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

the dining room; after that, he stopped at the check room and obtained a small
bag that he had left there. He went up to the fourth floor and entered the
two-room suite that he had taken in the name of Lamont Cranston. Passing
through the small living room, he left his bag in the bedroom.
Returning to the living room, The Shadow noted other bags; also the case
of a portable typewriter. He had brought these with him when he had
registered.
During his absence they had been disturbed. The person who had gone through
the
luggage could have learned nothing. All evidence that proved The Shadow's
actual identity was in the single bag that he had brought from the check room.
The Shadow looked across the living room. On the opposite side was the
door to another bedroom, that could be added to the suite if three rooms were
required. It was plain that the intruder could have come from that room.
Like The Shadow's bedroom, the other one probably had a doorway of its
own
to the hall. Picking locks would not have troubled the thief who had opened
Follingsby's desk drawer.
The Shadow's portable typewriter was on a table. Tucked under the roller,
The Shadow found a note typed on hotel stationery. It had been typed on The
Shadow's own machine. The note stated:

Be wise. Leave Washington. Call Senator Releston. Inform him that neither
you - nor any one connected with you - will continue to search for the NEC.
Failure to heed this warning will mean death!

There was a telephone close by the entrance to The Shadow's bedroom. It
had an extension cord of considerable length. The Shadow picked up the
telephone, turned his back and jiggled the hook. He gave the number of Senator
Releston's telephone.
Playing the part of Cranston, The Shadow paid no attention to the door on
the far side of the living room. He paced nervously through the doorway of his
own bedroom, carrying the telephone with him. He swung back toward the living
room; stopped near the doorway and spoke quickly:
"Hello. Senator Releston's apartment?... This is Mr. Cranston... Yes,
Lamont Cranston... Certainly, I wish to speak with the senator. Immediately!
It
is urgent..."
While talking, The Shadow swung farther into the darkened bedroom. His
voice told that he was not far beyond the connecting doorway; so did the taut
extension cord to which the telephone was attached.
Ears heard The Shadow's voice; eyes saw the drawn cord. There was a
result
from the far corner of the living room.
The distant door connecting with the next suite opened. An angled figure
came into view. Body crouched forward, but with shoulders erect, the intruder
used a peculiar mode of stealth as he crept across the living room.
The lights of the living room revealed the approacher's face. The man
from
the next room was Frederick Bryland!