YOU CAN'T SCARE ME!
By CHARLES F. MYERS
Toffee knew that Marc Pillsworth was
in trouble again, so she came out of
his subconscious mind to help him.
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Fantastic Adventures March 1947.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Whether or not they had passed through the portals of Earl Carroll's,
the girls that threaded their way daily through the offices of Marc
Pillsworth's advertising agency were undeniably some of the most
beautiful in the world. It was probably this abundance of beauty, more
than anything else, that caused Marc to shun the more seamy things in
life. It was this also that made it so doubly unbearable that, nine
times out of ten, every time his office door opened, it was only to
admit to his presence one of nature's most vulgar experiments with
American womanhood. What Marc, by marrying Julie, had gained in a wife,
he had quite certainly lost in a secretary.
Miss Quirtt closed the door primly and turned to face Marc--very
easily the nastiest thing she could possibly have done to anyone.
As always, just to add stark horror to the picture, she smiled and
revealed to her unappreciative employer that she had accomplished
the extremely doubtful triumph of whitewashing the old fashioned cow
catcher, without, in any way, detracting from its accustomed appearance
of up-swept grandeur. The proof of this lay in the sudden appearance
of her amazing teeth. As the tight, dry skin of her face drew back to
reveal this hideous accomplishment, it was hard to believe that the
accompanying creaking sound that echoed through the room, was only a
trick of the imagination.
"Yes, Mr. Pillsworth?" she inquired, and thereby added to this already
astonishing display of hideosities, the horror of her voice, which held
all the melody of a palsied hand searching vainly for the key of E on a
rusty guitar.
Marc shuddered and quickly turned his gaze to a strip of oak paneling
which had suddenly become, to him, an object of indescribable
loveliness. He had only lately come to know why Julie had insisted on
the employment of Miss Quirtt. The very qualities which he now found
so repulsive had been, to his wife, the attributes that made the woman
so desirable for the job. It might as well be admitted that Julie had
become unreasonably jealous of Marc's association with a group of girls
that seemed to her, pretty stiff competition for the most glamorous
"Glamour Chorus" in town, let alone herself.
"Well," Marc said with false heartiness, "today is the day, Miss
Quirtt. Will you please bring me the layouts for the Reece campaign?
I'm going to submit them this afternoon. You have the key to that file,
I believe?" He tried hard not to hear her answering rasp, and heaved
a sigh of relief as he heard the door close; the signal that this
horribly jarring note had once more, at least momentarily, gone out of
his life.
When she returned, it was not quite so bad. This time, he had the
contents of the brief case to distract him. It was important that the
layouts be complete. His hands ran over them almost lovingly--a full
year's advertising material for the most sensational medical product
ever to be offered to a suffering public.
* * * * *
Old Gregory Reece really had something this time; a cure-all to end all
cure-alls, and one that was the real McCoy into the bargain. It did
everything that the old-time medicine doctor claimed, and a good deal
more, as well. And that was the very thing that made the drug's initial
presentation to the public so difficult. It was too wonderful to be
true.
Reece had been cagy in asking all the agencies to submit advertising
campaigns. That way, he would be certain to get just the right
publicity slant, since this was easily to be the largest account to
be had by any agency, ever. It would "make" the agency that got it,
and quite likely break the ones that didn't. The firm handling this
Reece product would be able to pick and choose the rest of its clients,
and Marc was well aware that if the Mayes Agency, his most formidable
competitors, beat him out on it, they would hesitate considerably less
than a second to pick and choose the very accounts which he, himself,
was now handling. However, he was not disturbed. The campaign that
his boys had turned out was just the ticket--honest, imaginative and
convincing. Besides that, he was already handling a number of other
Reece products with considerable success. Confidently, he slid the
material back into the brief case and rose from his chair. It was then
that he noticed that the room was still haunted by the spectre of the
outer office.
"Is there something else, Miss Quirtt?" he asked stiffly.
"Yes, sir. Mrs. Pillsworth called to say that she would meet you here
for lunch."
"You told her that I would be out, didn't you?"
"No sir."
"What?"
"I didn't tell her, sir." Miss Quirtt shrilled half-wittedly. "She
always makes a fuss about those things. She always thinks that you...."
"I wasn't aware that Mrs. Pillsworth was causing you so much trouble,"
Marc cut in sarcastically. "I'll have to speak to her about it. In the
meantime, Miss Quirtt, call her back and say that I'll be tied up in
some very important business during the lunch hour."
There was sincere concern in Marc's eyes as he picked up his hat and
left the room. Julie's jealousy was fast becoming an office scandal.
Something would certainly have to be done about it, he thought, as he
hurried through the outer office, down the steps, and out, onto the
sidewalk.
This ugly facet in Julie's otherwise completely beguiling nature, still
had a firm grip on his thoughts as, at the sound of the traffic signal,
he stepped from the curb, into the street. The city, in this quiet,
pausing moment, just before the noon rush, seemed almost too serene.
In the mid-day sun, the usually busy intersection had become almost
unnaturally still. Perhaps it was this stillness that made the scream
appear so dreadfully shrill.
It was a scream that, like a certain cough medicine, came with a
three-way action--ear-splitting, hair-raising and nerve-wracking.
Marc stopped short, and spun quickly around to discover the source of
this dismaying performance. What met the eye didn't match up at all.
He wouldn't have been a bit surprised to have seen a banner stretched
across the intersection with the query, "What's Wrong With This
Picture?" written across it.
