Black Mask (Vol. 33, No. 3 — September 1949)

Frowning over various reports on his desk. Captain Dango found his mind peculiarly distracted from the Lennox case. The Lennox man-hunt was undoubtedly the most important job he had ever tackled, but instead of hitting it with everything he had, he found himself, instead, puzzling over the question of just what Regg might be up to, if anything.

It was a little past 9 o’clock when the first definite word on Blossom Regg buzzed in. A patrolman named Nutley sent it, phoning from a call box at the corner of State and Spring Streets, downtown.

“I spotted her, captain,” he reported. “Just a minute ago. In the Bikini Bar at 611 Spring.”

Captain Dango growled over the wire, “I want you to be sure of this, Nutley. During the past thirty minutes I have had four different reports to the effect that Mrs. Blossom Regg had finally been found. Unfortunately all four Blossoms turned out to be big blondes with other names. It’s bad enough that it’s taking us so long to find her, so let’s not foul it up further with more false reports.”

Nutley went on carefully, “This is the way it was, Captain. I saw this big, theatrical-looking blonde heading into the Bikini Bar looking hot and bothered, like she’d been hustling for hours. Inside, I saw her buttonholing one of the barmen. He looked offish and kept shaking his head. After she let him loose I went to work on him with a few questions of my own.”

“Nutley—”

“I asked the barman what this big blonde wanted to know so badly and he said she was just asking about a friend of hers. He insisted he didn’t know this friend’s name, but of course I knew she was trying to get a lead on Lennox’ hideaway. Then I said, ‘That woman is Blossom Regg, ain’t she?’ and he admitted that was her name. So this report is the straight goods, Captain.”

“All right, Nutley, but you’ve left something out. Where’s the woman herself now?”

“Oh,” Nutley said. “She slipped out a back door. Before I could get out there into the alley after her, she’d hustled out of sight again.”

Captain Dango, at his desk in headquarters, looked harassed as he lowered the phone. Then he shot a sharp glance at Timothy Regg. The little man was still sitting there in the chair, squirming uneasily, his lips working as he muttered to himself. Dan-go was sure he had heard Regg mumble something about a little black book.

“What say, Mr. Regg?”

“Nothing, nothing,” the little man answered quickly. “I guess I was just thinking aloud.”

Dango appeared to dismiss the matter from his mind, but a moment later he rose, stepped out into his waiting room and carefully closed the door behind him.

“He just did it again — mentioned that little black book,” he said to Kerson in low tones. “Call Brown. I want him to do a quick dig on that little black book, whatever it is. Tell him to call me back about it as early as possible.”

Dango returned to his own desk just as his phone rang. Once more it was the busy and efficient Lieutenant Hyam.

“This is a brief recap on the Lennox situation, Danny. Our double-check of all outlets makes us sure Lennox didn’t skip town. He’s still holed in somewhere inside the city, in a place he had prearranged to go to for that very purpose.

“Of course he intends to stay there nice and snug until we let down a little, then he’ll find an opening and squeeze off into a sneak getaway. There’s more than one babe willing to keep him company, so he’ll probably pick a choice one to lam along with him.”

“That’s just what our other subject has in mind, very possibly,” Dango said, referring to Blossom.

“Certainly,” Hyam agreed. “Our boys are beginning to sag a little under the strain, which is exactly what Lennox is hoping for, so I’m fight-talking them into staying on their toes. The last thing in the world we want is for that rat to leave us flatfooted, looking like a bunch of chumps. That’s all on Lennox as of this minute. On Blossom there’s still nothing. If the two of them should get together now, they’ll certainly make a fine, elusive pair.”

Silently vowing to prevent that if it were within his power, Captain Dango hung up; and instantly his phone rang again.

“Brown calling, Danny,” said the officer specializing in matters pertaining to Timothy Regg. “I’m canvassing Regg’s neighbors now and I’ll have something on that little black book right soon. Meanwhile the only other piece of non-routine information I’ve been able to scare up is that just the other day he bought an electric burglar alarm. I know, that isn’t illegal either, but can I help it if this guy is entirely on the up and up? More coming, I hope.”

Thoughtfully Dango eyed Timothy Regg. The sneaky feeling persisted within him that somehow this little man was hoodwinking him most expertly. Dango couldn’t guess how so far, because nothing had yet happened.

Regg continued to look innocently anxious about his Blossom, and also because he seemed to have nothing whatever to hide. Even before asking about that burglar alarm, Dango already knew that Regg had had a perfectly legitimate use for it.