Askov American., 1943-12-09
Static
80
By JAMES FREEMAN
Associated Newspapers.
WNU Features.

little man said anxiously. Il
am only able to charge such high
prices for my apartments because I
run a respectable house. Nothing
like this has ever happened before.
! want you to leave no stone un-
turned, Captain Stokes, in appre-
hending the man who stole young
Mr.. Trumbell's jewelry.
1T occurred last night between
nine o'clock and one or two in the
morning. Young Trumbell went out
to a dance. He didn't notice the
theft until this morning. He report
ed it to me Immediately and I came
to YOU"
HAS the insurance company been
notified?"
81 presume so. That's Trumbell's
business, not mine"
Il see. How many students have
you rooming in your house?"
Eleven. All occupy small suites.
There are two suites on each floor,
except the top which is somewhat of
a penthouse. Trumben hired it. He's
the son of c. K. Trumbell, the steel
manufacturer. The upper floors are
reached by an automatic elevator.
There is fire escape on the out
side rear of the building"
Possibly one of the students on
the lower floors, eh?"
The little mans jaw set firmly.
II repeat, my boys are above re-
proach."
"Okay, okay. Let's get out there
and have a look around"
The building was one of many of
similar architecture located in a
quiet, residential section of the city
not far from the university. Before
entering, Haynes led the detective
around back and showed him the
fire escape. The type was familiar.
It's last section was hung suspended
some 20 feet above the ground, au-
tomatically lowering under the
weight of a person descending.
1T would be a simple matter"
Haynes pointed out, 'for anyone
with a short ladder to reach the
lower STEP"
"Apple pie to second story
man." Stokes agreed. Lets have
a look inside"
Haynes seemed worried. "You
won't disturb any of my boys"
'All of 'em," Stokes interrupted.
"And unless you stop beeing and
get cooperative I'll do it in a man.
ner you won't like"
"Open the door of the rear apart
ment with your pass key" Stokes
directed. Don't knock. And never
mind the front apartments.
AS the door opened youth, sit
ting in chair with his feet on the
bed, looked up from a book he was
reading. Beside him on a table a
radio played softly. The youth
looked startled, switched off the ra-
dio and got to his feet. Say"
"Take it easy, son." Stokes said
briskly. There's been a robbery.
I'm from police headquarters"
"A robbery? Here? In this
house?"
That's right. Relax" Stokes
crossed quickly to the window,
opened it and looked out Withdraw
ing his head, he stood a moment in
deep thought. Something was wrong
and he couldn't place his finger on
it.
Haynes, let me have your pass
keys. You two stay here. I'm 60
ing upstairs myself"
Haynes opened his mouth to pro-
test. Stokes jerked the keys out of
his hands and went out, slamming
the door. Twenty minutes later he
was back.
WELL" Haynes snapped, "are you
satisfied? 1 suppose you've succeed
ed in creating disturbance all
over the house."
"Shut up!' snapped Stokes.
Haynes, 60 out and press the but
ton that calls the elevator. walked
down from the top floor. Go on!
Do as I say!"
When Haynes returned to the
apartment after carrying out the or
der he stopped short, gaping. The
youth was laying on the floor, blood
streaming from a wound in his head,
and Stokes was clamping handouts
to his wrists.
'He got nasty and l had to clip
him." the detective explained mat
ter-of-factly. ''That theory of yours
about someone gaining entrance by
means of the fire escape and lad
der was cockeyed. The ground be-
meath the fire escape showed no evil
dence of ladder or anything else
being used. That meant it was an
inside job. When we entered this
apartment the kid here snapped off
the radio a little too quickly. 1t
wasn't natural. Upstairs, I found
all the other apartments deserted,
so I switched on a radio, then
worked the elevator. The electric
motor created plenty of static. A
man who checked his timing could
tell how many floors the elevator
was descending by listening to the
static on his radio. And that would
be dead give-away that Trumbell
was out, because he's the only one
who lives on the sixth? Get it?"