"Brixton, Danvy - Dead Hands On The Wheel (Avenger 4203)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brixton Danby)

before the ending of the race."

"Then who was driving Landi's car?" I demanded.

For answer, Grossman thrust his hand into the side pocket of his coat and drew out
a sheaf of photographic prints. He handed them to me.

"These," he explained, "are some stills from what the newsreel photogs got during
the race. See for yourself who was driving."

I took the pictures and examined them. There was no one in the driving seat of
Landi's race car--only a vague, wraithlike form, like a cloud or a vaporous mist, hover-
ing over the wheel.

Grossman stood patiently for a few minutes, while I studied print after print. They
all told the same story. I handed them back to him.

He said: "The D.A.'s waiting to question you. He wants to know what you were doing
all morning."

"But this is absurd!" I could hear my voice getting hysterical. I couldn't control it.
"Landi must've gone to his garage and been murdered there after the race. And I was in
this room--"

Grossman thrust the photographs back into his pocket, and at the same time, he jingled
a set of handcuffs suggestively.

"You can tell that to the D.A.," he muttered, and thrust out his jaw.

I'm a big man, but I don't keep in shape. I guess I'm soft, and my muscles are flabby.
I couldn't see any sense trying to resist a guy like this Grossman, who looked like a heavy-
weight wrestler--or maybe a shot-putter.

So I went with him.


The D.A. was tough. He made things look bad for me. The way he talked, I was in league
with a crowd of the other bookies to keep Landi from driving in the race at any price--
even murder--so we'd collect on all those future bets we'd laid.

He seemed to know about the slush fund we'd chipped in for, to bribe Landi to keep
out of the race. But he didn't mention any names, and I didn't, either. I've been several
different kinds of louse, in my time, but I've never squealed on my pals.

I told him some guy I didn't know had passed me the tip in the washroom--which was
the truth. Then I clammed up. I realized what a spot I was in. It hadn't occurred to me
before that Milligan--or one of the others in the "fix" ring--might have paid some killer
to bump off Landi. And I'd be just as guilty as the rest of them-╤guilty of putting up
money to have a murder committed.