5 Detective Novels Magazine Cover — page 74: what you’re looking at

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

74 At least, it’s the one I picked up this afternoon.” “Watch him, Doe,” Jeffries warned. He attempted to pull the coat from Prentiss’s wide shoulders, at the same time trying to extract the head from the pocket. It wasn’t an easy job. He finally swore, drew a knife, and cut through the pocket. The head rolled out into his hand and lay there grinning up at him. Jeffries shuddered. “What a hell of a thing to be carrying around! The idea of head hunters al- ways got me, anyway.” Prentiss didn’t say anything. Mr. Doe and Mr. Ray crowded forward. Jeffries swore at them. “One of you guys watch this punk. He’s slippery as hell.” ) Ray turned and said something to Doe in a language Prentiss couldn’t under- stand. Doe took out a knife and turned his black eyes toward Prentiss. They looked like bits of jet, for there was no feeling in them. Although the lips still smiled, there was no warmth in the smile. Prentiss knew Mr. Doe would have stabbed him gladly, that, in fact, Mr. Doe was just waiting for an opportunity to knife him. Jeffries still had the knife in his hand. “This is the real head, all right,” he said to Ray. “This isn’t any plaster cast. But how do we get into it?” “May I?” Ray said. He accepted the head from Jeffries’ fingers, held it up by the hair. It looked as if he intended to scalp it, but instead he rammed the point of the knife under the outer layer of papier-maché and: pried up. The skinlike parchment covering peeled away. Fitted neatly into the hol- low space, between the layers, were folded sheets of tracing paper. Mr. Ray sucked in his breath with pleasure, and Jeffries whistled. “Very neat! Very neat!” “Thank you,” Mr. Ray said simply. It was as if Jeffries had paid him a high personal compliment. : They carried the papers over to a table and spread them out carefully. Mr. Doe obviously wanted to join them, for he didn’t like the idea of standing and watching Prentiss. The detective knew he was trying to think of something so FIVE DETECTIVE NOVELS MAGAZINE he wouldn’t have to watch. Suddenly Mr. Doe thought of a way. Prentiss could see the thought crys- tallized behind the dark eyes. Mr. Doe hefted the weight of his knife thought- fully, then stepped forward. Prentiss remembered the way he had slammed his own gun against the pilot’s skull and gritted his teeth in preparation for the blow from a heavy knife-handle. But the blow didn’t come. The girl had stepped into the door- way behind Mr. Doe. There was a gun in her hand and it was perfectly level and absolutely still. “Don’t: move, any of you,” she ordered quietly. Chapter V M@R. DOE looked as if he were imi- dil tating the Statue of Liberty. One foot was advanced a little. The arm hold- ing the knife was still raised. Jeffries and Ray were at the table. They were bending over the papers they had taken from the little head. They didn’t straighten. Nobody moved at all as the girl said to Prentiss, “You might be smart enough to think of collecting their guns.” He got the guns. picking them up joyfully. He especially enjoyed ripping the heavy knife from Mr. Doe’s yellow fingers. He shoved the man over toward the wall, then turned his attention to Ray and Jeffries. After disarming them, he pushed them away from the table to- ward Doe. Then he looked at the papers. He didn’t understand much about it, but he guessed after a glance that they were tracings from the design of a motor —an airplane motor. He turned around and his face was hard. He was beginning to get the idea. “You were in pretty bad odor in South America, pal,” he told Jeffries. “But there’s a difference between running guns and liquor—and espionage. I don’t know much about it but I hear that in some places they shoot spies.” Jeffries didn’t say anything. His leath- ery face had lost its heightened red color and had turned gray under the heavy tan. Mr. Doe and Mr. Ray had stopped smiling, their faces now yellow masks. The girl advanced a few steps CoOMmiclooo S (C@)