At it was, the girl simply stood there on the sidewalk and yelled her
head off, for no apparent reason whatever. If there had been a man
with an evil looking glint in his eye, running either from or toward
her,--it made no matter which--there might have been some reason
for this wretched recital, but there was not. Suddenly, the girl
unbelievably increased her volume and pointed directly at Marc. It was
then that he heard the automobile behind him. He turned just in time to
receive a montage impression of flashing chromium, black enamel, and
spinning wheels,--all headed squarely in his direction.
* * * * *
What happened after that was a bit confused, except for the one clear
fact that the pavement, apparently overcome with a mad desire to have a
better view of Marc's face, was rushing impetuously toward it. It may
have been this topsy-turvy indifference to the natural laws of gravity
that dislodged the manhole cover, but whatever it was, a dark, black
hole had instantly appeared in the center of the street, and Marc was
unaccountably plunging, head first, into it.
As he descended into the thick darkness of the hole, he had no
sensation of fear, however. He was falling slowly, almost floating
downward; and his occasional contact with it, told him that he
was moving through a sort of cylinder, the wall of which was of a
consistency that brought to mind a sort of soft sponge rubber. Indeed,
he had almost begun to enjoy his mishap, when he came easily to rest on
what apparently was the bottom. This time, his hands came in contact
with a different substance. He seemed to be lying on a small plot of
grass.
As though his landing there had been the signal for it, a thin rim
of bright light appeared evenly around the bottom of the dark tube,
and began to widen steadily. As Marc looked up to discover down what
passage he had come, he realized that it was withdrawing into what
appeared to be a cloudless blue sky, and instantly his attention was
drawn to his immediate surroundings.
There was something familiar about the tranquil little valley, with
its emerald greenness and its soft blue mist that gave everything a
shimmering chiffon-like softness. It was like a place long forgotten
that, once remembered, would surely recall happy memories. Marc got to
his feet and turned to the tree that stood, alone and lovely, behind
him. Then, suddenly he started back in alarm. The tree seemed to have
given bud to a pair of extremely well shaped legs.
"Well, it's about time!" Toffee said shrewishly, peering out at him
from the foliage. "You've no idea how bored I've been, just sitting
around in this awful stately mind of yours. I don't see how you can
stand the silly thing, yourself. Don't you ever think of anything
off-color,--something I could really get my teeth into?"
Marc stared at her in dismay as she swung lightly out of the tree. Her
red hair, caught by the breeze, seemed like flame.
"Good grief!" she continued fretfully. "I've been sitting around up
here, waiting for you, for so long, I've nearly got middle-age spread."
Marc quickly closed his eyes as she prepared to prove this statement.
"I'll take your word for it!" he cried hurriedly.
Toffee's deep green eyes suddenly came alight as she grinned. "Oh, all
right, you hypocritical old Puritan," she said affectionately. "Now
that you're here, I might as well admit I'm glad to see you again." She
started toward him. "Kiss me and say hello,--in that order."
Marc's hand was instantly raised in defense. "Oh, no!" he cried. "We're
not going to have any more of that! It just leads to trouble."
Toffee looked grieved. "You haven't changed a bit," she said
disappointedly.
"And that isn't all," Marc replied evenly. "I'm not _going_ to change,
either. When I think of the way you messed things up for me last
time,[1] my flesh fairly crawls. You're going to have to sit this one
out alone."
[Footnote 1: Reference is made to a previous adventure of Toffee and
Marc Pillsworth, which appeared in the January issue under the title:
"I'll Dream of You."--Ed.]
Toffee smiled mysteriously. "Don't you bet any money on that," she said
confidently. "Anyway, it won't hurt anything if we just talk over old
times, will it?" She motioned toward the tree. "Let's sit down. You
look tired."
Slowly, and definitely against his better judgment, Marc started in
Toffee's direction, then suddenly he stopped short.
"Run! Run!" boomed the voice. It didn't seem to come from anywhere in
particular. It was just in the air. Even the mist seemed to stir under
its heavy tone. "Run! Run!" it repeated, and Marc, not knowing clearly
why, felt an impelling urge to follow its commanding advice.
Suddenly, in the grip of an unknown panic, he was running without
direction or reason, until, in the influence of an impulse, he looked
back, over his shoulder.
The black cylinder, now flexible, was twisting and turning after him,
gaining on him at every step. Frantically, he increased his speed. In
spite of the disturbing presence of Toffee, now that he had found his
way back to the peaceful valley, he was reluctant to leave it. He tried
desperately to dodge, as he saw the mouth of the dark passage almost
directly overhead, yawning threateningly. Then, resignedly, he knew
it was no use. It had followed him, and was already shutting away the
light of the valley.
"Run! Run!" the voice continued vainly, but edging its way through,
was also the voice of Toffee.
"Wait! Wait for me!" she screamed, and suddenly, impetuously, Marc was
holding a hand out to her through the remaining free space.
All of a sudden, the tube closed over them with a dreadful sucking
sound, and they were being lifted upward, Toffee clinging to Marc
desperately, as though for her very life. The upward journey, thought
Marc, was to be very like the descent, except for the accompanying
sound of the voice, as it repeated over and over, "Run! Run!"
* * * * *
"Hit and _run_," someone was saying. "This guy was on the wrong end
of it. Got it right in the middle of the street. According to his
identification, his name is Pillsworth. He's not really hurt, just
bruised up a little."
