Free The Golden Circle by Lee Falk Page B

mouth. In the other hand, she held a large black purse, a purse almost as ample as an attach^ case.
"We'll have to get this poor girl out of here." With his arm around Mimi, the Phantom led her off in the direction of the guest parking area.
"Wait a moment," said Dr. Scortia, trotting in their wake. "I don't like to interfere in your practice, Dr. . . . Walker, was it? Still, I don't feel this girl should be moved yet."
The Phantom's coat was draped over Mimi's wet shoulders. Through the tweed, she nudged him in the side. "Oh, I'm feeling well enough to walk. Please don't worry," she said to the following physician,
The three of them were clear of the party crowd. They cut across clean white gravel to the gray Mercedes 220S they were using on this job.
Dr. Scortia hesitated on the edge of the parking area. "Very well, the responsibility is yours, Walker."
"There's nothing to fear," said the Phantom.
"Give me one of your cards. I'd like to call you tomorrow to see how everything turned out," said the old physician. "You don't practioe medicine around here, I know. Where...,"
"I know how to get in touch with you. I'll call you first thing in the morning." The Phantom helped the dripping Mimi into the back seat.
"Not before eleven. I've got a tonsillectomy."
The Phantom smiled at him, slid in behind the wheel. 'Thanks for your concern."
In a low voice Mara, seated beside the Phantom, said, "Let's get going, dear. I left one of their damn private cops knocked out in the bedroom closet."
The Phantom turned the key and the car came alive, lie guided it out of its space and out of the parking urea. As they headed along the curving drive, away from the mansion, he asked, "You got the jewels?"
"Naturally," said Mara, laughing.
     
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Mimi sat down quietly in the deck chair. "You and Mara must have had a lot to talk about." The dark girl held a glass of tomato juice in both hands. "Out here on the terrace, I hear, most of the morning."
The Phantom grinned at her. "It's like any new job, Mimi. I have a lot of background material to get filled in on."
This was two days since the successful raid on the Steiner house. The Stevensport police had decided a man, calling himself Dr. Walker, along with two attractive girls, may have been connected with the robbery in some way. A Dr. Scortia had given a detailed description of all three. The Suffolk County medical association had no record of this particular Dr. Walker. The police announced they had several good leads and expected an arrest shortly.
This morning, while having a leisurely breakfast on the back terrace of the golden arrow house on the Sound, the Phantom had been able to have a long informative discussion with the blonde Mara. He now knew the names of the key fences and informers who worked with the girl gang. Soon, today or tomorrow at the latest, he would communicate with the authorities. The case would then be closed, the Phantom would be able to return to Bangalla and his home In the Skull Cave in the heart of the Deep Woods.
"I haven't had much time to talk to you lately," complained the pretty Mimi. She poked a finger into the tomato juice to flip out a fleck of foreign matter. "I'm going to have to start getting up earlier. I always miss breakfast. You'd rather be with Mara, I suppose."
"Do I have to choose between the pair of you?" he said. "After all, you're equal partners in our operation, nren't you?"
"Some people are more equal than others, as what's- his-name put it." The girl swung her bare legs up on the deck chair foot rest, stretching out with the half glass of tomato juice resting on her flat stomach. "See, well, I'm really sort of a newcomer, compared to Mara iand Beth. I mean, they more or less invented the golden arrow."
"You're on the board of directors, though." Out on the Sound a flock of sailboats, sparkling white in the noon sun, were passing. "You've risen from the ranks."
"That's funny, you know. Here, with my sort of flighty and impulsive