Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, December 1956 — page 129: what you’re looking at

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

to handle. They. could ride along behind to’ keep tab, but they didn’t want to be caught with it. That left- a reasonable doubt on the blonde. If they didn’t want -to bring it to L. A. she probably wouldn’t want to either. Maybe she wasn’t all the way in. I wanted to believe that. I'd been so sure about that spark between us. So sure. And when I pulled myself up into the cab, before roll- ing out of Mojave with our escort, I looked long and _ steadily into Maggie’s face. I still wanted to believe she was- n’t really selling me out. For another seventy-five miles tried to smile in the right places, and it must have been fairly suc cessful because Maggie didn’t seem to know I'd caught wise. I kept hoping it was the other way, that she knew less about things than I did—but in San Fernando we came to the payoff. “Mind stopping. for a minute, Matt? Id like to pick up some as- pirin. Pll find a phone book at the same time and call my sister to tell her I’m in town. All right?” “Sure.” I said it with a grin, but I was going to watch this one closer than a load-limit inspector checking the ‘scales under your wheel. I found a double-parking slot and worked the truck over to the curb. 2° “Be just a sec,” she called gayly. There was a small drugstore right by the truck and she went in, _ RETURN TRIP then came out before she had had a chance to more than take a quick look around. “They don’t have an L. A. direc- tory, Matt. I'll have to run back and try another store.” I nodded. As soon as she started up the street I hunched over on my side and put my face as close as I could to the big mirror. That ex- panded the field of view. It’ was like looking out the window, only my head wasn’t sticking out of the cab. The blonde hurried along. About a block back, she hesitated for a careful look around. It looked like she nodded, but I wasn’t sure, before she turned into a store. A bit farther om a car door opened toward the curb. A man in tweeds slipped across the walk and followed Maggie into the shop. | The glow ofa streetlight caught him long enough to remove any doubt .. . the blonde was getting together ‘with Jake Wirth’s boy Joe. Drumming my fingers on the steering wheel, I waited for her to come back, waited and chewed-on - the latest development. One thing for sure—nothing was sacred now. Anything I could do to upset the speed of this cannonball was fair enough. I felt behind me for. her suitcase, but the lock didn’t open. I'd need a key and Maggie never parted with her purse. But I had to know what I was carrying. There'd have to be a way to get Maggie out, and still have the purse left in. I worked on that. Then I 127 COMMICLOOOKS.€©