Then, a door closed somewhere, and a distinctly antiseptic smell was
whispering to Marc that he was in the receiving room of a hospital. He
lay still and kept his eyes closed for a moment. His head had become
the uneasy heir to a dull throbbing feeling.
After a moment of silent consideration, he opened his eyes and then
closed them quickly. He could have sworn that he'd seen Toffee smiling
down at him. But that was impossible! It couldn't possibly happen twice
in one lifetime to the same man,--not one that drank as little as he
did, anyway. In another moment, however, a pair of warm lips were
pressed firmly against his own, to tell him that it not only could
happen, but had. In a mood of utter helplessness, he did not resist.
"Well, that's more like it!" Toffee said happily.
Marc immediately became starkly upright on the slab-like examination
table, and at once, Toffee's wayward mode of dress was forcibly
recalled to him. She still wore the same filmy, transparent scrap of
material, and it, for its part, still seemed to cling to her remarkable
figure reluctantly, as though having urgent business elsewhere. It was
a material that could conceivably be put to a wide variety of uses, but
it was unfortunate that not one of these uses was, in the remotest way,
connected with the coverage of the human body.
"You--you--you--No!" Marc sputtered incoherently.
"No?" asked Toffee.
"No! You can't be here!" Marc gasped. "It isn't right! You'll just have
to go back to where you came from."
Toffee's expression swiftly became that of the patient martyr. "Do I
have to explain it to you every time?" she asked. "You know perfectly
well that I've materialized from your subconscious, and I can't
possibly return until the proper time--whenever that is. I promise
faithfully to disappear when you sleep or lose consciousness--then I
have to go back--but until my mission is accomplished, I have to keep
right on materializing during every one of your waking hours. I do wish
you'd get used to the idea."
Marc winced perceptibly. "Your mission?" he asked.
"Of course," Toffee said. "You men are all alike,--just a pack of
selfish dogs. You must have needed me for something or you wouldn't
have dreamed me up again."
"But you can't stay this time," Marc wailed. "I'm a married man now."
"Oh, don't let that bother you," Toffee said reassuringly. "I don't
mind a bit. In fact, I think it's lovely for you to be married."
Marc leaned defeatedly back on the table and buried his face in his
hands. "Oh, no--no," he murmured mournfully. Then, he sat up quickly
as a voice sounded from just outside the door.
"Is this the right room?" it asked. "Is this where you put Pillsworth?"
Then there followed a silence in which another unseen being apparently
answered.
"Holy smoke!" Marc whispered. "You've got to get out of here! If they
find you in here, like that, all hell will break loose." His eyes
searched the room frantically and finally came to grateful rest on a
white cloth covered screen in the far corner. He pointed quickly to it.
"Get behind that!"
"What for?" hissed Toffee, placing a slender hand defiantly on a round,
smooth hip. "Why do you always want me to hide just when a man comes
around?"
"Don't argue!" Marc said threateningly. "Get behind that screen!"
"Oh, all right," Toffee pouted, "but I think you're just a kill-joy."
* * * * *
Slowly, she crossed the room, and slid behind the screen, just as the
door opened to admit one of the tallest interns Marc had ever seen. In
his white uniform, he looked like one of the chalk cliffs of Dover, and
his ruddy face might well have been the sun rising over that cliff.
"Well, Mr. Pillsworth!" he called with hateful professional joviality.
"I see that we're up. How are we feeling after our little accident?"
"Were you in it too?" Marc asked dryly, but the young man was not to be
set aside with so trivial a rebuke. He, with his silly smile, thought
Marc, had probably attended patients for years that hated his very guts.
"We were very lucky," the fellow continued offensively.
"Were we?"
"Yes. You haven't really been hurt at all. According to the report,
you've no internal injuries, and only a few bruises that won't show at
all, since they're located...."
"Never mind!" Marc cut in hastily, glancing toward the screen. "I'll
find out where they are for myself."
The interne lounged his way across the room, and dangerously rested his
arm on the top edge of the screen. Marc wondered if he were going to
have a relapse. He almost wished he were still unconscious.
"I--I'll be permitted to leave the hospital, won't I?" he asked shakily.
The young man nodded. "You're perfectly all right. You'll just need
to take it easy for a day or so. We might have kept you here for
observation, but the hospital is too crowded. We tried to call your
wife, but she was out."
"Fine!" said Marc. "And where is my brief case?"
"Brief case?" the fellow asked stupidly.
"Yes. Brief case. The one I was carrying when I was hit."
"But there wasn't any."
Marc felt a rush of terror which subsided almost immediately. It had
probably been taken back to the office. After all, his name and address
were all over the thing. Then, once again, his heart leaped to his
throat, and the brief case was forgotten, as he saw the interne's hand
slip lazily behind the screen. Marc needn't have worried himself about
what was going to happen, for it happened instantly, and no one could
have prevented it anyway.
The young man's red face turned an extravagant shade of deep purple,
as his anguished cry rang out through the room like a call from the
damned. Moaning wretchedly, he bent double and pressed his injured hand
between his knees. The screen tottered drunkenly for a moment, and then
clattered to the floor to reveal Toffee engaged in a half-won battle
to wedge herself into a stiffly starched nurse's uniform.
The fire of virtuous outrage that blazed in Toffee's eyes, as she
stepped over the screen, forcing her arm through a reluctant sleeve,
clearly implied that, compared to her, Elsie Dinsmore was nothing more
than a loose living slattern.
