5 Detective Novels Magazine — page 92: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

92 out. Then she turned right and disap- peared. Still seated at his desk, Joseph Malik was smiling now. He rubbed his hands together as though he were very well pleased with himself. He started to pick up the phone on his desk, then thought better of it. He rose, put on his hat, and left his store. He walked two blocks to a drugstore and found a telephone booth. He entered it and dialed a number. “Jake?” he said when a heavy voice answered. “This is J.M. I’ve got a line on a sweet job for us. A dame came to my office while ago. She had a string of shiners. Worth plenty. If you read the papers, you'll know how she got ’em. Her pal was picked up on the job. I stalled her—got her phone number. With that I’ll check in a cross-index and get her address. Get it? All you’ll have to do is walk in on her and take it away from her. She won’t dare squawk be- cause she’s plenty hot. You can tell her you saw the story in the newspaper and phoned a pal in Chicago and got the line on her. Now you meet me at Cleary’s in fifteen minutes and I’ll have the address and we can work out the details. Got it ?” Malik heard the affirmative grunt and hung up, his grin showing that he was quite satisfied with himself. He walked out of the drugstore, went to the corner, and flagged down a taxi. . The girl from Chicago had told the truth about one thing at least. She did have a nice little apartment in a nice neighborhood. She had a pleasant living room that overlooked a small park and a bedroom, bath, and kitchenette. At the moment she was seated in her living room. She wore a becoming blue frock that harmonized with her sur- roundings. She picked up a magazine from the small table beside her chair, glanced at it for a few minutes, then threw it aside impatiently. At that instant, knocks sounded on her door. She rose from her chair, her face sobered and the blue eyes centered a frown for an instant. She walked to the door, hesitated a few seconds, lis- tened, then opened the door. Her quick effort to close it again was blocked. A big man pushed the door open, shoving her aside in the same mo- tion. Two other men came in right be- FIVE DETECTIVE NOVELS MAGAZINE - hind him. The last man in, the smallest of the trio, closed the door. “What’s the big idea?” she flared. “What is this—a heist?” “I wouldn’t say that, baby,” the big man grinned. “Now just take it easy. This is just a little deal between friends. You might say it’s strictly business. All you got to do is play nice and you won’t get hurt.” “I can’t imagine having any business that would concern you,” she said as she backed toward the chair where she had been sitting. “That’s it,” he nodded. “Go ahead and sit down and make yourself comfortable. We might be here for quite a while. That depends on you. Lippy, you take a look at that big purse on the table. She might have a-gat in it.” Lippy, the middle man in stature of the trio, went over and picked up the purse. “Yah, ” he said. “She had a gat.” He held up a small automatic. “T ain’t surprised,” big Jake Haker said heavily. “I ain’t got much doubt that she’da used it on us if she’d had a chance. I was set to grab her hands when she opened the door till I saw they were empty. Just sit down there in the chair, baby. You ain’t going to get a chance to grab another gat if you’ve got one under cover somewhere. She sat down. “That’s the only one I have,” she said with a little sneer on her lips. “You three lugs ought to be pretty safe now. You’re three to one, and [’ll concede I might get the worst of it if I started a free-for-all. So what’s the play.” “The play is one you won’t like, baby,” Big Jake said. Then he grinned broadly. “We’re detectives. Employed by a cer- tain insurance company. Now that com- pany had insured a diamond necklace owned by a Mrs. Staunton. Two very mean guys did her a dirty trick. They stuck her up in the lobby of her apart- ment hotel and took that necklace away from her. The insurance company wants that necklace back. Now we ain’t look- ing for blood. You hand over that neck- lace, and we’ll walk out quietly, turn the necklace back to Mrs. Staunton, and keep out mouths shut to the cops.” The girl leaned forward, and there were sparks in her blue eyes. “You three CoOMmiclooo S