Sidney Zoom was half way through his third cigarette when there was the sound of a roaring motor. Tires skidded on the pavement as a machine lurched around the corner. The machine came to a stop, and a tall, well knit individual stepped from the machine and looked about him.
Apparently the entire street was deserted, and the man, having assured himself of that fact, moved toward the entrance of the apartment house with calm assurance.
Zoom gave the man a head start of approximately five seconds, and then beckoned to the police dog.
Master and dog moved with swift, silent strides, gliding along the pavement like shadows of the night.
Zoom didn’t wait for the elevator, but took the stairs, two at a time, running up with light, springy steps, the police dog padding along at his side.
Zoom went at once down the corridor to the door of apartment 38E.
He could hear the sounds of surreptitious motion behind the closed door.
Sidney Zoom indicated the door to the police dog.
“Watch, Rip,” he said. “Let no one out.”
The dog dropped to his stomach, pointing his sensitive nostrils toward the door, his eyes staring in fixed concentration.
Zoom turned back down the corridor, raced down the steps, and was half way to the lobby when he heard the sound of a pistol shot booming from the upper corridor. A moment later there was another shot.
Zoom sprinted down the street, jumped in his car, stepped on the starter and threw in the clutch. He pressed his hand on the horn button and roared through the quiet apartment district.
Three blocks from the apartment house he found a uniformed officer. Zoom pulled into the curb.
“Passing along the street here,” he said, “and I heard shots.”
“Where?” asked the officer.
“Back at an apartment house. The Richmore, I think, was the name.”
The officer loosened his service revolver in its holster, climbed to the running board of the car.
“Let’s go,” he said.
Zoom whipped the car into an abrupt turn and stepped on the throttle. As he approached the apartment house, he drew into the curb and slowed.
“This is the place,” he said.
The officer jumped to the sidewalk.
“Better wait here,” he said.
Lights were on in the apartments. As the officer pushed his way into the lobby, a woman screamed.
Sidney Zoom waited.
Three minutes later a police radio car swung around the corner at high speed and pulled into the curb.
An officer pushed his way into the apartment house.
Another officer debouched from the car and strode over to Sidney Zoom.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” said Zoom. “I heard shots when I was going past here, and I picked up an officer three or four blocks up the street. He came back with me and told me to wait here.”
The officer nodded and then pushed his way into the apartment house.
Sidney Zoom placed his fingers to his lips and gave a shrill, penetrating whistle.
Ten seconds later there was a tawny streak which flashed through the lobby of the apartment house. Rip jumped to the sidewalk, gathered himself, and hit the back of the roadster in a long arc of graceful motion. Sidney Zoom stepped to the back of the car, pushed the back of the rumble seat forward.
“Down, Rip,” he said, “and stay there.”
The back of the car latched into place. Sidney Zoom got back into the car.
An officer came puffing down the stairs and stood in the doorway of the apartment looking up and down the street. Then he crossed to Sidney Zoom.
“See anything of a police dog that came out here?” he asked.
“Yes,” said Zoom, “a big one. He busted out of the place and swung around the comer. What’s the matter, officer?”
“You’re the man that brought Mike here?” asked the policeman.
“I guess so. I’m the man who picked up the uniformed officer on the beat and brought him here.”
The officer nodded, then looked back at the apartment house.
“Funny thing,” he said.
“What is?”
“A man who gave his name as Richard Horton was trapped in an apartment by a mad dog. The man fired six shots at the dog, but none of them took effect. The dog dodged every time he pointed the revolver.”
“Did he bite the man?” asked Zoom.
“Bit him on the wrists a couple of times, but seemed to be trying to make him stay in the room. The door was open into the corridor, and the shots were heard in some of the other apartments. The tenants put in a call for the police. We picked it up in the radio car and came out here.”
“The man live in the apartment?” asked Zoom.
“No,” said the officer, “nobody lives there. We’re holding the man for questioning. Documents in his pockets indicate that his name is Paul Stapleton. He can’t give a satisfactory account of what he’s doing there.”
“Perhaps,” said Sidney Zoom, smiling, “he has a secretary who lives in the building, or something.”
“Well, he’s been visiting somewhere,” said the officer, “and he’s going to tell the truth before he gets out.”
“Going to put a charge against him?”
“We’ll want to find out a little more about how he happened to have the gun and what he’s doing in the apartment,” answered, the officer.
“And the dog ran away?” asked Zoom.
“Yes,” the officer said. “We didn’t think he was mad. He seemed to be all right, but he just wouldn’t let the man out of the apartment. We figured that he was a trained police dog, and had detected an apartment house thief. Naturally, we supposed he belonged to the manager of the apartment. It wasn’t until just a minute ago we thought he was mad. The dog seemed all right in every way, until all of a sudden he jumped to his feet and went down the corridor like a streak of greased lightning. We heard him banging down the stairs, and that’s the last we’ve seen of him.”
“He went around the corner like a streak of lightning,” said Zoom, “I guess there’s no need for me to wait for that officer.”
“No, there’s nothing he’ll need you for, and thanks for going out of your way to report the shooting and bring him here.”
Sidney Zoom bowed his head.
“Not at all,” he said. “It was a pleasure.”
The roadster purred into motion and slipped out into the middle of the street. The officer from the radio car looked up and down the street once more, then shrugged his shoulders and turned to the apartment house.
Chapter V
Zoom Goes Fishing
Sidney Zoom’s powerful sea-going yacht, the Alberta F., creaked against the mooring float with wind and tide.
In the main cabin, Sidney Zoom paced back and forth, irritably, impatiently.
At a table, Vera Thurmond, his secretary, regarded him with eyes that were warm and maternal, despite the fact that she was some five years his junior.
Seated beside Vera Thurmond, her eyes filled with gratitude, was Ruby Allison.
“I really can’t let you do this for me,” she said. “I know enough about law to know that you are likely to get in serious trouble over this.”
Zoom shook his head with a single swift gesture of impatience, and continued pacing the floor.
At the forward end of the cabin, a radio with loudspeaker made little sputtering noises of static.
“Why the devil don’t they discover the body?” said Sidney Zoom.
There was no answer. The two young women stared at him in silence. Something in the very impatient savagery of the man made them keep a watchful silence.