Mouthpiece by L. Ron Hubbard Read Free Book Online Page B

quickly.
    â€œThat’s better,”
rapped Delaney the younger. “Who paid you to make these phony reports and
overlook fires that had been set?”
    â€œNobody,” whined
“Blackford.” “We got hold of owners that needed the insurance money and split
with them.”
    â€œI thought so. And
your favorite trick was taking a bottle of nitroglycerin, wrapping it in
excelsior and putting electric wires over the mouth. That right?”
    When the other had
nodded weakly, the detective went on:
    â€œAnd you hooked the
electric wires to doorbells so that the fires never started until your pair of
henchmen were miles away with a good alibi. You started the Tyler Department
Store fire by connecting several ‘soup’ bottles to the light switch which you
knew would be turned on just before closing.”
    Dismally, alias
Blackford nodded assent. His was the expression of a thoroughly whipped dog.
    â€œWell,” continued
Delaney, standing up, “you’ll face murder on a dozen different counts, and
arson. You and your pals out there in the squad car will certainly get mighty
burnt. Did you set any more fires for tonight?”
    â€œNo,” whimpered the
investigator. “Don’t I get anything off for turning state’s evidence?”
    â€œYou didn’t have to
talk,” snapped Delaney, “but I’ve a dozen witnesses that you did. It’ll take
more than a smart mouthpiece to clear you of this rap. And furthermore, you’re
going to turn over a list of every man who allowed you to work on his property.
Understand?”
    Alias Blackford
understood. He lay like a sack of soggy straw and nodded only with an effort.
Dully he watched the two Delaneys move away.
    â€œBut how . . . how,”
began the old fire-eater, “how did you ever get next to all this? You’re
leaving a lot of it out. I’ve done some detecting in my time, but I never
grabbed clues out of thin air that way.”
    â€œThin air,” grinned
the detective. “No thin air about that. I had to take some awful beatings to
get that dope. Don’t I look like it?”
    â€œYou sure do,”
affirmed the elder Delaney, gruffly. “What happened to you?”
    â€œThey caught me at the
Tyler store when I came out with Blackford. Smashed me on the head with a sap,
carried me off and set a fire under me. They thought I knew a lot more than I
did. Blackford thought I was wise when he first laid eyes on me. He tipped off
his boys to be on the alert and then when I found some bottle glass inside—”
    â€œBottle glass?”
    â€œSure. I was going to
take it up to the laboratory for analysis just on a hunch. And Blackford knew
that I’d find a trace of nitroglycerin on that fragment. And when I did, I’d be
sure the fire was of incendiary origin. He was scared, and when we came out he
signaled his boys to jump me.
    â€œThey tied me up in a
closet and wired a bottle of ‘soup’ to the doorbell. Then they went out and
established an alibi and sent a messenger boy back to the house to ring the
bell. He rang it and blowie! The place was on fire.”
    â€œNitroglycerin set off
by electricity,” growled the fire-eater. “What the devil will pyromaniacs think
up next? You were mighty lucky to get out, Son. It looks like those fellows
meant business.”
    â€œI’ll say they did.
They weren’t going to have their game queered if they could help it. You see,
Blackford made that snatch look good by having himself knocked out, supposedly.
I found a cotton blackjack on one of his boys. If it hadn’t been for the
blackjack and that piece of glass, we’d still be fighting fires all over the
town.”
    â€œAnd thanks to you, we
aren’t,” said old Delaney with more than a hint of pride. He pulled at his
mustache and then looked up to see an acquaintance coming toward him. “Hello,
Morley.”
    Morley of