"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 030 - The Death Giver" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

"Pretty much as you've already had them," declared Cardona. "A Suburban commuters' train reaches
Felswood station at eight thirty-eight in the morning. Yesterday, when the train was leaving the station,
the conductor noticed a man slumped by the window. The side of his face was bruised and slightly
scarred. Looked like it had been scratched with glass and burned by acid.

"The conductor thought the man was unconscious. It turned out that he was dead. A regular commuter,
named Arthur Howley. Got on the train at Barbrook, two stations before Felswood.

"It had all the earmarks of an accident. Some object must have come through the open window, struck
the man, and rebounded onto the right of way.

"It might have happened before Felswood; it might have happened after the train left the station. But we
couldn't find anything in the carтАФnor along the tracks.

"The station is only a platform with a small waiting room. A vacant lot is near by, with commuters' cars
parked. We searched the whole place on the accident theory. I looked at the body. Police surgeon found
poison tracesтАФbut we couldn't figure what had hit the victim.

"We left it as an accidental death. This morning, the same thing happened again. Same train; same
carтАФand almost the same seat. This time the dead man was discovered by a fellow sitting alongside of
him.

"The new victim is Julius Forkney. He got on at Claytown, three stations up.

"Same marksтАФlike scratches and burns. Same resultтАФnothing to show what hit the victim. We haven't
gotten to the beginning of an explanation, commissioner. That's why the only thing to do is watch the
place carefully tomorrow."

"What details do you have on the slain men?" questioned Weston.

"Howley was the head waiter in an uptown restaurant," answered Cardona. "MarriedтАФwife and two
children. Forkney was an ad writer, with an agency in the Stanford Building. Single manтАФlived with
relatives.

"I have the reports on both of them"тАФCardona paused to draw typewritten sheets from his
pocketтАФ"and there's nothing to show. They are both unimportant personsтАФapparently had no
enemiesтАФand didn't know each other."

"Which backs up the accident theory," remarked Weston.

"Yes," agreed Cardona, "except for the manner of death and the mystery about it -"

"Which indicates," interposed the commissioner, "that some one desired to kill, but didn't particularly care
who the victim might be."

Cardona nodded. He had held the same idea himself, but had been loath to put it forth.

JOE CARDONA was noted as a practical detective. Commissioner Weston had little regard for his
abilities as a deductive reasoner. But with the commissioner putting forth a theory, Joe was ready to