The Washington times., 1937-06-11

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studio as they said they would,
they'd know if he left it or not"
"Yeah?" said Cropsy, lifting
amused eyebrows, you don't tell
me. However, I'm not worrying
about Mr.. Warren any more than
you are about Lewicki. Wrenn
was in the hay the night Margie
Shannon was murdered. He didn't
have any more chance Of Sneaking
out of the Snooty little apartment
of his than a jackrabbit. The
bellhop saw him come in and he'd
have known if Wrenn had gone
out again. No, if / can't have
Flint I'll take Mitchell for mine"
"Well, I'll take Rinehart," I
said, remembering an unpleasant
interview.
Cropsy grinned and said moth
ing. He swung around deter
minedly to the papers on his desk,
so concluded that I was being
invited to leave him to his work.
Sparks editorial panning the
police department and the county
prosecutor made the late editions
of the Express that day and was
carried over the next morning.
He was pretty tough with them,
too; the police he said, certainly
had not distinguished themselves
in their work on the case but had
been too readily content to take
Miss Fowler's guilt for granted
when other possible suspects were
by no means out Of the woods.
Why did they not take it Tor
granted that Pink FlintAhimSelf
murdered-was the murderer OF
Margie Shannon? Why hadn't
they caught Flint when he was
walking free in Cleveland and
telephoning his attorney whenever
he felt like it? Someone else had
found him-someone who felt that
Flint dead was less dangerous
than Flint alive. AS for ProSecu-
tor Miles, his one outstanding
contribution had been to Shroud
in secrecy the name Of the man
last seen with Margie Shannon.
The Express doubted that such
zeal on the prosecutors part was
necessary, even though it realized
full well that his motives were
Christian. The Express sincerely
hoped that both the prosecutor
and the police would accept the
callenge thrown at them by the
murder of Pink Flint by making
every effort to solve it. Then,
and not until then, would the
public be likely to know who
murdered Margie Shannon, and
for what reason.
Story in Newspaper
Ar0uSes Prosecutor
And more of the same-all over
the front page.
Miles, tight-lipped with righteous
wrath, marched into the Express
city room the following morning.
Calhoun saw him coming and took
him straight to Sparks. There was
private conference in Sparks
office, from which the County
Prosecutor emerged half an hour
later with battle still glinting from
his eyes.
"Whew!" said Sparks, biting off
a chew of tobacco. 81 guess
maybe he didn't tell me where to
get off! Said he would run his
office and I could run my news
paper. Said if didn't like the
way he was conducting things !
could go to hell. He's a young
hellion when he gets mad, ain'L
hep" Sparks said to me. He spat
tobacco juice. "Still," he said with
a meditative smile, "I kinda like
him at that. He's honest, all
right. 1 sort of got under his
skin, I guess"
Whats he going to do?" asked
Calhoun.
The managing editor shrugged.
Blessed if know" he smiled, and
when Calhoun asked, "Well, what
did you say to him?" he answered,
almost absently, "Oh, I managed
to stand up to him" And he
returned to his office.
"I'll bet he did" murmured Cal.
houn, grinning. ANY time they
make that baby recant!"
The girl at the switchboard was
calling my name, so I grabbed the
nearest phone. 1t was Janice Fow.
Ter and she told me she wanted
to see me.
That's a break for me-" I said.
hadn't seen her since the evening
at Howard Wrenn's studio. In
fact, I told her, hadn't been
seeing her nearly often enough to
suit me.
But this" said Janice, "this-
oh, I'm worried. I must see you
with someone"
How about meeting me for
lunch, then? What's the trouble?"
But she wouldn't tell me over
the phone. Not until we were
safely alone at a secluded table
in Halle's. There she said without
preamble. "I feel like a criminal.
I feel people looking at me and
whispering about me. I-oh, !
can't bear it,"
ITO Be COntinued)
(COpyriEht. 1887. BY Michael O'Malley,