"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 078 - The Third Skull" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

"Whereabouts in Ohio?"

"I don't know."

It was Tristram who supplied the information.

"Mr. Hothan lives in a town called Chalwood," recalled the servant. "Somewhere near Columbus."

Cardona made a note of it. The visitors left. Tristram stood by while Cardona made arrangements for the
removal of the body. Then the detective went downstairs.

At the door, he encountered a new arrival. It was Clyde Burke, reporter for the New York Classic.

"What's the dope, Joe?" questioned Clyde.

"Nothing," returned the detective. "The old gentleman fell out of bed with a heart attack. Tipped over the
table and the place caught fire from a candle that fell over. His servant put out the blaze."

"Well, that's a story. Give me more details."

"Look them over for yourself."

Cardona extended his opened notebook. Clyde began to read the various items. Immediately, the
reporter noted the completeness of Cardona's notes. He saw that the star detective must have suspected
more than accident at the beginning of the inquiry.

"Want to keep the book?" growled Cardona, as Clyde kept on transcribing information. "Say - what are
you going to do? Make a story for the Sunday supplement?"
"No," laughed Clyde. "Just hoping that I can convince the M.E. that this yarn is worth something. All
right, Joe, I've got the details. So long."

Joe Cardona went in one direction; Clyde Burke in the other. The detective, bound for headquarters, felt
positive that his final decision was the correct one that Hildrew Parchell had died by accident.

The reporter held no conclusion whatever. To Clyde Burke, the death of Hildrew Parchell was an oddity.
That gave the case a definite importance; so much so that Clyde stopped at the nearest drug store to put
in a prompt telephone call.

Speaking over the wire, Clyde gave the complete details from his copy of Cardona's notes. That done,
he stuffed the sheet of paper into his coat pocket. Clyde grinned as he went out to the street.

This story would mean but little to the Classic. Joe Cardona had been right in wondering why Clyde had
put down so many details. Clyde Burke had not been acting in his capacity as a reporter when he had
telephoned the facts concerning Hildrew Parchell's death.

Clyde Burke was more than a newspaper reporter. He was also the agent of a hidden master sleuth who
sought traces of crime beneath placid surfaces. It was to that chief that Clyde had forwarded the facts
that he had learned.

The circumstances of Hildrew Parchell's death; the names of those persons with whom the old man had