It was a little set, but it had good reception, and the voice of the announcer came in very clearly as he said. “The latest bulletin on the murder of Lucille Hollister, who was stocking-strangled by a sex maniac last night is a tribute to the detective ability of Sergeant Frank Sellers of the Homicide Squad.
“Detective Sellers, playing a hunch, checked back on the activities of a private detective who was known to have been working on a case in which the Hollister girl had some undisclosed interest.”
“Only a few moments ago, police were able to announce with positive certainty that the murderer for whom they are looking was a private detective by the name of Donald Lam, who together with his partner, B. Cool, transacts business as a private investigator under the firm name of COOL & LAM. Not only did the sister of the murdered girl positively identify photographs of Donald Lam as those of the man whom she had seen in her bedroom yesterday night immediately after the commission of the murder, but finger-prints which were left on the cellophane cover of the book the intruder was reading have been positively identified as those of Donald Lam.”
“Moreover, the proprietor of a suburban motor court has now identified the dead girl as being a young woman who appeared with Donald Lam at the motor court, at a time when the detective registering under the name of Dover Fulton and wife, secured one of the cottages.”
“Sergeant Sellers modestly disclaimed credit for any unusual detective work. The break, he said, came when, checking the description of the murdered girl, he found that it tallied almost identically with the description that had been given of the young woman who had been registered at the motor court as Mrs. Dover Fulton. Knowing that this young woman had been associated with the private detective, Sergeant Sellers made a quick trip to the motor court, got the woman who ran the place to rush to the morgue, where she positively identified the body. Thereupon Sergeant Sellers immediately started checking with Rosalind Hart, sister of the murdered girl, for the purpose of ascertaining whether Donald Lam might have been the intruder whom she saw waiting in her bedroom.”
“In commenting on the motivation for the crime, Sergeant Sellers said today, ‘Lam has always been exceptionally brilliant, but there has been some suspicion as to whether he was entirely normal. His partner admitted that, while women seemed attracted to Lam, and almost invariably made advances, Lam was at times cold, to the point of indifference.’
“Police have not as yet prepared a description for broadcast, but on our next news programme, on the hour, we will assist the police by broadcasting a detailed description of the suspect. In the meantime police are alerting all radio cars and watching all exits from the city. Sellers feels positive that Lam will be apprehended within the next few hours. ‘However,’ he announced grimly, and I quote, ‘it is pretty well established that the man is now desperate, and unless he is surprised and overpowered there will probably be trouble when we try to make the arrest.’ ”
The voice of the announcer then started on another subject and the redhead calmly walked over and switched the radio off.
Sam Lowry came out of the bathroom, wiping lather off his face with a wet towel. “Well, now,” he said, “isn’t that something.”
I lit a cigarette.