Part 19 (1/2)

”Sure is--deader than a mackerel.”

Fenner turned and looked at the wrecked shack. He was feeling better every minute. With a slightly unsteady step, he moved out of the sun and sat down on an uprooted tree. He took out a pack of cigarettes and lit one while the three policemen and Brennan stood watching him impatiently.

Fenner wasn't to be hurried. His mind was at work. He suddenly snapped his fingers and pointed to Brennan.

”Know something?” he said. ”We're going to bust the Blandish s.n.a.t.c.h! Here's what you do! Get your men to look around. They'll be looking for ground recently dug. Hurry it up!”

”What's the idea?” Brennan demanded.

”Someone's been buried here recently. Come on, get going! You want to bust this thing, don't you?”

Brennan gave orders and the three policemen went off in different directions. Brennan came to sit by Fenner's side.

”Who's been buried?” he asked. ”Let's have it, d.i.c.k, don't act mysterious.”

”It's my bet Riley, Bailey and Old Sam are buried around here,” Fenner said. ”I could be wrong, but I don't think I am.”

Brennan gaped at him.

”Who threw the pineapple?”

”Again I wouldn't know, but I'm willing to bet it was one of the Grisson gang.”

”What would they want to do that to you for?”

”Leave it lie for a moment, Brennan,” Fenner said. ”One step at a time.”

Brennan scowled at him, then he lit a cigarette and stared across the clearing at the ruined shack.

”You were lucky to get out of that alive,” he said. ”I thought you were done for.”

”That makes two of us,” Fenner said.

A small bird suddenly swooped out of a tree and hopped from twig to twig on a nearby bush. Fenner watched it without interest. He was sweating and his mouth was dry. He was thinking of the thirty thousand dollars Blandish had promised him if he cracked the case.

A sudden shout made both men turn sharply.

”Sounds like someone's found something,” Fenner said getting stiffly to his feet.

Both men walked towards the sound of shouting, forcing their way through the thick shrubs. It didn't take them long to catch up with the other two policemen. They all entered a small clearing where the third policeman was pointing to the ground. The soil had obviously been disturbed although it had been covered with leaves and dead branches.

”This is where someone starts digging,” Fenner said and sat down in the shade.

Brennan gave orders. Two of the policemen hurried off. After a while they returned with a couple of spades they had found in Johnny's outhouse. They peeled off their tunics and began to dig.

It was hot work and they were sweating before they found what they were looking for. Suddenly they stopped digging. One of the men knelt on the gra.s.s and reached into the shallow hole. Fenner got to his feet and walked over to watch. The policeman was sc.r.a.ping the soil away with his band. A faint smell of death came from the hole that made Fenner grimace. Suddenly he saw a mud-matted head coming to light. He stepped back.

”A dead man here, Captain,” the policeman said, looking up at Brennan.

”There'll be three,” Fenner said. ”Let's get out of here, Brennan. Let's get back to headquarters. This is urgent now.”

Brennan told the three policemen he would send out a truck and the Medical Officer. He and Fenner went down to Fenner's car.

”The writing went up on the wall when Ma Grisson took over the Paradise Club,” Fenner said as he got into the car, waving Brennan to the driving seat. ”We should have guessed how she financed that deal. She bought the club with the Blandish ransom money!”

Brennan paused as he was about to start the car.

”How the h.e.l.l do you figure that one out?” he demanded.

”It's not so hard to figure. Ma gave out that Schulberg gave her the money. Schulberg deals in hot money. He has probably cleaned up with the ransom. Johnny told me just before he was knocked off that Grisson and his gang were with Riley at Johnny's place. Somehow Grisson must have found out that Riley had s.n.a.t.c.hed the Blandish girl. He would know the only place Riley could take her would be to Johnny's. He and his gang went there, knocked Riley and the other two off and took the girl. Blandish paid the ransom to Grisson, thinking he was Riley. It adds up. As soon as the ransom was paid, Ma Grisson opens the Paradise Club. What a sweet setup for them! Riley gets the blame and they are sitting pretty.”

”Where's the proof?” Brennan asked. ”Even if my boys do dig up Riley and the other two, it still doesn't mean Grisson killed them. With Johnny dead, we haven't any proof.”

Fenner nodded.

”That's right. We'll have to find proof. Let's not go off half-c.o.c.ked on this. Know what I think?”

”What do you think, superman?” Brennan asked sarcastically. He was pus.h.i.+ng the car hard and they were roaring down the long main road.

”I think the Blandish girl is in the Paradise Club,” Fenner said. As Brennan turned to stare at him, Fenner yelled, ”Look where you're driving!”

Brennan slammed on his brakes and drew up by the side of the road.

”What are you getting at?”

”Remember Doyle said there was a room upstairs in the club kept locked. It's my bet she's in there!”

”We'll soon find out,” Brennan said, starting the car again.

”Will we?” Fenner said thoughtfully. ”The club is like a fort. It'll take time to bust in. By the time we do get in the girl will either be dead or removed. Blandish wants her alive. If we're going to bring her out alive, we'll have to handle this with kid gloves. We've got to use our heads, Brennan.”

”Okay, so we use our heads,” Brennan said. ”Where will that get us?”

”I don't know,” Fenner said and lit a cigarette. ”Let me think about it.”

For the next half hour Brennan continued to drive fast while Fenner coped with his aching head and his thoughts. As Brennan slowed down before entering a small farming town, Fenner said, ”Well pick up Anna Borg. She knows that Grisson and Riley met at Johnny's. She's our only witness. We don't want her knocked off. Besides being our only witness, she spends a lot of time in the club. Maybe she knows the Blandish girl is there. Maybe she doesn't know the Grisson gang wiped out Riley. If we tell her, there's a chance she might rat on them.”

Brennan pulled up outside a drug store.

”I'll get things going,” he said.

Fenner watched him enter a phone booth. He looked at his watch. The time was a little after six p.m. They were still three hours' driving distance from Kansas City.

He wondered if the Blandish girl really was in the club. If she was, she had been in the hands of the gang for over three months.

He grimaced.