The Golden Gizmo

you that as a means of obtaining your money.'

'I tell ya, he killed her! Anyways,' Donald qualified reluctantly, 'she got killed. She was layin' on the bed-right there in his hotel room!'

Alvarado made a sound of disbelief. 'He invited you up to pay your respects, I suppose? At what time was this?'

'Right around six-thirty. An', no, he didn't invite me up there! I sneaked up while he was out, see? I was gonna cut him up when he came back.'

He babbled on eagerly, anxious to make the evidence against Toddy as damning as possible. Shake tried to interrupt him once; he seemed to sense that there was much more here than met the eye. A cold word from Alvarado, however, and Shake was reduced to flabby quaking silence.

Donald concluded the recital with a vicious leer at Toddy.

Slowly, the chinless man turned to the girl. 'Well?'

'I told you what I saw. There is nothing more I can say.'

'So,' sighed Alvarado, 'we are confronted with two contradictory truths. Apparently contradictory, I should say. I wonder… But we must not bother these gentlemen with out petty problems. They are obviously men of large affairs. We must speed them on their way- with, of course, some small memento of their visit.'

He moved, smiling, toward the two. 'You would like to leave it that way, gentlemen? After all, breaking and entering is a very serious crime.'

They nodded vigorously.

Alvarado's smile vanished. 'I will do you a favor. Turn around!'

'B-but-'

'I withdraw the favor!' He swung the sock-once, twice. He dropped it and grabbed the dog by the collar. 'The blood scent arouses him, gentlemen. I advise you to run very fast.'

They stared at him stupidly; dazed, not grasping his meaning. The blows had reddened their faces. There was no other sign of their impact.

Then it came, the blood. It spurted out from ten thousand pinpoint fountains, formed into hideous red-threaded masks. The dog snarled and lunged.

'Quickly!' snapped Alvarado, and there was no doubting the urgency of his voice.

Shake and Donald came alive simultaneously. They hurled themselves at the door and wedged there. Clawing and cursing hysterically, they broke free. They stumbled and fell down the steps. The sound of their frantically pounding footsteps receded and vanished into the night.

Alvarado closed the door and stood with his back to it. He smiled at Toddy as he delivered a firmly admonitory kick in the dog's ribs.

'I seem to owe you an apology, Mr. Kent. I wonder if you will be generous enough to forgive and forget-if, in short, you are still of a mind to accept the offer I made you earlier.'

Toddy's brow wrinkled. 'Maybe. But what about my wife? Regardless of what's happened to the body, my wife's absence is going to be noticed. It's just a matter of time until the police will be looking for me. I can't show myself. I don't see how you can afford to be tied up with me.'

'I am planning, Mr. Kent, to absolve you of the murder. Naturally, you would be of no use to me otherwise.'

'You're planning?' Toddy said. 'But how-why?'

'How I cannot yet tell you. As to the why, I have a double reason. Not only do I wish to have you associated with me, but I think it highly possible that the murderer may be my enemy as well as yours.' Alvarado held up his hand. 'Please! For the present, there is little more that I can tell you. And you have not accepted my offer… or have you?'

'All right.' Toddy made up his mind. 'It's my only chance. You've got yourself a boy.'

'Good. Now, who knew that you had the watch?'

'You did.'

'Of course. And Dolores. But who else? You told your wife about it, naturally?'

'No. Neither her nor anyone else.'

'You are positive of that? Did you say anything to anyone which might, even by a remote chance, lead them to suspect that you had the watch?'

'No, I-' Toddy paused doubtfully.

'Did you or not? This is easily as important to you as it is to me, Mr. Kent.'

'I talked to the man I sell gold to.' Toddy gave him a brief summary of his conversation with Milt. 'It couldn't have meant anything to him. Anyway, my wife was killed at just about the time I was talking to him.'

'Then he is of no interest to us. It is as I thought…'

'Yes.'

Alvarado nodded absently. 'Yes, it must be so… But sit down, Mr. Kent. Would you like some coffee?-fine, so would I. Dolores!'

Toddy sat down and lighted a cigarette. Alvarado waited until the kitchen door had closed before he spoke.

'I will tell you something,' he said quietly, 'and please do not ask me to elaborate at this time. I place no great confidence in Dolores. Do not trust her too far.'

'I don't trust anyone very far,' said Toddy.

'Excellent. She is an attractive girl and not, I am afraid, above using her attractions. But, to get back to the matter at hand-when you discovered your wife dead and this man Donald fleeing down the fire escape, did you begin your pursuit of him immediately?'

'Of course.'

'You made no search of the room?'

'I told-' Toddy interrupted himself with a startled curse. 'Hell's bells! The guy could have been there for all I know!'

'Yes. He could still have been there when Dolores looked in. But do not blame yourself too much, Mr. Kent. You acted quite normally.'

The kitchen door opened and Dolores came in with the coffee.

'None, thank you.' Alvarado waved aside the cup the girl extended. 'Pour Mr. Kent's, and then bring me my hat. After that, you may retire.'

'I would prefer to remain up,' Dolores said.

'It will be bad for your health to do so. Very bad. You will be amazed at the promptness with which the damage will manifest itself.'

She gave him a sullen, baffled glare, but she turned and went out. Alvarado snapped his fingers at the dog.

'I will take Perrito with me, Mr. Kent. You will doubtless be able to rest better if you are alone.'

Toddy said, 'Thanks,' and poured more coffee in his cup as man and dog left the house. Setting the enameled pot back on the serving table, he lighted another cigarette. He heard the car pull out of the driveway.

He took a sip of the coffee and let his eyes droop shut. Actually, he supposed there wasn't much use in thinking. He couldn't be guided by it except to a very limited degree. Until Elaine's murder was cleared up, it was strictly the chinless man's show.

Elaine… He held the word in his mind, turned it over and around; stubbornly, dully terrified, he refused to recognize the emotion which the name conjured… Hatred, relief, now that she was dead? Nonsense! He could have got a divorce. He could have let her get one, as she'd wanted to of late. He might feel that she was better off dead, but that didn't mean-And wasn't he doing everything he could to track down her murderer? Wasn't that proof that-proof of how he really felt? He was