"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 300 - Crime Out of Mind" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

CRIME OUT OF MIND
Maxwell Grant
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? CHAPTER I
? CHAPTER II
? CHAPTER III
? CHAPTER IV
? CHAPTER V
? CHAPTER VI
? CHAPTER VII
? CHAPTER VIII
? CHAPTER IX
? CHAPTER X
? CHAPTER XI
? CHAPTER XII
? CHAPTER XIII
? CHAPTER XIV
? CHAPTER XV
? CHAPTER XVI
? CHAPTER XVII
? CHAPTER XVIII
? CHAPTER XIX
? CHAPTER XX

CHAPTER I
THE spotlight from the little balcony was focussed on the darkish man who stood in the center of the
nightclub floor. He was a commanding figure, this man, with his dark, full face and glinting eyes.

In fact, everything glinted about Planchini.

The great man's turban gleamed with a huge red stone that he termed the Token of Buddha. Similarly,
Planchini's regalia scintillated with an embroidery of costume jewelry. Beside him was a silver-rimmed
fish bowl, transparent but of a tinted glass that fairly shimmered with iridescence.

Most sparkling of all was the crystal ball that Planchini held in his right hand. No mere glass this, but
genuine rock crystal, so clear that it drew eyes with a hypnotic force.

Appropriate, such a ball, for this was the Crystal Room of the Chateau Parkview, one of New York's
swankiest hotels. To live up to its name, the Crystal Room was hung with huge cut-glass chandeliers and
Planchini had smartly posted himself so that one of these would serve as background in the spotlight, thus
adding its glitter to that of his performance.

For in the eyes and minds of many who watched him, Planchini was a real mystic of the highest caliber.
Even now, as Planchini dipped his right hand into the bowl to bring out a folded slip of paper, there was
breathless silence among the spectators who thronged the surrounding tables.

"I see the initials 'L. J.,'" declared Planchini, in stentorian tone, his eyes fixed on the crystal ball. "The 'L'