down and no problems.” “You can forget them, real easy,”
“Yeah,” Eddie said, and went Augie said.
over to the counter, to the urn, like Eddie started to speak, but then
Augie told him, and drew a cup of the wrecker was coasting to a stop
coffee. just outside. He looked once
“And sit over here, this side of the through the misted window, then
counter,” Augie said. “We like you. turned slightly to look at the girl
We like to see you. Right, Hoover ? ” again. Her eyes were on him, plead­
Hoover just nodded, the banked ing and afraid. He felt himself tens­
flames still smouldering deep in his ing, going cold inside.
eyes. Swallowing hard, Eddie sat “Eddie . . .”
down on their side of the counter, It was Augie. He was smiling.
on the stool by the Dutchman’s hat. There was a 357 in his hand. He
For a long time, no one said any­ lifted it above the table just long
thing. Now and then, Eddie could enough for it to register, and then
hear the voices of the three in the he lowered it again, slowly, and cov­
garage, but only dimly. They sat like ered it with Hoover’s hat.
that til the lights of a car came slant­ “Be smart, Eddie,” he said.
ing through the rain. Then the door swung open, let­
“That your buddy?” Augie asked. ting in a spray of windblown rain,
Eddie nodded. and Charlie came in, his chubby face
“How do you know?” glistening wet in the neon light.
“I know his lights.” “I got her out, Eddie. The kids
“All right. When he gets here, you in the garage?”
have him charge the battery.” Eddie swallowed hard, nodded.
“What about the bridge? You “Listen,” he said, “listen, Charlie,
can’t get through.” could you start that Imperial out
“We can go back and pick up the there before you go? These guys are
main highway,” Augie said. late for . . . an appointment.”
“You should have taken the main “What’s wrong with it?” Charlie
road to start with.” wanted to know.
“Maybe we don’t like main “Just wet, I think,” Hoover rum­
roads,” Hoover said. bled. “And the damn’ battery’s
“You talk too much,” Augie told dead.”
him. “Eddie, here, might get the “I’ll look at it when I get back.
wrong idea about us.” Right now, I’ve got to run Herman
Hoover turned, his eyes boring home and get those kids back to
through a screen of cigarette smoke. their car.”
“How about it, Eddie?” he said. “Look, we’re in a hurry,” Hoover
“You got any ideas?” said, reaching for his wallet.
 It was the wrong thing to do. Ed­ the girl. “A smart boy like Eddie
die saw Charlie’s big, open face might keep something besides ciga­
close up tight. rettes.”
“Put your money away, mister,” “I don’t keep my guts in a draw­
he said. “Herman’s got a living to er,” Eddie said.
make, and he sure can’t make it if “Listen to the bastard,” Hoover
all his stock come down sick.” said.
Hoover moved to get up, but “Shut up, Hoover. I like him. Ed­
Augie checked him. die and me, we get along just fine.”
“You’ll just have to wait your “Augie, dammit . . .”
turn,” Charlie said, and then he “Maybe you should take some
was gone. Through the window, more pills,” Augie said.
Eddie saw him climbing into the “I can’t. The doctor said . .
wrecker, Herman and the two kids “Then shut up.”
right behind him. The wrecker’s Eddie watched their eyes meet,
lights swung away then, lighting saw Hoover’s fall away. Reaching
the flooded countryside in one long carefully, he found his own ciga­
sweep before they straightened out rettes and tossed them across to the
and disappeared down the high­ booth. The girl caught them, found
way. a match and lit one. Eddie gave her
“I tried,” Eddie said. a grin he thought was reassuring,
“You didn’t try too hard,” Hoov­ but it only made his face feel stiff.
er said. “Augie, let me . . .” “Augie,” he began, “I been
“You’re giving Eddie ideas around . . .”
again,” Augie said. “We know that, Eddie.”
“We can take care of that. We can “This . . . whatever you’re doing
take care of that real easy.” . . . it’s nothing personal to you
“And the farmer? And those guys, and . . .”
kids? And the mechanic and God “And you got a little dough
knows who else?” stashed away,” Augie finished.
“Ah, hell,” Hoover said. “I’ll try “Yeah.”
to start the car again.” “You ain’t got that kind of mon­
“Don’t bother,” Augie said. ey, Soldier Eddie.”
In the silence that followed, the “That’s right,” Hoover said.
girl looked up from her untouched “I’m talking to Augie,” Eddie
food. told him.
“Could I . . . could I get some “Augie told you all you got to
cigarettes?” she asked. know.”
Eddie started to get up, but “Maybe I didn’t tell him enough,”
Augie’s pistol came out again. Augie said. “Maybe he thinks we’re
“It’s off limits back there,” he told playing some kind of a game.”
 “No,” Eddie said. “You bastard,” Eddie said.
“Well, get this, Eddie. Cindy “Sit down, Eddie, before I blow
signed up to do a job and then she you through that wall.”
backed out. It made some people Eddie sat down, the sickness of
mad, some pretty big people.” defeat rising in his throat. For a mo­
Eddie’s eyes cut to the girl. She ment longer he looked at the little
nodded faintly. man, and then he looked down to
“I thought I wanted to be a danc­ his ruined hands, beaten. In the tight
er,” she said, almost whispering, silence, no one moved til Augie
“but after I signed, they wanted me motioned with his gun.
to ... to do other things. First it “Go see if the wrecker’s coming,”
was hustling drinks, and then . . .” he told Hoover. The big man went
“And then you ran out,” Augie out, disappearing into the rain that
said. “And then some other broads hid the highway, then returned
thought they could run out, too. with a disgusted jerk of his head.
One of them went to the cops and “You want I should try the car
there was a big smell.” again ? ” he said.
“For that you’ll kill the kid?” Ed­ “I told you, don’t bother. We’re
die said. going to have to wait for the wreck­
“Kill her? Who said anything er anyhow. I figure to tie Eddie and
about killing her?” his partner up good and tight and
“Don’t play games with me, Au­ shut down the lights. We’ll be in
gie. Come out with it.” Detroit before they’re found.”
“It’s easy, Eddie,” Hoover said. “Well, dammit, let’s do some­
“She don’t get dead, but she ain’t so thing,” Hoover said. “This waiting
pretty any more. You take some makes me nervous.”
acid, and you put some cotton on a “You get nervous real easy,” Ed­
stick and you dip it and . . .” die said.
Eddie heard Cindy catch her Hoover just snorted.
breath, fighting back a scream even “You know,” he said, “the more I
as he felt his own guts going cold. think about it, the more I think that
“. . . and you draw pictures,” nigger whipped you.”
Hoover finished. “You know it all, don’t you?” Ed­
Eddie was half off the stool be­ die said. “You know it forward and
fore Augie’s gun came up. Hoover’s backward. Well, you can shove it,
was out, too, a blunt, stubby thing Hoover. You know where.”
all but swallowed up in his big “You lousy punk . . .”
hand. He stopped a heartbeat before “Hoover,” Augie said, “maybe
Augie cocked his magnum. you should sit down. Maybe we can
“Easy, Eddie,” die little man all just relax and Cindy can give us
breathed. “Take it real easy.” a little entertainment.”
 Eddie’s flesh crawled at the look “Now, take off your clothes,” he
that crept across Hoover’s beefy said.
face. Cindy took them off. Eddie heard
“Maybe she can give us a strip,” the skirt go first, and while the girl’s
the big man said, “just like old trembling fingers worked at the
times.” buttons of her blouse he looked
“I wouldn’t give you the time of sideways at the two men. Hoover
day,” Cindy said. was staring, his pistol forgotten in
Augie thought about it. his hand, but Augie was looking at
“We got the stuff with us,” he him.
said. “Maybe we could sort of start And smiling.
the job right here.” The blouse was gone in a whisper
Eddie shut his eyes, walling out of silk when Eddie looked back,
the pure terror in the girl’s young and Cindy’s eyes were shut tight
face. as she unhooked her bra. It resisted
“Of course, we’d have to save the for a moment, then fell away, expos­
best parts for the boss, but I don’t ing her small, perfect breasts. Eddie
think he'd mind if we just . . .” felt a catch in his throat as he
Cindy’s face seem to crumple as dragged his eyes away, but again
Augie’s left hand dipped into his it was no good, for Augie still
pocket. He paused, the hand still watched, still smiled.
out of sight, his small, hard eyes Eddie heard the soft clatter as the
mocking. girl kicked off her flats, but he was­
“All right,” Cindy said, so softly n’t looking. He was watching Augie
that Eddie almost didn’t hear. as the little man’s left hand came
“You sadistic little bastard,” he out of his pocket with the taped bot­
said. tle and the cotton swabs. Carefully,
Augie only smiled. Hoover Augie set them on the table. Almost
grinned, but then he caught the as an afterthought, he covered them
light in Eddie’s eyes and his jaw with Hoover’s hat.
went tight. The girl didn’t see. Her eyes were
“Augie, I think . . .” still closed as she stood naked and
Augie cut him off with a wave of alone in the middle of the cafe, and
the magnum. for a long time, Hoover’s harsh
“You keep thinking, Hoover, and breathing was the only sound. Then
one of these days you’ll get dead. she opened her eyes.
Get over by the door and keep an “Can I put my clothes on now?”
eye on Eddie.” she asked.
Hoover went, and Augie eased “Not yet,” Augie said. “The show
out of the booth. He motioned isn’t over.”
the girl to her feet. No one said anything.
 “Eddie’s got a cot in the back.” checking the grill, checking the
“No,” Eddie said. steaming pot of grease at one side.
“You lie. I saw it through the He found the patties in the locker
door.” and laid them on the rail while he
“All right. You saw it.” spilled a litde grease on the hot met­
Augie chuckled softly. al. When he slipped them onto the
“Keep an eye on Eddie,” he told grill, the sudden smell of frying
Hoover. “Maybe you can have him meat made him want to vomit.
fry us up some hamburgers.” “You don’t look so good, Eddie,”
Hoover nodded, his thick lips Hoover said.
pouting a little as he watched the Maybe it was the heavy mockery
little man motion the girl into the in the big man’s voice, or maybe it
back. He watched Augie follow her was the muffled cry of the girl in
in, closing the door behind them, the back, Eddie didn’t know. He
and then he swung back, his pistol hardly felt scalding heat of the
coming up. grease pot as he scooped it up. The
“All right, you heard him,” he first pain was just coming through
said. the ruined nerves of his hand when
Eddie nodded sickly, moved he spun and whipped the scalding
around the counter to the grill. grease into the big man’s eyes.
Hoover sat at the counter behind Hoover screamed and triggered
him, the butt of his pistol resting on one wild shot, and then Eddie had
the worn top. him. Vaulting the counter, he rolled
“If you’re a real good cook, Ed­ under the wavering gun and hit the
die, we might even cut you in on big man with four short, chopping
some of the goodies.” hooks, feeling the betrayal of his
Eddie said nothing. The sight of broken hands even as he heard the
the acid had already told him all he pistol go skidding away behind the
needed to know. Under the trim counter.
suit and the hard cover of his tough­ Hoover was down, but it was too
ness, Augie was only another cheap late to locate the gun and Eddie
punk, and the waiting was getting knew it even before Augie slammed
him, just like it was getting Hoover. through the door in back. He hit the
They were waiting for Charlie, all passage running, a step ahead of a
right, and when Charlie came, they bullet that smashed the partition by
were going to do their job on the the phone, and cut through the sta­
spot and run. And they would tion to the garage.
leave no witnesses. Slipping on the grease-spotted ce­
“Come on,” Hoover said. “Make ment, he ducked behind the snow­
with the food.” plow jeep just as Augie, firing down
Eddie moved then, mechanically, the passage, rang a bullet off the
raised blade in front. Ducking in­ before the sickness caught up to him.
stinctively, Eddie got the door open Later, much later, he walked back
and pawed at the ignition, found through the rain and pushed into
the keys in place. the cafe. Hoover was still on the floor
It was almost too late as he swung by the counter, his seared face twist­
behind the wheel, but the engine ing in pain. The girl, dressed then,
caught before Augie could fire hovered by the door at the far end
again. He saw the little man cut of the cafe, her eyes big on him as
back, heading for the cafe door, and she waited, poised for flight. He
he felt the old trapped, defeated nodded, understanding.
feeling rising in him as he shot the “You better go,” he agreed, his
jeep out into the rain. voice strange in the silence.
Augie was waiting for him, his She blinked, managed a little nod.
magnum coming up even as Eddie “I got a Chevy out behind the ga­
wrenched the wheel over hand. The rage.”
bullet smashed the windshield as the Their fingers touched as he gave
four-wheel drive clawed for traction her the keys, but she didn’t lift her
on the slippery concrete, and then eyes. He was vaguely sorry. He had
he saw the little man, face distorted wanted to see if the fear was gone
in the neon of the sign, trying for from them. But then it was too late.
the cover of the stalled Imperial. She was gone. He watched the
It was too late. Eddie saw the lit­ Chevy’s lights swinging onto the
tle man’s mouth open in a soundless highway and sighed heavily. Maybe
scream, felt the breath of his last she would come back, someday. He
frantic shot across his forearm, and did not know. He was too tired to
then the impact flung him into the care. The time for caring would
steering wheel, driving the wind come later.
out of him as the jeep plowed to a Forcing himself to move then, he
stop. found a dime and went down the
For a long time there was only passage to the phone, ignoring the
the sound of the rain on the canvas pain of his broken fingers as he
top of the jeep, and then Eddie lift­ dialed the Highway Patrol. Then
ed his head. Over the plow blade, he let himself go and slumped back
the flickering light from the cafe against the wall, listening to the dull
played over the crumpled side of the buzzing at the other end of the line,
Imperial, over the thing that had and with the emptiness still big in­
been Augie. side him, he wondered what he was
Eddie almost got the door open going to say.
If you missed any of the past issues of Manhunt you can
still catch up while we clean out our files to make room
for the new issues ahead. The issues available are listed
on the facing page. Supplies are limited... so please hurry.
50/ apiece... or all six consecutive issues for $2.50.
Send cash, check or money order. Use the handy coupon
 HENRY KANE weaves a plot of intrigue and action that

7-64 involves Peter Chambers with the strip dancer, Manaja.

Also along to \eep you on the edge of your chair: foe
Gores, Ed Lacy, W. Engeler, etc.

FLOYD MAHANNAH'S superb mystery, "Kill and Run,"

9-64 is a fast action whodunnit that will keep you guessing

right up to the last paragraph. Also on board: Frank Sisk,
Michael Zuroy, H. L. Greene, etc.

JAMES HARVEY'S novel on the stag film business may

11-64 be fiction, but once you’ve read it you’ll think Vou were
there. Also Robert Page fones, Edward Wellen, R. A.
Gardner and others.

DAVID GOODIS mixes a bitter brew of betrayal and re­

1-65 venge with a dash of brutality and concocts "The Sweet

Taste." Adding to the larder with an assortment of goodies
are: Ed Lacey, Charles Freylin, Will Cotton, etc.

FRANK KANE'S super-tough super-sleuth, Johnny Lid­

3-65 dell, takes a beating in this action-packed issue. And Jerry

Bailey matches a vengeance-bent American airman against
a Communist karate man in "Five Days to Kill.”

JOHNNY LIDDELL is back in the fray, cleaning up the

5-65 mess he was in when we left him, above. Johnny may be

down . . . but he’s never out. Next, squint along the
barrel of an assassin’s rifle in "Kill or Die" by Charles
Freylin.

MANHUNT (4-67)
545 FIFTH AVE.
NEW YORK, N.Y. 10017

I am enclosing Please send me the issues 1 have circled below.

7-64 9-64 11-64 1-65 3-65 5-65

My name is; ________________________________________________

Address:__ _____________________________________________________
City: State:________________ Zip:
 THE
SCAVENGERS
It was a hot and humid mid-summer evening in Pennsyl­
vania. In the twisted wreckage of the airliner two hundred
bodies were beginning to decompose. Agent Castle searched
for an inconspicuous but highly significant attache case.

BY
J. BACHMAN

he S-61 helicopter hacked its Both wings with their jet pods still
T way through the early evening attached could be seen through the
sky. Castle moved close to thebranches. Castle’s eyes followed the
round port and looked down on path of crushed and torn timber to
the green and tan squares of tan­ the edge of the forest. Beyond it, a
gled woodland and cultivated deep gouge ran down into a ravine
fields that made up the Pennsyl­ where the fuselage had come to
vania countryside. The land rest by a muddy creek. The tail as­
curved away to the horizon and the sembly had been cracked loose and
setting sun. It would have been an it hung limply to one side. Scores
epic pastoral scene were it not for of green, white, and blue figures
the twisted and charred remains of were dotted around the wreckage.
Trans American Airways flight Castle knew the greens to be Army
937 that lay scattered on a hillside and the whites to be medics. He
like a handful of junk metal dis­ guessed that the blues were state
carded by a malevolent giant. police.
The chopper glided over the Supposedly, somewhere in the
white pine forest where the airlin­ tortured, steel body of the plane
er had made its initial contact. was a dead man with an attache
 case crammed full of top secret, that the loss of the papers would be
highly sensitive documents. Both disasterous to our security.”
the man and the case had started Castle seated himself in a com­
from San Francisco. They were fortable leather chair near the Ad­
bound for New York and they had miral’s desk. “By now, those TS
almost made it but not quite. The papers are probably blowing
man no longer mattered. It was the across the countryside.”
case that Castle had been sent to re­ “Not very likely,” retorted Hai­
trieve. nor. “The material was put in one
Four hours earlier, he was stand­ of our special courier cases. You
ing by a familiar walnut desk at know the type—steel with a fire­
the Agency in Washington listen­ proof vinyl covering. It was locked
ing patiently while the boss briefed in California and I’ve got the only
him on his mission. The boss was other key. If it’s there, it’ll be in
Rear Admiral William Carlisle one piece with the papers safe in­
Hainor, USN; a short, balding side.”
man with a pinkish complexion Castle’s brow rumpled into a
and a fiery temper. When he spoke, frown. “I don’t like the way you
he made sharp gestures with his said, 'if it’s there,’ Admiral. Some­
hands, shaking the heavy gold body else besides us looking for
braid on his sleeves until it seemed it?”
the stripes would break loose and Hainor extracted a thick cigar
roll across his desk. from a humidor on his desk. He
“It took ’em twenty-four hours dipped it in the flame from a plati­
to do it,” said the Admiral, “but num lighter engraved with two
they finally found the goddam stars. “Security thinks Kirby was
plane. We got the word half an tagged in San Francisco. They feel
hour ago. It came down near some­ that the other side planned to make
place called Schubert, Pennsylvan­ a grab for the papers.”
ia. State police say there are no sur­ “Does Security think the plane
vivors so it’s a prttty safe bet that was sabotaged?”
our man Kirby is dead. Poor son “They’re not sure,” replied Hai­
of a bitch never had a chance, I nor, “and neither is anyone else at
guess, but that’s neither here nor this stage of the game. Two nights
there. What’s important is that he ago it was executing a normal
was carrying an attache case full of flight plan when it suddenly
red hot TS material and we’ve got dropped off the radar scopes. No
to recover it. If we don’t, a lot of radio calls were received. The next
our top priority projects in the Pa­ thing we know, it turns up
cific will be compromised. I can’t smashed to bits in Pennsylvania.
go into details, but suffice it to say Your guess is as good as mine, al­
though I don’t imagine it would indicated Kirby was assigned seat
be very difficult to plant a bomb in 24 in the first class compartment.
an airliner and time it to go off Start there and keep me posted.”
over an isolated area.” “Yes sir.”
“No, I guess not,” said Castle, “if Castle headed for the door as the
you don’t mind killing two hun­ Admiral called after him. “One
dred people to get one man.” last thing, Mark. Watch yourself
“Admittedly, it’s a brutal strata­ up there. If that case is still in the
gem but you can see how effective plane, the other team might still try
it would be. An airliner follows a to grab it. Be sure you get yourself
set flight path and keeps a set and those papers back here in one
speed. You simply figure out when piece.”
it would reach a certain point and The helicopter’s engines in­
time a bomb to go off. The plane creased in pitch as it began to lower
crashes and in the confusion, you itself into a small clearing near the
get an agent into it. He grabs the crash site. On the ground, three oth­
attache case and then disappears er olive-drab choppers squatted like
before the authorities arrive on the giant mantises receiving the basket
scene. No witnesses and no chance litters of bodies shrouded in Army
of capture.” The Admiral was half blankets. Castle felt the slight shock
puffing, half chewing his cigar. as his copter touched down. He un­
“Since there is the possibility of fastened his seatbelt and made for
foul play, it’s imperative that we the door following a working party
get a man up there quick.” of ten soldiers sent to relieve one of
“And I’m the man?” questioned the details presently on duty. He
Castle. jumped to the ground and got out
“Yes,” replied Hainor. “I want from under the airblast created by
an experienced agent on the scene the windmilling rotors. When he
and you are he. One of our Sabre­ reached the edge of the clearing, he
liners will take you from Dulles found a young Infantry lieutenant
Airport to the Indiantown Gap waiting for him.
Military Reservation. From there, “Are you Mister Castle?” he
you can hitch a ride in a chopper queried.
to the crash site. The Army has “Yes,” replied Castle reaching
been tasked with getting the bodies into his pocket and bringing out the
out.” I.D. credentials for the officer’s in­
“When do I take off?” spection.
“The jet is warming up now.” “Glad to know you. My name’s
Castle got to his feet. “Anything Tom Larner. Headquarters radioed
else, Admiral?” that you were on the way so I
“Yes. A check with the airline thought I’d come up to meet you.”
 Castle looked at the young man around his wet face. “Maybe it’ll be
in dirty and rumpled fatigues. His better after dark. Headquarters is
face was smudged with dirt and sending out floodlights and a field
sweat stood out on his forehead. generator so we can work through
Dark shadows were etched under the night.”
his eyes which had obviously seen “Guess I’d better take a look in­
a great deal of carnage in the last side,” said Castle.
several hours. “It’s getting dark. “Suit yourself,” said the Lieuten­
“Let’s get down to the wreck.” ant, “but take a good gulp of fresh
Castle followed the young officer air before you go in.”
down a well-tred path that had been “Right,” said Castle and followed
forged out of the hillside by men the young officer up the ladder past
carrying bodies up from the plane. the curious gazes of fatigued and
“Any survivors?”asked Castle. sweating soldiers who were puzzled
“None. The plane didn’t burn at the presence of the fresh looking
much since the wings and fuel man in civilian clothes. When they
tanks were chopped off up there in got into the fuselage, they had to
the forest, so we’ve accounted for wait for another Utter to be passed
all the passengers. No one got out.” out before they could move for­
“Who found the wreck?” ward.
“State police saw buzzards circl­ “Where you headed?” asked
ing over the area and came to inves­ Larner.
tigate.” “First class compartment,” mum­
“Any idea of what caused the bled Castle picking his way down
wreck?” the debris-filled aisle which fell
“There’s a man from the Civil away at a slight angle. With the set­
Aeronautics Board checking the ting sun throwing weird, red shafts
wreckage now.” through the ports and with the bod­
The two men stopped at the bot­ ies and personal effects strewn
tom of the ravine and looked up at about, the scene made Castle think
the mangled fuselage with its gaudy of a dump shaft going down to hell.
markings mocking the scene. A The temperature and the odor
steep ladder ran up to the aft door helped to complete the illusion.
of the plane and several men were “Twenty-eight; twenty-six; twen­
gathered around it helping to lift ty-four;” said Castle counting the
down a basket litter. numbers on the seats. The body in
“We’re getting the bodies out of seat twenty-four was that of a mid­
the third class compartment now, dle-aged man with thinning blond
said Larner. “Quite a job in this hair and a deep suntan. His mouth
heat.” He took a couple of slow was a red gash of dried blood and
swats at a swarm of gnats buzzing his eyes stared expressionless at the
overhead of the plane cabin. Castle “Probably a goddam psycho,”
leaned forward and moved the lids said Payne mopping his brow with
over the eyes. an already sodden handkerchief.
“Your man?” asked the lieuten­ “Aw, what the hell difference does
ant. it make?” The CAB man turned
“Yes,” said Castle straightening and made his way up the twisted
up and beginning to probe around aisle.
the area. Castle and the lieutenant made a
“What do you hope to find?” thorough search of the first class
“An expensive-looking attache compartment but there was no at­
case about yea big,” replied Castle tache case. Larner obtained a couple
approximating the dimensions with of flashlights and they searched
his hands. “It should be here some­ again after the sun had set but to no
where.” avail. Castle was beginning to think
“Are you a reporter?” asked a that the Admiral’s worst fears had
husky voice from behind. been realized. Since the plane had
“No,” said Castle turning to face not burned, it would have been easy
a crewcut young man in a dirt- for an agent to get into the wreck­
smudged, light tan suit. “Are you?” age shortly after the crash, find Kir­
“This is Mr. Payne from CAB,” by and the case, and get out before
said Larner by way of explanation. the authorities arrived on the scene.
Castle handed Payne his I.D. Castle felt it was time for him to
card. contact the Admiral and let him
“O.K.,” said Payne returning the know the latest developments. He
credentials. “Sorry about the mis­ played the beam of his light over the
taken identity, but I wanted to make compartment for one last time and
sure there were no reporters per­ stopped it on Kirby’s crushed form.
mitted in the plane until the rest of In the bright beam of the light,
my people get here and we complete Castle noted a white band on Kir­
our investigation.” by’s wrist. It was in prominent con­
“What’sup?” asked Castle. trast to his dark suntan. He moved
“It was a bomb,” replied Payne. closer and found that it was a band
“Plastic explosive. Shaped charge. A of white flesh where one would nor­
real professional job. Went off in the mally wear a wristwatch. Even
tail section rupturing the fuselage though it was highly unlikely that
and severing control cables. They the watch could have been broken
never had a chance.” off the wrist in the crash, Castle
“What kind of person would do checked the area around the seat.
something like this?” asked the lieu­ Finding nothing, he called to Lieu­
tenant in an almost absent-minded tenant Larner.
tone. “Ask your men to check some of
the bodies they’re taking out for through this wreck and stripped the
valuables—rings, bracelets, cash, bodies of all valuables?”
watches and the like. Tell ’em to “Exactly,” replied Castle. “It’s
check thoroughly.” been done before. Tell me, lieuten­
“Alright,” replied Larner some­ ant, is there anyone here who knows
what puzzled. He made his way out this area well?”
of the plane. “There’s a couple of state police
Castle propped his flashlight on officers.”
an overturned seat and began to “Good. Let’s find them.”
search Kirby’s clothing. His wallet The crash site was now illumin­
was in his coat pocket but it con­ ated by the brilliant blue-white
tained no money. There was a pack beams of carbon arc searchlights.
of cigarettes in his shirt pocket, but Fresh crews had come to relieve
no matches or cigarette lighter. Cas­ those that had worked throughout
tle grabbed the flashlight and made the day and the procession of basket
for the door of the plane. He climb­ litters continued up the hill where
ed down the ladder and took a cou­ the occasional whine of turbine en­
ple of deep breaths. The air was gines indicated another chopper
thick, moist, and warm—typical of outward bound with its grisly load.
the summer in Pennsylvania—but it Lieutenant Larner led Castle over
was fresh. to a large field tent where two men
Larner came over to where Castle in blue uniforms squatted on the
was standing. "Funny thing about ground drinking coffee from tin
those bodies," he said. “I told my cups. They got to their feet as Lar­
people to check ’em and there was­ ner and Castle approached.
n’t a single article of value on any of Larner introduced Castle as he
’em. No jewelry and no cash. No passed his I.D. credentials to the
nothing. It’s kind of weird. What do two police officers.
you make of it?” “You know this area well?”
“Scavengers,” replied Castle flat­ asked Castle of a tall patrolman
ly. “When we couldn’t find the at­ with sergeant stripes on his sleeve.
tache case, I thought it had been “Yes sir. Born and raised right
taken by certain parties but they around these parts.”
wouldn’t have been interested in “Any people live close to here?”
picking up loose jewelry and The sergeant took a sip from his
money. It seems pretty apparent that cup. “Couple of small farms on the
this wreck was searched and looted other side of the hill, but that’s
by someone else. Probably someone about all. No towns for a good dis­
who either saw the plane crash or tance. Why do you ask ?”
came upon it shortly afterward.” “I think one of the local citizens
“You mean that someone went has been through the wreck and
looted it. There are no valuables on through a stand of white pines to an
any of the bodies.” open cornfield on the slope of the
The sergeant flipped the dregs of hill. Across the field he could make
his coffee cup on the ground. “Well, out the farmhouse. He switched off
that just beat all,” he said disgust­ the flash and pulled the .38 Combat
edly. Masterpiece from his shoulder hol­
“I’d like to check out those farms ster. He flipped open the cylinder
you mentioned.” and saw the six silver cartridges
“So would I,” said the sergeant. gleam in the moonlight. He closed
“We can split up so that all the the weapon and replaced it in the
farms can be covered as quickly as holster. Then, using the flashlight as
possible.” a probe, he made his way through
“What’s the rush?” asked the oth­ the tall corn stalks toward the farm­
er patrolman. house.
“One of our couriers was killed It was a rickety, lopsided, sagging
on that plane and an attache case structure that looked as if it had
containing classified papers is miss­ been washed up the side of the hill
ing. It’s important that it be found by a giant tidal wave and had stood
as soon as possible. Can you tell me where the wave left it for hundreds
how to get to the nearest farm ?” of years. Gray, weatherbeaten
“Sure,” said the sergeant squat­ boards showed through the peeling
ting down. He picked up a stick whitewash and the black tar roof­
and began to draw a rough map of ing hung over the drain gutters like
the area on the soil. He sketched the sheets of black snow. As far as Castle
crash site and located the two farms could see, there was light in only
in relation to it. “Me and my part­ one room of the house so he eased
ner will take this one,” said the ser­ up to the window and peered in.
geant indicating the farm that was It was a dingy room where a
farthest away. Coleman lantern cast a strange
“Good,” said Castle, “Hl take the glow on scarred and dusty furniture
other.” He turned to Larner. “If and a threadbare carpet. In one cor­
we’re not all back here within an ner sat several pieces of expensive
hour and a half, notify the state po­ airline luggage and two or three
lice.” briefcases. At the center of the room,
“Roger.” a young girl was sitting at a heavy
“Alright, let’s get going.” wooden table trying to open an at­
Castle borrowed a heavy duty tache case with a large screwdriver.
flashlight from Larner and made Castle recognized the case. He
his way out of the ravine, over the moved away from the window and
hill and down a narrow footpath on silently approached the door of the
the other side. He followed the path house. It was unlocked and he let
himself in. The girl had her back to the plane. I knew we’d get caught.”
the door and was still trying vigor­ She put her hands up to her face and
ously to open the case. As a result of began to sob.
her concentration, she did not hear Castle pulled another chair up to
Castle’s approach. the table and sat down by the girl.
“You’re wasting your time,” he The light from the Coleman lan­
said. “You can’t open it.” tern was beginning to fade so he
The girl gave a little cry of sur­ pumped up the pressure. “Tell me
prise and jumped up from the table. about it.”
She whirled about to face Castle “What is there to tell,” she said be­
holding the screwdriver tightly in tween sobs. “We heard the plane
her fist as if it were a bayonet. She crash and went up the hill to see it.
was tall, blonde, suntanned and Dad got into the plane and when he
built as only a farm girl could be. found they was all dead, he started
She wore a short-sleeved white taking things. The farm’s been los­
blouse and very short shorts that ing money for years and he thought
gave Castle plenty of opportunity to that he could sell some of the things
admire her long, slender legs. Her he took and we could make a fresh
feet were bare. “Who are you?” she start someplace else.” She took her
snapped. hands away from her face and
“My name is Castle. I came down looked at Castle with moist, brown
from the crash site. Who are you?” eyes. “He’s not a bad man, Mr. Cas­
“Jenney Peters.” tle. He tried to keep the farm going
“You live here alone?” after momma died but he got to
“No,” she said. “I five here with drinking and all his luck turned
my Dad.” bad. Can you blame him for want­
“Where is he?” ing a new start?”
“He went over to the Schaffer Castle put his hand on the girl’s
place, but he’ll be back any minute,” shoulder. “Look, Jenney, you and
she said as if to frighten Castle. your father should go to the police
“What you want here?” and soon. It will be better if you
“For one thing, that attache case,” give yourselves up.”
he said pointing to the table. “The hell it will,” said a gravel
“You a cop?” voice behind Castle’s back. He
“No,” said Castle, “but that case turned in his chair to see a stocky
belongs to the people I work for.” man in blue overalls. His face was
The girl dropped the screwdriver deeply tanned and creased by the
on the table with a bang and then elements but nevertheless featured
slumped down on the chair in the blue-veined nose and watery
which she had been sitting. “I told eyes of the alcoholic. He was hold­
Dad it was wrong to take stuff out of ing a twelve gauge Savage autoload­
 ing shotgun and it was levelled at she deserves better. Well, I’m gonna
Castle’s face. sell that stuff I took from the plane
The girl got up and went to her and we’ll be happy again. This is
father’s side. “I didn’t hear you drive our big chance for a fresh start.”
up.” The bullet came through the win­
“I left the truck down the road dow shattering the glass. It was the
apiece. Just as I left Schaffer’s place same window that Castle had
I seen two state cops on the road. looked through earlier. The slug
Figured there might be some here caught Peters in the chest and
too. Who’s he,” said Peters gesturing knocked him to the floor as if
at Castle with the shotgun barrel. kicked by a horse. He lay uncon­
“His name is Castle. He came scious with the shotgun at his side.
down from where the plane is. The girl screamed and bent over her
Please put the gun down, Daddy. father’s body as Castle came off his
Don’t hurt him. We don’t want chair in a vain attempt to protect her
more trouble.” The girl tried to take from any other bullets. He was half
the gun from her father’s hands but way to her when a man stepped
he pulled away from her. through the door and yelled,
“Leave me be, Jenney. There ain’t “Everybody freeze!”
going to be any trouble. I just need He was tall and thin with a hawk
a little time to think.” face and intense, clear eyes. The
Castle could tell that the farmer kind of eyes that can sight down a
had been drinking recently. His gun barrel and hit a target at five
movements were sluggish and his hundred yards without the aid of a
speech was thick. “Your daughter is scope. He stood in a gunman’s
right, Peters. Put the gun down and crouch with the Walther automatic
we’ll talk this out.” Castle casually trained on Castle. “Back up,” he
moved in his chair to be in a better snapped at Castle. “And you,” he
position to jump Peters if he had to. said pulling the girl to her feet and
“No,” snapped the farmer. “I’ll do shoving her in Castle’s direction,
the talking here. I worked this farm “get over there with him.”
for twenty years. It was a good place Both Castle and the girl moved
once. Good crops. But things been back into a far corner of the room
going bad lately. We got to get away as the gunman checked the body.
from this place and go somewhere “You killed him,” sobbed the girl.
and start new, my daughter and me. “He’s not dead yet,” said the gun­
Maybe I ain’t been the best father in man, “but he will be.”
the world,” said Peters looking at “What do you want?” asked Cas­
his daughter, “but I’m going to tle.
make it up to her for all the bad “The same thing you do, bright
times. She’s a good girl, mister, and boy. The courier papers.”
 “Did your people blow up that to weigh the girl’s safety against the
plane?” contents of the attache case and de­
“Yes, but it was a botched-up job. laying the gunman until help ar­
The bomb went off three minutes rived. He himself could accept
late and the plane didn’t fall where death. It was part of his job. But
it should have. I didn’t get to the the girl was only an innocent pawn
wreck on time. Somebody got there in the game. And yet, if the papers
before me and cleaned it out. This in the case were as important as the
stupid farmer almost caused me to Admiral had said they were, he had
fail in my mission.” He nodded in to do everything in his power to
the direction of the prone figure. prevent them from falling into the
“But he’ll pay for it.” The gunman wrong hands. He gave a quick look
looked about the room and spotted at Jenney and saw her eyes wide
the airline luggage and the brief­ with fear. She was wringing her
cases. He picked up the briefcases hands in nervous anticipation. She
and dropped them on the table near was alone and helpless and only he
the attache case which the girl had could help her, but she lost. She
been trying to open. Keeping his had to. Hainor said he wanted an
gun trained on Castle and the girl, experienced agent on the scene and
he attempted to open all of them Castle was certainly that. “Start
and discovered that each was locked. shooting,” he told the gunman.
“Alright, bright boy,” he snapped The Walther automatic dipped
at Castle, “I haven’t got time to play and took aim at Jenney’s right knee­
around. Which of these cases is the cap but before the shot came, the
right one?” farmer recovered consciousness on
“I don’t know what you’re talk­ the far side of the room and gave
ing about,” said Castle. out a moan of pain. The gunman
“Don’t stall or I’ll kill the girl.” whirled about at the sound and
“You’ll kill her anyway, so what’s fired at Peters. It only took a couple
the difference?” of seconds to do this but when he
The gunman smiled. “I’ll tell turned back to face Castle and the
you, bright boy. I can make her die girl, his only sensation was a roar­
slowly. I got six rounds left. I’ll start ing in his ears and then redness
with her legs and work north. turning to blackness as the slug
That’s the difference.” from Castle’s 38 caught him in the
Castle could tell that the gunman right eye.
meant what he said. He was a pro­ Castle watched the gunman fall
fessional killer, a bit psychotic per­ backwards across the table, knock­
haps, but he was an expert with ing it over and throwing its con­
weapons and was fully capable of tents across the floor. He moved
carrying out his threat. Castle had swiftly to pick up the Coleman
lantern and the attache case. Then you never needed a fresh start. Or
he walked over to where the girl maybe you never wanted one.”
was bending over her father’s body. For a moment, Castle looked
A thin line of dark blood ran out down the years of his life. A life of
one side of the farmer’s mouth and cunning and critical decisions. A
his tanned face was turning to the life of anonymity forever sealed by
greenish-gray pallor of death. cover names and code words. A life
Castle set the lantern on the floor of blood—the people in the plane,
and bent down near the girl. the farmer, the gunman, and al­
“If he hadn’t taken those things most Jenney too. He knew he could
from the plane, he’d be alive now,” probably never change any of it but
she said through tears. “All he there was still a part of him that
wanted was a fresh start. Another wanted to try. He put his hand on
chance. Was that so bad? But I the girl’s shoulder. “I understand,”
guess you can’t understand. I guess he said. “Believe me, I understand.”

