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. There was no blood. He got reds, and had an old-world atmo­ onto his knees, then onto his feet, sphere that attracted the tourists in and leaned against the wall xintil droves. the nausea in his stomach went Carmody parked and went up to away. Then he reached for the the grape-arbored building, and en­ door, found the knob, and went out tered. It was too early in the eve­ into the hallway. There was light ning for much of a crowd, but bet­ there, and he could see the dial of ter than a third of the high-backed his wristwatch: eight-twenty. He wooden booths were filled. Two had been unconscious a little more heavyset, smiling men, dressed" in than an hour. native costumes, were playing The lines of pain inside his head gypsy music on an accordion and a glowed hotly as he moved down the violin. Ordinarily, even a man like hallway, pullirig open other doors, Carmody, who possessed no real looking inside, finding nothing that appreciation of music, could enjoy told him anything; all the other the verve and relish of the gypsy in- downstairs rooms were empty. Car- strumentals, but he didn't even hear mbdy climbed the,stairs to the sec­ it now. The pain lines were"still ond floor and looked into the first sharp and hot inside'his skull. two rooms at the. top of the landing. Bruckner was sitting with a Heavy white dust covers lay .like blonde who' looked like something shrouds over the furnishings.'. out of a Wagnerian opera, in a cor­ . He went back dowTistairs and out ner booth at the rear of the room. of the house, leaving the front door They were drinking wine and toast­ standing wide. The night wind was ing one another with their glasses colder, sharper. He got into his and their eyes.

6 LICENSEDALFRE TOD HITCHCOCK' UNZ.ORGS MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED Carmody went to their booth and "Any ideas?" Carmody asked. said to Bruckner, "Get rid of the "No, none." woman. We've got talking to do." "Where does Vamdal live?" Bruckner, thin and bony, with "The house where you went to ys^ildly unruly brown hair and a meet him—?" thick, incongruous moustache, saidi • "Vacant," Carmody said. "No­ "Something is the matter, Herr body lives there now. There are Carmody?" cloth coverings over everything on" 'Teah. Get rid of her, Bruckner." the upper floor. He must have "As you wish." Bruckner patted taken the coverings off downstairs the blonde's thick arm and said to make it look hke he was living something in German that Car­ there." mody did not understand. The "Then whose house is it?" blonde blushed like a maiden, gave "Good question. Vamdal had Carmody a hostile look, got pon­ keys to it, that's plain enough. Lis­ derously out of the booth and wob­ ten, if you don't know where he bled away across the roorri. lives, how did you get in touch with Carmody sat down. "Your boy him?" Vamdal gave me a hunk of metal "I left messages with Anya behind the ear instead of the rest of Berg," Bmckner said. "Varndal al­ the money," he said. "Won't like to ways spoke with me here." be double-crossed, Bruckner. I "Who would Anya Berg be?" don't like it one damned bit." "The proprietress of a certain Bruckiier looked shocked. "But— shop near the Danube, where one but why? Why would he do such a can buy information as well as cu­ thing?" rios." "You tell me," Carmody said. "Yes? And just where does she fit "According to. you, he was all into this?" right." "It was she who gave Varndal my "So it seemed to me, Herr Car­ name—and yours." mody. I spoke at length with him _ "Did you check her out on three times before I agreed to call Vamdal?" you. He was most willing to coop­ "Yes," Bmckner said. "She said erate." he had been referred to her by a "Sure he was. Did he tell you. friend." what he wanted the transmitter "What friend?" for?" . "I saw no reason to ask her," "He offered no information." Bruckner said defensively. "She is' a THE WEB LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED personal acquaintance of long "What's the house address?" standing—" Bruckner told him. "What will "You're thorough," aren't you,- you do when you see her?" Bruckner?" "Ask her some questions." "Herr Carmody, I^" "She is not responsible for "Do you know, how to get in Vamdal." touch with Anya Berg this time of "Let's hope not," Carmody said. night?" "You, Bruckner, go to your apart­ "Yes." ment. I might need you again "Go and call her then. Will she tonight, and I want to know where answer the phone herself if she's to find you." home?" • "As you wish, Herr Carmody." 'Tes. She lives alone." Carmody went out, got into the "If she answers, don't say any­ car and consulted the city map in thing to her. Just hang up. All I the glove cornpartment. He left the want to know is whether or not map open on the seat beside him she's home.r and put the car in gear. Bruckner met Carmody's eyes, but what he saw there made him Carmody said, "Anya Berg?" drop his gaze immediately. He slid The woman standing in the door­ out of the booth and hurried across way of the house was in her thirties. a corridor to the public telephone. She had very fine, brownish-gold Carmody lit a thin, short, black ci­ hair and the firmly ripe body of a gar as he. waited. He had to find An­ teen-ager. A short purple dress, ton Vamdal. If he didn't find with a ruffled collar and sleeves, Vamdal, if he didn't get the rest of gave her a soft, innocent look that his money, word would leak out her mouth and eyes belied. She. eventually about the way Carmody said, "Yes?" had been knocked over—arid others "I'm Carmody. Shall we talk in­ would try it. In order to operate side?" with minimum pressure, Carmody Anya studied him for a moment, had to maintain his reputation; and shrugged, and led him into a small in order to maintain his reputation, sitting room. he had to find VamdaL "Would you be the one who tele­ Bruckner came back and sat phoned twenty minutes ago and dovwi, mopping sweat from his hung up without speaking?" she forehead with a silk handkerchief. asked. "She is home," he said. "That was Bruckner."

8 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED She heard and correctly inter­ preted the anger and tension in his voice. "Very well. His name is Die­ trich, Viktor Dietrich." "What's his connection with Vamdal?" "Viktor once handled a transac­ tion for him." "What kind of transaction?" "The sale of some small prop­ erty." 'Tes?" Carmody said. "This Die­ trich wouldn't be a realty agent, would he?" "He would, yes." "Fine. /Where do I find him?" "I like Viktor," Anya said. "You- intend him no harm, do you?" "Poor Josef," she said. "His head "Not if he's cooperative." is filled with fat women and wine. She gave him the street and num­ Why are you interested in me, Herr ber. Carmody?" . Carmody said, 'Tou won't call "Bruckner tells me you sent him him after I leave, will you? I Anton Varndal. Tell me about wouldn't like it very much if I have Vamdal." trouble finding him." "What do you want to know?" Anya smiled. "I have the feeling "Where he lives, to start with." you trust no one." "I have no idea." "I've got good cause," Carmody "How do you know him; then?" said. , "I don't, actually. He was sent to "I won't call him." me by a mutual friend." "So Bruckner tells me. What's A sleek black sedan waJs just pull­ this friend's name?" ing into Viktor Dietrich's driveway "Why do you wish, the informa­ from the, opposite direction when tion?" Carmody drove past. He parked "Vamdal owes me some money," four doors down from the Swiss- Carmody said. "I intend to collect style house, got out, and ran across it. Who's the friend?" the street, into the shadows cast by

THE WEB LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED a thick-branched willow growing tions," Carmody said. "Just be co­ on a neighboring lawn. His head operative. That's all you have to ached malignantly as he jumped do." over a small boundary fence, the "I—I'll do whatever you say." Beretta-in his hand now, and "Fine. When was the last time stepped into the' darkness of Die­ you saw Varndal?" trich's garage. "Last evening. Around nine." The driver had just shut the car "Where?" door when Carmody appeared. The "Here. He came to see me." man stopped, and said in German, "Why?" "Who is it? Who's there?" "He wanted me to do him a fa­ "Viktor Dietrich?" vor." ''Yes. What is it?" "What kind of favor? Loan him Carmody moved deeper into the the keys to a vacant house, garage, imtil he was a few steps maybe?" from Dietrich; he kept his face in Surprise replaced the fear in Die; shadow. "I'm looking for Anton trich's voice. "Yes. How did you Varndal. I understand you're a know?" friend of his." "I'm the reason he wanted.the "I know him, yes," Dietrich said, vacant house," Carrhody said in English now. "Who are you?" thinly. "Did Varndal tell you about "Also a friend of Varndal's," Car­ that?" mody told hirii. "I'm trying to find "No, he told me nothing." him." "How come you let him have the "Have you tried his home?" house, then?" "I don't know the address. "I . . . we are friends." Where does he live?" "Sure you are," Carmody said. "Are you sure you are a friend of "How much did he give you?" Varndal's? Let's go out into the Dietrich hesitated, and then he light-'^ „ • seemed to remember the gun in "Let's stay right here," Carmody 'Carmody's hand. "A thousand said. He moved forward again and schillings," he said. let Dietrich see the gun. "Did Varndal tell you why he Dietrich went as rigid as stone. wanted to see Anya Berg?" There was fear in his voice when he . "Anya^^Berg? Do you know said, "What do you want with me? Anya?" - What are you going to do?" "Not yet. Answer my question." "Nothing, if you answer my ques­ "I didn't even know Varndal had

10 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED seen her xintil she told me about it," of the garage he could hear Die­ Dietrich said. "I gave him her trich breathing noisily in the dark­ name, yes, but I did not introduce ness. He jumped the boundary him to her. He used my name with­ fence, crossed under the willow, out my permission." and slid into the car again. "I'll bet you were upset about that," Carmody said. "Any idea as Carmody rang the bell four times . to why Vamdal would want a por­ with one of his gloved fingers and table radio transmitter of special listened to chimes echo emptily strength and frequency?" - through the darkened, flaking brick "Radio transmitter? No. No, I house at number twenty Kiirzgasse. have no idea." Then he picked the flimsy lock, "I hope you're not lying to me, stepped inside, shut the door behind Dietrich." ' him, and took the pencil flashlight "I'm not lying. Why would I from the pocket of his he?" topcoat. "I don't know at this point. All He followed the beam through right, where does Vamdal live?" the dwelling's five rooms, opening "On Ktirzgasse, in Volksprater. drawers and closets and cabinets. Number twenty." The quick but thorough search told "Private house?" him Vamdal had packed all his im­ "Yes. It is a mixed neighbor­ portant belongings and taken them hood." away with him. Carmody wondered "Mixed?" if he were following an ice-cold "Business establishments and pri­ trail. Vamdal had had more than vate residences." enough time to make plane or train "If Vamdal isn't there, where connections out of Vieima, but Car­ would I look for him?" mody had to continue gambling "I don't know." that the use to which Vamdal in­ "I thought you were friends." tended to put the radio transmitter "Not exactly. Not socially." was one centered in the Vieima "You don't know any of his area. It was likely then, since friends, then? Or where he hangs Vamdal had cleared out of his out?" house, that he intended to use the "No. No, I do not." transmitter tonight—and then to "Like I say, Dietrich, I hope leave as soon as he'd accomplished you're not lying to me." Carmody whatever purpose he had in mind. backed away, and as he slipped out Carmody's only chance was to find

THE WEB LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 11 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED him before he was able to leave The something was a himian, Vienna, leave Austria altogether. shoe-encased foot. Carmody located a door at one Carmody went to the work­ end of the kitchen, opened it; the' bench, caught up the small hand flash revealed a set of stairs leading trowel he had seen there, and took downward. He fumbled along the it to where he had found the foot. wall inside, encountered a light He knelt on a bundle of newspapers switch, and flicked it on, closing the and began digging. It took him only door behind him as he started dovvTi a few minutes to imcover the body the stairs. in the soft earth, to determine in The cellar was small and the flash beam that it had once been cramped, and smelled of dampness a man. The state of decomposition, and mold ... and something else and the fact that part of the grave that he could not immediately de­ had been uncovered by erosion, ex­ fine, .something sour . and mal- plained the noxious smell in the cel­ odorous.: The floor was earthen, lar's confines. muddy and trenched along the Distastefully, Carmody searched bases of the stone walls from water the corpse and came .up with a sod­ seepage and erosion during the den, decaying wallet. He opened it, heavy winter rains. Carmody put the light on the contents. Most. prowled among cartons of mis­ of the papers inside had dissolved, cellany, examined the tools and bot­ but some of the cards were pro­ tles and jars on a narrow work­ tected by celluloid wrappers; he bench attached to the wall. He could see that one was an identi­ found nothing. fication card, one a union card, and He turned then, took a few steps he knew enough German to be able toward the rear wall, and the odd, to translate the information con­ sour odor seemed stronger and tained in them. more pervasive. Carmody took a The dead man's name was Karl deep-breath of it, and the hair on Heinz. He was an electrician, and the back of his neck prickled; he his business address was listed as 22 knew what it was now; He moved Kiirzgasse, the building next door to toward the area where it was Vamdal's house. strongest, and shone his flash care­ Carmody stood up. He remem­ fully along the muddied depressions bered, seeing the building, a dark, at the base of the wall. The light plaster-over-brick structure; when picked up something, and he ' he'd arrived; but he had paid little stepped closer. attention to it at that time. Things

12 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED were beginning to make a certain various-gauge wire, lengths of con­ degree of sense now, but he still duit, a multitude of tools and other needed the motive for Heinz' electrical necessities— and to point death—the definite lead to Vamdal. out two closed doors. The one in Quickly, Carmody went up the the facing wall would open on the stairs, shut off the cellar light, and showroom and customer entrance; .crossed through the kitchen to the the one in the right-hand wall rear door of the house. Several would probably open on a private stunted fir trees grew in the back office. It was the office Carmody yard, and the blackness vy^as thick wanted. a^id wet with heavy winter mist. He He crossed the stone floor of the went to where a mesh-type fence workshop and tried the knob. It separated the cluttered and circum­ turned under his fingers. An ofiice, scribed rear grounds of the electri­ all right; small, too neat, as if it had cal shop belonging to Karl Heinz. been straightened recently—prob­ There were strands of barbed wire ably by relatives of Karl Heinz in across'the top of the fence, but it the weeks since the electrician's ob­ looked scalable. viously mysterious disappearance.- Garmody glanced along the side Three sets of filing cabinets huddled of the house and saw that Kiirzgasse opposite a functional metal desk; was deserted: Then he cUmbed the apparently Heinz had done a fairly fence effortlessly, used his gloved brisk business. hands to bunch and depress the , Carmody put the light on the strands of barbed wire so that he cabinets and saw that they were ar­ could get his legs over, and dropped ranged according to date rather down on the other side. As soon as than alphabetically. That would his feet touched the asphalt paving, make checking considerably easier. he was moving through the pockets He found the most recent file, dated of darkness to the rear door of-the the month of Heinz' disappearance, electrical shop. and went through the papers me­ It took Carmody less than two thodically. There was nothing for minutes to pick the old-fashioned him to find. If there were anything lock. He slipped inside, closed the important in here, he thought, door carefully behind him, and got Vamdal would have destroyed it af­ out the pencil flash. The finger of ter he killed Heinz. light probed the interior long He slid the file closed, and then enough for him to determine that went to the desk. There were pa­ this was the workshop—spools of pers arranged in two wire baskets

THE WEB LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 13 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED on its top. He went through one, map and found the street address he found nothing, and started on the had memorized from Amerling's second. A three-page statement, letter; it was a semiprivate road on with a typed letter signed by some­ the outskirts of Vienna, to the one named Gunter Amerling northwest. stapled to it, caught and held his at­ As he drove, his foot heavy on tention. The first paragraph of the the accelerator and his head aching letter, under a printed letterhead, more with tension now than pain said that Amerling was enclosing a from Vamdal's blow, Carmody ar­ check in payment of the statement. ranged in hiS mind the facts as he Carmody read the remainder of thought them to be. The job Karl the letter and glanced through the Heinz had done for Gunter Amer­ statement, and there it was—the an­ ling was the installation of a large,, swer. The letter and the check thick-steel safe, the type which had would have been received here af­ no combination dial, which in fact ter Heinz' murder, by whoever was was nothing more than a steel box handling Heinz' affairs; Vamdal with no visible means of entrance. hadn't known about it, which ex­ The safe was opened by a crystal- plained why he hadn't destroyed it controlled radio transmitter of ul­ as he had the other records dealing trahigh and very strong and steady with the Amerling job. frequency—manufactured by Carmody looked at his watch: Heinz—which activated an unlock­ ten minutes to eleven. There might ing device built into the steel door; still be time; Vamdal wouldn't put if someone tried to open it with an the transmitter to use until well easily-obtained variable-frequency into the evening, because even if transmitter, or tried to blow it or Amerling and Amerling's family torch it open, alarms would be set were not at home there might be off immediately both inside the servants or neighbors. house and at the local police sta­ Leaving the office, Carmody en­ tion. It was all very modem and tered the showroom at the front of very foolproof—but it did not, could the store and peered cautiously not, take into consideration the un­ through drawn Venetian blinds. foreseen factor. Kiirzgasse was still deserted. He . Anton Vamdal was that unfore­ worked on-the lock, got the door seen factor. open, eased out, and hurried to Living next door to Heinz' elec­ where he had left the car. By the trical shop, perhaps a drinking hght of his flash, he read the city companion if not a friend of Heinz', 14 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED Vamdal had somehow found out remains; the police investigating about the job the electrician had Heinz' disappearance would have done for Gunter AmerUng; and no reason to suspect that Heinz had with that knowledge, he had de­ been murdered by his neighbor, vised a scheme to steal whatever it that Heinz' body was in the cellar was that Amerling had inside his of the house next door. safe—something undoubtedly of Then Varndal had found out great value. The plan was sim­ from Dietrich about Anya Berg, plicity itself; all that was necessary and from Anya about Josef Bruck­ was the acquisition of a small, por­ ner and Carmody. Since he lived in table transmitter of the same fre­ a low-rent area such as this one, he quency and strength as the unit would likely have had ,very little \yhich operated Amerling's safe- money; but he had scratched to­ putting out a signal without a varia­ gether the two thousand down pay­ tion of more thaii plus'dr minus .03 ment so that Carmody would get so as not to set off the alarms. the transmitter for him—and get it Vamdal must have approached by tlie specified date. The time ele­ Heinz with his idea, since he ment, to Carmody, meant that needed, someone to manufacture Amerling was probably out of the portable transmitter; he would town, that his house was relatively have had no access to one himself,_ imguarded—Amerling having faith except that one which belonged to in his "foolproof" safe. Amerling's Amerling. He could have braced^ absence would make the robbery Amerling, but that would have that much simpler for Vamdal. meant revealing himself and thus When Carmody delivered the running the risk of possible com­ transmitter, Varndal had clubbed plications; also, he couldn't be sure him for the simple reason that he he could force Amerling to reveal did not have the balance of eight the transmitter's whereabouts. The thousand dollars. It was something other way was so much simpler—or of a desperate move on Varndal's so Vamdal thought. part; he might have tried to talk Heinz had balked at Vamdal's Carmody into waiting a few days or suggestion, perhaps had threatened weeks for his money, but he had to go to the police or to Gunter taken the amateur's way out; all or Amerliiig; Vamdal had killed him nothing, with.no thought to reper­ to keep him quiet, burying the body cussions or careful execution of his in his own cellar. It was, actually, plan. the perfect place to dispose of the It was eleven-thirty when Car- THE WEB LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 15 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED mody reached the semiprivate road ture with a newly renovated exte­ along which Gunter Amerling rior. It was shrouded in mist, com­ lived. The area was a moneyed one, pletely dark as far as he was able to with high-walled estates at stag­ tell. To his left, Carmody saw the gered intervals along the twisting, private access lane which led from birch-lined lane. The famed Vieima the front gate to the house; halfway Woods stretched upward into float­ along it, set back into the trees on ing gray mist directly ahead, and that side, was a bungalow which the road climbed gradually toward imdoubtedly belonged to the care­ the.deciduous and pine forests. The taker or watchman. A light biu-ned pines were higher up, along the in its front window, dimly. Every­ crests of the hills; at this level, birch thing seemed quiet, normal. and beech and oak, branches strip­ The chance was good that ped bare, rose in ghostly clusters, Varndal- had already come and their tops obscured by the eddying gone, but Carmody's only choice fog. was to check it through until he was Carmody found the number he certain. Keeping to shadow, he wanted on one of two stone cairns moved toward the house at an which loomed taller than the high angle until he reached the side wall. stone wall stretching away parallel He eased along it toward the rear. to the road; between the cairns was The windows on both levels were, an iron filigree gate, undoubtedly shuttered on that side, the shutters remote-controlled. He drove past locked securely. the gate several hundred yards, Carmody crossed through a side parked well off the road, and made garden, onto a stone-floored rear his way on foot to the base of the patio. A set of French doors open­ stone wall. It was high and smooth- ing^ onto the patio were locked. sided, but Carmody had little diffi­ Carmody went around to the other culty in climbing it. Less than a side of the house and found a high, minute later, he was moving short wing—the servants' or kitchen through dense birch toward where entrance. Upstairs - there, a light he thought the Amerling house shone behind a curtained window; would be, the wet carpet of leaves there were live-in servants, then, to beneath his shoes cushioning and watch over things while Amerling dulling the sound of his steps. was away. That would not make He came out of the trees finally any difference to Vamdal's plan, and could see the hovise a hundred other than that it might have de­ yards away—a neoclassic struc­ layed his coming here; the theft

16 LICENSEDALFRE TOD UNZ.ORGHITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED would be essentially noiseless. mistakably a flashlight, beam. As Carmody moved forward, the Varndal was still here, caught right light in the wing went out and in the middle of a web of his own darkness there was complete. He making. went beyond the wing and along Carmody backed away to the the side wall toward the front of die wing and crouched in the shadows house. Something short and worm- there, the Beretta in liis hand. The thin skittered toward him across the wind blew chill fog against his earth, undulating in the wind. Car­ cheeks, swirled leaves £ind twigs. mody bent, caught it, and held it up around his shoes; but his eyes were to his eyes. It was a length of black intent on the window, watching, wire, a foot long, cut out of an elec­ waiting for Varndal to come out. trical line somewhere nearby. He It was ten minutes before the thought: There has to be some kind shutters spread cautiously wide and of standard alarm system on the the dark, cloth-capped figure doors and windows, as well as the emerged from inside. In his right radio-controlled safe. Varndal hand he carried a large satchel; in would have known the location of his left the portable radio trans­ the wiring, either from Heinz' mitter. He set both of these on the records or from Heinz himself— groimd, reached up, and closed the would have known where to make shutters again. Then he looked both the cut to disable the system so that ways along the house, failed to see he could get inside. Varndal's al­ Carmody, picked up the satchel ready been here, then—or he's still and transmitter, and started into here ... the woods which grew close to that Carmody's lips were thin, pulled side of the house. hard against his teeth. He started Carmody followed imrnediately, forward again, and the shutters on moving laterally in the shadows at the window ahead of him slapped first to get directly behind Varndal; softly against the stone siding of the then he set off in the same direc­ house. They had been opened and tion, staying just close enough to refastened from within, but not keep him in sight through the trees securely. He edged up to the win­ and mist. Varndal moved at a la­ dow. He could not see through the bored trot, slowed by the combined shutters, at least not well enough to weight of the satchel and the trans­ determine what, if anything, was mitter. Carmody's own motion was happening within. Then hght flick­ a weaving one, slipping in and out ered, went out, flickered again—un­ of the cover of the trees in the

THE WEB LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 17 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED event that VariKial looked over his nally, he toppled forward, dropping shoulder; but Vamdal appeared to his gun, his cap falling off; the wind have only one thought, and that tugged carelessly at his blond hair, was to get to the estate wall, to get and he lay motionless. away as quickly as possible with Carmody put the Beretta away, whatever was contained in the caught up' the satchel and the trans­ satchel. mitter, and moved away along the The stone wall loomed ahead wall—toward the front entrance through the trees, and Vamdal gate. If the caretaker had heard the struggled on at a faster pace. He shots, and decided to investigate, he was breathing stertorously when he would come straight through the reached the base of the wall, and trees and it would take him a while the sound of his panting was au­ to locate Varndal's body, to get dible to Canhody. Vamdal lowered back to his bungalow to piit out an the satchel and ithe transmitter to alarm. the leafy ground and leaned against Carihody reached the gate with­ the wall to catch his breath momen­ out incident, crossed the access tarily. Carmody was less than thirty lane, and hurried through the trees yards away and still coming—and on the other side. When he-judged Vamdal heard him now. that he was approximately at the He spun away from the wall, spot at which he had entered the es­ crouching, his hand tugging at tate grounds, he slung the satchel something in his belt. The some­ and the transmitter to the top of the thing came free, came up in his wall and followed themup. He lay hand, and Carmody shot him twice there for a moment, looking both with the Beretta. Vamdal made a . ways along the semiprivate road; it gasping sound, sagged to his knees; was void of lights, of movement. He he stared up at Carmody, his eyes dropped down with his double bur­ wide with recognition, his face den, and-crossed jhe road to where white and shining with pain. Car­ he had left the car. mody ran up to him, holding the Both the satchel and the trans­ Beretta ready, but there was no mitter went into - the trunk. He fight left in Vamdal; there was only started the car, swung it onto the disbelief, pure awe that it was Car­ road in a U-turn, and drove on mody who had shot him, Carrriody without lights. When he passed the. who had found him. His lips gate, he looked through it but saw worked, tried to form words, but he no movement on the grounds of the could not put voice to them. Fi­ Amerling estate. Five ininutes later. 18 LICENSEDALFRE DTO HITCHCOCK' UNZ.ORGS MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED he was on a main Vienna artery, on amoimt to the eight thousand dol­ his way to Grinzing. lars Vamdal owed me for the trans­ mitter, but it's close enough; and I Bruckner said, "Gold coins! Com­ don't think Amerling would mind if memorative European gold coins— I kept it as a reward for my time a complete set of them. So that is and trouble." what Vamdal was after in Amer- "I still do not understtmd, Herr ling's safe." Carmody," Bruckner said. "Fifty Carmody nodded. He had foimd thousand American dollars . . ." Bruckner in his large Grinzing "It wouldn't make any difiFerence apartrhent, and had told him the if it were two hundred and fifty whole story. "Amerling is appar­ thousand," Carmody told him. "I'm ently one of these collectors you not a thief. I play games with the hear about, rich enough to indulge law, but I'm not a common thief." his hobby." Bruckner knew better than to ar­ "What a fine price these will gue with him. He sighed. "I will ar­ bring on the market!" Bruckner range the return of the coins in the said. "Fifty thousand American dol­ morning, then." lars, at the minimum." "See that you do." "They won't bring a cent," Car­ Bruckner smiled wryly. "I will mody said, "because they're not go­ not disobey you, Herr Carmody. I ing out on the market." am not that foolish." Bruckner stared at him. "But I do Carmody's watch said that it was not imderstand." almost two a.m. "I think I'd better "The coins go back to Amerling be going now, Bruckner," he said. in the morning, in a package mailed "Next time you send me some busi­ somewhere here in Vienna. There ness, make sure you've cleared the was about thirty thousand schillings client. I don't want a repeat of the in Amerling's safe—petty cash, Vamdal affair." probably—and Vamdal took that "I will be most careful," Bruck­ with him in the satchel. It doesn't ner promised.

THE WEB 19 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED Working late at the office is an explanation that sometimes satis­ fies no one.

Ross IVY, on his way home as usual after a day's work at the office, swung his car into the driveway and noticed, with vague surprise, the size of the tree that overhung his He rammed the key into the lock. garage. Funny; he guessed he must It stuck. He pushed on it, bent over not have really looked at that tree to squint at it in the purple dusk. for a long, long time. He switched He worked it out of the keyhole, off the ignition, separated his house felt its familiar shape and size. It key from the others on the ring, was the front door key, all right. He picked up his briefcase ^ from the started it into the keyhole again, "seat and loped across the wide lawn carefully, twisting it slightly. It en­ to his front door. tered just so far and jammed. It was deep twilight of a late "Crazy," he said, yanking the key summer day, the broad street quiet, out of the keyhole. He leaned on soft light shining from the windows the bell button. of the homes. His own picture win­ He could hear the triple-noted dows were shadowed sheets of plate chime from within. He stepped to glass. the edge of the porch and leaned

20 LICENSEDALFRE TOD HITCHCOCK' UNZ.ORG S MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED over the wrought-iron banister to Were they invited out tonight and peer through the window and see had he forgotten? Gwen emerging into light that "Damn!" he exclaimed under his spilled from the master bedroom breath, wanting only a drink and into the hallway. She was tying the the opportunity to relax. belt of her dressing gown, hurrying. "Darling," he heard through the She must be dressing for something. door as Gwen fumbled with the

WHERE HAVE YOU BEENLICENSED, ROSS IVY? TO UNZ.ORG 21 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED lock. The porch Hght startled him. strode across -the length of the room "Darling." She threw open the to the bar alcove beyond, stepped door. 'Tou're so early . . ." she be­ behind the bar, and ran his hand gan, and clapped a hand over her over the deep-grained, polished mouth. wood. It felt good and warmly wel­ "Early?" Yes, perhaps this was come. He looked across the bar early for him, he'd been working from the alcove, out along the late hours for so long, working like length of the room and into the hall a dog . . . Incidentally, where was where Gwen still stood, spread- the dog? He should be barking up a eagled now against the wall like storm, begirming back at the mo­ some dramatic diva. ment Ross drove the car into the "Are we going somewhere? Did I driveway, and now he should be forget about it?" leaping wildly, shrieking in loyal He reached under the bar for his hysteria. familiar bottle of bourbon in its ac­ Ross closed the door and asked customed place and came up with his wife, "Where is Fritz?" Scotch. He stooped then, to search She backed off, the hand still cov­ with his eyes, knowing that he was ering her mouth, her eyes wide and the only one who drank bom^bon. staring. Gwen, as well as their friends, "My key didn't work. Funny drank everything from Scotch to thing." He dropped his briefcase to vodka; he alone preferred the good, a hall table and looked at his house .rich, colorful flavor of bourbon, and key, still separated from the others his bottle always stood in that one on the ring. "Can't imderstand it. place. Now there was no bourbon Maybe I put it in upside down." He there, none at all. Yet it was here tucked the keys into his pocket, only yesterday. And so was the dog, tiuTied, and switched on the lights frisking about his legs, the long as he entered the hvingroom. body stretching an exclamation He was momentarily chilled by mark of sheer joy at having him the cold formality of cool satin and home. silver. What did he expect? A sud­ "Where is the dog?" Ross den thought startled him: he had shouted suddenly, wanting to weep. expected warmth and the glow of Gwen, the impaled impresario, color. The bewildering expectation pushed herself away from the wall faded abruptly to leave him petu­ at last, and whispered, "Ross?" in­ lant. . I credulously, as if she could not be­ "Well, where is Fritz?" He lieve it was he standing there be- 22 LICENSEDALFRE TOD UNZ.ORGHITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED hind his own bar, in his own home, imposed someone, someone he but without his own drink and loved dearly and should phone. Yes, without his dog so that he felt ex­ he had promised to place a phone cluded, disoriented, canceled out of call the minute he arrived—but ar­ the world in which he stood. rived from where? And a call to It was then that he had the vision what other place? "You're lying," and the impression of warmth and he declared flatly, and tipped the laughter; a vision not upon the ret­ glass to let the liquid fall down his ina of his eye, an impression not throat and thump' and splash in his upon the nerve endings of his stomach. touch, but somewhere deep be­ . "Ross?" Why did she always tween memory and prognostica­ speak his name with a question tion, that the woman moving mark? Gwen, or this woman who toward him now was not Gwen, was not Gwen, held up her hand as beautifully perfect, but another if she were refuting him or blocking who was perfectly beautiful. him off. She becarrie Gwen again, cold Ross clicked his mind into logical and stiffly silken,- approaching him action and came up with a grabber. slowly as if she were a toy drawn on "He couldn't have died almost a string—his string, pulled by his seven years ago. He wasn't even unwilling hand. Then he said, seven years old," and analyzed his "Hell," and poured himself the analysis to find it lacking in any drink of Scotch he hated and asked kind of reason. "I mean," he said once more, "Where is Fritz?" and groped reluctantly, "I mean, he "He's dead," she said, her eyes was here yesterday so how could he big and scared. • have died almost sieven years ago?" Ross thumped the bottle to the There was the grabber, a real bar and his hand trembled on the clincher. He had this woman hang­ glass. ing on the ropes. Then Ross felt "He died almost seven years faint. He downed his drink and ago," she whimpered. swayed. Something was wrong Ross shook his head with the im­ here. Where in hell was he and to pact of the absurdity and stared at whom was he talking? her, his wife, who seemed to be "He died after you left," she said, playing tricks with her face as she "and you have been gone seven was attempting to do with her years." tongue. She was Gwen and some­ The words were thrust from her one else ... a montage, a super­ as if she had a slingshot somewhere WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, ROSS IVY? . 23

LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED inside her voice box tRat plucked she repeated, stooped and fright­ forth these meaningless pebbles of ened. "There was no body, but we crazy sound. The dog flew grace­ were so sure. Seven years!" fully from Ross' memory, on wings He shook his head with bewilder­ he had never possessed, big feet ment, seven years being a long time spread . . . and Ross felt lost. from yesterday! Theii he remem­ "We thought you were dead," bered again that he was to call Gwen said, her arms folded tight someone before he had stopped for across her breast as if in protection. the night. Call whom? Stop where? "Ross?" with that rising inflection. And after what? He was bone- "Who's we?" he asked abruptly, tired—his exhaustion caused by just before the impact of her'State- long-distance driving, he realized ment struck him. "Dead?" now, recognizing the shoulder pain, She bent, with her arms clasped the leg ache—so he must have been about her as if she were in .pain, or at it a.11 day, going from, somewhere as if, it seemed to Ross, the pain of to somewhere else. him had suddenly assailed her. His He leaned heavily against the bar mind gathered fuzzy facts, backing and reached for the bottle of Scotch up to her first words begun before again and splashed a drink into the she had opened the door to see him glass. "WTiere is my bourbon?" he and clapped a hand over her asked petulantly. "WTiere is my mouth, shutting out the "darlings" dog?" \ and the "early" routine. He leaned Gwen straightened. 'Tou don't against the bar, allowing it to sup­ know. You don't remember. You port him. come back, after all these years,' to "Why was I early?" he asked this house ..." softly, itemizing her words. "Early He thought of the key and for what? And was it I who was snatched the ring from his pocket, early?" separating from the others the key Almost crouched, she held herself that could not unlock the door of tight in her own private agony this house. while he reached out with his mind "Where have you been if you in an effort to tabulate the hints, haven't been dead?" she cried. clues she had so sparsely indicated. ^ He streaked across the long liv- 'Tou thought I was someone ingroom and irito the hall, opened else," he said slowly, "someone too the'front door and, holding it early. Who was, that someone?" wedged with his knee, tried the key "We were sure you were dead," that did not belong there. He shut 24 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE

LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED the door, catching a fleeting glimpse wondered. She attempted a desper­ again of warmth, laughter and ate depersonalization. "We all color—another hoxise, another place, thought you were dead, our friends, and a phone call to be made. your business associates . . . every­ "Ross," said Gwen, stiffly straight body," waving her arms as if to in­ now and becoming sure of herself. clude the entire population of Gan- "Ross," the name no longer a ques­ net Falls. tion but a declaration on her lips. Of course, Gannet Falls. He "You don't remember?" knew now why he had broken his He moved cautiously back into journey from someplace he could the livingroom from the hallway, not now remember to someplace with a strange feeling that they else he had forgotten about when were jockeying for a position of he saw the sign, "Gannet Falls, the knowledge and that she had the up- Superb Suburb," and turned off the • per hand. He felt like an animal main drag to drive to this house like circling her, never taking his eyes a homing pigeon. off her. Now it was he who ques­ He caught his head in his hands tioned the name, this place and and pressed his temples with his fin-, time. "What am I supposed to re­ gers as if he would rechannel his member?" he asked warily. mind, gathering up the bits and tag- "Well—you disappeared . . ." ends of memory along the way to She eyed him as if to test his reac­ fitjthem info all the empty spaces. tions arid her voice became He wanted to question her, this stronger. "You disappeared and Gwen who was familiar yet was now you're back, asking for your not, and cry out for help—Help me dog as if it were yesterday instead to remember—hut he studied her, of seven years ago." distant and secretive, and knew that It was not a direct answer, and he could not, for that would give Ross said, "So you thought I was her the advantage of knowing what dead." , he did not know and of telling or "Naturally--we thought you were not telling it to him, and she was dead." danger, he was sure of that. "Who's we?" ' Ross walked to the bar and "Well, Arthur, of course . . ." moved behind it, feeling the need The name caught in her throat, of good solid substance between causing her to swallow as if she himself and this wife he did, yet did would erase it. So was Arthur the not, know. He surveyed her across "darling" at the front door? Ross the bar, a pretty woman, her eyes

WHERE HAVE YOU BEENLICENSED, ROSS IVY? TO UNZ.ORG 25 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED enlarged, enhanced and uptximed rigid, his hand still over his mouth, through sheer artistry, her cheek­ beginning to remember at least the bones fashionably high and promi­ falls that were not falls but only a nent, her lips seductively curved— name, when Gwen interrupted, but fierce. causing the falls to drip away just as He recoiled froin the fierceness the dog had flown. . . . here was a woman who knew "You don't remember?" she what she wanted and got it—some­ asked, leaning against the bar now, way, any way—and she did not not reaching out to touch him as he want him. He knew this with chill­ looked at her blankly, dropping his ing certainty. hand and flattening his face with The lips smiled and moved and purpose. "You don't remember any­ spoke of shock. "Of course it was a thing. Of course not." • shock to see you here tonight . .'." "I remember the cabin," he said, Smiling, she was, rocking back from so startling himself with the abrupt, the shock. Retreating, building her fragmentary recollection that he fences? "After all these years of loss failed to notice Gwen's look of and grief," she added, with her eyes • alarm. "A cabin somewhere by a cold, the mouth softly fierce. "Ross, lake—no, a river . . ." The memory you are home . . ." she advanced, was elusive, imtrustworthy. "Do we arms extended, not in a gesture of still have the cabin?" he asked her loving welcome, but as if she would directly, and caught the look of ter­ strangle him, it seemed. ror in the beautiful, staring eyes. He splashed some of the Scotch "The cabin," he repeated, probing, into the glass and downed it, wanting to know, the cabin becom­ coughed, almost choked, and felt as ing less clear with the roar of the if he were drowning. He looked at river and the falls beyond soimding Gwen over his hand covering his deafeningly in- his ears. mouth and felt himself borne down, Gwen's softly fierce mouth be­ sucked under water, and thought of came thinly fierce as she said, with-'. the river as her arms fell and her out expression, "What cabin?" hands, palms down,_ caressed the Ross knew then that there was a bar. The falls from which the subur­ cabin by a river's edge, and if he ban town had derived its narne could remember the cabin and that ... the falls, an affectation only, river clearly enough, he would caused by a minor drop in the riv­ know why it was he stood here in erbed so that the water tumbled this faintly familiar house with a over the rocky, ledge. He stood. faintly familiar wife, and who 26 LICENSEDALFRE TOD HITCHCOCK'UNZ.ORG S MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED awaited his phone call. "Then there memory—the frisking, happy dog, is no cabin I should remember?" he the bourbon in its place, a cabin on baited her. the river ... the cabin on the Gwen's face relaxed with relief. river, the rocky falls ... a rock She fluttered her hands and posi­ ... he felt pain explode in his tioned her mouth into gentle sym­ head—a rock! Water closing him in, pathy. "Not that I know of," she cold water that took his breath and^ said. Then placatingly, "Perhaps it's • gave it back to him ... a later memory." Her eyes became "You drove here?" asked Gwen. decisive and her lips more fiercely "Well, of course you did," and she demanding. "You must have lived stepped to the side window to lo­ somewhere after you disappeared— cate the shadow of a car in the had some kind of life. Do you re­ driveway. member that? Where did you come "My car," said Ross. "Where did from, Ross? And where have you you find my car?" been for the last seven years?" She turned, her face empty. Becoming the inquisitor, she put "I must have been in a car," he him on the defensive. His mind was said impatiently, "seven years ago a blank. He felt a screaming need ' when I disappeared. So, what about for identity. the car? Where did you find it?" She leaned against the bar, her Now, he had the upper hand. He hands clenching its edge. "Does leaned on the bar and watched her anyone know you are here?" she face wrestle with the question, and asked softly, and he thoiight of the • remembered, a long green car, his, phone call he was to make without parked next to the cabin, and an­ knowing to whom he was to make other parked alongside it. He heard it. "No, you don't remember. You the falls. The falls drovtoied out the don't remember anything, do you, memory and also Gwen's tnmiped- Ross? So no. one remembers you. up explanation—it had to be Well, you're home again and I re­ trumped-up since she denied the member you." She changed, like river and the cabin. quicksilver, to smiling welcome. "All that is over," he heard her fi­ "You're home again and that's all nale, "and now it is enough that that matters." you are here." She had made.up her It wasn't all that mattered. It was mind about something. He could only a little that mattered. What see the decision in her eyes, the mattered was the big gap in his life fierce resolution on her lips. "You with these fleeting tag ends of are alive," she said, "and that is

WHERE HAVE YOU BEENLICENSED, ROSS IVY? TO UNZ.ORG 27 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED enough, at least for the present." edge of the bar to -keep from slip­ Enough for what? Ross won­ ping, as he had long ago, into the dered, watching, her eyes, studying water to sink and rise and flounder,, her lips, feeling the quick and pow­ searching for a handhold, to find it erful recall of warm eyes and loving on the rocky ledge of the dimin­ lips to overwhelm him for an in­ utive falls .... stant before both were gone to Who had done that to him? leave only the chill of this woman. "Gwen!" She had. started from He shuddered and began to re­ the room. She halted and turned, member ... or was it this woman her eyes guarded, her face impas­ he was remembering from that life, sive. She would tell him nothing but who spoke lies with decision in her lies. He would have to remember it eyes and resolution on her carefully for himself. "Gwen! What was I smiling lips? As she was doing now like?" in a falsely welcoming speech, her "What were you like?" Her face words rambling, her hands flutter­ was expressionless. ing a distraction that allowed her "When you knew me. Seven brain to plan furiously. years ago." He clutched at the des­ She was edging away from the perate hope that could he learn bar with a nervous laugh, saying what kind of man he had been, he that she must dress—my goodness! would also learn the reason for At his question, yes, she had someone wanting him out of the planned on going out, but now she way. "What was my business? wouldn't leave—my goodness, no! What did' I do for a living?" They would, instead, celebrate his "What is your business now?" she return to life. asked. That was an interesting choice of He did not know! Just as he words; He widened his eyes and didn't know who he was to phone stared at Gwen without seeing, once he reached some unknown without hearing her, involved only destination for some unknown rea­ with the certain knowledge that he - son.. He did not know the name he had indeed returned to that past used, wher.e he lived, or what life, for he was beginning to re­ friends he had, what family. member his murder. He felt again The floor rocked under his feet as the impact of a rock against his the boat had rocked seven years be­ skull—stimning him this time as it fore, and his head ached as if it had had the other so that the room been dealt a crushing blow. Gannet turned black and he clung to the Falls is mine, he heard from the

28 LICENSEDALFRE TOD UNZ.ORGHITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED boat and the past, and so is Given. else was, someone she had thought Ross swayed and caught hold of the to be early, someone who wasn't edge of the bar, these bits of past there when she clapped a hand over knowledge paining him as if they her mouth and fell back,in shock, were being forced into his brain, someone she must notify ... Of jagged piece by jagged piece. course, just as he must phone some­ Gannet Falls had been his, a tract one that he had arrived and was of houses set in a hilly nowhere be­ safe, so must she phohe someone cause of the river and the river site that he had arrived and she was not he owned. So he must have been a safe. builder, broker or "promoter—some­ Ross grabbed the edge of the bar thing in real estate—with a business and swung around it, raced across and a wife that someone else the livingroom, looking for a wanted. He felt like laughing be­ phone—a second phone, or a third cause he certainly didn't want the one. Hell, he'd built this house, business nor did he want the wife. < lived in it—where were the phones? He looked at her, dazed. His eyes swept the hall—no "Well, never mind," she- said, phone—no light either from the "you don't have to remember. Ev­ master bedroom beyond, ,so the erything will be all right. Really it door was closed and she was prob­ will." ably on the bedroom phone. He He watched her leave the room, crossed the hall, reached around the hips moving smoothly under the doorway and switched on the lights silk of her dressing gown, her step . of a kitchen. He remembered it. He confident. "Where are you going?" was beginning to remember now, to he called after her childishly, afraid move in familiar surroundings, and of losing, even for a moment, this there was the wall phone. only link he had with an identity. He strode across the kitchen tile, "Just to.get dressed," she smiled. placed a careful forefinger on the "That's all. I'll be back and then • edge of the cradle, raised the in­ we'll talk. I will help you remem-^ strument, let his finger lift gently, ber." The last words sounded omi­ and heard Gwen say, in a frantic nous. How would she help him to whisper, "Arthur . . ." There it remember when she had hindered was, Arthur again—so Arthur was him thus far? "Darling," she added her darling. "Arthur, he's here as she left the livingroom and . . ." and the answering voice. Ross ^started down the hall. recognized it, not knowing to He wasn't her darling, someone whom it belonged. He recognized

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, LICENSEDROSS IVY? TO UNZ.ORG 29 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED the voice, by its timbre and in­ road somewhere. Don't you under­ tensity, to be one that could say, stand? He's someone else now. Get Gannet Falls is mine, and so is over here, Arthur. I can't talk any Gwen. longer." The voice was Ught now, ques­ Ross heard a click, and replaced tioning, almost playful, feeling the phone. good—and the reason it was feeling He stood there in the brightly good, Ross knew, was that he had lighted kitchen, swallowing his been dead for seven years now and sickness, then walked across the tile the voice could claim Gaimet Falls arid switched the room to darkness. and Gwen. That is why, he con­ His footsteps were muffled down cluded with sudden inspiration, the the hall and he made no sound as he late date—a celebration ... He felt opened the door to the master bed­ sick and swallowed, holding his room. . . hand over the mouthpiece, sure She stood with her back to him, that the soimd was audible and the dressing gown a circle of silk filled with anguish. around her feet. She was reaching She had come through to Arthur- up into the open wardrobe for the-voice at last. He was protesting, something off a hanger, her breath "I don't believe it." He repeated his heavy in her throait, almost sobbing. protest over and over, not believing On the bedside table, at what had he had killed without killing. once been his side of the bed, he Gwen was feeling the strain and saw the photograph in an easel the danger. "Dammit," she cried in frame—a photograph of Arthur a shrill whisper. "I tell you, he's Gordon. He had never thought of 'here. He's in the bar, drinking the him. as Arthur, always Gordon, Scotch and complaining about it. partner, associate, whatever—press He doesn't know anything. -Doesn't agent with a- personality, the one remember anything. Get over here,. who had added the Falls to Gannet Arthur, and do the job right!" and coined the Superb Subiub bit. Arthur whimpered audibly, and As if he were going down for the Ross Ivy, no longer Ross Ivy but a third time, Ross saw his past life dead man inexpertly killed, whim­ with these two, Gwen his wife, and pered inaudibly. Gordon her darling, like rapidly "I don't care how you do it," flipped pictures on the retina of his whispered Gwen fiercely, "just do mind. He remembered his suspi-' it. He's got a car here. You can put cions, buried like an iceberg in his him in his car and leave it out on a work, just as all his worth was 30 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED buried in the opening of this small, started toward him, arms out­ select tract called Gannet Falls. stretched. Stumbling within the The pictures flipped at a breath­ circle of the dressing gown, she taking pace, showing him the cabin, tripped at its edge and pitched for­ the river, the boat and Gordon's ward. surprise visit . . . Ross pressed his He reached and caught her be­ fingers hard against his temples to fore she fell. slow down the pace—but the pic­ Holding her upright, his hands tures, as if they had been held in the firmly but gently grasping her bare darkroom of his brain too long, shoulders, he remembered what she raced by, filling him with forgotten had once been to him: his love and memory. his life. Then he remembered how Just as the blackout pain of the fi­ she had taken from' him her love nal blow struck him again, the long- and his life, and his grasp tightened,, buried, seven-year-old sound back embedding his fingers in the warm gave him once' more Gordon's and wicked flesh'. •••" words, Gannet Falls is mine and so He let her go so abruptly that she is Given. swayed. "My God!" he breathed aloud He stepped away, drew back his and Gwen whirled in the circle of arm and s\yung, striking her with her dressing gown, one hand clutch­ the flat of his hand that sent her in a ing the dress she had selected, the spin and sprawled her on the bed. other raised and spread as if to She lay there, wide-eyed, making ward off disaster. small plaintive sounds, one cheek As they stared at each other, she brightly crimson, the other paper- whimpered, "You don't know. You pale. Ross stared down at her, hat­ don't' remember," her voice rising ing her with a violence he didn't to a shrill note. "Ross, you said you know he was capable of—yet how didn't know ..." could he know the capabilities of ^"My God," he repea:ted, stunned the man that was left once Ross Ivy by the agony of knowing too much was dead? and remembering it all. He wanted to weep and cringe, "That's what you said," she cried. as she wept and cringed on the bed. "You said you didn't know. Didn't Instead, he leaned over her. and remember . . ." slapped the other cheek scarlet. "And now I do," he answered This man who had been Ross Ivy her. was appalled and joyful. He was go­ She dropped the dress and ing to kill her, slowly and with ven- WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, ROSS IVY? 31 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED geance, and with great'happiness. him who he was! And who it was he She must have seen the com­ was supposed to phone! pulsion in his eyes when she cried He jerked-his hands from the now out, and she must have known what bruised throat, swung his leg over it meant. when she made the at­ the body onto the floor and leaned tempt to roll free of him. She was close, looking at her, still'hating awkward and not fast enough. He her, but not wanting her to die, not yanked her back, straddled her, by his hands. He held them, trem­ both knees on the bed, and placed bling, out before him, aghast. his hands around her neck. • . Her lashes fluttered, and he She tried to speak, to plead. Each sighed in relief. time her throat moved, he pressed Time was growing short now. He his thumbs against the movement didn't know where Gordon was and pushed back the sound. coming from or how long it would With his hands on her throat, he take him to get here. He leaned thought of the beauty of his crime, over, a hand pressing the mattress its perfection—the dead killing the on each side of her, caging her in. killer to' bring ultimate justice to "Look," he said, "can you hear me the guilty. and do you imderstand?" He pressed gently. Gwen gagged. She held her head very still and When he loosened his hold, she snapped her eyes tight. struggled weakly, forcing him to "I know about myself now. And I press less gently, and relish his act a know about you and Gordon. Listen little more hurriedly. Once,she was to me and remember this, now that gone, all he had to do was call the I. can remember." He allowed him­ police from the phone that Gwen self a small smile of triiunph.' "If had used to order his second death, you declare me dead, I shall rise up walk out of the hotise, step into his and call you a murderer. Under­ car and drive away, leaving Gordon stand?" to arrive and explain. She understood and she would re­ Perfect. Absolutely perfect. member; he could tell by the way Gwen was making strange sounds her eyes flew open and how they under his fingers and her face was clouded. darkening. He lessened the pres­ He straightened. "That's all," he sure, reminding himself not to said. forget his briefcase—the briefcase That was indeed all. Out of fear, that would give him away. she could never declare him dead, The briefcase! That would tell and since she could not declare him

32 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED dead, Gannet Falls did not belong live body—a comforting thought. to Gordon,' nor did Gwen. He drove into the city and He walked down the hall of the parked in front of a drugstore. He house he now remembered clearly broke a bill at the counter and took and without nostalgia. He picked the change to a phone booth at the up his briefcase, stepped through . rear. He fed the coins into the box, the door his key would not open, dialed his code area, the prefix and crossed the lawn, looked at the tree number. "Vicki . . ." that was seven years taller than he With the soiuid of her voice, his remembered, stepped into his car, world rocked back into position, leaving the door ajar so that he filled with warmth and laughter. could see by the dome light, opened "How are the twins?" he asked, and his briefcase, discovered his name listened. to be Robert Jones—what imagina­ "Vicki, I ,miss you. Know what? tion!—and that he was a hardware Think I'll bed down in a motel here sales representative. and head on back home first thing He sat there, laughing. in the morning. I've got something Holding the car door open a mo­ to tell you." ment, he looked back at the house He hung up and pushed through he once lived in and at the life he the doors, smiling. once lived, said, "The hell with Did he plan to tell Vicki who he that," slammed the door, turned the really was and what they had tried ignition key and backed into the to do to him? broad street. He rounded the comer Never. just as headlights slowed, parked in What he planned to tell Vicki front of the house and blacked out. was that the Company could shove That would be Gordon, and those this territory—he didn't like the at­ two, instead of celebrating the end mosphere and he didn't like the of his seven-year death tonight, people. He wanted his old territory would be holding a wake over his back.

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, ROSS IVY? . 33 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED There is a gift that does not need to be purchased or wrapped, and is even retumahle under certain conditions^

IT WAS THE DAY before Christmas them. Christmas didn't seem to be and in spite of the holly decorating what it used to be. the hotel lobby and the piped carols I settled on a stool at the bar and coming over the speakers, it just signaled the bartender. He brought didn't feel like Christmas. . me a frosty bottle pf43eer. Ipoured Maybe it was because I was it slowly, taking as much timg as alone, with a lonely Christmas Eve possible. and a solitary Christmas diimer in Someone tapped my shoulder. prospect. Maybe it was because the I turned slowly, wondering temperature outside was over which of the local gendarmerie had eighty and the sim bright, and to taken it upon himself to spoil my me Christmas meant cold and snow. Christmas further. I sighed and turned into the hotel Orkie Calhoun stood there with a bar to while away a few hours just tentative smile, as if he were unsure sipping beer and watching the of-a welcome. world go by, because there was ab­ "Qrkie," I said. "A pleasure to solutely nothing for me to do—no see you. What brings you- to Mi­ one to buy gifts for, no preparations ami?" to make, no celebration "to antici­ Orkie slid onto a stool. "Working pate. the Southern circuit, just like you. I'd passed a half dozen parties in You have anything going, or are the hallways of the hotel, envying you resting?" the participants, but had received Orkie and I were brothers under no open-hearted invitation to join the skin, part of the fringe element

34 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED career while I was at the peak of mine. "Not a thing," I said. "Came here for the hohdays. How about you?" Orkie, a small pleasant-faced man with gray temples, shrugged. With nothing unusual or distinctive about him, he was a hard man to

that gets by without working; mem­ describe, which in our business was bers of that great society of con art­ a distinct advantage. It had kept ists who live off the foibles and the Orkie out of prison more than once. greed of their fellowmen. Orkie and "I don't.have anything going, ei­ I never worked at legitimate jobs, ther," he said. not when there were so many fools • Orkie looked like he hadn't had anxious to part with their money in anything going for him for a long some scheme that would suppos­ time. His face was a little haggard, edly net them a large and enormous his tie had seen better days and his profit. Orkie and I were happy to shirt collar was frayed. It was oblige them and leave them poorer against the rules: even broke, a con and wiser, operating under the the­ man has to look successful. It was a ory that experience costs money. sure bet that one way or the other, There was one big difference be­ Orkie would try to extract money tween us, however. Orkie was Hear­ from me, in spite of the old adage. ing the end of a long and inglorious Never try to con a con man. A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT SANTA 35 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED I signaled the. bartender again.. his fingers, watching the beer foam. "Then you have nothing better to "That depends on how you look at do than sit here and drink beer with it. I was there quite a few years ago. me, Orkie. I was just thinking that A small town—exactly where it doesn't feel like the day before doesn't matter. It was early Decem­ Christmas." ber and I was just about out of "No," Orkie said. "It sure money, so I sat in. on a poker doesn't." game." "Maybe we should be up north. I Poker had always been a quick hear they have plenty of snow up way for Orkie to pick up a little there." money. No one who knew him ever Orkie made a face and gulped at played cards with him. He must his beer. "Not me. I've had enough- have been born with a deck in his snow to last a lifetime." hand because Orkie handled cards "You have something against better than any man! ever knew. snow, Orkie?" He was so good that he could tell "Only that if I never see another you what he was going to do, you flake again, that would be too could sit and watch his hands, and soon." you still couldn't see him manipu­ "I have the feeling that you have late the deck. With talent like that, a story about snow, Orkie." I Orkie simply never lost when he peeled off a twenty and laid it on -played poker, and he was careful to the bar. "I have plenty of time and play poker with people who would money." never suspect he was rigging the I said it to let Orkie know I was deck. flush, that he.need have no hesita­ His clever hands also made him tion in asking for a loan, and to gain an excellent pickpocket, but I a little coinpanionship. imagined the years had slowed him Orkie glanced at his watch as if dowri a little. He couldn't possibly he had somewhere to go, but I be as good as he used to -be. The knew the gesture was automatic. frayed collar said that. Never, let the mark think you are "You won, naturally,'"I said. anxiom, I'thought. "I won. I won pretty big from a "You ever been in New England chubby, red-cheeked guy named in the winter?" he asked. . Harry Dimaway. I won so much I "No. I understand it is quite en­ took his marker, which I never do, joyable." because it didn't matter if he paid Orkie twirled his glass between ofi^ or not. After the game, tfiis

36 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED Dunaway asked if I was interested up. What do you think this Duna­ in a deal to make good the marker. way was doing for a living?" I asked what kind of deal. He said I "I don't have the faintest idea." looked like a man who would be in­ "I told you he was a chubby, red- terested in some easy money. I said cheeked guy, and at this time of the I was, depending on how easy. He year there's only one kind of job for said very easy—one hour was all it someone like that." would take and I'd have a real I thought for a moment. "You bundle. I told him I wasn't inter­ have to be kidding." ested because that sounded like a He shook his head. "You guessed caper that could be dangerous. it. He was playing Santa Claus." When the stakes are high, someone "Santa Claus was planning a can get hurt." heist?" Orkie downed half his beer. "Not only that, but it would "He said he'd spell it all out for work no other way." me and I could make my own deci­ "More beer," I said to the bar-' sion, but it would have to be fast tender. The story was shaping up so because he had to get someone well I knew Orkie could touch me soon. He was running out of time. I for at least a C note with no had nothing to lose so I said I'd lis­ trouble. "Paint the whole picture," ten." I said. I finished my second beer, won­ "I'll start with the store," Orkie dering how much Orkie would con­ continued. "It was one of those old- sider the story worth. line, conservative, family-owned "He was quite a character, this places, where the people in town Harry Dunaway," Orkie said. went to buy their wedding rings or "He'd always been a small-timer, the ceremony wasn't really official. an odd-job man. That's how he The last member of the family died stimibled onto the setup, and was and the store was sold to a young looking for someone to come in promoter named Whitney. Whit­ with him because it was more than ney shook the place up, redeco­ he could handle alone." rated and started advertising. He "What was the caper?" I asked. wanted to build business for Christ­ "He wanted to take a jewelry mas, so he had this brilliant idea. store." He put in a Santa Claus to hand out "And you agreed? That's not free gifts to the kidsnf their parents your line at all." brought them in, figuring that once "This was just too good to pass the parents were in the store, they LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENELECTRONICT SANT REPRODUCTIONA PROHIBITED 37 would buy, He was right. The store way I figured it, on Christmas Eve, was wall-to-wall with people, all no one would be close enough to spending money."' " give us any trouble." "How did Dunaway get the job? "It sounds good," I said. They usually check these things "That's what I thought," Orkie carefully." said. "That's why I agreed to go "He was broke, so he went to this along with it. I couldn't see how it employment agency. They took one could miss. Who would suspect that look at him and sent him to Whit­ Santa Claus would be plaiming a ney. Never bothered to check his heist?" references, which were phony any­ "It's a good angle," I admitted. way. Dunaway saw what was going "As the inside man, he was perfect. on in the store and started figuring What happened?" angles on how to get some of it for The bartender silently brought himself, but it didn't take him long refills, reducing the change from to realize he would need help." the twenty still further, "What did he have in mind?" "We worked it all out," Orkie "He found out that Whitney was went on. "Very professional. Tim­ going to give a little party for the ing down pat. I was supposed to employees after the store closed on drive up to the back entrance, Christmas Eve. That meant the which was on a narrow little street, store would be locked but the alarm at exactly six o'clock. Dunaway wouldn't be on. All of the employ­ would open the door for me, I'd ees would be gathered in one con­ step in with a stocking mask over venient place, and the store's my face. The party was being held receipts would be there in the safe on the main floor of the store. I'd because all of the banks would be hold all of the employees right closed. All Dunaway had to do was there while Dunaway cleaned out open the door for me, we would the safe. Then he'd throw his bag hold the place up and take off with over his shoulder, we'd back out, the cash and as many jewels as we hop in the car and take off." . could carry. It looked foolproof." "Ah," I said. "And be picked up "What about the cops?" at the first roadblock." "No problem there. The town Orkie grinned. "We weren't that had a chief and six or eight patrol­ dumb. We planned to switch cars." men; a sheriff and some deputies "You were going to steal a car for took care of the county, and the the job?" state police filled in from there. The Half of Orkie's beer disappeared.

38 LICENSEDALFRE TOD UNZ.ORG HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED "Me steal a car? I wouldn't know to snow about nine o'clock in the •how to begin. It is also dangerous to morning. I wasn't particularly wor­ steal a car in a small town because ried. I had snow tires and chains on it is too easily identified. No, I took my car, and they do a good job of a bus to Boston and picked up a clearing roads up there. Snow is a used junker which we would use in fact of life in that territory. But this the heist itself, from a friend to" didn't turn out to be the usual type whom stealing cars was a business. of snowstorm. By the middle of the My own car would be parked at the afternoon it had turned into a edge of town. We'd switch and hide healthy blizzard, and I debated out for a few days in a lakeside calling the whole thing off. The cabin I had rented for the holiday point was, if I did, there would be seasoii, supposedly being on vaca­ no second chance. It was then or tion. When the heat died, we'd never. So I decided that if we leave quietly. Of course, I'd been would have trouble getting around, careful to let people know I was es­ so would thei police. tablished in the cabin so they would "I drove into town and picked up expect me to be there. If anyone the junker I had brought from Bos­ came around,, Dunaway could hide. ton, but I was really getting wor­ I didn't think we'd have any trouble ried about the storm. The snow was at all." beginning to drift and some of the I didn't know Orkie's capacity streets were almost blocked. I ar­ for beer, but he had finished his rived at the back door of the store fourth bottle. I signaled the bar­ about five minutes to six arid stood tender. "A heist like that should there freezing, wishing that I had have fixed you up for quite a bought a "jeep with four-wheel while," I said. "I gather something drive, when the door opened and went wrong." Dunaway motioned me inside. One "You know that nothing is ever a thing we didn't have to worry sure thing." Orkie went to work on about, there was no one. on the his fifth beer. streets. I pulled my' stocking mask "At the rate you're going, this over my face and pulled out my un­ place will run out of beer before loaded gim and went in." you finish the story," I said. "An imloaded gun?" "Ah, well." Orkie shrugged. "Why would I need bullets? I "Like I said, nothing is ever a sure didn't intend to shoot nobody. In­ thing. The day before Christmas side the store they were all singing was cold and windy and it started Christmas carols-and really having A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT LICENSEDSANTA TO UNZ.ORG 39 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED a good time. Made me feel a little "Not to my knowledge, Orkie." bad to break up their party. There "It is quite a sight, especially were only eight or teii" employees when Santa Claus uses the words there, the others having left early that Dunaway did. Just about that because of the storm. I will say this, time, a horse dragging a sleigh it didn't matter about the empty comes trotting up the street. They guua. Everybody just sort of froze have plenty of them up there, you when they saw me and there was no know. I pulled Dunaway out of the trouble. When they realized what car and we stopped the sleigh. I was going on, they were very coop­ waved my empty gun at the kid erative; even Whitney, the guy who driving it and he dived into a snow­ owned the store. Dunaway took the bank. Dunaway and I took the sack I'd brought and began filling it. sleigh and started galloping out of He didn't bother with coins, just pa­ town, Dunaway standing "up and per money and the unmotmted jevv- waving the whip at the poor horse. els that were in the safe." -He was so happy we were getting "You have any idea of how much away that he kept yelling, 'On Don-, was there?" der, on Blitzen . . .' " "I heard later. There was almost "You're putting me on,'' I said. I sixty thousand in cash and there suspected Orkie of having thrown must have been that much in jew­ that in for laughs. Maybe the beer els. For a small-town heist, it was a was getting to him. good haul. We backed out of the "So help me, I'm not. I told you door after pulling the phone wires Dunaway was a character. As for loose and disconnecting the alarm." me, I was sitting there laughing. "Sounds like you had it made," I Imagine an all-points bulletin on said. Christmas Eve to pick up a white-, "We thought so too, but we bearded man wearing a red. suit, changed otir minds real quick. The carrying a sack and driving a sleigh. • snow had piled up in that small Who would believe it?" street and we had to bull the car "No one," I said. "Every police through. Turning onto the main, department would think it was a street, we skidded and ended up in gag-". ^ - ' a big drift. There was no way to get "That's what I figured. Anyway, that car out. I thought we were fin­ there was no sense in stopping for ished. Dunaway got real excited my car. You couldn't di-ive in that and began yelling. You ever see storm, so we kept the sleigh and the Santa Claus yell?" horse. The farther we went, the 40 LICENSEDALFRE TOD UNZ.ORGHITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED worse it got, until pretty soon even That horse was smarter than he the horse was having trouble. We was. He knew he had to get out of hit a big drift, and the sleigh almost the storm, so he headed for home tipped over. I hopped out and be­ and the barn—and where do you gan to push. We just got the sleigh think he lived?" through the drift when it hap­ "I don't have the faintest idea." pened." "The kid we threw out of the The bartender, noticing our sleigh happened to be the son of the glasses were empty, served up two county sheriff. That horse took more bottles without being told. Dunaway right into the sheriffs "What happened?" I asked, won­ bam, and Dimaway had no, ex­ dering what was coming next. planation for that bag of goodies he "That Dunaway handed me the was carrying. Money and jewels best Christmas present I ever gotr weren't the kind of things Santa There I was, floiondering through was noted for dispensing in that. the snow after the sleigh, when he section. I guess the sherifiF thought pulled away and left me." there should have been a few more 'Tou call that a gift?" normal things in the sack,.so he just "You don't know how fine it was. held onto Dunaway until the storm although, to tell the truth, I natu­ •was over. Then he took him back to rally didn't think- so at the time. He town; money, jewels and all. That had left me in the middle of no­ sort of finished Dunaway." where, with that confounded storm "Didn't they come looking for howling around my ears. I didn't you?" have much choice~I ditched the "They found me, but they gun and the mask and started walk­ couldn't prove I was the man with ing. I stumbled along and would the gun, and Dunaway never told have frozen to death if I hadn't them. I guess he figured he owed found a farmhouse. I told the me that inuch for leaving'me in that people I'd been driving and my car storm. They had to let me go. I sup­ got stuck. They believed me, arid pose they really didn't care too took me in." much since they had Dunaway and "I don't know why that was so the loot. That was the last time I wonderful. Dunaway got away with was north for Christmas. I have all the loot." steered clear of two things since Orkie grinned. "That's what then." Dvinaway had in mind, but there I watched Orkie finish his beer was one thing he hadn't counted on. before asking, "What two things?" A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT SANTA 41 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED "Santa Claus and snow." Orkie I reached into my inside breast stood up and placed a friendly arm pocket. It was empty. "No," I said. over my shoulders. "It was real nice "It looks like it is gone." running into you. If you don't mind, "I thought I saw the old man lift I'll be leaving now. Thanks for the it," he said, '"but I wasn't sure and I beer." didn't want to cause trouble. He I waved a hand. "Whatever hap- was pretty clumsy. I guess he lost j)ened to Dunaway?" his touch." • "He drew ten to twenty. The "Yeah," I said, remembering just judge was very put out that Duna­ how Orkie had fumbled for the wal­ way had made a thief out of Santa let when he put his arm over my Claus and destroyed so many child­ shoulders. "I think he has." hood illusions." "You want to'/call the police?" I watched him cross the^room I smiled.; "No 'police." I should and push through the door that led have known that 'Orkie would be to the street. I didn't know whether too proud to ask for money. Lifting I believed him or not. Orkie had al­ the wallet was the only thing he ways been good at tellirig stories. could think of, and if that was the I smiled. It had cost me a half way he wanted it, it was all right dozen beers, but for a little while with me. The empty_ wallet would the loneliness, was gone. appear at the -hotiel desk in the A blonde, jtist about my age, morning and the clerk would tell came into the bar and sat at a table. me it had been found in the lobby. She looked a little lost. It probably Orkie had his own code of honor. had taken all her nerve to enter the In the meantime, I had plenty of bar without an escort. I was wiUing money in the belt around my to bet that she was far from home. middle. In my business, I don't haye There, I thought, is my compan­ time for banks. I carry my assets ion for Christmas dinner. with me. The bartender came over. "Lis­ "No police," I said. "Not on ten," he said, "I could be wrong but Christmas Eve." do you still have your wallet?" I headed for the blonde's table.

