This Way for a Shroud

Forest said quietly. "She wasn't exactly sober. I don't have to tell you that Maurer owns the club, nor do I have to tell you a lot of people, including Maurer and his mob, know she is the wife of my Chief Investigator." He got to his feet and came around the desk. "That's all, Paul. I don't know if you knew, but if you didn't, it's time you did. See what you can do about it, will you? It's not good for business, and I don't think it's good for your wife." He smiled suddenly, and his hard face softened a little. He put his hand on Conrad's shoulder. "Don't look as if the end of the world has come. It hasn't. Young women as pretty as your wife often try to kick over the traces. Maybe she's finding life a little dull: especially when you get called out suddenly. But have a word with her. She'll listen to reason." He patted Conrad's shoulder, picked up his brief-case and made for the door. "I must be going. I'll expect some news of Maurer from you in a day or so."

"Yes, sir," Conrad said woodenly.

II

Conrad's staff consisted of his- secretary, Madge Fielding, and his leg-man, Van Roche. Neither of them appeared to have any other interests except the work of the department, and when Conrad came into his office he found them waiting impatiently for him.

"What's the verdict, Paul?" Van Roche demanded as Conrad crossed the room to his desk.

"We go after Maurer," Conrad told him, pulling out his chair and sitting down. The D.A. says he isn't going to pass up the remotest chance, and although he isn't entirely sold on the evidence, he thinks we should at least do some preliminary work."

Van Roche grinned and rubbed his hands together. He was tall and thin, darkcomplexioned with a pencil-lined moustache. "That's terrific!" he exclaimed. "You certainly must have dug it into him! What's the preliminary work?"

Conrad glanced over at Madge Fielding who sat at her desk, toying with a pencil, her big grey eyes thoughtful. She was around twenty-six or seven, small, compact and durably put together. She had no claim to beauty. Her small features, her snub nose and her strong, firm mouth gave her face interest, but nothing more. Instead of beauty, she had an astonishing stamina for hard work, boundless enthusiasm and energetic efficiency.

"Well, what's your reaction, Madge?" Conrad asked, smiling at her.

"I was thinking that if you two are going to dig into Maurer's past you'd better buy yourselves a couple of bullet-proof vests," she said quietly. "And I'm not kidding." Van Roche gave an exaggerated shudder. "How right she is. Trust our little Madge to put her finger on the weak spot. Well, I guess I'll take out an insurance policy to cover my funeral. I'd like to be put away in style." Conrad shook his head.

"That's the least of our worries. Maurer's got beyond shooting cops. Ten years ago he wouldn't have hesitated, but not now. He's too much of a business man, and he has too much to lose to take chances. He knows shooting cops is about the one thing no one gets away with. No, I don't think we have much to worn' about on that score. We'll be all right; it's our witnesses we'll have to protect, if we ever find any witnesses."

"Well, that's a relief," Van said, lighting a cigarette. "How do we start? What's the first move?"

"Nothing very exciting, I'm afraid," Conrad returned. "Our first job is to make a review of the work we have in hand and see what can be shelved and what has got to be done. The D.A. said Maurer comes first, but we can't just sling the other work into the trash-basket. Suppose we see what we've got? If we put our backs into it, we should be able to have a clear run by tomorrow morning. Madge, will you make a list of the important items and then we'll get down to it?"

Madge nodded and went briskly over to the filing cabinets. While she was getting out the more urgent files, Van went over to his desk and hurriedly inspected the files that lay in his pending tray.

"What's our first move against Maurer, Paul?" he asked as he flicked through the files.

"Before we can hope to hook him up with June Arnot, we must prove they knew each other," Conrad said. "We'll have to work from June's end. It might be an idea if you went down to Dead End tomorrow and checked every house and everyone you meet on the way. Make out you're checking on Jordan. Try and get a description of anyone who went to see June regularly. With any luck we might get a description of Maurer along with the rest of them. Whatever you do, don't mention Maurer's name. We'll tip our hand if we ask direct questions about him, and that's the last thing we want to do."

Madge came over with a pile of files.

"There's more than I thought," she said, putting them on Conrad's desk, "but some of them aren't immediately urgent."

"Let's get at it," Conrad said, slipping out of his coat. "Come on, Van, let's see how hard you can work."