Evening star., 1940-09-01
. CHAPTER XI.

Who murdered Steve Callahan
was of only secondary concern to
Jiggs Reilly now. His first concern
was to locate Tom Callahan; be-
yond that he didn't try nor care to
think But in a city the size of
San Francisco, finding a missing
person was considerable job: find
ing a person who was being deliber-
ately concealed, and whom even the
law itself could not locate, was as
close to the impossible as anything
Jiggs had ever been up against.
He was just leaving the building
where the airline Offices were To-
Gated, after seeing Barnes, when a
small sedan pulled into the park
ing space and stopped. Two men
climbed out hurriedly and ap-
preached the building. One of
them was tall, thin and with an
athletic agility about him. His
face was brown with a hardened
quality that distinguished him from
other sun-tanned men. Sc He had a
look of the Far East, the Orient,
about him. The man who walked
at his side was small, sallow-
skinned, with thick dark hair show
ing briefly from beneath his SOM
ber felt hat.
Jiggs stared at the men as they
ran up the steps and into the build
Ing, and for no particular reason he
moved into the lobby behind them
to see where they were going. Ap-
prehensively he saw them go di-
rectly to the office he had just left.
Finds Hunch Works.
With sudden inspiration Jiggs
crossed the lobby and stepped into
the phone booth located there near
the cigar counter. In another mo-
ment he had Barnes on the wire
and, still not sure exactly what his
plan was, he said: "Jiggs Reilly
calling, but don't mention my name
Those two guys in your offce-is
one of them Toms brother?"
A long moment of silence fol-
lowed, then Barnes said, That's
right, Mr.. Jackson. Thanks for
SdAllls. Auo bdT1leS receiver
dropped back on the hook.
Jiggs stood in the phone booth
for fully a minute after the con-
nection with Barnes was dead, try
Ing to adjust himself to what had
just taken place. Barnes was not
only quick on the trigger; he was
infinitely clever. And Jiggs was
slow in digesting the information
he had received. He had acted on
a hunch but he hadn't had the
least confidence that the hunch was
any good. Now he found that 1t
had been perfect.
Tom Callahan's half-brother was
in San Francisco, when he ordin-
arily was stationed in Hong Kong.
This Jiggs knew from casual con-
versation with Tom in the now re-
mote past. The message Tom found
on Steve's desk had been about
Hong Kong-it might have been
from Les, or supposed to be.
Enters Private Hangar.
Quietly Jiggs walked from the
phone booth, crossed the lobby of
the building, and went back to
where the coupe was parked. He
got in and complacently waited for
the temperance of Les Callahan
and his friend.
In less than 10 minutes he saw
the pair emerge from the building,
stand on the steps for a moment,
then shake hands briefly and move
off in divergent directions. Les
Callahan came toward the parking
lot; his companion walked away in
the direction of the hangers that
lined the far side of the field. Jiggs'
eyes followed the latter, saw him
turn in at the wide doorway of one
of the first hangers and disappear
In Jiggs' mind the fact registered
that the hangar was one used most
ly by private planes; then his atten-
tion turned to Les, who had gotten
into the sedan in which he had
come and had already begun to
back out of the parking space. Jiggs
waited until the sedan had turned
onto the highway, then he started
the engine, backed around and fol-
lowed in the other cars wake.
Rear Carefully Locked.
1t didn't surprise Jiggs when the
car he was following headed for
the Chinese section Of the city, but