"You bit me!" the interne wailed.
"You bet I did!" snapped Toffee. "And next time you come groping around
where I'm dressing, with those great hammy paws of yours, I'll gnaw
them off clear up to the elbows!"
In the face of such heated self-righteousness, the young man could
hardly doubt her statement. Obviously, he was being tormented by the
picture of himself, continuing, armless, through the remainder of his
life. "I'm sorry," he said contritely, apparently forgetting that, in
view of the excellent nurse's quarters just upstairs, the indignant
girl had chosen a rather singular place to dress.
"You should be," Toffee replied icily. "If it happens again, I'll
report you." And without waiting for an answer, she started regally
from the room.
"Button that dress!" Marc yelled inadvertently.
"Button your lip," Toffee replied composedly, disappearing around the
edge of the door.
Marc wished desperately that he could go after her. There was no
telling what she might do. He only knew that, having Toffee back, was
merely a matter of traveling the shortest road to utter confusion
at the highest rate of speed. He shivered at the thought of what
doubtlessly lay ahead.
* * * * *
As Marc swung out of the hospital door, the last brilliant rays of a
dying sun almost blinded him for a moment, and he didn't see Toffee,
at first, sitting there on the steps, chin in hand, and looking very
much like a completely thoughtless rendition of "The Thinker."
"What kept you so long?" she asked irritably.
"I had to sign some papers," Marc explained. "It's too bad that no
one got the license number on the car that hit me. It would have...."
Suddenly, he stopped, and stared at Toffee, mouth agape. The white
uniform that he had last seen her in had miraculously been replaced,
in part, by a black evening gown, that had obviously seen hell at the
ruthless hand of its cutter. It had hardly a back to call its own,
and as for the front, instead of covering Toffee's amazing figure, it
seemed merely to draw a heavy black line around it for emphasis.
A look of pain came into Marc's eyes. "Where did you get _that_?" he
asked weakly.
Toffee motioned vaguely across the street. "At that store over there,"
she answered serenely. "I charged it to you."
Marc groaned. "What was the matter with the uniform? I thought it was
very neat."
"Wasn't it, though?" Toffee replied disdainfully. "It's no wonder all
the people in the hospital are sick. It's enough to make anyone ill,
just having to look at a woman all trussed up in one of those starch
ridden atrocities." She pivoted on the steps, and a shimmering black
cloud moved gracefully above her lovely legs. "Isn't it a dream?"
"Yes," Marc said emphatically. "A perfect nightmare. You look like
something that should be raided and hauled off to headquarters. Why,
if Julie...." A sudden chill lodged itself in his spine. "Holy Smoke!
Let's get out of here!"
Unceremoniously, he took her by the arm and rushed her down the length
of the steps to a taxi that was luckily standing idle in the hospital
drive. As they approached it, an aged head, looking not unlike a
mildewed melon, jutted from the driver's window, and two faded eyes
widened with surprise. From wrinkled lips, a thin whistle sounded
feebly into the dimming day.
"That's what I like about this world," Toffee said, getting into the
cab. "Everyone seems so happy. At least the men do. They're always
whistling."
* * * * *
"Oh, I remember this place," Toffee said, as Marc opened the door to
the agency.
"I wish you didn't," Marc said flatly. "Without a memory, you're a
terror, with one, you're a positive menace." He swung the door wide and
motioned toward the steps. "Get in there, out of sight."
"And waste this beautiful dress?" she asked disappointedly. "I thought
you were taking me out somewhere."
"You were wrong," Marc said shortly. "And besides, that dress has
already been wasted until there's hardly anything left of it. It's
indecent."
"Yes. I know," giggled Toffee, starting up the steps.
For a moment, they continued in silence, until Marc suddenly stopped
short. There was a light burning just beyond the head of the stairs.
"Wait a minute," he commanded. "Miss Quirtt is still up there. The
efficiency of that female is enough to make your blood run cold, and
she's got a mind like a clogged up cesspool. If she gets a load of you
in that dress, it'll be a public scandal by morning."
"What are we going to do?" asked Toffee.
Marc considered this for a moment, and came to a decision. "We're
going on up," he said determinedly. "But you'll have to stay behind me.
Stick to me like wall paper."
Toffee nodded enthusiastically. Sticking to Marc like wall paper seemed
to be her fondest dream. She stood aside to let him pass.
The minute Marc stepped into the outer office, into the presence of
Miss Quirtt, he realized the error of his instructions to Toffee. In
her effort to stick to him, she was also treading on his heels, and
Marc, never too sure-footed, anyway, found himself romping helplessly
across the office with all the self-conscious abandon of a performing
porpoise. Miss Quirtt, still at her desk, looked up in alarm, her pale
eyes filled with wonder.
"Mr. Pillsworth!" she squeaked.
Marc, without answering her, lunged drunkenly toward the door to his
office, like a drowning man grasping for a life line. Reaching it, he
drew it open, careful to continue facing Miss Quirtt, and swung his
free arm behind him with all the feeble strength he had left. A soft
rustling sound told him that Toffee, willy-nilly, was safely out of
sight. He said a silent prayer of thanks as he noted that the office
was dark.
"Hello, Miss Quirtt," he said, smiling stiffly. "I just dropped in to
pick up my brief case."
"Your brief case?"
Unexpectedly, from behind, slender fingers were digging lightly
into Marc's ribs, and all of a sudden, he was giggling helplessly.
