10-Story Detective Magazine Cover — page 81: what you’re looking at

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

SLAUGHTER EPIDEMIC--_-__-_--—_——_-79 ERRY obtained the address of Mrs. Fisher from Dr. Lasher and a car took him there in less than ten minutes. He pushed the bell un- der which was an engraved, clearly expensive card. The apartment lobby was ornate, too. Mrs. Fisher must have been a profitable patient. A maid escorted him into a cozy study. Minutes later Mrs. Fisher came in. She was wrapped in an ex- pensive robe. Her rather pretty face was free from all powder and paint. Gerry thought to himself she looked better this way than smeared with grease and paint. She looked at him quizzically. “You are—a detective?” she asked. “What do you want with me?” “Tm sorry to bother you,’ Gerry told her. “But you were in Dr. Lash- er’s office earlier this evening. There were two men in the waiting room with you. One was seated on a bench in the northwest corner of the room. I don’t know where the other was sit- ting, but I’d like to get a description of him.” “A description of him?” Mrs. Fisher was aghast. ““‘Why, young man, I don’t go about gazing at people. I remember a man was there, the one who sat on the bench too, but I didn’t pay much attention to them. The man on the bench did act as though he were intoxicated. I do recall that.” “You mean he sagged forward?” Gerry was surprised, but he kept it to himself. Mrs. Fisher had gone into the consulting room first. It was after she had gone that Gerry was sure the man had been murdered. If he were dead before she left the waiting room, it would complicate matters. Then the stranger might not have been to blame. “Yes,” she thought a moment. “I believed he was ill, at first, and I was going to suggest he see the doctor first. What happened anyway? Why did you come here?” “You didn’t notice the other man?” Gerry disregarded her question for the moment. “Well, yes, after a fashion. He was ordinary looking. He must have been five feet seven and he was rather stout. I think he had a blue suit on and a gray coat. Did he do anything ?” “We don’t know yet,” Gerry told her. There was a new thought seeping into his mind. He tried to shrug it off, but it stuck with him. He decided to tell the woman everything. “The man who was seated on the bench is dead,” he said. “Murdered.” “Oh!” She seemed incapable of fur- ther speech. Her hand was thrust against her throat, and she was very pale. “Not only that,” Gerry decided to fire another bomb. “Dr. Lasher was almost murdered. Some one shot him, and we think perhaps it might have been this other man. Could you iden- tify him, Mrs. Fisher? We'll probably pick him up in a few days and we'll need your help then. Did you notice any peculiar facts about him—some- thing that would impress him on your mind?” “Is—is Dr. Lasher all right?” she asked, paying no attention to ques- tions. “Did—did they—kill him?” “No, Mrs. Fisher. Just a slight flesh wound, that’s all. Now about this man again. You would be willing to help us, wouldn’t you?” : “If he injured Dr. Lasher in any way, Ill do all I can. Now let me think—there was something about him that I sort of recall. He had a sear on his face—that was all. Just a little one, but the light caught it just right when he looked at me and I saw it. His nose looked funny too, as if it had been hurt. I wouldn’t have want- ed to meet that man alone on a dark street, I can tell you. He didn’t look right to me and if he tried to hurt poor Dr. Lasher—and killed a man, tap" “Then I’ll be back,’ Gerry told her. Her surprise over, she had wound herself up for a long talk. He didn’t have time for that. He had learned all he wished to know. “And if you see a couple of men GComichooks:;com