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 arry Burns felt lucky. As he to reach any point in the hotel be­
H leaned his tall, spare frame yond the front desk without being
funneled through a bottleneck of
against the thick, glass door of the
Desert Club, he sensed that this was these one-armed bandits.
going to be his big night. The very Normally, Harry would have
walls seemed to vibrate with excite­ stopped long enough to at least con­
ment as he entered the cool, artifi­ tribute the loose change in his
cial atmosphere of the lobby. Be­ pocket. That was the theory behind
yond the desk lay the vast, sunken the floorplan. Indeed, it’s a rare in­
casino area. It was richly carpeted dividual who can resist their silent
and surrounded by leather arm­ call. But Harry did. Not any time
chairs behind wrought iron railings, for nickel and dime stuff tonight, he
so the faint-hearted could observe thought. I’ll eitlier hurt them badly
in safety. or I’ll leave here broke.
He walked quickly down a nar­ This encounter had been on his
row lane between two opposing mind for three months, ever since
banks of slot machines. A smile his company held it’s annual meet­
played across his thin, dark face as ing here last summer. That was the
he observed that it was impossible first time Harry gambled and, like

BY
DALE L. GILBERT

THE
LUCKY
PREY
Las Vegas is a toothy town. For every fish there are a dozen shares.
most beginners, he didn’t know “Pardon me, please,” Harry said,
enough to make mistakes, so he as he elbowed his way through to
won. He’d taken twelve hundred the rim of the roulette table.
dollars of the Desert Club’s money “Change, please—hundreds,” he
home to Anaheim. That was two told the coupler. His thousand dol­
months take home pay; it should lar bill disappeared into a half-inch
have made Harry very happy. It wide slot in the table. Ten flat, white
didn’t. All he’d been able to think plastic tokens were pushed before
about since was the possibility of him by means of the dealer’s limber,
building that twelve hundred into wooden rake. The tokens had, “Des­
some real money. Finally, he could ert Club, $100,” on them.
stand it no longer, so he took a thou­ A hard-looking blond with dark
sand dollars of his winnings and eyebrows appeared at his elbow and
boarded a plane for Las Vegas. His asked, “What’ll you have to drink,
wife, June, asked to come but he re­ sir? Compliments of the Desert
fused. Harry discovered on his first Club.”
visit that successful gambling is “Screwdriver,” he said, smiling.
partly intuitive and required com­ Harry knew it was the policy of the
plete concentration. She gave in at house to keep pushing free drinks,
last when he promised they’d go especially to those playing with
back together just to see the shows, hundred dollar chips. The idea was
if he won big. to keep everybody loose. A drunk
Harry headed straight for the and his money are soon parted, he
nearest roulette table, turning side­ thought. Even so, he did have a dry,
ways at times to thread his way foul taste in his mouth and one
through the mass of people engulf­ drink wouldn’t hurt.
ing each table. He had won before “Twenty-one, black,” announced
by a slow, plodding method at the the coupier in a boored monotone.
crap table. He’d backed the “Don’t There are three narrow bars run­
Come Bar” every play and doubled ning the length of a roulette table.
his bet every time he lost until he Each bar contains twelve numbers,
won. He’d also played the “Field” one third of the numbers compris­
when certain players had the dice. It ing the wheel. The first bar includes
didn’t seem logical but he observed one through twelve. The second has
that some people routinely threw a thirteen through twenty-four and
high percentage of “Field” numbers the last has twenty-five through
while others rarely did. There thirty-six. Noting that the last num­
would be none of that tonight, ber called had been in the middle
though. In no more than half an bar, Harry put a hundred dollars
hour he’d either be broke or a whole each on the first and last bar.
lot richer. The steel ball began it’s mad cycle
around the lip of the wheel. With a He was wearing the same green
flourish, the coupier sent the wheel cardigan that he wore on his last
itself spinning in the opposite direc­ trip. Not that he’s superstitious, just
tion to the ball. Everyone seemed a man who believes in covering all
mesmerized by the blur of the wheel the bases. Now both side pockets
and the metalic purr of the running were bulging with flat, white to­
ball. Harry looked off toward the kens. He had no idea how much
distant piano bar, afraid to watch. he'd won but all of a sudden his
The pitch of the spinning ball be­ knees became weak and he knew it
came lower and lower until the ball was time to quit. The tired-looking
dropped into one of the pockets sur­ girl with the free drinks had re­
rounding each number. It seemed placed his glass several times and
disatisfied with it’s first choice and as he drained the current one he
jumped twice more before it stayed. made a grimace. It tasted bitter—a
“Seven, red.” sure sign that he’d had enough.
Now Harry dared watch as his Quickly, he circled the large
token was raked in by the house room to avoid the crowds and went
from the third bar. Then, two more up to the cashier. Grinning like a
white tokens were placed on top of kid, he piled the tokens on the
his on the first bar. Happily, he counter and was disappointed at the
picked them up and placed two clerk’s apparent lack of enthusiasm.
tokens each on the second and third “I guess you see lots of people win
bars. It’s working, he thought; it’s more than this every night, huh?”
working just like it did on that lit­ “Not too many,” said the cashier,
tle roulette game 1 bought at the still counting. “You got an even
dime store. His method was very eleven thousand here. How do you
simple. Harry merely avoided the want it?”
bar that came up last and covered “It doesn’t matter,” Harry said,
the other two. Since the bars paid weakly. As the bills were placed in
two-to-one, he would always lose on his moist hand, the effects of tension
one bar but pick up two on the other and vodka hit him. He felt weak as
bar. Hours of trials on his little plas­ a kitten and his hands shook notice­
tic roulette game at home had ably. Looking at his watch, he saw
shown that this method would pay that he could still make it on the
far more often than not. By doub­ eleven fifteen flight to Los Angeles.
ling his bets, win or lose, he hoped Hurrying toward the entrance, he
to win a lot of money in a very short rested his hands in his pockets. His
time. right hand encountered something
Twenty minutes later, Harry had hard and smooth—another chip.
a problem. There wasn’t any room The cashier’s cage was on the op­
left in his sweater pockets for chips. posite side of the room now and he
wanted very much to catch that first. There would be enough for
plane and get home. both, he decided.
“Here, I’ll donate something to There was a taxi directly in front
the cause,” said Harry and he tossed of the club and the driver held the
the remaining chip onto the nearest door open and said, “airport, sir?”
roulette table. He couldn’t resist So preoccupied was Harry that he
pausing at the three steps leading up was comfortably settled in the cab
to the lobby level. Looking back, he before he noticed the man seated
noticed the token had landed on with him in the back.
number five. As the steel ball fell As soon as the car swung out into
and the wheel slowed, a gasy arose the busy six-lane street, the heavy-set
from the crowd around the table. man spoke to Harry. “Do you want
Even before the call, “five, black,” ta live ta get on the plane, pal?”
Harry knew he’d won by the cove­ While saying this, he moved nearer
tous looks directed at him. and grabbed Harry’s arm in a vice­
“How about that?” he said, flip­ like grip. He was an immense fel­
pantly, trying to mask his excite­ low, tall as Harry but twice as
ment. The pile of white tokens was heavy.
there, waiting when he reached the “I seen you clean ’em out back
table. There were thirty-six of them, there. Me, I’m not so lucky as you,
including the one he’d tried to dis­ so I figured I’d take what you won.
pose of. Harry was aware that every­ A lucky guy like you, you can go
one at the table was staring at him. back in there and win some more
He nervously gathered up the awk­ anytime, right?”
ward pieces and once again began A wave of nausea swept over
the long, round-about trip to the Harry. “Don’t be silly. Let go of my
cashier’s cage. arm,” he said and struggled vainly.
“O.K., I’m impressed,” said the He glanced up front to the driver
clerk. “That’s gotta be one of the for help but one look at the evil lit­
quickest big hits I’ve seen.” He tle wolf-like face grinning back at
handed Harry a thick pile of hun­ him told him there would be no
dred dollar bills. Shaking his head help from that quarter.
and laughing, he said, “you’re really The huge hand tightened it’s grip
having yourself a lucky streak, ain’t on his forearm. “We can do it two
you, kid?” ways, pal. Give us the money nice
Harry accepted the money rever­ and we drop you off a few blocks
ently and stuffed it in his other from the airport. The other way we
trouser pocket. In a daze, he ambled still get the money, only you never
across the room and out the front get to the airport. You end up out
door, lost in deciding whether to in the desert—dead.”
pay off the mortgage or buy a yacht Harry’s fear gradually gave way
to a stronger emotion—anger! He allow time to glance over his shoul­
thought of all the years it would der at the cab.
take him to save as much as he now As long as the terror persisted, he
had in his pockets. I can buy my felt strong and ran at great speed
own business, he thought; be my without tiring. Some minutes later,
own boss. The money meant many he realized the danger was passed
things to him and they were all and suddenly he could no longer
worth fighting for. stand. He fell onto a cement step at
Looking the brute next to him the rear of a darkened building.
right in the face, Harry said, “O.K., Though the night was warm, he
you can have it.” He leaned over shook violently. A low, animal
sideways against the thug as he moan escaped him, unevenly, in
reached into his pants pocket. The time with his convulsions. He
grip on his forearm let go. He couldn’t stop either the sound or the
brought out two of the precious bills shakes. The terribly stench of burn­
in the semi-darkness of the cab. Un­ ing flesh lingered in his nostrils in
der cover of the bills, he brought spite of the sweet desert air all
out something else—his cigarette around him.
lighter While fumbling in his pock­ Eventually, he regained control of
et he turned the set screw all the himself enough to get up and walk.
way open on the lighter so it would Harry felt an overwhelming desire
give off a high flame. He’d set it that to get out of Las Vegas and that de­
way many times to light the barbe­ sire gave him the strength he need­
cue and as a joke at parties. This ed. Walking several blocks, he ar­
wasn’t going to be funny. rived at a brightly lighted street.
“Here you are; I don’t want any Two more blocks arid there was a
trouble,” Harry said. As the big cabstand in front of a hotel. He
man reached for the bills, Harry climbed into the first cab, after as­
suddenly thrust his right hand suring himself that it was not being
under the other’s chin and flicked driver! by the small animal-looking
the lighter into flame. man who’d been behind the wheel
“Oh, God, don’t!” The thief’s plea of the other car.
became a hideous scream as the des­ “Airport, please.”
perate young man held the lighter “Sure, Mac. Goin’ home a win­
under his beefy, scarred chin. When ner?”
he automatically put his hands to his Harry warmed to the human
chin, they too were burned. Then companionship offered by the cab­
Harry threw open the cab door and bie. His terrifying experience was
jumped. He lit running and man­ already losing some of it’s horror
aged to keep his feet. Darting be­ and he felt that he’d returned to the
tween two houses, he didn’t even safe and sane world.
 “No,” Harry answered, “but I The big man responded instantly
didn’t get hurt too bad so I guess and both men rushed toward the
I’m lucky at that.” He didn’t feel so door.
secure that he was going to volun­ Harry didn’t wait to see the
teer the information that he’d just shapeless, battered face of the other
won over fourteen thousand dollars. man which had so far been averted.
“That’s right,” laughed the driver. “Hurry, get out of here,” he shout­
“That’s the way you got to look at ed. Quickly, he drew back into the
it, alright. If they don’t take you for car and slammed the door, feeling
every dime you got and some you very vulnerable sitting there.
ain’t got—you’re damn lucky. You “Where do you want to go now,
should hear some of the sob stories buddie?” asked the cabbie, casually.
I get on this airport run.” “Just go, please; just go. Down­
The driver narrated several tales town. Take me downtown.”
of fiscal disaster while Harry sank With agonizing slowness, the
back against the seat and relaxed. driver put the car in gear and pulled
“Hey, you asleep? We’re here, away from the curb. The two men
buddie.” who’s been waiting for Harry disap­
“Huh? Oh, yeah. I must have peared into the parking lot. Il was­
dozed off.” Harry rubbed aching n’t hard to figure that they wouldn’t
eyes, attempting to make them fo­ be far behind. Harry stared out the
cus. He opened the door and swung rear window, wondering which of
his long legs out onto the sidewalk. the gleaming headlights behind
As he pulled himself from the low them belonged to the deadly pair
seat of the cab, his gaze swept over who now sought him for more than
the glass-enclosed waiting lounge his money.
and baggage check station before “Look, pal, it ain’t none of my
him. Suddenly, something regis­ business but if you’re in trouble
tered. Something made his heart maybe I can help.”
start pounding against the roof of Harry jumped at the chance to
his mouth all over again. His stare confide in someone. He told every­
settled on two figures. One was a thing that had happened from the
small, thin man in a tan jacket and time he stepped off the airplane, in­
seated next to him was a large, bulky cluding the exact amount of money
man dressed in a dark suit. The big he’d won. The tremor in his voice
man held a handkerchief to his chin. decreased as he talked; it seemed to
Then the small man turned around lessen his peril now that another
and there was no longer any doubt. shared it.
The animal face looked directly at “You’d better drop me off at a
Harry and his thin, cruel lips began police station. That’s what I should
moving silently inside the building. have done in the first place.”
 “Don’t be too sure, pal,” said the help to get home. He’s got a couple
driver. “You know what happens of mugs on his tail, you know?
then ? Remember, you hurt that guy Great! I’m downtown now; want I
and you got no scars to show. It’s should meet you at your office?
your word against theirs and there’s Anaheim. Yeah, California.”
two of them. They may even claim Perry turned away from the
you stole the money from them. phone and addressed Harry. “Sam
Don’t expect the casino to back up says he’ll have to have five hundred
your story; they never seen you be­ bucks for the trip. O.K..?”
fore if it comes to that. At best, “That’s all right,” said Harry.
you’d be held here forever and a day “I’ll pay it.”
until they get the straight of it. An­ “He says O.K. Meet you in ten
other thing, even if everything minutes in front of the Bongo Club.”
works out for you, there’d be a rec­ Perry hung up the phone and, wait­
ord then of your winnings and Un­ ing his chance, swung out into the
cle Sam would come a knockin’ on heavy traffic again.
your door for a big fat slice of the “It’s all set, pal. You ain’t got a
pie. I think I know a better way.” thing to worry about.”
“Let’s hear it.” Soon after they arrived, a five-
“There’s this guy I know who’s a year-old Cadillac pulled in behind
private dick, see? He’s good. If he them. Out stepped a small, thickly
ain’t busy, maybe I can get him to built man dressed in dark trousers
run you home and give you protec­ and a tweed sports coat. He even
tion, too. Want me to give him a looks like a detective, Harry
call?” thought. He walked briskly over to
With an audible sigh of relief, the cab and bent down at the driv­
Harry said, “Yes, call him, please. er’s window.
That’s just what I need. You say “How’s it going, Perry?”
he’s a friend of yours?” “Not bad, you know. But there’s
“Sure, this ain’t the first time I a guy with a problem.” He indi­
brought him customers. It’s a crazy cated Harry with a nod of his head.
town.” Sam opened the back door and
Somehow, it helped Harry, to motioned him to get out. “Well, let’s
know that he wasn’t the only one get started. Whatever your problem
things like this happened to and is, the sooner we get out of town,
there was a way out. The cab pulled the better. Right?”
to a stop beside a pay phone set even Harry stepped gingerly out of the
with the curb specifically for motor­ cab. His legs seemed barely able to
ists. support his weight. “1 can never
“Sam? This’s Perry. Yeah. Lis­ thank you enough for your help,”
ten. I got a fare who needs your he said to Perry as he supported
himself on the fender of the cab. and you look pretty beat. It may
“Here, you earned it.” He handed help you to know I’ve made similar
Perry two one hundred dollar bills runs at least half a dozen times and
and hurried around to the other side I never lost a client yet.”
of the Cadillac. He waited several “You can’t know how great it
minutes while Sam talked to Perry; feels to get out of there. I am just
he couldn’t hear what they were about all used up.” Within five min­
saying. utes, Harry was sound asleep.
“Mind if I ride up front with “Huh? What?” Harry struggled
you?” he asked when Sam got in to wake up. He rubbed his left
behind the wheel. shoulder and vaguely wondered
“No, that’s fine. Now listen,” he why it hurt so. The car was stopped
said as he manuevered the big car and as he sat erect in the seat, all he
deftly through traffic. “It’s none of could see was desert. There didn’t
my business why you’re hot. All I seem to be a road anywhere.
need to know is what and who to “I said wake up, pigeon.”
be on the lookout for. Fill me in.” Harry turned toward Sam and
“One of them is a big bruiser with found himself staring into the maw
a bent-up face, an ex-boxer. The of a wicked-looking black hand
other guy is shorter than you, thin, gun. Sam nudged him again, cruel­
face like a sneaky animal.” ly, in the shoulder with the barrel
“What kind of car are they driv­ of the weapon.
ing?” asked Sam. “Out,” he said impatiently.
“They were in a cab, just like “Where are we ? What are you go
Perry’s, earlier but I don’t if they’re ing . . . ?”
still using it or not.” They were be­ “Don’t you know, chump?” Sam
yond the city limits now, just pass­ shook his head, disgustedly. “You
ring the airport where he nearly should have stayed at home, kid.
walked into the trap. They passed Did you really expect me to deposit
the field and when no car pulled you safely on your doorstep with
out to follow, he felt absolutely safe over fourteen thousand bucks stick­
for the first time in several hours. in’ out of your pockets? You poor
“You don’t have to worry,” Sam stooge. Move away; over there to­
said. “Even if they are still waiting ward the gully. Fast!”
for you back there, they couldn’t “How did you know ?”
jknow you were still in this particu­ “Perry and me work together. He
lar car.” filled me in back there. I know the
“That’s right. I guess I’m pretty exact amount because you’re such a
shook up.” sound sleeper.”
“Relax,” Sam urged him. “It’s a “You’ll never get away with it.
long trip, nearly four hundred miles Surely it isn’t worth risking for only
a few thousand dollars.” Harry above the rocky, desolate ground.
spoke in spurts, his throat was tied Every detail of the stark landscape
up in knots of spasm. stood out in the metalic lunar light.
“I’ve done it for a lot less, kid. As The crunch of the gravel under
for the chances of being caught, Harry’s feet sounded loudly and the
don’t worry so much about me. whole scene seemed quite unreal.
This desert is about as empty as any “Listen, let’s stop and . . .” Har­
place can be. Of course, we have to ry’s words were drowned out by the
come out farther now than we used loud roar of the black, snub-nosed
to. If the public only know how revolver Sam held leveled at his
many stiffs they found when they chest.
bulldozed some of those subdivi­ Sam approached the body and
sions outside town lately. Of course, rolled it the remaining few feet to
that wouldn’t be good for tourism the edge of the ravine. One final
so nothing ever gets out.” kick and it skidded down into a
“Wait, there’s plenty; I’ll give you thick tangle of sagebrush at the bot­
. . .” Harry stopped short when his tom.
hands thrust into empty pockets. “There you go, Harry; join the
The incredibly bright desert moon other lucky winners I’ve helped
seemed only a few thousand feet out.”
 he parade started late, as all the parade marshal sweating it out
T parades do. There was the usu­ in his limousine and scowling at
al confusion, with bands musterhis
­ wristwatch. And there was the
ing on the wrong street corners, usual search for visiting dignitaries,
floats getting stuck in the traffic finally discovered in a nearby sa­
jam, and drum majorettes de­ loon. That was why John J. Malone
tained at the last minute by snap was able to catch up with the pa­
and elastic failures in strategic rade after it had progressed only a
areas. There was the customary block or two from its starting point
mix-up in the line of marching or­ at Michigan Boulevard and Roose­
ders, with division captains run­ velt Road.
ning up and down waving their For the little lawyer, too, had
arms and blowing whistles, and been detained. Finding a rental out­

Copyright 1953 by Flying Eagle Publications, Incorporated.

