"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 231 - Garden of Death" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

Bendleton had been murdered.

"If no one was going to make anything," began Weston, "there wouldn't have been much point in anyone
murdering Bendleton -"

Weston ended his statement abruptly, under Cranston's steady gaze. Perhaps Cranston's eyes caused the
commissioner to catch the other side of the picture; if so, Weston didn't realize it. He actually thought he
had gleaned an independent idea.

"All the more reason for murder!" exclaimed Weston. "That's it! Bendleton could have been holding out
on people who wanted to clean up with the new discovery. Tell me, Cranston: who invented the
Somnotone preparation?"

"I expected to learn that this evening," was the answer. "Bendleton promised to introduce me to the
inventor of the compound."

"Probably someone connected with the Alliance Drug Corp."

"I doubt it, commissioner. The company would claim the discovery, if such were the case."

"Then, who -"

"We may find the answer at Bendleton's."

THERE was a double meaning to The Shadow's statement. They might find one answer to Somnotone;
another to Bendleton's death.

The full significance was dawning on Weston when the official car pulled up to Bendleton's Long Island
mansion, situated within the city limits. Police were on guard outside, and the mansion was well lighted, a
striking contrast to The Shadow's earlier visit. However, Weston's hopes went glimmering as soon as he
and Cranston entered.

This wasn't to be a murder case, it seemed.

A medical examiner was present, and he already had the answer to triple death. Bendleton's own
physician, a Dr. Williams, was also present, and concurred with the official medico. Everything pointed to
one of those rare, yet actual, cases wherein the steam radiators had consumed the oxygen supply in an
overheated house.

As both physicians pointed out, Bendleton had kept the place as tightly closed as a drum. There had
been a week of rather chilly weather, and Bendleton hadn't aired the house because of one mild day. The
constant consumption of oxygen could be responsible for the deadly work.

Of course, there would be autopsies on the bodies, but both doctors were convinced that such would
support their findings.

When Weston remarked that the house wasn't stuffy, the police surgeon pointed to the windows that
invading officers had smashed, claiming that the action had admitted the much-needed air too late. These
were regrettable deaths, that had occurred through misadventure. It was Dr. Williams who softened the
disaster, when he remarked: