5 Detective Novels Magazine Cover — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

18 was no time for weakness. I got up and walked over to her. “Now, listen—you know exactly what happened. That’s how you’re going to tell it. Straight and square.” “You killed Sammy!” I grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her hard. “It was self-defense, damn it.” I was shouting almost as loud as she had. “Right in front of my eyes you killed him. Sammy was a good guy. They didn’t come much better’n Sammy. And you killed him.” I said, “Keep up that chant, and I'll slap you silly. Go put some clothes on. I’ve got to call the cops.” Her eyes snapped wide open, and she grabbed my arm with both hands. “No cops, you hear me? No cops.” I looked over at the corpse. “What do you suggest we do with that?” “I don’t care, but you ain’t calling no cops. I’m getting outa here.” HE headed for the door, suddenly realized she wasn’t dressed for the street, and ran past me into the bed- room. She slammed the door—which seemed rather like an unnecessary pre- caution. I sat down again and held my head. I cursed Sammy mildly. I just couldn’t let go at a dead man—not the way I wanted to. I was a little sorry for him, too. He’d thought that I hap- pened to be another slob in Joan Ha- ven’s life and that he was being given a doublecross. She’d probably made Sam- my a lot of cockeyed promises. I heaved myself to a standing position. There was just one thing to do. This needed the police. I waiked to the bedroom door and tried to open it. I couldn’t. “Mrs. Haven,” I called. “Open up.” “Get outa here, you lousy killer!” she yelled back. I said, “I’m going for the police— unless you have a telephone here.” “No cops,” she screeched. “I’m tell- ing you, no cops!” “We have to get the police. Can’t you understand that? won’t be long.” I went to the door and stepped into the hallway. Nobody eyed me curiously. In this dump, noise didn’t mean a thing. You could murder a man in a fight, and You stay here. I FIVE DETECTIVE NOVELS MAGAZINE nobody would even notice the racket. I’d proved that. I descended the stairs slowly, treading heavily on each step. I didn’t want the police any more than Mrs. Haven did. If I could think of any way out— I reached the street without meeting anybody and walked a couple of blocks east to a busy avenue. I wandered into a bar and ordered a drink. That was a mistake. Alcohol set my brain to whirl- _ ing, seeking some remedy for all this. I was even so cockeyed as to try to fig- ure how I could sneak the dead man out of there and let him be found some- where else. Before I went too far on that tack I got out into the air again. If I kept thinking that way, I’d find myself in a real jam. As it stood now, I’d killed Sammy in self-defense. I had had legit- imate business in Mrs. Haven’s apart- ment. I didn’t even know who the dead man was, and therefore the most astute cop couldn’t find a motive for murder. I wandered a couple of more blocks. What was I trying to make up my mind about? There wasn’t any question about what I had to do. I started looking for a cop. There wasn’t one in sight. I turned back. Why had Mrs. Haven been So insistent that I not call the police? Because she had been entertaining Sammy ?. In the face of violent death, what difference did that make to a woman like her? Maybe I was hoping she did have a good reason. Maybe that’s why I went back to the apartment. It was a little after ten by now, and everybody had gone inside. All the steps were cleared, no kids romped in the gutters, no men in undershirts chewed over their prob- lems. I went up the stairs and met no- body. Mrs. Haven’s apartment door wasn’t quite closed. It looked as if it had been slammed but ‘had sprung open a notch. I pushed it all the way open and went in. Sammy was just as I’d left him, like a bad dream come true. I called Mrs. Haven’s name, and there was no an- swer. Suddenly alarmed, I hurried to the bedroom. Half the dresser drawers were open, and a lot of clothes were flung around. I ran to the kitchen. The sink was full of dirty dishes. The elec- AMICLOOO (CO) SS (C(O)