5 Detective Novels Magazine Cover — page 37: what you’re looking at

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

DEATH ALL AROUND ME In my own little cubicle I pulled a let- ter basket toward me, laid the gun in the middle of it, and covered it with some old letters. I could grab it fast, shoot in a split second. I wondered what had be- come of Cora until my head started spin- ning. Then I turned selfish and thought about myself. I got no place there, either, so I did the next best thing. I went to work. Some mail had piled up. I typed form letters to people who owed money, filed the information sent me by those to whom they owed money. After the regu- lar business day started, I made a few phone calls, took care of more mail which came in later, and tried a dozen times to pene Cora. She certainly hadn’t gone ack to her apartment, and I was begin- ning to worry about her. By three in the afternoon, I knew I had to do something, so I just walked out of the building and proceeded to Police Headquarters. There I had a talk with Lieutenant Barr, who still thought I was nuts, but he listened to me, anyhow. T FOUR-THIRTY, I was back in the office and had made up my mind to finish this thing up tonight. I half ex- pected that at any moment I’d get a call telling me to lay off or Cora would turn up cold and dead. No such call came, so I decided to make one of my own. I phoned Sydney Ward’s office. If Galey had insisted on screening the call, I would have told him to go to hell and hung up, but I was put right through to Ward. He had a pleasant, cultured voice and betrayed not the slightest sur- prise at hearing from me. | I said, “Mr. Ward, I know yov’re giv- ing a big party at your home tonight. I intend to be there and I’d like you to ar- range things so I can get in.” “Why, I'll be delighted,” he said with a chuckle. “And let me commend you on the idea. You'll feel quite safe with all those important people around, won’t you?” “Safer than if I had only your gorillas for company. If there is any trouble, you'll start it and I’ll finish it. I won’t be swallowed up as Joan was.” “We have much to talk about, Craig,” he said. “I’ll expect you about nine-thir- ty. I can’t invite you to dinner, but we 37 might have a drink or two.” I hung up on him, made a thorough in- spection of the gun I’d lifted from Galey and stuck it in my side coat pocket. I killed the time until eight-thirty by drinking three strong cocktails very slowly and tamping them down with a thick steak. When I marched up the steps to the Ward town house, I was looking for trouble and welcoming it. One of the few butlers left in captivity let me in and handed my hat to a maid who disappeared with it. He asked me my name, didn’t bat an eyelash and led me into a large and imposing living room. He spoke to a man in a tuxedo, and pretty soon a chunky, important-looking man with steel-gray hair and a closely cropped gray mustache, came my way. He stuck out a short, powerful arm, took my hand and squeezed it to a nice degree of numbness. “Nice of you to come,” Sydney Ward said, as if I were the financial officer of an international bank. “We should have got together long ago.” I said, “You’re a lousy no-good, Ward, and if you get that into your understand- ing right now, we’ll get along better.” The room was crowded with impor- tant men and jeweled and perfumed women. Two or three different lan- guages were being spoken, but when I talked to Ward, I had one of my own. “I’m staying right here, where all these people are, and I’m leaving when they do. We can have our talk, but it won’t be a private one, because I don’t like the idea of a knife in the back.” Ward’s smile never changed. “You came about some sort of a deal, natural- ly. I’m quite ready to listen if you have anything to offer.” I said, “I killed a man, and you ar- ranged things so it looked as if Joan were guilty instead of me. For that I might be expected to thank you, but I won’t. Joan is an immoral lush without a damned thing to offer, but whatever she is, I think you’re the cause of it. I want Joan. I’ll settle for nothing less.” Ward said, “I wonder if you really think you can get out of here, Craig?” “T’d bet on it.” “You’d lose,” he said. “The moment you appeared, more than twenty men saw you and all of them have orders that MICLOOKS (C(O) (C(O)