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

Burke shook his head.

"You must be right about that forgery, Mr. Clarendon," he said. "But as far as I can see, it leaves us
nowhere. What does it prove?"

"It proves," said Clarendon quietly, "that something has been learned by rejecting the obvious.

"We have taken the last step in the dramatic murder of Seth WilkinsonтАФ namely, the finding of a
promissory note signed by Horace ChathamтАФand have rejected its accepted significance.

"Now let us go backward, step by step. What happened before that?"

"Chatham was seen leaving Wilkinson's apartment."

"By whom?"

"By attendants at the Grampian Apartments. By Wilkinson's man."

"Correct. How well did they know Horace Chatham?"

"Well," said Burke speculatively, "I guess that Wilkinson's man had seen him a few times; but not very
often." He paused, then added suddenly. "You don't meanтАФ"

"I mean just what you are thinking," replied Clarendon, his smile increasing almost imperceptibly. "Just as
the police thought they had found a note signed by Chatham, so did those men at the Grampian
Apartments think they saw Chatham leave!"

"I see it now!" exclaimed Burke. "It wasn't Chatham who signed the note. It wasn't Chatham who killed
Wilkinson. But wait! The theory ends right there!

"Wilkinson must have known Chatham well enough not to be mistaken. It must have been Chatham
himself who came to see Wilkinson."

"Do you have Wilkinson's testimony to that effect?" inquired Clarendon softly.

"Whew!" gasped Burke. "You're driving it home, now. Perhaps Wilkinson thought it was Chatham, too,
untilтАФ"

"Until he recognized his error. Then the man disguised as Chatham had only one courseтАФto kill Seth
Wilkinson."
BURKE was groping mentally. Fantastic though the theory might be, it seemed very real to him.

After all, the one man qualified to identify Horace Chatham was dead. Yet he still found it difficult to
depart from accepted facts. He was on the point of asking a question when Clarendon forestalled him.

"Let us go back further," said the man with the masklike face. "You may check me if I am wrong on any
detail.

"Horace Chatham was heard to call up Seth Wilkinson. By whom? A man at a cigar counter. He was