The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1938-10-19
CAST Of CHARACTERS

Wife OF the sensdhohoA
band leader.
ROBERT TAlT-hero. News
paper Observation-Disclosures.
ANNE LESTER-Myrnas clos
est friend.
DANNIE FREELEY-ofiieer as
signed to investigate Ludden
Dombey's murder.
Yesterday: TAFT begins to re
organize the band under his man
azer.hip and the members agree
to help him and Myrna to the end
CHAPTER XIV
al don't want to make any prom
ises J can't keep" TAFT told
"Torchy" Stephens and the band
he had gathered inside his apart
ment. Before Lud was killed ne
was riding for another kind OF a
fall. He was paying your salar-
les. all right, but it wouldn't have
been long before you'd have been
out of jObs-becauSe Lud WASH I
paving anybody else I'm gong
TO try to hold off the wolves and
get things Strengthened out. but
don't depend on it. It's gamble,
and nothing more. If there's any
body here that doesn't want to
stick it out, we want to hear from
him now"
"Torchy" spoke up. I'm stick
ing. Anybody here want to slide?
The ensuing silence was the an
swa-, and TAFT turned TO "Torchy"
Stephens. "Do you think Pacific
Plaza will try to poke a hole IN
our contract"
Il believe | can talk them out
of it if they do try il" Stephens
said. There's a scandal clause IN
the contract that they might try
10 crawl out throughput once l
did a favor for Hoskins, the man
ager. | took over Izzy Pico's band
when Icy got plastered on night
that HoSkins had advertised big.
"Goodp TAFT exclaimed. "Then
you're the fellow to talk to Hos
kins-but only if he brings up the
subject. | think tn chest hunch
would be to keep showing up and
doing your stuff ,aS if nothing had
happened"
"Sue," said Stephens. That's
what Wen do"
The next two weeks were hectic
ones for Bob TAFT. He and Feeley
spent days going over the Dombey
papers, but there was consider
able extraneous stuff and in the
end they did little more than
establish what Harris Rogers had
told TAFT in the first place. Lud-
den DOmbey had been head-over
heels in debt. His past included
a, number of expensive young wo-
men. He'd faxed his authorship
of ""The Cats Meow" and failed
to make good, and he'd violated
his contract with the photograph
recording company, which had
been a good source of revenue.
Feeley was frankly stymied. and
was leaning heavily on the exist
ence of the musician who had
written THE Cats Meow" But
he hadn't yet been able to find
him. though the city had been
combed and Feeley had wired his
description to every conceivable
musicians union in the country.
Leonard Macy, the dilettante and
criminolOgist. had been SUSPECT
ously silent-and this worried
Feeley more than anything. He
knew, for instance, that Macy had
several times been in touch with
Barley, the prosecuting attorney.
The newspapers, weary of an adj
ministration which used the police
department as a political football,
were pressing Barley hard.
There was more lawbreaking,
more crime than ever, and while
Feeley was guiltless he was bound
to be painted with the same brush
as the rest of the department.
Barley wanted conviction,
Feeley knew, and Barley didn't
care much who got convicted.
What the detective officer feared
was that Macy would spring some
thing suddenly, and make the po-
lice detectives a laughing stock.
And Barley would probably en-
courage him, since he couldn't
very well get a conviction until
somebody was brought to book
with sufficient evidence to justify
trial for the murder of Ludden
Dombey
TAFT, too, was painfully aware
of the situation, but he had never
felt so utterly helpless. There was
one bright spot in the outlook
The Swingateers were doing well.
Under "TOrchy" Stephens they
were as popular as ever, and moth
ing was limited that the Pacific
Plaza would try to break the con-
tract. As the new manager, TAFT
had contacted the majority of
more important creditors and con-
WINGED share of them that they
still had chance to get their
money. A few nights of pencil
scratching told him that if Mont
gomery would give The Swinga-
teers chance to make some more
records, even without Lud Dom
hey, he could get the corporation
on an even keel again. Then
Myrna could do as she liked. She
could stay with the ship, or she
could leave it free of Dombey's
debts.
Time and again TAFT found him,
self hating DOmbey for the mess
he'd made for Myrna. But then
he told himself, Ludden Dombey
hadn't igured on being murdered
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