42 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED According to O. Henry, life sometimes appears as a reversible coat—seamy on both sides.

of the store that had always in­ trigued him. Now, inside the shop, he was sorry he had stopped as he felt sud­ denly aware of his old reluctance to spend money for whiskey. He tried not to fidget. He feigned an aca­ demic interest in the matter, pull­ ing bottles off the shelves,*" exam- ining the labels studiously, returning bottles to the shelves. There were some fifteen advertised name brands within a price spread of fifty cents, several that were more expensive, and several unfa­ miliar brands that were a good bit less. He glanced in the direction of the clerk, caught his watchful eye for an instant and looked away. He IT WAS A trifling matter, and yet had to act, so he grabbed a bottle of Ben floundered in the throes of in­ one of the cheap off-brands and decision. The penetrating, half- walked over to the counter. "This smiling gaze of the clerk height­ stuff drinkable?" ened the embarrassment he felt for his vacillation. He had noticed this particular package store many times but had never stopped before. It was on his usual route to and from work and there was something about the imusual decor of the front Zojw^ THE EVERLASTING JULICENSEDG TO UNZ.ORG 43 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED The clerk studied him a moment clerk's-gilt tie-clasp, a bizarre ar­ before answering. "Oh, can't be too rangement of stars, serpents, and bad. Bottled in Scotland." The clerk sheaves of grain. was perched like a Buddha on a "Would you like to buy one?" high stool. He was small, balding, the clerk asked. bespectacled. "Sure." "Well, isn't it true that quite of­ "YouV needn't smirk. I can de­ ten these oif-brands are good sur­ liver." plus stock being imloaded by the "A bottomless bottle of booze?" big-name distilleries under different Ben gave the odd little man a silly labels? Some of them are real sleep­ smile. "Come on now, friend. ers." What's the gag?" - "I guess that's true, sometimes," "There's no gag, young man, no the clerk answered. gag at all. And I don't think you "But you're not farhiliar with this should make light of the proposi­ one." tion I'm able to offer. You stand-to "No." gain too much from it. I've seen so "What about some of the other many like you come in here and less expensive ones?" wring yourselves out over the The clerk shook his head again. money you spend for booze. You've "Hell, I can't tell one from an­ gotten yourself into a situation, a other. And I don't believe any of status perhaps, where you've got to my friends can. Sometimes I pour drink it and serve it, and you curse this cheap stuff into' a good bottle the system because it seems such a and then everybody's happy." waste. The clerk maintained his om­ "You buy cheap, off-brand stuff, niscient gaze without commenting. and when you invite people in, you "What I need is a bottle without mix it in the-kitchen. You measure a bottom in it," Ben said. "Hell, you with a light hand and a small jigger invite a couple of people in for and you fill up with mixer. You ask drinks and it seems before "you turn who'll have another and you flinch around you're out another six at every yes you get." bucks' worth of booze." "I must admit," Ben said, "you're "What would you pay for such a making me feel undressed, you read bottle?" the clerk asked. me so well." "Why?" Ben chuckled. "Are you "I know my work. Do you know going to try and sell me one?" Ben's what'one of these bottomless bot­ eye was suddenly arrested.-by the tles will'do for you? It's all twelve-

44 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED year-old stuff, name brands. You comer—unnoticeable at a glance. bring the bottle out and put it on "OK, I'll bite," said Ben. "How your cocktail table. You pour it much?" with a heavy hand. .You're a sport, a "Two hundred." bon vivant, a charming and care­ "Two hundred?" free host. You'll acquire a casual "Don't you think that's a fair confidence you didn't know you price for a lifetime supply of had. You'll literally be a different twelve-year-old Scotch?" person with this bottle." "Lifetime? Not eternal? Sounds "I wish I could buy your story, like a threat." friend," said Ben. "It's the kind of "It's not meant to be. The bottles thing I'd like to believe is possible." come without curses. It's just that "You empty one of my bottles the bottle will be yours and you and bring it back. I'll give you yoiu- must keep its nature in strictest money back. I'll give you an affida­ confidence. Otherwise, I'm afraid vit." He reached into a drawer and the affidavit will be invalidated." pulled out a sheet of rich, white pa­ The clerk's eyes conveyed complete per inscribed in exquisite black authority. script. A gilt reproduction of the "How can I put out two hundred clerk's queer, serpentine tie-clasp dollars without bringing my >vife insignia appeared in startling bril­ into my confidence? We have a liance at the top of the sheet. joint checking account. Hell, that's "Let's see one of the bottles," more than my mortgage payment." Ben said. The clerk's smile penetrated Ben. "Back here." They went back "That's your problem, but some­ into the dusty rear of the store. The how I think you can." clerk led Ben to a shelf where there Ben. clutched his breast pocket. were-.four or five cases of different, -He wondered how the clerk could brands of twelve-year-old Scotch. have known. He had just gotten a Each case had the serpentine gold dividend, check for two himdred insignia imprinted on it. and some odd dollars. Sally paid no "Let me see the Chivas," Ben attention to such matters. There said. would be no problem. It was so pat The clerk reached into one of the it was eerie. cases, pulled out a bottle and "Let me ask you something," said handed it to Ben. The label looked Ben. "Aren't people going to notice routine except that it had the gold that the bottle doesn't use up? I insignia in the lower right-hand mean, you say, 'put it out on the

THE EVERLASTING JUGLICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 45 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED table.' Won't people notice?" "I must be out of rny mind but, "They won't notice. However, if what the hell, this isn't budget you find you're concerned, walk out money. I've got to see how this of the room with it and then back - thing ends." Ben took out the divi­ in. They'll think it's another one." dend check and endorsed it. The clerk smiled. The clerk examined it and put it "Won't my wife notice?" Ben in the register. He paid out the dif­ asked-. ference and handed Ben the bottle "Will she?" The clerk's con­ in a bag and the affidavit. "Good fidence was supreme. health," he said, ascending his stool. "No, I suppose iiot," Ben admit­ "Same to you." Ben felt a mo­ ted thoughtfully. "She's happy to mentary flush of insecurity as he leave me supreme commander of turned and walked out. the bar. Let me ask another ques­ When Ben arrived home, he put tion. Isn't a man with such a bottle the bottle down in the kitchen. prone to alcoholism?" Then he went to his desk, took out "I can't be responsible for abuses an envelope, slipped the folded affi­ of this kind. It's your problem. davit into the envelope, and sealed However, I've received no informa­ it. He thought a moment, smiled, tion of such developments." His and marked the envelope, "Divi­ statement crackled with certainty. dend Certificate." He put the enve­ "What if I drop the bottle?" lope in the bottom drawer of the, "It's a glass bottle. But tell me desk beneath a stack of miscella­ this. How many bottles of Scotch neous papers and bundles of can­ have you ever dropped? Any other celed checks. questions?" "I see you bought another bottle "You sound as though you think of Scotch," came Sally's voice from I'm buying." the kitchen. "Aren't you?" Ben walked into the kitchen. "I must admit I'm intrigued to "Yeah," he said, smiling. "Let's call your bluff. It makes such a have a drink." story." "Sure," said Sally, a little sur­ "But one you' can't tell," the prised at Ben's sudden extrava­ clerk saidquickly. gance. "What are we celebrating?" "You'll back up your-. . . your "Let's toast the mysteries of life," affidavit?" Ben answered. He took out some "As long as you adhere to all its ice, carefully opened the bottle and terms." ' poured two drinks. He replaced the

46 LICENSEDALFRED TO HITCHCOCK' UNZ.ORGS MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED cork and set the bottle on the- organizational dinner meeting. counter. They went into the Hv- When he arrived with his friends, ingroom and sat down. he brought the bottle out and They sipped their drinks and poured with a heavy hand. The made small talk about the day's ac­ clerk's prediction was materi­ tivities but Ben carefully avoided alizing. Ben was a new and differ­ any discussion of the whisky pur­ ent kind of host. His casualness chase. He noted the unquestionable seemed to engender camaraderie. superiority of the whisky over the They were coming up to their third off-brand stuff he usually bought. round and it was a great little spon­ He finished his drink and went taneous party. Ben had gone into back to the kitchen for another. He the kitchen for more ice when he held up the dark bottle to note the heard the sickening shattering of level of its contents and then glass on the tile floor. Ben ran back poured a stiff drink. He held up the into the livingroom. bottle again. He couldn't detect a "Oh hell, I'm sorry, Ben. That change in the level of the whisky, was damn fine booze, too. I don't but then, it was a short, stubby suppose there was much left in it, bottle. He wondered what would though, the way we were hitting be the operating level, so to speak, it." of the bottle. He wondered if the Ben felt queasy and had difficulty liquid level would go down and holding himself together for a mo­ come back up. He thought about ment. "It's okay," he said, finally. challenging the bottle by pouring "Don't give it a thought, Alex. off into other bottles. He could fill a We've all had enough. Let me get a bunch of empty booze bottles! Milk mop." Noting that he was visibly bottles! Gallon jugs! No. How could shaking, he added, "I guess the he explain it to Sally? Too, there noise.startled me." was the affidavit in the sealed enve­ Andy Langham reached down lope. He'd play it straight. He put and picked up the fragment of glass the bottle down and returned to the and label that had the gilt insignia. livingroom. He ran his thumb'over the insignia The next day Ben had a few of and looked up at Ben. Their glances his office mates in for drinks as they met. "Funny," said 'Andy, smiling were all en route from work to an quietly. "Mine got broken too."

THE EVERLASTING JUG LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 47 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED "Gather ye.rosebuds while ye may' -and just mayhap a thorn will prick the surface.

trol of gambling and prostitution on the city's south side. "How bad is he?" Leopold asked. "Alive, but just barely. One bul­ let grazed his skull, and another lodged hear his heart." Leopold reached for his' over­ coat. "Let's go. You can fill me in on the way." The south side of the city was an area of middle-class homes and re­ cent high-rise apartments. Touch­ ing as it did on Long Island Sound, it had become in recent years a mixtiu-e of marinas and bars, with a feel of summer about it that seemed to linger even now, on a January af­ ternoon. Ray Nartez had known the area and lived in it most of his life. WHAT IS IT?" Leopold asked when He'd built a little fish market into a he saw the expression on Fletcher's pair of seafood restaurants, and face. from there he'd gone on to control "A big one, Captain. Somebody much of the gambhng and vice in just shot Ray Nartez." the area. The police, for the most Leopold's eyes narrowed for an part, looked the other way. Nartez instant, considering the ramifica- was likable, and there was always ^ tions of the news. A decade earlier the possibility that his successor it might have signaled the start of- might be much worse. an all-out gang war, but these were One possible successor had ap­ different days, with much more im­ peared on the scene two years ear­ mediate social pressures than con- lier, when hard drugs first became a 48 LICENSEDALFRE TOD HITCHCOCK' UNZ.ORGS MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED major problem in Leopold's city. had' moved into hard drugs and The small independent pushers and seized control of the most profit­ college kids suddenly found them­ able outlets within six months. Then selves being outbid and out- they^tumed their attention to, the maneuvered by a highly profes­ lesser rackets under Ray Nartez' sional operation apparently run by control. A feud had developed be­ a wealthy yachtsman named Ber­ tween Nartez and Collin, one that nard Collin. Collin's organization many of the south-side bookies said

LEOPOLD ON EDGE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED could only end in complete surren­ saw two spidery bullet holes. He der or death. studied them, and then looked back "What about Bernard Collin?" toward the elevators where an ir­ Leopold asked as Fletcher headed regular stain of blood soiled the car­ the unmarked car through the peting. "How—" he started to ask, snow-banked streets toward Nartez' ai}d the detective interrupted. luxury apartment. "Nartez fired twice at his assail­ "We'll have to check him. Think ant,' Captain. This is the gun." He he'd do it himself, or hire it done?" handed over a plastic bag contain­ "If it was planned in advance, ing a .38. he'd hire it done. Where did Nartez Leopold leaned over in the door­ get it?" way to study something on the rug. "Lobby of his apartment build­ "Might have hit him, too. This ing. Here we are now." Lieutenant, could be a drop of blood." Fletcher pulled up behind a squad "Maybe." car with its red light turning slowly "Cut it out of the rug and have it in the dusk of late afternoon. Inside, analyzed." He straightened up and grouped around the little lobby,' turned to Fletcher. "Looks as if were the familiar faces they always Nartez was leaving the elevator and saw at homicides: the photogra­ the gunman was either waiting for phers, and- fingerprint men, the him or just coming in the door. squad-car cops and the man from They, both started shooting, and the D.A.'s office. The only ones Nartez got the worst of it." missing were the corpse and the "How do- we know Nartez was medical examiner. leaving the elevator?" "What's the latest word on Nar­ Leopold hefted the plastic bag tez?" Leopold asked the senior de­ with the .38 inside. "Two shots tective in charge. fired from here, and two bullet "We rushed him to Southside holes in the glass. You said Nartez Hospital, but he's in a bad way." was hit twice, too. One bullet "Conscious?" lodged near the heart and the other "No. Jtjst like dead, .only his one gra.zed his skull. Well, look heart's still beating." around; do we see any other bullet Leopold glanced around at the holes?" bare, sterile lobby. There were two "No," Fletcher admitted. elevators on one wall, and a stair­ "Then where did the slug go af­ way door on another. The entrance ter it grazed his skull?" Leopold was of frosted glass, and here he pressed the elevator- button and

50 LICENSEDALFRE DTO HITCHCOCK' UNZ.ORGS MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED they waited. When the doors shd pocket and promptly forgot about open he checked it and then shook it. his head. "Other one." This time he "Mr. Collin, please," he told the was right. As soon as they stepped casual young blonde girl who an­ into the second elevator they saw swered his ring. the splintered wood panel where "He can't see anyone." the bullet had struck. "He'll see me." Leopold flashed "You're right, Captainr" Fletcher his badge. sighed. Her face clouded for an instant. "Sure I am." He turned and Then, well-trained, she asked, stepped back out. "Fancy elevator, "Narcotics? You need a search war­ carpeting. Expensive place." rant." "Ray Nartez could afford it," "Not narcotics, violent crimes. Fletcher said. Homicide, to be exact. Let me in." "I guess so." Leopold stepped She stepped back as he leaned back while the police photographer gently on the door. Barefoot and got a shot of the open elevator. An long-haired, she might have been officer held the door to keep it from something from a sultan's harem. closing. "Look, Fletcher, you stay ''Follow me," she agreed arovmd here, talk to the other ten­ reluctantly. ants, especially the one who called They found Collin at the back-of the police. Find out if anybody saw the house, lounging on a sun porch anything. I'm going to take the car that overlooked the water. "Who is and pay a call on the eminent it,. Molly?" he asked. Then, recog­ yachtsman and heroin dealer, Mr. nizing Leopold, he added, 'Tou Bernard Collin." shouldn't let peddlers in." The Yiacht Club was closed and "He said—" battened against the winds of win­ "I'm sure he did. What is it, Cap­ ter, with drifted snow dotting the tain? Two tickets to the police­ deserted beach. Leopold parked men's ball?" down the street from it, in front of a Leopold lowered himself into a low, rambling house that was Ber­ wicker chair opposite the man. . nard Collin's waterfront home and Slim and sxm-bronzed and still with year-round retreat. As he ap­ the vigor of a man in his late proached the front door he saw thirties, Bernard Collin lounged in something glisten in the melting the fading afternoon light and snow and bent to retrieve a single seemed completely in control of the gold earring. He dropped it into his situation.

LEOPOLD ON EDGE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 51 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED "No tickets this time, Collin." self,on your nice dock out there?" Leopold's eyes went to the bandage The girl named Molly sucked in around the mail's upper left arm. her breath. "I meant he didn't go "Hurt yourself?" away anywhere. Sure, he was out "A foolish accident this morning. by the dock." Fwas working on my dock and I "A cold day to be working on it." slipped on a-spot of ice. Fell against "Never too cold for a man's a stanchion that sliced a groove in hobby," Collin replied. my arm." "When's the last time you saw "A doctor should see it." Nartez?" Collin's forehead wrinkled. "You Collin shrugged. , "Perhaps a came out here to see about my month ago. Certainly before Christ­ arm?" mas. I dined in his restaurant with a "I came out here because some­ group of friends, and Molly here." body shot Ray Nartez a couple of "Was there bad blood between hours ago." you?" Outlined against the dusky, sea­ "Only -what people like you scape, Collin's expression didn't dream up. Captain. Since I have no seem to change. "I knew he'd get it involvement in the rackets—narcot­ someday." ics or otherwise—I have no desire to "Did you do it, Collin?" take over Nartez' share of them." "Me?" He tried, to laugh. "Tell "Then the stories are all false?" him, Molly. Tell him I've been here "I have been indicted for no all day, just the two of us alone." crime,-Captain. Until such time as I "That's right," she agreed. "He am, I beg you to leave me at -never left the house." peace." ' ' • "I'm sure." "Maybe." Leopold rose from the "You're not pinning this on me, wicker chair. "I'll want a doctor to Leopold." look at your arm. He'll be out to see "I'd like to pin something on you. you." Nartez shot his assailant,' maybe in "Really? Will that prove any­ the left arm." thing?" Bernard Collin touched the ban­ • "Nartez is still alive," Leopold dage lightly. "I told you how it hap­ said, moving toward the door." "Or pened." did I forget to tell you that?" "I know you did. And your friend The blood drained from Collin's here told me you never left the face. "Did he say I shot him?" house. So how could you hurt your­ "He will," Leopold said with as- 52 LICENSEDALFRE TOD UNZ.ORGHITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED surance.. "He will. You bet on it." "Then you really think Collin shot him personally?" ' In the morning, over coffee, Leo­ "I'm sure of it." pold asked Fletcher what he'd "What about the girl?" learned at Nartez' apartment house. "She'd lie for him, but she's not "Not much. Captain. Woman up­ very good at it." stairs called the police. She heard "We need evidence, Captain." the shots, all together. She couldn't "Yeah.'' Leopold turned from the swear how many there were, but window. "What about Nartez? Is probably four. She looked out her he conscious yet?" window to 'See a man running Fletcher shook his head. "He toward his car, but she didn't see his may never be. The bullet cut a face—only a dark overcoat and hat. groove along the side of his head. That's when she called us." By the time he comes out of it, the "The car?" bullet in his chest may have killed "Dark. Her eyesight's not very him." good. Captain." "Damn it, Fletcher, he has to "Did she see any sign of his being talk! He has to put the finger on wounded?" Collin, or we've got no case!" "No, I asked her that." "Easy, Captain. Sometimes we "All right." Leopold got up and lose them." gazed out the window at the park­ "I'm not losing this one, Fletcher. ing lot, where a pile of dirty snow I want Bernard Collin, and I'm go- still remained unmelted. "The doc ,ing to get him." check Collin's arm yet?" The day dragged on, and Leo­ "First thing this morning." pold spent much of his time avoid­ "Bullet wound?" ing the reporters who pressed in "Bad cut. The doc stitched it up. upon him. He was unprepared for Didn't look like a bullet wound to the publicity a case like this him, but he admits Collin could brought, and he could only hope it have disguised it if it was just a flesh would be over before too long. wound. Do you think'anybody'd do "You're all on edge. Captain," that. Captain? Cut up a woimd and . Fletcher remarked once, aQ:er Leo­ make it worse, just to disguise its pold had barked at a detective ser­ true nature?" geant about an error on a report. "You'd do a lot of things, "Take it easy!" Fletcher, if you were facing a mur­ "This thing is getting me down," der charge." Leopold admitted. "I know Collin LEOPOLD ON EDGE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 53 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED shot him, but I'm afraid Nartez will "We'll see about that, Collin." die before he can confirm it." The telephone at his .elbow In the morning, when there was buzzed and Leopold answered. It no change in Nartez' condition, was Fletcher in the outer office. "I Leopold phoned Bernard Collin thought you'd want to know, Cap­ and told him to come in for further tain. The hospital just phoned. Nar­ questioning. The slim yachtsman tez is partly conscious and may be arrived at eleven o'clock, accom­ able to speak. They said if we want panied by his lawyer and wearing to talk to him we'd better hurry, his left arm in a black silk sling. though. He's sinking fast." "You have . more, questions for "Let's go." He hung up the tele­ me, Captain? I thought Mr. Thomas phone and grabbed for his coat. here should be present. Surely you "Nartez is conscious," he told Col­ know Matt Thomas, of Harder and lin. "He's going to tell us who shot Thomas." him." • Leopold acknowledged the in­ "Mind if we come along?" the troduction; Thomas was a leading lawyer asked. criminal lawyer, who'd • defended "You can come to. the hospital, more than one of Collin's pushers. . but you're not getting anywhere "I'll get right to the point, Collin. near Nartez." I want a statement from you as to Outside, the day had turned cold your movements on Tuesday after­ and there were flurries of snow • noon, and you might include in it against the dark sky. an account of how you claim you injured your arm Tuesday morn­ The doctor, young and brash and ing." not overly fond of police, would al­ Matt Thomas cleared his throat. low only Leopold into, the room. "Is my client a suspect in the shoot­ "One man only. I have a patient ing of Ray Nartez?" near death in there." "Damn right he is! The number- Leopold nodded. "Fletcher, you one suspect. We have a witness wait down the hall with Collin ajid who may have seen him running his lawyer." He entered the in­ from the, scene." tensive care imit and followed the Collin and his lawyer,.exchanged nurse to the screened-off bed where" glances, and the slim man said, Ray Nartez clung to life. The man "You're bluffing, Leopold. You had a tube up his nose and another haven't a thing on me except a lot in his arm, and his head was ban­ of guesswork." daged. His breathing seemed ir-

54 LICENSEDALFRE TO DUNZ.ORG HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED regular and his eyes were closed. started down the long corridor "Nartez," Leopold said. toward the solarium where he The eyelids fluttered and almost could see Fletcher and Collin and came open. The nurse standing be­ the lawyer waiting. They turned, hind Leopold said, "He may not be' three anxious faces, as he ap­ able to hear you." proached. ' Leopold bent and spoke directly "Well?" Bernard Collin asked. into the man's unbandaged ear. "He lived just long enough to "Nartez, this is Captain Leopold. make a statement, He said you Who shot you?" •killed him,^Collin." The eyelids came open then, just The man's face went ashen. "I a bit. "Leopold . . ." The voice can't believe that.'' • was barely a whisper, hardly carry­ "I'm booking you'on a murder ing to Leopold's ears. charge, Collin; Let's go back down­ "Nartez, you're dying. Who shot town." • I you!^ • •' . ". . . no difference now." It was after seven that night "Nartez, was it Bernard Collin when Fletcher poked his head into who shot you?" Leopold's office. "Staying late, The eyes cleared for just an in­ Captain?" stant, and Ray Nartez whispered, "Yeah. What about Collin?" "Forget it. I shoulda been a better "His lawyer wants him arraigned shot ..." tonight so he can ask for bail. I told "Nartez!" him it would have to wait till morn­ The eyes closed, and the head ing." slumped to one side. The nurse Leopold stared glumly at his moved around Leopold to feel for a desk. After a moment he said, pulse, but it was too late. Ray Nar­ "Come in and close the door, will tez was dead. you, Fletcher? Do you have a few Leopold stood up, shaken, and minutes, or is Carol holding dinner the nurse rang for the doctor. "Did for you?" he tell you who killed him?" she "No, Captain, I've got time. asked. What's the trouble?" He stared at her for just an in­ "There won't be any arraignment stant, realizing that she hadn't tomorrow. I'm releasing Bernard heard, and said, "Yes. He told me." Collin." Then he went out into the hall, "What?" passing the doctor on the way, and "Ray Nartez didn't tell me a LEOPOLD' ON EDGE 55 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED damned thing before he died. I was "We ran a test on" that bloodstain bluffing and it didn't work." from Nartez' carpet. Type B, the "Captain, CoUin'll have you for same as Bernard Collin's type." false arrest!" "Oh?" Leopold straightened up "I suppose so." Leopold ran a in his chair. "What was Nartez' hand through his thinning hairline. type?" "I was just so damned certain he "Let's see . . . Type O, so it's not did it! I've never been so sure of , his. I guess you were right about the anything in my life." killer getting wounded." "Are you that certain, Captain? "Yeah. Thanks, Benny." He hung Really? Or is it just this narcotics up and told Fletcher about it. business that makes you think he "Too bad it's not evidence for a must be guilty?" courtroom. Captain. All it proves is "I don't know, Fletcher. I don't that Collin could be the killer, not know anymore. Maybe I'm getting that he is the killer." too old for the job \vhen I try to "It's enough for me, Fletcher. pull a trick like this." What time is that arraignment to­ "You've just been on edge. Cap­ morrow morning?" tain. Settle down! Maybe you need "Ten o'clock." a week in Florida. This winter "Then I've got till ten o'clock to weather gets anybody down." come up with some real evidence "I'll have plenty of time for rest against Collin." -after tomorrow. Matt Thomas will "You're not releasing him?" have that false arrest suit filed be­ Leopold shook his head. "I'm not fore I have time to catch my releasing him. By this time tomor­ breath." row, either Collin will be charged Fletcher sighed and shook his \yith murder or I'll be out of this of­ head. "So what do we do?" fice." "You're not in it, Fletcher. Just "What kind of evidence is there. me." Captain? Our eyewitness can't "I'm in it. Captain. Hell, do you identify him." think I'd stay on here without "There's the girl, Molly.". you?" "So you get her to change her The telephone rang and Leopold story and admit- that he • left the answered. "This is the lab, Captain. house. That still doesn't place him I thought you'd be home by now." at Nartez' apartment with a gun." . "No, I'm still here, Bermy. What "It's circumstantial, I know." is it?" "Damn right, it's circumstantial!

56 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED Captain, a smart lawyer like Matt them? You think he's so poor he has Thomas woiild demolish it in a to get a reweaving job on some bul­ minute. Without Nartez' dying let holes because he can't afford a statement, you've got nothing." new coat?" ' "There was no dying statement, "No," Leopold answered hon­ Fletcher. He only said he should estly. "But I think it's the only have been a better shot." chance I've got." "There was a dying statement when you walked out of that hospi­ The girl named Molly answered tal room this noon." , his persistent ringing, looking half Leopold's eyebrows raised. "You awake and wearing a baggy red want me to stick with that? To per­ bathrobe. "What is this, anyway? jure myself?" What time is it? It's barely day­ "I guess not, Captain. But I don't light!" . . " want to see you crucified over a rio- "Ten minutes to eight. Sorry to gdod narcotics dealer like Bernard get you out of bed, but I have a few Collin. You had a reason for what more questions to ask." you did at the hospital today. If the "You're that detective, the one reason was good enough then, who was here the other day!" maybe it's still good enough." "Captain Leopold, yes." "It was never good enough, "Where's Bemie? Do you still Fletcher. There was a crazy mo­ have him in jail?" ment at the hospital when I thought . "He'll be in court at ten o'clock. I could play God. Now I'm back to The judge will decide whether to just playing detective." set bail pending the grand jury in- "Looking for that nonexistent- dictirient." piece of evidence?" "Well, what do you want with Leopold took a deep breath. me?" "We know the killer was wearing a "Questions, only questions and topcoat. Our witness mentioned a answers. If you let me in, I won't dark coat, and it was a cold day be­ take long." sides. So if Collin is the killer and "All right," she mumbled. "But the bullet grazed his arm, it had to I've gotta have some coffee." pass through a topcoat, a shirt, and "Perhaps I can join you in some." maybe even a suit coat. Those gar­ She looked him over and then ments exist somewhere, with bullet stepped back to let him in. He fol­ holes and bloodstains." lowed her to the sprawling kitchen "Sure, you think Collin is saving where she motioned him to a chair. LEOPOLD ON EDGE 57 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED "So Nartez said Bemie shot him?" murder, atnd that he was fighting for Leopold grunted. "We've been his life." taking another look at the evidence. "How do you know it happened I think I might have misuiiderstood like that?" she challenged. Ray Nartez' dying statement." "Because the bullet that grazed She plugged in the coffeepot and Nartez' skull went into the elevator waited for more. When it wasn't behind him, and those doors stay forthcoming, she asked, "You mean open for only a few seconds. There now you don't think he did it?" was no time for conversation. "We're considering other possi­ When they saw each other, they bilities." started shooting. Nartez implied as She tossed her head, shaking the much to me before he died." long blonde hair from her eyes. "Go on," she said, her face white "Matt Thomas is a smart lawyer. with fear. He'll get Bemie off, no matter what "Now, Nartez knew you, and happens." knew your connection with Collin, "Would he be as good at getting because the two of you dined in one you off, Molly?" of his restaurants last month. If he "Huh?" . saw you with a gun in your*hand, "We think Collin's innocent be­ he'd immediately know yom- in­ cause we think you killed Ray Nar­ tention." tez." "This is madness! Why should I Her hand jumped, upsetting the want to kill him?" waiting coffee cup. "Are you crazy "For a devious, but very femi­ or something?" nine, reason. You wanted to frame "Not at all. Suppose you sit down Collin for the killing." and listen." i "What?" She dropped into the chair, her "Consider that there were a few eyes wide with disbelief, and Leo­ drops of blood on the scene, evi­ pold hurried on. "Ray Nartez was dence that the killer had been shot by someone he knew and im­ wounded. I called on Bernard Col­ mediately recognized. As soon- as lin and found that he'd injured his that elevator door opened, he • arm, an injury that could have been pulled his gun and started shooting. caused by a bullet. The coincidence Even confronted by a stranger with of Collin injuring his arm on the a drawn gun, he might ordinarily same day Nartez wounded his killer have thought it to be a robbery at­ is just too much to swallow. There tempt. But .Nartez knew • it was • were only two possible ex-

58 . ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED planations! either Collin was the Nartez saw him in the lobby he killer, or someone used the arm in­ went for his gun, and Bernie killed jury to set up a careful frame for him. Then he came back here and Collin. Remember, he said the acci­ made up the story about his arm in­ dent happened in the morning, but jury!" Nartez wasn't shot till afternoon. "Why should L believe you now, Plenty of time for someone to use when I couldn't before?" the knowledge of the, arm injury to "Because I'm telling you the kill him and make it look like the truth now, damn it!" killer was wounded." "Can you prove it? Otherwise it's "How does that make it me?" just your word against his." Leo­ "Collin didn't call a doctor for pold, leaned toward her, "What his injury, and didn't leave the about the clothes he was wearing house, remember? And nobody- when-he was shot?" ; . came to visit. Only you, Molly, "We burned the shirt in the fire­ knew of Collin's injury, knew that it place because it,was all blood­ could be used to frame him for the stained. But I wouldn't let him burn murder of Ray Nartez." _ the coat. I hid it, and told him I'd "That's no kind of evidence," she get it fixed later." said. "Where is it?" "No? Well, maybe this is." He She returned in a moment carry­ opened his hand and showed her ing the big dark overcoat with the the little earring he'd picked up on little holes in the left arm and dark his previous visit. "We found this at stains around them. "I wanted to the scene of the shooting." keep it because it has his name in­ "I lost it days ago. I •. . .1. . ." side, and the Yacht Club crest. "Yes, Molly?" . See?" - "Hell, I'm not taking the rap for "Yes, I see," Leopold said. He this! Bernie shot him, and got glanced at his watch and saw that nicked in the arm, just like you fig­ he still had over an hour before the ured. He didn't go there to kill him, arraignment. "Let's go downtown, just to scare him a little. But when Molly. We'll take the coat with us."

LEOPOLD ON EDGE 59 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED Wherein one man exhibits weakness, could it not also he his strength?

long time to think things through. Billy" was weak in the head. At least that's what everybody thought. I did, myself, when they put Billy in the cell with me at state prison. That's why I sort of took the kid under my wing, you know what, I mean?-1 felt sorry for him. He needed somebody to look" out for him in that crummy place, he was

I WAS READING the sports page in the evening newspaper when Billy called. It was four-thirty in the af­ ternoon. I was sitting close to the open window in my undershirt, try­ ing to get a breath of air. Outside,, the temperature was close to ninety. "Shipment just left," Billy said in the slow, uncertain way he had. "Shipment, Frankel. You get "it?" "I get it," I said as calmly as I could through the excitement that jumped into my throat. I knew I couldn't hurry Billy. It took him a 60 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED so . . . not weak in the head, ex­ chuckled, suddenly. "That's like a actly, but . . . slow and dumb and hot dog, Frankel." trusting. I was glad now that I'd "Yeah, it is, isn't it? Now then, looked out for him inside, for weak- Billy, this is the important part. Did minded Billy was putting me onto you find out where the armored car the best thing I'd ever had. was taking them?" "What we been waiting for, Billy chuckled again. "Sure, Frankel," Billy said. "Understand?" Frankel. I heard the boss tell the "Yeah," I said. "I understand. driver." When did it leave?" I wiped the sweat off my upper After a long pause for consid­ lip and said, "Good boy, Billy! I eration, Billy said, "Twenty min­ knew you wouldn't let old Frankel utes after four." down. Where did the boss tell the "Ten minutes ago, fine. How was driver to take the crates?" it shipped?" Paper rustled again. "Pier; 62," "Two wooden crates with wire Billy said.proudly, "21st Street and' straps aroimd. Jiost like I told you, Hudson River." Frankel." In a rush of relief, I said, "Billy, "I mean, you're sure they're what you're a real buddy!" . we want? Did they go in an ar­ "That's all I ever wanted to be," mored car?" Billy said. "Your buddy, Frankel. "Sure." You was so nice to me when we was "Good," I said. My excitement in . . . you know ..." grew. "And they were being sent 'Tou're the best buddy a guy out of the country, Billy? You ever had," I said. "Now, listen. I'm know, the way I explained to you?" going to call for you tonight at yoiu" I could hear paper rustling. Billy boardinghouse. At one o'clock. You had evidently written it down. "It be all packed and ready to go when said West Germany on the crates, I get there. Okay?" Frankel. Some crazy bank in West "I'll write it down," Billy, said, Germany." and repeated aloud as he wrote I wanted to be ' sure. I said, down in that beautiful script of his, "Where in West Germany? What "Frankel comes for me at one city did it say?" o'clock. Be ready." "Frankfurt," said Billy and "That's one o'clock tomorrow \^ Javiss nouimc WEAK IN THE HEAD LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 61 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED morning," I said. "One hour after window again. It was a little cooler - midnight. Okay?" now. Billy wrote it down. I sometimes thought he wrote things down more The heist went off as slick as to enjoy his penmanship than to grease. help him remember things. "I'll be It was no trouble getting onto the ready," he said then. "What we pier. We waited till we had the gonna do, Frankel?" movements of the night man "You know. I already told you. clocked, then went out on the pier We're going to take a crack at toward the high security area, stick­ those crates on Pier 62, then we're ing to the shadows and wearing our ' going to disappear into thin air. stocking masks. Billy could move That's what we're going to do, pretty;^ quietly for a big man, and Billy. You with me?" I'm no slouch myself in that regard. Billy didn't hesitate for a second. Billy and I look a lot alike. With "Sure, Frankel. I'm with you. You the masks .on, we looked like twins. oughta know that. All the way." He There were floodlights all around paused for thought. "But . . ." the valuable cargo crib. One of the "But what?" security guards was patrolling the "I don't want nobody to get perimeter of the fenced-in enclo­ - hurt," Billy said earnestly. "We sure. The other two were sitting in­ won't have to hurt nobody, will we, side, playing gin rummy on an up- • Frankel?" turned box. "Not a chance. I told you about I nudged Billy. "Are those the that, too. Nobody'U get hurt the crates?" I whispered. We could see way I've got the job lined out. I two wooden crates with steel strap­ promise. You be ready at one ping around them in the comer o'clock when I come^ for you, nearest the door of the cargo crib. Billy." Billy started to say something. "Okay, Frankel." Then he remembered that I'd told I hung up. I checked over the him to keep quiet and he nodded stocking masks, the suitcases, the his head. tranquilizer gun and darts, the pic­ I could see that the padlock on ture wire, tin snips, pry bar, hatchet the crib gate was hanging loose and sash weights one.final time. I frorn^ the hasp. It wasn't even packed up the few personal things I locked. That was cooperation for had in that bare hotel room. sure. With three armed guards on - Then I sat down beside the open the job, who needed a little padlock

