5 Detective Novels Magazine — page 26: what you’re looking at

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

26 couraging to say to Ellen, but nothing occurred to him that would even start to come off as more than a grim joke. Kelly kept driving until he was told to stop at the head of a grade. Terry said, “Pull over here.” ELLY WILSON reached down to set the hand-brake, and that was all. He knew a tremendous jagged flash of light and pain. He seemed to smash his face into the steering wheel. Far off, he thought he heard Ellen screaming... . Kelly Wilson came to with the steer- ing wheel still beating him to death— only now it wasn’t a single crushing blow. His head was bouncing on the rim, the spokes jabbing at his nose and chin. He was half off the seat, sprawled on the floor, the wheel spinning loose. He could hear the engine roaring. He tried to pull himself up, got his eyes level with the windshield in time to see their lights fan out into the des- ert. He felt Ellen beside him, slumped in her corner of the seat. He tried to grab the wheel but as his hand closed on the rim, the car made a crazy, side- ward lurch, spun over. He had a flash impression of the headlights reflecting off something that looked like water. It was water. They were in it—a seething, bubbling splash. The car set- tled drunkenly on its side. Kelly realized he had fallen on top of Ellen. Just FIVE DETECTIVE NOVELS MAGAZINE before the water closed over him, he sucked all the air he could get into his lungs, doubled up, reaching below him for the girl. He got hold of her hair, unwedged her from where she was jammed be- tween the floorboard and the seat. Her body floated upright against him. He found the open window on the driver’s side of the car. Head and lungs pound- ing, he shoved Ellen’s body through the open window, let it drift out of his grasp. Then he came out. The water wasn’t deep—not more than a couple of feet to the surface, once he was clear of the car. It was warm and dark, moved sluggishly. As Kelly gulped air and began to flounder blindly, searching for Ellen, he got the picture —what had happened to them. , As soon as he’d set the hand brake, Tufts’ deputy had let him have it with the gun-barrel. Probably Ellen had re- ceived the same treatment. Then the deputy and Terry had got out of the car, let the hand brake off, put the car in gear and yanked the throttle, sending the car careening down the slope. It had left the road and piled into an irri- gation ditch. Kelly knew he had to find Ellen. Quick. He saw a small grayish patch moving on the surface of the water a short distance downstream, took out after it. It could’ve been anything. It wasn’t. THE ADVENTURES OF IT SMELLS GRAND oe SNIFF A WHIFF — IT SMELLS RIGHT JOLLY! IT PACKS RIGHT , : CUT TO PACK JUST RIGHT, BY GOLLY! CoOnnicoool.