Argosy All-Story Weekly, October 7, 1922 — page 168: what you’re looking at

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

314 ‘‘ Because you're a crook in business!” Hadler said. ‘Not more so than you! We're both business crooks, and you know it! I’ve planned this thing well, Hadler! I could have shot you while you were asleep, but I wanted you to know—”’ “You'll go to the chair!” “Nothing like it! I’ve made my plans, and luck is with me!” Suddenly, Harrison Hadler sprang from the side of the bed, sprang straight at his adversary. It was the move that Radell needed. He had been unable to pull the trigger while his man sat quietly and talked. But action gave him the incentive. The pistol spat twice. Harrison Hadler tottered, and would have crashed to the floor had not Radell seized the falling body and eased it down to the rug. Radell knew that a fall might attract the attention of somebody on the floor below. Radell glanced quickly around the reom, then looked down at the man on the floor. He made sure that Hadler was dead. Then he tossed the pistol on the bed. He did not have to worry about that pistol. Some months before, on one of his automobile trips, he had found that pistol, with the Silencer attached, beside the road where he had stopped to rest. Some fleeing crook had dropped it there, Radell sup- posed. Let them trace the pistol, the fools of detectives! They never could trace it back to him! Now he snapped out the lights and lis- tened at the door. No sound reached his ears to tell that anybody in the building had been aroused. He crossed swiftly to the window, rolled up the shade, opened the window slowly and carefully, and got out on the landing of the fire-escape. - He was fully as cautious on the return journey as he had been on the journey to Hadler’s suite. He was not at all nervous, not shaken by a sense of blood-guilt. Kill- ing a man had not shocked the cells of his brain. He went down the fire-escape carefully, and from the last landing dropped to the floor of the alley. He removed the gloves and threw them into a trash can standing there. He waited a moment, and then crept ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. through the alley like a shadow, crassed the dangerous, lighted street, went through the other alley, and gained the rear of his own apartment house. Into it he slipped, hurried up the stairs, got into his own suite, and locked the door behind him. He did not stop toerest. There was no reaction setting in. Reaction, he knew, might be a fatal mistake. So he kept busy. He brushed the old suit and put it away, . also the cap and shoes. He was careful to remove every speck of dust. He pre- pared for bed, mussed: the pillows and covers, wiped the perspiration from his face, and mussed up his hair. Did anybody hap- pen to drop in on him now, he would look as though he had just got out of bed. All that done, he sat down in an easy chair and lighted another cigar. He almost laughed. The thing had been absurdly easy! Luck had been with him! He had remembered every minor detail. There had been no slip! The pistol could not be traced back to him. And he had tossed the gloves into the trash can. If the detectives found them, they would be a clew that might lead any- where except in the direction of Oakes Radell. Everything had gone off smoothly. In the morning, he would act in a natural manner, go to his office and prepare for the financial battle, and pretend surprise and shock when he heard the news of Had- ler’s death. He would speculate as to the murderer, as other men would do. He expected to be questioned by officers, because it was well known that he and Hadler were enemies. But he was not afraid of the questions! Luck was with him yet! ii. BEFORE he ate breakfast the following morning he felt a bit shaky for a time, as though his conscience had rumbled once or twice. But there was no violent re- action, and he told himself that the worst Was over. Nor was there time for reaction during the day. The news of the murder was made public at an early hour. There was a COMmiclboo SS 1e@