"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 035 - The Black Hush" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

Olympia Hotel tonight!

CHAPTER III. THE SHADOW BEGINS
Headlines told of the double killing at the Olympia Hotel. New Yorkers read of gangland's outrage.
Mingled with bacon and eggs came the cry of murder as breakfasters perused their newspapers.

Richard Reardon and Roland Furness were unfortunate victims. Everyone granted that fact, and agreed
that the perpetrators of the outrage should be brought to justice. But in back of all the disapproval was
the established idea that the men had died through a mistake.

Detective Joe Cardona had expressed that belief, and it had been accepted. Every journal in Manhattan
was in accord. The case was too obvious for doubt. Even the man who had been missed was known.

Unknown mobsmen, out to get Goldy Tancred, had made a blunder. Somehow, they had extinguished
the lights in the Olympia Hotel. Under cover of darkness, they had entered the Red Room where they
had believed the meeting of the Mohawks was being held.
Richard Reardon, heavy and conspicuous, had been mistaken for Goldy Tancred. Well-directed bullets
had marked Reardon's form. Roland Furness, also in the danger zone, had been put on the spot as well.
It was possible that he had been taken for Bowser Riggins.

Newspaper columns were filled with hectic details which included garbled statements of the witnesses.
Members of the Association of Electrical Engineers, when interviewed, had given varied stories. Such
statements received no more than passing mention.

One man said that the shots had preceded the light; another told the opposite. One declared that he had
seen the light move away; another that it had been extinguished before it moved. One more declared that
the killer had used an acetylene lantern instead of an electric flashlight.

But the sum and substance of all the reports was that Goldy Tancred had been slated for the spot. A big
shot, liked by politicians, but unpopular among certain gang leaders, had escaped the doom that was
intended for him.

Goldy, himself, knew nothing. He was staying close to his palatial apartment high up in the Hotel
Marathon. His famous astrakhan coat no longer would be seen at Brindle's restaurant. Goldy Tancred -
so reporters affirmed - would prefer to send out for sandwiches in the future.

DETECTIVE Joe Cardona read the morning newspapers with a real relish. His presence at the Olympia
Hotel was universally commended. He had used good sense in watching Goldy Tancred. It was not his
fault that the killers had blundered.

Commissioner Ralph Weston, overlord of New York police, had voiced his approval of Cardona's
tactics. He supported the detective's finding, and he had promptly deputed Cardona to handle the case.

Among the newspapermen who were active on the story was Clyde Burke, a reporter for the New York
Classic. A veteran news gatherer, Clyde believed that Cardona was right. Secretly, however, he
wondered what the outcome of this affair might be. For Clyde knew, from experience, that there was
someone who could deal with gangland's slayers even when the most ardent police measures failed.

Clyde Burke was thinking of The Shadow. For Clyde Burke, himself, was a secret agent of The
Shadow!