"Ye--yes," he simpered like a feeble minded school boy. "My--my brief
case!"
His hands crossed violently in mid-air, and came down to his sides with
a resounding slap. Miss Quirtt, taking all this in with horrified eyes,
seemed in acute danger of leaping over her desk and making a run for
it.
"_Mister_ Pillsworth!" she cried.
Marc immediately sobered, as the fingers withdrew. "I was parted from
my brief case in an accident," he explained hopefully. "I thought it
might have been returned here."
"He's been parted from a lot more than his brief case," Miss Quirtt
murmured desperately to herself.
"Well," Marc demanded. "Is it here or not?"
"It is not," the miserable woman answered decisively. "And what's more,
Mr. Reece called to say that if you didn't have your campaign in his
office by morning, it wouldn't be considered." She seemed almost glad
to announce this piece of bad news.
Marc's expression became darkly grave, and then unaccountably, it
seemed, changed to one of high-hearted glee, as the unseen fingers
played lightly over his ribs for a second time. Miss Quirtt clutched
frantically at the edge of the desk to keep from slipping to the floor.
"You do that once more," she gasped, "and I'll scream!"
The annoying fingers withdrew, and Marc's eyes filled with distaste.
"You needn't," he said evenly. "You couldn't be safer, believe me."
As he swung about, to slam the door after him, however, he caught a
glimpse of the dreadful woman, scurrying out of the office like an
unbalanced scorpion.
* * * * *
It was a mistake that Marc started across the room without first
turning on the lights, for his very first step brought him in violent
contact with Toffee, and the darkened room instantly became the
sounding board for a series of scrambling, grunting noises that were
far from reassuring.
"Let go of me!" Toffee shrieked as she hit the floor.
"Get your heel out of my ear, and maybe I can," Marc rasped furiously.
In the ensuing mad scramble to let go of each other, they became so
helplessly entangled that finally, in desperation, they both gave up.
It was in this edifying moment that the room suddenly became ablaze
with light.
Marc looked up to find Toffee sitting rigidly upright on his chest, her
gaze directed at a chair across the room, her eyes filled with horror.
For an awful moment, the room became starkly silent, as Julie rose from
the chair and stared down at them. Her blue eyes gave Marc a graphic
description of a glacial age that he had thought long dead. The light
flashed in her blond hair, as she lowered her face to Toffee's.
"Get off my husband, you nasty little harpy," she rasped.
Dazedly, Toffee did as she was told, and Julie turned her attention to
Marc.
"And as for you, you double-dealing ogre; get up off that floor and
stop looking like the less intelligent half of a seal act. And you
needn't bother saying that she's your cousin, either. I've heard that
one before. Even _your_ family couldn't produce anything that depraved.
She probably has a police record that would stretch from here to
Shanghai."
"I have nothing to hide!" Toffee put in elegantly, refusing to accept
this blot on her character.
Julie's answering gaze lingered malignantly on the black dress. "Lucky
for you," she said caustically. "You'd be in a really rotten spot for
it, if you did."
"But Julie! You don't understand!" Marc cried, disentangling his long
legs, and getting uncertainly to his feet.
"I've understood for longer than you think!" Julie cried angrily. "I've
always suspected that this sort of thing was going on around here, and
when you broke our luncheon date, I thought I'd come down to find out
the reason. I knew if I waited around long enough, something would turn
up."
Marc turned beseechingly to Toffee. "Tell her," he pleaded. "Tell her
I'm a good husband."
Toffee, flattered at being invited to take such an important part in
this domestic drama, turned beamingly to Julie. "You just don't know
what a wonderful husband you have," she announced innocently.
"I daresay," fumed Julie. "And someday, when you're not too exhausted
from frisking around on the floor with him, suppose you drop around and
tell me all about it!"
"She doesn't know what she's saying!" Marc cried.
"Don't ever tell her," Julie said with false sweetness, "or you'll ruin
some of the liveliest testimony ever written into a court record."
"Court record?"
"The divorce courts _do_ keep records, don't they?"
"Divorce!"
The echo of Marc's cry was still in the air, as Julie crossed to the
door.
"Yes. Divorce, Marc Pillsworth!" she said, turning back. "And I do mean
you."
"But--but you haven't any grounds," Marc said hopefully.
"Don't worry about that," Julie replied, opening the door. "By the time
I get to court, I'll have more grounds than a national park."
The slam of the door put a very definite end to the discussion.
* * * * *
Marc and Toffee stared dumbly at each other as the angry tap of Julie's
heels, retreating through the outer office, and down the stairs,
sounded dimly back to them through the closed door. Toffee dropped
limply into an upholstered chair and drew her feet up under her.
"I just can't understand it," she said contentedly. "I just can't
understand how your mind could be so dull when your life is so
exciting."
"Oh, my life is a perfect scream," Marc smoldered. "Only I save up the
good parts for when you're around to enjoy them. They seem better that
way."
"You're sweet, Marc," Toffee replied sincerely.
Marc looked at her unbelievingly. "I just don't know how it happened,"
he said quietly. "Except for that hideous old crow out there in the
main office, everything was perfectly tip-top this morning. Now,
all of a sudden, my wife is suing me for divorce, my most important
advertising copy is missing, and if I don't find it by morning, my
business is just as good as ruined. Where did it all start?" He dropped
dejectedly into the chair behind his desk and rested his chin in his
hand. Once again the room became silent.