A MANHUNT CLASSIC

BY CRAIG RICE

the
dead
undertaker
Well, thought Malone as he too\ a swig from his hip flas\, if I’ve got to die ...
I’ve picked the right place. He was surrounded by undertakers.
fit that would trust him for a frock The cops had figured that Gerasi’s
coat, a high hat and a pair of patent Funeral Home had been supplying
leather shoes without the formality the names for the fraqd. But Gerasi
of a cash deposit was not easy on had turned honest, and passed the
such short notice. That was the list on before he’d been killed. Now
formal regalia of the Oblong Malone had to get the list to the
Marching Society and to have ap­ cops. But it had to be on the q. t. If
peared in anything else would have the gang found out about it Ma­
made him look conspicuous. Some­ lone, and Rico’s friend, might both
where along the line of march one be Rico’s customers.
of the marchers was to slip him a His friends on the papers would
list of names and one thousand thank him for a list like that, Ma­
dollars in cash. lone knew, but he also knew that
“What do I have to do for the gangsters and crooked politicians
money?” Malone had asked Rico took a dim view of informers. He
de Angelo. Rico was an undertak­ would only be taking the heat off
er, a relative of Joe of Joe the An­ Rico’s friend and putting it on
gel’s City Hall Bar. “You don’t himself. Still, a thousand dollars
have to do anything,” Rico had was a thousand dollars. He had a
told him on the telephone. “All date with a blonde that night.
you have to do is keep this guy’s There was also the office rent, three
name out of the newspapers.” months overdue, with the landlord
“Why?” Malone said. breathing down his neck. A thou­
Rico hesitated. Then he said, sand dollars would very nicely
“Remember the Gerasi murder? take care of both emergencies. He
Well, this friend of mine, he was a could depend on the boys at the
friend of Gerasi’s too. And Gerasi city desks to keep his own name
gave him this list of names before out of the papers, he assured him­
he was killed. Gerasi wanted him self. Besides, there was his duty as
to give the list to the cops. But a lawyer to help the innocent, and
when Gerasi got killed, my friend this guy was an innocent party to
got scared. He wants you to take the fraud—he hoped.
the list and give it to the cops, Ma­ Third row from the front, fourth
lone. He wants to stay out of it.” guy from the left, facing front, the
Simple. Just a shade too simple, guy with the red face and the gold
Malone told himself as he hung up tooth. That was how Rico had
the receiver. The newspapers had identified the client. Now, what
been running black headlines for with the hot Chicago sun beating
weeks about ballot box frauds in down from above and the sizzling
the spring elections. Ghost voters. asphalt giving him the hotfoot
Names taken from the cemeteries. from below, the instructions were
getting a bit fuzzy in his mind. was beginning to make him dizzy.
Fourth row from the front, third He was about to give the whole
guy from the left, or was it third thing up when he spied the flash
row from the left, fourth guy from of a gold tooth and quickly fell in
the front—no that couldn’t be it. line beside the red-faced guy, a ma­
Something about facing front. He neuver that brought a polite “Par­
had been following the contingent. don me” from the jolly little fat
The thing to do was to hurry up man he had bumped out of place,
ahead of it and count facing it. Ma­ and an oath from the big, sad-faced
lone hated walking, anywhere, any man who reminded Malone of the
time, for any reason. Besides, his hound dog Hercules he had once
feet were killing him in the rented befriended up in Jackson County,
patent leather shoes. Maybe he Wisconsin, the one whose feet hurt
shouldn’t have reinforced himself him.
quite so much from the bottle in Now there was only one thing
the emergency file in his office be­ left to do. Wait for the red-faced
fore leaving. Under forced march guy on his right to slip him the
he managed to get up ahead of the fraudulent voting list and the one
marchers and, turning around to thousand bucks. That was to hap­
face them, walking backwards, he pen when the close order drill band
scanned the lines. Yes, that was it. of the Oblong Marching Society
Third guy from the front facing struck up, “How much wood
left—Oh, the hell with it. One could a woodchuck chuck if a
thing he did remember. Some­ woodchuck could chuck wood,”
where in that weaving line of faces Rico de Angelo had informed him
was a red-faced guy with a gold on the telephone. That was to be
tooth and one thousand dollars. the signal for him to edge over to
Never look a gift horse in the the guy with the gold tooth and re­
mouth, Malone reminded himself. ceive the list and the money.
Especially one with a gold tooth. Keeping up with the steady tread
The girls’ band from Blooming­ of the marchers, face front, Malone
ton struck up with a deafening ren­ stole a look out of the corner of
dition of John Philip Sousa’s Wash­ his eye at the man with the red
ington Pest March. The particular­ face. He looked the way any re­
ly curvacious drum majorette do­ spectable undertaker would be ex­
ing cartwheels momentarily took pected to look. His frock coat was
Malone’s mind off his work. A vis­ well tailored with an expensive
iting dignitary hurrying to catch Capper and Capper cut to it. His
up with his place in the line of top hat was of the glossiest silk and
march shook Malone’s hand and sat well on his well-groomed head.
disappeared. Walking backwards The expression on his face was the
one every undertaker wears when money that was about to be'passed.
the last notes of the organ music The red-faced guy was sticking his
are dying away and he steps up to neck out a mile, playing informer
the coffin to invite the mourners to on the voting fraud gang. Where
file past for a last look at the re­ there was a neck that long there
mains. was probably an ax somewhere in
Solemn. Serious. But nervous. the vicinity, waiting for a chance to
You could tell he was nervous by strike. A cute little Colt automatic
the too-rigid way he kept his eyes in the pocket, maybe, with the
fixed ahead of him, afraid to look safety off. Or a shiny Smith & Wes­
either to the right or to the left. son .38 with a sawed-off barrel, un­
Afraid to betray by so much as the der one of these respectable frock
flicker of an eyelash that he was coats. And they could be aimed
even aware of Malone’s sudden and straight at the red-faced guy, ready
unceremonious appearance in the to fire the minute he made one sus­
line beside him. The sweat that picious move. Or aimed at him,
glistened on his forehead might Malone reminded himself ruefully.
have been from the heat, but it Either/or—or both.
stood out in shiny explosive little You don’t pick up a hot list of
beads—fear sweat. Yes, he was names and a thousand bucks easy
scared. The red-faced man with money without putting yourself in
the gold tooth was scared stiff. And jeopardy, the little lawyer reflected,
he wasn’t the only one. There was and wiped the sweat from his brow.
a feeling of tension all around him, Who was the jeopard ? The little fat
Malone felt. It showed itself when, guy on his left? He didn’t look it,
during a lull in the band music, the but appearances could be deceptive.
jolly little fat man on his left gave Malone remembered the jolly little
out with the first six notes of “Don­ man in the Hanson ax-murder case
na E Mobile”. The big sad-faced on the South Side. He turned out
Hercules behind him promptly to be the coldest, most murderous
squashed him with a “Shet up!” killer he had ever tangled with.
and the red-faced guy winced all Could it be the hound-faced Her­
over like a spastic. cules who was marching directly
Yes, there was tension in the behind him? There was something
ranks. But definitely, Malone told sad, even gentle, in the pouchy
himself. It set him to thinking. droop of his eyes. When he said,
What assurance did he have, after “Shet up!” to the jolly guy who
all, that he and the red-faced man wanted to sing “Donna E Mobile”
with the gold tooth were the only it was more in sorrow than in an­
ones in the line who knew about the ger. A tired, weary, beaten-down
incriminating fist of names and the “Shet up!” rather than an angry
 one. Just the same it could be either It was a good thing he had forti­
one of them. You couldn’t tell fied himself in time, for it wasn’t
about people. two minutes later, at the intersec­
No, and you couldn’t tell about tion of Michigan Boulevard and
places, either. The middle of a street Randolph Street to be exact, that
parade didn’t seem like the kind of the band leader of the Oblong
a place a gangster would pick to Marching Society blew a shrill blast
commit a murder. But neither did on his whistle and the band struck
the corner of State and Madison, up:
‘the world’s busiest street corner,” “Flow much wood could a
and yet that was where death had woodchuck chuck
caught up with snuffy little Joshua If a woodchuck could chuck
Gumbrill. Right in the middle of wood.”
the noon-hour rush, too. And the Malone sidled over slowly toward
killer had made a elean getaway in the red-faced guy on his right,
the milling crowd. ready for the pass that was to de­
Yes, it could happen here. And it liver the list of names and the
could happen to him. money into his hand. Then some­
He had come away from the of­ thing happened that wasn’t on the
fice unarmed, with nothing dead­ program. The girls’ band from
lier on him than a half pint of Bloomington just behind them
whiskey in his hip pocket. Not that gave out simultaneously with:
he ever used it—a gun, that is—but ‘Oh, the monkey wrapped his
it was always comforting to know tail around the flagpole.”
it was there if you needed it. For The resulting disharmony and din
that matter, the same could be said threw the whole column out of
for the half pint, Malone reminded step. Everybody stopped and
himself. He wondered if it was turned to scowl at the bunglers. In­
strictly according to the manual of stinctively Malone turned too. When
close order drill or the by-laws of he turned back again the red-faced
the Oblong Marching Society to man was no longer beside him. For
summon liquid reinforcement in a second Malone stared about him,
the line of march. Just then a bewildered. Then he looked down
woman fainted from the heat in the and saw that the man had collapsed
watching crowd on the sidewalk on the street.
and, while all eyes were on the He lay on his back and he was
scene of the accident, he raised the gasping for breath. Immediately the
bottle to his lips with a quick, prac­ marchers closed around him.
ticed gesture that had long ago “Give him air,” somebody
made his the most celebrated elbow shouted. “Can’t you see the man’s
at Joe the Angel’s City Hall bar. fainted?”
 The parade came to a dead stop Von Flanagan turned the man
as the marchers carried their fellow over on his stomach. A wet patch
member off the street, through the was spreading over the black broad­
crowd and into the lobby of the cloth of his frock coat. The stone
corner building. He was still gasp­ floor where he had lain was wet too.
ing for breath as they laid him And bright red. Von Flanagan
down on the floor, fanning him pulled the coat up over the dead
with their top hats and debating ex­ man’s head and ripped off his shirt.
citedly about the best way to handle In the middle of his back below the
a case of sunstroke. By the time the shoulder blades and a little to the
police shouldered their way left was a neat bullet hole.
through the crowd he had stopped “Drilled through the heart,” von
fighting for breath and lay quite Flanagan said. He rose and looked
still. Too still, Malone thought. He around him at the frock-coated
knelt down and reached for the brethren.
man’s wrist to feel his pulse. As he “Didn’t anyone hear a shot?” he
did so he heard a familiar voice be­ demanded.
hind him. They looked at one another in
It was Captain Daniel von Flana­ dumb amazement, shaking their
gan of the Homicide Division. heads.
“Well, if it isn’t John J. Malone, “I was right next to him,” Malone
attorney and counselor at law. And said. “I didn’t hear any shot.”
since when, may I ask, have the un­ But this time the lobby was
dertakers been taking lawyers into crawling with cops.
membership?’ “Nobody leaves here till I say the
“Honorary membership,” Ma­ word,” von Flanagan called out to
lone began lamely, and then, “Don’t them. “And you, Malone, I want to
ask foolish questions, von Flana­ have a word with you. In private.”
gan. A man’s fainted from the heat Malone followed von Flanagatf
and we’ve got to get him into an to the storeroom behind the lobby
ambulance.” cigar counter. The Captain’s face
Von Flanagan bent down and felt was red with a hot Irish anger. His
the man’s pulse. Then he turned. eyes narrowed as he looked down
“Fainted, did you say? Fainted at the little lawyer.
from the heat? Malone, this man is “Malone, what do you know
dead.” about this? I’m putting you all un­
“Heart failure,” someone in the der arrest. You and this whole Ob­
crowd said, and for a moment Ma­ long Marching outfit. I’ll sweat it
lone was almost prepared to believe out of you if I have to—”
it. That red face. The way he had “If you’ll take the advice of an old
gasped for breath. friend,” Malone said, “you’ll let the
parade proceed as scheduled, with­ —and innocent people are going to
out another minute’s delay. You’ll get hurt.”
order every member of the Oblong “Wait a minute, Malone.”
Marching Society to take his place “I’ll point some buy out to you,”
in line just exactly where he was Malone said. “You’ll put the guy
before this thing happened. First, under arrest in full view of the
though, I want your permission to whole crowd. Then you’ll order the
go through the dead man’s pock­ rest of them back into line and let
ets.” the parade go on. After you take the
“What for?” suspect into custody you and your
“I’ve got my reasons, but I can’t boys will do a fake vanishing act.
tell you now,” Malone said. “There Stay out of sight but not too far out
isn’t time. You want to catch the of reach. I might need your help.
killer, don’t you?” When the killer starts shooting
“Somebody drilled him from be­
hind,” von Flanagan said. “All I The captain’s face lighted up
want to know is, who was march­ with its first faint ray of under­
ing directly behind this guy ? What standing. Then he shook his head.
I can’t figure is why didn’t anybody “No. No, Malone, I can’t let you do
hear the shot?” it. No friend of mine is going to
“The noise,” Malone said. “The make a clay pigeon out of himself.”
bands got their signals mixed and But the Captain quickly let the
two of them started up the same little lawyer talk him into it. Too
time. You could have shot off a can­ quickly, for such a devoted friend,
non and everybody would have Malone thought afterwards.
thought it was part of the program. Back in the lobby again Malone
Now, if you’ll order the members went through the dead man’s
back into some sort of formation—” pockets looking for the hot list and
“Maybe you’ve got something the money. There wasn’t a sign of
there,” von Flanagan said. “And the anything like a list anywhere on his
minute I see who the guy is that person. The only money was a few
was marching behind the murdered crumpled bills in his pants pocket.
man I’ll order him searched and Could it be that the killer had mur­
put under arrest at once.” dered the wrong man ? Or had the
Malone said, “Listen to me, von red-faced guy been scared out of the
Flanagan. You won’t do anything deal at the last minute?
of the kind. If he committed one He rose to his feet, hiding his dis­
murder he won’t hesitate to commit appointment and confusion behind
a second murder—this time to wipe a mask of smiling confidence.
out the evidence of the first mur­ “There’s your man,” he told von
der. He’ll try to shoot his way out Flanagan, and pointed to a bewil-
derde, professional guy in the hadn't noticed him before. Then
crowd. The others fell back in the reason dawned on him. Who
amazement as von Flanagan’s cops would figure the fat man for a kil­
clapped handcuffs on the man and ler? A jolly little guy singing
went off with him. “Donna E Mobile.” That was why
Von Flanagan addressed himself the gang had picked him, Malone
to the crowd. realized—he looked like anything
“Now I want everyone of you to but a killer. But if the little fat guy
fall in line again, just the way you had committed the crime it was go­
were before this happened.” ing to be hard to convince a jury
They filed out of the lobby and of it, unless he was taken inflag-
took their places in the parade rante delicto with the murder
again. Malone noted that his high weapon still smoking in his hand.
hat lay on the street, a battered That was precisely what he had
mess, where the marchers had let himself in for, the little lawyer
trampled it underfoot in the excite­ reflected ruefully. A sitting—or
ment. He wondered how much that rather, a marching—duck. A wad­
was going to set him back with the dling duck—his feet were killing
rental people. Beside it lay the dead him, and the dead man’s hat sat on
man’s hat. It had miraculously es­ his head like a tin can on a post. A
caped being stepped on. Malone perfect target for a pot shot, if the
picked it up and put it gingerly on fat man happened to miss this time.
his head. It didn’t quite fit, but he If he didn’t miss, if his aim was as
figured it would have to do. He good on the second try as it was on
wondered if the rental people the first, then he, John J. Malone,
would accept the substitution. attorney and coussellor at law, was
At a signal from von Flanagan a dead duck.
the band leader blew his whistle It was a sobering thought and the
and the band struck up “The Stars last thing he wanted just now was
and Stripes Forever.” The parade sobering thoughts. He reached into
began to move once more up Mich­ his hip pocket and brought out the
igan Avenue. Murder marches on, reinforcing fluid. Let the members
Malone muttered to himself as he of the Oblong Marching Society,
looked uneasily to his right at the and the million spectators along the
vacant spot where only a little while line of march, too, for that matter,
before the red-faced man with the think what they pleased of an un­
gold tooth had been marching be­ dertaker taking a drop of liquid
side him. nourishment in public. He was
He stole a backward glance at the damned if he was going to die of
man who was marching behind the thirst just to uphold the reputation
vacant spot, and wondered why he of the undertaking profession.
 The band struck up a Sousa even taken the precaution to “palm”
march and Malone, in an effort to the papers as he was searching the
add further support to his drooping red-faced guy, just in case the killer
spirits, raised his voice in song. was watching him, which he prob­
“Be kind to your flatfooted ably was. In short, he had done ev­
friends, erything he could to put himself on
For a duck may be somebody’s the spot for anybody intent on ob­
mother, taining possession of the hot list.
They live in deep marshes and If that was what the killer was
fens, after—and what else could it be?—
Where it’s damp—” he was certainly a desperate man to
“Shet up!” said the sad-eyed Her­ be taking such chances right out in
cules behind him. the open. Only one thing could ex­
“What’s the matter with my sing­ plain it. He was one of the gang of
ing?” Malone replied without turn­ racketeers who had muscled into
ing around. the Oblong Marching Society as a
“It stinks,” said the sad-eyed man. source of cemetery names with
Malone decided that the man had which to help the crooked politi­
no ear for music. cians stuff the ballot boxes. They
The Oblong Marching Society. were probably using the Society,
The name was probably meant to too, as a respectable front for plenty
suggest the shape of a hearse. Or of other rackets. Obviously the kil­
was it a coffin? He dismissed the ler had been hand-picked by the
thought from his mind. This was mob as the fall guy for this danger­
no time to be thinking of hearses or ous assignment. His orders were
coffins. “Get those papers, or else.” He was
When was it going to happen? right smack between the blue-bar­
Was the killer going to fall for the reled service automatics of von
decoy? He was probably weighing Flanagan's boys and the sawed-off
his chances right now. He had shotguns of the mob.
killed one man and he probably had Malone was almost sorry for the
the murder weapon on him this guy. He was even a bit sorry for
very minute. What would he have himself. Where were von Flana­
to lose if he killed a second man? gan’s boys? He had warned the
They couldn’t kill him twice. And Captain to keep his man out of
there was always the chance that he sight but not out of reach. March­
could make a get-away in the ex­ ing with measured tread to the mu­
citement. So far as he knew the in­ sic of the band—a bit unsteadily
criminating list was now on the now, to be sure—he was listening
person of John J. Malone, who had for the reassuring purr of police
searched the dead man. Malone had motorcycles. He told himself he
could hear them, ever so faintly, in hat. He looked up at the sad-eyed
the distance. He hoped, not too far Hercules whose shove from behind
distant. had pushed him in the nick of time
He was lost in these reveries out of harm’s way.
when suddenly the drum and bugle “I owe my life to you,” he said.
corps of V.F.W. Post No. 9 just up “Do you mind if I buy you a
ahead broke into: drink?”
“How much wood could a wood­ Ten minutes later at Joe the An­
chuck chuck gel’s City Hall Bar the little lawyer
If a woodchuck could chuck sat brooding, head in hand, on the
wood.” turn of events that had left him
This is it! Malone told himself. with nothing to show for his pains
The next instant he felt himself but a bullet-pierced high silk hat
pushed from behind and when he that he would have to pay for when
looked up from the asphalt the he returned the outfit to the rental
scene that met his eyes was one of people. No hot list. No thousand
pure pandemonium, uncut and un­ dollars. Two tired feet that felt like
refined. The jolly little fat man was half-raw, quick-fried beef in the
struggling in the grip of a dozen tight patent-leather rented shoes.
arms and von Flanagan’s cops were And a headache from the dead
converging from all sides with si­ man’s ill-fitting hat.
rens moaning, cut-outs blasting the The sad-eyed guy wasn’t proving
air like jet fighters. In less time than to be much of a help either, sitting
it takes to tell it the culprit was in there and staring moodily into his
handcuffs and being led away to the beer. Malone ordered up another
waiting squad car.s double rye. He turned to the sad­
“You did it,” von Flanagan told eyed one and said for the dozenth
Malone. “You did it and the depart­ time, “I owe my life to you. Can I
ment owes you an apology for ever buy you another beer?”
suspecting—” The dour one shook his head.
“The department owes me more “You don’t owe me nothin’,” he
than an apology,” Malone said. He said sourly.
examined the silk topper. It had a This was a hell of a note. A guy
bullet hole on each side of it. “How saves your life and when you offer
much,” he asked, ‘do you think it’s to buy him a drink he insults you
going to cost me to replace one of by ordering one beer and refusing
these things?” a refill. This was one more frustra­
Von Flanagan shrugged and, tion in a day that had been nothing
after a congratulatory handshake, but frustrations. This was the last
took his departure with the squad straw.
car. Malone was left holding the “Bring this guy a double rye,” he
said to Joe the Angel. “Give him feet the sad-eyed Hercules had dis­
two double ryes, Joe. And a beer appeared in the sidewalk crowd.
chaser.” Malone picked up the battered
“In your hat,” said the sad-eyed topper and as he did so his fingers
one. encountered something bulging in
“Nobody talks like this to my the hat-band. He reached in and
friend Malone,” Joe the Angel said. pulled out a sheaf of carefully
Malone said, “You keep out of folded sheets. They were covered
this, Joe. I owe my life to this man. on both sides with close-packed sin­
The least I can do is buy him a gle-space names. He dived into the
drink.” hat-band and this time he came up
“Then let him drink up,” Joe the with a little sheaf of crisp hundred
Angel said. He set down two glas­ dollar bills. He counted them. Ten.
ses on the bar and poured two dou­ For a second, it didn’t register.
ble ryes. And a beer chaser. Then he got it. Hercules had been a
“Down the hatch,” Malone said, friend of the murdered man. Her­
raising his own glass. cules had known all about the list—
“In your hat,” said Hercules. and he’d known where it had been
Joe the Angel reached for the hidden. He’d known about Malone,
bung-starter, but Malone stopped too, and he had been telling Malone
him with an imperious wave of the everything the lawyer needed to
hand. know about the list and the money.
“An insult is an insult, friend or It was all cleared up now.
no friend,” he said to the dour one. Malone considered chasing the
He was beginning to feel the heart­ sad-eyed man, but decided against
ening effects of the rye. “Now, if it. Hercules would want no pub­
you’ll oblige me by stepping outside licity, and very probably no thanks.
we can settle this thing like gentle­ The way he’d look at it, he’d only
men.” have been doing his job. Helping
The sad-eyed one lifted himself out a friend.
off the bar stool and started for the Besides, Malone told himself,
door. Malone donned the silk top­ Hercules would be too far away by
per and followed him outside. now.
At the first passage of arms Ma­ The little lawyer shrugged. He’d
lone found himself sprawling on had the money with him all the
the sidewalk. Beside him lay the time—and never known it.
silk hat, a shapeless mess. “In your hat,” Malone told him­
“In your hat,” said the dour one, self. He put the crumpled topper
and stalked off. on his head, and went back to the
Before Malone could get to his bar.
 ohnson’s patio sparkled in bright BY
J morning sunlight, giddy GEORGE
splashes of color rising from green
and ivory lawn furniture around a ANTONICH
smouldering barbecue pit. Beside a
fragrant towering magnolia tree
stood a washtub filled with cans of All they needed was the murder weap­
beer and cola. He had only to bring on . . . then they’d have their culprit
in the cake of ice from his car and on ice.
all would be ready for the late Sun­
day morning brunch.
Claude Johnson dabbed at quick­
forming beads of sweat on his fore­
head and peered anxiously at his At two minutes past ten he heard
wristwatch. Faye, his wife, was not a car door slam in the paved drive­
yet home. She had been gone all way, and moments later Faye ap­
night. peared at the side gate. Claude
Claude swallowed nervously. Mr. wiped the sweat from his face and
Adams, his boss, was due inside the hurried forward to kiss her as she
hour. With Adams would be his came into the yard.
wife, Matilda, and their three small “Good morning, darling,” he said.
children. For the thousandth time, “Hi,” Faye mumbled.
Claude wished fervently that Faye’s Claude left the gate ajar so he
mother could be cured of the recur­ could bring in the ice. But first he
ring heart murmur that forced her went to the grilled barbecue pit and
to make such demands on Faye’s poured a mug of steaming liquid
time. This was the sixth night his from a blackened coffee pot. One
wife had spent with her mother in thing he’d learned in his two years
the past month. with Faye—she was a hitch-on-
wheels until she’d had her first a path of creamy flesh showed
morning cup of coffee! above one stocking and Claude,
He offered it to her, his soft gray gulping, knelt before her on the con­
eyes feeding on the petite black­ crete.
haired beauty before him, amazed “Oh, darling, I missed you so last
that a creature of such stunning night! I was almost crazy with lone­
loveliness had married him; that liness. I love you so!”
those high-rising breasts and full in­ Faye pushed his hands away from
viting hips were his alone. Claude her knees. “For God’s sake, Claude,
shivered from a warm-cold wave of must you paw at me so early in the
love and pride just watching her. day!” She lifted the can of beer and
The way she moved, with sleek cat­ threw it against the tall fence that
like grace; mysterious yet elemen­ enclosed the yard in complete pri­
tal; all woman—and all his! vacy.
“Did you have a rough night?” he “I’ll get the ice,” Claude said hur­
asked. riedly. “It won’t take me a minute!”
“Yes,” Faye said. “It was one hell “Claude, wait—I”
of a night!” She sipped from the But he was already in the drive­
mug and made a wry face. “God, way, eager hands opening the rear
this stuff is horrible When did you deck, tearing away the burlap sack
make it, last night?” covering the piece of ice. He lifted
“No, darling. It’s fresh.” the twenty-five pounds easily and
“It tastes like warmed-over urine! came back with it in his bare hands.
Is there a real drink around here ? ” “It won’t be long at all—” he began.
“There’s nothing but beer.” “Claude! For the love of Christ,
She stood up, deliberately splash­ will you listen to me!”
ing the coffee to the concrete walk, He stood before her, shocked at
and started toward the washtub. the tone of her voice. “What is it,
“Let me get it for you, darling,” Faye? What’s wrong, darling?”
Claude insisted. “You must be worn “Everything’s wrong, Claude. I
out.” He tore off the metal tab and can’t go on like this any longer!”
handed the can of beer to her. “I know, dear. It’s been rough on
“Ugh!” Faye spat, tasting. “This you. But perhaps your mother will
is hotter than that damned coffee!” improve—”
“I’ve got ice in the car. I was just “Oh, Claude, you damned fool! I
about to go get it.” haven’t been going to my mother’s.
“No, Claude—stay for a minute.” She’s as healthy as a cow!”
Faye sat on the edge of the chaise “Then what-?”
and crossed her legs. Claude’s eyes “I’m leaving you, Claude. I can’t
noted the crooked seams and a run­ take another day of this dull life. I
ner snaking toward her ankle. Then can’t stand your stupid boss and his
86
horse-faced wife, or those snotty- It was several moments before he
nosed brats. I can’t stand you! I became aware of the slab of ice, mi­
can’t bear to have you even touch raculously unbroken, in his hands.
me! Very calmly he went to the washtub
“Faye, darling—what are you say­ and put it down, arranging cans of
ing?” beer and cola against it.
“I’m saying that I’ve found my­ When he turned again, Faye’s
self a real man! All the times you body had slumped from the chaise,
thought I was with mother, I’ve her print skirt hiking up past the
been with him. I just came from his tops of her stockings. Before her
bed. I want to be with him every body settled the dress was almost
minute of every day. He makes me up to her waist. Claude winced.
feel like a woman, Claude. I’d sell There was something obscene about
my soul in hell for him!” the grotesque looseness of her. He
Claude felt a chilling numbness. walked over and wrestled the still
“You can’t do this to me, Faye. My warm flesh back onto the chaise. As
God, after all I’ve given you! This he did his eyes widened, noting the
house, the car, anything you’ve ever pink monogrammed panties. They
wanted. I’ve gone in debt up to my were on backwards! The slut, he
ears to satisfy you.” thought grimly. The dirty rotten
“Satisfy me? Ha!” Her laughter slut! Torturing himself, he visual­
pricked at him, thorny with sar­ ized her frantic rush to get dressed
casm. “You clumsy little pipsqueak, and come slinking home to him.
you couldn’t satisfy any woman— Savagely he clutched at the panties
especially a real woman like me! and ripped them from her body.
I’ve loathed every moment with Then, sobbing, he ran into the
you. Why, you’re not even a whole house.
man, you inept, fumbling idiot...” In the kitchen he gulped two
They were the last words that glasses of cold water and wished
Faye Johnson’s rasping voice ever there were something stronger in
screeched. Moving in an aura of the house. Almost without con­
quiet rage, deliberately conscious of scious thought he placed the glass
what he was doing. Claude lifted the carefully down, moved to the front
cake of ice high above his head and door, and walked two blocks to the
brought it thoomping down against liquor store.
her skull. “Good morning, Mr. Johnson.
With a sickening crunch Faye You’re up early this morning!”
slumped and fell across the chaise. “Hello, Syl.” Claude forced a
Claude watched her crumple, feel­ wide grin. “I’ve been up for hours.
ing detached, as if he were viewing The boss and his family are coming
the late-late show. over.”
 “Again? Then you’ll need more When he reached the house he
beer?” walked up the driveway to the rear
Claude shook his head. “No, I gate. He opened it and stepped in­
have plenty. I want something for side calling, “Faye! Faye, darling,
Faye. Poor kid, she was up all night I’m back!”
with her sick mother. She really His darting eyes found her then,
needs a pick-me-up, believe me!” sprawled hideously on the lawn
“What did you have in mind, Mr. chaise, the dress up to her waist, her
Johnson?” lower body exposed. He dropped
“I don’t know, Syl. We’re not the package and heard the tinkle of
much for liquor in our house. What broken glass.
do you recommend ? ” “Fayel” The cry was a strangled
“For that tired, rundown feeling? gasp. “Faye, darling!”
My recipe is a handful of aspirin and He knelt for a full two minutes,
several large Bloody Marys. That’s feeling for a non-existent pulse, be­
Vodka and tomato juice.” fore he went in to call the police.
“Say, that sounds great! Faye Then he sat down to wait.
loves tomato juice. All right, put
together whatever you think I’ll “Good God!” Detective Sergeant
need.” Bridges flinched and covered Faye’s
Syl placed the brown paper bag head with a sheet. “I’ve seen some
on the counter. “Will that be all, Mr. cracked skulls in my time, but
Johnson?” this—I Whoever did it must have
Claude glanced around the store. used a sledgehammer!”
“How about some of that fancy­ “Doc says it was a smooth, blunt
pack dried fruit? Faye loves that!” instrument,” the younger cop said.
Grinning, Syl said, “You make us “Whatever it was, it was mighty
ordinary husbands look bad, Mr. damned heavy! No rape-killer is go­
Johnson. My wife would faint dead ing to be lugging it around with
away if I brought home a present him. It’s bound to be around here
without some special reason. You’re somewhere.”
going to spoil that woman of yours!” “Don’t jump to conclusions,”
Claude smiled. “I doubt that,” he Bridges warned. “We don’t know it
said. “Faye deserved everything I’ve was a rape-killer.”
given her—everything!” From inside the house where he
Walking home he fought to con­ had gone to call his boss, Claude lis­
trol his impulse to run. He stopped tened and watched. Bridges was,
to chat with Mr. Trafton trimming he thought, the perfect movie-type
his hedge, and made a one-handed cop; bull-shouldered, thick-necked,
catch of a football young Tommy with a pugilist’s face that couldn’t
Dicks threw at him. hide keen, analytical eyes.
 “You don’t think the husband half out of his mind. When he saw
did it?” the young cop asked. “For Johnson leave for the liquor store he
Christ’s sake, Matt, he’s married to came in and took what she’d been
her. Why would he rip off her pants holding back.”
to get to her? And why all the “Could be,” Bridges agreed. “But
bruises and teeth marks on her what did he use on her? We’ve
breasts?” checked the house and garage.
“Maybe,” Bridges said dryly, “he’s There’s nothing here that fits the
a passionate mother. These meek lit­ murder weapon. Can you see some
tle bank tellers can fool you.” scared punk who’s just killed a dame
“I don’t buy that, Matt. Besides, taking it with him? No! It’s got to
I checked with the liquor store be around here somewhere. We find
owner. He says Johnson was crazy the murder weapon and we’re next
about his wife. He couldn’t do to finding the killer.”
enough for her.” “We’ll find it, Matt. I like this
“Or to her!” Bridges snapped. Johnson. I want to prove him inno­
“Look, we checked with her old cent. I can’t say I’d blame him if he
lady. She didn’t spend the night did knock her off. From what we’ve
there. Suppose Johnson found out learned, she was a two-timing
she was chippying on him and blew bitch!”
hisstack?” “She was that!” Bridges agreed.
The young cop shook his head. “I Claude came out to watch as
still don’t buy it. Doc says she’s had white-clad men took Faye’s body
sexual intercourse recently, and he away in a wicker basket. When they
found traces of skin under her fin­ were gone, Bridges asked him to go
gernails. Whoever got into her pants over his story again.
also got marked up in the process.” “It beats the hell out me,”
“Did you check Johnson ?” Bridges said finally. “I know there’s
“Right down to his drawers. Not a something here—something vital to
scratch on him!” this case. If I could just put my fin­
Matt Bridges shrugged. “I just ger on it!”
can’t see a rapist prowling the For a wild moment Claude John­
streets this early. If it happened at son considered telling Bridges the
night I could go for it. But on Sun­ whole truth, admitting everything
day morning—?” and taking his medicine. But why
The young cop said, “The way I should he, he thought angrily?
see it, Johnson’s wife had herself a Hadn’t he paid enough already?
date last night. Maybe she was just Wasn’t the thought of Faye in
out for laughs. Maybe she didn’t another man’s arms punishment
want to go all the way. She stayed all enough? He realized suddenly that
night with this joker and teased him he would be doing penance for the
rest of his life. But he would do it on tents. Then he straghtened abrupt­
the outside, free and clear, and per­ ly. “That ice!” he said sharply.
haps—someday—he would find the Claude felt his heart leap. Sweat
right girl and try again. broke out, tingling like electric
He felt he had that much coming. charges on his forehead. His mouth
“Do you mind if I have a beer?” burned hot and dry, and the sudden
he asked. “I feel pretty shaken up.” droop of his shoulders was almost
Bridges nodded. “You’ve held up audible. Damn that keen-eyed
just fine. You’re a cool one.” Bridges! Damn! Damn! Damn!
Claude opened a can of beer. It “What about the ice?” Claude
was warm and bitter in his mouth. asked.
“Would you gentlemen like some­ “Hell, man, it’ll never cool any­
thing to drink ?” thing in a chunk like that!” From
“Not on duty!” Bridges snapped. his pocket Bridges brought out a
“There’s some cola here,” Claude knife. “To get maximum cooling it
offered. should be broken up.” He stabbed at
“Okay,” Bridges said, nodding. the ice, breaking it into tiny slivers.
“Make it two.” When he finished, Bridges
Claude opened the cans and straightened and put down the
brought them to the policemen. “I cola. “I’ll drink it later,” he said.
just want you to know,” he said, “Right now I think we’d better
“that I have the utmost confidence have another look around. That
in you men. I know you’ll catch the damned murder weapon has got to
fiend who did this.” be around here somewhere!”
Bridges grunted. He lifted the can Claude Johnson gulped. “I'm
of cola and drank. “Damn!” he mut­ sure,” he said, rounded eyes glued
tered, “this is warm!” on the washtub, “that you’ll find it.”
He got up and walked over to the He almost added, “After all, it
washtub, staring down at the con­ couldn’t just melt away!”
 Circumstantial evidence is not adequate to convict
. , . but sometimes it can be awfully convincing.

