10-Story Detective Magazine Cover — page 102: what you’re looking at

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

oA f - saat 4p \ WD LF © ve VOR, PREIS RAE Ofc Wis 4 77 WAL i Phy dh a See ee ib a PINOT IS Bee ae a uo Web ‘ y Pr rey for \, >= () : —- a os 9 - a = ~ = 4 2 zt =, — oA <a "y we = 1 Sy a= - ——-- - a =) = * = = ae : 1 A 4 LAS Re ie Meg ' ff 100 10-STORY DETECTIVE was hammering the gong to indicate the end of the first round. Or had been hammering it until Ben woke up. His eyes now open, Big Ben sighed with relief at the sight of familiar and friendly things; the luminous dial of his alarm clock on the table next to the bed; beyond it the outlined pane of the window with heavy rain beating hard against the glass, But something was still ringing. Ben reached out to shut off the alarm clock, then remembered that he hadn’t turned it on and that anyway its dial said eleven o’clock and that he’d gone to bed only an hour ago. The phone then; he reached across the clock and knocked the phone off the table. Then, with appropriate remarks, he got out of bed, turned on the light, and picked up the phone. “Ben Hayden talking,” he said. “Cap Rogers, Ben. Listen, can you come down to the station right away? We’re in a jam.” Ben’s eyes went to the window, In the glass he could see the reflection of himself, a mountainous figure gro- tesque in awning-stripe pajamas. And, symbolically, the driving rain was beating hard against the re- flection. Buckets of cold and unpleas- antly wet rain. He said, “Aw, Cap. I just got to sleep and you want me to come down there? On a night like this!” “Right away, you lummox,” said the telephone receiver firmly. “Look, this is a rea] storm. There’ve been wrecks all over town and two houses have blown down and the force is go- ing nuts. And the homicide men all went out on a lead on the Yeager business and then this Elkins thing comes in.” AWNING widely, Ben looked at the window pane again and then deliberately averted his eyes from it. “Aw right,” he said. “I’ll get dressed and be in as soon as J—” “Hey, wait,” cut in Rogers. “Come to think of it, you don’t need to eome here. I’ll give you the dope and you can go right around to the Wescott Apartments from your place. It’s nearer.” “That crooks’ nest,” Ben grunted. “Which of ’em murdered which?” “Remember Billy Elkins?” “The slap-happy little dip? Hell, I thought he was in jail.” “Released this afternoon. He’s Slab-happy now. They just took him in to the morgue, Found him at the bot- tom of the airshaft at the Westcott. But it wasn’t murder.” “No 5 ats “Don’t look like it, anyway. There were some sheets fastened to a bed in a vacant furnished apartment on the sixth. Looks like he was shinnying down those sheets to burglarize the apartment below. Paul Durban’s apartment. “Funny,” said Ben. “Didn’t he used to be a sidekick of Durban’s?- Work for him, too, onee in a while?” “Yeah, Look, you can get the de- tails when you get there. We’re put- ting it on the blotter as accidental death while attempting a felony. But you go ’round there and make a nuis- ance of yourself, just in case. Talk to Paul Durban, and to Rafe Murro, aad to Hoberg. They all live there.” “Billy Elkins had a wife, didn’t he? | What’s about her?” long.” Ben put the receiver back on the hook, and shivered. Trying not to look at the window, he dressed, put- ting on his oldest suit. He hesitated a moment before putting on his suit — coat, wondering whether to strap on his shoulder holster, weighing the pros and cons of whether to pack a gun. The cons won; the darn thing would get wet and he’d have to take it apart and clean it when he got home. He didn’t phone for a cab because there was a stand around the corner, That was his first mistake, as he dis- covered as soon as he stepped outside. Before he reached the corner, he was ee “You find out,” said Rogers. “So ke a eee ne ee ee it yt Ve hi nao Ay ev ae ee