.
The day before, in the suburban house, the Clutching Hand had been
talking to two of his emissaries, an attractive young woman and a
man.
They were Flirty Florrie and Dan the Dude.
"Now, I want you to get Kennedy," he said. "The way to do it is to
separate Kennedy and Elaine--see?"
"All right, Chief, we'll do it," they replied.
"I've rigged it so that you'll reach him through Jameson,
understand?"
They nodded eagerly as he told them the subtle plan.
Clutching Hand had scarcely left when Flirty Florrie began by
getting published in the papers the story which I had seen.
The next day she called me up from the suburban house. Having got
me to promise to see her, she had scarcely turned from the
telephone when Dan the Dude walked in from the next room.
"He's coming," she said.
Dan was carrying a huge stag head with a beautifully branched pair
of antlers. Under his arm was a coil of wire which he had
connected to the inside of the head.
"Fine!" he exclaimed. Then, pointing to the head, he added, "It's
all ready. See how I fixed it? That ought to please the Chief."
Dan moved quickly to the mantle and mounted a stepladder there by
which he had taken down the head, and started to replace the head
above the mantle.
He hooked the head on a nail.
"There," he said, unscrewing one of the beautiful brown glass eyes
of the stag.
Pages:
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211