5 Detective Novels Magazine Cover — page 38: what you’re looking at

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

38 neither did the Monteverde police. The fingerprint report from the dead girl’s apartment showed her prints and Kern’s all over the place. But curiously, the only prints found on the whiskey bottle and the two glasses were Kern’s. | The whiskey was being analyzed, but the report had not yet come in. Ollin ordered a search of Kern’s apartment for any papers which might shed light on the mysterious correspondent in Mexico City, I. Tezcat. Then he set out for Monteverde. He was very curious about ‘the bullfighter-musician, Fausto Azul. He thought the Sefiora Baeza might be persuaded to be a little more helpful. lil lt Gees KERN sat on the back seat of a cab, with a basket from the delica- tessen beside him, and showed the driver where to swing off the Chihuahua City highway. In a region of small irrigated truck farms, the Baeza house, a sprawl- ing, low-roofed building of whitewashed adobe, squatted among trees and flow- ers, with several acres of sun-blistered bean rows fanning out behind it. When the cab stopped, Kern stag- gered out, paid the driver, hooked an arm through the handle of the basket, and reeled down a path flanked by flow- ering oleanders. Blinded by the sun, he collapsed against the screened front door and knocked noisily. In the dim interior he saw plastered walls, a crucifix, a wreath of artificial flowers. Then slippers swished on a flagged floor, and a squat shape ma- terialized from shadows. “Hola, Mamacita,” he greeted. Winc- ing a little at his own bad manners, he rattled on dizzily, “I pay you a little visit, bring you a little present. See?” He pushed the basket forward. Something was wrong. The old woman had stopped a few feet from the door. black eyes wide with some emotion which included disbelief. “Don’t you know me?” he gulped. “Liria’s friend, Senor Kern. Once I was here, drinking the excellent red wine you have—” Her face changed swiftly. For a Her mouth was open, her. FIVE DETECTIVE NOVELS MAGAZINE second the eyes had narrowed with sud- den shrewdness; then the whole brown mask relaxed into its customary expres- sion of dull good humor. “Si, si, Senor Kar-nay.” Now she was smiling, open- ing the door, taking the basket. “You come in. You leetle beet borracho, I oe You want the rest a leetle, may- be?” Relieved of the basket, Kern stepped in, made a move to slump into a chair, but a firm hand caught his arm. “No, no, better you lie down. Then I breeng you wine, beeg peetcher good red wine. Then you rest and maybe-so talk a leetle, no?” He chuckled happily as she guided him along a dim passage and threw open the door of a small, cool, clean room with a bed. He flopped down on the covers, closed his eyes, and let the dark swirl pleasantly. He opened his eyes, and as if by magic she was back with * big earthenware pitcher and a.tum- er. “Now you dreenk; I come back.” The wine had a spicy bauquet, and as he poured a tumblerfull, he heard her fussing with the door and muttering, “Thees lock she no want to stay closed—” The door slammed; he did not hear the key which was turned on the outside. The old woman stood a moment in thought, then shuffled down the passage to the kitchen where pepper and garlic hung: from the rafters, and where, be- hind an oilcloth covered table,.sat a dark young man in a sky-blue suit with a glass of wine in his hand. The un- usually low forehead between his matted black hair and his thick eyebrows was creased in questioning furrows. The old woman laid a finger to her lips. “Is Kar-nay. Is drunk. Is locked in. Now I go in field and call José.” “No, no,” the youth said quickly, “do not trouble José. José is stricken. Let him work. It is better. I—” he tapped his chest— “will attend to Karn. Am I not like a brother to Liria? You will say nothing to anyone, not to the police, either, because they will only cause trouble. It is I who will—” He broke off, staring at the door. The old woman had turned, too. The sound of an automobile motor out front had been followed by the crunch of feet on CoOnniclooo S (CI! QO) mM