"It was that blonde," he said absently, after a moment.
"What blonde?" Toffee asked suspiciously, peering from the depths of
her chair.
"The blonde that screamed. She was a decoy. She double crossed me."
"They'll do it every time," Toffee said firmly. "Now you take a
redhead...."
"Never mind that," Marc said pensively. "She started screaming long
before she could possibly have seen the car from where she was
standing. She drew my attention away deliberately, so I'd be sure to
get hit. I'm sure of it. She probably took the brief case, too. Maybe
she was hired for the job. Good grief! If that's true, I'm really in a
spot!"
"They'll do it every time, those blondes," Toffee repeated doggedly.
"I'm sure my brief case was stolen," Marc said, almost to himself.
"I've got to find that blonde. And in the meantime, just to be sure,
I'd better have the boys knock out another campaign tonight." He turned
to the telephone and started to dial feverishly.
After fifteen minutes of assorted telephone conversations, Marc turned
to Toffee dispiritedly. "It's no use," he announced. "Every last one of
them has been called out of town for the weekend. I've never talked to
so many simple minded wives and landladies in all my life. They haven't
any idea where any of the men are. They would pick a time of crisis to
start their weak-minded cavorting."
"Who would want to keep you from having the Reece account?" Toffee
asked.
"The Mayes Agency," Marc answered promptly, and then shook his head.
"But Mayes wouldn't do a thing like this. He's hard as nails when it
comes to business, but he wouldn't do anything criminal, and I might
have been killed by that car this morning. What am I going to do now?"
* * * * *
His question was promptly answered by the shrill ring of the telephone.
He picked up the receiver disinterestedly, and before he could give his
name, a sultry feminine voice sounded over the wire.
"This Marc Pillsworth?" it asked.
"Yes. Who's this?"
"Don't you mind who this is, Buster," the voice said evenly. "Just you
listen to what I got to say, and don't interrupt. If you want your
brief case back, you be at the Southlawn Cemetery at eleven sharp
tonight."
"What!" Marc yelled. This was a great deal more than he'd expected.
"Yeah," the voice laughed. "It's just like a kidnapping. In other
words, if you want to see your brain child, alive and healthy again,
you be at the cemetery, like I said, with a million dollars in cash."
"A million!" Marc choked. "But that's impossible!"
"Yeah, I know," the voice replied conversationally. "It's the craziest
thing I ever heard of, myself. I nearly died laughing when they told
me. It's impossible to raise a million in one night--even with a full
moon. I know. I tried."
"But--but--" sputtered Marc.
"No but about it, Buster," the voice said. "Them's the orders. And, oh
yes, at the risk of soundin' corny, I gotta tell you to have the bills
in small denominations and unmarked. Ain't that a scream?"
Suddenly the phone went dead, and Marc looked up dazedly. "I just can't
believe it!" he groaned. "I must be dreaming."
"What's wrong," asked Toffee, "that isn't already?"
"I--I've been kidnapped," Marc said wonderingly. "I--I mean, they're
holding my brief case for ransom."
"Who is?"
"I don't know. It was a woman that called. Probably the blonde. She was
undoubtedly paid off to make the phone call, too. I'm pretty sure it's
someone else that has the copy."
"But the blonde is a lead," Toffee pointed out.
"Yes," Marc agreed. "I've simply got to get ahold of that girl."
"You go around, getting ahold of any girls," Toffee warned, "and I'll
be down on you like the wrath of the Gods. You'd better hire yourself a
detective."
Marc stared at her thoughtfully. "That's not a bad idea," he said
finally.
"Of course it isn't," Toffee replied proudly. "You stick to me, and
I'll have everything straightened out in jig time."
"Jig time," Marc corrected automatically, drawing a soiled newspaper
from his desk drawer. For a moment, he thumbed through the wrinkled
sheets, and then folded it back at the classified section. His hand
traced slowly down the print filled columns for a time, then quickly
darted to the opposite page.
"There she is!" he yelled.
Toffee glanced suspiciously about the room. "Where?" she demanded.
"Here!" As Marc held out the newspaper, his finger indicated an
advertisement in the entertainment section.
"The Loma Club," it read, "Where you can lose a weekend and never
miss it." Under that curious legend was the picture of an over-lush
blonde young lady, whose name, according to the ad, was Ruby Marlow.
The picture had apparently been taken during one of her performances
at the club, for her mouth was wide open. Toffee gazed at the picture
critically.
"That's just the way she looked on the street," Marc said.
"I don't think you were hit by a car, after all," Toffee said sourly.
"A face like that would stop anything."
"Well, at least we know where to start," Marc said enthusiastically.
"We're going to the Loma Club. A detective would take too long."
"Night clubbing?" Toffee asked happily. "Wait till I find me a club. I
remember the last time. It was heavenly."
"This isn't going to be like the last time," Marc said sternly. "If you
start another riot, I'll break your neck with my own bare hands."
* * * * *
The inner sanctum of the Loma Club appeared to be more a murky den,
designed especially for barbaric rituals, than a place for relaxation
and entertainment. To confirm this impression, the orchestra platform,
when in use, proved to be nothing more than an altar, upon which
a tiny group of exhausted, down-and-out musicians offered up, in
horrible, though bloodless, sacrifice, the popular tunes of the day.
