FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133  
134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   >>   >|  
. So they starts right in to get rid of Maggie. I hadn't been in the house a day before I'd doped that out. I knew there was a plot on to do Maggie." "You don't say!" says I. "How?" "Slow poison, I expect," says Ellery. "In her coffee, maybe. Anyway, it had begun to work. Maggie was mopin' around. I found her cryin'. I spotted Jake Zosco right off. You can tell just by lookin' at him that he's that kind. Besides, he acts suspicious. Always prowlin' around restless. Then there's the butler. He's in it, too. I caught him and Jake whisperin' together. I don't know how many more. Some of the maids, maybe, and most likely a few men on the outside. They might be plannin' to stage a jewel robbery with a double murder and lay it all onto unknown burglars. Get me?" "Uh-huh!" says I. "But how much have you got on Brother Jake? And how did you come to get him locked up here?" "Oh, I had the goods on Jake, all right," says Ellery. "After I saw him confabbin' with that crook butler the other night I shadows him constant. I was on his trail when he sneaks down here after dinner. I saw him unlock the lodge house. I heard him fumblin' around inside. Then I slips up and locks him in. Half an hour later down comes the butler and two others of the gang, but when they sees me they beats it. I expect they'd try to rescue him, if they thought he was there. And they may find out any minute." "That's right," says I. "Lucky I came out just as I did. There's only one thing to do." "What's that?" asks Ellery. "Lug Jake up to the house, confront him with the butler, tell 'em they're both pinched, and give 'em the third degree," says I. "You'll see. One or the other will break down and tell the whole plot." "Say!" gasps Ellery. "Wouldn't that be slick! Just the way they do in the movie dramas, eh?" I had to smother a chuckle when that came out, for I'd already recognized some of the symptoms of a motion picture mind while Ellery was sketchin' out this wild tale. "Go to the movies much down in Shelby?" I asks. "Most every night," says Ellery. "I used to even before Maggie got into the game. Begun goin' when I was 'leven. At first I was strong for this Wild West stuff, but no more. Give me a good crook drama with a big punch in every reel. They're showin' some corkers lately. I've seen 'em about all. That's how I come to get wise to this plot of Jake Zosco's. Come on! Got your wrist irons ready for him?" "Oh, I never use t
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133  
134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Ellery
 

Maggie

 

butler

 

expect

 

Wouldn

 
minute
 
confront
 

degree

 
pinched
 

showin


corkers

 

strong

 
picture
 

sketchin

 
motion
 

symptoms

 
smother
 
chuckle
 

recognized

 

movies


Shelby

 

thought

 

dramas

 

confabbin

 

Always

 

prowlin

 

restless

 

suspicious

 

lookin

 

Besides


caught

 
whisperin
 

starts

 

poison

 

spotted

 
coffee
 

Anyway

 
fumblin
 

inside

 
sneaks

dinner
 

unlock

 
rescue
 
unknown
 

burglars

 

murder

 
double
 

plannin

 
robbery
 

shadows