Evening star., 1940-09-01

Steve Callahan's store and contin-
ued on into the warehouse district
beyond. His nerves were beginning
pull up in front of dirty, run
down building and the driver step
out, shut the door. and slowly cross
the sidewalk and disappear into the
building through the solitary door
at one side of the bare front. Jiggs
went down to the end of the block
and stopped. He got out of the car,
looked back to make sure of the
location of the building, then
walked down the side street and
up the alley leading to- the rear of
the place Les had entered from the
front.
Counting four buildings from the
side street, Jiggs located the one
which Les had entered. It's back
side was even more oppressive in
dull appearance than the front. The
upper three of its six stories were
plain, almost windowless: the Sec
ond and third floors projected out
toward the rear, and the first story
became a kind of shed or garage
reaching all the way back to the
alley.
The big, sliding doors of this
shed were closed and padlocked,
and no other entrance from the
rear was visible. Jiggs contemplate
ed the impasse from the far side
of the narrow alley, from where he
could see the upper stories over the
roof of the shed.
Staring up at the building and
frowning in deep thought, Jiggs
suddenly saw a movement behind
one of the third floor windows. The
particular window was similar to
the others-small, dirty, with an
upper and lower section of glass
except that it had rusty iron bars
apart, whereas the others were pro-
tected only by heavy screening. AS
he watched he saw the window
raise and he saw a mans hand
reach out and grip the lower iron
bar. He seemed to try to shake the
bar. Then the hand moved to the
bar above and tried again.
Jiggs waited. his heart pounding.
and prayed for glimpse of that
mans face; and then, fieetingly, as
the window was gently lowered
again, he got the glimpse he had
been waiting for. The man behind
the barred window was Tom Call
lahan. And his brother had easy
access to the building in which Tom
was prisoner.
There was nothing subtle about
what Jiggs instantly made up his
mind to do 1t was bold; it was di-
rect; it had a good chance of being
effective. He went back to where
Les Callahans car was parked,
opened a rear door, climbed in and
lay down on the floor.
When Les Callahan had landed
from the Pacific liner China Star
that morning he had called his
stepfathers store and learned for
the first time that Steve Callahan
was dead. A policeman had an
swered the phone, and Les had
agreed to report to the authorities
as soon as possible for questioning.
But not until he called his friend
Surf Lito, whom he knew was
close friend of Steve's, did he learn
that his half-brother, Tom, was
suspected of numbering Steve.
Then, rather than keep his agree
mept with the police, he had
Thought to go to the airport with
Surf and found out what had al
ready been done in Toms behalf.
He couldn't bring himself to be-
lieve, at first, that Tom was guilty.
Talk Nets Little.
His talk with Barnes had netted
him little; Toms employers knew
nothing of his whereabouts. They
only knew that there was a deal
of evidence against him. Barnes
had shown him an article in the
late paper to the effect that Tom
had apparently returned to the Of
flee in the night and probably sto-
len something from it.
Then, leaving Surf at the airport
on some business of his own, Les
had gone to the warehouse owned
by Surf but used by Steve for stor-
ing merchandise shipped from the
Orient. There was one item he was
particularly interested in: he didn't
mention the fact to Surf because
he didn't want the man to know
that he appreciated its nature.
When he emerged from the ware
house his bronzed face was almost
white and he fumbled nervously
with the key as he started the car.
He had driven several blocks when
he felt hand laid on his shoulder.
do what you're told" Jigss said
tersely, "or you'll get hurt. Pull