Annihilation

A seven-fifty derby, new only that afternoon and destined already to be reblocked! Ex-roundsman Timothy McCarty, whose complete transition to civilian attire was still so recent...

At the corner the two self-appointed investigators found a taxi and Dennis, for once taking the lead, insisted upon engaging it. McCarty had protested loudly against this excurs...

“No, none. It was not unusual and I thought nothing of it.” Orbit’s hands clenched slightly. “I cannot believe that poor Hughes is really gone! Perhaps Ching Lee made a mistake,...

The twain slept late the next morning, and they had only just returned from the little restaurant around the corner, where McCarty habitually took his meals, when the bell jangl...

“Good morning, gentlemen.” Henry Orbit appeared in the doorway and came forward. “Has your inspector news for me about the removal of Hughes’ body? I have made all the arrangeme...

“No, sir,” McCarty agreed. “’Twas not for me to say: I told you I’d no message for you about the body but you’d hear from the inspector. There’s no chance he could have took tha...

When the inspector had left them McCarty and Dennis mounted to the apartment above and together looked over the bank-book and check-book appropriated from beneath the rug in Hug...

They argued hotly all the way back to the New Queen’s Mall, Dennis convinced that his prediction was already verified and McCarty combating the idea from force of habit as much...

“Glad you could come at once, McCarty.” Eustace Goddard’s ruddy face was pale, and the humorous quirk beneath the ends of the small, sandy mustache had given place to a tremulou...

The cold, early light of a clouded morning found McCarty and Dennis seated over pancakes and coffee in an all-night restaurant on Sixth Avenue not far from Fiftieth Street. The...

“A fine mess you made of that!” McCarty remarked disgustedly when the door of Mrs. Goddard’s dressing-room had closed behind them, shutting in her husband and the maid. “Just wh...

“What’s got into you two?” Inspector Druet demanded. “This Radley was accused, together with an accomplice, of sending poison to a mutual enemy, concealed in candy. An innocent...

“We’ll soon see!” Shaking off the Chinese butler’s grip McCarty dashed up the steps and in at the door, with Dennis just behind and Ching Lee bringing up the rear, chanting a we...

Orbit told of the afternoon’s tragic experience again in detail for the inspector’s benefit and McCarty and Dennis listened carefully, but it differed in no way from his first d...

The litter of wrecked balloons was cleared away and the one which had changed color with such sinister significance was carefully deposited in an empty tin cracker box. With pip...

A strange scene presented itself to his staring eyes. Dennis was clinging weakly to an upright post at the foot of the heavily carved bed upon which Orbit was lying. His firmly...

Dennis’ lacerated emotions were finally soothed and after an old oil lamp was resurrected from the store-closet and lighted he seated himself for a pipe and a chat, but the shoc...

McCarty left the Parsons house a few minutes later, his mind a chaos of conflicting impressions. With the sonorous, dignified tones still ringing upon his ear and the deeply con...

“It’s a wonder you wouldn’t look where you’re going!” the latter observed. “I’ve come straight off duty without a bite or a shave to find out what’s new, but not to be thrown do...

“Is that the poor beast you told me about?” It was an hour later, and McCarty and Dennis were coming down the steps of the Parsons residence. The latter pointed across the stree...

“Good God!” Orbit exclaimed in horrified accents. “You don’t mean that the little fellow tumbled down the chute! That he was buried beneath the coal!—Goddard, my old friend, wha...

McCarty stumbled forward and took the envelope held out to him, turning to the window where he bent forward for the rush of cool air to play over his face. It was addressed simp...

“Shall we go on?” the inspector asked. It was nearly midnight and the intervening time since that dreadful twilight hour in the laboratory had been taken up with the formalities...