"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 243 - Room of Doom" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

"Before you finish the whole alphabet, inspector," Cranston remarked,
"what
about the fragments of that big mirror? They are certainly indicative of
damage."
Cardona agreed. The big mirror had struck a corner of the nook, bouncing
from there to the floor, and the glass had scattered everywhere, even into the
nook itself. Picking up the larger pieces, Joe began to lay them on the mirror
frame in the manner of pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, and quite as hard to fit.
Large chunks were overlapping when Joe came to a smaller piece, about the
size of a shaving glass. He decided that it would make a good exhibit; but
Cranston, stooping to pick up another bit of silvered glass, gave the reason
for
his preference.
"Here's one that's more jagged," he declared. "You'd better take it, too,
unless you can find a better one."
Looking, Joe thought he had found a better one, but Cranston sorting
through more pieces and comparing them, produced a better specimen. He even
weighed a pair, one in each hand, and also tried to find two pieces that would
fit each other.
Rather than dispute Cranston's judgment, Cardona began to take the
fragments as they came along, until he had a half dozen of them among his
exhibits.
Calling in the servants, Cardona told them he would need them later to
put
the room in order. Any furniture that was badly broken was to be stored in a
closet and kept for future inspection. Cardona intended to have the door
repaired and locked.
There were numerous other details, all part of the usual routine. While
he
was arranging them, Cardona saw Cranston stroll from the den. He supposed that
the commissioner's friend was going back to the conference, where Dulther and
Sigby were further explaining how Aldriff had betrayed the Magnax Corp.
Though their own hands were clear of blame, Dulther and Sigby had much at
stake. Should the Pharco scandal be made public, Aldriff's connection with it
would reflect upon Magnax. Huge though the corporation was, it could hardly
survive the blow. Mercantile houses would make demands on Magnax, just as
depositors would start a run on a bank reputed to be shaky. Unless assets
could
be rapidly liquidated, the Magnax Corp. would fall.
Instead of remaining as the executives of a great corporation, Dulther
and
Sigby would be looking for other jobs. The fruits of their long years of
service
would be gone, nullified by Aldriff's urge to obtain a million dollars all at
once.
Cranston could hear such dire predictions floating from the room where
Weston had gone with the executives. First Dulther's voice, then Sigby's, with
the commissioner inserting an occasional comment.
Joan's voice did not enter the conversation; in fact, the girl could not
have found anything to say. Dulther and Sigby were not blaming her uncle, at