5 Detective Novels Magazine — page 98: what you’re looking at

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

C IMPLIMENTS Tommy Lederer knew it was no creature from outer space which had horribly mangled the body found lying at the roadside.... Or Could It Have Been? T DIDN’T start like a madman’s nightmare. It started like a good joke. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have gone. ‘I didn’t have to go. Walsh had other operatives he could have sent. Matter of fact, I wasn’t officially working for Walsh, yet. When I’d come back to the office, I’d told him what the doctors had said when I’d got.my army discharge. Walsh had been nice about it. “They’re right, Tommy. You shouldn’t do anything for a while. Take it easy Copyright, 1945, by Standard Maga- zines, Inc., and originally published in May, 1945, Thrilling Detective aa. MyM, 2 pa REVEL 4 till those nerves get back to where they were. Meanwhile, the joint is yours. Hang around and get the feel of things again. And if you need any money be- before then, let me know.” So I’d been hanging around the back room of the Walsh Agency, playing gin rummy with whoever happened to be doing nothing at the moment, and get- ting myself up-to-date on what went on. An idyllic existence, while my money lasted. — —— ee CoOnniclboook