10 Story Detective, July 1942 — page 37: what you’re looking at

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

ine eee en ees eee eee The directory told him Rawlins’ of- fice was on the third floor and he pounded up. No light showed under the office door. One of a big ring of skeleton keys he always carried turned the bolts and he entered, switched on the lights. Rawlins had a suite. There was a lavishly furnished waiting room, with a safe in one corner, chairs and a table full of fan mags, old Holly- wood Reporters and Varieties. Doors Jeading to rooms where Rawlins worked on his patients, and where they rested after especially physically trying work, were at opposite corners. The safe was open the fraction of an inch. Someone not so trained to watch for details might have missed it. Rocky strode toward it, swung open the heavy door. The inside was in confusion, file boxes and card in- dexes emptied out, filtered through. Small bills and change from a petty eash box were scattered about. Rocky examined some of the file cards and the names on them would have made a Hollywood Who’s Who. Nearly every big picture star has to have some adjustments made on his teeth as even the slightest mal- formation is exposed to the frank eye of the camera. Rawlins had more than his share of big-time patients, Rocky picked up a large, manila envelope. It had been sealed with wax, but the seals were broken open and the end of the envelope ripped. Rocky reached in, pulled out several photo- graphs and negatives. HE first showed a _ well-known starlet who was married to a big- shot director. She was seated in a dentist chair and a man was bending over her, his arms wrapped amorous- ly around her. The man’s face was hidden from the camera, but even from a rear view the squareness of the bald head and the shoulders left no doubt of his identity. It was Hugh Rawlins. ‘There were many other pictures, all similar, all featuring Hollywood ———FILMTOWN FADEOUT ————35 women, prominent in the industry and married to influential men. “The lowest, rottenest kind of blackmail!’ Rhodes said through clenched teeth. He jammed the pictures into his pocket, turned toward the door of the patients’ room. He stepped in, saw the dental chair with all the gleam- ing modern equipment. Across the room, one corner was draped with 2 velvet curtain. Rocky yanked it. aside, saw the camera affixed to a wall bracket. The camera was aimed di- rectly at the dental chair. It had a long cord rolled up and hooked next to it. Under the excuse of painful work to be done, the dentist administered gas, swiftly set the stage and snapped the photo himself, using the long ex. tension cord. It would take a few sece- onds and pay enormous dividends. Here was possible motivation for Rance’s murder. The columnist might have learned of the dentist’s racket. Rawlins silenced him. But there was still Donna Marlo’s part in the thing and the whole picture was far from complete. Rocky turned back toward the wait- ing room and a gunshot blasted the silence of the office. The bullet slammed into his shoulder and twirled him. It would have struck a more vital spot if he hadn’t twisted toward the door just as the gun was fired. But Rocky didn’t know anything about that. He heard the shot, felt the pain. There was a big splash of e¢rimson and then a solid wall of black. The first thing Rocky Rhodes saw after that was the big fair and florid face of Lew Jensen. Jensen was grin- ning like a kid who has caught the teacher with the principal. His words seeped gradually through Rhodes’ clouded mind. “You won the duel, Rocky, but it won’t do you no good. There’s a law against it.” The Eastern detective sat up, fight- ing off nausea. “What duel?” he man- aged. “What are you talking about?’ GOMiGooo S (C(O) nn