5 Detective Novels Magazine — page 93: what you’re looking at

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

THE DAME FROM CHICAGO apes might get by in a cage at a zoo. But if you walked into the offices of any in- surance company and they saw you com- ing, they’d call for the marines. I don’t recall ever having seen three such ugly mugs in one display before. If you’re detectives I’m a—” “Shut your trap,” big Jake exploded angrily, “or I’ll slap you silly. Now we’ll get down to tacks. I seen that squib in the paper about that Staunton stickup. It said that this guy the cops winged was from Chicago. It also said that the cops suspected the little guy was a dame. I got pals in Chicago. I phoned one of them that knows about everybody around the Windy City. The guy called me back six hours later. He gave me the dope on a man and a girl who had got a bit hot in Chicago and come on here. He don’t know your name but he gave me a good description of you.” “And you just took the description and came straight here to my apart- ment,” she jeered. — “No, I didn’t,” big Jake denied. “I got brains. I knew that the dame that had the Staunton necklace would want to get rid of it quick. So she'd get to a fence quick. There are only three fences in town that would handle an item like that necklace. Get it? There are three of us. We each watched a fence. Lippy, there, was keeping an eye on a Smooth fence by the name of Malik. He saw you . go in Malik’s plaee. He tailed you when you left, tailed you right here.” HE GIRL smiled. “Nice work,” she said pleasantly. “To look at you, I’d swear you didn’t have enough brains to figure out a play like that. I would have guessed you were about the most stupid punk I’d ever laid eyes on. Now I'll have to admit you’re smart. So you’ve come here to make me cough up the necklace.” “That’s it!” Big Jake grunted. “There will be just one small diffi- culty,” she said almost sweetly. “I don’t have the necklace in my possession now.” “You’re lying!” big Jake charged. “If you ain’t got it here, where is it?” “I’m surprised. you can’t figure that out yourself,” she replied. “Lippy, there, saw me go in Malik’s place. He saw me come out. I’ll admit when I went in I had that necklace. But I didn’t have it. 93 when I came out. I sold it to Malik.” “You’re lying!” Big Jake bared his teeth. “Malik never makes a deal with- out dickering. Lippy said you weren’t in his place more than thirty minutes.” “Lippy’s absolutely right about that,” she admitted. “And you’re right about Malik not making a deal without dicker- ing. When I asked for ten grand he stalled. But I happen to be in a jam. I needed dough and needed it quick. So when he offered me four, I took it.” Big Jake stared at her for a few sec- onds. Then his eyes lighted up. “Okay, sister,” he said triumphantly. “It’s all the same to us. If you’re telling the truth about it, just hand us over that four grand. I'll even do better than that. You say you’re in a jam. You just slip us three grand and we "ll let you keep one grand to operate on.’ “But I haven’t got the four grand here,” she murmured. “What'd you do with it?” he de- manded. “T put it in an envelope and mailed it to my poor old grandmother in Seattle,” she said, her eyes guileless. “I send all the money I get to grandma. You see, she’s on heroin and it takes about fifty bucks a day to keep her going and I—” “Shut up!” big Jake howled. “I’m through listening to your yapping. Let’s go over the joint. She’s got that neck- lace hid somewhere, and we’re bound to find it. Get moving, you guys. I’ll keep an eye on this smart little dame from Chicago. You take the bedroom, Lippy. You take the bath and kitchenette, Gus. And you sit right in that chair and don’t move, sister!” The three men went to work at their respective assignments. Big Jake went over the living room, keeping a close eye on the girl. Lippy and Gus finally came back into the room and shook their heads. Big Jake had drawn a blank, too. He walked over to the girl and took her wrist in his tremendous right hand. “This is it, baby,” he told her. “We know ‘you've got that necklace here, and you’re goin’ to tell us where it is.” He began to turn her wrist very slow- ly. She set her teeth. But as he slowly continued to turn her wrist she finally winced and her face went pale. “IT can stand it just as long as you MICLOOOKS (C(O)