Death Is the Answer

Tom folded his red hands over his stomach. He said, “Stanley, when you mention the police you put this little talk on a different plane. Continue, please.”

“Okay. You and Nick were in this together. You shouldn’t have trusted Nick. That was a mistake. You were splitting half the jackpot on each program plus half of the fee for five or six other questions. Nick realized that he could blow you sky high if he talked. You had a lot more to lose than he did. A few little words and you’d be out of radio. Then how would you make a living? Being smart, Nick started to taper off your end of the take. At last he was taking it all, and then he put the bite on you for a little in addition.”

“Keen talking.” Tom’s face was grim.

“Glad to,” Stan said obligingly.

“You’re quite a guy, Tom. How about you and Mary? I’ll bet you’ve been wanting her for a long time and you had to sit around and watch her falling in love with Nick. That hurt, didn’t it? Then you saw the combination. Knock Nick off and catch Mary on the bounce. Good applied psychology. Also it took the pressure off you. What did Nick say before you slugged him in that alley?”

“You haven’t got enough, Stanley.”

“Not even with the sixty-six hundred bucks I found in Nick’s belt?” Stan taunted him. “You were anxious to be the one to go through his luggage. I took a look at it. That wasn’t bright, Tom, slicing the linings when you were looking for Nick’s money. And how about the act? How many people have seen you dip into that bowl with your left hand? Remember, Tom, Nick was slugged over the right ear.”

“Where’s the dough?” Tom demanded in a tight voice.

“Oh, the money? Over in the top drawer of the bureau. I feel sorry for you, Tom. You missed in too many ways. You never should have let Nick make those greedy little five-dollar bets with me. That’s what started me thinking that he worked it in a crooked manner.”

Tom smiled again, and his big lips pressed back thin and tight against his teeth. “This has been mighty white of you, Stanley. Let me tell you that I love you like my own son. I hate to do this to you, but I just can’t see jumping from the pan to the fire, like the fellow says. It’s tough on my nerves. And sixty-six hundred bucks is good nerve cure. See this thing? It’s a thirty-two automatic. I better tell the folks that you put up a battle trying to hold onto a thousand bucks that you found in Nick’s luggage. I can mark myself up a little with my own fist, I guess. And maybe I better tell them that you weren’t in your room last night, that I met you in the lobby as I was heading for the hospital. You won’t be able to contradict, son.”

“How long do you think it’ll be before one of Nick’s suckers in one of the towns we’ve played starts to talk?” Stan demanded.

Tom inspected the small gun and swung the muzzle toward Stan. “Never in this here world thought I’d end up killing both you boys,” he said with a harsh giggle.

Stan’s mouth went suddenly dry. “There’s a thirty-eight aimed right at your head, Tom,” he said. “Lieutenant Bandred is in the closet with the door opened just far enough. Come on out, Lieutenant.”

The lean dark man stepped out of the closet and took the small automatic out of Thomas Gaylord Schurtz’s limp hand. “Sure glad we were able to clean this up before you got out of town, Mr. Schurtz. All this makes me feel better about it happening here, though.” He turned to Stan and said, “You cut it pretty close, Haverly.”

“I had to. He didn’t admit it until the last. And there wasn’t any real proof.” Tom sat collapsed in the chair, staring at the far wall. The brass had gone out of his voice as he said, “Right on almost everything. Except I didn’t want to kill Nick. He wanted another two hundred a week. Said he had to have it. He laughed at me. There was a piece of pipe in the alley—”

After Tom had been taken away, Stan told Mary Adams. She sat in numb apathy until the shock dissolved itself into tears, accompanied by sobs that shook her heavily. He went over to her and after a while her sobs were less violent, and she took his hand and held it tightly.