The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1934-04-06
RED HERRING By octavus Roy Cohen

call from Jericho Gin. He met the
gangling colored man at the gas sta-
ton. Jericho was excited to the. point
of incoherence.
mister Defective" he stammered,
TT see that lady today"
1.-THE lady which I changed n tire
for the gemmun friends Of n night
he was extincted." -.
Danny struggled to act like an old
timer. He assumed a calmness which
he did not feel.
"Tell me all about it, Jericho"
"Well, sub, it was thisaway. On the
night Mistuh CRANKY was extermlnat-
ed he had that flat tire out on the
Berkeley road. I went way out there
to change it TO- him, which was when
I seen that lady. Co'se, she didn't
have no misconception of where I
worked at, which, I reckon, was now
come she driv right spang in this place
today fo' ten gallons of gas"
"Y-y-y-yassuh."
"And you recognized her?"
"Nosuh. She r~eckernized me. 1t was
like this: Maybe you amt noticed 1t,
capn-but T talk kind of peculious.'
Danny smiled briefly. IT have no.
ticed it, Jericho"
well, she driv in an ordered that
gas. I token off the cap fun her gas
tank an then walked aroun' front an
| asst her how many. She said ten gal
Ions, and I said somethin' else, an
then all of a sudden she got kind of
pale. She asst me somethin' mo-, and
when I answered she gave a kind of a
gasp an slammed her car in gear. An,
cap'n, Use tellin' you, had there been
jes' one sparrer wing detached to that
car of her'n, it would of flew. Minute
| she fled off thataway I commenced to
think, an then it struck me right in
the brain-that was the lady which the
defunct gemmun was with when he got
flattired befo' his final fatality"
Danny was tense. He quizzed Jericho
about the car. Mr.. Gin declared that
it was a most impressive sport coupe,
painted bright yellow. Nossuh, he did
MT know the lady an he had been too
startled to note the license number. But
mebbe this heah gas tank cap would
hep! Yassuh, she sho' had driv off
without that cap, an he reckoned that
nobody wasn't gwine drive no car long
'thout nj cap on the gas tank.
Danny Reardon traced the steel cap.
1t was a comparatively simple task.
He discovered first the make of car
to which it belonged. Then he visited
the local agent and checked over the
list of every sale of that type of car
made during the last year. He in
quired whether the agent recalled SELL
ing a very yellow coupe-and, of course,
the agent remembered. The color jobs
of each car sold were matters of office
record.
Accordingly, at two o'clock that af-
ternoon Danny Reardon, shaved to a
lovely pinkness, civilian clothes, neatly
pressed, and blue eyes shining brightly,
presented himself at the lavish resi-
dence of Mr.. and Mrs. Roger Carey, at
No. 1929 Cliff street. He rang the front
door bell, inquired politely for Mrs.
Carey, and two minutes later was
greeted by a young and amazingly
pretty, young matron. He introduced
himself, begged a few moments of her
time, and found himself propelled into
a small room which he figured was a
library. There Dale Carey closed the
OohCA4 ooO4, ~ hCy, ol1o az.
vanced toward him, her body tense.
What is it now?" she inquired. "Tell
me-quickly!"
Inspector Garrett, in response to an
official summons, barged through the
door of Police Commissioner Burke's
private office. The commissioner, an
imposing gentleman of great height
and immense breadth, nodded CURLY
to the inspector and suggested that he
occupy a chair.
Garrett did So-with guSto. Then his
eyes lighted OF the figure of Detective
Danny Reardon, and for just a moment
he experienced a twinge of apprehen-
sion.
Commissioner Burke leaned across
the desk and spoke crisply:
! I'm asking you a few questions, in
| spector-and I want quick, snappy an
swers. See?"
"First-isn't it true that you DELHI
erately created a mystery out of the
McDougal killing in order to draw the
attention of the public away from your
failure to solve the CRANKY AFFAIR.""
Inspector Garrett favored Detective
Reardon with a look in which there
was neither friendship nor approval.
Danny caught the glance and shrugged
his shoulders, as though to declare that
matters had been taken out of his
hands. The inspector, thereupon re-
adjusted his perspective. He had a
profound bunch that he was in for a
most unpleasant half hour.
Eyes sir-that's true. We wasn't
getting nowhere on the CRANKY thing
and the public was on the departments
neck. So when this other thing come
along-all ready made"
I'VE won't bother with that right
now" snapped Burke. THAT isn't i'm
portant." His eyes burned into Gar