"Avenger - 4408 Shadow - To Find A Dead Man" - читать интересную книгу автора (Avenger)

tried to kill me--"


Dick Benson was already hurrying toward her, when a gust of air flowed through the lobby as the
door was pushed open, and the patrolman entered. "Here, what's this--"

Benson was stooping beside the girl, and the patrolman came running over. He looked suspiciously
at Benson. "Who is she?"

"The dead man's daughter, I think," Benson told him.

The girl lifted up her head and repeated her accusation.

"Good Lord!" gasped the patrolman. He took the girl's arm. "You poor little thing! Just tell us
who did it, and we'll get him. Who pushed your father out the window? Who tried to kill you?"

The girl's frightened sobs were still racking her body. She turned her head and looked at
Benson. She thrust her finger out at him, accusingly. "He did! He's the one who pushed my father
out the window!"


"Now just a minute, my child," said Dick Benson. "Get hold of yourself. You don't know what
you're saying." He threw a side glance at the patrolman and said to him, "The girl is hysterical--"

"Hysterical, is it?" growled the patrolman. "Maybe she is, and maybe she isn't. But don't you
move!" He pulled out his service revolver and covered Benson. "Stand away from that girl, and keep
your hands where I can see them!"

He called over his shoulder to the mob which had surged in from the street: "One of you, please
call the station house. Tell the sergeant I've got a murderer here!"

"Don't be a blithering idiot!" Benson said angrily. "I just came in off the street. I couldn't
have killed her father. And while you're wasting time here, the real murderer is making his escape!"

The hotel clerk was already telephoning to the precinct house, and the crowd was jabbering
excitedly, casting nasty glances at Benson. Some one said, "We ought to lynch the dirty murderer!"

Benson turned to the girl, who was still huddled on the floor. "Look here! You're Elsa Hammond.
I'm Richard Benson. I had an appointment with your father for eight o'clock this evening. I was just
coming to keep that appointment, when it happened--"

"No, no!" the girl exclaimed.

"You had already come. You came into the room, and I saw you. I was right there. I saw your
face, and I remember your clothes. Even that green necktie. You were supposed to help my father.
You're Richard Benson--the detective. Dad called you for help--and you murdered him!"

The patrolman began to look puzzled. "A detective?" he said. "Are you a detective?"

Benson nodded. "Matthew Hammond--this girl's father--phoned me this afternoon. He had gotten