Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1928-11-08

IN TWO PARTS-PART TWO

It required a large sum Of money for
Frazee to keep up with his girl friend She
was a spendthrift and he was in a bad way
for cash. At the Kongo inn, a roadhouse.
he was sitting close TO a couple when the
man was killed by a bullet. The revolver
was thrown and Frazee picked 1t up when
it struck the floor at his feet. The lights
went out and Frazee conducted the dead
mans partner from the scene of the muir
der. on hnding that the woman was mar
ried Frazee decided to try blackmail and
she told him that her husband was a law
yer and could get her safely out of the
shooting scrape but as she did not want
him to learn of her escapade. promised to
get the money for him.
And now the story
Frazee got to his room and lay down
on his bed without turning on the light.
1t was / O'Clock. He was dead tired but
he could not sleep and it seemed useless
to undre when 1t was so near morning.
His head was full Of little lights. Dead
men and shouting Taxi meters
grinding out miles: a woman beside him
in the dark. unseen but keeping close
in silence. Her voice now and then
cool and quiet. A game little skirt II
everl
He fell asleep suddenly and wakened
with the sun in his face and newsies
yelling through the streets outside. He
hurried to get a paper and trembled so
with eagerness that he could hardly read
what was smeared all over the front page.
But after a while he managed to get the
story, meager and incomplete as 1T was,
beneath the masses OF padding that boil
stored up the dumbness of the police.
The dead man was somebody i'm
portant. He belonged to a rich family
and had lots of friends There would
be a determined effort to find out who
fired the fatal shot. Very little was said
about the circumstances that brought
vanoble, the victim, into a dive like the
Kongo inn. 1t was limited that he was
not alone there. but, as usual, the police
promised they would have more to say
later on.
Frazee read it all over twice before be
put the paper aside. He was pale and
his eyes were distended and he felt as
he did when he was so mad at Helen
on tiptoe. He was an important man,
himself, this morning. He knew more
about the killing than anybody else
more than the whole police force, and If
he wanted to talk he could give the dicks
an earful. He even had the gun that did
the work.
About / o'clock he called Drexel 248o
and she answered the phone herself. She
had told him to ask for Phyllis as If
he was somebody she knew very well,
and that was what hi did, calling her
by her name as naturally as if he was
one OF her friends. A half hour later
she picked him up in a smart, close
hooded coupe on the orner of Vermont
and Wiltshire and they drove along as If
he had a perfect right to be in her car
with her driving it.
"Didya have any trouble gettin' in
last night?" Frazee asked with sudden
gruffness.
She said that she had had no trouble
whatever. Nobody had asked her ques-
tons. He was asleep, she supposed, and
she got to her room safely.
He was puzzled and even embarrassed
by he way she said that. Her room
His rooml They were married, weren't
they? Fancy a gink going to sleep while
his wife was batting around somewhere
else / II the middle of the night.
She must have read his thoughts. "A
busy man has SO much to think of be.
sides a wife" she said, and he could mo-
tell whether she was kidding or whether
she meant it. She had a way of sayinl
things that could mean a lot of things
and his sounded as If she was echoint
somebody else. But she added a sac
A@NAA1 cAAAAA S216b OWN ~ ~
"Looky here"-it took an effort blu
he got IL out-"you amt worryin' abou'
what said last night-about him an
frail, you know. Because that was guess
work. l hit on that accidental, takin
for granted all men are alike abou
chasin' a little, but maybe he don't"
1t was d how she understood hi
slang-picked 1t up hot without ono
asking what he meant. Now she jus
nodded and said without any excitement
Il wondered how you knew. For of cours
he does chase a little. There's a girl II
his office"-she swallowed hard befor,
she went on. That's why / was Their
last night. I wanted to see the othe
side of life and poor Van offered to shoy
me-" She was trying to make him un
derstand, him, Frazee! 1T wasn't Jus
that awful place-it was what he got on
OF chasing around with somebody else
She stopped the car presently in
quiet, shady place and gave him a bi
roll of money-it looked like O million
dollars as he stuffed it away in hi
clothes. But in doing that he touche,
the gun in his pocket that he had for
gotten. A sudden impulse made hin
take 1t out, passing 1t before mis- com
panion's eyes so carelessly that she ut
tered an exclamation and shrank away
Yes" said Frazee, that's the bah
that did the work.
He told her how it had fallen in hi
hands, a piece of luck for him, and ex
ulted, II guess 1t must be breakin' 70
me at last. Looks like that gun wa
thrown right at me for luck"
Put 1t away. Why do you show
to me?"
Because it's in line of proof. II yo-
try to cross me. I got this to prove
was there and saw you with him"
You nave the money" she said, wit
an infection hat stung.
1t was easy money, too. Dressing |
his new clothes that evening, Frazee II
Elected upon this triumphantly.
Virtuous and clean shaved, he turne
away to thoughts OF Helen and the SUI
prise he had for her that evening.
car by the hour; dinner anywhere sh
!. pleased. Dancing, maybe, or a long rio
n the country where they could tall
. 1t had been a long time since he ha
more than q passing glimpse of Helel
/ but he understood from intermediari.
E that she had become very classy in h,
x new job and very ritzy with the frienc
: who had known her before her rise.
! Helen was q black haired girl, wit
e eyes that knew a little too much. ar
she was dressed like a show window. 81
was SO good looking that everyboe
stared, and 1T made a man with her fe
uncomfortable and too much notice
= Frazee had always known how pretty 81
was, but now that only worried him.
n Il wish we had gone to a quiet
0. place" he grumbled, looking around IL
r. restaurant thot oaar,ad +o