The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-03-23
BLACK RlGfQ>,0!
||VQSSHTVS 1929 By hEA Service. Inc. bgANNE AUSTIN ~

band all right! Now laugh that
off"
McMann did not obey. $50 your
husband killed Borden because you
Were going away with him, and
now he wants to finish his job by
killing you. That right?"
KILLED Borden?" Rita repeated
scornfully, then broke into laughter
which seemed to be born of genu-
inc amusement.
DO you want to know where this
dancing sheik of mine was on Sat
urday afternoon from l o'clock till
4, when Willette Wilbur and l
picked him up?
"Well-And if you don't laugh
now, it's because your face got froze
into the scowl the last hard freeze
we had-Ramon was in Madame
Rosenstein's beauty parlor-Temple
of Esthetic Beauty, she calls 1t
shooting the family bankroll-
For three hours?" McMann was
heavily sarcastic.
"Sure!" Rita retorted scornfully.
How long do you think it takes to
get a haircut, a shampoo with hot
oil treatment, a facial, a manicure,
a pedicure, and an eyebrow bluck-
ing? Did you think God made him
to look like that?" and she pointed a
mocking finger at her husband.
Check this right now, Birdwell!"
McMann flung the order to the still
bored and apparently somnolent de-
tective seated at Benny Smiths
desk.
Telephone numbers Circle
o430," Rital answered. "a little
blond homewrecker, name of Ma
nette, took care of him. She always
does" she added viciously.
"Oh, you'll find he was there all
RIGHT, Big Boy" she turned insolent-
Is McMann again.
80 that 1 telephoned him a
little sr half-past two. l called
from lobby of this building TO
tell hin that it was all right-Id
got the .sh for him."
II Il
"DUT you didn't. tell him you'd
d robbed your dead lovers body
to- get it, did your" McMann
prounced.
mo! Because it wasn't true!"
Rita flashed, her black eyes blaz-
ing. Say, I'm getting sick of you
harping on that line! If I've told
you once I've told you a hundred
times that Harry Borden gave me
the other half of the $500 bill, of
his own free will and accord, and
that he was alive when I left him!"
McMann shrugged, and aban-
doned that line for a new one, of
more immediate interest. so the
money was for Romero, was it?
What did he need $500 for? To pay
his beauty parlor bills?"
Before Rita could reply, Birdwell
interrupted to say he had Madame
RoSenstein on the wire.
The detective sergeant after iden-
tifying himself. put his questions
with a brutal conciSenesS and rap
idly that must have been a sever
shock to the high priestess of THE
Temple of Esthetic Beauty" but
when he hung up there was no need
for him to admit to the room at
large that Romero's alibi had been
corroborated.
Nov, Rita-no Use for me to try
to talk to that Spanish jabbering
husband of yours-Romero may not
have killed Borden, but he'd killed
someone and needed money for a
getaway! Out with it, and save
time. You know damned we'll I'll
get the goods on him anyway
Then why should I do your work
for you?" Rita retored in~solently.
81 think 1 ear help you, chief"
Detective Casey volunteered. This
is a bird one of them foreign coun-
tries-in South America somewhere,
the Argentine, I guess it was-told
us to keep an eye peeled for. Killed
his sweetie down there, for making
eyes at another Hot Tamale. We
got his picture on file at headquar-
tiers. Guess one of the boys from
his old home town blew in and piped
him at the Golden Slipper and
shook him down for blackmail to
the tune of half a grand"
rs if each of Casey's hard-boiled
sentences was a bullet which had
found its mark in her exhausted
body, Rita sagged lower and low
er. until she was again in the po-
sition in which Ruth, opening the
door, had found her-half sitting.
holt l,yipc in her chair her head