"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 320 - Reign of Terror" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

"Hello? This is Hawkeye."

"Yes. I've been waiting. What happened?"

"Just what you figured: Even after the belt that Corbaccio must have gotten when he saw those bodies, he
was still too shrewd to use the phone in his funeral place. He beat it across the street to the candy store
where I was staked out. I was in the next phone booth when he called."

"Well?" If a great deal depended on this you could not have told it from the tone.

"Not so well. He's a shrewdy, that kid. I couldn't even hear his voice when he spoke. I think I tabbed the
clicks when he dialed, though."

"That's a good break. What did you get them as?"

"This is just guess work, chief, you know that, but I got the dial clicks as 764-0022."

"If you're even close, this'll be of great assistance, Hawkeye. Thank you."

"Is that all, chief?"

"It is until I can get past Corbaccio. I was sure that he wasn't the top man. This test this morning, his
running to the phone, supports my contention. However, you may have solved all that if you got the
phone number right."

"Uh, chief," Hawkeye was hesitant. "Don't sell this Corbaccio cookie short. I been digging around the
neighborhood. They don't have the vaguest idea that he's anything but what he seems to be, a respected
figure in business for twenty years. Lately though, there have been rumors, ugly ones. He's not so well
liked."

"I won't sell him short. I'm just sure that the real top man, the brain guy, is of a different calibre."

"You always know what you're doing, Shadow, I just wanted to let you know what I picked up."

"I appreciate it. Oh, there're two new rackets under way. Performers are being approached two ways. If
they are vain, their looks are being threatened with acid."

"Even if you aren't vain that's pretty lousy."

"Of course, but the vain ones pay of with less fight. The other gimmick is that the 'boys' seem to have
moved in on the booking end of show business."

"How does that work, chief?"

"A guaranteed amount of work if they'll pay some huge amount of money."

"Do the racket boys come through with the engagement?"

"Yes... or at least they have been so far. They may just want word to get around that if you pay off you
work. Then once that's established they may clean out as many performers as they can and just fold their