got involved
in it somehow--"

"Oh, that," the cabbie said. "Oh, sure. Well, there was a kind of
chase. Some sheriff's officers were looking for an escaped convict,
and they were chasing him and doing some shooting. And Shellenberger,
he got in the way and got shot accidentally. The criminal, he got
away. But it's kind of a mess, because--"

A loud chorus of sirens effectively stopped all conversation. Two cars
stamped with the insignia of the sheriff's office came into sight and
streaked past, headed for Las Vegas.

"Because Shellenberger was State's attorney, after all," the cabbie
said. "It's not like just anybody got killed."

"And the roadblock?" Malone said.

"For the criminal, I guess," the cabbie said.

Malone nodded heavily. The whole thing smelled rather loudly, he
thought. The "accident" wasn't very plausible to start with. And a
search for an escaped criminal that didn't even involve checking
identification of strangers like Malone wasn't much of a search. The
cops knew who they were looking for.

And Shellenberger hadn't been killed by accident.

The roadblock was down, he noticed. The sheriff's office cars had
apparently carried the cheerful cops back to Las Vegas. Maybe they'd
found their man, Malone thought, and maybe they just didn't care any
more.

"Wouldn't a State's attorney live in Carson City?" he asked after a
while.

"Not old Gus Shellenberger," the cabbie said. "Many's the time I
talked with him and he said he loved this old town. Loved it. Like an
old friend. Why, he used to say to me--"

At that point the Great Universal hove into view. Malone felt
extraordinarily grateful to see it.

* * * * *

He went to his room with the bundle of papers in his hand and locked
himself in. He lit a fresh cigar and started through the papers. Las
Vegas was the one on top, and he gave it a quick going-over. Sure
enough, the suicide of the Golden Palace owner was on page one, along
with a lot of other local news.

_Mayor Resigns Under Council Pressure_, one headline read. On page 3
another story was headlined: _County Attorney Indicted by Grand Jury
in Bribery Case_. And at the bottom of page 1, complete with pictures
of baffled phone operators and linemen, was a double column spread:
_Damage to Phone Relay Station Isolates City Five Hours_.

Carson City, the State Capitol, came in for lots of interesting news,
too. Three headlines caught Malone's attention: