5 Detective Novels Magazine Cover — page 108: what you’re looking at

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

108 I clinched long enough to clear my head and then I handed him a nice one. He slammed against the wall, and some stucco cracked off. Then I saw more of the briefcase that had socked me. Cigar coupons weren’t poking out from under the flap. They were bonds or stock cer- tificates—a bale of them! Borda lay on his face, shaking all over. His bloody hands clawed the crushed rock, and his face was like hamburger. He was making funny sounds, as if his mouth were too small for his tongue. I saw all this while I took a jump for the bearded man. He yelled something, and then we tangled. After taking care of Borda, he should have been winded but he was tough. We tripped and hit the crushed-rock drive. That cut the shoulders out of my coat. I heard a woman screech. The bearded guy hollered. Letting go with one hand, he looked like he was flagging the girl to check out. That gave mea chance to shift around and crack his head against the gas pump. It didn’t hurt him enough to notice. He cut loose with his knee, but I was moving, and the wallop caught my shest. That pried us far enough apart for a fresh start. I was dizzy now, and if the dame was still shrieking, I didn’t hear her. The bearded guy got to his feet. I was on my knees, losing time. So I made a dive and tackled him. He crashed down, and a couple minutes more—or maybe it was hours—settled him. When I got to my feet and could stand without grabbing a gas pump, I saw that Borda was sitting up and feeling his face. “Where the hell have you been?” he croaked. “Where have you been?” “Taking gas to a dame’s car. I just came back. What’s happened? Who’s this guy here?” “He killed Ryan!’ Borda wiped his bleeding mouth. “Brained him and knocked me silly. I heard them battling ane came downstairs and tried to stop im.” “Get a rope or a wire before this Tar- zan snaps out of it.” I stood by, ready to boot him down if he made a quick comeback, but Borda was fast enough. Then I began to won- FIVE DETECTIVE NOVELS MAGAZINE der about the briefcase and the dame. Both were gone, and I heard an engine winding up, down the cross road. With my head whirling, I couldn’t be sure but I was willing to bet it was Valeria and her convertible. _ There was no sense trying to chase her. I couldn’t catch that bus with any of the three around the filling station. I wasn’t even sure whether she was heading for the Matanzas Bridge or to- ward Saint Augustine. So I went to see the corpse. Chapter V ORDA was sober but he smelled like a liquor warehouse that had been hit by a bomb. He was plain soaked with rye. Without staggering, though, he led me to the foot of the stairs that came down from the kitchen, in back, where there was a walk made of coquina blocks. Toward the other end, I saw Ryan lying under the steps. He was gripping that big butcher knife from the kitchen. A flashlight was still glowing under him. He had flopped across it. There was enough reflection from the stucco to show me that his skull had been smashed practically in half. He was twitching and making choked sounds. How he did it, I don’t know, with his face sunk in the sand. The tire iron had done a real job of murder. There wasn’t any use moving him or trying to do anything for him. That was the sickening thing about it. I was glad when he stopped twitching and choking. He had been handed two socks across the head, and either one would have been plenty. Then I saw why the knife was there. He had been prying up one of the co- quina blocks of the walk. It lay to one side, and underneath it was the print of a briefcase. The only footprints I could see were a couple of skidded ones, and the twisting wind was swiftly driving sand into them. All I heard for a second was Borda’s heavy breathing. He was still winded, almost as badly as I was, and getting a little dizzy. “Where were you?” I demanded. “Upstairs in my room. I felt rotten. Then I heard the riot below. I looked out AMICLOOO Go iS (C(O)