"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 006 - The Death Tower" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

walked a few blocks, then hailed another cab from the darkness.

When the vehicle drew up at the Marimba Apartments, it was Doctor Palermo, hat and coat upon his
arm, who stepped to the curb.

There was no hallman on duty after midnight. The former elevator operator was gone; his shift had ended
at twelve. Thus the attendant who took Doctor Palermo to the fortieth floor was not surprised to see the
physician. He did not know that no one had seen Doctor Palermo leave the building that evening.

CHAPTER III. TWO MEN INVESTIGATE
THE murder of Seth Wilkinson was front-page news. From Times to tabloids, the event was retold to
the readers of the daily journals. Involving the name of Horace Chatham, a man as socially prominent and
as wealthy as Wilkinson, the story was of double interest to New Yorkers.

The police were sure that they knew the murderer. The one problem was to find him.

Seth Wilkinson's manservant had undergone a grueling quiz, and his account had remained the same. Ten
minutes after Chatham had left Wilkinson's apartment, the man had found the body of his master.

Only Chatham had entered the apartment that night. No one else could have come or gone, without the
servant observing him.

The hallman of the Grampian Apartments corroborated this testimony.

He had noticed the nervousness exhibited by Horace Chatham. He told how the clubman had stumbled
when he entered the cab. He had felt sure then that something was wrong.

When Wilkinson's servant had spread the alarm, a short while later, the hallman had recalled the incidents
of Chatham's departure.

The police had discovered the motive for the murder. The note signed by Horace Chatham was sufficient
evidence that some business transaction had led to the killing.

In the reconstruction of the crime, the scene in Seth Wilkinson's study was fully visualized; and the terse
tabloid writers made good use of it.

Chatham, they believed, had given Wilkinson his note for thirty thousand dollars. Perhaps it was to pay a
gambling debt, for both men were inveterate gamesters. Whatever the purpose of the transaction, it must
have led to a sudden quarrel; and in the fraction of a minute, Horace Chatham had killed his friend.

While the police had lost all traces of Chatham after the cab driver had deposited him at the Grand
Central Station, they had been quite fortunate in discovering his actions prior to the time of the murder.

Horace Chatham lived uptown, in an old brownstone residence that had been the home of his family for
many years. His unmarried sister and two servants were the only other occupants of the house. They
testified that he had left there at noon.

He had lunched at the Argo Club, had remained there most of the afternoon, and had eaten an early
dinner. He had been seen at a theatrical ticket agency, and at the Forty-third Street Theater.