Then Dave Cates attained greatness. After a quick word of reassurance to the frightened girl, he rolled up his mental shirt sleeves and cut loose. Now he was not only a police announcer, but a news reporter, and the biggest story of the year was breaking right under his nose. As he described the scene, there was a ring in his voice that brought his listeners up wide-eyed.
“There’s a little squabble going on out here, folks, that you might be interested in. The police are making a raid on a River Street house, occupied by Big Ed Margolo, the gangster, and a number of his gunmen. Definite proof has been established that Margolo and three of his men just shot and killed Red McGuirk, chief of the opposing gang.
“Now they are shooting down there, and there’s plenty of noise—plenty! Those gun flashes in the dark are like lightning flashes. They’re pretty, but they’re bad. Oh, there comes a gunman running out of the house. He breaks through three officers who are covering the door and starts on the run for cover.
“Now the officers are chasing him, shooting as they go. He turns and fires back at them. There he goes down! One of the bullets got him—in the leg, I think. The officers had every right to shoot to kill, but they didn’t. Now they’re putting the cuffs on him.
“People are around here, but about all you can see of ’em is an occasional head showing from behind a tree or from around the corner of a building. They’re still shooting in the house, but not quite so much. Ah, there’s a siren—it must be the wagon coming up. Yes, and it’s coming fast, too, by the sound of it. Oh, boy, there’s plenty of action in this row, all right!”
He paused for breath. “Please stand by, folks. I’ll be with you in a minute.”
He grinned at Anabelle Talbot, then went to the window to seek more details. Gee, if he could only be out in that scrap himself!
Absorbed as he was in the arrival of the patrol wagon, he failed to notice the man who crept around the corner of the house and paused, noting instantly the figure in the garage window.
Big Ed knew he had been framed by somebody, but he wasn’t sure by whom. That dim green glow that shaded the figure gave him suspicion. Big Ed knew something about radio. His teeth bared, and he moved toward the garage.