10-Story Detective Magazine Cover — page 59: what you’re looking at

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

“Toppers Club I heard on good au- thority that last night Jollard was at — the funeral services for Hardwicke. So you—” Gammer gestured frantically. “You can’t prove a word of that without the green heart. You’re only bluffing, you don’t know where it is.” I smiled at Droopy and Stellman who were listening intently. “T’ll show you where it is—after the police arrive. You boys might become impetuous otherwise,” I said, reaching for the phone.... ~The group of four from the Top- pers Club came with the police. Reade, the commentator; Tollam, the speed-king with whom I’d wagered; and of course Meady, the medical ex- aminer, and Kittring, the criminolo- gist. They all listened to what I had to say. Then Meady spoke up. “It appears to me everything de- pends on finding that green heart.” I nodded and saw Gammer staring uneasily at me. “There’s an X-ray flucroscope apparatus in the next room,’ I began. VERYONE saw Gammer start, the look of trapped fury in his eyes, and later at his trial it proved to be damaging evidence against him when his lawyers cross-examined us. He struggled in the arms of two burly policemen as he was dragged toward the X-ray fluoroscope. Meady flicked a switch, and we all saw the green heart. Not its color, of course, but its shadow—the same shadow Hard- wicke and Plunkett had seen and for which they had been murdered. Jollard, during that operation two months ago, had hidden the green heart in Gammer’s body. I looked at the others staring at that _ : shadow on the X-ray plate. “Jollard,” I said, “no doubt intended to keep Gammer here until he had arranged safely to dispose of that heart. Then he would have advised Gammer that an operation was necessary, saying the wound had not healed properly. | But Gammer left before Jollard could stop him, so Jollard had to trail him and try to get him back and see that he went near no X-ray doc- tors. Unfortunately for Hardwicke and Plunkett, Gammer went to them. No doubt he hadn’t been feeling well.” © The police head nodded.... We were back in the Toppers Club. Meady and Kittring were thanking me for calling the papers again and saying that my earlier statement about the M. E. and the criminologist was not so, that all throughout the evening they had cooperated with me fully. It was my own idea about send- ing this statement to the papers. I had no wish to ruin the reputations of — Meady and Kittring, A man can’t be right all the time, and they were good sports about the way I had proved them wrong. “IT wasn’t so easy on Tollam. I let him make out a check to my order for five thousand dollars. “Here,” he grumbled, handing it over. “You made good on your bluff.” “That’s why I’m called Bluff Mc- Carty,” I smiled, sHpping the check in my wallet. I saw Reade, the com- | mentator, watching me as I said to Tollam: “I had to make good on that bluff and win the wager, because if I’d lost, I didn’t have five thousand dollars to pay you.” Bluff McCarty.” Watch for the Next 10-STORY DEFECTIVE All Yarns Packed with Exciting, Dramatic Tales __ NGS, oe : alae SCT EL po Ne a Sods! ait M4 ‘ DXi2 @ Py yr : ees, Sat’ ot tnt Aa hss ae) a). eh 2)