62 LICENSEDALFRE TOD HITCHCOCK' UNZ.ORGS MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED on the crib gate? This was going to that. He leaped for a switch on the be a breeze. I was sure of it now. far wall that must have controlled When the patrolling guard the lights but before he could reach walked as close to us as his route it, I was through the crib gate and would bring him, I raised my gun let him have his little dose of peace and let him have a dart in the small and quiet right between the shoul­ of the back. There wasn't any more der blades. The dart went in with a noise to it than a regular handgim thump. Joe was sucking in his with a silencer might make. breath to yell for help when Billy The guard spun around in a slipped past me into the cage and circle, dropped his shotgun and clapped a hand over Joe's open grabbed for his back with both mouth so that all that came out of it hands, a funny look on his Irish was a muffled grunt. face. "Hey!" he said, more sur­ That was about it. We tied up prised than scared, "I've been the three guards where they fell. shot!" The tranquilizer ought to give us an He was already falling when he hour, I figured, and the tying-up an­ said it. That strong solution worked other couple of hours before the fast. When the guard hit the crates could be reported missing. ground, he was already tranquilized By that time, Billy and I would be out of his skull. long gone. The gin-rummy players in the We didn't take anything out of cage heard their buddy say he'd the valuable cargo crib except the been shot. They jvmiped up and two crates bound for Frankfurt, looked wildly out through the wire West Germany. It hurt some to pass mesh of their cage. They saw him up all that interesting-looking stuff, collapse on the cement dock. With I can tell you, but I knew I'd be cards flying every which way, one nuts to complicate things. of them started for the crib gate, So Billy and I .each grabbed one clawing in his holster for his gun. I of the wooden crates and carried it" let him get one step outside the out of the floodlit cage into the gate before I gave him a dart just relative darkness of the pier. There, over his heart. He couldn't see us, behind the same pillar I'd shot the being blinded by the floodlights, first two guards from, we set down but he felt the needle syringe go in our crates, took off our masks, and I and yelled in a panic, "Get the put away my tranquilizer gim in its lights, Joe!" before he collapsed. special case inside my jacket. Joe tried his best, I'll give him That's when I noticed that the WEAK IN THE HEAD LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 63 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED first guard I'd tranquilized—the one feet against the hot kitchen istove. who had been patroUing—was be­ Billy told me about it in prison. ginning to come out of it. He was "Shut up, Billy!" I told him lying about ten feet away from us, again. "I'm sorry I had to hit him. and in the floodlight reflection, I Now, pick up that crate and let's saw him move his arm. Then I get the hell out of here." heard him groan. Billy didn't say another word. He I quick-stepped over to him. My picked up his crate and I picked up dart had been slightly deflected by mine, and we got out of there. All his leather belt and gone into him the way back to where I'd parked at an angle. He hadn't got the full my car, though, off 21st Street, dose. As I leaned over him, his eye­ Billy kept his head turned to one lids began to flutter. I didn't have side so I wouldn't see he had tears my mask on now, and I.didn't want in his eyes; just the way he used to him to open those eyes and get a do in prison when anybody got look at me in the floodlights. So I hurt. acted automatically. I snatched, out That was at 2:30 in the morning. my tranquilizer gim, reversed it in . By 3:30, we were out of the city my hand, and gave the guard a solid and heading north on the New York smash with the butt of it on the Thruway at sixty-five miles an hour. back of his head. The two crates were in the trunk of When I straightened up, Billy the car. was right behind me. He was look-, Billy was quiet. Sitting in the pas- ing down at the guard, his face • senger seat beside me, he closed his twisted. "You h-hit him, Frankel!" eyeis and pretendeH to doze. A little he stuttered. "You. hit him! You while after we crossed the Tappan promised we wouldn't hurt nobody Zee Bridge, he opened his eyes and . . . and you h-hit him!" looked out of the window. Then he Between my teeth, I hissed, said, "Where we going now, "Shut up! I had to hit him, Billy." Frankel?" "But Frankel," his voice went "Buffalo," I.said. "I got some­ into a wail, "you pro-promised we- thing lined up there that will give wouldn't hurt nobody!" me cash for what's in those crates See, Billy has this screwy feeling back there." about not wanting to hurt anybody, "Oh," said Billy and lapsed into ever since his imcle, who raised silence again. him, used to pimish him when he An hour later, I-.pulled off the was a little kid by holding his bare Thruway and went a mile or so

64 LICENSEDALFRE TO DUNZ.ORG HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED along a feeder road through maybe a hundred each. I couldn't deserted hilly country. Finally I believe my luck: 21,000 pieces of pulled in under a tree in a little printed paper, and all in ten and roadside picnic park and turned off twenty dollar denominations. I did my headlights and engine. a rough estimate in my head and It wasn't smart to stop.yet. I whistled. knew that. We were still too close Three hundred thousand dollars' to New York and Pier 62, but I was worth of Columbia Express Trav­ so anxious to see what I'd got that I eler's Checks! Give or take twenty- couldn't hold out any longer. five thousand. As good as gold any­ "What we stopping here for?" where in the world. Billy asked. "Billy," I said, "I'm rich!" I had "I want to open the crates and trouble controlling my voice. see what I got." "That's good," said Billy. "Did I "Oh," said Billy. He climbed out do it right, what you told me to, of the car. I went around and un­ Frankel?" locked the trunk and hauled out "You did perfect, old buddy! one of the crates. "Hold it, Billy," I From now on, it's nothing but said, "while I cut the steel straps racetracks, beautiful women and and pry up the lid." world cruises for me!" Billy held the crate steady on the Billy's eyes went blank. He nod­ edge of the trimk. I used the tin . ded. "You said 'I'm rich,' Frankel! snips to cut the steel strapping. I You said Tjeautiful women and worked the pry-bar blade vinder the world cruises for me'l You ain't nailed wooden lid and heaved. gonna leave me come with you, are The lid came loose with a squeal you, Frankel? You're going alone! I of nails. I pulled it up, and there ain't really your buddy, am I, they were, looking back-at me in Frankel?" His voice got the lost the dim glow of the tnmk light. The note in it that would end in a wail.. sheaves of paper were packed in I kicked myself. I said, "Now, solid. I put that crate on the ground Billy! You damn well are my buddy! and opened up the second one. How many times I got to tell you? I Same thing; packed to the brim meant that both of us are loaded. with thick pads of paper. We're both going to live high off I got the two empty suitcases out the hog from now on in." of the tnmk and began to count As though he hadn't heard me, into them. I didn't coimt accu­ Billy muttered, "And you-hit the rately, just approximate stacks of guard, Frankel, after you prom-

WEAK IN THE HEAD 65 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED ised you wouldn't hiirt anyone." The thought made' me faintly I Sciid, "I told you about that! I • uneasy. had to hit him, Billy. He might have "And when somebody cashes one -spoiled our caper. Now stop worry­ of the ch'ecks," Billy said, "the-the ing, will you? And get those suit­ machine tells them about it. Then cases closed and into the trunk, the Columbia Express cops get on okay? While I get rid of these the trail." He said it like it was a empty crates." game of cops and robbers from his I broke up the wooden crates childhood. into kindling with the hatchet, and Trying to cheer him up, I said, burned them into charred sticks in' "Ain't any old computer gpiiig to' one of the picnic fireplaces. I buried outsmart Frankel and his buddy, the twisted steel strapping under a Billy, is there? We'll get the best of big pine tree and scraped needles the machine, Billy, believe me." over the spot. Billy said without much interest, In fifteen minutes, we were-back "How, Frankel?" • . ., , on the Thruway. "We'll let somebody else worry Billy didn't say a word for ten about the computer. We'll take miles or so. Then, to get him talk­ cash and be out from vmder." ing, I said, "What did you tell your "I did everything right you told boss at Columbia Express, Billy?" me," Billy said. He answered slowly, with a side­ "Everything. Every damn thing, long look at me. "I told him my Billy." buddy was coming to visit me from He nodded solemnly to himself. out of town. I said I .wouldn't come Past Albany, I stopped for gas. to work for a while. I .was going to The tank was dangerously low, and take my vacation. I told him that." the alUnight station was the last "Good," I said. "That was exactly we'd pass for quite a few- miles. right. Nobody'U miss you at work." While the attendant was filling the "I guess not," said Billy. tank, Billy said, "I'm hungry, "What'U happen when they find Frankel." out the checks are stolen?" I said. I said, "That limchroom over Billy shrugged. "I, told you al­ there's open. Why don't you get us ready, Frankel." a couple of hot dogs and' coffees to "Tell me again." •go?" "They feed the numbers of the "Okay," Billy said. He climbed checks into one of those machines." out and went into the limchroom. I 'Teah," I said. "A computer." stayed in the shadows of the car, so 66 ALFRED HITCHCOCKS MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED my face wouldn't be too noticeable. yoii'd expect him to. All he did was When Billy came out of the say in that slow way of his, "You lunchroom, I'd finished paying for stuck me, Frankel!" the gas, and I'd got the dart loaded "It's been a long night, Billy,"- I and hidden under my right thigh on said. "Maybe you ought to get a the car seat. Billy got in the passen­ little sleep." ger seat with the hot dogs and two "I knew you wasn't really my cartons of coffee and we took off buddy," Billy murmured. again. He didn't take his eyes off my I drove at a steady sixty-five for a face. I said, "Billy, I didn't hurt you. few miles. By then, we'd finished Remember that. I didn't hurt you, the hot dogs and coffee and were buddy." It was the best I could do close enough to the spot I'd picked in the way of apology. out. I pulled over onto the shoulder He mumbled, "Frankel . . ." be­ and stopped. There was no other fore he went completely under. car in sight. Then he fell back against the seat "What we stopping here for?" and his head sagged toward me. I asked Billy. reached across and pulled his leg "I'm pooped," I said, stretching back into the car, closed his door, my shoulders back to ease my mus­ and straightened him up in the seat cles. "How about you driving for a as well as I could. while, Billy?" I drove another mile up the "Sure, Frankel," said Billy, who Thruway to the exit I wanted and loved to drive. turned into the ramp and came out "Okay," I said. "Get out and on a narrow asphalt road leading come around." off into the countryside. I was in fa­ Billy reached for the door handle miliar country here. Before my old on his side. I got the dart out from man turned into a drunk, he used to imder my thigh and jabbed it into 'bring me here over weekends in his his backside as he started to slide old farm pickup to go fishing. I out of his door. could still remembei; the ripe smell Billy froze, with one leg out of of the grapes and cherries he used the car, one in. His head swiveled to haul to market in that old pickup toward me like a striking snake. truck. The fuimy thing was, I could see by Two miles from the Thruway, I the dashboard lights that he didn't turned left into a dirt road that look surprised, and he didn't yell wandefed northeast through woods "Ouch!" or swear, or anything like and farm fields. Pretty soon I came WEAK IN THE HEAD LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 67 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED to the river we used to fish in, my wasn't safe to let the kid nm loose old man and me; thirty feet deep after a caper like this. All anybody and fifty yards across where the would have to do would be to men­ bridge carried the road over it. tion my narne to him and he'd spill I pulled up .in the middle of the the whole thing, out of pride in ''bridge and killed my engine and being my buddy. lights. It was cool and quiet here. I ,- The first streak of daylight couldn't hear anything except the showed in the sky when I made it sound of the water sliding past the back to the Thruway -and started bridge pilings below, and I couldn't north again. For a while, it felt sort see anything at all. It was dark as of lonesome, driving along by my­ pitch, just before dawn. self without Billy beside me. I went around and opened the. In Buffalo, I found a public, car trunk and took out the pictin-e phone booth and used it to call-an wire and the sash weights from unlisted number. A man answered. where I'd hidden them behind the* "Yeah?" One of Jake's bodyguards, spare tire rack. I took out the . I guessed. hatchet and the tin snips, too, while "This is Frankel," I said. I was at it, and the little pack of In a minute, Jake came on. Billy's clothes he'd brought with "Yeah, Frankel?" him. - "I got it," I said. Billy was deep imder now from "Good. What's it amoiuit to?"' the tranquilizer. I hoisted him up "Over three hundred thousand, onto the bridge rail and balanced Jake. I haven't coimted it right him there while I wired the sash yet." weights and the hatchet and the tin Jake whistled at the size of the snips and his pack to him. At the score. "What denominations?". last minute, I wired my dart gim "Tens and twenties," I said. and holster to him, too. Then I "Very handy." shoved him over. He'd drown in his "Great." Jake was quiet for a sec­ sleep and nobody would ever find ond. Then he said,. "I didn't think him there in a million years. you'd make it, Frankel." I listened for the splash and when "Why not?" it came up to me, I got into the car, "With .that dummy you told me backed off the bridge, turned about? The crazy you were count­ around, and started back to the ing on to finger the shipment for Thruway. you?" I felt bad about Billy, but it "The dummy did fine," I said..

68 LICENSEDALFRE DTO HITCHCOCK' UNZ.ORGS MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED "Weak in the head or not, he did "He won't talk. I guarantee it." just fine." "Okay, Frankel. Where'U you be "Evidently," Jake said. "Where is for the next week or two? Till we're he now?" . • • sure the Feds or the state police "How should Iknow?" aren't camping on your trail?" "I just want to be sure he won't "My farm outside Fredonia," I talk." said. "That's where I'm heading.

WEAK IN THE HEAD LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED 69 And you can forget anyone being for the heat to die down, before he on my tail. This one was clean, allowed any of the stolen checks to Jake." be ca.shed. He figured that even a "You own a farm?" Jake couldn't computer would begin to get tired keep the surprise out of his voice. of waiting, after two or three years "My old lady left it to me in her went by without a single stolen will when she died. I was in jail at . check showing up. After I had my the time." cash, I was going to do just what I'd "You got a phone there?" told Billy—live high off the hog. I "Sure. Listed in the phone book. had a passport already faked, ready Under my own name for a change." to take me out of the "country for I gave Jake the phone number and good. Any way. you looked at it, I address of my farm. _ was home free. "Okay. We'll, be in touch, Home; a lousy five acres border­ Frankel." ing the narrow road that leads from I said, "Bring enough dough Fredonia out to the lake at Van when you come. The deal was fifty Buren Point. Weeds and wild percent of the face amount in cash growth had taken over the grape­ for me. Right? And I'm sure there's vines and cherry trees from which more than three hundred thou­ my folks used to make a bare living. sand." The farmhouse was still weath- "Let me worry about that," Jake ertight but the paint was flaking off .said, and hung up. in six-inch patches. The shed where I drove on west, feeling very my old man used to keep his pickup good about things. Jake would wait truck and farm tools was sagging at until he was sure there were no one comer. Some home! leads to the theft of the traveler's All the same, I was glad I hadn't checks. Then he'd send one of his sold the place when I got out of boys to my farm to pick up the prison, for it was exactly the hole I checks in exchange for my cash. I needed to crawl into now: no near wasn't afraid Jake would cross me. neighbors; the shed to hide my car He'd been anxious for the deal the in; a bed; a telephone; enough food minute I propositioned him—as a for a couple of weeks and ditto long-term investment, he'd said. bourbon whiskey, which I'd laid in With his organization, he could before I left for New York three spread the checks all over the world weeks ago. ^ ^ . and, equally important, he could af­ I ran my car into the shed and ford to wait for years, if necessary. locked the doors. I took the two 70 LICENSEDALFRE TOD HITCHCOCK'UNZ.ORG S MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED suitcases full of, traveler's checks the shed. Two fellows got out and into the house and counted them came to the house and rapped on carefully, this time, using the num­ the kitchen screen door. bers, which were all in sequence on I was sitting in the kitchen, eat­ the tens and twenties. Three hun­ ing cold baked beans for lunch. Af­ dred and -ten thousand dollars. My ter a long minute, during which I rough count had been close. decided they could see me through I stashed-the suitcases in our old the screen door, I went to it and root cellar where we used to store said, "Yes?" without opening it. apples and potatoes for the winter The guy who had rapped was short before there was any such thing as and chunky. The other one must refrigeration. Then I took a stiff have been six-three. belt of boiu-bon and hit the sack. I "Hi, Mr. Frankel," the short one was pretty well worn out. said. "Glad we found you in." His That was Saturday. On-the fol­ eyes were going over me as he said lowing Friday, the phone rang. I it. reached for it with relief. I was "Who are you?" I asked. tired of listening to the radio, read-, The tall one spoke up. "We'd ing old paperbacks and sleeping. like a word with you, Mr. Frankel." Jake is shortening my waiting time, He had a cast in his left eye. I thought. And why not? The radio "What about? I'm busy." . had reported for a week that there The short one said cheerfully, were no clues to the theft of. the "About those traveler's checks you traveler's checks off Pier 62. stole from Pier 62 in New York last I said, "Hello," into the phone. week." "Is this Eldon P. Frankel?" It T felt the shock clear down to wasn't Jake's voice. my toes. I thought maybe the baked - "Who's calling?" I asked. beans that I'd jtist eaten were going "This is a telephone survey, sir. to come up again. All I could say We're asking a sampling of county was, "What the hell do you mean residents whether they've seen the by that?" TV spots on the County Commis­ "Why don't you ask xis in?" the sion's program—" tall one said. He brought his hand "I haven't got a TV set," I said j)ut from behind the short one's and hung up.- back. It held a .38 revolver that Not more than half an hour later, looked at me over Shorty's shoul­ a dusty sedan turned into my farm der. Shorty himself flashed a gold and stopped in the turnaround by badge at me. "Cory, FBI," he said.

WEAK IN THE HEAD 71 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED "And my friend with the artillery is 7774569877, in the amount of ten Fred Tibbett, New YorlTCity po­ dollars, cashed by a man answering lice." He pulled the screen door your description at Harry's Thru- open and they backed me into the way Lunchroom in the small hours kitchen. of last Saturday morning." "Sorry to interrupt your lunch, Billy! When he got the hot dogs Frankel," Tibbett said, taking in the and coffee! The stupid, dumb crazy! half-finished plate of baked beans "That particular traveler's check, on the table. Frankel, was deposited at an Al­ I stood facing them, fighting bany bank on Monday, and when it down panic. I couldn't seem to was cleared, the Columbia Express catch up with what was happening, computer immediately identified it somehow. I said, "Is this a gag?" by its number as one of the checks "No gag," Tibbett said. "You're stolen Saturday morning from Pier under arrest, Frankel." He got out a 62 in New York." Cory paused. set of handcuffs with his free hand. "Why the hell did you cash it, The gun didn't waver as he passed Frankel?" he asked with real inter­ them to Cory. Cory clicked them est. "On the very night you stole it? onto my wrists. Were you weak in the head?" I couldn't believe it. "What "I didn't cash it. I'm telling you goes?" I said. 'Tou're arresting the truth." me?" Tibbett. said, "The check has "Sure," Tibbett said. "You've yoiK signature on it in two places. been arrested before, so-why make Eldon P. Frankel, signature and such a big deal of it? Spent three coimtersignature, big as life." years in state prison, didn't you? "Not my signatures," I said. That's how we found out you live "Somebody's trying to frame. me. here, through the prison records." To make it look like I stole your I stared at him. "What's the lousy checks. The signatures aren't charge?" mine, that's all." " 'Possession of stolen goods' will "They siu-e as hell match your do for the moment," Cory said signature from the prison records," comfortably. "Although I imagine Cory said, "according to hand­ we'll add to that later." writing experts. See for yourself." •'What stolen goods?" I tried to . He pulled a photocopy of a trav­ act puzzled. eler's check from his pocket and "Specifically, one Columbia Ex­ held it up for me to see. press traveler's check, number If I hadn't knovsTi different, I'd 72 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED have sworn that the signature and was too dumb to know better? countersignature on that check Weak in the head? Or had he done were mine. But they weren't. If I it on purpose? could prove in court that they Tibbett read me his Miranda weren't my signatures, and with card,- but I didn't even Usten. Billy gone, it would be tough to tie I was remembering, with a feel­ me in with the robbery in any way. ing of despair, a lot of little things Tibbett said, "Come.on, Frankel.. that came together in my mind to Where are the checks?" explain the handcuffs on my wrists: "What checks?" I said. How Billy wailed when I hit the Tibbett got out a paper and guard. How his eyes went blank waved it at me. "Search warrant," when I let it slip that I was figuring he said. Then, to Cory, "Take a to live the life of Riley without him. look around. Jack, will you? How he'd had a chance at the They've got to be here. I'll read this checks while I was "burning the character the Miranda bit while crates, but had taken only one of you're looking." them when there were 21,000 of I gave up then, for I knew they'd them available. And how he hadn't find those two suitcases inside of ten looked the least bit surprised when minutes, with the checks all present I stuck him with the dart, as though and accounted for except that one he'd known all along I was going to single check which had been cashed ditch him. the very night of the robbery by my Cory came back into the kitchen buddy, Billy, using my signature. carrying the two suitcases. "In an What jury would believe I hadn't old-fashioned root cellar," he said cashed that check when all the oth­ to'Tibbett. "Would you believe it?" ers were foimd in my possession? Tibbett nodded in satisfaction. Especially when a handwriting ex­ "That's it, then," he said. "Let's go." pert testified that the signatures As they herded rrie out to their were mine? car, I remembered one more thing, Why had Billy done it? That's what Billy had been sent to jail for what I kept wondering. Because he in the first place: forgery.

WEAK IN THE HEAD 73 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED The satisfaction of getting in the last word can have a most as­ suaging effect.

•IT'S IMPOSSIBLE to say exactly why the two men chose old Mrs. Hart- man for their victim. Perhaps it was her obvious age and frailty. Perhaps it was the fact that she had come .out of the bank only minutes be­ fore. Perhaps they had been at­ tracted "by the oversized shoulder bag she clutched protectively, or the fact that she walked only a block before leaving the busy thor­ oughfare and'StroUing along a quiet and deserted side street.

"^ (U,^YIVUAWAAW\^ Any combination, or.all of these cut the strap on her shoulder bag factors, may have influenced them. and tried to take it away from her. In any case, they had seen her and Instead of throwing her hands out-- marked her an easy score. They had-, to block her fall, as they had ex­ come up behind her and then sepa­ pected her to do, the gray-haired rated, one going to either side. The old woman grabbed the bag with one on her left had tripped her and, both hands and gripped it tightly. at the same instant, the other man She fell to the pavement, and there

74 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY. MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED was the sound of an old bone snap­ ried to the ambulance on a ping, but she didn't give up her stretcher. She turned her pain-filled hold on the bag. eyes toward a uniformed policeman One man wrapped the dangling who was standing nearby, looking end of the shoulder strap around his down at her. "My money," she said hand and tried to wrench the bag in a tone so weak he almost missed free; while the other man kicked it. "They stole my purse, and it had the old woman with his square-toed all my money in it." boots. There were no cries for help, "How much was taken, ma'am?" no screams. The only sounds were the officer asked.. the shuffle of feet and the men's She paused a moment, then man­ heavy breathing as they tried to aged to reply, "Thirty-three thou­ force Mrs. Hartman to release her sand dollars," before losing con­ bag. The men were determ.ined to sciousness again. have the bag. Every tug on the She hadn't been able to say strap was accompanied by several much, but it was enough, to raise kicks to loosen her hold; but her the mugging from the level of a rel­ tightly clamped jaws and frantic. atively minor offense, as such things grip were evidence that she was just go, and give it the stature of a ma­ as determined not to have it taken jor crime. Four detectives were dis­ from her. patched to the hospital emergency Unfortunately, the woman wasn't ward to be on hand when she could a match for even one man, let alone speak again; and an equal number two. It was only seconds before she of newspaper reporters and televi­ had been thrust into uncon­ sion newsmen converged upon the sciousness by pain and exhaustion. hospital," too. They tore the bag frorh her limp When she was wheeled from the fingers and ran away, leaving her treatment room, Mrs. Hartman sprawled across the sidewalk. looked like a mummy. Both of her No one saw the attack and rob­ arms and one leg were in heavy bery. It was almost fifteen minutes casts and her head was swathed in before Mrs. Hartman was discov­ bandages. She was awake, though, ered by another pedestrian. The po­ and able to answer a few more lice and an ambulance arrived si­ questions. Detective Sergeant Ken- multaneously, but by then the two dris, a burly man in his forties, did men were miles away. all the talking. The people from the She regained consciousness for a news media had to make, do with few moments as she was being car­ what they were able to overhear AN EASY SCORE 75 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED and the photos they could take. stormed into the hospital, looking "Mrs. Hartman, can you hear me like an angry bear, but he didn't get all right?" Kendris asked. to speak to Mrs. Hartman. She slept "Yes," the woman replied all day, and the doctor refused to weakly. allow Kendris to awaken her. "You told the officer where you The following day, Kendris re­ were found that you had been rob­ turned again. He had calmed some­ bed of thirty-three thousand dollars. what, but he was still visibly angry. Is that right?" Mrs. Hartman was propped up in • "Yes . . ." bed and a high-school-age hospital "How did you happen to have so volunteer was reading to her from much cash with you?" the newspaper. Kendris asked the Mrs. Hartman hesitated, as girl to wait outside while he talked though seeking the right words. to Mrs.. Hartman. Then she confessed, "I'm . . . I'm a "All right," he demanded once fooHsh old woman. I don't always they were alone, "what was the show good sense. Once every year, idea of lying to me?" and sometimes twice, I draw all my "I ... I don't know what you savings from the bank. I keep the mean," she answered. money at home for a few days, to "Come off it! You know what I'm look at it and touch it, then put it talking about—your imaginary back in the bank. This time . . ." thirty-three thousand dollars. The her voice trailed off weakly "... I robbery was all over the newspa­ lost it all." pers and television, but when I "Did you recognize the thief?" . went to the bank to see if they had "There were two of them, but I'd a record of the serial numbers on never seen them before. And I'm the money, I learned you've never not sure I'd know them if I saw had an account there. The only them again. It all happened so very time they see you is when, like the fast ..." day before yesterday, you stop in to At that point the sedative the cash your Social Security check. ^doctor had administered took hold Why did you lie?" and she went to sleep. The injured woman's hands "If you have any more questions, opened and closed and opened Sergeant-Keiidris," the nurse said, again in a gesture of helplessness. "I "you'll have to come back tomor­ didn't want the thieves to get away row." with it. I . . .1 wanted them to pay The next afternoon, Kendris for what they did to me."

76 ALFRED HITCHCOCK^S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED "But you didn't have to lie," then he was gone from the room. Kendris persisted. "Don't you kriow The young hospital volunteer re­ we'd have worked just as hard,' turned. She picked up the newspa­ made exactly the same effort, to re- per she'd set aside when Kendris ar­ coyer your Social Security • pension rived, and sat beside the bed. as we did for the larger amount?" "Would you like me to read some When she didn't reply immedi­ more?" she asked. ately, Kendris had time to examine "Yes, please," Mrs. Hartman an-. what he'd just said and to see how swered. "Read the part about the. ridiculous it was. As long as it had murders again." • been believed that thirty-three "But I've already" read it four thousand dollars^ had been stolen, times," the girl protested. there had been four detectives as­ "I know, but please read it signed to the case, and reporters to again." record their every move; but now The girl cleared her throat and he was the only one officially as- then began. "Police investigated a sighed, and that would last only un­ disturbance in an apartment at 895 til he retvuTied to the office and put Seventh Avenue at about 10 last his report in the Unsolved File. At night and found two men, William least he had the grace to be embar­ White and Jesse Bolt, who shared rassed. the apartment, dead on. the liv- "Oh, that isn't what I meant! I'm ingroom floor, the result of a knife sure the police do their best regard­ fight. Neighbors said the men had less of the amount lost," Mrs. Hart- been arguing and fighting most of man said, but to Kendris' ears the the day, each accusing.the o"tHer of -words had a hollow ring. It made cheating him out of an undisclosed him all the more ashamed to have amotint of money..The knife fight in this beaten-up old woriian show which they, killed one another was. more.concern for his feelings than the climax of the day-long. con­ he'd shown for hers. frontation. Both men had long ar­ "Look," he said, cutting the in­ rest records. Police are continuing terview short, "let's just forget the their investigation." whole thing." He began moving Mrs. Hartman smiled behind her toward the door. "If anything turns bruised lips. "Please, read it again," up, you'll be notified," he said, and she said softly.

AN EASY SCORE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 77 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED <, It is often the little things that aren't there that pay the biggest dividends. C

JUST PAST some wadded-up foil, ^tm paper napkins and a couple of bones, I spotted a slim green wine in the garbage disposal. Sounds like bottle toward the bottom of the a silly thing to do, but you do silly waste can. I called the fingerprint things when you nm out of sensible man over. things to try. I poked with distaste He eyed it hopefully. "Hey, there through a wad of stringy, greenish ought to be something on this, for stuff that came up on the fork. Dis­ sure! Moselle—is that any good?" gusted, I pushed it back down the "Real fine stuff," I answered as I hole and tossed the fork in the other prowled around the ^kitchen. 'Tou side of the sink. through over here by the sink?" I turned and looked at as muchjjf 'Teah. Clean as a whistle. It's the apartment as I could see froiri weird—thereis not a print any­ Jthe kitchen—a small dining area where, not even on the drawer pulls and a livingroom. The dining table or the comers of the cabinet doors was bare except for a pot of arti­ where there ought to be a hun­ ficial flowers dead center on it and dred." the dusting of powder that had I found a fork and probed around failed to raise a single fingerprint on

78 LICENSEDALFRE TOD UNZ.ORGHITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED either. The four chairs were Hned I'd get used to these things. But if I up hke soldiers at attention around ever do, I'll quit. There's no place the table, all of them clean too. on my force for a cop without feel­ In the livingroom, which had a ings. minimum of furnishings, ash trays "Chief?" I turned. "Would you gleamed on an end table and a cof­ believe someone even polished the fee table just as pristine. Television garbage?" knobs, no prints; door handles, The fingerprint man tossed the ditto. The whole place had been wine bottle back into the can, and

polished to a fare-thee-well. Doors his face creased with pleasvire as he and locks were intact—no forced heard it shatter. I knew the feeling. entry. Frustration can make you sort of I stood looking down at the petty sometimes. rough white outline someone had "Phone?" I asked. chalked around one Marge Brook- "In the bedroom. I'm finished in over after they'd finished all the there—plenty of prints, all hers." photographs and carted her off. Fe­ I walked around the chalk marks male Caucasian, twenty-two years and into the bedroom—The tele­ old, five-foot-five, one hundred and phone sat in a pool of bobby pins twenty poimds, probably a looker and hair curlers on a night stand by but it was hard to tell when we got the bed. The bed had been, made her. I couldn't get that purple, mot­ up, but carelessly from the looks of tled face out of my mind, and I it—bedspread pulled tight over knew it would hang right there in wrinkles in the blanket, pillows not front of me until we found the man quite straight. I shoved a pile of whose hands had left those marks magazines from the one chair and on her throat. You'd think in my pulled it over closer to the tele­ job, especially after so many years. phone. I sat down abd dialed, and

THE ARTICHOKE FACTOR 79 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED while I listened to the ringing I which one it was, Cindy Wilder studied the dresser near me. Tubes ' didn't bother to remember." with caps left off, face powder "Gold mine, maybe. But we still spilled haphazardly around its box, have to do the digging." three sticks of chewing gum lying 'Teah, but she gave me all three in the lid of a cold-cream jar. I names. I've done a nmdown on could see into the bathroom, where them, and none of tbem has a towels were tossed over the side of record. Fairly solid citizens, from the tub and a pile of underwear lay the sound of it. Vaughn Carlson, back under the lavatory. free-lance writer who does pretty "Benson?" I gave my attention to well even if no one ever heard of my assistant. "Get much from the him. Richard Pennybaker, accoun­ girl, what's-her-name?" tant with a local wholesale grocery "Cindy Wilder." Benson's voice firm. James Beckham, marine insur­ held a note of cautious triumph. ance. Maybe you've seen the bill­ "She's a gold mine." boards, 'Keel to Deck, You're Cov­ Cindy Wilder, a friend of the ered with Beck.' Want me to get dead girl, had fovmd the body a started on them?" couple of hours earlier when she'd I brushed my hand across my stopped by to give her a ride to eyes, but the purple face kept work. I'd had Benson take her on swimming around in front of me. downtown to get her statement. "I'll pick you up in ten minutes." "Well?" I prompted. When I swung to the curb in "She's positive the Brookover girl front of the station, Benson was had been dating only three men re­ waiting. As he climbed in, he asked, cently. Seems the two girls told "Get a time of death from the each other everything, and if Marge M.E.?" had met anyone new, she'd know. "Between six and ten is as close She saw her at lunch yesterday and as he'll say so far. He'll have his re­ knew she had a date last night." port for us this afternoon." "Does she know who with?" "The other tenants see or hear That would be too easy, but it anything?" would be nice to have an easy one "Zero. The adjoining apartment for a change. is vacant, and no one else could tell "Well, she's sure it was one of the us a thing. No prints anywhere but three. Thinks Marge might have bedroom and bath, and they all be­ said, but since it doesn't—uh, didn't long to the girl." ever seem to matter much to Marge Benson whistled. 'Too bad he 80 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED didn't use a knife. We could at least listened while the staccato sound of look for bloodstains." He glanced a typewriter paused, then resumed down at his notebook. "Carlson for a full minute. I was reaching for lives pretty close. Want to talk to the button again when the clatter him first?" stopped and we heard footsteps. I grunted and swung out into When the door opened, I studied traffic, heading for the address he the man; tall, wide shoulders, hair gave me. Five minutes later we curling down to his collar, bright parked in front of a small apart­ blue eyes that were indicating a ment building, a little run-down but mild curiosity. I showed him my in a respectable neighborhood. badge. "Police, Could we talk to When we rang the bell of 2C, we you a minute?" Carlson hesitated, looked back at his typewriter with an expression of reluctance, then shrugged and mo­ tioned us in. "Sure. What can I do for you?" He started to clear off a pair of chairs for us, but we indicated we'd rather stand. 'Tou know a girl named MargeN Brookover?" He spun around, stared at me and then laughed abruptly. "Police, huh? What'd she do—slap a charge of attempted, assault on me?" I looked at Benson, and he raised his eyebrows. To Carlson I said, "Not that I know of. Did you try to assault her?" "Hell, no! But the way she acted, you'd* think I did." 'Tou'd better tell us about it." "Why should I? If she hasn't yelled cop, it's between me and her." He looked confused. "When was the last time you saw her?" THE ARTICHOKE FACTOLICENSEDR TO UNZ.ORG 81 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED "Last time is right. It was Tues­ "You mean she's dead? She's ac­ day night—three nights ago. What tually dead?" He groped behind the devil's allthis about?" him for a chair and sat down. "Can you tell us where you were I sent Benson to interview ten­ last night?" I ignored his question, ants in the other apartments, while and he was worried now. I continued to question Carlson. He "Right here, working. I've got a dragged his feet a little, but finally deadline on this story, and all this explained the crack about at­ conversation isn't helping, either!" tempted assault. "Can you prove it?" Benson put "We'd been out to diimer and a in mildly. show. When I took her home, she Carlson swung the blue eyes to asked me in for a nightcap. We had Benson and back to me. "I was. two or three and things seemed alone, so how could I prove it? The pretty cozy; Well, I'd dated her people in the next apartment prob­ several times and she sure seemed ably heard my typewriter. I was friendly enough. Anyway, she'd pounding away from about six- asked me in and I just assumed . . . thirty till almost eleven." she was a tease, you know what I My eyes moved around the room mean? Everything she'd said and and settled'on the cluttered-desk. done led me to think . . . Oh, hell, "That a tape recorder?" if I was ever going to kill her, I'd He glanced at the compact ma­ have done it that night!" chine next to his typewriter. "Yes. I "And you haven't seen her tape my ideas first and then type it since?" all up. Look, why are you asking "No. And never planned to see about Marge?" her again." "She was killed last night, some­ "Okay." I got up. "Don't leave time between six and ten." I town. We'll want to talk to you watched his reaction, and whatever again." I'd expected, he sm-prised me. In the car, Benson and I com­ He laughed uproariously. "When pared notes. Two people in neigh­ you get the guy that did it, I want boring apiartments had heard the to shake his hand!" , typewriter going all evening, ex­ Remembering what that hand did cept for a few five- or ten-minute to her neck, I vvent cold with rage breaks. and almost grabbed Carlson; but he "The tape recorder—" I started sobered suddenly, and his ex­ to say. pression slowly changed. Benson anticipated me. 'Teah.