CIRCUMSTANTIAL
EVIDENCE

A MANHUNT CLASSIC

BY
HUNT COLLINS

Copyright 1953 by Flying Eagle Publications, Incorporated.

T was Harley’s wife who called “Hello,” I said, perhaps a bit loo

I me. I remember hearing the

phone ringing, and then Anne
nudged me and said, “You’d better
gruffly.
“Dave?” the voice asked. It was
hurried and almost frantic.
get that, hon.” “Yes,” I said. “Who’s this?”
I swung my legs over the side of “Marcia. Dave, Harleys in trou­
the bed and turned on the lamp on ble.”
the end table. The clock read two- I was still half-asleep. "Who?" I
thirty. asked.
“Now, who the hell is that?” I “Harley, my husband,” she said.
said to Anne. “The police . . . our sitter . . .”
“Answer it,” she said. “That’s the “Pull yourself together, Marcia.
best way to find out.” What kind of trouble?”
I made some crack about early “They . . . they say he killed our
morning humor and then walked baby sitter. Dave . .
out into the hallway. I went down “What?”
the steps, and the phone kept clam­ “Yes, yes. Dave, they’ve taken
oring. When I reached it. I snatched him away. He asked me to call you.
the receiver from the cradle. He . .
 “ Where’d they take him?” fice, the sheriff himself greeted me.
“To the sheriffs office, Dave. It’s He told me Harley wasn’t allowed
all so crazy. He ... he couldn’t any visitors, but I told him I was
have done a thing like that, Dave. Harley’s lawyer, and he said I could
You know that. He . . .” have a few minutes. He led me to
“Of course I know.” I was wide the back of the building, unlocked a
awake now. “I’ll get right down barred door leading to the cellblock,
there, Marcia. Now don’t you and brought me to Harley’s cell.
worry. I’ll go right down.” Harley said nothing until the
“Thank you, Dave. Thank you so sheriff was gone. Then he came to
much.” me and squeezed my hand tightly.
“I’ll want to hurry now. I’ll call “Dave, thank God you’re here,” he
you later.” said. He was a thin man, with hair
“All right, Dave. Thank you.” greying at the temples. His eyes
I hung up and went upstairs and were grey, and he was thin-lipped
started to dress. Anne sat up in bed and high-checked, and I guess I'd
and said, “Where are you going?” known him for more than three
“Down to the sheriffs office. years now.
They’re holding Harley there. They “What’s it all about?” I asked. I
say he killed his baby sitter.” offered him a cigarette, which he
“Oh, that’s absurd,” Anne said. took gratefully and lighted hur­
“I know. But they seem to be seri­ riedly. He let out a great puff of
ous about it.” smoke and said, “Dave, they’re try­
“Well, my God,” Anne said. ing to play me for a sucker.”
I finished dressing, and then I “How so?”
dusted a little talc over the two- He drew in on the cigarette again.
thirty a.m. shadow on my chin. I “This kid tonight. The pressure is
went back into the bedroom, kissed probably on from upstairs some­
Anne, and said, “I won’t be long, place, and they’re trying to hang it
honey.” on the most convenient sucker. That
“All right,” she said. “Be careful.” happens to be me.”
I went out into the hallway and “All right, suppose you tell it
opened the door to Beth’s room. She from the beginning.”
was sixteen, but she still kicked the Harley nodded. “Sure. Sure.” He
covers off every night. I tiptoed in, let out a deep sigh, as if he’d already
Covered her, and then kissed her told the story too many times al­
lightly on the check, the way I’d ready. “Marcia and I went out to­
been doing ever since she was born. night. Nothing special. A movie
Then I went down and got the car and a few drinks afterwards. To be
out of the garage. exact, we had three martinis each.”
When I arrived at the sheriff’s of­ “All right, go on.”
 “We got home at about midnight. “When you took the girl home,
This kid who was sitting for us— did you wait for her to go inside be­
Sheila Kane—a nice kid we always fore you left?” I asked.
use, she was sleeping on the couch Harley puffed on his cigarette,
when we came in. Marcia woke her, trying to remember. “No,” he said
and I paid her and then took her out at last.
to the car. She lives on the other end “Do you usually?”
of town, Dave. I always drive her “Sometimes yes, and sometimes
home.” no. I was tired, Dave. I wanted to
“Goon.” get home. Hell, who knew anything
“I took her straight home. I like this was going to happen ?”
dropped her off at her house, and “Where’d they find the girl?”
then took off. I stopped in a bar to “In a dark street a few blocks
buy a package of cigarettes. Then I from her home. They figure she was
went home.” He paused and sucked thrown out of a car.”
in a deep breath. “An hour later, the “And your lighter ?”
cops were pounding on my door. “Alongside her in the road. They
They said the kid had been raped say I dropped it when I threw her
and strangled. Her parents told out. Good God, Dave, can’t you see
them she’d been sitting for us.” they’re trying to sucker me?”
“I don’t understand,” I said. “It looks that way,” I said. I
“How do they tie that to you ?” wish someone had seen you in that
“My cigarette lighter. They found bar, though.”
it near her body.” “The hell with the bar. I wasn’t
I looked at Harley steadily. “How gone more than fifteen minutes. It
come?” I asked. takes about five minutes to get the
“The kid smokes,” he said, shrug­ girl home, and another five coming
ging wearily. “Hell, Dave, she’s all back. Jesus, Dave, I couldn’t have
of eighteen. She lighted up in the even if I’d wanted to.”
car when I was taking her home. I “Does anyone beside Marcia
gave her my lighter. I guess she for­ know you were gone only fifteen
got to return it.” minutes?”
“This bar you went into later, for Harley shook his head. "She
cigarettes. Did anyone see you ?” doesn’t even know, Dave. She was
“I don’t think so. It was one of asleep when I got home.”
these places that have a small floor “And they’ve booked you on sus­
show. The show was on when I picion ? ”
went in, and no one was paying at­ “Yes,” Harley said miserably.
tention to who came and went. I got “I’m their big sucker.”
the cigarettes from a machine just “Don’t worry,” I said. “Maybe we
inside the door. Then I left.” can work something out.”
 It was one of the hardest trials “How many times had you en­
Eve ever fought. The district attor­ gaged Miss Kane previous to the
ney swung it so that the jury was al­ night of her death ? ”
most all women. If there’s anything “We’d been using her on and off
a woman hates and despises, it’s a for about a year.”
rapist—so I had nine strikes against “And nothing ever happened to
me to begin with. The other three her before this night,” “I said.
jury members were men. “Nothing . . .”
The trial went for five days, with “Objection!” the DA snapped.
the DA pulling every trick in the “Counsel for the defense is attempt­
book. He paraded all the circum­ ing to establish . . .”
stantial evidence, and he did it so “Sustained,” the judge said wea­
well that every member of that jury rily.
could have sworn they’d all been eye “Would you tell the court what
witnesses to the rape and murder. Miss Kane looked like, please?”
When he got Harley on the stand, Harley hesitated. “I . . . well,
Harley told the same story he’d told she was blonde.”
me. He told it simply and plainly, “Yes?”
and the jury and the assembled “Blue eyes, I think. I don’t really
spectators listened in silence. Then remember.”
I began to question him. “Short or tall?”
“How old are you, Mr. Pearce?” “Medium. I suppose.”
I asked. “Glasses?”
“Forty-two,” Harley said. “No. No glasses.”
“Are you married ?” “What was her address?”
“Yes.” “I don’t know. I drove by mem­
“Do you have any children ?” ory, I suppose. She showed me the
“Yes.” first time, and then I just went there
“How many, Mr. Pearce?” from memory every other time.”
“Two. A boy and a girl.” “Did you call her ‘Sheila,’ Mr.
“How old are they ?” Peace?”
“The boy is seven. The girl is “Yes, of course.”
five.” “And what did she call you?”
“Did you engage the dead Sheila “Mr. Pearce.”
Kane to stay with these children “Thank you, that will be all.”
while you and Mrs. Pearce went out The DA stared at me, and then he
for the evening?” shrugged. I suppose he wondered
“Yes.” what I was trying to do. It was so
“Was this a customary practice of simple that it probably evaded him.
yours?” I was simply trying to show that no
“Yes." lust had ever crossed Harley Pearce’s
mind or heart He couldn’t even “Watch the cigarette machine?”
describe the dead girl well. He did “Well, no, sir.”
not know her address. They main­ “Then it is likely that someone
tained a strictly adult to adolescent did enter, stop at the machine, and
relationship. Sheila and Mr. Pearce. leave, all while you were taking one
The DA called his next witness, of your periodic looks at the show?”
the bartender at the Flamingo, the “Well . .
bar Harley had stopped at to buy his “Did you see me standing at the
cigarettes. The bartender said he al­ bar that night?”
ways watched the door during the The bartender blinked his eyes.
floorshow. He’d known of a lot of “You, sir?”
bars that had been held up during “Yes, me. Standing near the
floorshows, when no one was paying blonde in the mink stole. I was
attention to the bar or the cash regis­ drinking a Tom Collins when the
ter. So he always kept a close watch, show started. Did you see me?”
and he’d have noticed anyone who “I ... I don’t recall, sir. I
came in that night. He had not mean . . .”
seen Harley Pearce enter. The DA “I was there! Did you see me?”
smiled and turned the man over to “Objection” the DA said. “Coun­
me. sel for the defense is perjuring . . .”
“What time does the floorshow "Did you see me?’’
start at the Flamingo?” I asked. “Near . . . near the blonde, sir?”
“Ten minutes to twelve, sir,” he “Yes, near the blonde. Did you or
said. didn’t you?”
“Do you serve many drinks while “Well, there was a blonde, and if
the floorshow is on?” you say you was standing near her
“No, sir. Most everyone is at their . . . I mean, I don’t remember,
tables, watching the show.” but . . .”
“And are we to understand that “Then you did see me ?”
you keep a constant watch on the “I . . . I don’t remember, sir.”
door during that time ? I mean, since “I wasn’t there! But if you couldn’t
you are not serving drinks.” remember whether I was or not,
“Objection,” the DA said, rising. how can you remember whether or
“Overruled,” the judge answered. not Mr. Pearce came in for a pack­
“Proceed.” age of cigarettes especially when—
“Is that what you do during the by your own admission—you could
show?” I repeated. have been watching the floorshow at
“Well ... I guess I look at the that time?”
show, too. On and off, I mean. But I
watch the door mostly. A lot of rob­ “That’s all,” I said.
beries . . .” I heard the murmurs in the court­
room, and I knew I’d done well. I’d damn lawyer in the whole goddamn
punctured one part of the DA’s case, world, and then he started a round
and the jury was now thinking if he of songs, and we all joined in, drink­
was wrong there, why can’t he be ing all the while. The party was do­
wrong elsewhere, too? Why ing quite well when Beth walked in.
couldn’t Harley have loaned the She’d had a date with one of the
girl his cigarette lighter? Why neighborhood boys. She said hello
couldn’t his story be absolutely to Marcia and Harley when we
true? After all, the DA’s case was stopped singing, and then excused
purely circumstantial. herself and started up the steps to
I clinched it in the summing up. her room.
I painted Harley as an upstanding “How old is she now, Dave?”
citizen, a man who—just as you and Harley asked.
I—was a good husband and a good “Sixteen,” I said.
father. A man who hired a baby sit­ “A lovely girl,” he said, very
ter, the same sitter he’d been hiring softly.
for the past year, went out to a quiet I’d been watching Beth climb the
movie, had a few drinks with his steps, watching her proudly. She was
wie, and then came home. He drove still my little girl, but she was rip­
the sitter to her house, dropped her ening into womanhood quickly. 1
off, and then went back to his wife. turned to look at Harley.
Someone had attacked her after he’d His eyes were on Beth, too. He
gone. But not Harley. Not the man watched her legs as she walked
sitting there, I told them, not the higher and higher up the staircase,
man who could be your own and then his eyes traveled the length
brother or your own husband, not of her body, slowly, methodically.
him. He did not take his eyes from her
The jury was out for half an hour. until she’d opened the door to her
W’hen they returned, they brought own room and stepped out of view.
me a verdict of Not Guilty. Then he said; “What’ll we sing next,
folks?”
We celebrated that night. Harley I looked at Harley, and then I
and Marcia came over while his looked at the empty staircase, and I
mother-in-law sat with their kids. suddenly felt very foolish inside,
We laughed and drank and Harley very foolish and very naive. Naive
kept saying, “They were looking for and tremendously stupid.
a sucker, Dave. But you showed I felt exactly like what Harley
them. By Christ, you showed them would have called a “sucker.”
you can’t fool with an innocent And there was, of course, nothing
man.” I could do.
He told me I was the best god­ I did not join in the next song.
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She was his wife. In his way, he
loved her . . . and hated her lover.

TWO-SIDED

TRIANGLE
BY LARRY DANE

urricane weather ahead!” cabinets. “I couldn’t believe my

H That’s all he had said, simply,
tritely in that dry, nasal voice Petti­
bone was cursed with. Sitting at the
ears!” Then more slowly and an
octave higher, “I just couldn’t be­
lieve my ears!” This was her favor­
tiny square of a breakfast table with ite cliche, as identifiable a trade­
the battered formica top, sipping his mark as the NBC peacock.
orange juice, pretending to read the She stood like a Valkyrie in her
weather report, dreading the new quilted satin robe, and Pettibone
onslaught of Margaret’s temper. had to admit to himself she was still
“Hurricane weather ahead.” a beautiful woman when she was
She exploded before the predic­ angry. That was all the time. Tall
tion was out of his mouth, and the and dark with great, snapping blue
storm center moved into the eyes and a young, busty body that
cramped kitchenette, wild and ring­ sneered at her forty-five years. A
ing, bouncing off the midget ap­ profile like Greek sculpture and a
pliances and the tinny off-white temper like an Irish fishwife.
 Pettibone tried to protect himself anything from that man ever again!
with the newspaper, shutting out I got a gutful of Hal when I worked
her tirade with pure concentration, for him last year. He’s a braggart, a
but she swung wildly and sent the loudmouth, and a bully,” he said
pages skittering across the room without rancor, even gently, in that
into the sink, where they perished whispery rasp that was a character­
wetly in the clutter of dishes. istic along with the other ones he
Pettibone sighed and slumped had: the thinning straight hair, the
lower in the uncomfortable metal skinny chest, the eagle beak.
chair and let the storm break over Marge shifted her position to en­
him. “I couldn’t believe you’d be so treaty and her tone to reason: “Now
terribly stupid! ‘Your husband just why do you say things like that,
turned the offer down flat,’—that’s Fred, after all Hal’s done for us?
what Maude said. And you didn’t What would we have done if he
even bother to soften it a little, to ex­ hadn’t come to our rescue last year ?
plain why. After all my cousin Hal We were months behind in the rent,
has done for us! You knew he was we owed everybody. I don’t know
counting on you, Fred, to manage what we’d have done if Hal—”
the new gas station. And you just “Listen, Marge. I put up with Hal
turned your back and said no. for eighteen months. I greased his
Turned your back on my only cous­ jallopies, I pumped his cheap gas, I
in and his wife and said no!” kept his books, I shoveled snow, I
“I don’t want to manage the new ran his errands. I wasn’t an em­
gas station for your cousin Hal,” he ployee, I was the whole staff! And
said quietly. “Why can’t you accept whipping boy to boot.”
that, Marge?” He had never bothered to explain
“Because I just don’t understand the details to her; Marge would
it, that’s all! Hal gave you a job never understand sadism in the
when you couldn’t find one any­ relative she admired—sadism Hal
where—•” masked as humor. The ball of grease
“And I left it like a bat out of hell concealed in his handshake, the oil
when I found a better one!” gun that sprayed stains on clean
“But now he wants to give you cover-alls, the jack-handle that be­
the best job you’ve ever had! He came a goosing-rod in Hal’s hands,
wants you to . . the sudden right-hooks to the abdo­
“Manage the new station for him men, the shock-wire Hal attached
in Willow Grove,” he finished wear­ to a spark plug—all this was high
ily. “We’ve been all through this be­ comedy to the overgrown fathead.
fore, Marge. I said ‘Thanks, but no The pain and embarrassment of his
thanks!’ I turned it down. I don’t victim, usually Pettibone, would be
want his damned job. I don’t want met by Hal’s donkey-bray. No,
Marge would never understand the her first baby, his mother, widowed
cruelty in Hal’s humor. She was too and diabetic, his younger brother,
fond of slapstick to denounce it in still in school. Pettibone had done
her cousin. She would only echo what everyone else in Brompton
Hal’s words, “Can’t you take a was doing at the time. He panicked.
joke?” And panic became part of his men­
“Well, what about the money,” tal equipment, a permanent part.
Marge pursued. “He’s offering you There had been a haphazard succes­
a hundred-and-fifty dollars a week sion of menial jobs—he peddled
and Sundays off. That’s half again books from door to door, wrestled
what you make at the post office stock in the dime store, mixed bat­
now. The post office! At your age, ter in the doughnut shop. The baby
Fred Pettibone! With your educa­ died before it opened its eyes and
tion! Pitching mail with a gang of the state agency sent his mother to
little boys! My husband the mail a Baptist nursing home. His brother
clerk!” Bill went into the army, Marge
She jerked her head for emphasis landed a job in a dress shop, and
and that wayward lock fell into her finally Pettibone was free. Free to
eyes, the lock he used to kid her select a career for himself, free to ac­
about years ago. “Wendell Willkie!” cept and refuse, free to experiment
he’d say teasingly and brush it back with his likes and dislikes.
tenderly in place. But all the kidding Perhaps he had experimented
had been burned out of their mar­ badly. The job at the Merchants’
riage, along with the tenderness and Bank had fizzled, along with all the
pet names and dreams of success. It others. The saving and loan com­
was twenty-two years later. And he pany was a disaster, and he was
was a washout. A ninety-buck a down to clerking in the downtown
week mail clerk, sitting in a battered credit bureau when his manager re­
apartment, mousey, middle-aged placed him with a bright young col­
and finished. lege graduate. And there he was,
But he had been finished long be­ pushing fifty, peddling books from
fore this, when the mill shut down, door to door, not making his draw-
ending the promising career of its against-commission, studying the
young auditor before it began. hostile faces or the blank doors that
“There would always be a cotton concealed them. The clock had
mill in Brompton,” that’s what he gone backwards and he was back at
used to say before the mill closed the starting line. Back to failure.
its doors, bringing the town to its Dismal unemployment and the dis­
knees. Pettibone’s security vanished grace of performing tricks with a
with the bankrupt mill. There was gas hose for his wife’s cousin Hal.
Marge, useless and pregnant with Then a meager salvation in his post
office appointment. All this came He started for his bedroom, and
flooding his memory with the tum­ Marge flung after him, “You’re
bling of a lock of hair. a coward, Fred Pettibone! A
“Let’s not talk any more, Marge.” whipped, little coward! But I’m not
He got up and lifted the coffee pot, whipped! Not yet! I’m still young!
then set it down again on the I’ve kept my looks! And I’m not
chipped enamel stove. He was not going down with the ship!”
hungry any more. He glanced back at her mildly
“Fred,” her tone was dangerous. from the narrow hallway and said,
“Take the job with Hal. I want you “Bully for you!”
to.” (He would not look at her—he The institution-grey walls of his
only shook his head). “I WANT room needed painting, the cheap
you to, Fred,” she threatened. maple furniture was scarred and
“No. For God’s sake. No. No! dull, the old prints faded in their
NO!” frames. And Pettibone looked grey
She flopped her arms against her and dull and faded as the room. He
thighs with finality. avoided a second look at his mirror,
“That ties it, then. This is it, Fred. crossed to his closet and pawed
We’re through.” through the clutter of stored articles
He stared at her without under­ on the floor. The letter was tucked
standing. She was not the best thing safely away in the bowling bag he
in his life—nothing was—but she never used, smoothed roundly
was the surest. “As sure as death, against the grained blueness of the
taxes and Marge’s mouth” he used ball. He pulled it out carefully,
to say. And now she was leaving knowing that he would have to post
him. His dependable shrew, his or­ it later, little unwilling Cupid-after-
namental, flimsy cane, his broken the-fact of love that he was!
crutch, his Marge. What else did he He turned the rusty fastener on
have except Marge ? his door and waited, listening.
She parried his stare defiantly, Marge would never permit a good
and he knew that if he surrendered battle to go half-fought. But this
now, the last scrap of self-respect he time she had. Somewhere in the
had would be ground underfoot. If apartment a door banged, then no
he had played a game of failure with sound at all. Pettibone was alone in
his life—and hers—it had been HIS the dusty stillness, fingering a love
game and he had made all the letter from his wife to another man.
moves, even if they were wrong A man with the unlikely, theatrical,
ones. But Marge could never under­ fictitious name “Josh DeVore.”
stand this queer pride of his in lost For the dozenth time he punished
causes. It would be senseless to ex­ himself reading it, forcing hollow,
plain it now. silent laughs at the stupid, school-
girl phrases: . and this week these things had failed him, just as
seems like forever” and . it’s a he had failed himself and Marge
prison without you near me” and and his mother and his brother and
. . I’m miserable with you away.” all the hopeful employers who had
He winced when he came to the hired him once upon a time.
initials she used in reference to him­ Pettibone set the letter carefully
self, Pettibone: . I can’t even be inside his wallet. Of course he
civil to F.P. any more. Remember would mail it, just as he had mailed
when you called him ‘Failure Per­ the others he had intercepted at the
sonified’?” Then the dagger thrust: post office on the facing table or at
“. . . I’m praying for the day when the cancelling machine, letter pri­
you are free of S. We will spend the mary or secondary sorting cases.
rest of our lives making up for all “Josh DeVore” with the ornamental
the time we have lost.” The signa­ “J” in the parochial, back-tilted
ture finished him, and he sat, futile handwriting that identified Marge
clown of a man, weeping over it. as surely as her shrill, “I couldn’t
“Love you passionately, perpetually believe my ears!”
—Midge.” She had written the same There was another letter that aft­
line to him countless times, years ernoon, half buried under the white
ago, when he was still in college and stack on the facing table, and it was
she in high school. So long ago, be­ his luck to hold it, to face it stamp­
fore they both forgot how much downward and to feed it into the
love and respect meant in their lives. cancelling machine. His supervisor
He got up and wiped his wet was watching him with that blind,
cheeks on the sleeve of his ridicu­ nothing-to-do look that marks all
lous green pajamas—the ones she mail foremen, but Pettibone traced
had bought him for Christmas, with the letter’s progress doggedly into
the yellow lions on them. Was this the plastic tray, to the rack, to the
man DeVore a lion, he wondered, primary sorting cases with their la­
thickly muscled with a thick mane beled, open mouths.
of hair, loud and boastful and arro­ He labored through that half­
gant like the cousin Marge adored ? hour, crucified with the knowledge
All the things he, Pettibone, was of it. The empty, profane, abusive
not? He thought of all the things humor of the other clerks reached
he had done to improve his phy­ him not at all, not even the dirty
sique, the chest-pulls, the dumb­ jokes Dick Ferris told about travel­
bells lying rusted in the closet along ing salesmen. Finally, the letter was
with the beautiful bowling ball he in his hand and he was sauntering
never used any more. And the hi­ unnaturally to the men’s room to
protein cereals and the male hor­ read it.
mones and the vitamin pills. All Pettibone locked himself behind
102
a cabinet door and eased the end tion, standing vacandy, staring at
flap out of the envelope. This one the time clock as if he did not un­
was addressed “General Delivery” derstand what it was. Flu. One of
as all the others had been, but this those tricky, new viruses, the offi­
time the city was different. Not Al­ cials said later.
bany. No Schenectady. Not Hart­ Pettibone walked the streets of
ford or New Haven. But Provi­ Brompton a long time, ignoring
dence, Rhode Island, with the huge traffic signals and other pedestrians.
capitals and swirling loops. DeVore He was not aware that anything or
was probably a traveling salesman, anyone existed on this new bare
like the passionate ones in the jokes. stage of his world except the three
Or maybe his job was more glamor­ players in this old triangle drama, a
ous. Airline pilot? Business execu­ silly love letter and events beyond
tive? He had to be rich and hand­ his reach that were rushing him into
some and successful, all the things an unlikely last act.
Pettibone was not, or Marge could The flower woman in front of the
not possibly have fallen in love with bank held a bunch of chrysanthe­
him. mums under his nose, and he stared
The message was short, concise, at the ugly, leathery hands and the
irrevocable. “I’m going to leave FJP. chipped fingernails a long time, en­
I know this sounds impulsive. The tranced, before he knocked her arm
timing is all wrong. But living with away and ran down the street. The
no man at all is better than living High Street shop windows and
with a bad imitation of one.” A gey­ signs trapped him in a weird kalei­
ser churned suddenly in his stom­ doscope of dull colors, where he
ach and erupted before he could floundered helplessly, looking for
channel its flow. the orderly pavement squares that
He leaned against the rough would guide him home. Then
wooden door of the cabinet punish­ someone was leading him by the
ing his forehead on the splintered arm in a burst of enthusiastic con­
grain, while his thoughts teetered versation that started and ended
this way and that, out of control. His with “Whatchaneedizzadrink!”
fingers tightened on the perfumed It was not clear to him then who
blue stationery mashing it beyond the drinking friend was: it looked
readability, and he was sick again. a little like Eddie McCann, who
His supervisor allowed him to go used to sell patent medicines in Har­
home—that chalky pallor was rea­ vey’s Drug Store, before Harvey ran
son enough. He even punched Pet­ away with Lora McCann. Then
tibone’s time card for him; his little someone else was sitting on the bar
mail clerk was not able to coordi­ stool McCann had occupied, spin­
nate his hands for that simple func­ ning a liquorish yarn about HIS di­
vorce, and even Reds Gawler, the he had said to win her so complete­
bartender, had to add his breakup ly away from him. Where was their
to the busted wreck of a conversa­ meeting place, their love nest ? How
tion. Wasn’t there any man in the did he communicate with her ? Cer­
world who wasn’t tricked, cuckold­ tainly not through the common­
ed, lied to, abandoned by some place mails that had tripped her up.
trusted minx he had married ? Pettibone thought of stories he had
The soft bells of the Congrega­ read of spies and lovers who ar­
tional Church reached him on a ranged more original mail boxes for
bench in City Common, sitting in a themselves, in the hollows of trees,
cold autumn drizzle, trying to focus in unused file drawers of the public
the rusty statue of Nathan Hale. He library, and other imaginative nooks
was at that border point between and crannies. He remembered the
drunk and sober when the mind day after he had intercepted the first
begins to tick with perfect precision, letter, months ago, when he had sur­
when perception and understand­ prised himself checking the hedges
ing are brilliantly wedded and the in front of his house, the bottom of
reserves of available courage seem the milk box and even the fuse
inexhaustible. That morning’s braw chamber in the basement for con­
about cousin Hal’s offer was a con­ cealed messages. He had even in­
venient device for Marge to lever a vestigated the general delivery ser­
crisis between them, of course. Any vices in Brompton and the neighbor­
reason would have served her as ing towns, all in vain. Marge would
well. And if nothing presented it­ never use her own name, of course.
self to destroy their marriage there The wind had picked up, lashing
was always his dreary history of fail­ wet leaves against his trousers, and
ure, the job at the post-office that the night cold needled through his
embarrassed her, or any other avail­ clothes. He did not know how long
able excuse—even his appearance or he had been sitting there, alone with
his personality would do. It was ob- two pompous pigeons and a hungry
voius to him now that the other squirrel.
man, DeVore, was the prime reason Now he had to go home and
for this smashup. do something. Talk reasonably, or
Strange that Pettibone could nev­ maybe forcefully. Show his man­
er intercept any of his letters to hood and his authority over her.
Marge. This bothered him. He What the hell does a man say or do
wanted to measure the extent of De- in a situation like this, anyway?
Vore’s passion for her, on paper, Perhaps nothing.
pick at it, whittle the words for sin­ Walking was a problem at first,
cerity and falsehood. He wondered hampered as he was by booze and
where they had met, and how, what cramps from the cold, but he legged
 it determinedly home and fumbled it. The blow caught her on the left
the front door open. “Who’s there?” temple with a solid crunch. She
Marge called out (so she was here!) whipped out an arm, shattering the
and he answered “Only me.” mirror with her compact and tum­
She was in the bathroom. He bled over into the tub.
could see her primping in the mir­ Pettibone felt wildly exhilarated
ror with that pursed up look wom­ that it had been so simple. He almost
en have in mirrors. He hurried past shrieked his excitement, until he
along the narrow corridor before saw the blood coursing from the
she could say anything else. A few lopsided head, trickling darkly
steps to his closet, and the bowling against the white enamel. Numb
bag was in his hand, heavy with the with horror, then, he tried to stanch
weight of the ball. He hefted it by the flow, dabbing at her with a piece
the leather handle, like a man trying of toilet paper.
to guess its weight.
“What are you doing home at this
time?” she said, her voice harsh He was in severe shock—“cata­
against the tiles of the bathroom. tonic,” the doctors said—and they
He did not answer, toeing gently put him in the security section of the
along the passage, a caricature of the Brampton Asylum, where he stared
husband sneaking out for a night fixedly at his floor pad and the bare
with the boys. walls, without moving, without
She flung the door open, and he speaking, barely breathing. When
could see her with the garish light cousin Hal asked to see him, the
upon her best dress, the blue and doctors agreed readily. For perhaps
gold knitted one he liked, a metal this big, blundering man Pettibone
compact in her hand, a powder puff resented so much could reach him,
in the other. Ready to shout and in the black, silent world where he
scold and cut him with her tongue. had shut himself.
For a flash of time, he considered But Pettibone did not react at all,
letting her go, for wouldn’t he be did not seem to see his visitor, did
better off without all this? An over­ not hear him when Hal told him
whelming anger—a latent primitive about the trick to make a man out
manhood in him—erupted, and his of Pettibone—inventing a lover
decision was made. He swung the named DeVore, then saturating the
leather-coated ball and she held out post office with love letters that they
her powder puff pathetically against knew he would intercept.
 The plan was fool-proof! They’d spent two years together in
the same cell polishing it to perfection. It should have worked.
But they hadn’t counted on that spunky little teen-age girl . ..
nor on the sad-eyed slobbering hound dog that smelled her out.