High priestess of these gory activities, and hiding under the title of
"vocalist," was Ruby Marlow. At the moment, she was holding a battered
microphone in a death grip, that may, or may not, have accounted for
the nerve-wracking, strangled sounds that were issuing from it. To Marc
and Toffee, sitting at a table in a dark corner, the amplification of
Miss Marlow's horrible mouthings was simply incredible.
"Lose a weekend?" Toffee said bitterly. "You'd fairly murder the poor
thing in here. In fact, the whole atmosphere in this place is pretty
murderous." She shoved her glass disdainfully away. "When I want
embalming fluid, I'll go to a mortician. But come to think of it, maybe
the waiter knows best, after all. One more of those, and I'll be dead
as a flounder, anyway."
"I wish I hadn't even tasted the first one," Marc said morosely. "I
keep seeing things."
"What sort of things?"
Marc pointed to a vacant table about a yard from theirs. "I think it's
haunted," he said. "I keep seeing a little man down there. It's awful."
Toffee looked in the direction he indicated. "I don't see anything,"
she said reassuringly. "It's just an ordinary table with a table cloth
on...." Suddenly she stopped speaking, and turned frighteningly pale.
Slowly, a scrawny hand appeared at the edge of the cloth and lifted it.
Then, as if that weren't enough, a wrinkled ferret-like face jutted
from under it, peered out querulously for a moment, and quickly
disappeared. This singular performance was followed by a series of
quick clicking sounds that were totally inexplicable.
"Lord love me!" cried Toffee. "I saw it too, and it was horrible! Is
that all it does? Just peer out and click at you?"
"Isn't that enough?" Marc answered dumbly. "It's happened three times
now."
"Maybe he's a bashful castinette player," Toffee suggested uncertainly.
"I don't think so," Marc answered gravely. "I think it's the liquor. If
I start to order again, stuff your napkin down my throat."
They both had become so engrossed in the phenomenon of the adjoining
table, that neither of them noticed the approaching Miss Marlow. That
the murderess of innocent songs was full blown, was unmistakable even
at the distance of the microphone, but close up, she looked like
something that should be turned on side, and hung over a bar.
"You Mr. Pillsworth?" she asked lazily. "One of the boys says you want
to talk to me."
"That's right," Marc said, looking up. "Please sit down." He gestured
toward Toffee. "This is Miss--uh--Miss----"
"Don't embarrass yourself Mr. Pillsworth," cut in Ruby, turning an
appraising eye on Toffee. "I know the type. They don't come with
names--just sizes." She smiled maliciously. "And what's yours in mink
coats, dear?"
Toffee's answering gaze dwelt indolently on Miss Marlow's expanding
hips. "About five smaller than yours in girdles, hon," she said sweetly.
With all the callousness of the seasoned warrior, Ruby accepted this
retort, and eased the objects that had inspired it into a vacant
chair. She leaned forward and smiled at Marc.
"What can I do for you?" she asked coyly.
"I like your singing," Marc lied with apparent irrelevance.
"I'm so glad to hear it," Ruby was all graciousness as she said it.
"For the first time in your life," Toffee appended viciously.
"But I like it even better in the open air," Marc said evenly. "Your
street singing left me with quite an impression."
* * * * *
Gone were the days of Ruby's innocence, but she wasn't above trying to
look lamb-like when the occasion seemed to demand it. She did so now.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said.
"Okay," Marc countered, "we'll skip that, but who were you working for?"
"You heard me," Ruby said, trying to look indignant. "I don't know what
you're talking about. From where I'm sitting, it just sounds like the
wind whistling through the holes in your head."
"Stop the kidding," Marc demanded. "I know you took the brief case, and
I intend to have it back. Where is it?"
"Search me!" said Ruby.
"If he does," put in Toffee, "I'll scratch his eyes out."
Ruby turned on Toffee a searing gaze that knocked in her teeth, tore
the gown from her back, and left her bent and bleeding in a dark alley.
"I'm getting out of here," she announced, pushing back her chair.
"You're both nuts."
It was Marc's guess that the flambuoyant Miss Marlow would probably be
considered a flop in her own social set without a police record, and
took a chance on it. "Just a minute," he said. "There are a few boys
on the force that would like to know where you are, since you've dyed
your hair, and if you don't level off right now, I'll have them on you
like a swarm of flies."
Ruby settled back in her chair immediately. "Okay! okay!" she said.
"You don't have to yell about it. I'll tell you the whole thing. After
all, I was only hired to go downtown and yell like crazy, and pick up
any loose brief cases I happened to see lying around. There's nothing
illegal in that."
"Who hired you?"
Ruby glanced nervously around the room, and then suddenly smiled. "All
right," she said pleasantly. "I'll tell you. You see that guy sitting
over there? The rough looking bird in the opposite corner. That's Manny
Groute, the racketeer. He hired me."
Marc glanced briefly over his shoulder and shuddered. Manny Groute was
the sort of fellow no one would ever suspect of having had a mother. He
seemed to have been assembled, rather than born. In front of him, the
table looked like a delicate foot rest.
"What does he want with my brief case?" Marc asked uneasily.
"Search me," Ruby said easily. "The ransom I suppose."
"You ask him to search you just once more," Toffee broke in menacingly,
"and I'll break your bottle of peroxide."
"That's enough!" bawled Ruby. "That's the shot that got me! Stand up,
and I'll tear that red hair out by the roots! And don't think I can't
do it, either. I've got Irish blood in my veins!"
"And if you'd like it splashed all over the floor, where you can show
it off better," Toffee flared, "just start something!"
