ALFRED HITCHCOCK's Mystery Magazine

MYSTERY MAGAZINE RETAILERS: SEE PAGE 127 FOR RETAIL DISPLAY ALLOWANCE PLAN LS 'ted byhe master of SUSP ^*^ Richard E. Decker, Publisher Giadys Foster Decker, Editoriai Director Ernest M. Hutter, Editor Patricia Hitchcock Associate Editor Frances E. Gass Associate Editor Nick J. Sartorlo Circulation Director Marguerite Blair Deacon, Art Director LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED VOLUME 18, NO. 1 JANUARY 1973 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S mystery magazine CONTENTS NOVELETTE SADIE WHEN SHE DIED by Ed McBain 128 SHORT STORIES THE WEB by Bill Pronzini 2 WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, ROSS Ivy? by Pauline C. Smith 20 A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT SANTA by Stephen Wasylyk , 34 THE EVERLASTING JUG by Stanley I. Cohen 43 LEOPOLD ON EDGE by Edward D. Hoch... 48 WEAK IN THE HEAD by James Holding 60 AN EASY SCORE by Al Nussbaum 74 THE ARTICHOKE FACTOR by Virginia Long 78. RESTORED EVIDENCE by Patrick O'Keeffe 90 THE NICE YOUNG MAN by Richard O. Lewis 103 ROUGH ON RATS by Bryce Walton 110 THE LIVER FEAST by E. Crandall 122 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE Vol^l?' N" L Jan. im Smgle copies 75 cents, subscription $9.00 for one year in the United States and Possessions; else where $10.00 (in U.S. funds) for one year. Pubhshed monthly by H. S. D. Publications. Inc., 784 U.S. 1, Suite 6. North Palm Beach, Fla. 33408. Copyright H. S. D. Publications, Inc., 1972. All rights reserved. Protection secured under the Inter national and Pan-American copyright convention. Title registered U.S. Pat. Office, Reproduction or use without express per mission of editorial or pictorial content in any manner is prohibited. Postage must accompany manuscripts if return is de sired but no responsibility will be assumed for unsolicited material. Manuscripts and changes of address should be sent to Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. 784 U.S. 1, Suite 6, North Palm Beach, Fla. 33408. No similarity between any of the names, characters, persons and/or institutions appearing in this magazine and those of any living or dead person or in stitution is intenilea and any similarity which may exist is purely coincidental. Printed in the U.S.A. LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED Ah, yes, and many a tangled web hath enmeshed an unwary vic tim,. fixed with the numerals 629. The dwelling itself was small, peak- roofed, with a wood-studded fa cade. Carmody pushed open- the gate and followed a leaf-strewn path to the front door. He lifted the knocker and let it drop, then stood with his shoulders hunched inside the heavy wool topcoat he wore, listening to the wind—a taut, hun gry-looking man with green eyes, skin like leather, and a mane of graying-black hair. In his right hand he carried a large attache case; his Beretta was in its usual place, in the belt half-holster at his left side. In Vienna for less than four hours, he expected to remain there only umtil the following morning. He had other business to be handled elsewhere. Vienna's reputation as a city of intrigue and mystery—due to THE HOUSE was located in one of its close proximity to Hungary and Vienna's quieter residential neigh Czechoslovakia, and due to Harry borhoods. Stark beeeh trees, like Lime, The Third Man—was purely a gray bones stripped of flesh by the fictional one; it was in reality a chill winter wind, lined the dark quiet, picturesque city steeped in street on both sides; a huge willow historical tradition and the arts. A grew wearily in the yard fronting man in Carmody's line of work the house, just beyond the gate af would have found himself starving ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED if he had centered his operations in "But of course. As soon as I ex Vienna. amine the transmitter." There were footsteps inside the "All right, then." Carmody house, the door opened and a Nor handed him the attache case, let dic-looking type smiled out at him. ting his right hand hover near his Anton Vamdal; Bruckner had de belt, but Vamdal's eyes, bright with scribed him clearly enough: sharp expectancy, were fixed on the case. blue eyes, brushed blond hair, He took it to a table near the win squared chin with a cleft. dow, opened it, and lifted its con Carmody asked, "Are you tents out circumspectly. Vamdal?" The radio transmitter was small, "I am." Good English, carefully portable, and battery-operated. It eniuiciated. "Herr Carmody?" was also delicately constructed to "That's right. Invite me in, put out a certain signal of ultra