A NOVELETTE
BY M. G. WESLEDER

he doctor held Buster Charles ries finally netted him a two year
T Dutton’s still wet nine and one vacation. He found himself in Cali­
half pound body by the ankles andfornia’s maximum security pokey at
gave him a smart rap on his but­ Folsom. There he made the ac­
tocks. The indignant squall that fol­ quaintance of one Len Ringley.
lowed prompted the doctor to re­ When Len was born, the attend­
mark to the new mother, “With ing doctor looked askance at the
those lungs and that physique he puny lethargic lump and humphed.
might well become a fighter!” He calculated gloomily on his
And Buster Charles Dutton DID chances for collecting a fee from the
become a fighter—in bars, poolhalls, county supported and husbandless
and back alleys of San Francisco’s mother. Despite this unpromising
tough waterfront. At fourteen he beginning, Len grew up and attend­
dropped out from junior high ed school with slightly less than
school. He seemed more inclined to good grades. He did, however, ex­
savor a career affiliated with switch­ hibit one outstanding talent. He
blades, clubs and broken beer bot­ possessed an unusual flair and affec­
tles. To satisfy his needs, he aug­ tion for penmanship. Len was con­
mented an uncertain income by roll­ tent to labor ceaselessly in Spen­
ing helpless drunks. Among his ac­ cerian practice, rolling perfect lines
cumulation of mangled cartilages of connected “O’s” like coils of end­
and un-enhancing scars, he also ac­ less springs. He copied his incorrect
quired a considerable juvenile police lessons in the neat and graceful
record. script popular of the period. He de­
Upon reaching adulthood, his lighted his teachers with exquisitely
miscellany of arrests for assaults, shaded “W’s” and “S’s”.
petty thefts, and some odd burgla- Later, came success at imitating
/
handwriting and duplicating signa­ streamlined like a Hemmingway
tures. It was but a brief step from discourse. Each trivial detail
there to affixing them to the lower planned, also had an alternate twin.
right corner of checks. He came to Every unpredictable emergency pro­
enjoy this easy money with a blunt­ vided against, they were not, they
ed conscience. There were of course, boasted to themselves, committing
tense moments when these latex the same stupid blunders unsuccess­
warrants were being scrutinized by ful snatchers had perpertrated in the
circumspect shopkeepers. He made past. The final draft was a bare­
a point to keep the amounts mod­ boned model of contrivance. Like a
est on his checks. The take was low completed movie scenario, their per­
but the risk was correspondingly fect kidnap plot was memorized,
slight. Len abhorred violence and so “In the can”, and salted away for
chose this as the more serene of dis­ opportune exposure.
honest livelyhoods.
At last some citizens, outraged by CHAPTER TWO
his bland mockery of their trust, to­
gether with a sharp-eyed detective, Len Ringley gained his parole in
happily witnessed against him in a July of ’65. Bus was due to follow
courtroom. in August. The very day Len was
Thus, we find Len Ringley returned to San Francisco, he pro­
lodged also at Folsom, ironically, ceeded to inaugurate the initial steps
his keep supported by those selfsame toward their project. As a first base
taxpayers. of operations, he rented a room in
By some unholy mis-chance, these a Taylor Street Hotel. A more provi­
oddly dissimilar characters were dent man than Bus, Len had long
placed as cell-mates. A period of anticipated a future need for mon­
mutual distrust and suspicion be­ ey. There was awaiting him in a San
tween them soon dissipated. Their Francisco bank under an assumed
palship soon blossomed into a part­ name, fifteen hundred dollars plus
nership. For months a nefarious some accumulated interest.
scheme had been germinating in the Always a fastidious dresser, sev­
obliquely oriented brain of Len eral hundred dollars of these sav­
Ringley. In Bus, he found an ear, ings went for an expensive selection
eager toward any project spelling of suits, shirts, shoes, and acces­
easy money. Len began to delineate sories.
his recreant conspiracy like a Gen­ He began at once to alter his ap­
eral planning a campaign. Bus be­ pearance. He darkened his hair and
came his Chief of Staff and ideas, eyebrows, changed his mode of hair­
batted back and forth like shuttle­ cut, and grew a dapper mustache.
cocks, were pruned, polished, and His new mien afforded him the out­
ward guise of a successful salesman. ance project graphically portrayed
Furthering his devious machina­ it. Len studied the old structure
tions he shopped for materials nec­ from all angles before venturing up
essary to launch his program. Pens, the crumbling cement steps. He
ink, a small print press adequate for opened the front door to an unlight­
reproducing business cards, a vari­ ed and trash-littered hallway. Peer­
ety of paper and envelopes. The next ing in the dimness he pressed a bell
four hours he spent meticulously button under “CARETAKER.” A
forging a California driver’s license wizened, bleary-eyed alcoholic char­
using the name “Kelvin D. Doo­ acter, bent with years, answered the
ley”, with ficticious address and ring.
birthdate. “Ain’t no place for rent”, he vol­
The day following, he purchased unteered crabbily. “Almost every­
from an obscure used car lot, an old body’s moved out. Buildin’s goin to
black Buick sedan. be tore down soon. I won’t have no
With it he transferred his effects job neither.”
to a room, selected from an ad, in “I’m not looking for an apart­
the Richmond District. He found ment,” said Len reassuringly. I’m an
privacy, (guaranteed by the land­ inspector for the R. J. Burton Sal­
lady) and a parking place in the vage Company. Here’s my card. We
rear for the Buick. The most diffi­ buy used plumbing fixtures. My
cult task of all now confronted Len. firm sent me here to inventory the
He must find quarters suitable for tubs, pipes, and stuff for purchase.
concealing a kidnap victim. I check it all and bid for it before
He began by systematically tour­ the building is wrecked. I’ve come
ing the old sections of the City, fav­ to examine all the rooms and esti­
oring the Mission side of Market mate the value of what we want to
Street, known affectionately to San buy.”
Franciscans as “South of the Slot.” The old man raised the card to
A week of scouting found his search his rhuemy eyes.
fanning outward until he was cours­ It read:
ing through some of the oldest sec­ R. J. Burton
tions of the city. Salvage Incorporated
One afternoon he spotted an an­ 1600 Conifor St.
cient and apparently vacated apart­ South San Francisco, Calif.
ment building. It stood an alley Kelvin Dooley, Estimator. LI 6-4291
apart from an equally old and de­ Len watched closely to see if the
serted warehouse. Both had been old geezer would question the name
slated for the wreckers ball. A fresh­ or the phony aldress.
ly painted sign proclaimed it, a mag­ “Oh sure, Mr. Dooley. Go right
nified drawing of the slum clear­ on up. Be mighty careful, though,
there’s nails and junk all over the of every apartment were still the in­
floors. Lots of rats too, I kill ’em evitable broken toys, dirty rags, and
whenever I see ’em, but I ain’t so even dried garbage.
good at it any more. I Agger I got When he reached the hallway end
about three weeks of job left, then toward the front, he discovered two
I’ll go back on my pension. My adjoining rooms with separate en­
name’s Duffing, Mr. Dooley.” trances, doors still intact with knobs
“Thanks, Mr. Duffing,” Len said and locks. Switching on the lights
putting out his hand, “Glad to make he inspected each room. One faced
your acquaintance.” the street. Four stories below on the
“Just call me Joe, nobody’s called opposite side of the street was lo­
me Mr. Duffing in forty year.” Joe cated a small park, with benches,
cackled. Len smiled and moved to­ trees, and shrubbery for the comfort
ward the dilapidated stairway. of the neighborhood families. The
“Want me to show you about, Mr. single window in the second room
Dooley?” inquired Joe, starting out faced only the blank brick wall of
of his room. the empty warehouse across the al­
“No thanks, Joe. I’ll just nose ley. Only a narrow view of the street
around now and see you on my way was visible from a very acute angle
out.” from this room. In each of the rooms
“Got a flashlight ?” asked Joe. a bathroom was still furnished with
“No,” Len answered. “Not with tubs and washbowls of ancient vint­
me, I’ve got one in my car.” age. Rusty water continued to drip
“Better take mine, some of them into the chipped vessels. The
floors ain’t got no ’lectricity on.” cracked and stained toilet bowls
“O.K., Joe. I’ll just make a quick held water and were serviceable.
survey today. If my company is in­ Satisfied, Len nodded to himself
terested I’ll come back later.” and began his descent to the lower
“Be careful of them big rats, Mr. floors.
Dooley, they bite!” He knocked at Joe’s door instead
Len accepted the old man’s flash of ringing and heard the old guy’s
and climbed the narrow carpeted approach. As the door opened a
steps to the second floor. It was so blast of fetid air whooshed out, a
black in the unlighted hall he blend of body odor, kerosene heat,
turned on the flashlight at once. Pa­ and stale wine. Len winced but
pers, trash, beer cans, and old bot­ handed Joe the flashlight.
tles were littered from room to “Thanks again, Joe. This is a
room. The third floor was a replica pretty big job. It’s going to take me
of the second, but on the fourth about two weeks to complete my
floor Len found the electric lights estimations properly. Tell you what
to be still connected. On the floors I’d like to do, Joe. I’ll have to work
day and night to finish before those glasses, soap, toilet tissue, and other
wreckers come. I’m getting in a sundries. The place was, except for
helper for a few days so I’ll just put the debris, beginning to resemble
in some cots for us and stay right on living quarters.
the job ’till it’s finished. Still further preparations were
We’re going to have to tear into necessary to complete the elaborate
the flooring and that will be hazard­ intrigue. He sought a lumber yard
ous for anyone to come around. I’ll and selected a 4 x 8 sheet of ply­
wall off the stairway right here to wood, a hammer, nails, black paint,
keep anyone from coming up stairs. and a lettering brush. He carried
We’ll need to get in and out our­ this melange to the rear entrance.
selves though, do you have keys for Inside he expertly lettered the ply-
the top floor rooms and the back board to read:
door ? ” DANGER! THIS BUILDING
Joe eyed the twenty dollar bill CONDEMNED.
Len was exposing in his wallet. No one allowed on upper floors.
“Why, of course, Mr. Dooley. You Len nailed it to obstruct passage
go right ahead, here’s the keys. I from the first floor to the upper lev­
ain’t ben up there for a month. It’s els. This completed he returned to
them damn rats, I hate em! They’s a his room in Richmond and sat
parking place in back, just come down to pen a letter to Bus. In a
through the alley either way.” Joe tremulous script he wrote:
accepted the proffered bill and Buster C. Dutton
popped back into his room. Box 10643D
A bottle of wine now and then, Represa, California
for the old duck, Len mused, and Dear Uncle Buster:
we’ll have the run of the place. I understand you are soon to gain
He stopped next at an army sur­ your parole. Martha and I want you
plus store on Mission. He selected to know you can stay with us until
three army cots, three chairs, army you find employment. Write as soon
blankets, a primus stove, and two as you know the exact date of your
folding card tables. release. Martha is not feeling too
“Going camping,” he pointed out well these days so I will drive up
to the sales clerk. He lugged his pur­ alone to get you. We are sending
chases up the rear stairway. He some cigarettes by separate mail and
kicked aside most of the litter to hope you get them soon.
clear a space and installed two of Your loving nephew,
the cots in the front room, and the Kenneth Morgan.
other in the second room. Len then P.S. It has been years since we saw
visited a Supermarket. There he each other. I hope you will remem­
bought paper towels, some drinking ber and recognize me. K.M.
 The Monday following, Len tifully contrived articles, made by
found a reply in his mailbox. hands busy in the endeavor to
Dear Kenneth: I got your wel­ smother the long hours of boredom.
come letter this a.m. I’m glad Len’s green sunglasses sharply
you and Martha will let me stay at outlined the familiar surroundings,
your house until I get me a job. The the austere walls marching sternly
machine shop instructor says I up and down the rolling hills, an
could get work anywheres as a body undulating stone frame for the grey
and fender man. The warden called stockade. He thought he recognized
me to his office and I showed him old Charley Hansen, a trusty, tend­
your letter. He talked to me a long ing the plots of flowers in the court­
time. He sed if I com out with the yard. He and Charley had often dis­
rite atitude to ward sewsiety, I culd cussed the things prisoners talk
re-sume my place in it. Kenneth I about, girls, prison rules, food and
dont want to be pened up here in other inmates. Len was getting a
any more jails or prisons. The war­ light case of nerves now that the
den says I can get out Aug. 15 with critical moment had arrived.
my time off for good behavior at At exactly twelve ten, Bus’ rather
noon. So if you cum here I will walk stooped figure, lugging a cheap pris­
out of Folsom a free man then. I on made suitcase trudged through
sure look foreward to getting out the outer gate and exhibited a paper
and seeing you and Martha. to the guard in his cubicle. Bus be­
Your uncle Buster. gan to search the crowded lot for a
Len read the letter through twice driver wearing green sunglasses,
and laughed. Bus had learned his reading a paper and smoking a
lessons well and memorized their cigaret. At last he spotted Len, and
code to perfection. with a small wave of recognition
At twelve noon, August 15, Len hurried to the black car.
moved the Buick into the parking “Hi, Len.” Bus tossed his bag into
area before Folsom Prison and sat, the back seat.
reading a paper and smoking. He “Hi, Bus.” Len put the automo­
was aware of the penalty for ex-con- bile in motion without further greet­
victs to fraternize. He hoped his ing. They drove out and down the
disguise would not be challenged by ing. They drove out and down the
any familiar guards coming on duty. treelined exit toward the highway.
He covertly watched as visitors During the two hour drive to San
strolled under the archway of the Francisco, Len filled in to Bus, the
outer gate. Some stopped to enter details of his progress. But could
the Hobby Shop and make pur­ only nod silent approval to every­
chases of paintings, carvings, musi­ thing Len told him. At the Bay
cal instruments, and dozens of beau­ Bridge Toll Gate, Len paid the
twenty-five cent fee and they rolled worth at least a million. His daugh­
across the towering structure at a ter Judy attended a high school only
modest rate. blocks away from their residence, a
The magnificent panorama of San long rambling California type home
Francisco’s skyline made little im­ situated on a treelined avenue west
pression on Bus. He seemed preoc­ of the business section of Burlin­
cupied only with anticipation of game. The entire community was
events to come. He had exhausted populated by the more prosperous
any inventiveness he might have and influential citizenry, which in­
contributed to their cabal and was cluded both active and retired movie
content to let Len mastermind from stars.
here on. Len and Bus had scouted the
Len drove directly to the apart­ beautiful shake-roofed, four car
ment and parked the Buick between home for a week. They calculated
two cars of similar vintage. to the minute the time it took Judy
to traverse the distance from school
CHAPTER THREE to her home. Only on occasion did
her schedule differ. Friday was bas­
Len and Bus now began their re­ ketball practice, otherwise she was
view of the requisites for an ideal punctual.
kidnap victim. First the family must Even when Len had ascertained
be wealthy. Secondly, they should be all conditions were “Go,” they con­
parents of a girl about the age from tinued to rehearse how each move
ten to fifteen. They particularly should be made and the exact point
stipulated a female. In their reason­ where the abduction should take
ing, the mother and father would place, how each should act and talk.
more apt to be concerned about her Tuesday afternoon became sunny
personal safety. A boy might be following a foggy morning. The
strong and active, not as easily in­ teeming El Camino Real traffic
timidated. She would be less likely roared deafeningly with it’s medley
to cause a ruckus if threatened. Next of trucks, commuters, and driving
in importance, they would select a women shoppers. Len ushered the
family living out of the city, prefer­ Buick into the right traffic lane and
ably from one of the more opulant entered the now familiar circuitous
areas of the Penninsula. They route to the Rossiter residence.
screened a dozen possible targets Two blocks away they parked
and finally resolved upon Judy Ros­ under a shady plane tree to keep
siter, daughter of Doctor Emmett vigil for their rabbit. At 3:45, three
Rossiter, a surgeon of national re­ young female figures all carrying
pute. Coming from already wealthy books approached an intersection a
forebears, he was known to be block away. At the street corner
they stopped for a moment to chat By this time, Bus had pulled off*
and bid goodbyes. A pretty dark­ one of the 3" wide adhesive strips
eyed, ponytailed girl in a smart coral tacked to the back seat upholstery
pink sweater and grey skirt turned and slapped it over Judy’s still gasp­
into the street where the two men ing mouth. Another he wound
were parked. As she advanced along quickly around her thrashing ankles
the sidewalk, Len started up the car and another securely pinioned both
until his progress was parallel with hands. Her eyes were rolling wildly
hers. like a panicked mare, but her strug­
“Oh Miss,” he called from the gles gradually subsided until she lay
open car window. Judy halted, puz­ quietly, breathing heavily through
zled and a little apprehensive. Len her nostrils. Bus threw an old army
pulled the car closer and stopped. blanket over her subdued form and
“Excuse me, Miss, we are looking leaned back to get his own breath.
for Parker Avenue, do you know The entire manuever had taken only
how we get there ?” three minutes and they were right
Judy hesitated before answering, on schedule.
then shook her head negatively. Len had watched the whole pro­
“No Sir, I don’t think it’s around ceedings in the rear view mirror.
here.” As he drove steadily he conceded
Bus had taken his place in the Bus had played his part to perfec­
back seat and now thrust a map tion. A muffled moan prompted Bus
through the opened door. to lean down and remove the blan­
“This map says “Parker” should ket from Judy’s face to give her air.
be right around here somewhere.” The fright and shock was still so
Judy shook her head again but great she had her eyes tightly
stepped closer to read the fine print. pinched shut. She couldn’t see Bus
At that second Bus grasped Judy’s reach into his pocket, remove a
wrist and gave her a yank. Judy’s small case and assemble the hypo­
books spilled into the street and she dermic syringe. A second later Judy
drew a deep breath to scream. Bus received a shot in her left arm that
clapped a big paw over her open would keep her immobilized for the
mouth and drew her headlong to next four hours. This was time
the floor of the car. She kicked out needed for darkness to be well estab­
wildly and tried to loosen Bus’s grip lished. Approaching the coastline
over her mouth. Failing at that she Len found a deserted site where
whacked at him with the one book they could park and overlook the
she still clutched in one hand to­ ocean.
gether with her small purse. Len The gorgeous sunset for which
closed the door, and they sped west that portion of the Pacific Coast is
toward the isolated hills. renowned began to submit to the
encroaching fog. Occupied with “I’ll wait here until she comes out
plans other than sea-scape watching, of it.” He drank his whiskey and
Len and Bus waited for a break in sat back.
the train of artichoke trucks and A slight moan and creaking noise
eased the Buick into a slot on the brought them both to attention.
highway toward San Francisco. Len reached the room first, un­
Full darkness had set in as they con­ locked it and entered with Bus on
tinued up Highway 1. his heels. He looked at Judy’s rest­
Len drove at once to the secluded less form, reached over and jerked
lot behind the apartments. They sat the tape from her mouth. Had she
in silence for a moment, scanning been fully conscious this act might
the blackness for any possible ob­ have harvested a full fledged scream
server. Nothing was heard but the of pain. In her half drugged state she
distant street noises. Len left the car felt nothing. Len removed her ankle
first, went up the steps and un­ and wrist bindings in the same
locked the door. Bus picked up manner.
Judy’s relaxed body with the blan­ As she slowly returned to a state
ket still wrapped around her. He of wakefulness, her head rolled from
carried her up the three flights puff­ side to side. Her eyes opened and
ing at every step. He was relieved to she blinked at the light bulb.
dump her inert body on the cot. “Water,” she mumbled, “I want a
“Everything O.K. so far?” Bus drink of water.”
asked breathing heavily. Len looked Len went to the bathroom and
at the prone figure. “Looks like filled a glass with the rust colored
we’ve done it.” He dropped Judy’s liquid. He lifted Judy’s head and she
book and purse on the card table. sipped a little. The water revived
“I’ll come back when she wakes up, her somewhat and she began to look
there’s no telling how she might about in dull curiosity.
take this. You go fix us a drink.” “Judy,” Len spoke to her kindly,
In the adjoining room Bus turned “Just be quiet. You are alright, do
on the light and poured two whis­ you hear me?”
keys. Len had blacked out the win­ Judy’s eyes rolled back and forth
dow with tar paper and not a gleam a few times before nodding.
escaped to the outside. Judy’s room “Don’t be afraid, nobody’s going
was far enough along the alley so to hurt you. You will have to stay
her light could not be well seen here with us for a few days, then
from the street. Len had nailed her you can go home. Do you under­
window securely four inches down stand?”
from the top for ventilation. “I got a headache,” she said weak­
Bus leaned back in his chair. A ly. Len turned to Bus. “Go down
few drinks later Len came in. and get some aspirin,” he ordered.
Bus left at once. When he returned Rossiter experienced an icy wave
Len gave her three of the tablets. down his spine, but retained his
She washed them down with the composure for Alma’s sake.
brown water. Shortly she fell asleep “Where did you find these books,
again. Len drew a sign of relief and boys?”
left the room, locking the door. “Right down there,” the larger
boy said. He again pointed to a
CHAPTER FOUR spot several blocks away. “They was
in the gutter, but I saw Judy’s name
Alma Rossiter glanced at the gold inside. She musta lost ’em.”
wall clock with some apprehension. “Thank you boys, here’s a quarter
She turned to Doctor Rossiter, seat­ apiece for your trouble. I guess she
ed in his lounging chair, reading a did lose them.”
medical journal. Rossiter turned toward pale and
“I just can’t understand why Judy trembling Alma.
isn’t home, she’s never been this late “Pull yourself together, Alma.
before without phoning me.” This may mean nothing at all, but
Rossiter put his magazine down I’ll call the school and see what time
and stood up. “Could she have she left.
stopped at Carrie’s house?” he Alma moved zombie-like to the
asked. “She often does.” center of the luxurious living room.
“But not without calling me,” “I just know something dreadful has
Alma said. “I’ll call Carrie now.” happened to her. Why were her
“I do think you are worrying un­ books in the street ? If she was with
necessarily though, Alma. She’ll Carrie—Oh my God, where is she?”
probably show up any minute. Isn’t “Now Alma, steady yourself. I’m
this her basketball practice day? calling the school immediately.”
Alma had the receiver off the Rossiter dialed and asked to speak
hook to call, when the door chimes to the Principal. “Gregory, this is
gave out their soft clangs. She Doctor Rossiter. Our girl Judy has
opened the door to two small boys not come home from school yet, is
standing there holding school books. there any reason she may have been
“Mrs. Rossiter,” one volunteered. delayed?”
“We found these books in the street “Wait a minute, Doctor, I’ll con­
down there, (pointing). I guess they tact her final period teacher. Please
belong to Judy, her name’s in ’em.” hold for a minute.”
“Emmett!” Alma’s voice was be­ He came back on the line. “Doc­
coming hysterical. “Come here, tor, Judy left classes with the rest
these boys picked up Judy’s books of the younsters. Is there anything
in the street. Oh dear God, what wrong?”
could have happened!” “Probably nothing, Gregory, Judy
is a little late coming home, her Rossiter let the paper droop slow­
mother is worried. Thanks any­ ly to his side. Alma was observing
way.” him apprehensively. There was no
“Well, if anything is the matter, opportunity to hide the note from
I’ll expect to be advised, goodbye.” her. His own face was pale. He
Doctor Rossiter began to be pro­ closed his eyes against her desperate
gressively concerned. Judy’s leaving appeal.
the school as customary, her books “Alma,” his voice was choked.
found in the street, not at Carrie’s— “Judy has been kidnapped!”
still, the idea of a kidnapping did “I knew it, I knew it,” Alma al­
not occur to him. most shrieked. “I felt it, she’s gone!”
As an outlet for action, and from Rossiter quickly crossed the room
sheer habit, he visited his mailbox and embraced his wife.
at the curb. An unstamped letter in “Don’t worry, darling, we’ll get
an unfamiliar hand gave him some her back. Please don’t panic.”
intuitive chills. Instinctively he “Why, why, why,” Alma was be­
knew the contents before he opened coming hysterical again. “What do
the envelope, praying he was wrong, they want with Judith?”
but positive he was right. In a Rossiter tried to sooth her. “All
strange back slanted script he read: they want is money, dear. They say
Dr. Rossiter: they will return her if we pay them.”
We have your daughter, Judy. She She rested her head on his shoul­
is well and will stay well if you fol­ der, not yet completely able to com­
low these instructions. It is money prehend the tragic confrontation.
we want. Fifty thousand dollars for Rossiter settled his wife into a
her safe return. All in bills of ten, chair and hurried to mix a sedative.
twenty, fifty and 100 dollars. Not Alone he began to assess the situa­
new ones. Don’t bother to record the tion in a more rational and practical
serials, we haven’t time to wait. manner. Nothing could be done to­
Don’t notify the police, the F.B.I. day, he reasoned. Evidently he
or newspapers. Tie the money in would have to wait for a further
$1000 packages, bundle them all in message. Essentially a man of action,
heavy brown paper, and tie with delay frustrated him. Where could
strong string. This money must be he turn for help without jeapordiz-
ready by tomorrow without fail. We ing Judy? Obviously not the police,
know you can get it so no stalling. or the F.B.I.
You will get a message as to how it As he stirred the calming potion
is to be delivered. We mean busi­ for Alma, his mind raced. The name
ness. Do exactly as we say if you “Don Preston” came to the fore­
want Judy back alive. ground of his confused thinking.
We Have Judy. Don and he had graduated “Cum
Laude” in the same class from mor, and he inquired more solici­
Berkeley’s University of California. tously.
Emmett had pursued a medical ca­ “What’s the problem, Emmett.
reer to become one of San Francis­ Anything wrong?”
co’s leading surgeons with National “Very, Don, and I can’t discuss it
renown. Preston chose to follow over the phone, will you come ?”
law. His unusual bent for criminal “Gosh, Doc. Of course, do you
detection attracted the attention of mean right now ? ”
the Federal Bureau of Investigation “Yes, if you can. It’s air emer­
and inevitably he found himself a gency.”
member of that August body. After “You sound upset. Is it Alma ?”
ten years of service his brilliant solu­ “Not exactly, but I wish you’d
tions of several noted criminal cases hurry.”
resulted in an avalanche of publicity “I’ll be there within an hour.”
that rendered null his usefulness as a Rossiter’s trembling hand hung
secret agent. up the receiver with manifest relief.
He returned to a lucrative private “Alma,” he spoke to his shocked
practice, but on occasion was requi­ and staring wife. “Don will be here
sitioned by the Department for spe­ soon. He’ll know exactly what to do.
cial cases. Please come and lie down. I’ll can­
Still unmarried, he and Doctor cel all appointments and hospital
Rossiter were inseparable friends calls for tomorrow and until Judy
and traditional golf rivals. Rossiter is back.”
could think of no better person to Alma nodded vacantly and rose to
consult in his dilemma and still obey her husband. Rossiter was con­
abide by the terms of the ransom cerned that the shocking events of
note. He placed a call to Don’s apart­ the last hour might disturb her men­
ment in San Francisco at once. tal balance.
In his apartment, Don was located He lifted the phone and called his
playing poker with some attorney office nurse.
cronies.
“Hello, Preston here.” CHAPTER FIVE
“Don, this is Emmett.”
“Oh, Hello, what’s up Doc?” Don The cacophony of dim and dis­
comicly imitated a popular cartoon tant traffic, rising and falling, grad­
character. ually permeated Judy’s drugged
“Don,” Rossiter’s voice was in­ sleep. Kaleidescopic flashes of un­
firm. “I desperately need your help real pictures in colorful confusion
and advice.” raced through her brain in disorder­
Don sensed immediately the situ­ ly procession.
ation did not call for frivolous hu­ The fantastic images faded sud­
denly as recognizable sounds rose to spiderwebbed and spotted cast iron
the brim of her consciousness. tub rested it’s four dirty claws on
With a start she became fully the stinking, cracked and filthy floor.
awake. Her eyes opened to weird The wash basin proved just as bad,
surroundings. It was daylight. Oth­ but Judy was grateful for the water
erwise motionless, she let her eyes that came out of the pitted faucet.
roam the perimeter of the four walls, The toilet still operated, noisily, spill­
taking in the torn, water-stained and ing down a cascade of rusty water.
faded wallpaper. She began to have She found provided for her paper
some vague recall of the events of towels, toilet tissue, and a bar of
the night before. She felt no fear, soap. She felt slightly better after a
just a wonderment about her curi­ hasty wash in the offensive water.
ous surroundings. She began to take a new interest in
She studied the room minutely. In her confinement.
places the old-fashioned flowered Instinctively she knew the door
wallpaper had peeled back, expos­ would be locked, even before she
ing crumbling plaster and ancient tried the knob. Her efforts created a
lath. She heard rustlings and rattle. It was answered at once by
squeakings within the walls, a the sound of a nearby door open­
sound only huge rodents made. ing and closing. Footsteps ap­
About the littered floor was scat­ proached and seconds later a key
tered a more putrescent evidence of scraped in the lock.
their presence. She examined her Judy retreated to her cot and sat
covering. It was an old army blan­ down. Len and Bus entered and re­
ket. Except for the cheap card table locked the door.
and a flimsy chair, the room was “Hello,” Len was disarming.
bare of furnishings. “How do you feel this morning?”
Her gaze wandered to the green Judy said nothing, just stared at
light cord hanging from the ceiling. the two and tried to smooth her
Judy became aware of her need to wrinkled skirt.
visit the bathroom and made a move Len continued in his most charm­
to arise. ing voice.
The cot creaked and her bare feet “I guess you remember why we
hit the cold and dirty linoleum floor. brought you here, Judy. You won’t
She felt crummy in her wrinkled be hurt, so relax. We’ll get you some
and slept-in clothing. Absently she breakfast pretty soon, but first I want
noted her slippers were paired along­ you to understand a few things. We
side her cot. Standing groggily for a are going to ask your daddy for
moment, she moved toward the some money to let you go. He does­
doorless bathroom. It proved even n’t know where you are and he
more dismal than the room itself. A dare not call in the police or the
F.B.I. If he should he knows you gentlemanly, whatever his base pur­
won’t get home alive. We have told pose, and he was considerate of her
him all this. He is a smart man. He comfort.
will do as we have told him to do. Fifteen minutes later the lock rat­
As soon as we collect the money, tled again and Bus stepped in carry­
you will be free to go home. Now, ing two paper bags. Placing them on
while you are here, you are not to the card table, he pulled out a hum­
raise any fuss, scream or try to at­ burger sandwich, some potato chips
tract anyone’s attention. I think you and a carton of milk.
are a pretty smart girl too, so just “Ain’t dinner at the Palace,” Bus
behave and we won’t have to use any smirked, “but it’s nourishin. Now if
force. We don’t want to do that, but your Highness wants anything else,
Bus here is an expert, so don’t tempt just rap.”
him. I warn you. He’ll be the one Judy was left alone. She inspected
to answer to if you make trouble, is the hamburger and bit into it hun­
that all very clear?” grily. The cheap meat was rancid.
Judy nodded silently. Her dark She wrinkled her nose in distaste
eyes studied the pair. Small sparks and drank the milk. It at least was
of hostility flashed. fresh and the chips tasted good.
Her first words were, “I’m hun­ Looking inside the paper bag she
gry-” saw a register receipt. It read,
Len grinned in relief. “That’s ‘Franks’s Franks’ with a 23rd street
more like it. We don’t guarantee sir­ address, San Francisco. She poked it
loin steaks, but you’ll get your meals. into her purse and sat back to con­
Just be quiet. We’ll be back soon. sider her plight.
Remember, one of us will always be She was kidnapped, it was obvi­
next door. Rap on the wall if you ous. That of course meant for ran­
want anything.” Bus had to get his som. Her parents were very prob­
say in. “Yeah, and if you give us any ably worrying themselves sick about
trouble you won’t need to rap, I’ll her disappearance. Her father had
be right in!” undoubtedly been at home when
The pair left, making it a point to she was first missed. His normal
rattle the key in the door lock. medical practice occupied him in
Judy settled back on the cot to the early morning at hospitals with
ponder her predicament. She had a few office patients after two-thirty
taken an instant aversion to the one in the afternoon. His presence at
called “Bus.” His teeth were bad, home would be a comfort to her
his breath, augmented with raw li­ mother. She knew her father would
quor, even at a distance was nause­ spare no time in accumulating mon­
ating. She decided she could at least ey for her release.
tolerate the clean one. He had acted Even wealthy people could have
difficulty ’’in producing fifty-thou­ her library card, a fingernail file, a
sand dollars on such short notice. wrinkled dollar bill and ninety-five
“Hi, Toots,” Bus’s head was cents in change plus the register re­
thrust in the doorway .“My partner’s ceipt from the hamburger stand. In
going out and he told me to ask you a slit pocket there were two snap­
if you wanted anything, (besides shots of favorite boy friends, one of
gettin’ outa here.) Bus tittered at his herself and a girl chum.
trivial humor. Judy stared at his un­ Her inventive mind began to
tidy hair. search for a method of getting word
“As long as I have a choice, bring of her confinement to the outside.
me some chewing gum and cokes. Judy went to the window and
Something to read too, comics may­ surveyed what could be seen of the
be.” park across the street. The narrow
“Choosey, ain’t you? Oh well, aperture between the two buildings
anything to keep you shut up.” afforded only a small glimpse of a
Half hour later Bus, reappeared bench, the greenery and the tops of
with a few articles. Six packs of cars and trucks traversing the street.
Beeman’s gum, some comic books, a No persons were visible to her. Only
True Tales Magazine, and two iced occasionally did someone stroll past
cokes. the narrow strip of sidewalk within
Judy decided to see what Bus was her vision. She thought of signaling
made of. by means of her compact mirror.
“Have a coke,” she invited. After a few experiments she con­
Bus grinned. “Sure, thanks.” cluded the scheme would work only
He flipped the baseball type cap when the sun was directly overhead.
off the top of both bottles, lifted his She stepped back and turned
and drank noisily. He placed the smack into the arms of Bus. So in­