82 LICENSEDALFRE TOD HITCHCOCK' UNZ.ORG S MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED He could have taped an hour or so and foimd Pennybaker himched of that racket, and let it run while over a big ledger, running a tape as he was gone. But if he was putting long as his arm out the top of a on an act, it was a pretty good sputtering adding machine. one." When we showed him our identi­ "He's a writer," I said. "A fication folders, he took them,- ex­ writer's a little like an actor. He amined them closely, looked at us can make up scenes and action and through the upper part of his bifo- speeches, and put them over very ,cals and then back down to com­ convincingly." pare faces with photos. Finally he

"And he was really mad at her. handed them back, hit the total key Could have happened last night, on the machine, folded the long her having to fight him off, and he tape in neat accordian style and pa­ switched the action to Tuesday per-clipped it to the ledger page. night and gave it a different end­ He closed the ledger, took a hand­ ing." Benson looked at his list. kerchief from his pocket and wiped "Well, now how about Richard his hands carefully. Then he re­ Peimybaker?" folded the handkerchief in a neat I glanced at my watch and saw square and tucked it into his that we'd just about have time to pocket. Benson and I exchanged a see him before lunch. We drove out look of amused exasperation. to the sprawUng office-warehouse "Now, how may I help you?" complex of the grocery company "We understand you know a girl on the south edge of town. We named Marge Brookover." were directed down a loiig hallway He blinked and drew his head THE ARTICHOKE FACTORLICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 83 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED back slightly, bringing a hint of worked late here at my office, until double chin into evidence. "Yes, of about seven or seven-thirty. This is course. She is the woman I am go­ our busy time of year, you know. ing to marry." There wasn't anyone else here, al­ It was my turn to blink. I remem­ though the night watchmaii might bered the Wilder girl's statement confirm it. Then-1 drove out to see that Marge Brookover hadn't my mother. She's alone, arid I try to seemed to care which of the three see her several times a week. men she had a date with on any Would you like her address?" He particular night. scribbled it on a small note pad "Then we have some bad news without waiting for an answer. for you," I said. "Miss Brookover "I sat and chatted with her for was murdered last night." perhaps an hovu", from about eight All color left his face and with it till nine or a little later. Then I all expression. His lips moved spas­ went back to my apartment. The modically, but no sound came from doorman saw me come in about them. He was motionless for a mo­ nine-thirty. Woiild you like his ment, then he leaned forward and name?" reached for a carafe of water on a, He started to scribble again, but I nearby stand. He poured a glass, got up. "Jhat's okay. We'll be spiUing a little as he did so. With an checking aroimd there." apparently unconscious movement, "Please. Please, ^where is Marge he brought out his handkerchief, now? I really must . . ." He wiped up the drops of water and stopped, and we saw tears- nmning then restored it, less carefully down his cheeks. I told him we'd let folded this time, to his pocket. him know when the body was re­ "This is—excuse me—it's just so leased, and that her family had- difficult to take in. Why would any­ been notified and was arriving later one kill a fine, young . . . Have you in the day. We left, imcomfortable. ' found the killer?" He brought out before the silent tears. his handkerchief again and held it "Hmmm." Benson looked back to his mouth. ." over his shoulder as we pulled out . "Not yet. Can you account for of the parking lot. "Seems pretty your movements last night?" broken up." He looked at me with horror. "Or pretends to be. If he really "But surely you're not suggesting thought they were engaged, and . . . Oh, of course, a matter of rou­ then found but she was dating Carl­ tine." He thought, visibly. "I son and Beckham, he might have

84 LICENSEDALFRE TOD HITCHCOCK' UNZ.ORGS MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED been angry enough to kill her." saw him. He was reading the riot Benson nodded. "And even if his act to his secretary, and a couple of story about working late and seeing the kinder adjectives he was using his mother checks out, it leaves were "incompetent" and. "lame­ forty-five minutes of prime time. brained." Wouldn't have taken more than a When we pushed open the door couple of minutes to choke the girl, and walked in, he paused long and maybe ten more to get rid of all enough to look us over and decide the fingerprints." we weren't customers, then he fin- . "Well, let's see what James Beck­ ished his harangue in a lower voice. ham has to say." The young secretary was fighting "Lunch first. Chief? Could we, tears, and her face was as red as her huh? That call came in before I dress. She said, "Yes, Mr. Beckham, could get any breakfast this morn­ I'll retype it right away. I'm sorry, ing." Mr. Beckham." I noticed a gnawing sensation in He snorted and turned to us with my owTi midsection, so we found a an irritated look on his face. He was drive-in. Over double-decker ham­ a big man, pushing thirty maybe, burgers and shakes we discussed axid I couldn't tell if his unpleasant what we had so far. expression was chronic or assumed "Nothing really, or maybe too for the occasion. much. Carlson and Pennybaker When I showed him my badge, both have possible motives and he froze, then swallowed visibly holes in their alibis you could drive and waved us into an inner office. a truck through." Benson took a big He followed us and pulled the door bite of his hamburger and chewed shut carefully behind him. As he thoughtfully. saw Benson light up a cigarette, he "Maybe the medical report ,will nudged an overloaded ash tray in be of some help," I said as I paid his direction. the check and scattered some coins "Well?" on the tray. "It should be on my "It's about Marge Brookover." desk by three." "Oh, no, I knew it!" He dropped We found a parking slot not too his face to cupped hands and was a far from the building in which study in despair for a minute. Then Beckham had his office. On the he looked up again, and his eyes sixth floor, the door marked Beck­ were like a dog's begging for a ham Marine Insurance was a little bone. ajar, and we heard him before we "You can keep my name out of it.

THE ARTICHOKE FACTOR 85 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED can't you? It would ruin me. My wife doesn't know I've been seeing her ..." Benson and I exchanged sur- ., prised looks. If he were getting ready to confess, how did he think we could keep his name out of it, for Pete's sake? He saw our surprise. "It was on the news just now. On the radio. Oh, poor Marge! Who could have done such a thing? Strangled, they - said! Oh, boy, if my wife finds out—" "Wait a minute, Mr. Beckham," I interrupted. "Did you kill her?" "Kill Marge? Oh, heavens, no. I liked her. She was a lot of fun. My wife, well, she's rather prim and dignified. Why, Marge and I were friends, that's all. You know?" I didn't know, and he was a pretty scared man. I asked him how he'd spent the previous evening. "Let me see. I had two meetings. One was the Chamber of Com­ merce dinner at the Mayer Hotel at six. I left there about eight, before the business meeting was over, be­ "I had trouble finding a parking cause I was due at this Regional In­ spot. I was late and almost every­ surance Men's Seminar at the Civic one else was already there. I drove Center. You can check. Probably aroimd for a long time before I fifty people can tell you I got there found one." He looked at me, just after nine and was there for al­ pleading with me to beheve him. most two hours." I frowTied, knowing it would be "It doesn't take over half an hour impossible to check on that fifteen to drive from the Mayer to the or twenty minutes. As Benson has Civic Center." I ' figured it as observed, it's about all the killer fifteen minutes at the most. needed, and Marge Brookover's 86 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED apartment was almost directly on forced or otherwise—in fact, the the way from' the Mayer Hotel to girl was a virgin. I felt a wrench of the Civic Center. pity. Why do you suppose we al- We. questioned him a little . ways feel sorrier for the virgins? longer, told him we couldn't prom­ I leaned back in my swivel chair ise anything about keeping his and tried to sort things out, tried to name out of it, and left. picture in my mind the sequence of "Same song, third verse. Stron­ the evening's events. Suddenly I gest motive yet, though," Benson had a wild idea. My chair squealed mused. "If the Brookover chick in protest as I slammed forward to threatened -to go to his wife, he'd reread part of the M.E.'s report. It have been in a blind panic." . seemed like one word was typed in "Uh huh." I was threading my caps, the way it jumped out at me. way through the dovinitown traffic "Benson!" I yelled. near the station. "Three good sus­ He came running in, and I told pects, all with motive, all with op- him to get in touch with Carlson, portvmity. And talk about means- Pennybaker and Beckham and have did you notice that all three of them all in my ofBce at three those men have big, strong hands?" o'clock sharp. He looked pretty un­ "Yeah, I noticed that." Benson happy that I didn't say why, but shuddered slightly. went obediently off to start making "The trouble is, I know which phone calls. one did it!" I saw Benson throw me I got busy on the props for the a surprised look, and added quickly, : meeting. I had typing paper in my "But I haven't got a lick of proof." desk drawer, but had to scrovmge "Care to tell me who it is?" some carbon from one of the boys "Nope," I said, and he let it go. in the squad room. I arranged three When I walked into my office, straight chairs in a semicircle be­ the medical examiner's report was fore my desk, and borrowed a used on my desk, almost an hour earlier ' lunch bag from a girl on the switch­ than promised. Grateful for. small board. I stuffed some' wastepaper favors, I sat down to read it. into it, folded the top down and set Death by asphyxiation due to it on my desk, a little to one side. • strangulation, time narrowed to be­ I was ready, but still had about tween seven and nine last night. twenty minutes to wait. It was a Victim had eaten a meal of steak, long twenty minutes, but I passed it potatoes, artichokes and wine im­ by planning just what I'd say when mediately before death. No sex. they got here. THE ARTICHOKE FACTOR LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 87 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED Finally three o'clock came and picked up the last slip from my with it, almost bn the dot, the three desk. "This paper has a small sheet men. Vaughn Carlson was looking a of carbon folded inside which will little indignant but curious, Richard transfer the pattem^of your bite to Pennybaker was polishing his an inside sheet. Place it as far back glasses with irritated little swipes, between your teeth as possible, bite and James Beckham seemed jiost down firmly and pull it forward, plain scared. I waved them to the like so." I pulled inine out with a chairs, while Benson came in and sharp, zipping sound. stood a little behind me and to one They exchanged bewildered side where he could watch and lis­ glances, but raised the papers to ten. their mouths and started to follow I stood behind the desk and my directions. fussed a little with various items on Watching them closely, I added, it, moving the paper bag slightly. "I "Just pretend you're eating an arti­ know how busy you all are, and I choke." appreciate your comiiig down on Carlson shrugged, bit and pulled, such short notice. This shouldn't then peered curiously in at one side take long at all." of his paper. I picked up three pieces of pa­ Beckham snorted, "This is ridicu­ per, each folded to about the size of lous!" but quickly follovved suit and a match book and each with one of tossed the paper on the comer of the suspects' names printed on it, the desk. and passed them out. Benson was Permybaker had gone as white as standing quietly, his arms folded the paper which was still poised be­ and a look of casual interest on his tween his teeth, His eyes were wide face. I grirmed at him—I knew he behind the shining lenses of his was all balled up with curiosity in­ glasses and fixed on the paper bag side. on my desk. For a long moment he "Now." I stood again at the desk, didn't even blink. Then he threw and looked at the three. "What the folded paper to the floor, we're after here is—toothprints." lurched out of his chair and bolted They all-stared at me blankly, for the door. and then Carlson said in a hushed, Benson beat -him there, and horrified voice, "Toothprints? But braced him against the wall with the radio said she was strangled." one shoulder while he reached for "She was," I said and let them his handcuffs. Permybaker started think about it for a minute. Then I crying again, this time in great, 88 LICENSEDALFRE TO DUNZ.ORG HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED shuddering sobs between garbled steak bones in the trash, so I figured words. he had dinner with her. From the . "She'd fixed dinner for us—occa­ state of that bedroom and bath­ sion seemed just right—I asked her room, would you take Marge to marry me. She laughed! She Brookover for a girl who'd get right laughed at me! Had to make her up from the table and do the dishes, stop—didn't mean to kill her, just wash the counter and table and ash wanted to make her stop laughing—" trays? Not on your life! Mr. Fastidi- I couldn't stand it. I looked away, ovis did it, after he'd killed her. just as I heard Benson say, "Well, Probably just started out to get rid you sure stopped her." of fingerprints, and got carried After Benson had advised Pen- away. He's a compulsive neatnik. nybaker of his rights and turned He even put the remains of the arti-. him over to a stenographer for a chokes down the garbage disposal." statement, he came back to my of­ "Oh. And you salvaged enough of fice. He leaned against the door­ the leaves to check the teeth marks frame. "He the one you were so on them against the suspects." He sure of?" eyed the paper bag dubiously, 'Tep," I said, and I'll admit I said I picked it up and tossed it into it a little smugly. the wastebasket. "Nope. There "I'd have bet my pension on wasn't anything left but a stringy Beckham. He got so mad at his sec­ mess. But Peimybaker couldn't be retary for typing a letter wrong, I sure of that." figmed him for a real rage when the "This is the silliest thing I ever Brookover girl threatened to talk to heard of!" Benson shook his head his wife. But what was this little unbelievingly. charade all about?" "Well," I said as we walked I tapped the medical report on down the hall to see how the state­ my desk. "She had artichokes at her ment was coming, "sometimes you last meal, which only the killer do silly things when you run out of could haVe known. I'd spotted two sensible things to try."

THE ARTICHOKE • FACTOR 89 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED Where espionage is involved, a particular designation may he nothing hut a misnomer.

^^stp^ee^dL

CAPTAIN SOMME views it, vyith no his gaze wandered over the other little amusement, as one of the clos­ tables. It was midaftemoon and not est-kept secrets of the war. It was many were in use, but at one sat an purely by chance that he became old man who was staring at him in^ privy to it, almost twenty-five years tently. Captain Somme stared back, after the incidents surrounding it vaguely feeling that there was occurred. He was returning from a something familiar about the deep- visit to a.crew member lying in the furrowed face and cropped white Marine Hospital on Staten Island head. and, walking up State Street from The old man suddenly rose and the ferry in the sharp, spring air, he came over! "Ain't you Cap'n turned into the newly opened Sea­ Somme, master of the Delcrest dur­ men's Church Institute building, ing the war?" feeling a sudden desire for a cup of "That's right." The captain's face coffee. lit •up in sudden recognition. "Old While sipping it beside the cafe­ Pop Seymour! I was just thinking teria-windows facing Battery Park, I'd seen you somewhere."

90 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED "I figured it was you, Cap'n." now I do odd jobs around the Insti­ The old man looked pleased. "I tute. Get my room and board here, wasn't sure, though, with them side^ too." The old man eyed the captain bums and moustache." - quizzically. "You must be about The captain smiled. "I keep up ready to swallow the hook your­ with the style of the mod crews we self." get nowadays. What have you been "Another two years or so, Pop. doing with yoiu-self all these years, But sit down and tell me what's Pop? Still sailing, I'll bet." been happening to you all these Pop Seymour shook his head years." sadly. "I had to-quit after the war. "Let me get another cup o' cof­ Pension rules. Too old, they said. So fee first, Cap'n." As the stoop-shouldered former steward ambled over to the serving coimter. Captain Somme's thoughts drifted back to the coffee incident aboard the refrigerated ship Del- OX^-fl

RESTORED EVIDENCE 91 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED crest. She was discharging Army ficer turned in a bad report about meat cargo in Naples at the time, him to the Navy he'd perhaps be shortly after'the city had been cap­ barred from sailing again. tured by the Alhed Fifth Army. It He wasn't a clumsy old fool, he was his first trip as captain, reliev­ told himself, resenting the remark. ing the regular captain for his vaca­ A bit jumpy, maybe, from the war. tion. When Pop Seymour was serv­ Going on sixty, he wasn't as nimble ing the Army security officer at and steady-handed as in the days limch. Pop Seymour's hand - acci­ when he was a first-class waiter in dentally knocked against the lieu­ big liners like the old Leviathan tenant's cup in avoiding a sudden and the America, Jjut he was a lot movement of the officer's arm, and better at the job than most of these a little coffee splashed down onto war-trained kids sailing as officers' the flap of a side pocket of his khaly messmen. . ~ jacket. Pop was still smarting over the The stain was'hardly noticeable, spilled coffee as he prepared to go but the lieutenant, fastidious about ashore after limch. The Allied Mili­ his appearance, muttered, "Clumsy tary Government permitted shore old fool! My only clean blouse." leave to twenty percent of the per­ "I'm sorry, Lieutenant," said sonnel of each merchant ship be­ Pop, distressed. tween one arid five in the afternoon, The lieutenant looked across at but because of the shortage of offi­ Captain Somme, on the other side cial launches, ships had to provide of the table. "He should be kept their own liberty-boat service. This ashore out of harm's way." was necessary because all quays had Captain Somme offered no com­ been blocked with ships scuttled by ment. Lieutenant Harmson was the retreating Germans, forcing Al­ quick-tempered and 'would prob­ lied supply ships to anchor in clus­ ably regret his hasty_ outburst. He ters inside the breakwaters and dis­ was a young, wartime-commis­ charge into amphibious "ducks" sioned officer, assigned to the Del- and lighters. Ships not equipped crest as Army security officer in with a motorboat, such as the Del- charge of the meat cargo. The in­ crest, had to depend on bumboats cident worried Pop Seymour, and other oared craft to ferry their knowing that the Navy held a cer­ crewmen ashore. tain wartime veto over merchant- Pop Seymour left the ship in a marine persormel it regarded as un­ bumboat along with three other fit or undesirable. If the security of­ crew members, yoimg men who

92 LICENSEDALFRE TOD HITCHCOCK' UNZ.ORGS MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED were bent on a lively time ashore in neighborhood on the other side of the few hours available to them. Via Roma, and he was tired and Pop wandered on his own through thirsty. the docks area arid the bombed-out A few civilians were sitting at ta­ waterfront streets to Via Roma. The bles and, except for one big man thoroughfare was heavy with mili­ who scowled, they glanced indiffer­ tary trafBc, and the sidewalks were ently at Pop Seymour as he entered. thronged with soldiers, sailors arid He took a vacant table by the door, nurses in the various uniforms of heeding notices posted around the the Allied forces and collaborating Delcrest warning personnel against Italians. Most of the shops were talking to strangers ashore, in or out closed and dark, but street vendors of uniform. He ordered a glass of had set up displays, of cheap cam­ Marsala from a waiter, paying for it eos,, shells, and religious articles. with Allied Military Government Pop Seymour wandered about lire. . , aimlessly, having come ashore Pop lit his pipe and sat gazing chiefly to stretch his legs on the last out into the quiet street. He day in port; the ship had finished thought the Marsala didn't taste discharging at noon. He ignored the anything like it did before the war. cries of picture-postcard vendors, After a while, his pipe went out. and small boys offering sticky, nut­ When he relit it, he looked up in ted candy for sale. At one inter­ time to see two men in American section, a swarthy yoimg Italian po­ Army officer uniforms enter a shop liceman wearing an Allied Military across the street. One was the Del- Government brassard followed him crest's security officer. Lieutenant with his eyes -as he passed, no doubt Harmson. Pop wasn't surprised to thinking that this old man in striped see him going into such a shop, for shirt, serge trousers, and felt hat a sign outside included the words, WEis an American seaman and an "Objets d'art," and he knew from easy mark for waylaying and mur­ the officers' conversations at meal­ dering for his clothes and dock pass times that Lieutenant Harmson ran and any seaman's papers he might a similar business with his father on have on him. Sixth Avenue, New York City. Pop Pop Seymour finally came to rest Seymour had heard him remark in ia small wineshop dowoi a steep that he hoped to pick up a rare side street. He had spent almost an piece or two as bargains while in hour strolling through the narrow Naples. and hilly streets of the squalid The glimpse of the security offi- RESTORED EVIDENCE 93

LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED cer revived Pop Seymour's fear pushed back the chair. The lieuten­ over the likelihood of having to ant, mused Pop, would, with his dump himself onto his youngest quick young stride, reach the docks daughter at the end of the voyage. in half the tiine he himself would She was constantly urging him to take. The late afternoon chill was live a quiet and safe life ashore with setting in, and Pop stepped along her and her family, but ever since briskly. It was four-thirty by the his wife died just before the war, it time he reached the gate at the foot had been his hope to remain at sea of Piazza Mimicipal. An M.P. eyed to the end and be put over the side him closely and scrutinized his pass in a piece of canvas, with little before waving him on. trouble or expense to anyone. When Pop Seymour arrived at Pop presently glanced at his the quayside, two of the ship's Navy wristwatch and then ordered an­ armed guard and an oiler were hail­ other glass of wine. It was getting ing a bumboat. There was no sign near time to start back toward the of the security officer. Already most waterfront. He glanced across the of the bujnboats peddling wine arid street at the art shop. The security souvenirs to the anchored ships officer hadn't come out yet. The were starting to head back for the window was empty, and Pop quays, fearful of being caught out in couldn't see beyond it into the un- -the open during the expected hail lighted interior. of bombs and antiaircrsift shrapnel The door suddenly opened and after; nightfall. The white plume ris­ two men came out. One was the of­ ing froin Vesuvius would glow red ficer who had entered with Lieu­ at intervals in the darkness, provid­ tenant Harmson, but even before ing a natvu-al beacon to guide the his companion turned his face in Nazi planes. the direction of the wineshop. Pop While the little group was wait­ Seymour coidd tell by his ill-fitting ing for the bvimboat to come along­ jacket that he wasn't the fastidious side, black smoke and debris shot Lieutenant Harmson, although into the sky above a nearby water­ roughly of the same height and front street. The men gave it only build. The other officer, he saw, passing notice, for time bombs and wore the two silver bars of a cap­ booby traps left behind by the tain. enemy had been exploding almost . The security officer had not left daily since the ship's arrival. the art shop by the time Pop Sey­ The security officer still had not mour knocked out his pipe and appeared when the bumboat owner 94 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED plied his oars in the direction of the wall of a building he was passing. Delcrest. Pop figured that Lieuten­ That Army captain brought out a ant Harmson would have to stay replacement for him." ashore all night, unless he were Pop Seymour was shocked, tell­ lucky enough to. get a ride in an ing himself that it must have been Army launch after the expected air the explosion he heard while wait­ raid. ing for the bumboat. "He was one There was no air raid on the port of the unlucky guys," he remarked that night, however; two attempts sadly. ended when the bombers were "The new officer is one of the turned back by fighter planes. The lucky guys," said the Navy sailor. "I Delcrest moved out past the break­ heard him tell our officer he was water at dawn and anchored in the just off a torpedoed ship, landed open bay among several other ves­ here yesterday with nothing but the sels awaiting convoy. At .breakfast uniform he was wearing. He was time,,Pop Seymour heard Captain the only officer available to take Somme remark to the chief engi­ Lieutenant Harmson's.place. The neer that the security officer was* lieutenant's clothes were left still ashore. "If he doesn't show up aboard for him to use till he gets by noon, I'll blinker a message re­ outfitted." porting his absence." ^ Pop did not see the new security During the forenoon coffee officer until lunch time. When he break, Pop happened to go out on went to take the Army officer's or­ deck in time to see a launch head­ der. Captain Somme said, "Lieuten­ ing back to shore from the Delcrest. ant Sanford, that's Pop Seymour, Standing in the stem and looking the Methuselah of all stewards and back at the ship was a man he rec­ past master of the art. A wise old ognized as the Army captain he had sea gull, too, even if he does deco­ seen enter the art shop with Lieu­ rate your uniform with a splash of tenant Harmson. coffee once in a while." He turned to one of the armed Pop Seymour grinned. After sev­ guards standing beside him at the eral years with Captain Somme as rails. "Did the security officer just chief mate of the Delcrest, he was come aboard?" used to his kidding. The guard nodded solemnly. Sanford laughed. "As long as he "But it wasn't Lieutenant Harmson. doesn't go beyond scalding the back He was killed yesterday afternoon of my neck and pays my laimdry when a time bomb blew out the bill, I won't object."

RESTORED EVIDENCE 95

LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED Pop Seymour was pleased. Lieu­ headquarters all day, trying to get tenant Sanford sounded like a bet­ outfitted and finding out what was ter officer to get along with than to be done with me." Lieutenant Harmson, and he might "That's fuimy, Lieutenant. My be good for a favorable report. He eyes ain't too good for reading, but stared at him for a moment. San­ they're fine for distance. You came ford was a little older-looking than out with another officer." his predecessor, darker and with a "Are you insinuating I'm a liar?" jutting forehead and square jaw. demanded Sanford, in a sudden "Ain't I seen you someplace before, show of anger. Lieutenant?" "No, sir," said Pop hastily. "I Sanford looked up quickly, scan­ didn't mean it that way. Don't get ning the old steward's lined face. me wrong. It's just that—well, He smiled. "You must be confusing maybe my eyes are getting bad for me with someone else. Pop." Look­ distance too." ing across at Captain Somme, he "Perhaps Pop had a glass of wine chuckled. "As though I covild have too much," said Captain Somme, run into old Pop before and not re­ smiling. membered him!" "When an old man starts seeing Pop Seymour hurried off to the things, it's a sign of approaching se­ galley, shaking his head' as if to stir nility," growled Sanford. "I had no up his memory. He was sure he'd permission to leave headquarters seen the man somewhere. On his yesterday at any time." way back to the table, it suddenly Pop Seymour backed away from came to him. Setting a plate of soup the table in misery. After lunch, he before Sanford, he said, "I knew I'd went out to the afterdeck with his seen you someplace, Lieutenant. It pipe. He sat alone, pulling dismally was coming out of that art shop yes­ on his pipe. He'd started off on the terday afternoon." wrong foot with the new security "Art shop?" officer. If the lieutenant reported "Sure. I forget the name of the him as going senile, this could be street. I was sitting in a little wine-" his last voyage. shop across the way and saw you Pop told himself angrily that come out." Lieutenant Sanford was a liar. He'd Sanford shook his head in slow seeii him come out of that art shop motion. "Pop," he said patiently, "I as sure as he'd seen Lieutenant was nowhere near any art shop yes­ Harmson go in. He'd recognized terday afternoon. I was at Army that Army captain this forenoon, so 96 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED why should he be wrong about he went into the captain's cabin Lieutenant Sanford? that afternoon, Captain Somme had Why was the Ueutenant saying it just wakened from a brief nap. He wasn't he who came out of the art sat up as the steward placed the shop? It was queer, too, Lieutenant tray on the desk, and then watched Harmson going in with that captain curiously as Pop, instead of with­ and Lieutenant Sanford coming out drawing, closed the door and with him, and the two of them com- turned to him. inig aboard together this forenoon, "Cap'n, it was Lieutenant San­ with Lieutenant Sanford as the new ford I saw coming out of that art security officer. shop yesterday afternoon. I didn't From mealtime conversations mix him up with nobody else, and it among the officers, Pop had heard wasn't too much wine. And I ain't that Naples was swarming with going senile either." Nazi and Fascist spies and sabo­ Captain Somme smiled. "It's teurs, some masquerading in Allied nothing to get worked up about. uniforms. One with a Southern ac­ Pop. I was joking, and Lieutenant cent had been caught passing him­ Sanford said that without meaning self off as an American Navy lieu­ it. You're a long way from being se­ tenant; he had been raised in Texas nile, you wise old sea gull." by German parents and was living "That ain't what's bothering me, in Germany when war broke out. Cap'n. It's because Lieutenant San- He and other agents had been left ford's lying when he says it wasn't behind after the fall of Naples to him I saw come out of the art harass the Allies by taking advan­ shop." tage of the confusion and lack of "It was possibly a look-alike, coordination that would exist Pop. That sometimes happens." among Allied units until the , "It didn't happen yesterday. An­ wrecked electric-power and tele­ other thing bothering me is that phone services had been restored Lieutenant Harmson went into the and all time bombs and booby traps shop with that other officer, a cap­ removed. tain and Lieutenant Sanford came After pondering at length on the out. Don't that look kinda queer to art shop and the new security offi­ you?" cer, Pop Seymoiu decided to take • "Well, what might have hap­ his ruminations to Captain Somme. pened is that Lieutenant Harmson He always served coffee to the offi­ got into conversation with the cers around three-thirty, and when Army captain about art shops, and RESTORED EVIDENCE 97 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED he took him to one. You've heard what else I think? I think Lieuten- Lieutenant Harmson say that.that ant Sanford came out of that art was his line of business. An officer shop in Lieutenant Harmson's uni­ looking like Lieutenant Sanford form. Maybe you noticed the jacket happened to be in there at the time ain't a good fit. And that's why and came away with the captain. Lieutenant Harmson's clothes are It's unfortunate that Lieutenant being left aboard. It ain't because Harmson didn't leave with them. Lieutenant Sanford lost his a:board He'd be alive now." a torpedoed ship. It's because he's a "That ain't the way I figure it, German spy, with only the imiform Cap'n," Pop said stubbornly. Lieutenant Harmson was murdered "You're figuring it your way be­ for." cause you don't think Lieutenant Captain Somme stared gravely at Sanford's lying. And something you his wise old sea gull. If what Pop don't know is that the Army cap­ Seymour had said were true, it tain who brought the lieutenant would seem that German agents aboard this "forenoon was the same had seized an opporttinity .to put officer who came out of the art shop one of their number aboard the with him. Don't that look kinda Delcrest. He had perhaps been too queer too?" easily duped with a forged letter as­ "If that is so, it does seem odd," signing the .new security officer to., admitted Captain Somme. "But it the ship and by the possibly .bogus may be nothing more than a coinci­ captain accompanying him. With dence. The way conditions ,are in \the ship secured for sea, convoy or­ Naples at present, nothing would ders aboard, all contact with shore surprise me." ended, there was little likelihood "You know what I think, Cap'n: that the assignment of a new secu­ they're a coupla German spies. rity officer, would Ijecome known That art shop's some kinda Fascist ashore and lead to inquiries. Lieu­ joint. They killed Lieutenant tenant Sanford may have brought a Harmson in there. That's why Lieu­ secret radio transmitter aboard; one tenant Sanford's lying. He knows if such had been used in the outward- I saw him come out of the art shop, bound convoy, enabling U-boats to I maybe saw Lieutenant Harmson home in on the ships. The bogus se­ go in." - curity officer would disappear the The look of mild amusement moment the ship arrived in the faded from the captain's face. Pop home port, to operate as a spy Seymour continued. "You know ashore, taking with him knowledge

98 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED of secret codes and convoy proce­ play safe. Maybe you could figure dure. out a way after we get to sea of "Pop, you've really got me wor­ showing up Lieutenant Sanford as a ried now. You could be right." phony and put him in irons." "What makes you figure maybe P "If that art shop is an enemy ain't right, Cap'n?" agents' hideout and that Army cap­ The. captain's young face took on tain is one of them, something a distracted expression. "Look at should be done about it now; the what I'm up against. Pop. If I military authorities here should blinker ashore for a confirmation of know about it at once. Pop, if I the death of Lieutenant Harmson could be sure you're not mistaken and the assignment of Lieutenant about Lieutenant. Sanford . . ." Sanford,. heaven knows how long The captain broke off with a help­ under present conditions it'll take less gesture. / for the message to reach the right "I wish I could help you but on quarter, and perhaps even longer to that, Cap'n," Pop said sadly. "All I get a reply. If the convoy gets un­ can do is say I ain't mistaken." He der way on schedule at five o'clock turned toward the door. "I'd better and there's no word from shore, I'll be getting on with the coffee for the have to hold back. There's a short­ officers." age of refrigerated ships, so if you Pop Seymour went out. He came turn out to be wrong. Pop, and hurrying back within- a few min­ we're delayed a week waiting for utes, looking excited. "Cap'n," he the next convoy, the Navy would said, almost slamming the door be­ crucify me. I'd never get command hind him, "I've got something to . of another ship while the war tell you. When I took coffee into lasted. They'd say I'd listened to the Lieutenant Sanford's cabin, he was wild imaginings of an old steward, out on deck .somewhere. His jacket because he was an old shipmate, in­ was hanging up. I couldn't miss stead of taking the word of a United seeing the coffee stain on it, right States Army officer." where I made it yesterday, on the "Cap'n," said Pop Seymour sym­ pocket flap, same side. Don't that pathetically, "I know how it is. It's prove it's Lieutenant Harmson's?" your first trip as master and you Captain Somme, sitting with cof­ don't feel you can risk sticking your fee untouched, gazed at the old neck out like some old-timer would. steward as if still unconvinced. I ain't trying to tell you what to do, "Cap'n, you don't have to believe but it's okay by me if you want to me this time. You can go in and see RESTORED EVIDENCE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 99 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED it for yourself, just to be sure." "What do you mean. Pop? I saw it. The captain suddenly stood up. Everybody saw it." "Pop, it looks as if it's about tinie I Pop Seymour grinned. "When I started believing you." saw the jacket hafaging up, I re­ membered the stain. So I looked for When old Pop Seymour returned it. It wasn't there. I figured Lieu­ to Captain Somme's table in the tenant Harmson must have sponged cafeteria of the Seamen's Church it off before going ashore the day Institute building, the captain was before, or maybe that phony secu­ smiling reminiscently. As the rity officer had done it. I didn't former steward put down the cup think figuring it out that way would and saucer and drew but a chair, be enough to make you stick your the captain remarked, "I was just neck out. So I dabbed a little coffee .thinking about that coffee stain in the right place." years ago. What a sweat I was in, Captain Somme seemed speech­ waiting for an answer to my blinker less. Still grinning. Pop Seymour message and watching the convoy said, "With everybody making me preparing to get under way. The out to be some kinda hero over • grandest'sight of my life was seeing spotting that stain, and me sitting that launch heading for the ship pretty with the Navy, I didn't see with the M.P.'s. If that coffee stain .any sense in letting on that it didn't had turned out to be another happen that wa:y." coincidence, I think I'd have Captain Somme drew in a long jumped overboard." breath, as if about to explode. "Pop, Pop Seymour gave an odd smile. if I'd known that when I was wait­ "I knew for sure it wasn't." ing for an answer to ihy message, I "Pop, you couldn't have been think I'd have had you keel­ really sure at the time." hauled." He broke into a laugh. "I "I knew for sure because there used to call you a wise old sea gull. was no stain on the jacket." But you were really a crafty old The captain looked puzzled. buzzard."

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THE FIRST THREEbars Freddie had visited that evening turned out to be sadly unrewarding. No one bought him a drink, and no one, ei­ ther by word or deed, seemed to be aware of his very existence. Now, however, in the fourth bar, circum­ stances had taken a sudden turn for the better: he had found a live one. The "hve one" was in the form of a young man who-had come in and

THE NICE YOUNG MALICENSEDN TO UNZ.ORG 103 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED gazed about as if looking for some­ stage. Had quite a following then." one, and had finally taken a stool at "You were?" the bar right next to Freddie. Freddie nodded, elated by the "Join me in a drink?" he invited, young man's apparent interest. smiling in friendly fashion. "Magic. Legerdemain." He became "Scotch," Freddie said, pushing expansive. "Mundo the Magnifi­ his half-emptied beer glass to one cent, I was called." side. "Well, well!" marveled the The young man was dressed in young man. "Just think of that!" ^ slacks, sport coat, and turtleneck Freddie climbed down from his sweater. He wore a small mous­ stool and drew himself up to his full tache and a shock of blond hair that height of five feet, seven inches. was too long to be classified as.the "You wouldn't believe the au­ young-exec look and yet not long diences I played to!" He held onto enough to be rated strictly hippie. the bar with one hand while the Freddie noted the expensive watch other stroked die short gray, beard on the.man's wrist, the billfold he that was as seedy and imkempt as had taken from an inner pocket of the lonigi rumpled overcoat he his coat, and the twenty-dollar bill wore. "I packed them in! Held he placed on the bar. He couldn't them spellbound!" fit the young man into any definite "Wonderful," complimented the category and didn't waste any time young man. "I'll bet you were a trying. The needs of the moment great success!" were too pressing to allow, random Freddie's narrow shoulders sud­ speculation to interfere. denly sagged and a trace of mois­ After finishing off two Scotches ture came to his bleary eyes. in rapid succession and finding a "Alas," he said, shaking his head third one already waiting for him slowly from side to side "and climb­ on the bar, Freddie gloried in his ing back upon his stool. "Alas, good fortune and, at the same time, things have changed. There is no became fearful that it might end all call for stage performances any­ too soon. There was a desperate more, you know.", need to capture the young man's The yoimg man nodded gravely, fancy in some manner, to hold his watched Freddie finish- his drink, attention. and ordered him another . one. "You may not believe it by look­ "Say," he said sudderJy, as if. a ing at me now," Freddie began happy thought had just struck him, hopefully, "but I—I was once on the "I happen to be a magician myself.

