The big black car came smoothly down the winding road, slowed as it approached the bridge. The driver stuck his head out the window and yelled at Rourke, “Hey, what’s the idea up there?”
Shayne came from the side of the road where he had been waiting. The chauffeur’s head sticking from the window made a perfect target for his lead-weighted fist. He struck a light blow at the back of the head where it joined the neck. The chauffeur went limp without knowing what hit him.
Shayne dragged him out and across the road to the shadow of a palm. He hurried back to the limousine and got in, backed away a distance of twenty feet from the bridge, then rolled forward in low gear. Approaching the concrete abutment, he twirled the wheel and let the weight of the car crumple the left fender and radiator grill against the concrete.
He then backed away and maneuvered the heavy car about, drove to the concrete driveway and back into the garage. He slid out of the seat and trotted back to the bridge where Rourke patiently waited for him.
The reporter flashed him a quizzical smile as Shayne got in beside him. “Neatly engineered,” he approved. “If you can’t find the evidence you need, just manufacture it.”
“Your brain is beginning to function,” Shayne said with marked flattery. “Let’s get back to that telephone booth.”
Rourke backed off the bridge and headed for the service station. Inside the phone booth, Shayne laid out four nickels. He called the Stallings campaign headquarters first. When a voice said Mr. Stallings was there, Shayne said, “Give him this message. Doctor Patterson calling. It’s imperative that Mr. Stallings return home at once. Absolutely imperative.”
Shayne hung up and called the Patterson Sanitarium. “Mr. Burt Stallings,” he said crisply. “Have Doctor Patterson come immediately. Tell him it’s a matter of life and death.” He hung up before any questions could be asked and called the Bugle Inn.
He got Arch Bugler on the wire and said, “Mike Shayne talking.”
“Haven’t they hung you yet?” a voice purred in Shayne’s ear.