"He Lifted the Gun with a Steady Hand and Pointed It"

"5 Minutes to 12."
By Max Brand (Frederick Schiller Faust, 1892-1944).
First appearance: Cosmopolitan, November 1936.
Short short short story (2 pages).
Online at Archive.org (HERE).
(Parental note: Some strong language.)

"The cold-blooded sort of a devil who wrote those letters would stick to his timetable or die. That's his game, to be precise. That's his dirty sport."

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself—that and a loaded automatic . . .

Resources:
- Under the alias of Max Brand, Frederick Schiller Faust churned out millions of words for
the pulps and, beginning in 1934, the high-paying slicks in his day, giving us, among other things, Doctor Kildare and the Western hero Destry; see Wikipedia (HERE) and Pulp Fiction Writers (HERE) for more.

- We've already highlighted a couple of Brand's stories: "The Silent Witness" (HERE) and "Hole-in-the-Wall Barrett" (HERE).

The bottom line:
   "But if I want to murder somebody, will it really be the best plan to make sure I'm alone with him?"
   Lord Pooley's eyes recovered their frosty twinkle as he looked at the little clergyman. He only said: "If you want to murder somebody, I should advise it."
   ― "The God of the Gongs"
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