12 Sports Aces, January 1943 — page 21: what you’re looking at

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

THE RED-LIGHT EXPRESS : 19 was giving Rock plenty of headaches. She insisted on entertaining the team with parties in her penthouse apartment. Rock on one occasion threw up his hands in dis- gust when she bought tickets to the opera for the entire team. It all added up to good newspaper copy and Connie was for- ever getting her picture in the paper. There was nothing Rock could do but grin and bear it. , CHAPTER IV WAS two days before the Raiders hit the road that Alice slid the white en- velope from under the. pillow where she was propped up on the bed. Alice was blond and pretty and the soft smile on her face never let you think that there was- n’t one in her heart, too. But Sweeney knew the pain, the suffering her crippled legs had caused her to endure. But the legs were finally responding to treatment. Alice was gradually being able to walk a little. Alice was smiling now. She pulled three greenbacks out of the envelope. “And each one is a thousand-dollar bill,” she said proudly. “It’s no use trying to keep the secret.” : Sweeney’s mouth flew open. “Three grand!’ he exclaimed. “Where’d it all come from?” “It’s a bonus for the way you’ve been playing,” Alice said. “Mr. Jenkins brought it over the other night. He said the club was going to give it to you at the end of the season anyway. He handles the finances of the club and he ought to know. He said the Raiders could easily afford to give it since Miss Leonard is the owner. The only thing is, I wasn’t supposed to tell you about it unless a real emergency came up. And those new treat- ments. They’re awfully expensive.” Sweeney shook his head firmly. “Let’s not go over that again, Alice. Those treat- ments are doing a world of good.” He paused then: “Jenkins came over here?” “Of course. I thought you must have told him about—about me. There’s noth- ing wrong, is there, Bill?” “Not a thing,’’ Sweeney said. “Jenkins, of course, knew our address from the of- fice records.” oe Sweeney was worried. The only person who knew about him and Alice was Rock. Of course Rock might have told Jenkins about things. Even so, it was too much like finding three grand on the street. Sweeney wasn’t too certain that there wasn’t a string attached to the dough. Rock was sitting at his desk the next morning when Sweeney swung open the door of his office. At the other desk in the room was Sam Jenkins. The third party present was Buzzy Barnes. Buzzy was making himself useful dusting the cab- inets and in no great hurry. “Tt looks like the new owner is throw- ing her dough around,” Sweeney said. “That three grand dropped out of a clear sky into my lap.” Rock gave Sweeney a quizzical stare. “What three grand?” “The three grand bonus Jenkins gave Alice,”’ Sweeney retorted. “Maybe I’ve been filling that wing job okay. But not that much worth. If this is ‘sympathy’ dough, Rock, you know how I feel about that.” Jenkins looked up from his desk, cleared his throat. “Miss Leonard wanted you to have that money,” he said. “She intends to make it a policy te inspire the players with regular bonuses. I see noth- ing unusual that I should have delivered the money. I do handle the business end of things around here, you know.” The business manager went back to fiddling with some papers. But Rock’s face was flushed and his eyes snapping. He picked up the telephone receiver. “We'll find out about Miss Leonard’s policies,” he said, looking directly at Jen- kins. A look of surprise etched over Jen- kins’ face. “Well,” he said, hemming and hawing a bit, “this bonus idea is still in the formative stage. Miss Leonard men- tioned it and I took it upon myself to try it?” Rock put down the receiver. He swung toward Jenkins, the lines tightening around his mouth. | ‘You’re a liar and a chiseler, Jenkins,” Rock said evenly. “You tried to go whole hog and you’ve been tipping your hand right along. Connie Leonard’s lawyer COPNICGOOOKS (C@