10 Story Detective, July 1942 — page 13: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

2 re mre sere were high and he couldn’t see inside, but the casements were dry. The side of the house was as arid as a desert. Kerrigan grabbed Stuart’s arm. “Wh-what do you think could have happened? Rain—we heard it beat- ing against vhe windows, but nothing is wet. It ecouldn’t have dried so quickly.” Stuart faced the two of them. “T’ll tell you something else, gentlemen. On my way up here somebody fired a shot at me. I also saw a form. It looked like a snowman who’d been slightly melted by the sun and then frozen to a glistening solid surface by a cold night. That form was dressed in a heavy coat, a hood over the head and high boots. Extremely tall—-six feet, eight or nine inches, perhaps. Taller than you, Kerrigan, and that’s going some.” Ne one spoke. Stuart stared at them. In the darkness he was unable to see their faces, “Well,” he asked, “do you think I’m doubly crazy ?” “No—no,” Gordon answered in a stiff voice. “It—well, it just struck us so forcibly we couldn’t talk, I guess. Officer, what you saw wasn’t an illusion. There is supposed to be such a being. Eskimos say it’s their storm god, He’s supposed to be made of snow and ice and he has super- natural powers.” “Supernatural bosh,” Stuart grunt- ed. “‘Let’s go inside. I’ve got to phone for the medical examiner and some help. But I wish I knew what hap- pened to that rain.” Stuart was the first to enter the living room. He saw Doug Terry eurled up in the chair, his head hung down on his chest. Stuart looked for Meredith’s corpse. It was gone! The detective leaped toward Terry, grabbed him and shook the man hard. Terry groaned, but didn’t wake up. “He’s fainted,’ Stuart said, “Get some brandy, one of you men. Gor- don, you find the brandy. Kerrigan— you know the house so start looking for Meredith’s corpse. Hurry!” ———TAKEN FOR A SLAY RIDE——— Sd) HILE they heard Kerrigan’s feet pounding on the floor above. Gordon forced brandy be- tween Terry’s lips and finally the lit- tle man opened his eyes. For a mo- ment they just seemed startled and then he let out a wild, eerie scream. He pointed at the floor, where Mere- dith had lain. “He’s gone! I wasn’t dreaming! He’s gone! Alexander came and took him away.” “Now wait a minute.” Stuart pushed him back into the chair. “Calm down, will you? Let’s get this straight. Alexander—the man who is supposed to have died in Alaska and who phoned me—came here and took Meredith’s corpse away? Where did he take it—in what direction?’ Terry pointed. His arm shook so much that the projecting finger took in half of the blank wall. “R-right through the wall. Right over there. He came in, but I didn’t see him until he stood looking down at Meredith’s body, Then he bent down, picked him up and walked through the wall. I-I’m going erazy. JT must be, I—” | “Watch him,” Stuart told Gordon. Stuart hurried over to the wall and tapped the whole surfaee, as high as he could reach. He imspected the rooms on the other side of that wall. There couldn’t be a secret passage or hidden panels. He went back to Terry. “Now talk sense,” he snapped. “In the first place, are you sure it was Alexander?” “Y-yes, I’m positive. He was all bloody and he looked like Meredith. His skin was very white as if he was dead. There was a hole in his left temple. A bullet wound, I’d_ say. Blood all over his face.” “And bats in Terry’s belfry,” Gor- don whispered in Stuart’s ear. “The man is mad.” Stuart took Gordon aside. “May- be,” he admitted slowly. “But what did happen to Meredith’s corpse? We were out of the house perhaps eight MIGoOo (C(O) S (C(O) nn