10-Story Detective Magazine Cover — page 40: what you’re looking at

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

-— 38—$—___—__—_—_——10 STORY draped to the floor, and he was safely hidden. The door was opened and relocked. Suddenly the floor began rising upward; the part Race’s legs reposed on tilted downward. Startled, he grabbed the bed frame and held on. The see-saw move- ment was noiseless, but below he thought he recognized the faint hum of an elee- tric motor. Now he heard steps descending stairs under the bed. The bed came back down with the portion of fioor. He lay motion- less a moment, shipped from under. He unlocked the door, relocked it from the outside, walked casually away and down the stairs, So Roger Leymore slept on the door of his secret vault. Quite eleverly hidden. He wished he had peeped out and found out where Leymore had pressed the switch. Maybe the answer to this Buckey business was in the vauk. Janice Darrow looked relieved at sight of him. “I couldn’t hold him,” she said. “All of a sudden he just turned and left. Did you make it out of his room?” Race nodded. “Oh, I nearly forgot. The butler is looking for you.” He found the butler. That individual led him to a quiet corner. “I’ve been thinking about what you said abeut wanting to be a dick.” Race looked inter- ested. “I thought I’d give you a little les- son, if you’re interested.” Race said eagerly, “You bet I am. Spill ms” The butler grinned smugly. “Mr. Ley- more has a secret safe somewhere in this dump. Nobody but him and me knows how to find it. I ain’t going to give you a tip on finding it. Try your hand at loeat- ing it. If you can, you’re fit to be a real diek.” “Watch me,” Race said gravely. “And listen—if you find me under your bed, don’t get sore; V’ll be looking for that safe.” - Jt was a break for Race. Now he could prowl over the house unsuspected. If anyone got nasty he could call the butler and receive clearance papers. The flood was holding its own after reaching a peak. Race wondered about the body of the guard. Had flood waters earried it away or had the slayer hidden it elsewhere? He went to his room, flopped on the bed for a short rest. His roving eyes noticed the big vase in which he had hidden Wadlow’s pistol; it had been moved slightly. He jumped up, looked in it. The pistol was no longer there. E WALKED over to a similar vase. The pistol was inside. He frowned. Had he or had he not been mistaken in vases? He decided he had not. But why would some intruder slip into his room merely to move a pistol from one vase to ancther? He didn’t know, and he,.didn’t have a crystal ball. He dismissed it from his thoughts. He reNeved his mind of two dead bodies, Buckey, a see-saw bed and other teasers by playing bridge. His watch said it was forty minutes after twelve when he sought his room. He had removed his ceat and vest, turned to the bed to deposit his gun un- der the pillow, when he heard a slight noise like a smoothly fitted window open- ing. He dropped instantly to the floor, twisting his body over with the same mo- tion. Not a second too soon. The roar of a pistol shot filled the room. From a panel m the wall the head and right arm of a man protruded. The hand held a pistol. The man was Roger Leymore. Before Race could recever from his astonishment, Leymore disappeared and the panel slid back into place. Race leaped up, tried to reopen the panel, but couldn’t budge it. Had Leymore blown his top and gone gunning for human game? If so, why had he picked on Race? Or had Leymore been nuts all along and invited his relatives here to murder them? : He heard doors opening, footsteps out- side. Someone pounded on his door. “Mr, Bennett! Mr. Bennett, are you hurt?” He recognized Dr. Lathan’s voice. He opened the door and grinned at worried faces in the doorway. “I was just examining my gun and it went off,” he explained. “Quite stupid of me. Sorry to arouse the household.” Dr. Lathan looked like he didn’t swallow it. The others trooped back to their rooms. Dr. Lathan looked significantly at Pace, “Be careful, Bennett. If a gun goes off in here again, be sure it isn’t pointed at you.” He left the room. Race kept his eyes on the panel, gun in hand. He began adding several things together, things that had been theories evolving from mere suspicions. He had Comicbooks