104 LICENSEDALFRED TO HITCHCOCK' UNZ.ORGS MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED Not professional like you, of "This might help to limber up course—just sort of a hobby with the fingers," the young man said as me, something to amuse my friends. the refilled glass and a packaged Perhaps you could help me smooth bottle arrived. out some of my tricks and show me "Sure thing!" Freddie clutched a few new ones." the glass with one hand and "My right hand," said Freddie, reached doubtfully but hopefully holding it up. "Got it hurt a while for the bottle with the other. back." He flexed his fingers stiffly. "Not now." The young man got "Might be a bit awkward . . ." from his stool and tucked the bottle "Doesn't matter. You could show under his arm. "Later, when I meet me in slow motion. And, of course, you at the comer." He glanced at I'd expect to pay you for your his watch again, and his fingers trouble." trembled slightly as he picked up Freddie brightened^ tossed off the some bills from the bar. "Buy your­ drink he was holding, and gazed self another drink or two while wistfully at the empty glass. you're waiting," he said, indicating "Maybe I could show you a few of the two one-dollar bills and some the easier ones," he admitted. small change he had left. "And re­ "I'll tell you what," the yoimg member, at the comer in exactly man said, glancing nervously at his forty-five minutes." watch, "I've got to meet a very im­ "I'll be there," Freddie promised. portant client right now, but it After the young man had gone, shouldn't take more than, say, Freddie picked up the money and forty-five minutes. I could pick you stowed it carefully away into a coat up at the comer afterward and we pocket. Then, glass in hand, he could go to my apartment." made his way to a small booth at "Right," said Freddie. the far side of the room. He turned The yoiing man summoned the quickly and focused his eyes on the bartender. "Give my friend another large, illuminated clock behind the one," he ordered, "and I'll take a bar. Exactly ten o'clock. He sat • fifth of Scotch." down and began sipping his drink Freddie could scarcely believe slowly and thoughtfully. He had no that things were tvirning out so intention of spending the money in well. Maybe the siege of bad luck his pocket at the present moment. that had hoimded him for the past If the young man picked him up at few weeks was at last coming to an the comer, there would be a whole end. bottle to work on. If the young man

THE NICE YOUNG MAN LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 105 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED failed to keep his promise—well, he why he wouldn't keep his promise. coiild use the money for a few beers When the'hands on the clock be­ at a cheaper joint and maybe finish hind the bar indicated ten-forty, oflF the evening with a bowl of hot Freddie drained the^last drop of li­ soup. quor from his glass, made a quick After a while, he took some of trip to the men's room, and then the coins from his pocket, tucked ambled out into the street. A chill them between his stiff fingers, made fall wind had sprung up and there them appear and disappear, and were only a few people about. He plucked them out of thin air again. . shoved his hands deep into the It was one of the very few tricks he pockets of his coat and made his knew, and his injured hand was not way slowly toward the corner. at all clever at it, but he felt he Finding no car waiting there, he could bluff his way through for at shuffled over to a mailbox and least one evening. leaned against it, depression taking As time dragged slowly on, Fred­ hold of him once again. Perhaps he die found himself troubled by de­ had let his hopes for a successful pressing thoughts. What if the evening run too high, as he had young man had simply given him done on several other occasions. He, the brush-off? It had happened should have known better. Mis­ many times before, just when he fortune and disappointrhent had be­ had hoped that things had changed come a way of life with him lately. for the better. Too many times! The What to do? Stand in the cold feeling of depression brought with and wait for a young man who it the vague sense of loneliness he probably had no intention of show­ had so often experienced. What if, ing up? Seek the warmth of another after forty-five minutes of waiting, tavern and spend the rest of a fruit­ he didn't . . . less evening drinking beer? He shook the thought from him. He was about to quit his post in The fellow was just a nice young utter defeat when a car slid to a man, friendly, sympathetic and all. sudden halt at the curb and a door Probably a salesman of some kind- flew open. Freddie pushed himself real estate or insurance—and had to away from the mailbox, slid quickly see clients at odd hours of the day into the front seat, and closed the and night. Probably chose to meet door behind him. him at the comer because he might "Had a bit of misfortune," the have trouble finding a parking young man said, getting the car im- place .for his car. No reason, really. der way. "My client was sewed up

106 LICENSEDALFRE TO UNZ.ORGD HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED with other matters--ril have to see The side street was certainly not him later on. Here." He handed one of the better ones in town, defi­ Freddie the bottle from the seat be­ nitely not the type of area in which side him. Freddie had expected the young Freddie wasted no time getting man to live. In fact, the street was the bottle from its package, im- not more than a dozen blocks from screwing its cap, and tilting it to his his own shabby haunts. waiting lips. As the fiery, life-giving Halfway - down the street, the liquid trickled down his throat,, his young man turned suddenly into a hopes for a.satisfying evening began doorway, and Freddie stumbled in to soar again. after him. There, were a few tin "Didn't want to keep you wait­ mailboxes along one wall and a nar­ ing," the young man continued. "A row stairway leading upward. Fred­ promise is a promise." die started up the stairway; pulling "Right," Freddie said. "A prom­ himself along with the aid of a rail­ ise is a promise." He tilted the ing that threatened momentarily to bottle again. detach itself from the wall. Near "The only thing I can do is to , the top, he missed a step, swung take you to my apartment and let precariously back against :the wall, you entertain yourself there for a and clung to the railing for dear while. This little business deal I Ufe. have going for me happens to be "Steady, old-timer," said the extremely important, you know." 'young man, clutching him under "Right," Freddie agreed. the arms and bolstering him up un­ The young man drew the car into til he got his feet firmly planted a parking space a few minutes later again. and shut off the engine. "My apart­ . "-rU—I'll make it now," promised ment is just around the corner and Freddie. down the street a ways," he said, This young man opened the sec­ getting out. "Can you make it all ond door along the right side of the right?" dimly lighted hallway, reached in­ "Sure thing." Freddie got the side, and switched on the lights. door open, succeeded in getting to Freddie surveyed the room with a a firm standing position on the sec­ quick glance. There was a closed ond try, shoved the bottle into the door along one wall and an alcoved safe confines of a coat pocket, and kitchenette in one comer. Although followed the young man aroimd the cheaply furnished the room was comer, weaving only slightly. clean and showed the unmistakable THE NICE YOUNG MAN 107 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED signs of a woman's personal touch. sisted, "and no basement bargains." "Not much of a place," apolo­ "But I can't afford it." gized the young man. "But after I "Then have your gracious and get this business deal under way, I'll very rich wife increase your allow­ be able to have something a lot ance!" nicer." He indicated the closed "I can't, and I'm already in door. "We'll have to be fairly debt." quiet—don't" want to awaken the "Then how would you like to wife, you know." have her find out about what you've "Sure thing." Freddie winked un- been doing behind her back, and derstandingly, took the bottle from have her cut you off completely?" his coat, and slumped down into an Now, after finding the old dere­ easy chair. lict, and figuring out how to keep The young man glanced at his him waiting in the bar, he had been watch. "Hate to run oif like this, able to silence her threats and infer­ but business is business. I'll be back nal bickering once and for all—and in a half hour or so. Just some con­ his timing had been perfect. Millie's tracts and things to sign." At the roommate would arrive home from door, he paused. "Make yourself work within fifteen minutes or so. comfortable. And remember, I'll When she found the old drunk in pay you well for your time." the livingroom and discovered Mil­ lie's lifeless "body on the bed, she Once safely back in his car, the would scream to high heaven, and young man peeled the moustache the police would take it from there. from his lip, swept the blond wig Even if the old coot babbled some­ from his head, and shoved them thing about a man with a mous­ into the glove compartment. He tache and blond hair, the descrip­ drew in a deep breath and heaved a tion would lead nowhere. trembling sigh of relief as he got the Better for the old buzzard to be car under way. in jail than bumming about the His affair with Millie had at first streets for the rest of his life, he ra­ been merely a lark, a pleasing di­ tionalized. version, but thanks to her grasping nature, it had rapidly got com­ Left alone, Freddie waited vmtil pletely out of hand. Her demands the sotmd of footsteps on the stairs and threats had become intolerable. had died away. Then he placed the "I want an apartment of my own, bottle on a little table near his nice things to wear," she had in­ chair, pushed himself quickly to his

108 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE

LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED feet, and walked softly to the closed livelihood. Even so, it had been an door at the side of the room. He easy task for those experienced fin­ twisted the knob silently and gers to extract the billfold from the pushed the door slightly open. young man's inner pocket during Light stabbing into the room from the faked stumbling act on the stair­ behind him revealed a young way. It was the chance Freddie had woman sprawled out on the bed. been hoping for ever since he had She seemed to be sleeping quite spotted the billfold back at the bar. soundly.. He quickly jammed the billfold He pushed the door farther open back into the safe confines of his and tiptoed to the bed. He looked coat pocket, picked up the bottle at the woman's pale left hand. from the table and tucked it care­ There was no diamond or wedding fully under his arm. band there, just a cheap ring that At the doorway, he paused. The could be picked up at any bargain evening had been a great success, counter—certainly not worth fool­ and since the young man had been ing with—and a quick siu'vey of the such a nice fellow, buying him room brought nothing of value to drinks and a bottle and offering to his attention. pay him' for-a few lessons in magic, Back in the livingroom, he fished there was no need to inconvenience a billfold from his pocket and him when it.really wasn't necessary. opened it. A low whistle escaped He took the billfold from his his thin lips as the stiff fingers of his pocket again and extracted only the right (hand fumbled through a currency from it, leaving intact its goodly sheaf of currency. contents of credit cards, driver's li­ Not too long ago, when Freddie cense, and other personal items— had put his fingers into another and tossed it into the doorway of pocket, the owner of that pocket—a the bedroom where the nice yoimg big man completely devoid of hu­ man would be sure to find it when mor—discovered those fingers and he came home later that night. twisted them unmercifully, putting Under the circumstances, it a crimp into Freddie's means of seemed the decent thing to do.

JJ*^4' THE NICE YOUNG MAN LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 109 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED There is one species of animal that is always eminently worthy of greater study.

LAURA?" Ben called through the writer under the green-shaded closed door of his inner .sanctum, light, surrounded by papers, files, the spare bedroom he had con­ and reference books. Her "assistant verted into an office. Ben's Den. professor of zoology at Mayberry Genius at work. "Could we have College had turned out to be a some coffee?" deadly serious and ambitious young Ben always cushioned demands man. as questions. Anything you did for "Thanks, honey." He stared at Ben was always a big favor. "Com­ the typewriter, stirred at the coffee ing right up," she said, hurrying absently with his left hand, fingered across creaky boards. In the slightly his gold-rimmed glasses with his lopsided kitchen she poured the right. coffee: very black, plenty of sugar. ' She watched him from the shad­ Before taking it into Ben's Den, she ows. quickly put on a slinky nightgown. "I'm keeping the old title," he Ben didn't notice. Lean, boyish, said. "Migratory Habits of House intense, tousle-headed, he stayed Rats as Controlled by Food Sup- hunched over his portable type­ P¥" 110 LICENSEDALFRE TOD HITCHCOCK'UNZ.ORG S MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED "A good working title," she said. "Good night. I'll miss you, Ben." "You want anything else, dear?" she She walked through the shadows added, being cautiously hopeful. to the darkening bedroom and "What time is it?" looked at the window. Insects "Almost eight." thudded on the screen. Wind sighed "Probably be working late again. through birch trees—or were they I'm running behind and I've got to alders? There was the occasional tie up this experiment before svmi- sly, teasing rustle of the httle folk mer vacation ends. Don't wait up scurrying in the walls. for me." She shivered. TV reception was The lonely stillness of the old. awful out here. Her nerves were

somewhat rehabilitated farmhouse pressed in. "AH right, Ben. How's the paper coming?" "Okay, honey." There was the quick smile of tenderness which al­ most concealed his impatience at being-touched by the com­ monplace. "I wish you'd work with me again, honey. Side by side like it used to be. Typing notes, research. Easier for me. Cozier too." ^^fm^i^'Af. "I—I'm trying." "Ummmm. Well, good night, honey." ROUGH ON RATS 111 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED too ragged for reading. Even if she picked it up by the scruff of the knew anyone around these remote neck with a gentle reverence and Vermont hills, she couldn't invite compassion. Now she "knew why them over. Ben didn't want to so­ he'd begun dousing himself with co­ cialize until his paper was com­ logne. It concealed the odor of rats. pleted and approved for publica­ "Dead," he said. "Malnutrition, tion in Science Quarterly. Of coiu'se I'd say." He held it up to the light he wasn't lonely, not with his burn­ to'examine the toe-clipped mark­ ing ambition and little furred ings on its right foot. "This is Mary friends. She decided to chance IV. She's the eighty-seventh mi­ being slightly less bored by a Satur­ grant." day night movie in Mayberry. Slid­ Laura felt faiiit and sagged down ing open the closet door, she onto the bed. She knew herself well reached for a blouse. enough to diagnose the cause of her A large brown house rat with migraines, one of which was now grimy fur and crusted tail wobbled on its gruesome, throbbing way- out and collapsed on the yellow repressed feelings piling up and ex­ shag rug. It writhed and kicked its ploding in the head; strong feelings, legs. Its blunt, wet nose quivered. like the scream stopped up in her Its powerful jaws himg open, baring throat still wanting to get out. She long, curved incisors wim sharp wanted to let it rip out at the top of cutting edges. Its sharp, shiny and her lungs, but she couldn't allow joyless eyes looked up at her as its herself to lose control, make scenes, body twitched. upset Ben and his applecart. Yet A scream'rose up and choked off controlling herself was getting in Laura's throat. She mustn't more and more difficult, migraines scream. No scenes, please. Backing growing more frequent. Rats being to the door, she called down the allowed to migrate out of the lab hall, her voice sounding louder than Ben had built in the basement were she had intended. "Ben! Come here, bad enough. She'd been able to take please, Ben." that, though. But this invasion of He appeared, smiling to soften her closet . . . She imagined thein his irritation. Repressing a shudder, nesting among her most intimate she pointed at the rat. It lay on its things! side, still twitching. She could "Ben," she whispered. imagine nothing more horrible than "This just about winds up the rats. She felt sick at the sight of food limitation testing," Ben said them, and the musty smell. But Ben proudly, still examining the rat.

112 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED "Ben . . ." No, she simply had to black death." Tragic statistics . . . control herself. So much was at It can happen to us, Laura knew. stake for Ben: reputation; prestige; She was familiar with Rattus norve­ salary increase; advancement from gicus from having started out doing associate professor to a full profes­ Ben's research and typing notes. sorship, and on to who knows Since scientific understanding where and what? would help control rats, help win Not to mention the crucial scien­ the war against them, there was just tific and practical considerations of no question about the terrific im­ the project itself. Rattus norvegicus, portance of Ben's research project. that common brown house rat, was Nor was there any question about a major enemy of man and civ­ letting her personal discomforts ilization. No question about it. It stand in the way of success. She was the cleverest, most adaptable must not lose control. and destructive animal on earth be­ If he would only get it out. of the sides man. It destroyed four times bedroom ... as much property as fire. It bit "At least now it's scientifically es­ babies, infected, deformed. It de­ tablished what happens when the stroyed $250,000,000 in food every number of rats increases to the year. It carried'10 human diseases, point where the limited food supply including plague, typhus, spiro­ no longer supports the population." chetal jaundice, rat-bite fever, "They go away," she said. rabies, tularemia, and food poison­ "They migrate, yes." ing; was infested with 18 different She knew that Ben had no idea kinds of lice, fleas and mites, and II what a bad time she was having. So kinds of parasites. A single Rattus how could he be sympathetic, espe­ norvegicus couple produced 19 cially when he was so preoccupied generations in three years, or with his work? He saw only the sur­ 359,709,480 new and ravenous rats. face of her defense, which appeared Mankind's war with rats had quite different than the iimer tor­ been going on a long time. Millions ments. What he saw was probably of dollars were spent annually, but aloofness, detachment,- a coldness the rats were winning. They had toward him and his work, dis­ killed more men than all of his wars interest. Still she must conceal the against himself. In the year 163 true inner feelings. If he knew her they helped speed the fall of the to be practicing brinkmanship with Roman Empire by infecting its sol­ nervous collapse, he might abandon . diers with bubonic plague, "the his project. If he did that, just for ROUGH ON RATS 113 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED her, their future together would be thing of a siuprise. She sighed. even less of a ball than it was now. He reached for her hand but she Ben laid the rat out across the flinched back involuntarily, getting top of the bed table, whipped a a visual flash of his fingers caressing note pad from his back pocket and a rat. She swayed toward him again jotted down memoranda. "During but he was stepping away, looking one month of overpopulation hurt and resigned. "I know how threat, only ten marked rats left the tough it is for you, honey." He hesi­ basement lab and were caught out­ tated. "Do you want me to drop the side. Now, you see, there have been project? Move back to the city?" over eighty migrants." "Oh no, Ben!" "Yes—yes, I've seen a few scam­ "Do yoii want to move back? We pering about the—" can't afford much of an apartment, "I've kept the minimal food al­ but maybe you could move back in lowance of 1000 grams per rat per with Julie for a while. You'll have day stable. No increase. Now you your old friends and your art lessons see what happens as the population again. It won't be for long and—'• multiplies, but the food supply re­ "No, Ben," she cut in, her voice mains the same. Rats don't stop rising toward shrillness. A dreary, breeding. They don't attack each fear seized her at his mention of other. .The exc,esS||population mi-, even,,a temporary separ^ation. .If. grates, leaves the others with the would only_be the prelude to the fi­ lOOO grams per day necessary to nal split.''And he didn't understand sustain life and provide proper nu­ about the. singles life in the city. trition. Now, that's reniarkable!" That was real loneliness, indignity, Laura's face felt feverishly hot. and deepening depression, without Something from the rats? No. Be­ hope. The thought of going back to fore coming out here with Ben it made the rats seem more she'd received toxoid shots and a se­ palatable. Anyway, the rats project ries of anti-rabies shots. No, her would soon be over. She had to see problem was strictly emotional. She them through. just didn't like rats, and— 'Tou're sure?" Ben was looking pensively at her "Very, very sure, Ben. Believe face, his blue eyes blinking with me, I'm sure. I'm not blaming any­ studious concern. He took off his one or anything but myself. I ac­ glasses and began wiping the lenses. cepted all this when I married you. "You*re crying," he said softly. I knew what kind of work you did "Am—am I?" It really was some­ in the lab. I helped you do it. I

114 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG / ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED knew you worked with guinea pigs me against them—a whole houseful and rats. And I know you have to of squealing and voracious mis­ be isolated out here to carry on tresses. Well, they're not running your experiment with migrating me out, Ben. I'm staying and assert­ rats. It's just having them nmning ing my authority over my domain!" around the house." She managed a "Good girl." His grin came back. smile. "A bit more than I bargained "So how about a direct con­ for, but the wife of an up-and-com­ frontation? That's the sure, fast way ing scientist must be ready for tmex- to beat this hang-up. Get back into pected challenges, right?" harness with me, honey, like old "Right, honey." A touch of his times, and help me wrap up this old grin flickered. project. It'll go easier and a lot "I may be a little bit allergic to faster, and we'll be heading out of rodeiits, but I'm going to fight it, here that much sooner. What about Ben. We're in this fight together, it?" darling—all the way!" She swallowed hard. She moved "That sounds more like my old her head up and down. "Wonder­ Laura." Ben's boyish grin turned on ful, Ben. Just a wonderful idea." full. He slapped her on the back. She pulled the note pad out of his Then his grin lowered to a sober back pocket and the pen from his frown. "Allergies have emotional shirt pocket. "Might as well start causes, don't they, honey? Usually? now to get the rust out of my short­ It could be conflict about posses- hand. What phase of the project are siveness. Unconsciously, of course, we in now. Doctor? And where do you may be jealous of my project- we go from here?" jealous of the rats for taking me "Well . . ." Ben began to pace away from you. This is a common around the bedroom, hands clasped problem with the wives of scientists behind his back, bespectacled eyes and artists. Especially in this case on the ceiling in mock professorial when, as you said, the rats aren't off reflection. "We have kept the food in a lab somewhere, but here in the supply at a stable level of 1000 house. Your house. The house has grams per rat per day. The females that special symbolic meaning for a keep on producing twelve litters a woman. She identifies—" year, each litter numbering ten rav­ "Oh yes, Ben," she interrupted enous young rats. We know that eagerly. "I never thought of that, when colony population exceeds but it does ring-a bell. It really food supply, there is no birth con­ does." She gave a mock shiver. "It's trol, no attacking each other for ROUGH ON RATS 115 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED food rights, no killing. The excess Take action against a sea of Rat- members of the colony migrate, and tus norvegicus and thereby banish keep on migrating. The colony thus infantile self-centeredness. Go to it, remains stable with the continuing gal..Face up. Only way to conquer food supply of 1000 grams per day. fear is eyeball to eyeball. She'd read What we must seek now is the an­ it somewhere when she used to read swer to an even more astonishing a lot. She couldn't remember and complex question. What deter­ where. mines which rats migrate? Are the "Do the thing you fear and the older, younger, predominately male death of fear is certain." or female, weaker or stronger rats She went down the hall to the of­ chosen? What rats make the crucial fice and was soon busy in Ben's decision? And how do they make Den, sorting notes, typing and re­ it?" typing. It went on that way, quite Laura looked up from the note well and comfortably, even thera­ pad. "Soimds fascinating, BerT. Ah— peutically, for several days. how much longer do you figure the Then Ben burst into the den, project will take? I mean the whole beaming with boyish excitement. thing?" He hustled her down the hall. Her "That depends on how hard we stomach turned over as he pulled can work—together." her across the kitchen to the bolted, steel-^reinforced door that led down In the morning, Laura put on her into the basement lab. old slacks and work smock. She "Phase two, phase two," he said. popped one of the blue-coated She popped another tranquilizer tranquilizers into her mouth from into her mouth. Her upper lip was the fat bottle forwarded to her by wet. Her mouth,was dry as dust in­ good old Dr. Webb in the city. side and her tongue felt swollen. Then she knocked back a bourbon When Ben opened the door a chaser and began to appreciate damp, musty smell, came up, along Ben's dedication, his love, patience, with a chorus of scurrying, scratch­ intelligence and insight. She was ing, squeaking, squealing and gnaw­ being childish and possessive and ing. selfish. She would return to ^Ben's Ben beamed a flash down and side, share his trials and his loath­ naked white light played over wire some mistresses, and later his mesh pens. The pens were kept triumphs. Maybe even the Nobel open and hundreds of rats ran Prize. freely over the concrete - floor,

116 LICENSEDALFRE TOD HITCHCOCK' UNZ.ORG S MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED around containers of food and wa­ and rnirrors in a carnival 'crazy ter and in the corners littered with house. paper, cotton, and beaverboard for "Yes. You've stopped up the one nest-building. The entire basement escape pipe. No more migrants?" was rat-proofed with concrete and "Why do you think, my zoologi­ sheet metal around the walls to a cal associate, that the pipe is height of seven feet. One drain pipe plugged?" leading outside had been left open "Now we—we find out what hap­ for migrants. pens if the population continues to Laura forced herself down the increase, but the food supply does stairs after Ben. It was the only not—and the problem cannot be way. This had to come and this was solved by migration." it. Face up, shape up or ship out. "Right on, honey." Ben beamed She found herself down there some­ proudly. "What happens? Canni­ how, near the wall, hearing them balism? Will the young, old, male scurrying and squeaking around her or female have the better survival boots. But she couldn't look down. value? Reproduction might even The palms of her hands were wet. slow down. We just don't know. Her fingers quivered. She stood But we'll soon find out. One thing rigid feeling her flesh shrink up­ we know—they'll have to eat. Rats ward, pulling away from her bones are the most voracious eaters on as though drawn by a magnet. She earth. They can and do eat just felt like screaming and jumping about anything. They'll go through straight up, up through the house all their nests and they'll devour and into the sky. that nesting material. They'll gnaw "You okay, honey?" up concrete and maybe even those "Fine, Ben. I'm fine," she heard plastic water and food trays. Biit her voice echoing around metal­ very soon they'll have only each lically like a recording. She felt a other." smile pasted/across her face; "That's nice, Ben. I mean—" Her "I've begun a new phase of the lower lip was trembling. "It's a fas­ experiment, honey. See?" cinating problem. Fascinating. But She felt a twitch in the comer of now I—I've got to look at the pot her mouth. She forced her head to roast." She backed toward the turn to the right, then to the left. stairs. Something squealed and Dim walls and the cobwebby raf­ jerked from under her right heel. ters of the ceiling wavered and She froze. slipped and drifted like the walls "I'll check the roast, honey," Ben ROUGH ON RATS 117 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED said. "Have to bring down some in the experiment has to be wire. I'm going to rig up another sketched out." very sensitive microphone here." "Ben!" • He handed her the chpboard to He was already halfway up the" which was attached a pencil hang­ stairs. A loose board squeaked. She ing by a string. "I've got to finish started to scream, but put her hand these population graphs. Now I over her mouth. The door opened want you to finish up this rough up there, then clanged shut. sketch of the lab as it looks now, She tried to sketch, but the clip­ with the plugged exit pipe, its board fell out of her hands and then position, and so forth. Every change she was running, falling, scrabbling up the stairs on her hands and knees. She was clawing at the door. She seemed to have been there clawing and beating and scratching at the door a long time before it opened, and Ben stood silhouetted again.st the light looking down at

ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED her. Then he was lifting her up. entific advance in rat genealogy. "Laura, Laura honey—what on "I've been trapping and weigh­ earth?" He was half carrying her to ing rats, examining their physical the bedroom. "I'm sorry—I'm really condition." sorry, honey. I just didn't realize "How is their physical condition, how bad it was." Ben?" "Varied. Rats have much the . She opened her eyes. She remern- same nervous system as we do. bered vaguely waking up' and That's why we use white rats for lab seeing Ben's worried face bending experiments. Anyway, many of over her, and the face turning misty them are developing symptoms of and fading away. She didn't know nervous disorder as the hunger how many times, but she seemed to pressure grows. Food supply have been in bed for several days. doesn't increase. Population in­ Some kind of fever, Ben had whis­ creasing rapidly. No way to get pered once. She recalled Ben ad­ more food. No way out. None of the ministering to her tenderly, pre­ migratory methods can work. Many paring broths and medications, rats are showing signs of psychosis." soothing her forehead with cold "What else can they do?" cloths. • \ v "We'll soon see. Many new rats Now he sat beside the bedagain, ^e On the scene, and- many females only this time his face was clearer are pregnant. They're really up and it didn't fade away. At least it tight down there, believe me. What wasn't fading away yet. will they do now? If they start at­ 'Tou'U be all right now, Laura. tacking one another for the food, You.'ll be fine now." who will win? Some rats apparently 'TeSi" she said faintly. "I will. I are deliberately starving themselves know I will; Nothing like that will to death; martyrs. What sort of rats happen again, Ben. I promise." decide on that role, and why?" "Don't worry about it. Want to "Keep me informed, Ben," she know how the project's going?" said, smiling faintly. "Keep me in­ 'Tes, yes, Ben. Tell me what's formed," she repeated as he hurried been happening in the lab." out of the room. Ben's eyes lit up with excitement. She drifted off. And then it was at She listened carefully. Much was night; not that night, but some happening in the basement. Impor­ other night, and she was up and tant, startling developments were walking around, trying to feel occurring along .the highway of sci­ strong, trying to stop giving in to

ROUGH ON RATS LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 119 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED foolish, childish, over-possessive room and slipped into bed and lay weakness. But she still felt weak shivering and perspiring as though and a bit feverish and with little recovering from some nameless dis­ dizzy spells. She stopped just out­ ease.. She went to sleep and side the darkened livingroom, dreamed she was a bird flying away hearing the whispering in there and toward the sun. It was the first being afraid before she realized that pleasant dream she'd had in a long it was Ben in there talking on the time. the telephone. She awoke feeling much better. She listened. A moment later she She got up and heard birds singing realized that Ben had no idea she out in the green leaves by the win­ was up and about, but figured she dow. She didn't feel weak or dizzy was still in bed. The throbbing pain at all. The busy sound of Ben's type­ in her head was coming back. She writer came from the Den. She lis­ could feel her heart grinding pain­ tened to it a while, then went into fully. the kitchen and brewed up a fresh "Listen, Julie honey," Ben was pot of coffee. She. made it very saying, "I'm telling you it won't be black, poured a cupful and put in much longer. She's just about had it, plenty of sugar. Then she oipened I can tell you. Up to here. She's had ten tranquilizer capsules and a breakdown already, but she's just dumped the white powder into the too stubborn to admit it and go the coffee and took the cup into Ben's rest of the way. The rat project's Den. Just enough, she figured, to coming along nicely too. It'll defi­ put him info a deep, soimd sleep. nitely put me on the map. And lis­ He glanced up and seemed star­ ten, honey, I said it was definite. tled. Then he smiled and took the We'll be together soon—very soon— cup and sipped it gratefully. The that's a promise . . . Yes, I said steam from the cup misted over his she's about had it. She'll be puUing glasses until he had no eyes. stakes or be taken to the hospital in "You look a lot better, honey." a few days, depend on it—and I "I feel better. How's the project mean Bellevue . . . That's right. going?" I've got a little thing worked out "Younger rats are holding their for her that'll send her right oilt of own and are surviving. They're kill­ her tree . . ." ing the older rats and giaarding the There was really no point in food, supply. A real vicious, com­ eavesdropping for more. Laura tip­ petitive hell going on down there." toed back down the hall to the bed-. "I've been thinking, Ben. I think

120 LICENSEDALFRED TOHITCHCOCK' UNZ.ORGS MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED it's pretty mean, starving those drag a body easily over the floor. poor creatures, making them kill She rolled Ben onto a throw rug and eat one another. The truth is, and pulled him down the hall and I've always felt it was cruel the way through the kitchen to the door that scientists, treat guinea pigs, dogs, led down into the basement. mice, rats and rhesus monkeys." She hesitated only a moment. "Let's say lesser animals are here Then she lifted the bolts and to serve man." Ben sipped and opened the door, shoyed Ben yawned. He stared at the cup and through and heard his body sliding yawned again. His head sagged down the stairs. Before she could toward his chest. " get the door shut a wave of crazed "Such a callous attitude toward rats swarmed out and over the animals leads to a kind of contempt kitchen floor. But Laura didn't for human life, too," Laura said. mind.. There were plenty more- "I'm sure it does. Is it really much hundreds and hundreds—where of a jump from rats to people?" they came from. They were vora- "That's a—a horrible thought .cious, starving, all of them. And . . ." Ben reached over to put the they weren't discriminating, Ben almost empty cup on his desk, but had said. They would eat anything. his reach was too short. The cup fell She called the sheriffs office in and shattered on the floor. Ben Mayberry.- "There's been a terrible stared at it and yawmed. His body accident," she said. "My husband— sagged forward. He straightened up the. rats—the rats . . ." And then a little and tried to look up at she began to scream—and scream- Laura. "Horrible—thought . . ." as though she were making up for He rolled over, head between his lost time. knees, onto the floor. When the sheriff arrived, Laura Laura looked down at him and was in Ben's Den typing her version remembered her dream of being a of Alexander Pope's famous dictum: bird. She also remembered a mys­ "The proper study of man is Rat- tery story she'd read and how to tus norvegicus."

ROUGH ON RATS LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 121 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED One may clearly see that it is^not sharp, pointed words that de­ cide a particular affair.

