"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 043 - The Crime Clinic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

had an opportunity to express himself.

"I know what you're thinking, inspector," said the detective. "It's going to raise hob if we start going after
some unknown bird that we call 'The Jackdaw.' The commissioner put the taboo on my mentioning The
Shadow in reports - even though I knew there were cases in which The Shadow figured. Now, if I say
there's a crook called The Jackdaw -"

Inspector Klein raised his hands. He tried to curb Cardona's outburst.

"Easy, Joe," he said. "You're getting ahead of yourself. There are no reports of robberies as yet."

"That's just it," returned Cardona grimly. "The other times we came in after The Jackdaw was gone. This
trip I want to be ahead of him."

"Excellent," affirmed Klein.

"I've figured it this way," asserted Cardona. "If The Jackdaw is back on the job, he'll be after big game.
Here - right on the same page of this afternoon's newspaper - is something that ought to interest him."
Inspector Klein looked at the item which Cardona indicated. Half aloud, he read the words which most
impressed him:

"Among the gems which Rutherford Casslin will exhibit at his home on Wednesday night is a large
diamond of a decided reddish tint. Its value has not been stated; but Mr. Casslin stated that he regards it
as the prize of his collection."

"Casslin is a millionaire," explained Cardona. "Lives out on Long Island in a big place he calls 'Five
Towers.' I talked to him on the telephone this afternoon."

"About the diamond?"

"Yes. I told him who I was. I asked him about being present at his home on Wednesday night."

"What did he say?"

"I think he's crazy," growled Cardona. "He told me to go back to Bombay; that he was tired of people
calling him up and misrepresenting themselves. He wanted to know if I was the same fellow who talked
to him in London, and claimed to be from Scotland Yard."

"That's odd," commented Klein. "He must have obtained the diamond in India. Listen, Joe; why don't you
go out here this evening and see this millionaire? Get his slant on whatever he suspects; but don't mention
anything about The Jackdaw. That ought to pave the way for a visit on Wednesday night."

A shadow fell across the floor as the inspector was speaking. Joe Cardona saw the approaching streak
of black; he wheeled in his chair, and looked toward the door. He grinned as he saw a tall,
stoop-shouldered janitor, who was carrying a pail and mop. The fellow looked at the detective with dull,
listless eyes.

"Hello, Fritz," laughed Cardona. "Cleaning up early again, eh?"

"Yah," returned the janitor.