empty bottle on the table, arose and tent was she in her efforts she did
waved. “See you later.” not hear him unlock the door.
After he exited and locked the Bus’s face was livid. In a fury he
door, Judy began her analysis. “A backhanded her across her face and
stupid Goon,” she thought, “but she sprawled on the grimy floor
potentially dangerous.” trying to protect her face from
On second thought, she dumped further battering.
the entire contents of her purse on He stood shaking with rage over
the small table and inventoried the her prostrate form.
articles. One lipstick, one eyebrow “You dirty little bitch, already
pencil, one powder compact with trying something funny! After all
mirror, three spare rubber bands for our warning. Now you’ll see if we
her ponytail, some paper clips, a meant it when we told you to be-
comb, one tiny bottle of perfume, havel”
 Bus reached down and jerked ance and continued her diatribe.
her erect. Another viscious slap “You should have been flushed
knocked her onto her cot. Her eyes down the toilet nine months before
bulged, she protected herself as best you were born, you son of a ba­
she could with her hands and boon!”
choked out, “Quit it, Damn you!” “Boy,” breathed Bus, “If I was
Bus stood over her, still trembling your father I’d brain you.”
with wrath, ready to strike again. “If you were my father I’d com­
“Listen once more, you,” he mit fratracide first, then suicide.”
snarled. “Another try like that and Utterly confounded and frustrat­
I’ll really bust you. We was trying to ed, Bus retreated. How did one
be nice, but no, you couldn’t see it cope with a child that spoke in the
that way. Now you got to “or else” vernacular of a mule skinner.
cornin’to you!”
Bus walked to her compact lying CHAPTER SIX
on the floor and ground the glass to
shards with his heel. The blossoming feud between
Judy raised to her elbow. She lift­ Judy and Bus now developed into
ed her red-rimmed eyes to Bus’ a full fledged conflict of wills. She
face. They were rapidly becoming detested him with all the loathing
black. The black was turning into her youth could muster for a de­
hate. praved human animal.
“You bastard!” she ground out. Bus tried to reciprocate with his
“If my father ever gets to you he’ll brand of ineffectual sarcasm. Her
know just where to operate!” scorn and penetrating insight into
“Jeez!” Bus was shocked. “What his degenerate nature defeated him.
a brat. What are you punks coming He began to shun his chores. When
to with such language? In my day he could no longer neglect them
girls of your age looked at funnies without Len’s noting, Bus deter­
like Happy Hooligan and Little mined he would not allow her to
Nemo, they didn’t talk like a Stock- provoke him again.
ton Street hustler!” “Is the Queen on her throne to­
“Sink it, you squared off snake,” day?”
Judy jeered. “Where’ve you been for “What’s for lunch, Dummy, ham­
the last twenty years, in jail?” burger again?”
The accidental shot floored Bus. “Nope, Hot Dogs today.”
In feeble retaliation he cracked, “Lord, don’t you guys know any­
“I’m only worried your old man thing besides Hot Dogs and Ham­
will pay us off to keep you. I could­ burgers?”
n’t stand that!” “Well, Countess, tomorrow the
Judy sensed she had Bus off bal­ menu will be tacos and beans. I
hope that meets wit your Highness’ moronic anthropoid, and I’ll watch
approval.” Bus curtsied cumbrously. you choke in that gassed up love seat
“Or maybe you’d like some prime in San Quentin!”
ribs and mushrooms, Madame? We "Hoity-toity, listen to the wind
shouldn’t ought ’a give you nothin’ blow!” Bus pranced around in a
to eat at all. It ain’t required like. circle, holding his coat tails deli­
It’s only outa the goodness of our cately.
hearts we feed you at all. If your old “Yes,” Judy continued, “I think
man don’t get his ass outta that sling I’ll ask for a ticket to the show when
and produce some dough, you kin they haul you through the little
stay right here for forty years fer door. I can just picture the whole
all I care!” scene.” Judy heaved a fake sigh re­
Judy checked her impulse to ask signedly. “They drag you scream­
if they had heard from her father. ing and clawing toward that green
Her sudden silence led Bus to be­ gas chamber. I’ll bet the color would
lieve he had scored and his tirade just match your bilious face!”
persisted. “You been seein’ too many Cag­
“You ain’t really worth ten cents ney movies. They showed that one
dead or alive. I guess we’d been bet­ on TV. I seen it too. It sure would’a
ter off to’ve snatched an ape outa the given them guys in Folsom a laugh.”
zoo. He’d be easier to feed, give Judy did not give an inch, she
us no back talk, and wouldn’t try pressed her pseudo dramatic advan­
no dumb tricks to get outta here. tage to the limit.
Probably be prettier too.” Bus in­ “First they pull you out of your
cluded slyly. cell, your feet are dragging all the
“If you had snatched a monkey way down the corridor, your hands
you would at least feel at home with clutch at the bars. When you get to
one of your kind. It would be like the end they open that door and
looking at a mirror all day, would­ there it is, the deadly squat!”
n’t it?” “Shut your nasty mouth, Damn
“Aw, shut up! You make me sick, you! I’ll tell 'YOU why there ain’t
talkin’ to a grown-up like that.” goin to be no such scene, because
“Sure, you might just get tired one little smart-ass girl is goin to be
seeing yourself as others see you, but found in some lonely canyon a hun­
at least you could talk the same lan­ dred miles from here. By the time
guage.” your little dried-up decayed body is
Bus’s face began to get livid, she discovered and your Daddy identi­
was getting under his thick hide fies you, Little Bus and Len will be
again. “I oughta clout you one in long gone, livin high off the hog
your nasty mouth!” with fifty grand to spend. Dames,
“You touch me once more, you clothes, and a Lincoln automobile. I
sometimes dream about them Lin­ She realized now, a message
colns, a pink convertible with tiger MUST be conveyed to someone out­
skin seats, a built-in bar and record side. She harbored no illusion that
player. That old dream is just about these two would permit a surviving
ready to come true, and it’ll be al­ witness to provide police with their
most worth puttin’ up with you for descriptions. Bus’ imaginative por­
a week!” trayal of her immediate future was
“Sounds great,” said Judy, unim­ more a reflection of their actual in­
pressed. “Maybe I’d like to go along, tentions than a mere fairy tale to
if you were something other than a frighten her. Time was slipping by.
ringtailed, pockmarked Mongolian She devised and discarded half a
idiot I” dozen ideas. The most practical plan
Bus laughed. “Go ahead Baby, try came to her next morning.
to insult me twenty-five grand She tore a page from her Geog­
worth. For that I can even suffer raphy book and fashioned a paper
you!” glider. She launched it experimen­
“Don’t start spending it yet, you tally. It was not balanced and flew
clown. At least wait 'til you collect.” poorly. Judy fastened a paper clip to
“Crap!” In twenty-four hours you the nose and tried again. It per­
won’t see us for dust!” formed better, but further trails im­
“I’d hate to have to describe what proved it to the point where she was
that dust flying at your heels will impelled to send one on it’s way.
consist of.” With her lipstick she imprinted the
“For a fourteen year old chick, shortest message she could devise.
you got the imagination of a bur­ She decided upon, HELP I’M UP
lesque comic.” HERE J.R. It represented a blurry
“You’re only twenty years behind dispatch designed to attract the at­
the times, Buster.” tention of some curious eye.
“Where’d you hear my name.” She supposed that by this time ev­
Bus asked in astonishment. ery newspaper would be featuring
“I didn’t, but if it’s that, that’s it.” the story of missing Judy Rossiter.
Bus shook his tousled mane and Her initials alone should excite the
exited in exasperated defeat. dullest reader. Her father wielded
Judy looked at her distorted re­ considerable influence in the com­
flection in the cracked bathroom munity. Mention of his name would
mirror. Two bruised and black­ attract public attention and sym­
ening eyes stared back. She re­ pathy.
trieved what was left of her shat­ She tried another glider and
tered compact and with the puff and weighted the nose with a blob of
a residue of powder, tried to repair masticated gum. This one flew beau­
her abused face. tifully. She watched its progress as
it descended, still in view. Turning, quick crack. It snapped off. Pointed
bumping, twisting diving and fly­ toward the top was a viscious
ing—finally reaching the air over the jagged edge. She at least had a
street, it took a great updraft and makeshift weapon. Concealing it
sailed serenely to the park. under her brown blanket against fu­
Encouraged, but apprehensive of ture necessity, she settled down to
her captors sudden appearance, she try to read in the dimness and await
folded more of the tiny aircraft. her evening hamburger.
From her purse she extracted more
gum and chewed industriously. She CHAPTER SEVEN
also took out her perfume to eradi­
cate the unpleasant odors in the Len carefully noted landmarks in­
room. Unstopping the bottle she ac­ dicating the approach to a little dirt
cidently tipped it over on her geog­ road leading off to the right of the
raphy book. highway. The two roads, separated
“Damn,” she ejeculated, retriev­ by a six foot hedge of Oleanders par­
ing the bottle. No matter, the place alleled each other for half a mile.
smelled much better. In a constant The blossoming bushes screened the
barrage she tore out pages and sent narrower route from the thorough­
message after message, unaware of fare. Len had timed the distance
where they might land. “Bread on from the little lane to the Icy Freeze
the Waters,” she quoted from her Drive In Restaurant many times at
Sunday school lessons. They may varying speeds. He ascertained twen­
have rained on the street, in the park ty-five miles an hour and ten min­
or down below in the alley as far as utes elapsed time as correct for the
she could discern. As a pencil, her measured distance. This was the key
lipstick soon became useless, worn to the pickup.
to the metal sheath. She used her Len drove back to his Richmond
eyebrow pencil next until it was District room in San Francisco and
blunted to the wood. Judy perse­ wrote a letter.
vered until dusk, exhaustion and Dr.Rossiter: (it read)
the evening meal time approached. So far you have behaved admir­
As darkness moved into the ably. Judy is O.K. To prove to you
dreary room, Judy rested on her cot we have her she told us her mother’s
and pondered her plight further. middle name is Catharine and her
Bus’s antipithy was not to be dis­ grades this semester were straight
counted. Intuitively she feared him. A’s except Geography, which was
Thoughtfully she picked up one of B—. We will give you her Geogra­
the empty coke botdes and took it phy book also for proof. Here is how
into the bathroom. On the edge of to get her back. Tomorrow go to
the iron tub she gave the neck a your bank, get $50,000 in used bills,
10’s, 20’s, 5O’s and 100’s. Don’t bother his hangover. Len came awake and
to mark them or register serials, you got up to dress. “Wonder how the
haven’t the time. Don’t inform the girl’s holding up.”
police, the F.B.I. or the newspapers. Bus glanced at Len through half
Tie the bills in $1000 packages. Wrap opened and bleary eyes.
them all in heavy brown paper, tie “All right, I guess, except for her
with strong string. smart mouth.”
Lock it in the trunk of your car “Go down and get her some corn
till tomorrow afternoon. At Six flakes and milk. We got sugar here.
sharp leave your house and drive to Bring some orange juice. You look
the Icy Freeze Drive In on Vermont like you could stand some too.”
Avenue. Leave both your front win­ Bus snorted. “How long we gotta’
dows down. You can go in for a stay here. I’d like to go out and get a
cup of coffee but sit where you can’t decent meal for once!”
see your car. “We should have the money by
At six fifteen, go back to your car. seven o’clock tonight. Get packed,
Pick up the envelope on the seat. It we’ll be on our way by eight.”
will tell you where to drive and “You got those reservations and
leave the money. Don’t forget, one passports?”
of us will always be with Judy. Any “Yes, right here. Take yours, hold
attempt to trick or follow us will be on to it, and you’d better study it so
fatal for your daughter. When we you won’t forget your name.”
have the money we will tell you Bus accepted the reservation and
where to find Judy. passport. “What’s my name?”
You Know Who “You are Thomas Duncan when
Len sealed and stamped the en­ you walk up to the ticket office,
velope, drove back to Burlingame your passport reads you are an oil
and dropped it in a mail box. He worker, hired by Stickley Oil Com­
wanted it to bear a local postmark. pany, to explore the interior of Ar­
Back again in San Francisco, Len gentina for oil.”
looked in on Judy. She was sleeping “So I’m an oiler, whadda I do if
with her face to the wall. He backed they ask me questions?”
out silently. Bus was on his cot snor­ “What questions? In Argentina
ing. The whiskey bottle was almost they don’t ask too many questions
empty. Len sat for a while re-exam- as long as you bring American
ing the day’s progress. “So far, no dough.”
slip-ups,” he concluded. “I’ll feel a lot better when we got
Except for Bus’s alcoholic night­ that money and get on that plane.”
song, the night was a quiet one. “Don’t worry, we’ve got five days
Bus awoke early. The primus to get there.”
lighted, he splattered cold water on “Think the heap will make it?”
 “With fifty thousand bucks, really trust Len ? Fifty thousand dol­
should we worry ? ” lars and a head start might tempt
“I keep fergittin’, that would buy many an honest crook. Still, con­
a lot of Thunderbirds.” sidering further, it wouldn’t make
“We’ll drive to Miami. If the cops sense. Left to take the rap he could
should get a tip, all the airlines will finger Len and his destination in a
be covered. We can take side roads minute. He swilled the coffee royal
and still make it easy. and turned to reading some provoc­
“I’ll get something for us and the ative girlie magazines. Len was still
kid to eat.” not back at eleven, so Bus went out
Bus left yawning widely. Still to bring Judy’s noon meal.
yawning he returned with bags of
food in both arms. CHAPTER EIGHT
“You feed that tiger this time,”
Bus said. I’ll pour us some coffee.” Don arrived at the Rossiter resi­
Len carried Judy’s food to her room. dence at eight twenty. He parked
She was awake but still in her bed. his green Thunderbird in the drive­
She tossed her dark tousled hair way beside the Doctor’s Cadillac
back. Sleepily she followed Len’s and raced to the front entrance. His
movements. ring was unnecessary, Celia opened
“Here’s something to eat,” Len the door before he had a chance to
smiled. press the chimes button. Alma
“Thanks loads,” Judy replied. She rushed into his arms and buried her
threw back her blanket. face on his shoulder.
“Where’s old fish face?” Rossiter followed, pale and shak­
“You ought to try to get along en to take Don’s hand in a grip of
with Bus,” Len admonished. “He’s desperation. Inside, the story related
really alright, maybe just a little to Don was simple. Judy was miss­
crude.” ing, a ransom note had appeared.
“CRUDE!” Judy cried. “If he “I didn’t know what to do, Don, ex­
were any cruder, he’d still be an em- cept to call you.” Rossiters’s coun­
byro!” tenance was set grimly. Don asked
Len laughed. “I guess we deserve him to repeat the story with as much
that for abducting a doctor’s daugh­ detail as possible. The doctor waited
ter.” anxiously for Don’s reaction.
Len went back to Bus. “I’ve still “Let me see that letter,” Don
got a few things to do, but I’ll be asked. He studied it for several min­
back around ten.” utes.
Bus, still yawning, sat down to his “This was written by an intelli­
second cup of coffee liberally gent but only fairly well-educated
slugged with bourbon. Could he man,” Don announced. “The
handwriting tells nothing in itself, “Look, Ed, You’ve known me for
any expert could fake the style. I twenty years, my accounts are all at
would judge he is a professional. your bank. Do I get this in a hurry
The wording is studied.” or not?”
“This was a well planned and exe­ Finally some comprehension be­
cuted kidnapping. I think whoever gan to override his shattered calm.
did this is serious and determined. Business instinct was restored and
Much as it is against my principle he was able to mouth, “Of course,
and training to pay off ransom, I Doctor, of course. I’ll see to it at
think Emmett you had better make once.”
the arrangements in the manner Rossiter continued, “Don’t try to
they have asked. Let’s get Judy back register the serial numbers or make
and worry about their capture la­ marks, Ed. I must have this money
ter.” as soon as you can get it together.
Rossiter sighed in great relief. This has to be strictly confidential.”
“It’s such a comfort for us to get an Burton gulped but appraised the
expert opinion, Don. I’ll get to the situation in it’s true light and left
bank first thing tomorrow.” Rossiter sitting in his office to carry
The next morning Rossiter left out the unusual request.
his house at ten and drove directly
to his Burlingame bank. He asked CHAPTER NINE
to see Burton, Vice President and
an old and valued friend. Ushered For lack of something to do, Judy
into Burton’s office, he took his out­ searched through her purse. In it re­
stretched hand and came immedi­ mained one rubber band for her
ately to the point. hair. Her spilled perfume permeated
“Ed, please don’t delay me with the stale air. Everything stank of it.
needless questioning. This is an Bus entered with the customary
emergency. I must have fifty-thou­ sandwiches. “Wow, what’s that
sand dollars, right away, in used smell? It reminds me of a place I
bills of small denominations. I want ain’t been in for years.”
them tied in bundles in heavy paper “It’s called ‘I Will Find You.’
tied with strong cord. You know Sort of prophetic, don’t you think?”
I’m good for this so please don’t Bus ignored the jibe.
frustrate me by being too inquisi­ “Well, Sweetheart, here’s your
tive. Will you do it?” dinner.” He grinned ingratiatingly.
Burton’s mouth dropped open “You ain’t still mad at me are you?
like a gasping trout. For the first We got to get along for one more
time in his imperturable banker’s day, after that you can go home to
career, his composure deserted him. your Mommy and Daddy.”
“ Wha-wha-what ? ” Bus came over and sat beside Judy.
 “I ain’t so bad Baby, once you get small package and snatched her
to know me.” wrist. Twisting it around her back
Judy edged away. She slid her he forced her to return upward step
hand under the brown blanket and by step. Judy clenched her teeth
grasped the coke bottle. Bus edged against the pain and made his every
over beside her. move as difficult as she could. Len
“Look, Kitten, I ain’t goin’ to hurt was silent, but his face was taut with
you. We ought to be friends, no use suppressed anger. He shoved her
us fightin’ all the time.” into her room roughly. His eyes be­
Bus put his arm around Judy’s came slits at the sight of blood on
waist. His hand grasped a nubile the floor and over the cot. Grimly
breast and he pinched. he released her, locked the door,
With the speed of a striking rat­ and went to find Bus. He saw him
tlesnake she jerked the bottle from in the bathroom blotting his bleed­
under the covering and with all her ing face with paper towels and curs­
might slashed at his face. She laid his ing vilely.
cheek open from ear to jaw. Bus Len examined Bus’ mutilated
gave a yelp of surprise and pain. cheek and gritted, “What in Hell
He jumped erect, eyes staring in happened?”
wide disbelief. He clapped his hand Bus took time to answer. “That
to his torn jaw, blood pouring be­ damned Hell cat, she slashed me
tween his fingers and over his with a broken bottle. Now look at
clothes. He leaped away, now terri­ my face!”
ble in his anger but first concerned Len stepped closer and looked at
with the gravity of his injury. He the jagged wound, still flowing pro­
ran from the room failing for once fusely. “I’ll run down and get some
to relock the door. Judy tiptoed after antiseptic and bandages. Keep the
and heard him cursing and splash­ bleeding down as much as you can.”
ing water in his room. A few minutes later Len returned
She opened her door a crack and and dressed the long gash. He
peered down the dark empty hall­ stepped back to survey his handi­
way. Shoeless she silently sped to­ work.
ward the stairway. She descended “You sure you didn’t try any­
steps two at a time until she brought thing?” Len asked.
up sharply at the first floor barrier. “Naw.” Bus’ bandaged jaw im­
Retracing her route to the fourth paired his speech. “I just took in her
floor, she raced along the upper hall lunch and she jumped me! Just wait,
again until she came to the back I’ll fix her wagon—”
stairway. Down she flew, third floor, “Wait nothing,” interjected Len
second floor—and ran headlong into with unaccustomed fury. “Leave
Len coming up. He dropped his that girl alone! This is strictly busi­
ness, not monkey business! Are you “Yes, I’d like a bath.”
trying to blow the whole works “You’ve got water, soap, and
now that we have it practically plenty of paper towels. Couldn’t you
made? If you touch her again you’ll take a sort of “spit bath ?”
answer to me! I haven’t gone this “With no door on the bathroom,
far to let you screw it up. From now and you guys tramping in and out at
on I’ll take care of her, you stay out all hours? I haven’t changed clothes
of her room.” Len turned on his in two days. I feel like ten cents
heel savagely, leaving Bus to nurse worth of God Help Us.”
his pain in a sulk. “Well, O.K. Judy. It should all be
Len went back to Judy’s room. over by tomorrow.” Len took the
He was surprised to find her busy gum from his mouth, wadded it and
wiping up Bus’ blood with paper stuck it under the chair.
towels. The old bathtub was clut­ Judy was alone again. She had no
tered with bright red and sopped misgivings about what she had
toweling. She didn’t look up as Len done to Bus. She bitterly wished she
entered but persevered with her san­ had killed him. Paper missies con­
guine chore. Finally she spoke. tinued to spiral down between the
“Keep that Damned imbecile away buildings.
from me! I’ll go hungry before he More than ever, she now needed
gets in here again.” desperately to get a message to some­
Len sat on the chair reversely and one. Maybe she could improve the
leaned his arms on the back. “I’m flying distance of her little gliders if
sorry about this, Judy.” He picked she could catapult them like they
up a stick of gum from the table, did to airplanes off carriers. She
took off the wrapper and popped it took the last of her rubber bands
into his mouth. “Bus can be pretty from her hair. She made a notch in
mean if he’s aggravated. He isn’t the nose of her latest creation and
likely to forget that.” weighted it with a small wad of
“He should be glad,” snapped gum. Test hopping it in her room
Judy. “Anything would be an im­ she was delighted with it’s flying
provement on his ugly mug.” characteristics, a long high ratio
“Tell me Judy, just how did it glide. Judy tore more pages from her
happen?” Geography book. With her new
“The dirty bastard tried to get method of launching she was able
fresh. I was ready for him. I saw it to send them far beyond the open­
coming the first day I got here, I ing between the buildings. She
was ready, that’s all.” showered them to the street below.
Len sighed and nodded. “I believe Some fell into the alley, some on the
you Judy. I’ll see it doesn’t happen street to be flattened by passing cars.
again. Anything you want?” The pages from her book smelled to
Heaven with her spilled perfume. If scented page from a school book
someone would only be curious seemed to indicate a note of distress.
about the strange message on them The man and his wife studied the
and recognize it as a plea for help. communication skeptically. Again
She fully expected quick and vio­ he made a move to throw it back
lent retribution from Len and Bus into the street, then changed his
should they discover her efforts to mind at the approach of a uni­
escape. Sometimes utter discourage­ formed policeman. The policeman
ment assailed her. In these black examined the paper quizzically,
moments she entertained the idea of smelled of it and stowed it between
calm submission until her ransom the pages of his notebook.
was paid. Then dispair of ever being The couple with the child moved
freed predominated her thoughts. on.
She doubted they would surrender Checking in at his station, the pa­
her even after they had collected the trolman recalled the incident at the
money. She was the one person who park and showed the puzzling arti­
could identify either or both. Bus cle to his Captain.
would obviously be bent on retalia­ Captain Gregg sat contemplating
tion for his hurt. Best perhaps to the odd message with the enigmatic
keep trying, even hopelessly. letters, then lifted his phone.
“Get me Missing Persons, this is
CHAPTER TEN Captain Gregg. Hello, Gregg speak­
ing. D’you have any M.P. reports
A young couple arose from the with initials J.R.?”
shaded park bench holding the tiny “Nothing like that Captain, what
hand of a thirteen months old tod­ have you got?”
dler and strolled toward the inter­ “Guess it’s just a prank. Lots of
section. Something in the gutter at­ kids do stunts like this, probably
tracted the youngster’s eye and he means nothing. If anything comes
pulled his parents to a stop, squatted in with those initials, call me.”
and picked up a paper object. It “Will do Captain. What’s it
went at once toward his mouth but about?”
was quickly intercepted by the “Oh, it’s a little paper airplane.
father. About to toss it back into Keller says someone handed it to
the street some bright red lettering him at Carter Park. Has some writ­
stayed his hand. ing on it, says, help, I’m up here.
Transferring the child’s fist to it’s Some initials, J. Rd Stinks of per­
mother’s hand, he unfolded the pa­ fume of some sort. I’ll file it.”
per and read, “HELP I’M UP No sooner had Captain Gregg
HERE J.R.”. The crude printing on rung off, than his phone buzzed.
what appeared to be a strongly “Captain Gregg.”
 “This is Don Preston, Captain.” the house. That’s where I figure she
“Well, Hello Don, how’s the law was nabbed.”
business?” Gregg sat straighter in his chair.
“Captain, I’ve something of great “I guess I owe you a few favors,
importance to speak with you Don. Really this is police business,
about. Can I come right over ?” but not our Department if she was
“Sure Don, right now.” taken in Burlingame. I’m free only
“I’ll see you in ten minutes.” to offer some unofficial assistance
It was only eight minutes until here in San Francisco. I think Allen
Don was in Gregg’s office. They and Dahl would be your men. Both
shook hands and Don stated imme­ reliable and veterans in this sort of
diately. “Look, Captain, I’ve got a thing. Better let me deputize you
snatch case on my hands. I can’t call though so you can legally carry a
in either the police or the F.B.I. yet. gun. I’ll issue you a pistol too.
You’ve heard of Doctor Rossiter? Subconsciously something kept
His daughter has been kidnapped nagging at the older policeman. He
from their home in Burlingame and couldn’t quite place it, but as he
a fifty-thousand dollar ransom note walked Don to the door it suddenly
received. dawned upon him.
It warned not to call in the police “Hey, wait a minute, what’s that
or the F.B.I. Rossiter called me at girl’s name again ?”
once, and as an old friend I’m act­ “Judy Rossiter.”
ing independently. I have a hunch “J.R., J.R., say, those are the ini­
they brought her to San Francisco, tials on that piece of paper!”
there’s no logical place on the Penn- Gregg went back to his desk and
insula to conceal her. They could picked it out of a drawer. Don took
easily get lost in the City. I need two it, read the printing and smelled the
good plain clothes men assigned to scent.
help me. Two I can trust to keep “Where did this come from ?”
their mouths shut for a while. The “Officer Keller said someone
Regional F.B.I. Director has given handed it to him near Carter Park
me a free hand until I get her back. in the Mission.”
If the local police or newspapers “I want to call her father, may I
get wind of it, God only knows use your phone?”
what might happen to the girl.” Gregg waved airily. “Be my
“You say Don, it’s Doctor Rossi­ guest.”
ter’s daughter they have?” A moment later Don was speak­
“Yes, she was picked up some­ ing to Rossiter. “Doc, did Judy have
where near her home in Burlin­ any perfume with her when she dis­
game. Her books were found in appeared?”
the street about a block away from “Well, she shouldn’t have, I’ve
forbidden her to put on that cheap know about that peculiar paper with
stuff she affected. Why, do you have the lipstick printing on it.”
anything?” “Officer Keller, this is Don Pres­
“I’m working on a lead, nothing ton. You say someone handed you
definite. But I need that informa­ this page, apparently from a school
tion.” Geography book, near Carter Park?
“I can’t ask her mother just now, Who was it and where did they get
Don; she’s still in shock, but Celia it?”
will know. I’ll call her.” “Oh, I see, a family said their
Don held on. After a moment child picked it out of the street.
Celia came on the line. Their curiosity was piqued at the
“Mr. Don ? Doctor says you want lettering and they handed it to you ?
to talk to me. Wh’d you want to Thanks very much, it could be of
know?” much importance.”
“Celia, did Judy wear perfume?” Don turned again to Gregg.
“I don’ know if she wore any or “This changes matters. I need an­
not, but she sure like to put plenty other favor Captain. I’d like to bor­
on herself.” row ’O1 Likker’ for a few days. You
“What scent did she use?" know he’s an old and trusted friend
“She got a bottle on her dresser of mine.”
called, ‘I’ll Fin’ You’. Oh Mr. Don, “Of course, Don. I remember
you goin’ to bring back my Judy? you used that dog on numerous oc­
I’ll jus’ die if you don’t.” Celia’s casions when you were with the
voice broke. Bureau. I’ll call the Police Kennels
“Don’t cry Celia, I’ll do my best. and clear him for you. Good luck
I’ve a slight clue and will have to and if you need us holler.”
hurry. Bye Celia.” Don, deputized and armed took
He hung up and turned to Gregg. the elevator to the basement. He was
“Captain, who did you say the Offi­ about to check out the famous
cer was who brought in that bloodhound, *O1’ Likker.’ Lik as he
paper?” was called for short, derived his un­
“Name’s Keller, patrolman on usual moniker, not from any predi­
that beat. He’s off duty now but if lection for alcohol, (his bloodshot
you want to speak to him, I’ll call.” eyes notwithstanding) but by an
“Please do.” abstemious old maid in the Rec­
Gregg placed the call, “Get Officer ords Department. His registered
Keller on the phone for me.” name was ‘OLD LIQUOR’ how­
A few minutes later his phone ever, she deemed it unforthright
buzzed. “Captain Gregg here, Oh that such an improper cognomen
yes, Keller, I want you to talk to Mr. should remain in her files. She
Preston and tell him what you changed it to ‘O1 Likker,’ accident­
ly calling him by an even more pro­ mained utterly disinterested in and
pitious name through his habit of oblivious of a dozen or so medals
greeting friends with a great dollop that graced the walls of the kennel
of wet slobbery tongue, which he office.
endowed liberally upon unwary Lik met Don with unrestrained
friend and quarry alike. Everybody joy. “Hello Boy,” Don stroked the
was the object of his affectionate na­ pendulous ears and tried to dodge
ture. the customary sloppy greeting. Lik
O1 Likker’s more professional was signed out and his leash
claim to fame accrued from his handed to Don. “Come on, old fel­
hyper-educated sense of smell. O1 low, I think we’ve got a job for
Lik had participated in solving you.”
more notorious crime cases than The dog heaved his ninety-five
many a veteran policeman. In his pounds of bulk onto the back seat of
career he had sniffed out eleven lost Don’s car, perfectly at home there,
children, several buried bodies and looking as happy as a dog with his
any number of fleet-footed crimi­ dolorous countenance could, tongue
nals. If bloodhounds were ac­ lolling and dripping, impatient to
claimed Artists in the field of olfac­ get going.
tory mnemonics, Lik was a Don pulled the Thunderbird into
virtuoso. It was reported facetiously the traffic stream and headed to­
he could bury his head under water, ward Carter Park. He found a space
follow a trail half a mile down and parked. Trailing obediently,
stream and pick it up unerringly on Lik followed him to the park bench.
the opposite bank! Lik had his Don seated himself, Lik flopped at
training in a special police school. his feet. Don unfolded a newspaper
He was taught not to follow a given and pretended to read. Behind the
scent in full cry as most blood­ obscurity of the paper he scanned
hounds do. After recognizing a red­ the neighborhood. First he exam­
olence he towed steadily and silent­ ined the empty warehouse, then the
ly on his leash. Only his degree of apartment building adjacent.
haul indicated if or not he had the He chose the deserted looking
quarry’s emanation fixed. Lik could apartment house as the most prom­
single out an odor from a mixed ising of the two for a hideout. One
dozen and steadfastly pursue the by one he studied each window on
one he was directed to follow. The every floor.
Federal Bureau of Investigation Lik’s big head rested on his paws,
had borrowed him on many cases his droopy eyes closed as if he were
where he gave distinguished per­ asleep. A busy fly settled on his nose
formances. and trouped around. One eye
In spite of these honors he re­ opened and studied the fly. He
rolled the open eye up toward Don trieved another strange dispatch,
as if to question what to do about same book, same wording, same
the intruder. Don brought the scent! Don’s words were mostly to
strange scented paper with the enig­ himself, “I’ll bet my next year’s
matic note from his pocket and in­ poker winnings she’s around here
troduced it under Lik’s black wet somewhere. Come on, Lik, lets get
nose. The dog lifted his great head some reinforcements.”
to sniff, then let it drop back again
to it’s resting place to resume his CHAPTER ELEVEN
snooze.
Suddenly the head came up again, At ten minutes past six, Len
the ears as erect as any blood­ parked the old Buick a block from
hound’s has a right to be. Sluggish­ the Icy Freeze Drive Inn and slow­
ly the big dog arose, nose extended ly meandered toward the restaurant.
and rather languidly he moved to- He saw Rossiter’s dark green Cadil­
wrrd the high foliage behind the lac sedan pulled into a parking slot.
bench. Both front door windows had been
Don followed the beast’s strange rolled down. A covert glance about
behavior with increasing interest. showed no one observing his move­
Lik disappeared under the shrub­ ments and he swiftly slipped the en­
bery trailing his leash. Don’s first velope onto the front seat. He had
reaction was, Lik was searching for meant to include Judy’s curiously
a fireplug. Loud snuffling and the mutilated Geography book. In his
fast vanishing leash prompted Don nervousness it was forgotten in the
to arise with alacrity and follow. Be­ Buick. Well, no matter, it was in­
fore he could stoop to see where the tended as an additional reminder to
dog had gone Lik reappeared hold­ Rossiter, if his instructions were not
ing in his droopy jowls a duplicate followed to the letter. Len boldly
of the paper Don held in his pocket. passed into the eating place and
Don relieved the dog of his prize seated himself at the counter. The
and smelled it. It reeked of the same waitress took his order for coffee
aroma, possibly it was, Til Find and a cheese sandwich.
You.’ Old Likker was also inter­ In a wall booth sat a nervous and
ested and insisted on further smell­ worried man, before an untouched
ing. Don patted the dog and rolled cup of coffee, trying hard not to
his loose hide affectionately. From look toward where his car was
seemingly out of nowhere, a little parked, even though not visible to
paper glider drifted over the street, him. Len believed Rossiter would
and plunged into the hedge at Don’s never surmise his daughter’s kid­
back. Lik pulled at his leash forcing napper would have the temerity to
Don to follow. Together they re­ show himself so brazenly. The es­
tablishment was crowded and buz­ roads. Len pulled up sharply,
zing with conversation. At fifteen jumped out and retrieved the
after six, Rossiter moved out of the brown parcel, bruised but intact. He
booth and paid for his coffee. As he thrust it into the Buick and sped
returned to his car he started visibly away. He headed again toward El
at the sight of the envelope on the Camino Real. At the first crossover
seat. His hands trembling, over and to the Bayshore freeway he lost him­
over he read the peculiar back­ self in the thick parade of vehicles
slanted written message. racing toward the City.
Dr. Rossiter: Approaching South San Francis­
I have you in sight. Drive NOW co he turned on the car radio for
