Alfred Hitchcock's Death-Reach 2 by Cathleen Jordan

Author:Cathleen Jordan [Jordan, Cathleen]
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The Operator

by Jack Ritchie

Inside the police station, I found the Motor Vehicle Section and approached the sergeant.

He took his time about going through some papers on his desk, but finally he looked up. “Well?”

I cleared my throat. “I’d like to report the theft of an automobile.”

He yawned, opened a desk drawer, and reached for some forms.

“It was a 1963 Buick,” I said. “Four door. The body is dark green and the top cream.”

He looked up. “Buick?”

“Yes. I parked it on the bluff above the lake, on Lincoln Drive. I just got out for a minute or two and walked around. When I came back, it was gone.”

“The license number?”

I rubbed the back of my neck for a moment. “Oh, yes. E 20-256.”

He looked at the civilian clerk at the next desk. They both grinned.

“As soon as I found that my car was gone,”

I said, “I flagged down a taxi and came here. This is the right place to report this, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. It’s the right place.” He turned to the clerk. “Fred.”

Fred left his desk and came over. He had a slip of paper in his hand.

The sergeant glanced at it and then looked up again. “Let’s see your ignition keys.”

“Ignition keys?” I reached into my right trouser pocket. Then I tried my left. I began patting my other pockets. Finally I smiled sheepishly. “I guess I must have lost them.”

“No, mister. You didn’t lose them.” His face lost the grin. “Don’t you know that it’s against the law to leave your ignition keys in an unlocked car?”

I shifted uneasily. “But I was gone for just a minute.”

“You were gone a lot longer than that, mister. The boys in the squad even took the trouble to look for you. They couldn’t find you any place around there.”

I frowned. “The boys in the squad?”

“That’s right. They waited fifteen minutes and then one of them had to drive the car away.”

“A policeman took my car?”

“He didn’t steal it. If that’s what you mean. He just took it to the police garage for your own protection.” His eyes became cold. “Mister, did you know that in eighty percent of automobile thefts, the owner left his keys in the ignition?”

“Well. . .I guess I read something about that, but. . .”

“No buts,” he snapped. “It’s people like you who make it possible for the punks to steal cars.”

I bristled. “Wouldn’t it have been simpler just to lock the car and take the ignition keys? And maybe leave a note under the windshield wiper?”

“Sure it would be simpler, but it wouldn’t teach people like you anything. But this you’ll remember.” He seemed to relent a little. “It’s just your tough luck, mister. We’ve got orders to crack down this week and haul away any car if we can’t find the owner. You should have read about it in the papers.” He reached into another drawer this time and came out with a smaller form. “Like I said, it’s against the law to leave your keys in the ignition.

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