Miss Shumway Waves A Wand

“Well,” Clancy snarled at Bogle, “what have you got to say? Did you see this guy turn into a sausage?”

Bogle looked at me and then at Clancy, “I told you he was trying to gum up the works,” he said. “I didn’t see any of that stuff, because it just didn’t happen.”

I half rose from my seat, “Why, you dirty heel!” I said furiously, “you know as well as I do it’s all true!”

“Like hell it is!” Clancy suddenly roared. “I’ve had enough of this, Millan. You either talk turkey or you’ll come down to headquarters.”

“But, I tell you…” I began.

“Okay,” Clancy said, getting to his feet, “come on, the pair of you. I’ve had all I can stand of this. We’ll see what the chief’s got to say.”

I looked at Bogle, “So that’s the way you’re going to play it.”

Bogle’s face twitched, “She’s going to pay for this,” he said viciously, “and you’re not talking her way out of it. If these flatfeet don’t pin it on her, then I’ll fix her, but she don’t knock Doc off without footin’ the bill.”

“Who are you calling a flatfoot?” Clancy demanded angrily.

Bogle sneered, “What makes you think you’re anything but a fallen arch?” he demanded. Before Clancy could come back on this the wagon rolled up to take Doc away.

We all stood silently watching, and when the stretcher came down. Sam began to cry again.

Chapter FOURTEEN

THE police captain was a guy named Summers. I knew him pretty well and he wasn’t a bad guy if he felt like it. Otherwise, he had a temper like a flea on a hot stove and was liable to fly off the handle without warning.

They kept me waiting nearly four hours before they took me to his office and the wait nearly drove me crazy.

“Hullo, Millan,” he said when Clancy pushed me into the room. “I’m sorry we had to keep you. Sit down.”

Clancy stood behind Summers and gnawed dismally at his dead cigar.

I sat down after shaking hands. “That’s all right,” I said, trying to look as if I hadn’t a care in the world. “It’s just one of those things.”

“Yep, I guess so,” he studied me for a long minute, then took out a box of cigars and pushed them over, “Help yourself,” he said.

When we had lit up he said, “Not like you to be mixed up in murder. I thought you were too smart for that.”

“I’m not mixed up in anything,” I said firmly. “Don’t go making any mistake about that. I just found the poor little guy.”

“Yeah, you just found him. Why did this girl leave a note telling you she had knocked him off?”

“This is a tough story to tell,” I said slowly. “But, she didn’t kill him and she didn’t write that note. The other girl did both those things.”

“The other girl?” He hid behind a cloud of oily smoke. “Oh that! Man into sausage, talking dog and floating woman. Yeah, Clancy was telling me.”

Clancy shifted from one foot to the other and then a silence fell so that I could hear the watch on my wrist like it was an alarm clock.

“You’ve got to do better than that,” Summers said at last. “I wouldn’t want you telling me a whopper like that. Maybe, it amused you to kid Clancy, but it wouldn’t amuse you for long to kid me.”

We eyed each other and I decided that I bad to think up something else.

“Okay,” I said. “Why not ask the girl? Why ask me?”

“We will when we’ve found her,” Summers returned. “We’ll ask her a lot of things, then we’ll sit her on a nice hot seat and fry her.”

Well, anyway, they hadn’t found her yet. That was something.

“She was your girl, wasn’t she, Millan?” he went on casually. I shook my head.

“No, I liked her. She was good fun, but that’s all.”

“This guy Bogle says different.”

“You don’t want to believe what he says,” I returned. “You see, he was the little guy’s pal. He thinks Myra killed him and he’ll say anything to get her convicted. He’s prejudiced.”

“Don’t you think she killed him?”

“I’ve told you already,” I said sharply. “Of course she didn’t.”

“I guess you’re the only guy who thinks so. Why, she even says she killed him herself,” and he tapped a sheet of notepaper which I recognized as the note Bogle had taken.

“Well,” I said, uncrossing my legs. “You’ve got what looks like a confession and you’ve got the stained dress. There isn’t much I can do about it.”

“The knife had her finger-prints on it,” Summers said, caressing the back of his head gently. “We found a strand of her hair in the old guy’s coat. Nope, it’s a cinch, Millan, so you’d better be careful.”

“I shrugged. “Well, I can’t help you. I would if I could, but If my story’s too much for you to swallow, I give up.”

He eyed me thoughtfully. “Okay,” he said. “Give. I’ve known you a long time, Millan, and

I don’t think you’re a liar. So tell me. I’ll listen anyway.” Clancy groaned, but neither of us took any notice of him.

So I told him what I’d told Clancy, only I gave him a lot more details.

Summers listened, caressing the back of his head the whole time. His cold, blank eyes never left my face, and when I was through he nodded.

“Well, I have to hand it to you, Millan. It’s some yarn.”

“Yeah, it’s some yarn, like you say.”

“So the dog talks, huh? A real honest to gawd dog—talking. Where’s the dog now?”