to the old Cranston road. If you news. A musical program bounced
have any cars following I shall and rocked. Len kept close watch in
know it, and the deal is off. Stay his rear mirror for possible tails. He
on Cranston to Delphi Lane and reckoned it highly unlikely he could
turn right. Hold your speed to be followed in the heavy traffic.
fifteen miles an hour for one mile He began to relax and changed
exactly. You will see a white cloth the radio dial to more soothing mu­
hanging on a bush, right side of sic. As he guided the auto in and
the road. Stop and wait until no out of the swift torrent of vehicles,
cars can be seen from either direc­ he mused on the next order of busi­
tion, then throw the package over ness.
the hedge. A fast overland drive to Miami.
Go right on home from there. As a safety measure a change of li­
As soon as we check the money cense plates as soon as an opportu­
we will release your daughter. So nity was presented, one of the many
far you have been cooperative, planned to provide confusion.
keep it up a little while longer for Nearing Candlestick ball park he
your girl’s sake. snapped to attention as he caught
The Ones Who Have Judy. some words of a news break.
Len followed the green Caddy Straining to hear, his face became
far enough to the rear so he could ashen and in a rising panic began
not be observed by Rossiter, and still veering to the right lane to search
could see if another car might be for the nearest off ramp.
trailing the Buick.
As directed Rossiter turned on CHAPTER TWELVE
Delphi. Len speeded to forty-five
and took the parallel road. At six Preston, with Lik tugging at his
thirty on the button a package came leash strolled down the sunny side
hurtling over the spot where a of the street fronting the old apart­
white cloth hung visible from both ment building. Pausing at the dis­
reputable entrance, he looked it “Could I have this?” asked Don
over, then man and dog ascended pocketing the card before the old
the worn cement steps. Don ig­ man could object. “This might be
nored the ‘NO TRESPASSING’ the man I’m looking for.”
notice on the dirty glass door. He He stopped at a phone booth and
pushed at the dingy glass and en­ checked the yellow pages. Salvage,
tered the dark hallway. Pressing the Used Iron, Plumbing Fixtures, used
button under the flyspecked sign and new. A phony company—and a
“Caretaker.” He listened to the faint phony name too, Don guessed. He
buzz, and then the shuffling foot­ went back to his car. Allen and
steps approaching the door. A Dahl were smoking and waiting.
wrinkled, unshaven old visage “I think we’ve got something here.
peered out cautiously. “Yeh ?” Two men are holed up on the
“My name is Preston. I’m looking top floor. They come and go by the
for someone, are there any tenants rear entrance. The old man taking
here?” care of the building before it’s de­
“Ain’t nobody left here but two molished could only tell me about
famblys down the hall. They gotta one of them, he’s never seen the oth­
get out next week too, buildin’s gon­ er. You and I, Allen will go up the
na be tore down.” front stairway. Dahl, if you’ll cover
“Know their names?” the back, we may flush them. If they
“One’s Franklin, other’s Perry. do have the girl up there we’ve got
Men’s workin’ now, women folks ’r to use the utmost care she doesn’t
out too. No kids, famblys with kids get hurt. I don’t have to tell you
already re-located. Gonna tear the boys to take care for yourselves
buildit/ down I said. Never did al­ too.” Lik, Don and Allen re-entered
low no dogs in here neither.” said the hallway. Starting up the stair­
the old man looking at Lik with dis­ way they were halted by the ply­
taste. wood barrier with the ‘No Trespas­
“Well, thanks, Pop, guess that’s all sing’ warning. A couple of hefty
I need to know.” kicks by the two men knocked it
“Oh wait a minite, I fergot. down. The old man, hearing the
They’s two fellers on the upper racket, opened his door a crack, saw
floor. Workin fer some junk com­ them breaking down the obstruc­
pany, figgerin’ out about some stuff tion, closed the door again, locked
to buy fer their boss. One’s named it and returned to his jug of wine.
Dooley, I fergit the other. They goes After the clatter had subsided, the
in and out the back door. I got his group continued up the steps as
card here someplace. Nice feller, quietly as possible. They searched
paid to stay here and didn’t have to. room to room, floor to floor until
Yep, name’s Dooley, that’s his card.” they reached the fourth level.
 Like in broken-field running Aiming directly at the door he lis­
practice they sidestepped the filth tened and waited in the darkness.
and debris that littered the corridor. He knew the door was not locked.
Eventually they arrived at the hall­ Anyone opening it unannounced
way’s end and were confronted by would be silhouetted and blasted.
the only closed off rooms on the en­ Len was not due back for an hour
tire floor. yet. Somebody was getting nosey.
Lik snuffled loudly at the door to As hushed as possible, guns ready,
the inner room. Don motioned Al­ Don and Allen crept to the adjoin­
len to stay behind him and he cau­ ing room door. Don tried the knob
tiously tried the knob. From inside with utmost care. It squeaked but
a young girl’s timorous voice was unlocked. Sinking to his knees
queryed. he pressed the door open enough to
“Who is it?” insert his hand, reached up, flipped
Don’s heart leaped. He called in a on the light switch and in one
loud whisper. “Is that you Judy?” movement, flung the door open and
“Yes it’s me, who are you ? ” fell flat to the floor. From the mid­
“Be quiet Judy, it’s uncle Don, are dle of the room came the flashing
you alright?” blast of the .45 and two shots roared
“Oh yes, please hurry and get me over Don’s head and into the hall­
out of here.” Her voice began to way. Don and Allen shot twice each
rise. simultaneously. Bus took four slugs
“Shh, is there anyone around?” squarely in his chest. The pounding
“Yes, look out, there’s a man in impact of the bullets drove him
the room next door.” across the room backwards through
“Judy,” Don whispered, “Get way the blacked-out window for a head­
back from the door and stay there, long plunge to the street below.
do you understand?” Two women conversing on the
“Yes, but hurry!” sidewalk glanced upward at a pass­
Don pulled Lik back to the stair­ ing airplane. They screamed in uni­
well and looped his leash around son as a body came hurtling to the
the worn newelpost. pavement before them.
Bus heard the rustlings, the whis­ Bus was dead long before he hit
perings without understanding the the sidewalk and thus never did en­
words. Animal instinct warned him joy the thrill of his free-fall, or the
of danger. He tiptoed to the light terror that precedes an inevitable
switch and snapped it off, found his impact. The nauseating plop of his
way to the open closet and stretched body and the resulting three foot
his hand to the top shelf. For a mo­ bounce were relived in their night­
ment he fumbled until he touched mares for years. Luckily his body
the .45 automatic stashed there. struck nothing' in it’s downward
path except the finality of the con­ CHAPTER THIRTEEN
crete.
Don and Allen rushed to the shat­ Len strained for every word as
tered window, silently praying no the news announcer continued:
person was directly beneath when “—this afternoon three law en­
the body struck. They saw Dahl forcement officers entered an aban­
bending over the inert form. He doned apartment building in the
had rushed up the alley at the sound Mission District and released Judy
of the shots and screams, taking im­ Rossiter, fourteen-year-old daugh­
mediate charge. Don ran back to ter of a prominent San Francisco
where he had heard Judy’s voice. doctor, missing and held for three
Allen went to get Lik, even as a si­ days pending a ransom demand.
ren began to sound in the distance. Buster Dutton, ex-convict, was shot
Both men put their shoulders to the to death during the rescue. He fell
flimsy door and it snapped open. four stories to the sidewalk. The
Judy flew into Don’s arms sobbing girl is in good health despite a beat­
hysterically. He soothed the weep­ ing by one of the men. Through fin­
ing girl and glanced around her un­ gerprints, Dutton was identified as
clean prison. Lik had pulled Allen a felon recently released from Fol­
over to the rickety card table. He som, where he had served a two
was practically crushing it with his year term for burglary. Police say a
great weight smelling noisily at the ransom was paid. The second man
object of his hunt . . . the empty in the case is being sought. The girl
perfume bottle. is being questioned by the F.B.I.
Don quieted Judy and was wip­ and Burlingame police. At home,
ing her tearful face with his hand­ she is resting after her ordeal.”
kerchief when Dahl rushed in “This has been a Special Bulletin.”
breathlessly. Len pressed down on the accelera­
He and Allen were examining tor and rolled toward San Jose. At
something Dahl held. Don seated the outskirts he pulled into a service
Judy on her chair, telling her to be station. The attendant checked the
patient for a few minutes before gas, oil and water. As Len paid the
taking her home. bill he asked for a U.S. Map. Nearby
Dahl was holding a cheap new he stopped at an army surplus store,
wallet. It contained a passport made just preparing to close, bought a
to a Thomas Duncan, a ten dollar wrench, a screwdriver, a canvas wa­
bill and a plane reservation in the ter bag, some yellow paint and a
same name for a flight to Buenas small lettering brush.
Aires, scheduled to leave Miami at Wasting not a moment he re­
three in the afternoon of September entered Highway 101 and con­
10th. tinued Southward. At Gilroy he
turned Eastward toward 99, the in­ As Len drove, his thoughts re­
land route to Los Angeles. verted to the events of the past three
He passed through Fresno, then days. Where did they go wrong?
Bakersfield and on to San Bernar­ How could the police have discov­
dino. Darkness made his going a lit­ ered where the girl was hidden?
tle slower but safer. At a Beaumont Trying to unravel these perplexing
motel he stopped for a shower and questions passed the time on the
several hours rest. An all night wearisome, tedious journey. He
coffee shop provided food that re­ wasted no regrets on Bus’ death, he
freshened him sufficiently to drive was proving to be a liability anyway.
on to Phoenix. At one point he was He was wary of the State Patrol cars
startled to read a road sign that he passed traversing the many
read “MIAMI 32 MILES,” then wry States, but none challenged him or
ly he remembered there was a “MI­ gave a second glance at the Buick
AMI” in Arizona. He wished fer­ and it’s sole passenger.
vently it was the Miami of his des­ He decided nevertheless to switch
tination. his license plates. If an All Points
The car radio gave out no further Bulletin had been issued, he might
information of California news. run into some Patrolman curious
The local stations played Western or about his California tabs. On the
Rock and Roll Music. It served outskirts of Shreveport he stopped
however to keep him awake. After a at a vast autowrecking yard. Enter­
while the white center line began to ing the small grease smeared office
weave from side to side. he addressed a man in dirty cover­
The road unreeled like an end­ alls.
less ticker tape, punctuated only “Do you have a rear door han­
by road signs indicating, .35 mile dle for a '59 Buick ? ”
zone, slow to twenty-five, junction “I think so, see that fence way in
ahead. His thirst was becoming un­ back? About the third car over,
quenchable. The water in the new green one, go out and take it off, pay
desert bag turned brackish. He here.”
piled iced coke packs beside him on Len went back to his car to get
the seat and drank of them inces­ his wrench and screwdriver. He
santly. passed through the office into the lot
Miles whizzed by but his fatigue crowded with crashed and cannibal­
was not to be denied, he must rest. ized automobiles. He soon located
Another off the road motel gave the demolished Buick and removed
him a few hours respite. Back on the door handle. Furtively he
the Highway again. El Paso, Fort looked about until he found two
Worth, Dallas passed in monoto­ white and blue Florida plates on a
nous review. wrecked Ford. He quickly removed
them and tossed both over the high of a teenage beauty queen. Wrapped
fence into some underbrush. Re­ in a light blue silk housecoat, she sat
turning to the office he asked the in royal splendor, a Prima Donna
mechanic, “How much ?” with two black eyes, reigning regally
“About a buck, plus tax.” for the half dozen reporters and sev­
Len paid and went to his car. eral magazine editors, each bidding
Driving around the corrugated tin for the exclusive story of her adven­
building he followed a road leading ture.
along the fence where he had Her father suspected inwardly
thrown the plates. Getting out he that his daughter was enjoying the
quickly retrieved them and drove celebrity bit a little too much. He
on. Before crossing the Mississippi placed a flat NO to all offers.
to Vicksburg, he found a Motel at “We are all so happy to have Judy
Tallulah for the night. After dark back safely there will be no payment
he removed his California plates, for her story.” he stated.
washed and dried them, and with Alma was radiant, Celia was still
yellow paint he altered the letter­ in tears. Judy had related her experi­
ing and numbering. Originally his ences first to Don and the Federal
license read: HUP 319. He made men, then to the local police and
the H into a B, the U into an O, lastly to the newspapers. Don soon
and the P into an R. Next he dismissed them all except for the
changed the numerals. Len filled in F.B.I. men. They took Judy aside
the 3 to read as 8, the 1 to a 4 and from some acute questioning.
the 9 to an 8. He now had BOR 848. “Now Judy,” began Don. “Your
They couldn’t stand sharp inspec­ fun is over. We have to ask ques­
tion, but they were changed enough tions that bear directly on that miss­
to divert attention in case his car ing man. I want you to give us a very
had been observed and the number accurate description of him, how he
recorded. He put the Florida plates looked, how he dressed, the color of
on the Buick and went to bed. his hair and eyes, and anything else
By seven the next morning he had you can recall.”
eaten breakfast, checked the car “Well, Uncle Don, he was nice to
and was on his way. Driving in the me, not like that other awful one.
cool of the morning his spirits He talked a lot better, more cul­
soared upward and he felt almost tured like and calm. He was clean
gay. He even sang a little. and had a nice smile.”
“Get down to facts, Judy. What
CHAPTER FOURTEEN color hair, eyes, clothes?”
“His hair was dark brown, but I
The reunion scene at Judy’s noticed it was a little grey at the
house resembled the homecoming roots, like it had been dyed. He
wore a neat mustache, the same col­ “They just left here, Don. What’s
or as his hair. He kept his shoes new?”
polished too.” “The girl just told me that the
“How tall would you say, Judy ?” missing man came into her room
“Like Daddy maybe, but thin­ without his gloves. He chewed
ner.” some of her gum and stuck the wad
“How old would you think he under the chair. If this is so it should
is?” have a perfect print on it.”
“I don’t know, maybe fifty.” “I’ll get them on the radio right
“Did he wear a ring or other jew­ now and call you back.”
elry?” Don hung up with a sigh of relief
“No, I didn’t see any, except he and turned to the others. “That’s a
had a wristwatch, a gold one.” break, if they find the gum. Ten to
“Any scars?” one he’s on file someplace or he
“Not him, but that other one did, wouldn’t have been so cautious. I’ll
and I gave him a good one too.” bet he didn’t leave any in his room
Don made no comment about either—too smart for that.” One of
this. the Federal men spoke. “This looks
“This one man, he left some un­ like a real planned and professional
derclothing and personal effects be­ job. It was bungled due to the little
hind, we’ve kept watch on the place girl’s astuteness. It’s Federal busi­
but he hasn’t returned. He’ll need to ness now, she was kidnapped and
buy things before long. We haven’t sustained harm. California’s Little
located any worthwhile evidence as Lindberg Law is activated too.”
yet as to who he might be, but the Don addressed Judy again. “Tell
San Francisco Fingerprint Detail is us what you did with your Geog­
working on it right now. Did you raphy book.”
notice, Judy, if this man handled or Judy recounted her efforts to re­
touched anything of glass while in veal the location of her prison. “I
your room?” made little paper airplanes out of
“No, not that I remember, he the pages. Gee, I must have torn out
wore gloves most of the time. Once two dozen. I tried to get them to fly
he came in and sat down to talk to across the street to the park. Some
me,—that was after I cut the ugly did but most fell into the alley be­
one. That time he forgot his gloves. low or on the street. I guess I must
He chewed a stick of my gum and have got some into the park though,
then stuck it under the chair.” ’cause you found me.”
At this, Don leaped for the phone. “How did they come to have your
In a few minutes Gregg was on perfume on them ?”
the line. “Captain, are your finger “I tried to make that room smell
print men in that room yet?” better, then I tipped the bottle over
on the book. I didn’t dunk it would “This man collected the ransom at
be as important as it turned out to about 6:30 according to Doctor Ros­
be. I thought that if my name would siter. The news broadcast came on
get into the papers and if the pages the air at 7:00. If it was his intention
were recognized as from my Geog­ to come back, release Judy and pick
raphy, with my initials and perfume up his partner and he heard that
on them, somebody might get curi­ broadcast, he wouldn’t tarry
ous. Gee, I sure tore heck out of that around. He’s hiding out somewhere
book. Daddy will have to pay for it.” or driving madly to get out of the
Don and the Federal men area.”
laughed. “Pretty tricky,” Don re­ The second Federal man rose and
marked. “I guess we’ll have to put stretched. “I think the best we can
you on the force,—in the same ken­ do tonight is to get some rest, wait
nel with OF Likker!” for the fingerprint report and start
Judy giggled at that. “How I love out again tomorrow.”
that dog,” she squealed. “Would you “One more thing,” Don said. “In
let me come down and pet him Dutton’s wallet was a reservation
sometime?” for an air flight passage to Buenas
“Sure, sure, you can pay him a Aires. He had a cleverly forged
visit when we get this case finished. passport under another name. The
That animal surely has acute sense reservation was genuine enough but
of smell.” also in the same name. There being
“He has a cute tail, too.” Judy no extradition agreement between
snickered at her feeble pun. Don Argentina and the United States, his
continued his conversation with the partner would, in my view, under­
F.B.I. men. “I figure this Dutton to take to leave for there also. This
be the strong arm man. The one we means the missing man had planned
want had the brains. If he heard the it all as a two man operation. Dut­
broadcast that Dutton was killed, ton didn’t seem to be a quiz kid in
he wouldn’t return to that apart­ the brain department. Now this guy,
ment, but would light out for parts whoever he is, is in a panic. All that
unknown.” is left for him to do is to get out of
“We have no description of his car the country quick. We can put a
or plates. If we can get his prints stake-out on all air lines out of San
identified we’ll at least know who Francisco but we don’t know who
we are looking for.” to watch for. The date on Dutton’s
“We could try the State Vehicle ticket read September 10. They may
records, but certainly he wouldn’t not have intended to take the same
register his car under his right flight out, but it’s logical they
name.” would. The missing man now has
Don went on with his theorizing. $50,000 instead of only half that
amount. Judy’s description of him he answered sleepily. At the words
convinces me he had altered his ap­ that sounded in his ear he was jolted
pearance, so he is known to authori­ into a frenzy of action.
ties somewhere.”
The phone rang and Celia an­ CHAPTER FIFTEEN
swered. “Rossiter residence, Miss
Judy is home now. You want Mr. As Len rolled over the hot and
Don ? Yes he’s right here.” dreary miles his fertile imagination
Don took the telephone. “Hello, began the germination of an idea.
Oh, Gregg.” He listened, then re­ He needed a little more time for in­
peated. “Len Ringley, forger ex­ surance. He would act under the
traordinary, released from Folsom presumption that an All Points Bul­
in July. Thanks Gregg, this is the letin had emanated from the San
first lead. He’s got to be our man. Francisco Police and perhaps the
Have you put out an A.P.B? Good, F.B.I. as well. He felt certain no one
I’ve a hunch he’ll try to make his had as yet penetrated his disguise or
plane flight out. State Patrol cars established his identity. The kidnap
might keep a lookout, but for a car was probably anonymous too.
man we can’t recognize. He’s due in If he picked up a hitch-hiker who
Miami in three days, he could just remotely resembled himself, put his
make it driving night and day, or plan in motion, he could then gain
he could fly. Driving is his best bet some respite.
though, there’s a thousand side He passed up half a dozen before
roads to keep out of sight, or he he saw a slender middle-aged man
could lose himself in traffic on the with a battered suitcase, standing
Freeways. He might, if he saw time beside the highway, thumb out­
running out, stop at some out of the stretched. Len braked to a stop sev­
way airport and hire a plane to fly eral yards beyond the transient.
him the rest of the way.” Breathlessly the individual trotted to
“If he did that,” one of the Feder­ the car and entered the old Buick.
al men interposed, “his abandoned “Sure do thank you Mister, it’s a
car would be spotted and eventually mighty hot day and I’ve gotta make
some questions raised.” Miami tonight.”
“There’s lots of ways he could Len smiled. “It sure IS hot. We
lead us into guessing he’ll do one ought to be in Miami by dark.
thing and then switch to another.” Name’s Dooley.” He offered his
The other F.B.I. agent said. hand. “Put your suitcase in back.”
“So,” Don got up and stretched “Mine’s Carson, Miles Carson. Glad
too, “let’s all get some sleep and to make your acquaintance, Mr.
start fresh in the morning.” Dooley. I’m going to work at the
At six a.m. Don’s phone rang and Space Center starting tomorrow.”
 Small talk continued but Len’s the back pocket of the dead man,
mind was double thinking in an­ saw in it only a few dollar bills. He
other vein. As he drove he kept removed most of the money from
watch for a proper site for the his own wallet, left the business
scheme he had contrived. At last he cards, the fake driver’s license in it
came to a promising stretch. A mile and stowed the flat wallet in the in­
of clear visibility in either direction, side pocket of the corpse. He re­
a small bridge at the base of the leased the brakes and guided the
downward slope and a shallow wheels down the slope until they
climb beyond. The span was short were aimed directly at the bridge.
but it crossed a deep rocky chasm. As the car gathered momentum he
At a wide place in the road Len jumped back, slammed the door,
pulled far to the right. The sudden and watched.
slamming of the brakes sent his pas­ It picked up speed toward the
senger’s head forward to the dash. bridge. It hit directly, tearing out
At that instant Len swooped the the rail and with a rending crunch
heavy crescent wrench from the seat of tortured metal, crashed through
beside him and struck savagely. and tumbled upside down into the
The man slumped down soundless­ boulder strewn gorge below.
ly. Len gave another vicious slash at Pleased with the performance,
his head for good measure and set Len picked up the stranger’s suit­
the brakes. He jumped from the car, case and walked crisply down the
reached over and pulled the limp hill and across the bridge. Passing
body into the driver’s position. He the smashed guard rail he reluctant­
opened the trunk of the Buick and ly looked down at the Buick. No
removed his suitcase containing the one could have survived a crash like
money and Judy’s mutilated school that he surmised. Departing the
book. Opening his victim’s suitcase ugly scene he continued smartly up
he transferred the cheap soiled un­ the hill. He deliberately kicked dust
derclothing to his own bag and on his shoes and trousers, counter­
threw it into the back seat along feiting a travel-stained hitchhiker.
with Judy’s book. He placed the Only when he was Out of sight of
money package in the suitcase that the wrecked bridge did he pause for
belonged to Carson, keeping a a moment and sit on the suitcase for
sharp outlook for passing cars he a breather. He prepared himself to
hurriedly installed his California dodge into the roadside brush at the
plates and put the blue and white sound of a car. Resuming his pace
ones with the suitcase in the rear he covered more than a quarter
seat. He threw the bloody wrench mile before he heard the approach
far into the underbrush. He forced of an automobile. It was coming up
himself to extract the wallet from fast from the bridge.
 Len assumed the classic stance of “Right here will do,” he said to
the professional hitchhiker, thumb the driver. “Thanks for the life”
outstretched, an expectant look on “Good luck with your job.”
his face. He wasn’t quite prepared Len took his suitcase from the
for the success of his first try. An back of the car, waited for a break
elderly man invited him into his car in the traffic and crossed the high­
and at once excitedly related the way. Inside the hotel the desk clerk
story of an accident he had just frowned at Len’s soiled suit and
passed. dusty shoes. His countenance
“Real bad wreck back there, car brightened at the currency exposed
went through the bridge rail and in Len’s wallet. He signed the regis­
landed upside down in the creek. I ter, ‘Miles Carson’, whose identifi­
stopped with another car and we cation he now carried. Waving oil
looked down at it them other people the eager bell hop who reached for
are going back to tell the Police. his bag, he shook his head and
Don’t seem no ambulance is goin’ to tossed the boy a quarter.
be necessary, just the dead wagon. Bewildered for a second, the boy
Poor devil’s either killed or shrugged and pocketed the coin.
drowned. We could just see him Len purchased a quart of bourbon
from the busted railing.” at the liquor shop and took the ele­
“Nothing I could do so I came on. vator to his room.
I hate to see them accidents. Too Alone behind the locked door, he
bad,” Len sympathized. “The way was for the first time, able to mi­
some people drive nowadays, nutely inspect the wrapped parcel of
though, I don’t wonder. Going all money. He broke the tough string
the way to Miami?” and unwrapped the layers of dusty
“Yep. That where you’re head­ and bruised but intact covering.
ed?” There spread out on the bed before
“I’m looking for work at the his fascinated gaze lay fifty thou­
Space Center. I’m in electronics. sand dollars in resplendent green
Came from Texas, worked in Hus­ United States currency.
ton for a spell.” Jubilantly he flipped though one
“Lots of jobs open for technical of the packets revealing bills of ten,
men there. Where do you want to twenty, fifty and one hundred dollar
get out?” denominations. They spelled ‘free­
“Anywhere near Miami. I have to dom and luxury,’ the twin goals of
get cleaned up a bit before tomor­ his elaborate venture. Splitting one
row.” Several miles further Len package of the money he placed half
spotted a large shopping center in his wallet and re-wrapped the
across the highway from an impos­ rest. He stuffed it into the old suit­
ing hotel. case and pushed it far under the bed.
 After his shower he glanced into The station went on with other
the mirror at his unshaven face. local news. Len finished his dinner,
Brushing his clothing and wiping returned to his room, and went to
off his shoes as best he could, he bed.
drank a double shot of the firey
bourbon, descended to the lobby, CHAPTER SIXTEEN
and called a cab.
Along the neon lighted walkway Ol’ Likker was never enthusiastic
of the mammoth aggregation of about flying. When his leash was
stores, he moved from shop to shop, handed over to a baggage attendant
meticulously selecting the finest and he was shoved unceremonious­
quality and style of shoes, suits, ly by his rear into his traveling cage,
shirts, underwear and accessories. he spraddled out and looked re­
At eight thirty he returned to his proachfully at Don. In his canine
room carrying, with the cabbie’s way of thinking he might have re­
help, two elegant pieces of luggage, gretted he had not been whelped a
one packed tightly with his newly seeing-eye dog so he could ride in
acquired sartorial splendor. The the passenger compartment with
second bag had room in it reserved Don.
for a special bundle, at the moment The four hour flight for Don and
lodged under his bed. The occasion the two Federal men was occupied
called for a few more drinks, then mostly with briefing them on the
shaved and impeccably attired, he unexpected developments in the
repaired to the coffee shop for a Rossiter case. After takeoff the three
leisurely and relaxed dinner. settled back and Don related the
At ten o’clock, the softly playing reason for this frantic flight.
radio announced the hourly Miami “Gregg called me this morning
news. Len listened. After some about six,” he proceeded. He said he
neighborhood tidings the an­ had just gotten a teletype from Flor­
nouncer continued: “—a motorist ida State Highway Patrol. A car
was killed late this afternoon on the with California License plates went
Naples-Miami highway when his over the side of a bridge near Na­
car unaccountably crashed through ples. The only occupant, a man, was
a bridge railing and into a creekbed killed. When the car was hauled out
forty feet below. The body was ten­ of the ravine the body was sup­
tatively identified as ‘Kelvin Doo­ posedly identified by a California
ley’, representative for a California drivers license and some San Fran­
salvage firm. Highway officers are cisco addressed business cards.
questioning some of the circum­ The license was checked by the
stances surrounding the accident. Motor Vehicle Department, and
An investigation will follow.” here it comes, fellows. THERE
WAS NO SUCH LICENSE ious. He needed time, and I think he
NUMBER EVER ISSUED.” was forced to choose murder to gain
Both Federal men blew out their it. I think he’s still trying to make
breath in unison, “W-H-E-E-UI” that plane. I called the air terminal
Don went on. “—and I’m not in Miami and there are more than
through yet. The name ‘Kelvin sixty passengers booked out on the
Dooley’ is as phony as his drivers flight, none named Kelvin Dooley.”
license. The California plates had “Are you figuring a stakeout on
been expertly altered with yellow the passengers as they check in ?”
!>aint into a meaningless jumble of “Yes, though we don’t know
etters and numbers. Only on close what he looks like now. He’s
inspection would they be exposed changed his appearance. I’ve got
as fakes. Gregg posted them on our some mug shots of Ringley with me
missing man. They agreed it might and they may help. I brought O1
be he, killed while rushing to make Lik along too. The Miami Airport
the Miami flight. Manager has been most cooperative.
Don continued. “I’m still not sat­ The thing that bugs me most is that
isfied. There was no sign of the missing money. If it had been found
ransom money on his person or in inside the wreck we wouldn’t have
the car. The Highway Officers ar­ to look an inch further.
rived at the accident scene about I just can’t see him parking it any
twenty-five minutes after it had place, he’ll keep it with him con­
been reported. Hardly enough time stantly. The fact that there was
for a passerby to climb down to the some money in that dead man’s wal­
wreck and get the money out even let sounds a little like a small red
had they known it was in the car. herring tossed in for good measure.
Some other peculiar facts were evi­ With fifty thousand dollars in
dent. The drivers head had been your kick what’s a twenty dollar bill
bashed in. The Coroner says it does­ or so if it provides him with a day’s
n’t look to him like a part of his delay while we investigate a routine
accident injuries. No fingerprints auto accident.”
could be gathered from the interior “No doubt about it, he’s running
of the watersoaked car, but the dead scared.”
man’s fingerprints do not match “Flight 44, San Francisco to Mi­
those we got from the gum under ami, E.T.A. six hundred hours
Judy’s chair.” September nine.”
“So you’re of the opinion the
whole accident was part of a CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
frame?” asked one F.B.I. man.
“It certainly could be. This Len Len stepped to the wall phone,
Ringley is resourceful and ingen- called the Air Terminal and con-
148
firmed his flight out at three p.m. a well dressed man lugging two
He lunched well, natty in his im­ handsome bags shuffled along as his
maculate raiment. As a final chore line advanced. Arriving at the ticket
he tightly wrapped the bundle of counter he placed his two suitcases
currency in his fresh underclothing, on the floor level scales at his right
packed it securely in one of his new and proffered an envelope.
suitcases, locked the bag and strung Behind the uniformed reserva­
the key around his neck with the tion clerk, a man in shirtsleeves sat
solicitude attending the donning of at a desk shuffling papers. He eyed
a St. Christopher medal. each passenger as they stepped up
Wearing his spruce new topcoat to the counter, then dropped his eyes
and toting the sparkling luggage, to the three photographs on the
Len boarded the elevator down to desk.
the lobby, paid his bill and sought The big dog at his feet raised his
a taxi. magnificent head and pointed it to­
Thirty minutes after two the cab ward one of the suitcases on the
drew into the drive-around en­ scale. Languidly he pulled his heavy
trance to ARM Airlines. Out on the body erect and moseyed toward the
field jets thundered taking off. The bags. He snuffled loudly at one of
cabbie carried his heavy bags up them, then turned his head to look
the steps to the waiting room. back at shirtsleeves. Shirtsleeves
Queues were forming at ticket watched the dog’s actions, then sud­
counters and Len searched for the denly stood up, walked to the scale
proper line. Outside on the loading and tied a red tag to the handle of
ramp, lines of baggage were begin­ one. Stepping out of the cubicle he
ning to snake upward in single file moved toward the man first in line.
toward the gaping belly of a colossal Touching the man in the grey over­
jet, poised before the passenger gate. coat on the shoulder he inquired
Mechanics swarmed like termites in pleasantly, “Hello Len, going some­
and out of the gigantic bird prepar­ place?”
ing it for the long overwater flight. Len stood motionless with his
Ports were breached and white cov­ eyes closed. Before he had opened
erall garbed men checked and re­ them the two Federal men closed in
leased control locking devices and from two sides. Each grasped an
removed chocks. Trim and pert arm and handcuffs snicked. Don
stewardesses stationed themselves at held out his hand for the suitcase
either side of the passengers roll-up key. Without speaking, Len mo­
stairway, prepared to greet the first tioned toward his chest. Don re­
aboard. trieved the key from beneath the la­
Inside the ARM waiting room goon blue shirt and Len was led
the lines progressed slowly. In one, away through the startled passcn-
gers. They milled and buzzed about the suitcase and addressed the dog.
like a file of disturbed ants. “Come on, Snoopy, lets go home.”
Don went back of the counter O1 Likker, trailing his leash frol­
and unlocked the tagged bag. He icked elephantinely at Don’s side,
uncovered the object of the long endowing his hand with a great
chase. From it emanated a faint slushy kiss as he reached and picked
aroma of perfume. It was ‘I’ll Find up the leather. Lik strained against
You.’ the leash, his splayed feet sliding
Lik burrowed his wet nose into and scrabbling on the polished floor.
the bag and rooted at it’s contents. It was probably only coinciden­
The tired man pulled his coat from tal, but Lik’ black nose was pointed
the chair back, donned it, picked up directly toward San Francisco.
 on’t bother to raise your hands. “You want a doughnut?”
D Just open the safe and give me
all the money.”
“Okay, let me finish my coffee
“No, thanks, just the money.”
I took a glazed doughnut from
the bag I’d held out to him and
first.” nibbled on it. “You know, I seem to
I peered over my desk at him as remember seeing you someplace be­
he stood with his back against the fore. Maybe while you were casing
closed door. He seemed a little ner­ the factory. That is what you call it,
vous, but the automatic in his hand isn’t it—when you look over a place
was pointed steadily at my chest. In before robbing it?”
his late twenties, I judged, a shade “Now look,” he said, starting to
over or under six feet, broad-shoul- show impatience.

