"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 117 - Vengeance Is Mine" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

Apex Security Co. was on the wire. Weston held brief conversation, hung up;
then announced:
"The Apex Co. says that the messenger left only five minutes ago. It
couldn't have been their man who delivered the bag."
Cardona arrived just as the commissioner completed his statement. Joe had
located the driver of the green cab; he had the man with him. Scared, the
hackie told how he had just parked his cab when the blast came. He had still
been slouched behind his wheel when Cardona found him.
"I picked up the fare over near Times Square," testified the cab driver.
"On Forty-sixth Street, to be exact. He was in a hurry; asked me if I knowed
where the Cobalt Club was, and when I said yes, he told me to hop here in a
hurry."
"Did you see his face?" quizzed Weston. "Can you describe him?"
"I got a look at his mug when he was payin' me. He was usin' one hand to
get his money, on account of carryin' a bag. He had his thumb on the handle of
it. Guess he was holdin' a spring down, until he could get rid of the bag -"
"But what did he look like?"
"His face looked dark; because his back was to the light, maybe. He had a
big chin, though. Kind of stuck it at me when he pushed his mitt in through
the
window to give me my fare. His face was flattish, I guess; it could have
looked
that way because his cheeks bulged up underneath his eyes."
"He was tall?"
"Yeah. A big guy. I could tell that when he was going into the door of
the
club."
When it came to minor details, such as a description of the
bomb-carrier's
voice, both the starter and the cab driver were hazy. They did define the
man's
tone as a quick one; but that was hardly adequate, as his conversation with
both witnesses had been brief and hurried.
It was a certainty that the man had taken a quick, uptown route
immediately after delivering the bomb. The starter's recollection of the
long-striding figure was backed by the cab driver. The latter had parked just
south of the Cobalt Club and swore that he would have recognized his
ex-passenger, if the man had come in his direction.


FULLY ten minutes had passed before the police had begun a proper search
of the neighboring blocks about the Cobalt Club. The bomb carrier had profited
by that interval to clear the vicinity. Joe Cardona, however, was confident
that other persons would be found who had observed the killer's flight. They
would add new details of description.
While Cardona was making such comment, detectives brought in the
messenger
from the Apex Security Co., a mild-looking man who carried a bag that
resembled
a briefcase. The contents proved to be stocks and bonds that belonged to