10-Story Detective, June 1945 — page 25: what you’re looking at

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

A KIEL FOR. THE SHILL me like a worried cat with an extra kitten. “Pll be O:K.,” I told’ her. She smiled and went on. I wasn’t scared: My Knees trembled like a bridegroom’s, my tongue nailed’ itself to the roof of my mouth, but I wasn’t seared. V'd' always wanted to stroll about my own broad acres im the cool of the eve- ning, hadn’t I? And now ft was doing it, wasn’t I? Sure, The estate-keeper’s lodge; a. stucco. box with living quarters and garage in) one wnit, stood off by itself behind! a cypress edge. The windows had‘ been boarded up. The whole place was locked: tighter than a. drum. I had to go round: it twice before I found a lock my key fitted. My shoes gritted on gravel at every. step. I turned the key until it clicked, pushed wide enough tm the dior open: just ‘squeeze in. The beating of my heart seemed to echo in: the: musty darkness. After a couple of. centuries of fumbling: { found the light switch. The car, a light convertible, stood there under a: canvas hood, I knew what I’d find when I loeked at the radiator grill. But I forced: my hands. to take hold of the canvas. just the same and. lift, Ten seconds. was enough, I. dropped. the. canvas again. My, stomach, writhed: away from my belt buckle. I couldn’. get out of the musty smelling place quick enough. It happened just as I stumbled across the door sill. A pencil of orange fire jetted from the cypress hedge. At.the same time something hot fanned my neck, and the flat sharp crack. of the shot echoed off the wall. ] fell forward, rolling on the gravel, while footsteps faded: on the other side of the hedge. I got up, dusted off James Melton’s tailored pants, and. went back to the party. 1 wasn’t scared any more, just tired. I wanted to get the dirty job over with, ARY O’QUINN met me near the: tables, where the crowd. had thinned a little. “I got the papers, look out for cops!” she said im one breath, nudging me. The two city dicks who'd nearly nabbed me at the Glenshiel Arms. had erashed the party. I saw them nosing through the crowd. “Tell the butler to throw food and drinks into them,” I whispered. “I know cops. If I keep in plain sight they’! figure they can eat first and pinch me later.” Liscomb’s white sombrero hovered in the shadows. I heard the plunk of his guitar. He’d spotted me. 23, At the table nearest the angle of the high wall I found’ a seat in full. view. of the crowd, Mary O’Quinn tossed some. split kindling on, the blaze in the fireplace built into the wall and’ settied’ down: hbe- side me. “What. did you find in the estate- keeper’s lodge?” she queried: “Never mind,” I countered “See what hit-run: cases: the city had’ im the early morning hours of the fifteenth of July. Look in the evening editions.” She rattled through the papers: “War workers on Sunset, youth in Van Nuys, seventy-year-old woman killed’ on Cahu- enga.’ “Any other old people?” “No,” “Then that’s the one.” I stood’ up on the bench, “Dadies. and! gentlemen!” I called, Everyone looked! up; but the noise of eating, drinking, and! chit-chat went on. “Mr. James Melton: regrets: he cannot chaw: beef with you: tonight,” I informedi them. ty had a date with a slab in the e > That. got.them: In the silence:you.couid’ have heard a pin drop; In. the background Liscomb’s guitar twunked: out Red River Valley faintly. He was there, waiting. “Mr. James; Melton,” I said; looking down. the double: rew of faces that. the firelight showed me,.““Mr. James Melton wasn’t quite the newcomer he pretended to be. He made a trip out here to the Coast just four months ago, He went for a@ ride with a pal, I believe. They had an accident—drove off and. left an old. lady. dead in the middle of the street.” The guitar stayed in the background; like a soft accompariment. I was: glad: Doug Drake and the two city dicks sat between: me and Liscomb. I gave them the rest of it. “That night James Melton let a badly frightened pal out and' drove his car away to hide it. “He hid. the car so well the frightened pal never found it. A couple of days ago Mr. James: Melton came back to Holly- wood, tried blackmailing the old pal, and got paid off with a. lead slug.” The firelight played on tense faces. Liscomb’s guitar never faltered, I had the reparerein: thug hanging on every word: “So far so good,” I remarked’ cheer- fully. “But the seared pal. who knocked off Mr. Melton had to have a sucker. So he laid a trap. The sucker was told to come to the Glenshiel Arms at four twenty-eight. The minute he buzzed. from the foyer, the scared pal burned Melton | down and kited, leaving the sucker to hold the bag. comicbooks