Varndal; it's damned cold put high frequency and strength, with here." variation of no more than a plus or ' "But of course." minus .03. A transmitter of that Vamdal stood aside and Car type was not easy to obtain, espe mody went into a short hallway, cially when you didn't want its ori transferred the attache case to his gin traced—and when you had a use left hand, and unbuttoned both his for it that was at best extralegal. So topcoat and his suit jacket with his you went to a man like Carmody, right, so that he would have easy who had connections in every coim- access to the Beretta if he needed try in Europe and most of those in it; he was a cautious man. Varndal the free world, and could supply shut the door and led him down the anything if the price were right and hall and through a doorway into a ; the item could conceivably be lo parlor filled with heavy furniture cated or manufactured. and an antique rug on the floor. He was also a free-lance body Turning, Vamdal asked, "Have guard; a man who could arrange you brought the transmitter?" safe passage from one country to "I brought it." another; a go-between for deals in "Show it to. me, please." volving almost everything except "You still owe me eight thou drugs and white slavery. Most im sand." portantly, perhaps, he was com- H V^vv^^yv\Jc-- THE WEB LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED pletely trustworthy, completely re Vamdal put the transmitter back liable, possessing a reputation in the case, left the case on the which was unequaled and which table,.and came over to where Car brought him a considerable amount mody stood watching' him. "You of business in one.capacity or an will come vwth me to-the study?" other. "Is that where you've got the The business that Anton Vamdal money?" had brought him, through Car- "Yes/' mody's Viennese contact, Josef "Go ahead, then." Bruckner, was the radio trans Vamdal smiled, crossed to the mitter. Vamdal had wanted it by parlor door and went through it tomorrow's date. Carmody had no into the hall. Carmody followed real interest in why Vamdal wanted him down the hall to another door the transmitter; he was only inter at the far end. Opening it, Vamdal ested in how much Vamdal would stood aside; but Carmody said, pay for it. He'd quoted ten thou "You first." sand through Bmckner, Vamdal Shrugging, Vamdal crossed the had agreed, and once Vamdal had threshold and touched a wall paid two thousand faith money and switch. Light flooded the room, and supplied the specifications for the •Carmody, following, saw that it was transmitter, Carmody had gotten it a storage pantry, cluttered with for him—for slightly less than two odds and ends. He pulled up short, thousand. His profit would seem to his hand clutching at the butt of the be four hundred percent, but there Beretta, but Vamdal whirled with was Bmckner's cut to come out of almost feline agility and hit him just that, and expenses, and time con above the left ear with a twelve- sumption. Ten thousand was, in ac inch metal bar he'd had concealed tuality, a fair black market price. under his sports jacket. Carmody said, "Satisfied, Vam- Blinding fragments of pain; sud ' dal?" den impact with the floor; himi- "Most satisfied. This is of • ex ming in Carmody's ears like the cellent quality." sound of a high-speed drill; the door "What did you expect?" slammed—then nothing. "Precisely what you-have deliv- 0 ered." ' Carmody came out of it, rolled 'Tes? Then you can -^pay me over, and sat up with his head hang now." ing between his knees. The butt of "Ah, certainly, Herr Carmody.". the Beretta, still tucked into the LICENSEDALFRE DTO HITCHCOCK' UNZ.ORGS MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED THE WEB LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED belt holster, dug sharply into his rented car and burned rubber pull-' side., His stomach felt queasy, and ing away from the curb, his body there were two jagged lines of pain, hunched forward with tautly-con- like parallel lightning arcs, running trolled fury and his big, corded upward frorri his neck to the top of hands like white claws on the steer his skull.. He wondered if he had a' ing wheel. concussion. It took him the better part of a He gingerly touched the place half hour to get to the village of where Varndal had hit him, and Grinzing, just outside the city limits found a pulpy area beneath the mat of Vienna. The village was well of hair which grew thickly over his knovioi for its wine irms which fea ears; the hair had. cushioned the tured locally grown whites and blow.

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