Ruby, an affable creature by nature, and always open to suggestions of
all kinds, took Toffee at her word, and lifted her none too daintily
from her chair.
"Stop that!" yelled Marc, and rushing to the struggling women, took a
bare shoulder in each hand. No sooner did he have them parted, than,
as if by magic, a huge, meaty hand fell on Marc's shoulder and nearly
weighted him to the floor. "Oh, murder!" he murmured as he looked up
into the terrifying face of Manny Groute, which, at the moment, bore an
expression that did little toward inspiring open-hearted confidence and
trust.
"You named it right, bud," Manny rumbled ominously. "I don't like guys
pawin' my girl friend."
* * * * *
In the following moments, Ruby and Manny looked like rather grotesque
members of a water ballet, as, in perfect unison, they held their
victims at bay, and drew back their fists. To anyone else, in Toffee's
very potent position, Ruby's doubled fist would have been an item
of consuming interest, but to Toffee, it was a forgotten detail, as
her attention fell on the acrobats that were the current floor show
attraction. It was the first time she had ever seen a human pyramid
being formed, and that so many well developed masculine bodies should
appear all in one clump, seemed to her, the most wonderful spectacle in
the whole world.
If Toffee was oblivious of her coming fate, however, Marc was not.
Indeed, as he glimpsed Manny's mammoth hand in the impressive process
of doubling itself, he found himself regretting his oversight in not
reserving a room while at the hospital that morning. He had a strong
hunch that he would shortly have need of it. It was then that the
unexpected happened.
Swiftly, a claw-like hand jutted from beneath the next table and
grabbed Manny's thick ankle. In another second, Marc felt the
racketeer falling against him, and the two of them were headed for the
floor like a couple of felled pines. Instantly, for Marc, everything
went black.
In the meantime, Ruby, in her determination to do a really bang-up job
on Toffee, was giving her blow all the careful aim, and driving power
it would need. Squinting, she sighted Toffee's right eye, and let go.
It was precisely in this moment that Marc's head struck the floor and
Toffee vanished into thin air.
The man on the flying trapeze had nothing on Ruby. She sailed
gracefully through the air and came quickly to a skidding stop on the
top of a nearby table, at which sat two of the club's more befogged
patrons.
"Perfect belly landing!" one of them cried delightedly. "Smooth as
glass."
"Just like a dame," complained the other, seeing the incident in a
different light. "Not satisfied with yelpin' her horrible yellow head
off at us up there, she's got to come over here and knock over our
drinks."
Ruby boosted herself dazedly to one elbow, and gazed malevolently at
the two. Daintily, she picked up a remaining beer bottle and dispatched
them to the floor in attitudes of idyllic slumber.
"That'll teach you to talk about a lady," she mumbled quickly, and with
that, silently collapsed.
It was in this restful atmosphere that Marc regained consciousness,
and for a moment, as he rolled the still unconscious Manny from his
chest, he had highly colored thoughts of atomic bombs and such. Then,
reassuringly, the wild applause of the more awake customers of the
night club, came to his ears. He got to his feet to discover the cause
of their noisy enthusiasm.
On the dance floor, there was the most remarkable human pyramid anyone
had ever seen. It wasn't so much the acrobats themselves, although
they were a fairly curious looking lot, it was the girl in the black
evening dress that sat casually on the shoulders of the top-most man.
Toffee had not only materialized, but had chosen her spot for doing so,
as well, and from the spectator's point of view, the effect had been
pretty astounding.
"Smartest trick I ever saw," one seedy little man mumbled to himself,
"but I'm dogged if I can figure how they got her up there so fast."
Another guest of the Loma, already dazed by drink, gazed wide-eyed at
the spectacle, and slipped blissfully under the table. "I'd have broke
me pledge long ago," he murmured, coming to sodden rest on the floor,
"if I'd known I was going to start seeing dames like that. It sure
beats the snakes."
But successful as the glorious tableau was, like all good things, it
was destined for an early end. However, it might have continued longer,
if the "Base" acrobat, upon whom the rest were depending for their
support, hadn't become curious about the audience's sudden approval of
the act. Usually, at this stage in the performance, a noticeable chill
descended on the club.
* * * * *
It is hard to say what the fellow expected to see, as he turned
his head awkwardly to look above him, but judging by subsequent
developments, it is a pretty safe guess that it was not a redhead in a
dangerous black evening gown, lounging radiantly on the shoulders of
his partners, graciously blowing kisses to the audience. To say that
the man was shaken, is to tell the whole story.
There was a dreadful series of whacking sounds as the forces of gravity
worked swiftly to bring the entire act to an untimely end. As for
Toffee, she alone descended gracefully, looking much like a streamlined
ballerina, knocking off the swan after a busy day in the woods. As
she bowed in the spotlight, the audience went nearly crazy with loud
appreciation.
"I knew they couldn't hold it long," she said breathlessly, rushing up
to Marc. "They're not as strong as they look."
"Never mind that!" Marc yelled. "Let's get out of here, before Ruby and
Manny wake up. If they get ahold of us now, they'll tear us to ribbons."
"But, I thought you wanted to talk to Manny about your brief case."
"I don't think he'll be feeling very conversational," Marc rasped,
grabbing Toffee's arm, and shoving her through the crowd. "Besides, he
doesn't know anything about it. That was just a gag. All I'd get out of
Manny would be a fractured skull. That's what Ruby was counting on."
"But what are we going to do now?"