THE PAY-OFF

Handsome Willie Montford whistled a gay tune as he adjusted his tie in the mirror. Behind him his apartment door opened silently. Willie froze in fear and panic. In the glass he saw a girl. She had a gun in her hand. The girl fired. Handsome Willie Montford pitched to the floor, dead.

* * * *

“I’m probably Willie’s best friend,” Joe Gulino told Professor Fordney, “but Willie was the most close-mouthed guy I ever saw so I don’t know much about him. He lived off of women—but I suppose you know that. All I know is that he had three underworld dames on the string: Dottie Kinble, Elsie Drake and Connie Laird. He was playing them against each other. When I told him it was dangerous he just laughed and said he could handle them. Looks like one of them handled him.”

* * * *

Fordney and Lieutenant Bill Jopke went to work in the underworld. They discovered that one of the girls and Willie Montford ran a cheap bookie joint. Also that Elsie Drake only recently had learned about the place, and told Montford his partner was a dope addict.

Further investigation revealed the following:

1. Connie Laird’s husband was the brother of the man who was married to the woman who killed Montford.

2. The beautiful girl who ran the bookie joint with Montford had never been married. While she spurned all offers she had begged Montford to marry her.

It wasn’t much, but the criminologist sorted out the information and knew which of the three women had shot Handsome Willie Montford.

Do you? Turn page for solution.