34

DOC SAVAGE

HER parents—mother and second to be scientific about, and so she had read husband named Fenisong—had died natural up on lunar theory, and, finding it was quite deaths two and seven years ago. Fenisong, involved and mathematical, they had negotian art gallery operator, had been well-to-do, ated for a coach named Wales. That was and Paula Fenisong had inherited his money, how I got into it.

which explained how she was able to live in a She told all of it without coaching, said place like the Parkside-Regent. She had only that was all she knew, and answered Sav-lived there a couple of weeks, having moved age’s questions. He wanted to know what the from an even more expensive place, which strange light was, what the black things were, accounted for her not being well known to the who Spatny was, and where the two Macs management.

could be found, and who the two Macs were.

The half-brother, Albert Gross, had Negative answers to all this. She’d told us all looked her up more than a year ago. He had she had.

changed his name from Grossberger to “Mind re-telling it to a lie detector?”

Gross, migrated from Austria—he said he Savage asked.

had been living in Austria for several years, “Now wait a minute!” I said. “It’s not having left Czechoslovakia to escape the any fun to have that gadget strapped to you domination of his father, who was a tyrant and—”

and a Nazi to boot—and had a nice stamp The too-sweet ding-dong-bong of the business in New York. He dealt in rare door chimes interrupted me. Monk went to stamps, finding and buying them on order for the door. We heard him swear a mighty oath.

wealthy collectors. There had been no spe-He sounded like a pirate who had sighted cial closeness between brother and sister—two treasure-laden galleons.

or half-brother and half-sister—which was Monk, wearing a grin that pushed his natural since they had never seen each other ears together at the back of his head, before, but they’d had dinner together a few brought the company inside and introduced times, and the relationship had been all right.

them as: “Our two lost sheep!”

Not close, but friendly.

The two Macs were ready and willing She had not, at this time, met McGraff to tell us plenty of nothing. McGraff—the or McCutcheon.

shorter one with the lesser red face—made That had come a few days ago when most of the speech. McCutcheon confined Gross came to her and said that he needed himself to head-nodding, or saying, “That is her help. He wanted her to get acquainted correct!” in a fine baritone voice.

with Doc Savage, and see that he took a look Albert Gross had been their pal. He at the moon from the terrace of the Parkside-had asked them to help him get Savage to Regent at precisely fifteen minutes past look at the moon at 7:15 p.m. Gross hadn’t seven o’clock. Miss Fenisong had—or she said why.

said she had, and I for one believed her—They had picked on me because they been understandably reluctant and curious.

felt I was no friend of Albert Gross—that Her hesitancy had been overcome by Albert much of what they said was certainly true.

Gross’s protestations that this was a tremen-They had come out here to see Albert.

dous thing, vitally important to a great many They didn’t know he was dead. . . . Dead!

people—and finally, when he broke down Albert dead? How awful! They blew their and told her there was a devilish plot afoot noses into handkerchiefs. They wouldn’t rest and that he couldn’t go to the authorities until their friend’s murderer was found.

about it because he, Albert Gross, was an Never!

McGraff

said

this

first,

then

alien illegally resident in the United States, McCutcheon said it.

she had agreed to decoy Doc Savage, see Savage asked: “We can depend on that he was on the terrace and looking at the your help?”

moon at seven fifteen.

“Emphatically!”

Gross had impressed her with the fact I opened my mouth to say let’s try the that Doc Savage was an extraordinary sort, lie detector on them. But I didn’t, because wary of feminine traps, and that the best way Monk Mayfair kicked me on the shin. Just of getting his interest was to be very erudite before that I had been smiling at Miss Feni-and scientific. Considering the circum-song, and Monk kicked a lot harder than stances, the moon seemed a logical subject necessary.

NO LIGHT TO DIE BY