10-Story Detective, November 1942 — page 76: what you’re looking at

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

74 Things were beginning to swim be- fore his eyes. It was Eva there at the buffet, but just a moment ago it seemed to be Lulu Shard. Lulu with a sawed-off shotgun blasting the life out of young Bob Perry. And now this girl was doing the same thing, only in another way. And then the fog suddenly seemed to float away from before Banning’s eyes, and the whole thing was clear, clear as a crystal pool in which every stone and pebble was plainly visible. And Eva Perry was standing there beside the empty buffet drawers, sob- bing: *““It’s—it’s n-not here.” Banning gritted his teeth against the pain in his side, but managed to say: “The mirror, Eva. Behind the mirror. That’s where it is.” Eva grabbed up a broken chair and swung it against the mirror. The glass cracked. She struck again and again, knocking pieces loose. Finally she pulled out a sheet of paper which had been hidden between the mirror and the wall. She broke out more glass, pulled out more sheets, and handed them to Banning. “These are the secret accounts, the real records of Folrem’s Protective Bail Bond Company,” Banning gasped. “The district attorney has been searching months for them; claims there’s enough evidence here to convict Folrem and wreck his whole racket.” HE only person who wants to kill the cop is the person who’s being arrested for the first time,” Banning told reporters at the hospital after his wounds were dressed. “That’s what bothered us about Lulu Shard. | Why should she have shot Perry? She’s been picked up dozens of times.” He didn’t wait for answers but hur- ried cn. “Well, I found out today. It seems Lulu had evidence which would convict Folrem and wreck his bail bond racket, and she had it hidden be- hind the mirror of this built-in buffet in her dining room. Now Bob Perry 10-STORY DETECTIVE was interested in getting a buffet for his wife, and he liked this one in Lulu’s flat and started to examine it. “Lulu thought he was looking for the evidence she had against Folrem, the papers she was counting on to pay her a young fortune. She got panicky and shot him. “Folrem saw in this shooting the chance to kill Lulu, who was black- mailing him, and lay the blame on Eva Perry. He got Lulu out on bail, paying the premium himself, as she was broke. He had her meet him at the Blue Moon Club, knocked her uncon- scious with a sandbag or something similar which wouldn’t leave a mark. “Then he hid, called in Eva, sand- bagged her from behind, and shot Lulu. He just stayed behind the door till the others burst into the darkened office. In the few minutes it took them to get a light burning, he mingled with the crowd unseen and was one of them. “Eva Perry told Folrem today she thought something valuable was hid- den in Lulu Shard’s flat, so he bailed her out and took her to the flat. Now Rube Jones had also figured there was a big stake hidden there and was look- ing for it. Folrem shot him and was trying to kill Eva Perry when I ar- rived.” As Banning finished his story, the camera men suggested, “Just one more picture, captain,” and posed Eva be- side him. Banning scowled deeply. Eva winked at the newsmen, turned to Banning, and spoke in a low tone so the others couldn’t hear. “I’m pret- ty enough to charm any dozen men and lead them around by the nose, Jim Banning, and I’m going to charm you. First, I’m going to kiss you, and won’t that make a nice picture for the pa- pers?” Banning blanched and tried to shrink away. Eva grinned impishly and added, “I will if you don’t smile for the pic- ture.” Banning smiled. DOOLK C©