NO FAIR!
BY B. J. STARR

The victim was a cool one alright... too

cool. The gunman should have thought
twice.

dered, rather handsome. He had “All right, don’t get excited. I just
wavy light brown hair and high can’t help being curious about the
cheekbones. Dark glasses prevented way real criminals operate, after see­
me from seeing the color of his eyes. ing so much TV junk . . . Damn­
“I’m not joking,” he said harshly. it, I’m sure your face is familiar. If
I sipped my rapidly cooling cof­ you’d just take off those dark cheat­
fee. “I know, and I assure you that ers—”
I’m plenty scared. I’m just not very “Mr. Carver, if you don’t open
surprised, what with the recent that safe within thirty seconds, I’m
crime wave the papers have been going to kill you.”
screaming about. But I won’t give He made an ugly face to back up
you any trouble. Our insurance will the threat, but I noticed that the gun
cover the loss.” muzzle trembled. I obediently put
“Good. Then let’s get down to down my coffee cup and moved
business.” over to the big old-fashioned safe.
 “So you know my aame. That thing. There’s a little over twenty­
means either we’ve met before or seven thousand dollars here. I hope
you did a good job of casing this you don’t mind taking small bills.”
place. Or maybe you have inside “Not at all.”
information. Not many people know “In the old days you would have
that we have a large amount of cash been weighed down with nickles,
on hand tonight. Usually we finish dimes and quarters. But with the
totaling up all the collections from coin shortage, we’ve told our col­
our vending machines in time to lectors to trade them to the store
reach the bank before it closes. And owners for paper money.”
it couldn’t be just a coincidence that Suddenly I snapped my fingers
you knew I—one of the few people and whirled around, nearly star­
who knows the safe combination— tling him into pulling the trigger. “I
would be working late tonight.” know where I’ve seen you! At a
The gun muzzle followed me to cocktail party someplace, several
the safe and steadied again. “I think weeks ago. Tom Warren’s house­
you’re doing all this talking to stall warming? No, it was Fred and
me until you can reach an alarm Alma Drysden—their tenth wed­
button,” he said. “Don’t try it. I’ve ding anniversary. You danced a lot
cut all the wires.” with my wife, Lola. Your name is
“Oh, no, I wouldn’t be that fool­ Dan something, or Don.”
ish. But I have been hoping our “I think you’ve talked a little too
night watchman would show up. much.” His voice and expression
He usually drops around for a cup were very grim.
of coffee with me when I’m here this “Sonofagun! So that’s how you
late.” pick up information for your rob­
He smiled in a way that made it beries. Still, I don’t see how you
obvious his eyes weren’t cooperating could learn enough to—” The full
with his lips. “That was pretty impact of his words hit me and I
smart. You thought that mention­ swallowed dryly. “You mean, be­
ing the watchman would cause me cause I’ve recognized you, you’ll
to look outside and give you a have to kill me?”
chance to press the button, or go for “Just open the safe,” he said soft­
a gun. But I’ve already taken care ly-
of that old fink. “We could make a deal. I prom­
“You didn’t kill him?” ise I won’t identify you to the po­
“No, he’s just tied and gagged in a lice.” Sweat trickled down my arm­
closet downstairs.” pits.
I breathed a sigh of relief and “Do you want me to be melodra­
started turning the safe dial. “Well, matic and count to three?”
you seem to have thought of every­ I remained half-turned toward
him in my squatting position be­ of saving my marriage, as well as
fore the safe, one hand on the dial. my life. You’ve been seeing Lola be­
“I remember that evening perfectly, hind my back, haven’t you?
because Lola and I had an argument She told you about the money and
later about the way she carried on our office routine. My big mistake
with you. She often does that in pub­ was thinking you were just a com­
lic just to embarrass me. But I’ve mon stick-up man. But actually
[never really worried about her tak- Lola sent you here to murder me
jing other men seriously, in spite of and make it look as though I’d
the difference between our ages. been killed resisting a robbery.
Though God knows she has Then you and she would have each
enough other bad habits. Even with other and the money, too.”
[my vice-president’s salary and bo­ I could tell by the tightening of
nuses, the way she spends money his facial muscles that I had guessed
[is-” right, but he tried to bluff it through.
“I’m not interested in your family “I don’t know where you get your
problems,” Dan or Don something crazy ideas,” he said. “All I want is
said. “And I’m getting tired of wait­ the money. Give it to me and I
ing-” promise I’ll tie you up and leave
“And I’m suddenly not in any you unharmed.”
hurry to open this safe,” I snapped. “Sure, you’ll promise anything,
“I’ve just had a very unpleasant just like my dear wife,” I sneered.
thought. Lola has been unusually “Can’t you see what a sucker she’s
curious about my business activities playing you for? I’ll bet she hasn’t
lately. And there have been other even gone to bed with you yet.”
little things that I didn’t think much He looked startled, then laughed.
of at the time. A certain coldness “That’s the main reason I’ve al­
to my attentions, telephone callers ways trusted her,” I went on. “She’s
who hang up when I answer, occa­ young and beautiful and seems to
sions when she said she was going ooze sex appeal but, as I found out
to visit a girlfriend—who later men­ too late, money is the only thing
tioned doing something else at that that can stimulate her passion. She’s
time. I’m quite sure she’s never been probably played you along and
unfaithful to me before, but with a worked you up to the point where
good-looking young fellow like - you’ll do anything for just one night
you ...” I chewed my lips and with her. And you’ll be lucky if you
glared at him. get that much. She’s using you as a
“You could write fiction,” he said tool to obtain her freedom, so that
sarcastically. “With an imagination she can hook someone else with
like that.” money and milk him dry.”
“But this isn’t fiction I It’s a matter I laughed scornfully at him. “You
poor simple-minded fool! You have witness to his theft anyway. But his
the courage to kill a man, but not to main concern just then was to get
force a rotten little teaser to give in. into the safe, and that was exactly
But then Lola is very skillful at that what I wanted him to do. I opened
game. That’s how she lured me into it and stepped aside. He came over
marriage.” and reached in for the money, keep­
He flushed and took a half-step ing me covered with his automatic.
toward me. As I’d hoped, he was too He looked very surprised when
vain to ignore an insult against his I drew the revolver I had put in my
virility. “You think just because you pocket before he arrived, and even
can’t handle her, no man can, huh ?” more so when he triggered his
he smiled. “Well, for your informa­ gun and the hammer snapped harm­
tion, old man, I had her the very day lessly. I shot him in the arm and he
after we met. And I’ve been having dropped his gun with a gasp of pain.
her ever since—as often as you’d “Get out,” I ordered. “Or I’ll kill
turn your stupid back. And each you!”
time she tells me how wonderful it He didn’t wait to question my
is to have a real man, instead of a motives, but turned and ran for the
pathetic weakling like you.” door, clutching his arm. Using my
He went on to describe in taunt­ handkerchief to avoid disturbing
ing detail his encounters with Lola, his fingerprints, I picked up his gun
intent upon smashing my pride by and replaced the firing pin Lola had
convincing me he was telling the taken from it that afternoon. Then
truth. None of it bothered me, until I went to the phone and called her.
he mentioned her appendectomy “Hello, darling. Everything
scar. He could have seen it while at worked out just fine. I have his gun
the beach, I told myself. She liked and his fingerprints are on the safe.
to sunbathe in a skimpy bikini. But The Police will never believe that
he saw my momentary doubt and he didn’t take the money.”
smirked triumphantly. I decided to “That’s wonderful, sweetheart,”
play along with him. she purred. “Hurry right home af­
“All right, I know when I’m beat­ ter they finish questioning you. I
en,” I said dejectedly. “I hate to lose have the most darling new nightie
her, but I’d be a fool to throw away to show you. You can see right
my life, too. You can have the mon­ through it.”
ey, and I’ll agree to a divorce. That “I can hardly wait”
way, you won’t have to risk a mur­ I hung up and stared moodily out
der charge.” the window at the drifting snow­
“It’s a deal.” flakes. Yes, he might have seen her
I knew he was probably thinking appendectomy scar at the beach, but
that he’d have to eliminate me as a it wasn’t likely in the middle of the
coldest winter we’d had in years. about the masculine ego, especially
I divided the money into two pac­ in a man of my age, I thought as I
kets and hid them in the lining of dialed the police. I loved Lola
my coat. Twenty thousand would enough to risk my life indulging her
cover Lola’s debts, and with the rest extravagant tastes, yet I couldn’t tol­
I could hire a professional killer to erate her making a cuckold out of
take care of her sometime when I me.
had a good alibi. It’s a funny thing Somehow, that wasn’t fair.
 buddies
"A friend in need is a friend indeed ...and Hap had a great need!

BY HERBERT LESLIE GREENE

ap McCann was gut-shot, a “I know, man, I know. But we

H slug low in his belly. He can’t keep cruisin’ like this. We’ll get
nailed sure. Sure! That guy is dead
wailed in agony from the back seat
of the stolen Ford. “My insides are back there. We go anyplace for help
failin’ out, my goddamn insides are they take one look at you and we’re
failin’ out . . .” over and over, end­ tied to him. We’re dead too,” Curt’s
lessly. throat was dry. His voice sounded
Curt drove through the night- raw and croaking to his ear.
shrouded city streets, his young face Hap replied in a strangely reason­
taut and white. His eyes were never able tone. “Yeah, but Curto, my guts
still. They flicked over the streets are failin’ out. No lie. I’m holdin’
before him, over the sidewalks, the ’em in. Ya gotta do somethin’,”
alleys, with an intentness of percep­ “I know ...” Shut up, Curt cried
tion born of sheer panic, and they in his mind, and in that mind he
went to the rear-view mirror stead­ cursed his friend with the fury that
ily to peer wild-eyed at each pair of had been, at the beginning, for the
headlights coming up behind. “Stop old man at the gas station, with his
it, Hap.” he said tightly. “Stop it. ancient revolver hidden away. But
Stop it!” now, after an hour of frenzied driv­
“It hurts ... oh Jesus, it hurts. ing, with that wailing constantly in
That bastard . . .” his ears, now it was Hap he burned
“Ya gotta stop howlin’. I’m goin’ at, moaning, gut-shot, unlucky
nuts. I can’t think. And I gotta Hap. He knew it was wrong to feel
think.” what he was feeling, but he was
“It hurts.” scared, so scared, breaking under
156 manhunt
the sudden weight of too much to “I didn’t mean to. He plugged
carry. “Why did we do it?” he heard me and my finger just went by it­
himself cry. “Why the hell did we self. He didn’t hafta start shootin’.
doit?” If he didn’t, I wouldn’t of. The old
“If he didn’t pull that gun we bastard . . .” The ragged cough
coulda made it.” Hap groaned. “I broke from him, deep and savage.
had his roll in my hand, there was “Oh mama!” he screamed. “My guts
a lotta dough there, a lot ... I was are failin’out. . . I”
lookin’ at the dough ... I shoulda “Shut up!” Curt cried.
been lookin’ at him. I never figured “It hurts ... oh man, it hurts... 1”
him to be brave ... the old bastard.” “What can I do, Hap? Tell me
He let out an abrupt cackle. “Ya see what I can do, Jesus, somebody tell
the size o’ that gun? Oh man, it me?”
musta shot cannon-balls. It feels like The needle was on the wrong
a cannon-ball.” His breath caught, side of the gas gauge, moving down.
the words dissolved into a blood- Curt saw it and it was another ton
filled, wracking cough. pressing on his skull. He was driv­
“Shut up!” Curt barked. “Don’t ing without thought now, all his at­
talk so damn much,” He looked tention given to watching for the
again into the mirror above his eyes, Law, the inevitable Law. He wept
at the face of his friend. Hap was within, overflowing with a mon­
staring, his mouth hanging open. “I strous feeling of loss, as if all he
don’t wanna die, Curt!” he mur­ possessed, of any true worth, had
mured with new fear, as if the been snatched from him; his youth,
thought had finally penetrated the his laughter, his peace, and he dwelt
mire of his brain. “Hey . ..” it was on that loss while his hands worked
an awed whisper. “Hey Curt, hey the wheel, seemingly detached from
... I’m only twenty, buddy, I don’t the rest of him, yet not really, for his
wanna die...” palms were wet with sweat, fear­
“You ain’t gonna die.” sweat.
“I might, man, I feel like I could There was a gradual lessening of
die. I’m shot to hell . . .” light along the streets now and he
“You keep gabbin’ and you’ll talk found that he was steering the Ford
yourself to death.” out of the city, toward the country.
“Ya gotta help me, buddy. Ya He nodded to himself, pressed
will, won’t ya ? We know each other down on the gas and stared at the
all our lives. I never had a better shafts of light spearing into the new
friend then you. I’d help you, bud­ darkness.
dy. Ya gotta help me.” “OI’ buddy, you remember how
“I’m tryin’. If only you didn’t kill we sat around, wonderin’ if we
him.” could get away with it?” Hap’s
voice drifted to his ears. Again it awareness, Hap stated. “We’d be al­
was strangely steady and sad now, right if I didn’t catch it. We’d be in
deeply sad. “Buddy, we shoulda the clear. I’m sorry I screwed it up,
kept sittin’. Some goddamn crooks buddy. You ain’t gonna leave me,
we are! Man, pitiful! We shoulda are ya?”
known it would get fouled up. We An icy chill settled over Curt.
coulda been in the gin-mill now, “Whatta ya thinkin’ things like that
drinkin’, messin’ with Hilda and for?”
that other tramp. We coulda been “I’m thinkin’ all kinds of things.
ballin’ it, happy . . . We shoulda I’m thinkin’I’m gonna die . . .”
kept sittin’, Curto.” “You ain’t gonna die.”
“It’s done!” Curt spat. “Let it lay! “It’d be better for you if I did.
We’ll get outta it. Nobody saw us. You’d be clear if I croaked. I’m on
There ain’t no connection ...” your back like a hump now. Ain’t
“Yeah, there is. It’s in my gut. A I?”
goddamn cannon-ball . . .” Curt threw the butt out the win­
Curt swallowed. “Yeah, yeah ...” dow. “Quit it,” he said, soft, with­
“Buddy, I’m scared ... like a little out heart. But the truth of it ripped
kid, I’m scared...” at him with persistent claws. He
“We’ll make it, Hap. Only quit glanced up at the mirror, at Hap’s
cryin’. You’ll drive me buggy.” The face. The eyes of it were closed, it
voice in the back seat grated in his was lined and set with pain. And
ears with it’s erratic shifting from the small voice in Curt’s mind said
calm clarity to blind hysteria. The the words at last: If you’d only die.
dismal sound of it was enhanced by “No!” It tore out of him. Hap
the stillness developing outside the was his friend. Don’t think of it, he
car. Trees flashed by now, stretches raged at himself, don’t dare think
of meadow and field, tinged by the of it.
unnatural gray glow of the full But it was alive and wriggling in
moon. Curt lit a cigarette, sucked his consciousness now and could not
in hard, greedily. be driven out, for it shared the space
“Gimme one, buddy,” Hap up there with another very precise
pleaded. image: the electric chair.
“It ain’t good for ya. You’ll I don’t want to die! The cry was
choke...” from his own soul this time, out of
“Man, I could use one. Come on, a pain as real, in it’s way, as that in
be a good guy.” the torn belly of his friend. What am
Curt gave him one. In a moment I gonna do? What? What?
Hap was twisting, coughing. Curt It was after two in the morning
gripped the wheel tighter. now. The highway and the land
After awhile, with disconcerting bordering it stretched vast and de-
serted under the wash of the moon­ Die, you bastard!
light. It was like a dead world out And he jammed on the brakes,
there and Curt took pleasure in the grinding to a stop within inches of
thought. If the world was dead the looming woods blocking his
their troubles were over. He re­ path.
tained the image, fondled it. Then, except for Hap’s moans,
Hap lay silent in the back seat. His there was complete quiet. Curt lay
face was horribly white except for his head against the sweat-damp
the black smear of blood about his wheel and sobbed weary, little-boy
mouth. His lips moved. His eyes tears.
stared. He was dying. Curt settled When he straightened, Hap was
deeper behind the wheel. silent. Curt stared into the back seat
And headlights caromed from the blackness. “Hap?” Cautiously, pray­
mirror, blinding him. He almost erfully, he reached out and touched
screamed, so suddenly did they the form of his friend. The skin was
come. His heart pounded and his cold. “Hap?” he said again, with
hand went to Hap’s little .38 on the the grief rising within him, grief for
seat beside him. The cops! Oh his friend, Hap McCann who was
Christ, the cops! He held the gun dead. All the life and laughter fin­
tight, tight. I don’t want to die! ished. “Aww Hap. I’m sorry, Hap.”
The car whooshed past, filled And Hap moved and muttered,
with laughing young people, moved “. . . you’re a bitch, Hilda baby ...”
ahead and away up the highway. He Curt shrieked with rage, kicked
watched it go, sick with relief. the door open and ran into the night,
He saw the sideroad ahead and bouncing off trees, tripping over
swung the Ford onto it. The road rocks and hedges, cursing from the
was rough, darkened by walls of depths of him that bastard who
trees. He gripped the wheel and would not die. Who would not die
kicked down on the gas. The car and set him free.
rocked and swayed and Hap came He stumbled back to the car after
alive in back. He cried and called what seemed like hours. He circled
to God and the blood poured from it like an Indian, moving in on it.
his mouth. There was not a sound from the
Curt couldn’t see beyond the blackness within, not a movement.
reach of the headlights. It suddenly He was dead. How much blood did
seemed that the road was gone. a man have in him ?
They pitched and skidded over Curt opened the back door and
broken and pitted ground and the the body of Hap McCann fell out,
trunks of the trees were in close. crumbled into a pile at his feet.
Hap was shrill now, screaming like “HapI” he cried, and fell to his
a laboring woman. knees. “Hap...” He lifted the slack
form in his arms and wept hot tears from the trunk of the car he scraped
over it. It was a brother dead in his out a hole. It was brutal work and
grasp. It was more than a brother. it left him little strength to roll Hap
Hap was dead. He cradled the body in, on top of the 38, and to cover
and moaned to it while through his him up, laying rocks and branches
mind flashed a thousand scenes of over the mound. When he trudged
times past, of Hap alive and clean back to the car a hint of gray laced
and young. “Why did we do it, Hap the sky. The night was ending. It
Oh Jesus, why?” would never end in Curt’s mind.
And Hap replied, “__ buddy, my He drove slowly, with the last of
guts are failin’ out...” the gas, to the outskirts of the city.
Curt dropped him and leaped There he abandoned the blood-
back. He stared with utter disbelief drenched Ford and almost stag­
as Hap squirmed and clutched at gered to a subway station. He was
the earth and raved “. . . cannon­ home in half an hour, dragging
balls ... goddamn cannonballs. . himself up the tenement steps, let­
Curt dived into the car and came ting himself in so as not to wake
out with Hap’s .38. He emptied the the family. Then, at last, falling
gun into Hap, four shots. They across the bed, embracing it, crying
cracked hollow and small-sounding with relief.
in the woods, in the clear air. And He slept all day and into the night.
at every jerk of the trigger he yelled Then he got up, washed the dry
“Die, you bastard!” When the gun sweat and grime off and went to the
was empty he fell upon Hap and bar on the corner where he sat alone,
used the gun-butt. over many beers, thinking of his
He dragged the corpse a long way friend, Hap McCann, and all they
into the woods. With an ice-chopper had meant to each other.
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