10-Story Detective Magazine Cover — page 110: what you’re looking at

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

168 and he seemed to be going to sleep on his feet. Suddenly he snapped out of it. He examined the scattered contents of the dresser drawers. He picked up the bag of fruit and the oranges which had rolled out of it. He spilled the contents of the bag on the desk. Then he scribbled a note on a pad. “Please have the officer outside take this to the fruiterer, and have him ask the fruiterer to answer my questions in writing.” Baldock gave the note to the uni- formed officer still sitting in the hall. The officer returned in a short time and handed the paper to Kettle. “T thought so,” smiled the doctor, after reading the fruiterer’s reply. Thereupon he sent the officer on an- other errand. A pack of playing cards was in a cubby hole of the desk. Kettle extracted a card from the deck, gave it to the officer and whispered something to him. The officer went out and when he returned the second time he handed a new deck of cards to Kettle. “Now please summon Mr. Lerian,”’ said Kettle to Baldock. Before the boarder was brought into the room, the doctor had covered the body of Braxton Hewett with a bed sheet. “T believe you mentioned you could do tricks with cards, Mr. Lerian.” “Righto,” said Lerian. “Let’s see you try this one,” invited Kettle. “Observe, I have here on the desk two decks of cards. One of them belonged to Hewett, the other was just purchased for me. Now watch: I draw a card from the new deck,’— he suited the action to the words. “It is the Ace of Spades. See it? “Look at both sides of it. I now insert the Ace from the new deck into Hewett’s deck. I shuffie Hewett’s deck and lay it on the desk face down. With- out turning the deck face up, do you think you can extract from it the new Ace of Spades?” A look of surprise spread over the trickster’s face. “But my dear doctor, that’s not a trick—that’s—” 10-STORY DETECTIVE “py explain later,” cut in Doctor Kettle. “Piease try to do as you were told if you can.” Lerian picked up Hewett’s deck, went through it without turning the cards face up—and finally held up one card, the new Ace of Spades. “Good,” said Kettle, “now listen. I shall ask the other boarders to join uS ina card game. I’ll make the game stud poker, and arrange matters so that you deal the third hand. Keep that Ace of Spades in your pocket.” Kettle then drew Lerian aside and whispered something to him. Then he asked: “Can you do that?” ' “Certainly.” Kettle left Hewett’s room and when he returned several minutes later he announced: “The othersare agreeable. We’re going to play downstairs in the sitting room. You too, inspector.” EADING clockwise around the sitting room table, we have: Gene Miner, Billy Watwood, Inspector Baldock, Valentine Janson, Doctor Kettle and Lou Lerian. “Three hands, stud, quarter limit,” said the doctor. “I am going to try to make this the most interesting card game any of you have ever sat in, for while it is in progress, I shall give you the details of the murder of Brax- ton Hewett.” “But we’re playing for keeps, ain’t we?” asked the corpulent Billy Wat- wood. “Sure,” said the dapper Miner. “Poker is poker, murder or no mur- der.” Valentine Janson, to whom Kettle passed the cards, started dealing. “Braxton Hewett was not murdered at eight-fourteen, but at some time be- tween ten and half-past,” began the doctor. ‘‘He was in his room for some time before being killed, for the fruiterer, in reply to my question, said he remembered distinctly that Hewett had bought six apples and six oranges last evening, and when [ counted the fruit in Hewett’s room, I found only four oranges and five COMIC OOO KS (E@)