ABOUT FIVE-THIRTY I got on the horn and called Rube Edmonds, who lived in the apartment right above ours. It rang only three times before he answered. -' "Hey, Rube,">I said in a real jo­ vial tone, "you like liver, don't you? How about you come down and join me for dinner? Bonnie's gone shopping and I hate to eat alone." Rube hesitated a moment and there was a kind of svu-prise in his voice when he asked, "You really "Okay, Paul. Sure, you know me. inviting me, Paul?" -You want me to come down right "Sure I am. This liver's extra spe­ now?" cial—smothered in onions." Rube "Yeah, why not? We'll have us a knew I was the meatcutter at the beer while I'm cooking the liver supermarket at the Elm Street and onions. Come on down. Rube," Shopping Plaza, and lots of times I I told him cheerfully. get special cuts of things. I used to I himg up and went into the ask him down before Bonnie and kitchen, took out a couple of cans me got married a couple of years of brew and set them on the kitchen back. table. Rube knocked and I yelled

122 LICENSEDALFRE TOD UNZ.ORG HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED for him to come on in. "Door's not "Been'some time, ain't it. Rube?" locked." I commented. "I mean, since I got Rube came to the kitchen door married." and looked at me, and I grinned at "Sure has, Paul, it sure has." He him cheerfully. "You never used to gave me a knowing grin. "I didn't knock before me and Boimie mar­ want to bust up newlyweds, you ried up," I told him. "You gone po­ know, or anything like that." lite, or something?" "Ain't she something. Rube?" I^ Rube shrugged and gave me a asked. "I mean, ain't she, really?" small smile which lifted his lips "She's a nice-lookin' filly, Paul, from his nice white teeth. No doubt she sure is. Not my type, maybe, about it, Rube was about the hand­ but she is sure some looker." somest man I ever knew. Women "That figure, Rube?""i I made a had always gone for him; he'd had gesture with my two hands eyen if I his choice, the liicky bum. Not like was holding the beer can in my me; with this face, I figured I was right. the luckiest guy in the world when "Yeah, she's got a cute figure, all Bonnie said she'd marry me. right, Paul. I'll say this for you, you I motioned to the kitchen table sure can pick 'em." and to the cans of beer. "Sit and - "She's out buying something- drink," I suggested. "How's the said it was a present for me. She's work going?" Rube worked the going to dinner with some of her night shift at the cannery, which girlfriends." I made a kind of a gri­ meant he went to work at eleven— mace. "You know how they are. and also it meant he was free to do Women!" what he wanted all day. "Yeah, women!" Rube said. "So-so," Rube answered. "The "Well, here's how." He took a deep union got us a three-cent raise, only draw on the beer and so did I. it costs so much to live it didn't do I got up and went to the counter no good. Not really." He sat down beside the sink. I held up a little and ripped off the top of one of the slice of the liver. "Rube, ain't that cans. beautiful?" I asked. "Did you ever I left off slicing the liver, for a see a piece of liver like that?" moinent and sat down opposite He glanced at it indifferently. He him. I ripped off the top of my can. was still watching me cautiously. "Well, cheers," I said. "Me, I'm not a meat man, Paul. I Rube grinned and leaned back, wouldn't know a good piece of liver crossing his legs. "Cheers." until I ate it." THE LIVER FEAST 123 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED "Well, you just wait till I cook onions make me bawl. If something this," I told him. "Then you'll else comes up that might make a know." guy cry, I go for action, know what I turned my back to him and I mean? I do something. I don't started to slice the rest of the liver stand and bawl. Not then." I turned into small, thin slices, very, very and grinned at Rube and.he nodded carefully. As a good meatcutter, I and grinned back; though he didn't know how important a sharp knife look like he was enjoying rny chat-' is, and I keep my knives extra sharp ter so much. at home as well as at the~rnarket. I sliced the onions, using the When I'd finished, I turned around same sharp" knife. Like I said, I to tell Rube he could have himself started to cry, but I went on slicing another beer. I still had the sharp them anyway. "Some people say if knife in my hand and natiu-ally you slice 'em under water, they there was blood on it. won't make you bawl," I said con­ "Rube," I started to say, but he versationally. "I'd rather bawl." got up quickly, which was very "Yeah, you would," Rube said quickly indeed because Rube was like he was kidding me. an agile man—not big and ~ strong So for a couple of minutes the like me, but very fast. His eyes were tears ran down my cheeks, and then on. the knife, "Hey, Rube? What's I got out the skillet and put it on with you? You think I was going to the burner. "I got salads already stick you, a good friend of mine, made. You like liver gravy?" I - with my knife? Go get another asked. beer. Rube, and get another out for "Siu-e," Rube answered. "You me, too, huh?" know I do." I grinned at him and he grinned "Okay, so I make some. I'll sea­ back. "That's what I was going to son it good—I like high seasoning, do," he said glibly, and I nodded. don't you. Rube? Sort of hides bad While he was busy getting the tastes sometimes. Know what I beers, I reached down and got my mean? I got mashed spuds all sack of onions from the lower cup­ ready." board. "Here's where I bawl,"- I Rube took a draw on the beer. said. "Onions always make me I got the skillet hot and then I bawl." put the meat and onions in with 'Tou're the crying type," Rube some margarine. "Rube, what do said companionably. you do all day?" I asked like I was "Not really," I answered. "Only still just making conversation. "I

124 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED mean, I sleep all night and I work let it brown nicely. Then I poured all day. You don't sleep all day, do in some cold water and a little milk. you?" It thickened just right. I seasoned it "No. I sleep until about one," like I told Rube I would. Rube said. "Then I get up." The mashed potatoes were al­ "You got lots of time to do ready on the back of the stove. I things, then, don't you. Rube? You put them on,. and we sat down. could go visiting—see people." I Rube speared a piece of liver and a gave him a sly look. "Maybe you lot of onions. I watched him care­ even got a woman you can visit,- fully while he took a big bite. A huh? Maybe some woman when her smile spread over his face. "Man, husband's working, and there you that's eating," he murmured. "You are, with all the time in the world; never done better in your whole How about it. Rube?" life." He gave me a quick look and "Good, huh?" I said, pleased. smiled. "Not me, pal. I ain't going "That makes me feel good." I to go playing around with some forked liver and onions' onto my woman with a husband. It ain't own plate. Rube helped himself to safe." potatoes and gravy and so did I. We I sighed. "It ain't, for a fact," I ate in companionable silence for a agreed. while, enjoying the flavor of the The liver smelled good while I liver which, of course, was in every­ cooked it, and the onions were thing I'd cooked. strong and satisfying too. 'Tou We each ate three pieces. There want to get the salads out. Rube? was one piece left. "Rube, you eat You know where they are. You can it," I said. "I'm so full I can't take set the table, too, and save me the another bite." trouble." He shrugged and took it. I "Anything for a pal," Rube said watched him finish it down to the mildly. His black eyes were still a last little bit. little cautious, but he was relaxing. "That was real good," Rube said. I put the liver and onions on a "I neyer tasted anything like it." platter and set it down in the "Well," I said judicially, "it was a middle of the table. Rube put down kind of special liver. Rube," I said. plates and silverware and got out "Something real special. I don't the salads. "Get a couple more think I've ever butchered up liver beers, too," I told him. like that before." , I put some flour in the skillet and Rube lit up a cigarette and THE LIVER FEAST LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 125 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED looked at me through the smoke he more she ain't. Rube, I loved that blew out his Hps. "How? I mean woman more'n I loved living. And' how is it special?" you know what? Some guy has been "Well, Rube, you know me. I'm coming up to the apartment while probably the champion meatcutter I'm working at the market. She's of the coimtry. I can cut up any­ letting him!" ." thing. Know what I mean?" - Rube swallowed hard. "I don't "Sure, Paul, I know. You're a believe it," he said positively. '.'Not goq,d meatcutter. What'd you cut Bonnie!" He peered at me. 'Tou up? You going to tell me?" got any idea who?" "I rightly shouldn't tell you. "No, but I will!" I answered. "I Rube, because you might tell some­ will! I hired a detective. He's going body else and get me into trouble." to tell me tomorrow. He says he "I wouldn't do that!" he said. knows." "What was it? Goat liver or some­ "No kidding! Any—anybody I thing?" know?" I shook my head, and sighed. "How'd I know. Rube? / don't "You know me. Rube. I can't tell. know yet. Only what I'm going to you. It wouldn't be fair." do to him is exactly what I did to He laughed. "Okay, so don't! I Bonnie." don't give a damn. It was good "Did to Bonnie? What do you liver, anyway." mean, Paul?" Rube's face was get­ I took a cigar out of my pocket ting white. and bit off the tip. Then I got up I smiled blandly. "Rube, that was and got a kitchen match from be­ sure good liver, wasn't it?" hind the stove. "Rube," I said, "I He looked at me, his eyes getting got troubles." bigger and bigger. "What troubles, Paul?" I smiled and nodded. 'Tes, Bon­ "Want another beer?" I asked. nie's. Man; wasn't it tender? She He nodded, so I broke a couple out. never even knew it when I did it. "Troubles with women." I sat down Never felt a thing." heavily. "Rube, I lied to you," I said He just barely made it to the slowly. "Bonnie, she ain't shopping. •kitchen sink. I watched him until he She ain't anywhere." was finished. He was positively "What do you mean, she ain't green when he turned around. anywhere? Everybody's some­ "You're mad, Paul," he said in a where, ain't they?" hoarse voice, which was natural, "Bonnie ain't," I said. "Not any­ him doing what he'd been doing.

126 LICENSEDALFRED TO HITCHCOCK' UNZ.ORGS MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED "You're really stark raving mad!" on it. "Hey, what's this?" she said "Maybe so," I answered. "Just gaily. the same, when I find out the name "I had Rube down to join me in of the guy, same thing'U happen to some extra nice calves' liver," I him." I frowned. "Probably won't said. "He didn't like it so good be so tender, though." Then I •though." smiled. "Want to join me again. A guarded look came on her face. Rube?" "Rube?" "You're mad," he said again and "Yeah, Rube. Kind of a farewell ran out of the apartment like the present. He's leaving town." devil was on his heels. "Leaving town . . . ?" I sat there smoking my cigar. I al­ "Yeah. I expect maybe he's al­ ways enjoy a good cigar after din­ ready g9ne. Too bad, too. He was a ner, particularly if it was a good good friend." I looked at Bonnie dirmer like this. I thought it was through cigar smoke. "He sure'^was, pretty good liver, myself. It had a wasn't he?" fine taste of something yoimg and Bormie shrugged like she didn't tender. give a damn. "Want to see what I I heard the apartment door open bought for you?" she asked gaily. and then Bonnie's heels on the '.'Sure," I answered. "Of course I floor. She came into the kitchen, do.'''A guy always wants to see her arms full of packages. She what his wife's bought, especially looked at the table with dirty dishes when he loves her-as much as I do.

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THE LIVER FEAST LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 127 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED As Mr. Bell undoubtedly discovered, the message one attempts to JL. transmit may, at times, be slightly garbled. f c

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I'M VERY GLAD she's dead," the man sure he had heard the man cor­ said. rectly. "Sir," Carella said, 'Tm sure He wore a homburg, muffler, I don't have to tell you—" overcoat and gloves. He stood near "That's right," the man said, the night table, a tall man with a "you don't have to tell me. It hap­ narrow face, and a well-groomed pens I'm a. criminal lawyer and am gray moustache that matched the well aware of my rights. My ,wife graying hair at his temples. His eyes was no good, and I'm delighted were clear and blue and distinctly someone killed her." free of pain or grief. Ccirella opened his pad. This was Detective Steve Carella wasn't not what a bereaved husband-was-

128 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED supposed to say when his wife lay While .the police photographer disemboweled on the bedroom floor was doing his macabre little jig in a pool of her own blood. around the body to rnake sure the "Your name is Gerald Fletcher." lady looked good in the rushes, or as "That's correct." good as any lady can look in her "Your wife's name, Mr. condition, a laboratory assistant Fletcher?" -" named Marshall Davies was in the "Sarah. Sarah Fletcher." kitchen of the apartment, waiting "Want to tell me what hap­ for the medical examiner to pro­ pened?" nounce the lady dead, at which "I got home about fifteen min­ time Davies would go into the bed­ utes ago. I called to my wife from room and with delicate care re­ the front door, and got no answer. I move the knife protruding from the came into the bedroom and found blood and slime of the lady, in an her dead on the floor. I immediately attempt to salvage some good la­ called the police." tent prints from the handle of the "Was the room in-this condition murder weapon. when you came in?" - Davies was a new technician, but "It was." an observant one, and he, noticed "Touch anything?" that the kitchen window was wide "Nothing. I haven't moved from open, not exactly usual on a De­ this spot since I placed the call." cember night' when the tempera­ "Anybody in here when you ture outside hovered at twelve de­ came in?" grees. Leaning over the sink, he (CyipfAiXkL tWAL "Not a soul. Except my wife, of further noticed that the window course." opened onto a fire escape on the "Is that your suitcase in the en­ rear of the building. He could not trance hallway?" resist speculating that perhaps "It is. I was on the Coast for someone had climbed up the fire es­ three days. An associate of mine cape and then into the kitchen. needed advice on a brief he was Since there was a big muddy preparing. What's yoiu name?" footprint in the kitchen sink, an­ "Carella. Detective Steve Ca- other one on the floor near the sink, rella." .and-several others fading as they "I'll remember that." traveled across the waxed kitchen

SADIE WHEN SHE DIEDLICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 129 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED floor to the livingroom, Dayies sur­ ..." Byrnes felt tongue-tied in mised that he was onto something Fletcher's presence. Bullet-headed, hot. Wasn't it possible that an in­ hair turning from iron-gray to ice- truder had climbed over the win- white, blue-eyed, built like a com­ dowsill, into the sink and walked pact linebacker, Byrnes looked to across the room, bearing^ the his colleagues for support. Both switchblade knife that had later Meyer and Carella were watching been pulled viciously across the their shoelaces. lady's abdomen from left to right? "You have warned me repeat­ If the M.E. ever got through with edly," Fletcher said. "I can't imag­ the damn body, the boys of the 87th ine why. My wife is dead—someone would be halfway home, thanks to killed her—but it was not I." -Marshall Davies. He felt pretty "Well, it's nice to have your as­ good. surance of that, Mr. Fletcher, but this alone doesn't necessarily still The three points of the triangle our doubts," Carella said, hearing were Detective-Lieutenant Byrnes, the words and wondering where the and Detectives Meyer Meyer and hell they were coming from. He Steve Carella. Fletcher sat in a was, he reabzed, trying to impress chair, still wearing homburg, muf­ Fletcher. He continued, "How do fler, overcoat and gloves as if he ex­ we know it wasn't you who stabbed pected to be called outdoors at any her?" , ' moment. The interrogation was "To begin with," Fletcher said, being conducted in a windowless "there were signs of forcible entry cubicle labeled Interrogation in, the kitchen and hasty departure Room. in the bedroom, witness the wide- The cops standing in their loose open window in the aforemen­ triangle around Gerald Fletcher tioned room and the shattered win­ were amazed but not too terribly dow in the latter. The drawers in amused by his brutal frankness. the dining-room sideboard were "I hated her guts," he said. open—" "Mr. Fletcher," Lieutenant "You're very observant," Meyer Byrnes said, "I still feel I must warn said suddenly. "Did you notice all you that a woman has been mur­ this in the foiir minutes it took you dered—" to enter the apartment and call the 'Tes. My dear, wonderful wife," police?" Fletcher said sarcastically. "It's my job to be observant," ". . . which is a serious crime Fletcher said. "But to answer yoiu

130 LICENSEDALFRE TOD HITCHCOCK' UNZ.ORG S MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED question, no. I noticed all this after over from the police laboratory. I had spoken to Detective Carella The fingerprints on the window here." sash, the drawer, the silverware and Wearily, Byrnes dismissed the knife did not match Gerald Fletcher, who then left the room. Fletcher's. "What do you think?" Byrnes Which didn't mean a damn thing said. if he had been wearing his gloves "I think he did it," Carella said. when he'd finished her off. "Even with all those signs of a burglary?" On Monday morning, in the sec­ "Especially with those signs. He ond-floor rear apartment of 721 Sil- could have come home, found his vermine Oval, a chalked outline on wife stabbed—but not fatally—and the bedroom floor was the only evi­ finished her oflF by yanking the knife dence that a woman had lain there across her belly. Fletcher had four in death the night before, Carella minutes, when all he needed was sidestepped the outline and looked maybe four seconds." out the shattered window at the "It's possible," Meyer said. narrow alleyway below. There was "Or maybe I just don't like the a distance of perhaps twelve feet guy," Carella said.^ between this building and the one "Let's see what the lab comes up across from it. ^ with," Byrnes said. Conceivably, the intruder could The laboratory came up with have leaped across the shaftway, good fingerprints on the kitchen but this would have required pre­ window sash and on the silver meditation and calculation. The drawer of the dining-room side­ more probable hkelihood was that board. There were good prints on the intruder had fallen to the pave­ some of the pieces of silver scat­ ment below. tered on the floor near the smashed "That's quite a long drop," De­ bedroom window. Most important, tective Bert Kling said, peering there were good prints on the over Carella's shoulder. handle of the svvitchblade knife. "How far do you figvire?" Carella The prints matched; they had all asked. been left by the same person. "Thirty feet. At least." Gerald Fletcher graciously al­ "Got to break a leg taking a fall lowed the police to take his finger­ like that. You think he went' prints, which were then compared through the window headfirst?" with those Marshall Davies had sent "How else?" SADIE WHEN SHE DIED 131 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED "He might have broken the glass heard that front door opening, and out first, then gone through," Ca- Fletcher coming in and calling to rella suggested. his wife. Otherwise, he'd have 'Tf he was about to go, to all that taken his good, sweet time and trouble, why didn't he just open the gone out the kitchen window and damn thing?" down the fire escape, the way he'd "Well, let's take a look," Carella come in." said. Kling nodded reflectively. They examined the latch and the "Let's take a look at that alley," sash. Khng grabbed both handles on Carella said. ^ the window frame arid pulled up on In the alleyway outside, Carella them. "Stuck." .and Khng studied the concrete "Probably painted shut," Carella pavement, and then looked up at said. the shattered second-floor window "Maybe he did try to open it. of the Fletcher apartment. Maybe he smashed it only when he "Where do you suppose he'd realized it was stuck." have landed?" Khng said. 'Teah," Carella said. "And in a "Right about where we're stand­ big hurry, too. Fletcher was open­ ing." Carella looked at the groimd. ing the front door, maybe already •'1 don't kno^v, Bert. A guy drops, in the apartment by then." twenty feet to a concrete pave­ "The guy probably had a bag or ment, doesn't break anything, gets something with him, to put the loot up, dusts himself off, and runs the in. He must have taken a wild fifty-yard dash, right?" Carella swing with the bag when he real­ shook, his head. "My guess is he ized the window was stuck, and stayed right where he was to catch maybe some of the stuff fell out, his breath, giving Fletcher time to which would explain the silverware look out the window, which would on the floor. Then he probably be the natural thing to do, but climbed through the hole and which Fletcher didn't." dropped down feet first. In fact, "He was anxious to call the po­ what he could've done, Steve, was lice." drop the bag down first, and then "I still think he did it." climbed out and hung from the sill "Steve; be reasonable. If a guy's before he jumped, to make it a fingerprints are on the handle of a shorter distance." knife, and the knife is still in the "I don't know if he had all that victim—" much time, Bert. He must have "And if the victim's husband re-

132 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED alizes what a sweet setup he's stum­ but not in a desperate hurry, with bled into, wife lying on the floor the walking line normal and not with a knife in her, place broken broken." irito and burglarized, why not finish "What does that mean?" the job and hope the burglar will be "Well, a walking line should nor­ blamed?" mally run along the inner edge of a "Sure," Khng said. "Prove it." man's heelprints. Incidentally, the "I can't," Carella said. "Not until size and type of shoe and angle of we catch the burglar." the foot clearly indicate that this was a man." While Carella and Kling went "OK, fine," Meyer said. He did through the tedious routine of re­ not thus far consider Davies' infor­ tracing the burglar's footsteps, Mar­ mation valuable nor even terribly shall Davies called the 87th Pre­ important. cinct and got Detective Meyer. "Anyway, none of this is valuable "I think I've got sortie fairly in­ nor even terribly important," teresting information about the sus­ Davies said,' "until we consider the pect," Davies said. "He left latent rest of the data. The bedroom win­ fingerprints all oyer the apartment dow was smashed, and the Homi­ and footprints in the kitchen. A cide men were speculating that the very good one in the sink, when he suspect had jumped through the climbed in through the window, window into the alley below. I and some middUng-fair ones track­ went down to get some meaningful ing across the kitchen floor to the .pictures, and got some pictures of dining room. I got some excellent where he must have landed—on pictures and some good blowups of both feet, incidentally—and I got the heel." another walking pictiKe and direc­ "Good," Meyer said. tion line. He moved toward the "But more important," Davies basement door and into the base­ went on, "I got a good walking pic­ ment. But the important thing is ture from the footprints on the that our man is injured, and I think floor. If a man is walking slowly, badly." the distance between his footprints "How do you know?" Meyer is usually about twenty-seven asked. inches. Forty for running, thirty- "The walking picture downstairs five for fast walking. These were is entirely different from the one in thirty-two inches. So we have a the kitchen. When he got down­ man's usual gait, moving quickly. stairs he was leaning heavily on the

SADIE WHEN SHE DIEDLICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 133 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED left leg and dragging the right. I watching the clothes tumble, which would suggest that whoever's han­ is simply fascinating, you know, dling the case put out a physicians' when the door leading to the back bulletin. If this guy hasn't got a bro­ yard opened—the door to the alley. ken leg, I'll eat the pictures I took." This man came down the stairs, and I don't even think he saw me. He . A girl in a green coat was waiting went straight for the stairs at the in the apartment lobby when Ca- other end, the ones that go up into rella and Kling came back in, still the street. I never saw him before retracing footsteps, or trying to. last night." The girl said, "Excuse me, are you "Can you describe him?" Carella the detectives?" asked. "Yes," Carella said. "Sure. He was about twenty-one "The super told me you were in or twenty-two, yoiu height and the building," the girl said. "You're weight, well, maybe a Uttle bit investigating the Fletcher murder, shorter, five ten or eleven, brown aren't you?" She was quite soft- hair." \ spoken. Kling was already writing. The "How can we help you, miss?" man was white,, wore dark trousers, Carella asked. high-topped sneakers, and a poplin "I saw somebody in the basement jacket with blood on the right last night, with blood on his sleeve and on the front. He carried clothes." a small red bag, "Uke one of those Carella glanced at Kling and im- > bags the airlines give you." mediately 'said, '"What time was. Selma didn't know if he had any this?" scars. "He went by in pretty much "About a quarter to eleven," the of a hurry, considering he was drag­ girl said. ging his right leg. I think he was "What were you doing in the hurt pretty badly." basement?" The girl sounded surprised. What they had in mind, of "That's where the washing ma­ course, was identification from a chines are. I'm sorry, my naine is mug shot, but the I.S. reported that Selma Bernstein. I live here in the none of the fingerprints in their file building." matched the ones foimd in the "Tell us what happened, will apartment. So the detectives fig­ you?" Carella said. ured it was going to be a tough one, "I was sitting by the machine. and they sent out a bulletin to all of

134 LICENSEDALFRE TOD HITCHCOCK' UNZ.ORGS MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED the city's doctors just to prove it. "Are you Ralph Corwin?" Ca­ Just to prove that cops can be as rella asked. wrong as anyone else, it turned out "Yes," the man said. His face was to be a nice easy one after all. drawn, the eyes ifi pain. The, call came from a physician "Get dressed, Corwin. We want' in Riverhead at 4:37 that afternoon, to ask you some questions." just as Carella was ready to go "There's nothing to ask," he said home. and turned his head into the pillow. "This is Dr. Mendelsohn," he "I killed her." said. "I have your bulletin here, and I want to report treating a man Ralph Corwin made his con­ early this morning who fits your de­ fession in the presence of two de­ scription—a Ralph Corwin of 894 tectives of the 87th, a police ste­ Woodside in Riverhead. He had a nographer, an assistant district bad ankle sprain." attorney, and a lawyer appointed "Thank you,' Dr. Mendelsohn," by the Legal Aid Society. Carella said. Corwin was the burglar. He'd en­ Carella pxilled the Riverhead di­ tered 721 Silvermine Oval on Sun­ rectory from the top drawer of his day night, December twelfth, down desk and quickly flipped to the C's. the steps from the street where the He did not expect to find a listing garbage cans were. He went for Ralph Corwin. A man would through the basement, up the steps have to be a rank amateur to bur­ at the other end, into the back yard, glarize an apartment without wear­ and climbed the fire escape; all at ing gloves, then stab a woman to about ten o'clock in the evening. death, and then give his name when Corwin entered the Fletcher apart­ seeking treatment for an injury sus­ ment because it was the first one he tained in escaping from the murder saw without lights. He figured there apartment. was nobody home. The kitchen Ralph Corwin was apparently a window was open a tiny crack; rank amateur. His name was in the Corwin squeezed his fingers under phone book, and he'd given the the bottom and opened it all the doctor his correct address. way. He was pretty desperate at Carella and Kling kicked in the the time because he was a junkie in door without warning, fanning into need of cash. He swore that he'd the room, guns drawn. The man on never done anything like this be­ the bed was wearing only under- fore. shorts. His right ankle was taped. The man from the D.A.'s office

SADIE WHEN SHE DIELICENSEDD TO UNZ.ORG 135 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED was conducting the Q. and A. and way, he said, he didn't own gloves. asked Corwin if he hadn't been Corwin used a tiny flashlight to afraid of fingerprints, not wearing guide him as he stepped into the gloves. Corwin figured that was sink and down to the floor. He done only in the movies, and any- made-his way to the dining room.

136 LICENSEDALFRED TOHITCHCOCK' UNZ.ORGS MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED emptied the drawer of silverware body was going to hurt her, that I into his airhne bag. Jhen he looked was getting out of there right away, for the bedroom, scouting for to just please calm down. watches and rings, whatever he Q. What happened next? could take in the way of jewelry. A. She started to scream. I told "I'm not a pro," he said. "I was just her to stop. I was beginning to hung up real bad and needed some panic. I mean she was really yell­ bread to tide me over." ing. Now came the important part. Q. Did she stop? The D.A.'s assistant asked Corwin A. No. what happened in the bedroom. Q. What did you do? ^ A. There was a lady in bed. This A. I stabbed her. was only like close to ten-thirty, Q. Where did you stab her? you don't expect nobody to be A. I don't know. It was a reflex. asleep so early. She was yelling, I was afraid the Q. But there was a woman in whole building would come down.. I bed. ' just ... I just stuck the knife in A. Yeah. She turned on the light her. I was very scared. L stabbed her the minute I stepped in the room. in the belly. Someplace in the belly. Q. What did you do? Q. How many times did you stab A. I had a knife in my pocket. I her? pulled it out to scare her. It was al­ A. Once. She . . . She backed most comical. She looks at me and away from me. I'll never forget the says, "What are you doing here?" look on her face. And. she . . . she Q. Did you say anything to her? fell on the floor. A. I told her to keep quiet, that I Q. Would you look at this "photo­ wasn't going to hurt her. But' she graph, please? got out of bed and I saw she was A. Oh, no . . . reaching for the phone. That's got Q. Is that the woman you to be crazy, right? A guy is standing stabbed? there in your bedroom with a knife A. Oh, no . . .1 didn't think . . . in his hand, so she reaches for the Oh, no! phone., A moment after he stabbed Sarah Q. What did you do? Fletcher, Corwin heard the door A. I grabbed her hand before she opening and someone coming in. could get it. I pulled her off the The man yelled, "Sarah, it's me, I'm bed, away from the phone, you home." Corwin ran past Sarah's know? And I told her again that no­ body on the floor, and tried to open

SADIE WHEN SHE DIED 137 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED the window, but it was stuck. He which Carella worked did not eat smashed it with his airline bag, very often in restaurants like the threw the bag out first to save the Golden Lion. Carella had never swag because, no matter what, he been inside. A look at the menu knew he'd need anothei- fix, and he posted on the window outside climbed through the broken win-^ would have frightened him out of dow, cutting his hand' on a piece of six months' pay. The place was a glass. He hung from the sill, and fi­ faithful replica of the dining room nally let go, dropping to the of an English coach house, circa ground. He tried to get up, and fell 1627: huge oaken beams, immacu­ down again. His ankle was killing late white cloths, heavy silver. him, his hand bleeding. He stayed Gerald Fletcher's table was in a in the alley nearly fifteen minutes, secluded comer of the restaurant. then finally escaped via the route He rose as Carella approached, ex­ Selma Bernstein had described to tended his hand, and said, "Glad Carella and Kling. He took the sub­ you could make it. Sit down, won't way to Riverhead and got to Dr. you?" ^ Mendelsohn at about nine in the Carella shook Fletcher's hand, morning. He read of Sarah and then sat. He felt extremely un­ Fletcher's murder in the newspaper comfortable, but.he couldn't tell on the way back from the doctor. whether his discomfort was caused by the room or by the man with On Tuesday, December 14, whom he was dining. which was the first of Carella's two "Would you care for a drink?" days ofiF that week, he received a Fletcher asked. call at home from Gerald Fletcher. "Well, are you having one?" Fletcher told the puzzled Carella Carella asked. that he'd gotten his number from a "Yes, I cmi." friend in the D.A.'s office, com­ "I'll have a Scotch and soda," plimented Carella and the boys of Carella said. He was not used to the 87th on their snappy detective drinking at lunch. work, and invited Carella to lunch Fletcher signaled for the waiter at the Golden Lion at one o'clock. and ordered the drinks, making his Carella wasn't happy about inter­ another whiskey soux. When the rupting his Christmas shopping, but drinks came, Fletcher raised his this was an imusual opportunity, glass. "Here's to a conviction," he and he accepted. said. Most policemen in the city for Carella hfted his_own glass. "I

138 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED don't expect there'll be any sure. The conversation with trouble," he said. "It looks airtight Fletcher seemed on the surface to to me." be routine chatter, but rushing Both men drank. Fletcher dabbed through this inane, polite disctission his lips with a napkin and said, was an undercurrent that caused ex­ "You never can tell these days. I citement, fear, and apprehension. hope you're right, though." He As they spoke, Carella knew with sipped at the drink. "I must admit I renewed certainty that Gerald feel a certain amount of sympathy Fletcher had killed his wife. With­ for him." out ever being told so, he knew it. "Do you?" This was why Fletcher had called 'Tes. If he's an addict, he's auto­ this morning; this was why Fletcher matically entitled to pity. And had invited him to lunch; this was when one considers that-the woman why he prattled on endlessly while he murdered was nothing but a—''• every contradictory move of his "Mr. Fletcher . . ." body signaled on an almost extra­ "Gerry, please. And I know: it sensory level that.he knew Carella isn't very kind of me to malign the suspected him of murder, and was dead. I'm afraid you didn't know here to tell Carella (without telling my wife, though, Mr. Carella. May him) that, "Yes, you stupid cop, I I call you Steve?" killed my wife. However much the . "Sure." evidence may point to another "My enmity might be a bit more man, however many confessions understandable if you had. Still, I you get,-1 killed her and I'm glad I shall take your advice. She's dead, killed her. And there isn't a damn and no longer capable of hurting thing you can do about it." me, so why be bitter. Shall we or­ der, Steve?" Ralph Corwin was being held be­ Fletcher suggested that Carella fore trial in the city's oldest prison, try either the trout au meuniere or known to law enforcers and law­ the beef and kidney pie, both of breakers alike as Calcutta. Neither which were excellent. Carella or­ Corwin's lawyer nor the district at­ dered prime ribs, medium rare, and torney's office felt that allowing a mug of beer. Carella to talk to the prisoner As the men ate and talked, some­ would be harmful to the case. thing began happening, or at least Corwin was expecting him. Carella thought something was hap­ "What did you want to see me pening; he might never be quite about?" SADIE WHEN SHE DIED 139 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED "I wanted to ask you some ques­ "Where was the knife when ^he tions." fell?" • "My lawyer says I'm not sup­ "I don't know what you mean." posed to add anything to what I al­ "Was the knife on the rig/i^hand ready said. I don't even like that side of her body or the left?" guy-" "I don't know. That was when I "Why don't you ask for another heard the front door opening and lawyer? Ask one of the officers here all I could think of was getting out to call the Legal Aid Society. Or of there." simply tell him. I'm sure he'd have "When you stabbed her, did she no objection to dropping out." twist away from you?" Corwin shrugged. "I don't want "No, she backed away, straight to hurt his feelings. He's a little back, as if she couldn't believe what cockroach, but what the hell." I done, and . . . and just wanted to "You've got a lot at stake here, get away from me." Corwin." "And then she fell?" "But I killed her, so what does it "Yes. She . . . her knees sort of matter who the lawyer is? You got gave way and she grabbed for her it all in black and white." belly, and her hands sort of—it was "You feel like answering some terrible—they just . . . they were questions?" Carella said. grabbing air, you know? And she "I feel like dropping dead, is fell." what I feel like. Cold turkey's never "In what, position?" good, and it's worse when you can't "On her side." yell." "Which side?" "If you'd rather I came back an­ "I could still see the knife, so it other time . . ."' must've been the opposite side. The "No, no, go ahead. What do you side opposite from where I stabbed want to know?" her." "I want to know exactly how you "One last question, Ralph. Was stabbed Sarah Fletcher." she dead when you went through . "How do you think you . stab that window?" somebody? You stick a knife in her, "I don't know. She was bleeding that's how." and . . . she was" very quiet. I . . . "Where?" , guess she was dead. I don't know. I "In the belly." guess so." "Left-hand side of the body?" "Yeah. I guess so." Among Sarah Fletcher's personal 140 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED effects that were considered of in­ FR 7-2346 (TPC) (TG) terest to the poHce before they ar­ Sal Decotto, 831 Grover Avenue, rested Ralph Corwin, was an ad­ FR 5-3287 (F) (TG) dress book found in the dead Richard Fenner, 110 Henderson, woman's handbag on,the bedroom 593-6648 (QR) (TG) dresser. In the Thursday afternoon If there was one thing Carella stillness of the squad room, Carella loved, it was a code. He loved a examined the book. code almost as much as he loved There was nothing terribly fasci­ German measles. He flipped nating about the alphabetical list­ through the phone book and the ad­ ings. Sarah Fletcher had possessed a dress for Andrew Hart matched the good handwriting, and most of the one in Sarah's handwriting. He listings were obviously married found an address for Michael couples (Chuck and Nancy Benton, Thornton. It, too, was identical to Harold and Marie Spander, and so the one in her book. He kept turn­ on), some were girlfriends, local ing pages in the directory, checking merchants, hairdresser, dentist, doc­ names and addresses. He verified all tors, restaurants in town or across five. the river. A thoroughly iminspiring At a little past eight the next address book—tmtil Carella came to morning, Carella got going on a page at the end of the book, with them. He called Andrew Hart at the printed word MEMORANDA the number listed in Sarah's address at its top. ~" book. Hart answered, and was not Under the word, there were five happy. "I'm in the middle of shav­ names, addresses and telephone ing," he said. "I've got to leave for numbers written in Sarah's metic­ the office in a little while. What's ulous hand." They were all men's this about?" names, obviously entered at differ­ "We're investigating a homicide, ent times because some were in Mr. Hart." pencil and others in ink. The paren­ "A what? A homicide? Who's- thetical initials following each en­ been killed?" try were all noted in felt marking "A woman named Sarah pens of various colors: Fletcher." Andrew Hart, 1120 Hall Avenue, "I don't know anyone named Sa­ 622-8400 (PB&G) (TG) ^ rah Fletcher," he said. Michael Thornton, 371 South "She seems to have known you, Lindner, 881-9371 (TS) Mr. Hart." Lou Kantor, 434 North 16 Street, "Sarah who? Fletcher, did you SADIE WHEN SHE DIED 141 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED say?" Hart's annoyance increased. and then said, "Yes, sir." She re­ "That's right." placed the receiver on its cradle, "I don't know anybody by that gestured toward the inside corridor name. Who says she knew me? I with a nod of her golden tresses, never heard of her in my life." said, "Go right in, please. Door at "Your name's in her address the end of the hall," and then went book." back to her magazine. "My name? That's impossible." The gray skies had apparently in­ Nevertheless, Hart agreed to see fected Andrew Hart. "You didn't Carella and Meyer Meyer at the of­ have to broadcast to the world that fices of Hart and Widderman, 480 the police department was here," Reed Street, sixth floor, at ten he said immediately. o'clock that morning. "We merely announced our­ At ten, Meyer and Carella selves," Carella said. parked the car and went into the "Well, okay, now you're here," building at 480 Reed, and up the Hart said, "let's get it over with." elevator to the sixth floor. Hart- and . He was a big man in his middle fif- Widderman manufactured watch- -ties, with iron-gray hair and black- bands. A huge advertising display rimmed eyeglasses. "I told you I near the receptionist's desk in the don't know Sarah Fletcher and I lobby proudly proclaimed "H&W don't." Beats the Band!" and then backed "Here's her book, Mr. Hart," the slogan with more discreet copy Carella- said. "That's your name, that explained how Hart and Wid­ isn't it?" derman had solved the difBcult en­ - "Yeah," Hart said, and shook his gineering problems of the expan­ head. "But how it got there is be­ sion watch bracelet. yond me." "Mr. Hart, please," Carella said. "Is it possible she's someone you "Who's calling?" the receptionist met at a party, someone you ex­ •asked. She sounded as if she were changed nimabers with?" chewing gum, even though she was "No." not. "Are you married, Mr. Hart?" "Detectives Carella and Meyer." "No." "Just a minute, please," she said, "We've got a picture of Mrs. and lifted her phone, pushing a but­ Fletcher. I wonder—" ton in the base. "Mr. Hart," she "Don't go showing me any pic- said, "there are some cops here to tm^es of a corpse," Hart said. see you." She listened for a moment "This was taken when she was

