A. Merritt's Fantasy Magazine, April 1950 — page 31: what you’re looking at

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

THE NINTH LIFE 31 I accused her of anything. Besides, it was acting on information received—from two entirely independent sources.” “That’s his locker room, sir.” Parkoot pointed at a door along the corridor. “D’you want me to stay?” “T think not, Parkoot,’”’ Crampton an- swered, and smiled slightly. “You might kill him, if we didn’t hold you back.” “Then Til go along and ring up the agency to send a man in at once to re- place him,” Parkoot said, and entered his own quarters, closing his door gently. Crampton pointed at a half-glazed door at the end of the corridor. “That’s the only other way the kid could have got out,” he said. “Been taken out, rather, for you can see he couldn't have opened that door himself—couldn’t have reached up to that Yale knob to turn the latch,”’ “How did the child get into this cor- ridor?” Gees asked. “Mrs. Parkoot left her door open so he could play about in it—he couldn’t come to any harm,’’ Crampton explained, and somehow that door at the top of the stairs, leading to the entrance hall, hap- pened to be left ajar. But how he got out of that hall—”’ Gees almost said, thought better of it. They waited, and finally Vincent, sullen and tight-lipped, appeared in street clothes. “We want a word or two with you, Vincent,” Crampton said. “Oh, do you? Well, for a start, | want you to arrest Parkoot for assault. And I’m goin’ to get damages out of him, too.’ “Quite a good idea,” Gees cooed softly. “Qh, quite a good idea! And don’t forget to call that girl in his lordship’s flat as _ evidence.” “So she spilt, did she, the—”’ “Stow it!’ Gees barked. “What time was it when you left the hall to go up to that flat yesterday afternoon?” “Whatever she told you,” Vincent mumbled, “I was in the hall till over a quarter past three, and I was down again by four o’clock.” ~ Contradicting each other already, you see,” Gees observed. “I don’t care what she told you!” Vin- _ cent almost shouted. “I'll take oath on “He didn’t,” but it—I wasn’t away more’n forty minutes at the outside.” “Three fifteen to four o’clock, call it,” Crampton commented. “The period in which the child disappeared.” “Nobody asked me to keep an eye on the kid,” Vincent said sullenly. | “Many people in and out during the afternoon, as a rule?’ Gees asked him. “Hardly anyone, between three and five,’’ he answered. “Did you stay in the entrance hall all the rest of the time yesterday?” “Yes, I did, except when [ give Miss Kefra’s man a hand with her trunks, be- cause he was takin’ ’em down to her car, so’s to be there to meet her today. An’ goin’ outside to get taxis for people. Her, for one, when she went out to din- ner, “Did you leave the hall to help with the trunks before or after getting a taxi for Miss Kefra?”’ “Before—no, it was after, a good quar- ter an hour after. Why—what’s that got to do with it? The kid wasn’t in the trunks—the police was lookin’ for ’im, by. that time. After eight, it was.” “Now what gave you the idea of con- necting the child with the trunks, I won- der?”’ Gees mused. “T didn’t do nuthin’ o’ the sort!” Vin- cent protested indignantly. “TI said he wasnt in the trunks, that’s all. I seen Miss Kefra pick that kid up an’ kiss him, one day when the door was left on the jar before an’ he happened to stray up into the hall when she was comin’ down in the lift, an’ that old dofferer of a man of hers couldn’t swat a fly if he tried. An’ the kid was snatched away out of here.” “Yes, snatched away out of here,” Gees mused aloud again. “I expect you'll see the suitcase at the inquest, and be able to tell if it went out of here yesterday while you were in the hall.” “No suitcase of any sort went out!” Vincent protested. “An’ that kid was snatched out alive, not took out dead in a case. Kidnappers, that’s what it was.” They left the man to himself and ascended to the empty entrance hall. There Gees paused. “Do you happen to have any list of the people here?” he asked. Crampton felt in his breast pocket and | ~~ (cong ebooks.com EYE