"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 304 - Alibi Trail" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

to draw everybody my way, only I didn't. I managed a fair job though" - Jerry
added a grin - "because he at least took the picture, though I suppose all he
got was a load of that ermine wrap the Van Dolphe girl was wearing."
The lieutenant made another reversal of expression as he thumbed from the
hangar.
"You mean you were stooging for the camera man?"
A nod from Jerry.
"And you know where to reach him?"
Jerry bluffed a very confident nod.
"Then give him back his picture box," suggested the lieutenant, sweetly.
"Don't add our compliments; just say we didn't even take it. Since he handed
it
to us, we naturally kept it for him until we found out how we could reach him.
And now if you'll excuse us, we'll close the field for the night. You'll have
just about time to get out of the gate."
Taking the hint Jerry raced for the gate, carrying the camera with him.
But on the way to his car, which was parked outside, that certain elation that
he felt began to fade. Though he carried the camera very conspicuously as well
as carefully, Jerry was regarding it as anything but a prize. Its weight as
well as its looks were against it.
Once in his car, Jerry made sure. At the risk of spoiling what might be
the only photograph of Brenda Van Dolphe in existence, Jerry opened the camera
and found that his hunch was right. This wasn't the box that had snapped the
all-important shot. The photographer must have dumped that in the back seat of
his car, where he had this one planted in the front all the time.
It was just an old, very shabby camera, if not a dummy, certainly the
next
thing to it - a decoy. Whoever the photographer was, he deserved credit.
Despite
his disappointment, Jerry chuckled. After all, he'd fared well enough, thanks
to
the camera man's ruse.
Maybe the camera man deserved even more credit, or perhaps Jerry Reeth
shouldn't have chuckled. Those were points that were due for further
consideration - and very soon!


CHAPTER II

DRIVING along a stretch of lonely road wasn't so very lonely when you had
Brenda Van Dolphe to think about. In the glare from the headlights, Jerry
Reeth
could still picture the girl's face, frozen in half-horror at the flash bulb,
and he rather regretted that his only souvenir had turned out to be an empty
camera.
A print of that photograph would be very nice to have, but Jerry would
probably be clipping it from a newspaper soon. The camera man, whoever he was,
wouldn't waste time peddling the photo and probably at a big price. But it
wasn't the value of the unique picture of a hitherto unphotographed girl that
interested Jerry. Where money was concerned, his claim on the Van Dolphe