The 9 Dark Hours by Lenore Glen Offord

Author:Lenore Glen Offord
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781631941221
Publisher: Felony & Mayhem Press
Published: 2018-01-28T16:00:00+00:00

EIGHT

Reasonable Facsimile

THERE HAD BEEN some excitement about that in the papers. A saloon brawl had spilled out onto a dark street in the East Bay, and Mangam was found in an alley, unconscious and with a fractured skull. He died a week later.

His money was gone, and so was the mini-camera which he had been carrying. The unused rolls of film in his pockets had been examined and left behind. Almost at once someone was arrested for the crime—a character of notoriously rough habits, who, as the police appeared, was trying to get rid of Mangam’s wallet.

Wildly this captive protested his innocence. It was a couple of other fellows, he hadn’t been near Mangam till he found him unconscious, and then—who could be blamed for picking up a bit of loose change? The real murderer, he added, must have been the big man whom Mangam had been eyeing in the saloon. Yes, that was it; the description grew more detailed; it was a man with eyes that sank far back into his head, and conspicuous ears. It was, in fact, the Cork.

The rough character was laughed to scorn. Was he sure, the police asked merrily, that the Blue Fairy hadn’t appeared round a corner and bashed Mangam with the brick which had been found near him? That story would be as likely. There was no such person as the Cork.

The rough character was firmly placed in the clink, and nobody—not even the few who believed his story—felt that this was a miscarriage of justice.

Those who believed him, however, were the members of the Eagle staff. Now, of all times, they could not give up.

Another reporter, Garwood, was assigned to the story. He couldn’t pick up the lead on which Mangam had unconsciously stumbled, but he went at it from the other end.

At this point the story began to get complicated. One careless word, one slip in timing would have changed the whole pattern, and Melissa Cleveland would never have been in danger. On the other hand, the death of Mangam might have gone forever unavenged. Luck worked with a nice impartiality.

The staff of the Eagle had built up a mental picture: the blow, the snatching of the camera, the examination of the remaining film packs to make sure that the one bearing important evidence was not among them—the quick departure. They took for granted that the camera was either destroyed or in the possession of the Cork. Garwood, however, knew the registration number. With only a faint hope of success, he set out to trace it with the help of the East Bay police.

They circulated the number to various pawnshops and camera dealers. Early on Monday, the eighth, a pawnbroker virtuously telephoned the Oakland headquarters, to say that he had the camera; of course, he’d had no idea that it was stolen goods.

As bad luck would have it, a reporter from one of the other papers was at the station when the call came in. Mangam’s death was still news,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.