Boy's Cinema (1939-40)

Every Tuesday Dur6 seemed quite satisfied and went oft to a lift. On the fourth floor he walked along a corridor to the door of the suite, glanced right and left to make sure that there was no one about, then stooped to listen at Ihc keyhole. Hearing; no sound from within he straightened up. thrust a hand into a trouser-pocket, and took out a bunch of keys. He looked at the keys, hesitated, and abruptly thrust them back into the pocket from which he had taken (hem and rapped on the door with his knuckles. Almost Instantly the door was opened and Major Roston stood grinning at him. "Major Roston!" exclaimed the visitor as though amazed. "Mr. Dure!" said Roston. as though delighted. "Come in. won't you?" Dure stepped past him into the sitting- room and the door was closed. Roston pointed to tho chair he himself had just vacated. "Won't .vou sit down?" "Thank you." Dure sank into the chair, holding his hat. and Roston pulled another one over to sit facing him. "I hardly expected you so soon." he said, crossing his legs and leaning back with his thumbs in the armholes of his waistcoat. "Suppose we take up where Carol Rayder left off, shall we? She didn't mention the exact price, but she did say something about financial independence." Dur6 did not attempt to hide his dis- comfiture. "I—I don't know what she could have been thinking of." he muttered. Roston screwed up hi.'; lips. "When I first met you. Dure." he said pointedly, "you didn't know the woman. Now you admit knowing her. but you don't know what she was thinking of. Well, I do—ihe Fielding invention!" Dure jumped almost as though he had been shot, and Roston chuckled. "Relax." he enjoined, "there's nothing to be afraid of. I resorted to the trick of claiming the body to find out who Miss Rayder's backers were." Dure leaned back in his chair and con- trived a rather sickly smile. "Ah, that's better," said Roston cheer- fully. '"What are you willing to pay for this invention?" Dure drew a long breath. "You've caught me unprepared." he murmured. "I thought it would take weeks before negotiations would reach such directness." "Let's quit stalling." returned Roston. a trifle impatiently. 'Ai-e you t'ne man I have to deal with, or is there somebody above you?" "I'm the man," Dure declared. "But first I must communicate with mj' Govern- ment." "How long will that take?" "I'll contact them immediatelj', and then get in touch with you." "Very well—you can find me here, so long as it's only a matter of days." ■ Dure stood up and offered' his hand. Roston rose and shook it. "Thank you, Major Roston." said Dure, with evident relief. " What I feared would be a distressing interview for me ha^ turned out well for both of us." "Let's hope so." Roston produced the two printed forms he had obtained at the Morgue. "Oh, by the way. I think you may need these slips to arrange for the funeral." Dure accepted the forms with thanks and took his departure, but whether he felt any genuine distress at the death of his agent, or not, Roston could not deter- mine. Of one thing he felt quite certain, and that was that the girl had not com- mitted suicide. The next day was Simday and unevent- ful. Monday morning came, and Roston was breakfasting in his suite when the telephone bell rang. Colonel Whalen was on the other end of the line, speaking from his office in Washlnton, and Roston BOY'S CINEMA gave him a brief account of all that had happened. "I'll complete the deal with Dure as quickly as possible." he said, "so that .vour fellows can nab him." "Excellent, Roston." approved Whalen. "but hurry it along all you can. The plane's nearly completed and should be ready for test; by Wednesday." "I'll try to finish here before then." promised Roston. "but in any event I'll be there for the test. Good-ljye. colonel." He had not mentioned the sheet of paper he had found under the dead baroness' hand, but he had given quite a lot of thought to it the previous day, wondering whether the "Intra" v/ritten on it was the beginning of a word never completed, or a word in some code to which he lacked the key. He realised that it might have no particular significance, but he nreferred to believe that the girl had tried to pro- vide a clue to her murderer or murderei's. It was not till after his conversation with Colonel Whalen that a sudden impulse caused him to pick up the telephone directory and turn to names beginning with "Intra." The impulse was well rewarded. He found the word itself in an entry that ran: Intra. (International Trading Ass'n.) 8126, West Broadway. Barclay 5-6214. So "Intra " was a word made up from "International Ti-ading Association." and that suggested possibilities. In less than half an hour Roston stood outside a door on the seventh floor of a tall office build- ing in West Broadway. On the frosted panel of the door, as on the frosted panels of five other doors, was painted: INTRA. International Trading Association. The five other doors were marked "Private," but this one was marked " Inquiries." Roston opened it and entered a room occupied only by a very plain girl at a desk. "How d'you do?" he said to pleasantly. "My name is Roston. like to see your general manager." She rose immediately. "If you'll just have a chair. Roston," she said. 'I'll announce you." She went off into an adjoining room which had half-panelled walls but wa; by no means elaborately furnished William Fornay was seated at a laminatea desk in it and Jules Mann was smoking a cigar in a leather-backed chair on his right. "There is a Mr. Roston to see you." announced the girl. "Roston?" echoed Fornay in a voice harsh with surprise. "Yes." "Whom did he ask for?" "The manager, sir." "Have him wait." The girl went out. closing the door behind her. Fornay and Mann looked a' each other. "I thought we'd stopped him when we look care of the baroness." said Manu. 'I wonder who told him about us?" Fornay got up from his chair, consider- ably disturbed. "You see him," he .said. "Find out what he wants to know-and I'll be listening in .\our room.' He went out at a door which he left slightly open, and Jules Mann took his place at the desk and spoke into a dicto- graph upon it. "Send Mr. Roston in." he instructed. Roston was shown into his presence, smoking a cigarette he had just lit and looking the essen.se of self-assurance. "How do you do?" Mann greeted him. • My name is Mann—what can I do for you?" "I don't know whether my name means anything or not," responded Roston. "I'm Major Roston, formerly of the United States Army." "Have a chair, major." Roston dropped into the chair Mann so recently had vacated, and the two studied one another appraisingly. '•Yes." said Mann, slowly and thought- fully. " I seem to remember reading some- thing of your case. What can I do for you?" Roston leaned back and exhaled smoke from his nostrils. ■During my long career in the Air Corps," he said, "I've naturally seen great development in military aviation." Two shots rang out in quick succession, and Dure fell forward across the desk, upsetting an electric lamp upon it with an elbow Nov?mber 4th, lOiO.