"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 011 - Double Z" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

"Very well. I incline to the first theory. However, he went to the place alone, unarmed, apparently
suspecting no danger. There was some one there with him. Maybe some one posing as Judge Tolland.
Double Z, for instance."

"Double Z!" exclaimed Ward.

"Yes. Because Caulkins was not killed by a gunman!"

"Why not?"

"Gunmen don't bump off reportersтАФat least, not in New York. Besides that, it took four shots, and two
of them were wide ones. Caulkins was at the telephoneтАФan easy mark. A gangster would have nailed
him with one shot, or two at the most."

Ward nodded. He saw Cardona's point.

"Now get this," declared the detective. "Whoever was intending to murder Caulkins inside that house
gave Caulkins the opportunity to spill a certain amount of information. From your description, that
information came straight from CaulkinsтАФit was not under threat. Caulkins had confidence in the man
who was with him.

"Now, Judge Tolland, if he is aliveтАФif he is in New YorkтАФwould certainly want to lay low. At any rate,
he would have seen to it that Caulkins either said nothing or said everything. That's logical, isn't it?"

"It seems so."

"But let's figure Double Z on the job, pretending to be Judge Tolland. That wouldn't be difficult. You
could double for Tolland, and so could Fennimann, here. Nobody's seen Tolland for more than a year.
He'd be apt to be changed in appearance, anyway. So we'll consider Double Z a hound for leaving his
mark or showing his hand.

"He gets a phony message to Caulkins. The reporter goes up there. He meets Double Z, who calls
himself Tolland, and hands him a lot of bunk. Caulkins swallows the story. He calls you.

"First he tells you that Tolland is with him. That's part of the game. Then he brings in Double Z. That's
great. Verbal statement as a new development on the note stuff. Then, when Caulkins begins to give
away who Double Z isтАФ maybe the guy was crazy enough to actually tell himтАФbang! Curtains for your
reporter."

"And this note?"
"Left there to make it look like Caulkins was threatened previously by Double Z. That guy would never
take back a note once he sent it. Looks like he just left it there, after Caulkins had brought it out to show
him, thinking he was really Judge Tolland."

"A great story," declared Ward, his journalistic instinct coming to the fore.

"All right," agreed Cardona, "if you leave out the Judge Tolland part."

"Why?"