Henderson daily dispatch., 1940-04-15
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
AFTER MURIEL'S indiscree

llOiiS HSiS al q lul HULL LOOiSS,
was afraid, would think the worst
Of me. I hadn't realized how much
I wanted her good opinion.
1 couldn't understand Muriels
behavior. Suddenly she had become
vindictive. But why-wnen she was
in love with Jerry? Why should
the thought that I was no longer
in love with her make her so
angry? Did women so dislike
learning that men sometimes could
fall out of love with them?
AS for Louise being in love with
I drove my mind resolutely from
that subject. My business now was
to solve the riddle of Alfred Mark
hams death-or rather, the riddle
of what had Immediately preceded
his death.
I felt certain that ne had gone
into the garden that night to meet
someone, and that he resented my
presence there because his meeting
was to be strictly private. 1t
seemed logical that the man he
was to have met was the man who
kidnapped me an hour later. The
fellow had been late for his ap-
pointment.
All this fitted nicely together,
but I still didn't know the purpose
of the appointment. That was the
key to the mystery, l was sure.
According to BelZer the man
who kidnapped me was bootleg
ger. My own experience showed
that he was more than a boot
logger. He had dealings of some
kind with two drug addicts.
I had to find that man! Despite
the warnings he had sent me l
knew he had to be found if l was
to learn the real reason behind
Alfred's death-the reason he had
been acting so strangely that
night, the reason he wanted tc be
alone in the garden where he was
killed.
I wondered if the number 1882
could be street address or a tele-
phone number. I thumbed through
the telephone directory. I knew the
names of some of the places on the
waterfront, and I soon saw that
there would be no street numbers
in the zoos in that district. The
streets were numbered from the
waterfront outward.
There were three telephone eX'
changes. l began with the most
obvious one, asking for BrentWel
1872. There was no answer. Clag'
stone 1872 brought a sharp reply
from a Woman-I judged she must
have been the maid in the house
and she hung Up the receiver wher
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
BELZER'S departure, and /
last words, left me upset.
steady myself I telephoned the j;
and got Harvey MCGUIRE on T.,
line.
Harvey explained, trying 70
as gentle as he could. that the
was no way of arranging bail f
Jerry. after all, he's accused
murder I'd have to be & magici;
to get him OUT
do you think we ought to Il
Muriel?"
Tell her! Why, that little flu
ter-brain has been in my hair f
half an hour. She's here now.
can't do a thing with her!n'
II object to such a reference
Miss Benson. She may be Ii
tie"
I'm sorry! After a half hour
this I'm not quite normal. i thir
I've succeeded in insulting her
that she's leaving now"
"How's Jerry taking it,"
Hes okay. Seems stunne
Doesn't act like any guilty pri
oner T ever saw"
"Why should he?" l snappe
and hung up.
paced the room a moment, the
pulled the box out from under II
bed, looked at it uncertainty, ar
showed it back. ! didn't know whf
to do.
wondered when Belzer woul
discover the loss of the knives
had stolen from him. I wondere
if he already knew, and that wa
why he was not running the stor
why he had made that last RI
mark as he went out the door.
I tried to understand how gan
of bootleggers would fit into tn
picture and, like Belzer, I cam
to the conclusion that bootleggin
was an outside element that he
slipped in by accident.
Still, I was faced by the fac
that Alfred and Tony had bee
somehow connected The finding Q
that number 1872" in the poke
of each of them could be no coin
cidence. Alfred was sympatheti
toward drug addicts. Tony and hi
helper were addicts.
And the "bootlegger" was def
nitely connected with Tony an,
the boy.
1t was too much for me. If
only knew what that numbe
A knock sounded on my door.
jumped. I seldom had callers a
this time of night.
1 opened the door q crack ant
then stepped back in amazement
Muriel, weeping, threw herself
into my arms.
ooh, Bill Bill" she sobbed
you've got to get Jerry out Of
Jail. You simply must"
n L