"Shadow - 350301 - Back Pages - Grace Culver - Red Is For Fox" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brown Roswell)

"Now had the Hon. John only known, he'd doubtless have been a smuggler
just to accommodateЧ"
"Be funny!" Burton was bitter. "And the pay-off is, he really got those stones
into the country somehow! Scotland Yard cabled he had thenЧdefinite Чwhen
he left England. And why should he toss 'em overboard when the Sylvania was
three days out to sea?"
The redhead, absent-mindedly lifting the lipstick toward her mouth as she
listened, jerked it down abruptly with a soft grunt. She put it away in her purse;
then pulled out another and went to work with it.
"You meanЧheadquarters thinks the cane was only a plant? Ribden left it
where they'd find it, guessing that England had sent over a tip-off and he'd be
searched?"
"You're going great."
"And then, when the stuff proved valueless and they couldn't hold him, he
walked out scot-free with the real stones somewhere else in his luggage?"
"That," Burton conceded, "is the general idea. But where in blazes did he have
'em? The men detailed to the job tore his trunks wide open. Harry covered for us,
and he said they left Ribden's stateroom looking like the end of a six-day 'Cruise
to Nowhere.'"
Grace spoke softly.
"I'll bet you'd like to know where. I'll bet I would, too."
"What a story!" For an instant, rapture glowed in the city editor's ugly face.
Then it faded.
"Nuts! You'll find that 'Red Faces In Court' drool on page seventeen tonight.
And a squib in the society chatter about, 'The Hon. John Ribden, who arrived
today, on the Sylvania, left town immediately for the Tallyho Inn near Lakeview,
Conn. He comes from London for the Lakeview Hunt next Saturday.' Guess we'll
have to run a hooch ad for the lead."
Grace stood up slowly, slipping the second lipstick back into her purse
unobtrusively.
"Something may come up one of these mornings that'll surprise you,
Mongoose. Keep the home fires burning."
"Meaning?"
"MeaningЧnothing in particular." Burton's lips twisted into a dry smile. "Still
figure on pulling rabbits out of any old hat, eh, Culver? I got to admit you always
used to be able to."
Her parting shot was: "Why not? Given a hat with rabbits in it as a starter, of
course."
Grace walked into the Noonan offices at exactly one minute past one, and a
sepulchral voice boomed at her instantly:
"Late again, Miss Culver! I'm afraid you're fired!"
Grace grinned engagingly at the handsome face of Jerry Riker, Big Tim's
other assistant, and thumbed her nose.
"That from our office boy! All right, But one more slight out of you, Jerry
Riker, and I won't let you go fox hunting with Tim and me next Saturday."
"Tallyho!" Jerry roared instantly.
"That's right. The Tallyho Inn. At Lakeview, Connecticut. Getting to be quite
a detective for a little feller, aren't you?"
Slowly, Jerry's broad smile faded. He studied the girl for a moment, as she
took off her hat and fluffed out the waves of her bright hair before the office