"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 012 - The Crime Cult" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

THE CRIME CULT
Maxwell Grant
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? CHAPTER I. SEALED LIPS
? CHAPTER II. THE SOCIETY SUICIDE
? CHAPTER III. WATCHERS OF THE NIGHT
? CHAPTER IV. THE SHADOW HEARS
? CHAPTER V. A MAD MESSAGE
? CHAPTER VI. DIP TRAILS TROUBLE
? CHAPTER VII. MARGARET SEEKS A FRIEND
? CHAPTER VIII. DEATH IN THE CARDS
? CHAPTER IX. THE MAN WITH THE EYES
? CHAPTER X. KILLERS AT WORK
? CHAPTER XI. CARDONA TRACES MURDER
? CHAPTER XII. DONEGAN PREPARES
? CHAPTER XIII. THE TEMPLE OF SILENCE
? CHAPTER XIV. THE MAN WITH THE CLEW
? CHAPTER XV. MIDDLETON SPEAKS AGAIN
? CHAPTER XVI. THE CRIME CULT
? CHAPTER XVII. CARDONA ATTACKS
? CHAPTER XVIII. A FIEND'S END
? CHAPTER XIX. RETRIBUTION

CHAPTER I. SEALED LIPS
A SUDDEN chill swept over Don Hasbrouck as he reached forward to place his hand upon the bell. He
hesitated. He looked upward to the black windows and strange turrets of the old stone house. The cold,
driving rain pelted into his face. The nightтАФor the dismal, sinister mansion itselfтАФbrought instinctive fear
deep into the man on the steps.

Hasbrouck straightened his shoulders. He couldn't tell, for the life of him, why he hesitated, or from
whence came that eerie feeling.

He was at the end of a trail, ready to enter a place that he knew well. There was no one in the gloomy
house who could harm him. Reason told him that. But instinct, some age-old secret dread, fought against
reason.

A shrill night wind whistled through the narrow uptown street, as if to shriek a warning. And, suddenly,
Hasbrouck, in the midst of Manhattan, felt isolated and insecure.

Hasbrouck's finger crept forward. Deliberately, he pressed the bell. The wind had died down. Now,
from the depths of the house, he heard a single, muffled note, like that of a ghostly gong struck in somber
silence.
The sound quickened Hasbrouck's qualms. As he waited, he felt a sudden desire to turn and dash down
the stone steps behind him. The darkness of the night seemed safer than the gloom that lay ahead.

He waited. The door creaked slowly open. With a quick effort, Hasbrouck stepped into the dimly lit
vestibule.