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?”
“He’s in a dog hospital some place. Bogle took him. Ask Bogle. He’ll tell you.”
“We’ve already asked Bogle about the dog. He says it never talked.”
“Then telephone the dog hospitals. The nearest one to Mulberry Park ought to find him.” Summers brightened a little. “Do it,” he said to Clancy. “I’d like to hear a dog talk.”
Then, with a sudden feeling of sickness, I remembered. “Wait,” I said. “He doesn’t talk any more. Someone hit him on the head and he just barks now.”
There was a long, painful silence and Summers’ beefy face grew dark. “Oh, so he just barks now,” he repeated, then seeing Clancy hesitate, he snapped. “Get after him all the same. I want to know if an injured dog’s been picked up recently.”
Clancy went out.
“I’m sorry Summers,” I said. “This sounds phoney, but he did talk yesterday. I swear he did.”
“So the dog doesn’t talk any more and maybe the woman’s given up floating,” Siunmers said, his eyes glinted with anger. “If I didn’t know you, Millan, you might be in for a bad time. I might even get some of the boys to give you a shellacking.”
I shifted restlessly. “Give me a chance to prove it,” I said suddenly. I remembered that Summers used to stake all his pay on a single cut of the cards. I’ve even seen him gamble with his next month’s salary. He was far more likely to play along if I appealed to his sporting instinct. “Look, Summers, if I bring these two girls to this office and let you see them, will that convince you?”
“How would you do that?” he asked, but the glint went out of his eyes.
“Give me a couple of weeks. I’ve got to find them first and that’ll take some digging around. But I’ll find them all right if you call off your bloodhounds and give me a free hand.”
“What do you think the newspapers’ll say if I don’t get action in the next day or so?” he asked, pulling at his short thick nose and looking at me old fashioned. “You’re in the business. You know what a ride I’ll get.”
“I’ve been in the game long enough to know that if you want to stall the newspapers you can do it,” I returned, feeling that I had the thin end in the crack and it only needed one good smack to drive it home. “There’s something much bigger than murder behind all this. It’s going to be a whale of a story and it’ll do you a hell of a lot of good to be tied up in it on the right side. I tell you, if you grab Myra Shumway and try to pin the murder on her, you’ll be passing up something that someone on top is trying to cover up. Let me handle it for a couple of weeks and I’ll give it to you on a plate.”
“What someone on top?” he asked, interested.
“That’s my affair, Summers,” I said. “I may be wrong, but I don’t think so. I’ll tell you when I’m ready.”
“I suppose you realize that I could hold you as an accessory after the fact on that statement,” Summers said, his voice suddenly cold.
“Where are your witnesses? I didn’t say anything.”
He tried to get mad, but then grinned. “I’ll give you a week,” he said. “You’ve got a week from now to bring the two girls to this office. If you don’t, then I’ll issue a warrant for your arrest as an accessory and we’ll see if we can’t persuade you to talk. How’s that?”
I didn’t hesitate. “Suits me,” I said and put out my hand.
He shook it casually. “Okay, Millan,” he said. “You can beat it. Remember, I want you here this time next week with the two girls. You’re not to leave the City unless you tell me where you’re going. Okay?”
“Okay,” I said, and made for the door.
“I don’t think you’re going to be very lucky,” he said as I was going out. “I don’t think there are two girls.”
“We’ll talk about that when next we meet,” I said, and closed the door behind me.
Clancy was coming along the passage and he stared at me.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” he demanded.
“Summers doesn’t want me until next week,” I said cheerfully. “Any news of my dog?”
“Yeah,” he said. “There was a wolfhound at the Eastern Dog Hospital with a bang on his dome, but he took it on the lam before anyone could take care of him. Maybe that was your dog.”
“Maybe it was,” I said. “Now, will you have a talk with Bogle about that? It looks like I’m not the only guy who can tell stories.”
