Detective Fiction Weekly. Vol. 104, No. 4, August 22, 1936

“We found the car in the garage below. Everything was in it. These men,” indicating the prisoners, “are the Kelly brothers. They were down on our list of public enemies. Stick-ups of big payrolls are their specialty. I should have recognized their technique, but I didn’t.”

“Never heard of them along the waterfront,” said Chris, trying vainly to roll a cigarette. “I pulled a fast one on you, McDonald. Didn’t realize what I was doing at the time.”

McDonald lit a cigarette of his own and gave it to the detective. “What’s this fast one you tell about?”

“I found a cork,” explained Chris, inhaling deeply. “There was a ring of glass around it. The remains of a stench bomb container. The glass looked as if it came from a thermos bottle. Wasn’t positive though. Figured that the bomb was constructed just before the stick-up. Since the metal part of the thermos bottle was no good once the inside was removed, it would be thrown away — in some trash can.”

“I still don’t...”

“Wait,” sighed Chris, patiently. “I hired Tommy and his friends. He’s the lad who phoned for help and got here in time to hand me my gun when I needed it badly. I don’t know how many kids were working for me in the search, but there were plenty.

“I also figured that since the sedan could not be traced, it must still be in the neighborhood of the stick-up — the safest place in the world. So I had these boys search all the trash cans in this part of town.

“I pulled twelve out of the grab-bag. One of them was without a glass bottle inside. Tommy knew where this case was found. He directed me to the spot. Then I sent him home — sent him home twice. But the kid wouldn’t go.”

“I was scared,” defended Tommy, “that something might happen to you.”

“That’s all,” finished Chris. “It was a crazy hunch on my part. And it just happened to work out.”

“I see,” nodded Special Agent McDonald. “You’ve been in this town a long time, Larsen. Sort of know your way around. Your superior, Captain Judson, tells me that you’re being transferred to...”

“Why bring up that chunk of bad news?” complained Chris.

“Because it concerns you personally. Larsen, in spite of everything I might say, the newshawks are going to give the Department of Justice credit for this pinch.”

The moodiness returned to the detective’s eyes. “That’s all right with me. I’ve done my duty. The hell with who gets the credit.”

“But if you won’t feel too badly about all this,” McDonald continued, “I think I can arrange it with certain high officials to keep you here in this port city where you belong. It isn’t much, but I’ll start pulling the strings right away.”

Chris Larsen started to grin, and he was still grinning when dizziness assailed him and he passed out cold in Captain Judson’s arms.

The Granduca by Max Brand

This story began in Detective Fiction Weekly for July 25

Henry Tydings is dead, but the machinery of hatred which he created continues to turn out bitter jealousy, gnawing suspicion and stalking murder.

What has happened—

Henry Tydings, a wealthy art collector, has invited his bitterest enemies to spend a week-end with him prior to his marriage. Gene Chatham, Tydings’ arch-foe, is there, only so that he may be near Charlotte Reid, the bride-to-be, whom he loves. Winifred Staunton, Tydings’ former mistress, is also present, and at dinner, when Tydings is baiting his guests, including Rupert Walden, another collector rival, and Willard Hamblin, his resident physician, Winifred wounds Tydings with a gun belonging to Lionel Reid, Charlotte’s brother.

Sergeant Detective Angus Campbell and his bickering team-mate, Sergeant Detective Patrick O’Rourke, arrive at Tydings’ Island to learn that Tydings’ body has vanished. Only one clue is found. Hamblin’s amateurish copy of Raphael’s Granduca is smeared in the corner with Tydings’ bloody fingerprint. A bit later, Campbell surprises a sneak thief, William Kearton, in his room, examining the copied Granduca canvas. Campbell is convinced that the copy is the key to the mystery.

Lionel Reid is found struggling with his sister for a cancelled check. Campbell recovers it, forces Lionel to confess that it’s a forgery which Tydings honored only so that he would have a hold over Charlotte.

Kearton makes a break, tries to escape with the Granduca copy, and Walden, the butterfly collector, stops him and betrays his own keen interest in the picture.