The Line Is Dead | Page 8

pulled a boner and got needled for it
until he blew a head- gasket. Can't count too much on any of the
standard motives. He must've been an unhappy sort of guy, to make
him run around acting like Jehovah on a white horse."
"Jeff?"
"Yes?"
"Begin to believe now that those were duty dates, and that I wasn't ever
getting my head turned by that Cadillac and things? A man who never
makes or tolerates a mistake is a frightful strain!"
He pulled over into the shadows between street lights, and took his
time about assuring that he had not been suspicious--merely worried at
times. After all, a fellow could lose a dependent before he even had her.
Some minutes after Alma had carefully checked him for lipstick
smudges, he was talking to Cornelia Lowry. She was a small, blonde
person, with a confiding and wide- eyed expression. Without anything

savoring of helplessness, she had an appealing manner that could be
depended upon to get people, male or female, to do things for her
instead of letting her sweat out her own problems. It may have been the
softness of her voice, combined with the soft lines of her attractive face,
that evoked that protective urge. Carver, sensing the effect at once, set
up his guards; and at the same time, he understood how easy it had
been for Alma to have been baited into the role she had played.
Carver lost little time getting to the point.
He cut in, abruptly, "Why did Wayland go to your husband's place
tonight?"
"But--but he didn't! He wasn't there. He couldn't've been, he and I were
together all evening."
"With who else?"
"Why, just each other."
"About the worst and feeblest alibi imaginable. Either deal it straight,
or deal with someone else. If he wasn't there, how come someone
tagged him?"
"He was framed!" Indignation choked her.
"The criminal framed him."
"If the killer did that, it was to cover himself. But you two might've
been with a crowd, and then it'd been no good at all.
Whoever phoned either saw Wayland around there, or saw someone
that looked like Wayland, or else knew that you two were in a huddle
here, without any real alibi--and, knew that Wayland and your husband
were all primed to tangle about you. There was something that made
Wayland seem useful for covering up.
"And another thing. Wayland saw a police car pull up at his place. He
had so strong a hunch they wanted him for real troub1e that he buzzed

you. He'd not have phoned if it'd been a traffic rap he'd been expecting,
unless maybe it'd been hit and run driving, after he left you." Carver
picked up his hat. "Suppose Wayland dummies up? First thing the
police do is corner his friends, asking about his other friends,
particularly women. Your name will pop up. Then the fun begins.
"Whenever a man is knocked off, his widow and her boy friend are the
first ones to be sweated. You can tell them, or you can tell me. I won't
monkey with this as long as you hold out."
HE GRABBED the door knob. That brought Cornelia to her feet with a
flurry of robe and a twinkle of legs. "Wait! We were there, Denny and I:
we found him." She fairly poured it out now. "It was the most sickening
and horrible thing. We were so shocked we just got out, and quick.
Afraid to report it, for fear the call'd be traced. And we'd be in it."
"What'd you go there for in the first place?" Cornelia's glance shifted to
Alma, who gave her a nod. She answered, "I'd written a threatening
letter, of a sort--not realizing I was playing right into Herb's hands, if
ever I did get cause for suing him. So, Denny and I went to look for the
note. We thought he'd be away tonight."
Alma cut in, "They counted on my being out to dinner with Herb. And
when you and I and he had words, and he walked out, I didn't stop to
think he might go back home. I was so sure he'd make a point of caging
another date, just to show me. And when it did occur to me to phone
Cornelia, she was out."
"Begins to shape up," Carver admitted. "Get the note?"
Cornelia shuddered. "After what we saw, we just cleared out in a panic,
once we got over the shock." Then, triumphantly, "But Denny must
have had it in mind when the police pulled up. That's why the sight of
them made him call me. That note--they'd found it, and put two and
two together. Just as you said, widow and her boy friend are the first
suspects. It wasn't signed,