142 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED still very much alive, Mr. Hart." "Who, Sadie? You're kidding." Meyer handed Carella a manila "She never told you she was mar­ envelope. He opened the flap and ried?" removed from the envelope a "Never." ' framed picture of Sarah Fletcher Meyer asked, "When you were which he handed to Hart. Hart going out, where'd you pick her looked at the photograph, and then up? At her apartment?" immediately looked up at Carella. "No. She used to come to my "What is this?" he said. He place." looked at the photograph again, "Where'd you call her when you shook his head, and said, "Some­ wanted to. reach her?" body killed her, huh?" "I didn't. She used to call me." "Yes, somebody did," Carella an­ "Where'd you go, Mr. Hart? swered. "Did you know her?" When you went out?" "I knew her." "We didn't go out too much." "I thought you said you didn't." "What did you do?" "I didn't know Sarah Fletcher, if "She used to come to my place. that's who you think she was. But I The truth is, we never went out. knew this broad, all right." She didn't want to go out much." "Who'd you think she was?" "Didn't you think that was Meyer asked. strange?" "Just who she told me,she was. "No," Hart shrugged. "I figured Sadie Collins. She, introduced her­ she liked to stay home." self as Sadie Collins, and that's who "Why'd you stop seeing her, Mr. I knew her as. Sadie Collins." Hart?" "Where was this, Mr. Hart? "I met somebody else. A nice Where'd you meet her?" girl. I'm very serious about her." "A singles' bar. The city's full of "Was there something wrong them." with Sadie?" "Would you remember when?" "No, no. She was a beautiful "At least a year ago." woman, beautiful.'! "Ever go out with her?" "Then why would you be "I used to see her once or twice a ashamed—" week." "Ashamed? Who said anything "WTien did you stop seeing her?" about being ashamed?" "Last summer." "I gathered you wouldn't want "Did you know she was mar­ your girlfriend—" ried?" "Listen, what is this? I stopped SADIE WHEN SHE DIED 143 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED seeing Sadie six months ago. I Look, Pete, he had a motive; he had wouldn't even talk to her on the the opportunity, a golden one, in phone after that. If the crazy babe fact; and he had the means—an­ got herself killed—" other man's knife sticking in Sarah's "Crazy?" belly. What more do you want?" Hart suddenly wiped his hand "Proof. There's a funny little sys­ over his face, wet his lips, and tem we've got here—it requires walked behind his desk. "I don't proof before we can arrest a man think I have anything more to say and charge him with murder." to you gentlemen." "Right. And all I'm asking is the "What did you mean by crazy?" opportunity to try for it." Carella asked. "Sure, by putting a tail on "Good day, -gentleman," Hart Fletcher. Suppose-he sues the city?" said. "Yes or no, Pete? I want per­ Carella went to see Lieutenant mission to conduct a round-the- Byrnes. In the lieutenant's corner clock surveillance of Gerald office, Byrnes and Carella sat down Fletcher, starting Sunday morning. over coffee. Byrnes frowned at Yes or no?" Carella's request. "I must be out of my mind,'' "Oh,, come on, Pete!" Carella Byrnes said, and sighed. said' "If Fletcher did it—" "That's only your allegation. Michael Thornton lived in an Suppose he didn't do it, and sup­ apartment' building several blocks pose you do something to screw up from the Quarter, close enough to the D.A.'s case?" absorb some of its artistic flavor, "Like what?" distant enough to escape its high "L don't know like what. The rents. A blond man in his apart­ way things are going these days, if ment, Paul Wendling, told Kling you spit on the sidewalk, that's and Meyer that Mike was in his enough to get a case thrown out of jewelry shop. court." In the shop, Thornton was wear­ "Fletcher hated his wife," Ca­ ing a blue work smock, but the con­ rella said calmly. tours of the garment did nothing to "Lots" of men hate their wives. hide his powerful build. His eyes Half the men in this city hate their were blue, his hair black. A small wives." scar showed white in the thick eye­ "But her httle fling gives brow over his left eye. Fletcher 'a good reason for ... "We understand you're work-

144 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED ing," Meyer said. "Sorry to break in now unfortunately deceased. They on you this way." were saving that for last, like des­ "That's okay," Thornton said. sert. "What's up?" "Gee, I didn't know she was mar­ "You know a woman named Sa­ ried." Thornton seemed truly sur­ rah Fletcher?" prised. "Otherwise, nothing "No," Thornton said. would've happened." "You know a woman named "What did happen?" Sadie CoUins?" "I bought her a few drinks and Thornton hesitated. "Yes," he then I took her home with me. said. Later, I put her in a cab." "What was your relationship "When did you see her next?" with her?" Kling asked. "The following day. It was goofy. Thomtoii shrugged. "Why? Is she She called me in the morning, said in trouble?" she was on her way downtown. I "When's the last time you saw was still in bed. I said, 'So come on her?" down, baby.' And she did. Believe "You didn't answer my ques­ me, she did." tion," Thornton said. "Did you see her again after "Well, you didn't answer ours ei­ that?" Kling asked. ther," Meyer said, and smiled. "Two or three times a week." "What was your relationship- with "Where'd you go?" her, and when did you see her last?" "To my pad on South Lindner." "I met her in July, in a joint "Never went anyplace but called The Saloon, right around the there?" corner. It's a bar, but they also "Never." serve sandwiches and soup; It gets a "Why'd you quit seeing her?" big crowd on weekends, singles, a "I went out of town for a while. couple of odd ones for spice—but When I got back, I just didn't hear not a gay bar. I saw her last in Au­ from her again. She never gave me gust, a brief, hot thing, and then - her number, and she wasn't in the good-bye." directory, so I couldn't reach her." "Did you realize she was mar­ "What do you-make of this?" ried?" Kling said. Kling asked, handing Thornton the "No. Is she?" address book. "Yes," Meyer said. Neither of the Thornton studied it and said, detectives had yet informed Thorn­ "Yeah, what about it? She wrote ton that the lady in question was this down the night we met—we SADIE WHEN SHE DIED 145 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED were in bed, and she asked my ad­ and not yet cracked, when the tele­ dress." phone rang. "Did she write those initials at "Hello?" Carella said into the the same time, the ones in paren­ mouthpiece. theses under your phone number?" "Hello, - Steve? This is Gerry. "I didn't actually see the page it­ Gerry Fletcher." self, I only saw her writing in the Carella almost dropped the re­ book." ceiver. "How are you.'•?"' "Got aiiy idea what the. initials "Fine, thapks. I was away for the mean?" ^yeekend, just got back a little while "None at all." Suddenly he ago, in fact. Frankly I find this looked thoiighthil. "She was kind of apartment depressing as hell. I was special, I have to admit it." He wondering if you'd like to join me grinned. "She'll call again, I'm sure for a drink." of it." "Well," Carella said. "It's Sim- "I wouldn't covint on it," Meyer day night, and it's late . . ." said. "She's dead." "Nonsense, it's only eight o'clock. His face did not crumble or ex­ We'll do a little old-fashioned pub press grief or shock. The only thing crawling." / it expressed was sudden anger. It suddenly occurred to Carella "The stupid . . ." Thornton said. that Gerald Fletcher had- already "That's all she ever was, a had a few drinks before placingrhis stupid, crazy . . ." call. It further occurred to him that if he played this too cozily, Fletcher On Sunday morning, Carella was might rescind his generous offer. ready to become a surveillant, but "Okay. I'll see you at eight- Gerald Fletcher was nowhere in thirty, provided I can square it with sight. A call to his apartment from a my wife." nearby phone booth revealed that "Good," Fletcher said. "See he was not in his digs. He parked in you." front of Fletcher's apartment build­ Paddy's Bar & Grill was on the ing vmtil five p.m. when he was re­ Stem, adjacent to the city's theater lieved by Detective Arthur Brown. district; Carella and Fletcher got Carella went home to read his son's there at about nine o'clock while latest note to Santa Glaus, had din­ the place was still relatively quiet. ner with his family, and was settling The action began a little later, dovm in the livingroom with a Fletcher explained. novel he had bought a week ago Fletcher lifted his glass in a silent

146 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED toast. "What kind of person would pursuing its romantic, inclinations, you say comes to a place like this?" Fanny's was noisy and raucous, "I would say we've got a nice jammed to the rafters with men and lower-middle-class clientele bent women of all ages, wearing plastic on making contact with members of hippie gear purchased in head the opposite sex." shops up and down Jackson Ave­ "What would you say if I told nue. you the blonde in the clinging jer­ Fletcher lifted his glass. "I hope sey is a working prostitute?" you don't mind if I drink myself Carella looked at the woman. "I into a stupor," he said. "Merely don't think I'd believe you. She's a pour me into the car at the end of bit old for the young competition, the night." Fletcher drank. "I don't and she's not selling anything. She's usually consume this much alcohol, waiting for one of those two or but I'm very troubled about that three older guys to make their boy." move. Hookers don't wait, Gerry. Is "What boy?" Carella asked. she a working prostitjite?" "Ralph Corwin," Fletcher said. "I haven't the faintest idea," "I understand he's having some dif­ Fletcher said. "I was merely trying ficulty with his lawyer and, well, I'd to indicate that appearances can like to help him somehow." sometimes be misleading. Drink up, "Help him?" there are a few more places I'd like "Yes. Do you think the D.A.'s of­ to show you." fice would consider it strange if I He knew Fletcher well enough suggested a good defense lawyer for by now to realize that the man was the boy?" trying to tell him something. At "I think they might consider it lunch last Tuesday, Fletcher had passing strange, yes." , transmitted a message and a chal­ "Do I detect a note of sarcasm in lenge: I killed my wife, what can your voice?" you do about it? Tonight, in a sim­ "Not at all." ilar manner, he was attempting to Fletcher squired Carella from indicate something else, but Carella Fanny's to, in geographical order. could not fathom exactly what. The Purple Chairs arid Quigley's Fanny's was only twenty blocks Rest. Each place was rougher, in its away from Paddy's Bar and Grill, way, than the last. The Purple but as far removed from it as the Chairs catered to a brazenl) gay moon. Whereas the first bar seemed crowd, and Quigley's Rest was a ,to cater to a quiet crowd peacefully dive, where Fletcher's liquor SADIE WHEN SHE DIED 147 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED caught up with him, and the eve­ "Did you know she was mar­ ning ended suddenly in a brawl. ried?" Carella was shaken by the experi­ "She told me. So what? Broke ence, and still couldn't piece out down in tears one night, and spent Fletcher's reasons. the rest of the night'crying. I knew she was married." Carella received a further shock "What'd she say about her hus­ when he continued to pursue Sarah band?" Fletcher's address book. Lou Kan- "Nothing that surprised me. She tor was simply the third name in a said he had another woman. Said he now wearying list of Sarah's-bed- ran off to see her every weekend;- mates, until she turned out to be a told little Sadie he had out-of-town tough and striking woman. She con­ business. Every weekend, can you firmed Carella's suspicions immedi­ imagine that?" ately. "What do you make of this?" "I only knew her a short while," Carella said, and handed her Sa­ she said. "I met her in September, I rah's address book, opened to the believe. Saw her thr.ee or four times MEMORANDA page. after that." "I don't know any of these "Where'd you meet her?" . people," Lou said. "In a bar called The Purple "The initials imder your name," Chairs. That's right," she added Carella said. "TPC and then TG: quickly. "That's what I am." Got any ideas?" • "Nobody asked," Carella said. "Well, the TPC is obvious, isn't "What about Sadie Collins?" it? I met her at The Pvuple Chairs. "Spell it out, Officer, I'm not go­ What else could it mean?" ing to help you. I don't like being Carella suddenly felt very stupid. hassled." "Of course. What else could it "Nobody's hassling you. Miss mean?" He took back the book. Kantor. You practice your religion "I'm finished," he said. "Thank you and I'll practice mine. We're here very much." to talk about a dead woman." "I miss her," Lou said suddenly. "Then talk about her, spit it out. "She 'was a wild one." What do you want to know? Was she straight? Everybody's straight Cracking a code is like learning until they're not straight anymore, to roller-skate; once you know how isn't that right? She was willing to to do it, it's easy. With a little help learn. I taught her." from Gerald Fletcher, who had pro-

148 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED vided a guided tour the night be­ ing to see. A girl named Sadie Col- fore, and a lot of help from Lou fins. Do you know her?" Kantor, who had generously pro­ "Yeah. She used to come in a lot, vided the key,.Carella was able to •but I ain't seen her in months. What crack the code wide open—well, al­ do you want to fool around with \ most. Last night, he'd gone with her for?" Fletcher to Paddy's Bar and Grill, "Why? What's the matter with or PB&G under Andrew Hart's her?" name; Faimy's, F imder Sal De- "You want to know something?" cotto; The Purple Chairs, Lou Kan- the bartender said. "I thought she tor's TPC; and Quigley's Rest, QR was a hooker at first. Aggressive., for Richard Fermer on the list. You know what that word means? Probably because of the fight, he Aggressive? She used to come hadn't taken Carella to The Saloon, dressed down to here and up to TS under Michael Thornton's there, ready for action, selling ev­ name—the place where Thornton erything she had,.you understand? had admitted first meeting Sarah. She'd come in here, pick out a.guy Except, what the hell did TO she wanted, and go after him like mean, under- all the names but the world was gonna end at mid­ Thornton's? night. And always the same type. By Carella's own' modest esti­ Big guys. You wouldn't stand a mate, he had been in more bars in chance with her, not that you. ain't the past twenty-four hours than he big, don't misunderstand me. But had in the past twenty-four years. Sadie liked them gigantic, and He decided, nevertheless, to hit The mean. You know something?" Saloon that night. "What?" • The Saloon was just that. A ciga­ "I'm glad she don't come in here rette-scarred bar behind which ran anymore. There was something a mottled, flaking mirror; wooden about her—like she was compulsive. booths with patched, fake leather You know what that word means, seat cushions; bowls of pretzels and compulsive?" potato chips; jukebox gurgling; steamy bodies. ' Tuesday afternoon, Arthur "They come in here," the bar­ BrowTi handed in his surveillance tender said, "at all hours of the report on Gerald Fletcher. Much of night. Take yourself. You're here to it was not at all illuminating. From meet a girl, am I right?" 4:55 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. Fletcher had "There was someone I was hop­ driven home, and then to 812 North SADIE WHEN SHE DIED 149 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED Crane and parked. The report did attention to the information Artie become somewhat illuminating Brown had brought-in last night. when, at 8:46 p.m., Fletcher The redheaded woman's presence emerged from that building with a might be important, but Carella redheaded woman wearing a black was still puizling over Fletcher's fur coat over a green dress. They behavior.- Sarah's blatant infidelity went to Rudolph's restaurant, ate, • provided Fletcher with a strong and drove back to 812 Crane, ar­ motive, so why take Carella to his rived at 10:35 p.m. and went inside. wife's unhappy haunts, why show Arthur Brown had checked the Carella that he had good and suf­ lobby ' mailboxes, which showed ficient reason to kill her? Further­ eight apartments on the eleventh more, why the offer to get a good floor, which was where the elevator defense attorney for the" boy who indicator had stopped. Brown went had already been indicted for the outside to wait again, and Fletcher slaying? emerged alone at 11:40 p.m. and Sometimes Carella wondered drove home. Detective O'Brien re- who was doing what to whom. lieved Detective Brown at 12:15 At five o'clock that evening, a.m. Carella relieved Detective Hal Byrnes said, "This woman could Willis outside Fletcher's office be important." building downtown, and then fol-' "That's just what I think," BrowTi lowed Fletcher to a department answered. store in midtown Isola. Carella was wearing a false moustache stuck to Carella had not yet spoken to ei­ his upper lip, a wig with longer hair ther Sal Decotto or Richard Fen- than his own and of a different ner, the two remaining people color, and a pair of sunglasses. listed in Sarah's book, but saw no In the department store, he reason to pursue that trail any fur­ tracked Fletcher to the Intimate ther. If the place listings in her Apparel department. Carella book had been chronological, she'd walked into the next aisle, pausing gone from bad to worse in her to look at women's robes and kimo­ search for partners. nos, keeping one eye on Fletcher Why? To give it back to her hus­ who was in conversation with the band in spades? Carella tossed Sa­ _ lingerie salesgirl. rah's little black book into the ma- "May I help you, sir?" a voice nila folder bearing the various said, and Carella turned to find a reports on the case, and turned his stocky woman at his elbow, with

150 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED gray hair, black-rimmed spectacles, longer, and then walked off toward wearing Army shoes and a black the elevator bank. dress. Her suspicious smile accused "Are you sure I can't assist you?" him of being a jtinkie shoplifter or the woman in the Army shoes said, worse; and Carella answered, "I'm posi­ "Thank you, no," Carella said. tive," and moved swiftly toward "I'm just looking." the lingerie counter. Fletcher had Fletcher made his selections from left the counter without a package the gossamer undergarments which in his arms, which meant he was the salesgirl had spread out on the sending his purchases. The salesgirl coimter, pointing first to one gar­ was gathering up Fletcher's selec­ ment, then to-another. The salesgirl tions and looked up when Carella wrote up the order and Fletcher reached the counter. -reached into his wallet to give her "Yes, sir," she said. "May I help either cash or a credit card; it was you?" difficult to tell from an aisle away. Carella opened his wallet and He chatted with the girl a moment produced his shield. "Police offi­ cer," he said. 'Tm interested in the order you just wrote up." The girl was perhaps nineteen years old, a college girl working in the store during the Christmas rush. Speechlessly, she studied the shield, eyes bugging. "Are these items being sent?" Carella asked. "Yes, sir," the girl said. Her eyes were still wide. She wet her lips and stood up a Uttle straighter, pre­ pared to be a perfect witness. "Can you tell me where?" Ca­ rella asked. "Yes, sir," she said, and tiuned the sales slip toward him. "He wanted them wrapped separately, but they're all going to the same ad­ dress. Miss Arlene Orton, 812 North Crane Street, right here in the SADIE WHEN SHE DIED 151 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED city, and I'd guess it's a swell—" for an empty closet or workroom in "Thank you very much," Carella' which to hide his listener. A said. _ blabbermouth superintendent can It felt like Christmas day already. kill an investigation more quickly than a squad of gangland goons. The man who picked the lock, on In, the rear of a panel truck Arlene Orton's front door, ten min­ parked at the curb some twelve feet utes after she left her apartment on south of the entrance to 812 Crane, Wednesday morning, was better at •Steve Carella sat behind the record­ it than any burglar in the city, and ing equipment that was locked into he happened to work for the Police the frequency of the bug. He sat Department. It took the technician hopefully, with a tuna sandwich longer to set up his equipment, but and a bottle of beer, prepared to the telephone was the easiest of his hear and record any sounds that jobs. The tap would become oper­ emanated from Arlene's apartment. ative when the telephone company At the bridging point seven supplied the police with a list of so- blocks away and thirty minutes called bridging points that located later, Arthur Brown sat behind the pairs and cables for Arlene Or­ equipment that was hooked into the ton's phone. The monitoring equip­ telephone mike, and waited for Ar­ ment would be hooked into these lene Orton's phone to ring. HQ was and whenever a call went out of or in radio contact with Carella. came into the apartment, a The first call came at 12:17 p.m. recorder would automatically tape The equipment tripped in automat­ both ends of the conversation. In ically and the spools of tape began addition, whenever a call was made recording the conversation, while from the apartment, a dial indicator Brown simultaneously monitored it would ink out a series of dots that through his headphone. signified the nuraiber being called. "Hello?" The technician placed his bug in "Hello, Arlene?" the bookcase on the opposite side of "Yes, who's this?" the room. The bug was a small FM "Nan." transmitter with a battery-powered "Nan? You sound so different. Do mike that needed to be changed ev­ you have a cold or something?" ery twenty-four hours. The tech­ "Every year at this time. Just be­ nician would have preferred run­ fore the holidays. Arlene, I'm ter­ ning his own wires, but he dared ribly rushed, I'll make this short. Do not ask the building superintendent^ you know Beth's dress size?" 152 LICENSEDALFRED TO HITCHCOCK' UNZ.ORGS MYSTERY MAGAZINE ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED The conversation went on in that away, I'm not sure. I'll have to vein, and Arlene Orton spoke to check with my shrink. three more girlfriends in succession. Fletcher: What's he got to do She then called the local super­ with it? market to order the week's gro­ Miss Orton: Well, I have to pay ceries. She had a fine voice, deep whether I'm there or not, you and forceful, punctuated every so know. often (when she was talking to her Fletcher: Is he taking a vacation? girlfriends) with a delightful giggle. Miss Orton: I'll ask him. At four p.m., the telephone in Fletcher: Yes, ask him. Because Arlene's apartment rang again. I'd really like to get away. "Hello?" Miss Orton: Ummm. When do "Arlene, this is Gerry." you think the case (inaudible). "Hello, darling." Fletcher: In March sometime. No "I'm leaving here a little early. I sooner than that. He's got a new thought I'd come right over." lawyer, you know. "Good." Miss Orton: What does that "I'll be there in, oh, half an hour, mean, a new lawyer? forty minutes." • Fletcher: Nothing. He'll be con­ "Hvirry." victed anyway. Brown radioed Carella at once. Miss Orton: (Inaudible). Carella thanked him, and sat back Fletcher: Because the trial's go­ to wait. ing to take a lot out of me. Miss Orton: How soon after the On Thursday morning, two days trial ... before Christmas, Carella sat at his Fletcher: I don't know. desk in the squad.room and looked Miss Orton: She's dead, Gerry, I over the transcripts of the five reels don't see ... from the night before. The reel that Fletcher: Yes, but ... interested him most was the second Miss Orton: I don't see why we one. The conversation on that reel have to wait, do you? had at one point changed abruptly Fletcher: Have you read this? in tone and content. Carella Miss Orton: No, not yet. Gerry, I thought he knew why, but he think we ought to set a date, now. A wanted to confirm his suspicion:' provisional date, depending on Fletcher: I meant after the holi­ when the trial' is. Gerry? days, not the trial. Fletcher: Mmmm? Miss Orton: I may be able to get Miss Orton: Do you think it'll be

SADIE WHEN SHE DIED LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG 153 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED a terribly long; drawn-out trial? Fletcher: Well, I told him I hated Fletcher: What? her. Miss Orton: Gerry? Miss Orton: What? Gerry, why Fletcher: Yes? the hell did you do that? Miss Orton: Where are you? Fletcher: He'd have found out Fletcher: I was jiist looking over anyway. He probably knows by some of these books. now that Sarah was sleeping around Miss Orton: Do you think you with half the men in this city. And can tear, yourself away? he probably knows I knew it, too. Fletcher: Forgive me, darUng. Miss Orton: Who cares what he Miss Orton: If the trial starts in found out? Corwin's already con­ March, and we planned on April for fessed. it ... . Fletcher: I can imderstand his Fletcher: Unless they come up reasoning. I'm just not sure he can with something unexpected, of understand mine. course. Miss Orton: Some reasoning; If Miss Orton: Like what? you were going to kill her, you'd Fletcher: Oh, I don'-t know. have done it ages ago, when she They've got some pretty sharp refused to sign the separation pa­ people investigating this case. pers. So let him investigate, who Miss Orton: What's there to in­ cares? Wishing your wife dead isn't vestigate? the same thing as killing her. Tell Fletcher: There's always the pos­ that to Detective Copolla. sibility he didn't do it. Fletcher: Carella. (Laughs). Miss Orton: (Inaudible) a signed Miss Orton: What's so funny? confession? Fletcher: I'll tell him,, darling. Fletcher: One of the cops thinks I According to the technician who killed her. had wired the Orton apartment, the Miss Orton: You're not serious. livingroom bug was in the bookcase Who? on the wall opposite the bar. Ca­ Fletcher: A detective named rella was interested in the tape Carella. He probably knows about from the time Fletcher had asked us by now. He's a very thorough Arlene about a book—"Have you cop. I have a great deal of admira­ read this?"—and then seemed pre­ tion for him. I wonder if he realizes occupied. It was Carella's guess that. - - ^ that Fletcher had discovered the Miss Orton: Where'd he even get bookcase bug. What interested such an idea? Carella more, however, was what

154 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED Fletcher had said after he knew the tive range of the transmitter on the place was wired. Certain of an au­ open road would be about a quarter dience now, Fletcher had: of a mile. The listener-pursuer had (1) Suggested the possibility that his work cut out for him. Corwin was not guilty. By ten minutes to ten that night, (2) Flatly stated that a cop Carella was drowsy and dis­ named Carella suspected him. couraged. On the way out to The (3) Expressed admiration for Chandeliers, Fletcher and Arlene Carella, while wondering if Carella had not once mentioned Sarah nor was aware of it. the plans for their impending mar­ (4) Speculated that Carella had riage. Carella was anxious to put already doped out the purpose of them both to bed and get home to the bar-crawling last Simday night, his family. When they finally came was cognizant of Sarah's promis­ out of the restamant and began cuity, and knew Fletcher was \valking toward Fletcher's automo­ awEire of it. bile, Carella actually uttered an au­ (5) Made a little joke about "tell­ dible, "At last," and started his car. ing" Carella. They proceeded east on Route Carella felt as eerie as he had 701, heading for the bridge, and when lunching with Fletcher and said nothing. Carella thought at later when drinking with him. Now first that something was wrong with he'd spoken, through the bug, the equipment, then finally Arlene directly to Carella. But what was he spoke and Carella knew just what trying to say? And why? had happened. The pair had argued Carella wanted very much to in the restaurant, and Arlene had hear what Fletcher would say when been smoldering until this moment he didn't kno\y he was being over­ when she could no longer contain heard. He asked Lieutenant Byrnes her anger. for permission to request a court or­ "Maybe you don't want to marry der to put a bug in Fletcher's auto­ me at all," she shouted. mobile. Byrnes granted permission, "That's ridiculous," Fletcher and the court issued the order. said. "Then why won't you set a Fletcher made a date with Ar- date?" lene Orton to go to The Chan- "I have set a date." dehers across the river, and the bug "You haven't set a date. All was installed in Fletcher's 1972 car. you've done is say after the trial. If Fletcher left the city, the effec­ When, after the trial? Maybe this SADIE WHEN SHE DIED 155 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED whole damn thing has been a stall. between the two cars lengthened Maybe you never planned to marry and he lost some words in the con­ me. versation. "You know that isn't true, Ar- "She wouldn't sign the papers lene." and I ( ) adultery because "How do I know there really ( ) have come out." were separation papers?" "And I thought ( )." "There were. I told you there "I did everything I possibly were." could." "Then why wouldn't she sign "Yes, Gerry, but now she's dead. them?" So what's yoiu- excuse now?" "Because she loved me." "I'm suspected of having killed "If she loved you, then why did her, damn it!" she do those horrible things?" - Fletcher was making a left turn, "To make me pay, I think." off the highway. Carella stepped on "Is that why she showed you her the accelerator, not wanting to lose little black book?" voice contact now. • "Yes, to make me pay." "What difference does that "No. Because she was a slut." make?" Arlene asked. "I guess. I guess that's what she "None at all, I'm sure," Fletcher became." said. "I'm sure you wouldn't mind "Putting a httle TG in her book at all being married to a convicted every time she told you about a murderer." new one. Told Gerry, and marked a "What are you talking about?" little TG in her book." "I'm talking about the possibility "Yes, to make me pay." . . . Never mind." "A slut. You should have gone af­ "Let me hear it." ter her with detectives. Gotten pic­ "All right, Arlene. I'm talking tures, threatened her, forced her to about the possibility of someone ac­ sign-" cusing me of the murder. And of "No, I couldn't have done that. It my having to stand trial for it." would have ruined me, Arl." "That's the most paranoid—" "Your precious career." "It's not paranoid." "Yes, my precious career." "Then what is it? They've caught They both fell silent agairi. They the miu-derer, they—" were approaching the bridge now. - "I'm only saying suppose. How Carella tried to stay close behind could we get married if I killed her, them, but on occasion the distance if someone says I killed her?" 156 ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED "No one has said that, Gerry." "I'm only trying to tell you—" "Well, if someone should." "No, I don't want to know. Silence. Carella was dangerously Please, Gerry, you're frightening close to Fletcher's car now, and me." risking discovery. Carella held his "Listen to me, damn it! I'm try­ breath and stayed glued to the car ing to explain what might have hap­ ahead. pened. Is that so hard to accept? "Gerry, I don't understand this," That she might have asked me to Arlene said, her voice low. kill her?" "Someone could make a good "Gerry, please, I—" case for it." "I.wanted to call the hospital, I "Why would anyone do that? was ready to call the hospital, don't They know that Corwin—" you think I could see she wasn't fa­ "They could say I came into the tally stabbed?" apartment and . . . They could say "Gerry, please." she was still alive when I came into "She begged me to kill her, Ar­ the apartment. They could say the lene, she begged me to end if for knife was still in her and I ... I her, she . . . Damn it, can't either came in and foimd her that way and of you imderstand that? I tried to ... finished her off." show him, I took him to all the "Why would you do that?" places, I thought he was a man "To end it." who'd understand. Is it that diffi­ "You wouldn't kill anyone, cult?" Gerry." "Oh, my God, did you kill her? "No." Did you kill Sarah?" "Then why are you even suggest­ . "No. Not Sarah. Only the woman ing such a terrible thing?" she'd become, the slut I'd forced "If she wanted it. . . If someone her to become. She was Sadie, you accused me ... If someone said I'd see, when I killed her—when she done it. . . that I'd finished the job, died." pulled the knife across her belly, "Oh, my God," Arlene said, and they could claim she asked me to do Carella nodded in weary accep­ it." tance. "What are you saying, Gerry?" Carella felt neither elated nor "I'm trying to explain that Sarah triumphant. As he followed might have—" Fletcher's car into the curb in front "Gerry, I don't think I want to of Arlene's building, he experienced know." only a familiar nagging sense of SADIE WHEN SHE DIED 157 LICENSED TO UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED repetition and despair. Fletcher Ralph Corwin hanged hiihself in his was coining out of his car now, cell, just after midnight. Must have walking around to the curb side, done it while we were still taking opening the door for Arlene, who Fletcher's confession in the squad took his hand and stepped onto the room." sidewalk, weeping. Carella inter­ Carella-was silent. cepted them before they reached "Steve?" Byrnes said. the front door of the building. "Yeah, Pete." Quietly, he charged Fletcher with "Nothing," Byrnes said, and hung the murder of his wife, and made up. the arrest without resistance. Carella stood with the dead Fletcher did not seem at all sur­ phone in his hands for several sec­ prised. onds and then replaced it on the hook. He looked into the Hv­ So it was finished, or at least ingroom, where the lights of the Carella thought it was. tree glowed warmly, and thought of In the silence of his hvingroom, a despairing junkie in a prison cell, the telephone rang at a quarter past who had taken his own life without one. He caught the phone on the ever having known he had not third ring. taken the life of another. "Hello?" It was Christmas day. "Steve," Lieutenant Byrnes said. Sometimes, none of it made any "I just got a call from Calcutta. sense at all. . Save on Back Issues

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STORIES TO STAY AWAKE BY is a collection of thirty-five stories that range from funny suspense to spine-tingling terror; and although the mood -varies sharply, the quality is uniformly first-rate. The contents of this volume are designed to give you a bad evening or two, and even worse nights, but not in any sense of dissatisfaction with the product. If you have sampled Mr. Hitchcock's wares before, you will understand. They will chill you and set you to trembling, but you will remember them with pleasure. This new anthology, STORIES TO STAY AWAKE BY, and a full one year subscription to ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE can be yours for only $9.98. Current subscribers to Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine can get their copy of STORIES TO STAY AWAKE BY, by ordering a one-year extension to their present subscription and remitting $9.98. Orders will-be accepted from any country where mail service is maintained, at this special offer price of $9.98. DON'T DELAY, ORDER THIS FINE SPECIAL TODAY

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5. The Case of the Crying iardner Swallow and other stories by Creasey . The Case of the Irate Witness Erie Stanley Gardner. Perry's 9. The Kidnaped Child by John nd other stories by Erie client is a war hero whose Creasey as Gordon Ashe. A tanley Gardner. Unless Perry wife has vanished. The police mother and baby at the mercy lason can pull a miracle, ex- suspect the husband of mur­ of a blackmailer and a mur­ Dnvict Harvey Corbin Is cer- dering her. (Publ. Ed. $4.95) deress. (Publ. Ed. $4.50) lin to be nailed for the hun- red grand heist. Never be- Christie 10. Gideon's Art by J.J. Marric. )re available in book form. The priceless Velasquez paint­ 'ubi. Ed. $4.95) 6. Nemesis by Agatha Christie. ing has completely vanished Miss Marple gets a letter ask­ without a trace. England's only . The Case of the Fabulous ing her to investigate a forgot­ hope is the deductive art of ake by Erie Stanley Gardner. ten crime. But the man who The New Scotland Yard and 6-24-36 is her only I.D. Can wrote it is already dead! Gideon. (Publ. Ed. $5.95) erry Mason find her before (Publ. Ed. $5.95) he's accused of murder? Publ. Ed. $4.95) Queen The Saint 11. The Saint and the People . The Case of the Careless 7. A Fine and Private Place by Importers by Leslie Charteris. lupid by Erie Stanley Gardner. Ellery Queen. The clues point Immigrants are smuggled Into 1 well-to-do widow is doomed to the victim's young wife and England, then blackmailed by inless Perry finds out who put her lover—or do they? their benefactors. Or mur­ rsenic in her husband's last (Publ. Ed. $5:95) dered. (Publ. Ed. $4.95) neal. (Publ. Ed. $3.95)

'. The Case of the Crimson Eberhart ;iss and other stories by Erie 8. Two Little Rich Girls by Itanley Gardner. The murder Mignon Eberhart. New York The Detective Book Club, ictim is found with lipstick Society is shocked to learn n his forehead and it the killer is the beautiful Van Roslyn, New York 11576 natches the shade Perry's Seidem heiress. Or is she? lientuses. (Publ. Ed. $4.95) (Publ. Ed. $4.95)

Please enroll me as a mem­ 5 volumes for the special new ber and send at once the 4 double member price of only $1 (plus volumes of full-length Gardner shipping charges). thrillers and 4 more great myster­ As a member, I am to re­ ies. Plus a specially selected triple ceive advance descriptions of all volume includinga newly published future selections, but I'm not ob­ Perry Mason and 2 more by Eber­ ligated to buy any. For each 3-in-l hart and Creasey. volume I keep, 1 will send you only 1 enclose no money in ad­ $3.39 (plus shipping charges). 1 vance. Within a week after receiv­ may reject any volume before or ing my books, 1 will either return after 1 receive it and can cancel my them and owe nothing, or keep all membership at any time. 3-EG ^}- (Please print plainly) (See Address- other side 34-2A for further details.) City, State. -Zip_ In Canada: Enclose this reply card in an envelope and mail to D.B.C. of Canada, PendragoLICENSEDn House Ltd. ,TO 69 Bathurs UNZ.ORGt Street,Toronto 135, Ontario ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED For $1, you get 5 Erie Stanley Gardner ject any volume before or after receiving it. thrillers, including a Perry Mason first;' And you may cancel at any time. Agatha Christie's latest; the brand new When you do accept a Club selection, you "Saint" mystery; plus 2 great ones by Ellery get three complete, unabridged detective Queen and Mignon^Eberhart; and two more novels in one handsome.hardbound volunie outstanding mysteries by John Creasey! (like the one shown on this page) for only These'll whodunits in the publishers' $3.39. That's less than you'd have to pay for . original'editidhs cost $56. But you get all 11, any one of these novels in a bookstore. . '.^, full-length and handsomely hardbound, The Club's editors select from' more thant for only $1, as long as the supply lasts. 300 mystery books published each year. > v / What's the catch? You are. Only when you Their choices are so outstanding thafmany -• become a member, can mystery writers are •: we prove to you that members, too. As a . , the'Detective Book Club member, you'll be of- ';' gives more and asks fered the cream of the less of you than any crime books by top ',l^" other club. Hence, the names like those fea- • irresistible bribe. tured above—plusEd -" You pay no member­ McBain, Ross Macdbn- ship fee. There is no ald, Richard Lockridge, minimum number of Georges Simenon, books you must buy. Rae Foley, and others. You get free the Club's Accept our bribe, Preview which de­ now. Send the card to " scribes each month's get these 11 mysteries selections. You may re­ for$l.

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