Malone nodded heavily. The whole thing smelled rather loudly, he thought. The "accident" wasn't very plausible to start with. And a search for an escaped criminal that didn't even involve checking identification of strangers like Malone wasn't much of a search. The cops knew who they were looking for.
And Shellenberger hadn't been killed by accident.
The roadblock was down, he noticed. The sheriff's office cars had apparently carried the cheerful cops back to Las Vegas. Maybe they'd found their man, Malone thought, and maybe they just didn't care any more.
"Wouldn't a State's attorney live in Carson City?" he asked after a while.
"Not old Gus Shellenberger," the cabbie said. "Many's the time I talked with him and he said he loved this old town. Loved it. Like an old friend. Why, he used to say to me—"
At that point the Great Universal hove into view. Malone felt extraordinarily grateful to see it.
He went to his room with the bundle of papers in his hand and locked himself in. He lit a fresh cigar and started through the papers. Las Vegas was the one on top, and he gave it a quick going-over. Sure enough, the suicide of the Golden Palace owner was on page one, along with a lot of other local news.
Mayor Resigns Under Council Pressure, one headline read. On page 3 another story was headlined: County Attorney Indicted by Grand Jury in Bribery Case. And at the bottom of page 1, complete with pictures of baffled phone operators and linemen, was a double column spread: Damage to Phone Relay Station Isolates City Five Hours.
Carson City, the State Capitol, came in for lots of interesting news, too. Three headlines caught Malone's attention: