10-Story Detective Magazine Cover — page 19: what you’re looking at

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

THE MORGUE IS FULL OF HEROES TSD it,” he said slowly. “I wouldn’t put it past her.” . I said: “She’s over her head in it.” I jabbed the words at him, trying to shake him out of it, and he looked up, Seeing me again, “Where do you fit?” he demanded. I shook my head. “On the right side.” I told him. “Wherever that is. Madden doesn’t like killings around his place. Especially unexplained ones. We’d like to crack this.” He said, Oh,” vagucly, and his eyes narrowed a trifle. “Where the hell are the police? If you people have told them your story, why haven’t we heard from them? We'll be questioned, naturally.” “Maybe,” I said. “I wouldn’t know about that.” I went on, lying beauti- fully, “Madden wouldn’t want to cause any trouble for you. He figures maybe your crowd is in the clear. And if you string along with us, we'll string along with you.” “Te’s playing with fire,” Hedge- wick said slowly. “Cutting in on police work. | don’t like it.” SAID maybe he’d rather have Vera Reynault’s name plastered all over the tabloids, and he shook his head, frowning. He was doubtful, trying to make up his mind which side of the fence to sit on. Then he evidently de- cided. “T haven’t heard a word you said,” he told me carefully. “In case anyone asks me, I’ve never even heard of the murder. And if you state publicly that you advised me of it, Ill deny it. Deny it absolutely. Is that clear?” I said it sounded pretty clear and Hedgewick motioned me to a chair, dropping in one himself. “What do you want to know?” he asked, “About Vera Reynault and Ricco- ni, What the setup was.” “The girl had been playing around with him on the quiet for about two months,” he told me. “Then, when we came out here to make this picture, he followed her out. She was attracted 17 by the man—strongly attracted. But she wasn’t in love with him.” I said, “She wasn’t in love with any- body, I suppose?” and Hedgewick shook his head. “J wouldn’t know about that,” he admitted. “So,” I suggested, “could be the lit- tle lady decided she’d had enough, and Dart Ricconi couldn’t see it that way.” “Could be,” he agreed. “If you’ve got that sort of a mind. Only it wasn’t.” I said: “No, it wasn’t. You decided you’d seen enough of Ricconi. That if he kept running around with your pet star, it was bound to hit the papers sooner or later. And for the little angel of the screen to be mixed up with a guy like that would cost you plenty. So you figured out a pretty little set- - up, with me in the payoff spot. Nice, that.” I didn’t know whether I believed it or not, but it added up right. Hedgewick said: “You're half right, Craig. I wanted Ricconi out of the way. But I didn’t want him killed. In fact, I didn’t need him killed.” He stopped for a moment, watching me. “You don’t know Miss Reynalt very well ?” “Well enough,” I told him. “Just about well enough. But I don’t see where that comes in.” “She rides high,” he explained. “She rides with winners, and winners only. She was through with Ricconi after you made him crawl the other night. She’d been fascinated by the man’s hardness, the awe he inspired in oth- ers, and you made a fool out of him. That’s what I was betting on.” “Yeah,” I said, “you were betting. A pretty slim bet.” But, remember- ing the dame, { wasn’t so sure it was slim. I went on, taiking loudly to make myself heard over the radio. “I’m will- ing to keep the dame out of this, if she’s in the clear. All I want is a chance to save my own neck. And if you'll give me a little time, I think I can do it. “T may be wrong about the whole thing. It could’ve been the dame. It CORMICLOOKS (C@