The D.A. Breaks an Egg

“Good idea,” Brandon said. “They’ve sent Bassett out to pick up Bob Terry. As soon as he gets here he can take charge. You and Sylvia go on up and I’ll join you at the hotel as soon as I can get away from here.”

Selby moved back to Sylvia. “Okay, Sylvia, let’s try a short cut to find out who she is. We may be lucky.”

Sylvia Martin’s eager fingers dug into his arms. “Come on, Doug. You can ride with me. Of course well be lucky.”

He patted her shoulder. “I may need a little luck. Paden, the new owner of The Blade, called on me and told me the next murder case here would wind me up.”

She stopped abruptly. “Oh, Doug, I’m afraid of him. He’s... he’s utterly ruthless.”

Selby laughed. “Come on, Sylvia. We’ll start off by letting The Clarion steal a march on him, identify the murdered girl, notify the home town papers, and get a paragraph or two off to the wire services.”

5

The night clerk at the Madison Hotel had turned down the lights in the lobby so that the single reading lamp behind the desk bathed the hotel switchboard in white light. He had his feet propped up on a stool and was reading a magazine.

Glancing into the dimly lit lobby, and seeing the two figures approaching, he got to his feet, pulled down his vest, and said, “I’m sorry, we’re all filled up. If you... why it’s Miss Martin and Mr. Selby!”

Selby nodded. “We’re trying to find out something about a young woman about twenty-two or twenty-three years old. We think she may have a room here. She’s probably registered from Windrift, Montana. Good-looking, red-haired, nice figure. Know her?”

“Why, yes, we do have a young woman from Windrift. She’s Miss Daphne Arcola, in room six hundred and two. I remember her because she checked in not very long after I came on duty at seven o’clock. She’s a very beautiful young woman, stunning. I’d never heard of Windrift, and told her so. She explained to me that it’s quite a dude ranching center. She answers the description.”

“I see,” Selby said. “Will you ring her room, please?”

“Now?”

“Yes.”

“Well, of course, it’s pretty late,” the clerk said, glancing significantly at the clock. “Of course...” He let his voice trail into silence.

Selby held him with insistent eyes and the clerk hastily added, “However, since you request it, Mr. Selby...”

He moved over to the switchboard, plugged in a line and pressed a key. After several seconds he pressed it again, then held his finger down firmly.

“She doesn’t answer, Mr. Selby.”

“I think that’s our party,” Selby said. “Take a passkey and come on up.”

“I’m not supposed to leave the switchboard during the time I’m on duty, seven to three. I’m sorry, Mr. Selby. I...”

“Then give us the passkey.”

The clerk hesitated for a moment, then with a sigh, took a passkey from a nail. “All right, let’s go. I’ll take a chance.”

They rattled upward in the elevator.

The clerk took the precaution of knocking twice on the door of 602. When he received no answer he inserted the passkey, clicked back the spring lock, opened the door a scant two inches, said, “I beg your pardon,” then opened it an inch or two more. “This is the management.”

He reached in through the open door, groped for the light switch, then clicked it on.

“Well,” the clerk said, “there seems to be no one here.”

Selby glanced at Sylvia Martin, and pushed past the clerk into the room.

The clerk said, “Of course this is very irregular.”

Selby said, “It’s quite regular as far as I’m concerned. You can leave if you don’t want to have any part in it. Come in, Sylvia. I want you to look things over.”

The clerk stood for a moment undecided.

Selby said, “We don’t need to detain you any longer and you’ve been away from the switchboard a few minutes as it is. Just go on down and watch the switchboard. If anyone comes in and asks for Miss Arcola, give us a ring.”

“Suppose she should come in?”

“I don’t think she will. In case she does, ring the phone three times in quick succession. We’ll get out within five seconds after we get the signal. Now, if anyone comes in and takes the elevator to this floor, ring twice in quick succession. Do you understand? Twice for any other person, three times if it’s Miss Arcola.”

“Yes, sir.”

“All right. That’s all.”

The clerk retired and Selby closed the door.

“She seems to have traveled light, Sylvia. There’s only one small suitcase.”

“Which hasn’t been unpacked.”

“She got something out of it, however,” Selby said, indicating the oblong pattern on the bedspread. “She put the suitcase on the bed, opened it and took something out, or else put something in.”

“Yes, I guess she did... You’re right, Doug. She left a pair of stockings and some underthings in the bathroom. I can see them in the washbowl.”

“Well,” Selby said, grinning, “do your stuff.”

Sylvia went over to the suitcase, placed it on a chair and opened it.

“Neatly packed,” she observed. “She’s evidently done quite a bit of traveling.”

“Find anything?” Selby asked.