Manly Wade Wellman - Chapbook 02 by Devil's Planet (v1.1) Page A

to get an in at police headquarters. Don’t forget
that Congreve himself has been conferring with me lately. And I have as good a
motive for killing Malbrook as any of the others.”
                 “And
a motive for trying to kill me?” asked Stover in spite of himself.
                 Again
Buckalew smiled. “You wouldn’t expect me to tell you that, if I wanted to kill
you and had failed. Well, to sum up, you have reason to suspect me, and I to
suspect you. After all, we were both present when this second explosion was
touched off.”
                 “You
don’t believe in me, then?” demanded Stover.
                BUCKALEW
cocked his head, apparently trying to remember something. At last:
                 “In
an ancient but most readable work, called Alice
in Wonderland , the heroine is addressed by a unicorn.
                 Know
what a unicorn is? Well, this one said, ‘If you believe in me, I’ll believe in
you. Is that a bargain?* All right, Dillon, is it?”
                 He
offered his hand. Dillon took it, regretting whole-heartedly that he must make
a secret reservation.
                 “Your
little friend Bee MacGowan is cleared by this,” Buckalew resumed. “She’s in
prison even while this murder attempt is made.”
                 “Let’s
tell the police that,” said Stover stepping toward the phone. “They’ll release
her at once.”
                 “And
probably arrest you again,” added Buckalew. “Say nothing. She’s giving you a
chance to clear her and yourself. Use it.”
                 Stover
fell into a silence, almost a stupid silence. In the midst of it the front door
opened and two figures fairly dashed in. They came to a halt.
                 “Mr.
Stover—er—” stammered the voice of Amyas Crofts.
                 Stover
felt almost grateful for this opportunity to change the subject. He strode
across to the gilded youngster, glaring a challenge.
                 “Why
do you rocket in like that?” he growled. “What do you want here?” A light
seemed to dawn inside his head and stop the aching. “Perhaps you didn’t expect
to find me alive?”
                 The
companion of Amyas Crofts had turned to dart out again, but Buckalew, moving
with amazing speed, gained the door and fastened it. Then he turned to confront the would - be fugitive. It was the girl with red- dyed
hair whom Stover knew as Gerda.
                 “Let
me out,” commanded Gerda as from under her cape she whipped an
electro-automatic pistol.
                 Without
even lifting an eyebrow, Buckalew seized it and wrenched it from her hand.
                 “Go
there sit down,” he told her, pointing toward one of the least damaged chairs.
“You might have shot me just then.”
                 Gerda
sullenly obeyed, eyes flashing. Meanwhile Stover waited bale- fully for Amyas
Crofts to explain. “It’s this girl,” Crofts attempted at last. “Gerda, she
calls herself. She came to my apartment, told me she knew that I was crazy
about Bee MacGowan, just the same as you are—”
                 “Never
mind who I’m crazy about,” snapped Stover, his blood
seething. “Your affairs, not mine, are being looked into. Gerda told you that.
What next?”
                 “She
said that if I came here I'd see for myself that there was no more reason to
think you’d stand in my way with Bee. When I hesitated, she begged me to come.
Said she’d come with me.”
                 “He’s
lying,” contributed Gerda from where she sat under Buckalew’s guard.
                 Stover
did not know which to believe. He laid a big hard hand on Croft’s shoulder.
“I’ve got a mind to knock your teeth out through the back of your neck,” he
said angrily. “So you busted in here