Argosy All-Story Weekly, December 2, 1922 — page 56: what you’re looking at

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

526 ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. “What?” she exclaimed, directing a wor- ried glance at Fenwick. “At the Grand Central. Say, Bell, how did Inspector Corson know my car was stolen?” “Was it stolen?” asked Fenwick quietly. “ Sure was. I heard it moving away from the house this morning, just as 1 was getting ready for bed. Slipped on my things and gave chase for hours in a taxi. Lost and found it several times. Finally picked up the trail way up the Drive, headed the fel- low off, chased him down town. and. lost him in. the crowd. Then, at the Grand Central, I stumbled right on to the fellow, in the clutches of an officer, who insisted that the theft had been. reported by Cor- son!” “Tt had,” advised Fenwick, “ Did) they get the thief?” “Corson and Boyden. have him, down- stairs. now. Shall 1 tell you what he looks like?” ; ‘‘ Please, Otis,” begged the girl. “Well, he’s an Italian, about twenty-four, dark complexioned, dirty, illiterate, wears a cap.and. smokes: cigarettes.” “ Why, that’s the same as the mam you described. this morning!” advised. the: girl, turning to Fenwick. “ That’s: the descrip- tion you gave of the owner of the voice!”’ ‘“ Right-o,” asserted. King, “ Just what I’ve been thinking. Come-down and have a look. Corson wants. to see both of you, anyway.” CHAPTER IX. NICK NAPOLIELO. HE Italian: sat stolidly im an easy chair . at Corsen’s side. Boyden occupied another chair in. the doorway leading to the hall, as if to discourage any attempt at flight. .As Fenwick, King, and. Miss Carewe entered the room. the prisoner’s face showed a momentary flash of animation which: as: quickly disappeared. “Which one of them do you know, Nick?” demanded Corson, observant as ever. “ Nobody, promptly. bess,’ responded Nick ‘“'That’s a lie, but we'll let it pass for the present. Were it not for a fabric of lies there would be no mystery to this case at all. It’s merely a question of determining what is false and what is true. You’d all be better off if you’d come through with the truth. Mr. King, for instance, learned that I had reported his car as stolen. I did that so that the police would find him. for me after his significant disappearance. Then he turns up with the story that it really had been stolen, and that he had been endeavor- ing to catch the thief. Doesn’t that strike you, Mr. King, as stretching the long arm of coincidence a bit too far?” King shrugged his. shoulders. ‘“‘ Tt seems to me, old chap, that you are the lad who did the stretching. You re- ported the car stolen when you. really be- lieved it to. be in my possession. You are entirely responsible for the coincidence, A fabric of lies, did you say?” Corson glared at him. ‘“* Unfortunately,” he advised, “I am compelled to fight fire with fire. You are-in a particularly unenviable position. What were you and Pendleton Kirke quarreling about when you drove up: to his house last night?” _ “The voices,” answered King promptly. “What about them?” “ Kirke: intimated that he knew more than he cared to tell. I insisted on sharing his knowledge, and what was originally a mild dispute suddenly assumed the: propor- tions of a hot altercation. It ended, how- ever, when he entered his home at New- town.” “Or a few minutes later,’ added the inspector significantly.. “ Why did you wait in your car while he entered the house?”’ ‘““ Kirke promised’ to get some papers for me.” “Indeed! Mr: Bell, doesn’t it strike you that we are a pair of idiots not to have in- vestigated that phase: of the case?” “* Not at all,” responded’ Fenwick quietly. ‘Why not?’’ demanded Corson. “ Pre- sumably the papers: were in Kirke’s, den. They have been referred to on several occa- sions, but I have not heard anything about what happened to them: Are they still in - the den, or did they disappear after Kirke Gomichbooksrecom