10-Story Detective, June 1945 — page 5: what you’re looking at

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

her, then swung back to the table and picked up the brown paper in which the red box had been wrapped. There was no return address. Dorothy Gibson’s name and address were crudely lettered in cap- itals. The way somebody would write who did not want his handwriting identi- fied. Dorothy Gibson was halfway down the street when Eben went down the steps. He closed the distance between them to twenty feet and then matched his pace with hers. There was nothing about the weary, stooped carriage of her back to tell him anything. She had always struck him as being tired. She crossed two streets, then turned into the turbulence of Division Avenue. The sidewalk was crewded with early evening shoppers. At the Palace Theater a long line of people waited for the box office to open. He saw Dorothy Gibson slip through the center of the line. He was following when a heavy hand fell on his narrow shoulder, Unusual Detective Novelet Se ed ~~ . air, - — “sy “You wot a nerve!” a beefy man roared. ““You get to the end of the line.” “ft only want to get through,” Eben explained. “Yeah! You think because you’re little I won’t sock you one? Seram!”’ Argument would only waste time. Eben pulled away from the man’s grip, raced back and around the line. By the time he was in the clear, Dorothy Gibson was no longer in sight. He hurried to the corner and looked down both streets. : Like the rankest amateur, he had lost er, BpOROTHY GIBSON trilled laughter into the telephone mouthpiece, “Are you surprised, Dan?” “Gratified,” Dan Daly said at the other end of the wire. “I'll be even more grati- fied if you'll come up to my place for a eocktail. My wife is out of town.” Eom Eboo S (E(@)