5 Detective Novels Magazine Cover — page 112: what you’re looking at

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

112 The sheriff was a practical fellow. He ended by figuring there was no use doing anything until he’d seen the D.A. That was his general method, anyhow—doing nothing and letting Castro and O’Toole and the fingerprint man handle the job. When I finally headed for town, I was wondering how I stood on this business of plugging Hale. I didn’t like Borda’s face. He probably couldn’t twist the story enough to keep me in a jam but he might get me into one for a while. It might be enough to get me indicted, say, or jugged until the D.A. got wise. Why should Borda try that? Well, I was pretty sure he’d killed Ryerson. He wanted me discredited as a witness, which would leave him and his story the main prop of the case. That way, he’d not only be free of supicion but he’d have a chance to find Valeria del Rio and the bundle of dough. One thing was lucky. He couldn’t change his story to make me the guy who had brained Ryerson. But dis- crediting me—you know what happens to a guy and his testimony, once he’s been under suspicion—would be a worth- while move. * Like I said, I was sure that between Borda and Lake, Borda was the one who had cooled Ryerson. : But that would take lots of proving. At first, Borda didn’t know I was locked in a closet, so he was fussed up. Once he learned where I’d been, he got real bright and cheery, and a gent who’s lost sixty grand hasn’t any business cheering up. iE WAS lucky that my pal at the agency went to bat for me. He knew the right people. The sheriff softened a bit, and I ended up at the little hotel near Fort Marion, overlooking the Bridge of Lions and Vilano Beach and the breakwater. There was a radio in the room. I turned it on, being tired but not sleepy. The air was crowded with police ealls. They wanted the highway patrols to look for a green convertible, with a black-haired dame, supposed to be heading for Georgia. Any other way out of Florida would take too long. Someone would pick her up. I wondered if she’d be foxy enough to take that risk and beat it, just by doing the unreasonable thing. FIVE DETECTIVE NOVELS MAGAZINE I was beginning to nod when my phone rang. It was Valeria, all breathless! “You’re not mad at me, are you?” she asked. “T ought to be after that rotten trick,” I grumbled. She laughed. “If ’d known—if Uncle George had known—who you _ were, everything would have been different. I listened to the news flashes.” “Say, where are you?” Z “A couple of blocks away.” She gave me the name of the place. “Why should I run out? As soon as I had time to think it over, I called on the police and turned over the briefcase. Evidence, you know.” “But the highway patrols are looking for you!” “They were,” she corrected. “You’re way behind the times, and so is the radio. I want you to help me clear Uncle George. ” Getting George Lake out of that jam began to sound already like a tough job. According to the news dispatches on the air, his fingerprints were the only ones on the blunt instrument. “Lady, am I a magician?” I said to Valeria. “It’ll cost you plenty, so why pick on me?” “You were there. You saw them ail, just before it happened. I don’t care what it costs. Come over right away, won’t you?” What else could I do? Among other things, I needed dough badly, and some- one had made a monkey of me by knock- ing off my client. In a way, though, I didn’t want the case. Supposing I ended by proving that George Lake had cooled Ryerson? But I went over to see her. I wanted to, anyhow. Valeria’s hotel wasn’t far from Bay Street. There was no lounge private enough, so I planted myself in a deep chair in her room. She put up a brave front, but her eyes were desperate. They got under my skin. “What’s the score?” I led off. “Now that you know who I am, tell me.” “Ryerson was my uncle’s law partner, back in Tulsa. He embezzled all the securities from my mother’s estate. You see, Uncle George was executor without bond. He hadn’t got permission from the administrator to turn the securities over to me—about a hundred and ten thou- ECoOMmicloo S (C(O)