"RichardHardingDavis-TheFrameUp" - читать интересную книгу автора (Davis Richard Harding)

anywhere. When, in hoarse whispers, the last one had been confided to him by his
detectives, Wharton had protested indignantly.
"Stop bringing me clews!" he exclaimed. "I want the man. I can't electrocute a
clew!"
So when, after all other efforts, over the telephone a strange voice offered to
deliver the murderer, Rumson was skeptical. He motioned the girl to switch to
the desk telephone.
"Assistant District Attorney Rumson speaking," he said. "What can I do for
you?"'
Before the answer came, as though the speaker were choosing his words, there was
a pause. It lasted so long that Rumson exclaimed sharply:
"Hello," he called. "Do you want to speak to me, or do you want to speak to me?"

"I've gotta letter for the district attorney," said the voice. "I'm to give it
to nobody but him. It's about Banf. He must get it quick, or it'll be too late."

"Who are you?" demanded Rumson. "Where are you speaking from?"
The man at the other end of the wire ignored the questions.
"Where'll Wharton be for the next twenty minutes? "
"If I tell you, "parried Rumson, "will you bring the letter at once?" The voice
exclaimed indignantly:
"Bring nothing! I'll send it by district messenger. You're wasting time trying
to reach me. It's the LETTER you want. It tells----" the voice broke with an
oath and instantly began again: "I can't talk over a phone. I tell you, it's
life or death. If you lose out, it's your own fault. Where can I find Wharton?"
"At Delmonico's," answered Rumson. "He'll be there until two o'clock."
"Delmonico's! That's Forty-fort Street?" "Right," said Rumson. "Tell the
messenger----" He heard the receiver slam upon the hook. With the light of the
hunter in his eyes, he turned to the girl.
"They can laugh," he cried, "but I believe we've hooked something. I'm going
after it." In the waiting-room he found the detectives. "Hewitt, " he ordered,
"take the subway and whip up to Delmonico's. Talk to the taxi-starter till a
messenger-boy brings a letter for the D. A. Let the boy deliver the note, and
then trail him till he reports to the man he got it from. Bring the man here. If
it's a district messenger and he doesn't report, but goes straight back to the
office, find out who gave him the note; get his description. Then meet me at
Delmonico's."
Rumson called up that restaurant and had Wharton come to the phone. He asked his
chief to wait until a letter he believed to be of great importance was delivered
to him. He explained, but, of necessity, somewhat sketchily. "It sounds to me,"
commented his chief, "like a plot of yours to get a lunch up- town."
"Invitation!" cried Rumson. "I'll be with you in ten minutes."
After Rumson had joined Wharton and Bissell the note arrived. It was brought to
the restaurant by a messenger-boy, who said that in answer to a call from a
saloon on Sixth Avenue he had received it from a young man in ready-to-wear
clothes and a green hat. When Hewitt, the detective, asked what the young man
looked like, the boy said he looked like a young man in ready-to-wear clothes
and a green hat. But when the note was read the identity of the man who
delivered it ceased to be of importance. The paper on which it was written was
without stamped address or monogram, and carried with it the mixed odors of the