"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 123 - Washington Crime" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

signals at the switchboard; some one clicking a telephone receiver. Then came
the shots."
"The shots?"
"Yes. From Cranston's suite. A regular barrage that ripped the bedroom
wall! People heard the gunfire in the street; they reported that some one
dashed from the fire tower and made off in a car that was parked in the
alleyway. The car got away. Meanwhile, hotel employees reached the suite -"
"And found Cranston?"
Releston's question was filled with anxiety. It brought a grim headshake
from Marquette.
"No," declared Vic. "Cranston was gone. What happened to him is a
mystery."


SENATOR RELESTON showed relief. He regarded Lamont Cranston as a person
under the protection of The Shadow. Cranston, alive, would surely be safe.
Releston hastened to assure Marquette on that point, and he used a logical
method.
"Cranston could not have been abducted," asserted the senator. "The fact
that the attempted assassin fled is proof that he could not have carried
Cranston with him. It seems obvious that Cranston merely departed in order to
avoid the delay that would be caused by talking to the police."
Marquette apparently shared the senator's opinion; but Vic had something
else on his mind and he expressed it.
"You've missed the important point, senator. Whoever tried to get
Cranston
unquestionably had something to do with the theft of the National Emergency
Code. He either was the man who took it, or he's some one who wants it. If you
had notified me that Cranston was at the Halcyon, I would have been there,
too.
We could have grabbed the man who tried to murder Cranston."
Releston nodded his agreement. Again he started to make the statement
that
he had previously intended. Once more, Marquette interrupted him.
"You can still help us, senator," declared Vic. "Tell me this: Who beside
yourself met Cranston at the court-martial? That is, who saw him long enough
to
have suspected that he might have come from The Shadow?"
"No one," replied Releston. Then, with sudden afterthought: "Wait,
though!
Frederick Bryland rode with us, in my limousine! He knew that Cranston was
coming here!"
"Bryland, eh? The fellow who used to be an army major? He's not in too
good standing, senator. Maybe he's mixed in the theft of the NEC. You gave him
a clean slate on that visit to Follingsby's; but to-night makes it look bad -"
Senator Releston shook his head. He produced some memo pads from his desk
and handed them to Marquette.
"I keep a record of all telephone calls," said Releston, "including the
time when they are received. Bryland called me to-night, at half past eight.
There is the memo, Marquette."