"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 331 - Mark Of The Shadow" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

"She's getting killed! Hurry! I heard shots!" Goleta shouted into the telephone from his office.
"Slow and straight, Max," the desk sergeant said into the telephone.
"In one of my cabins! Three shots! Everyone's yellin' out here," Goleta shouted.
"We're on our way," the desk sergeant said.
The police arrived at the El Capitan within five minutes. The crowd of frightened, screaming
guests of the motel milled like sheep around a lighted cabin. Max Goleta himself met the police.
The owner was abnormally agitated.
"Come on!" Goleta cried.
There were four policemen--two uniformed patrolmen and two detectives. The man in charge
was Detective Lieutenant Joseph Moss.
It was Moss who entered the lighted cabin first.
The tall, distinguished man who stood alone in the center of the cabin living room smiled
rather grimly at the detective. The man was grey-haired, well-dressed, and held a snub-nosed .38
caliber Police Special in his manicured hand.
Lieutenant Moss stared.
"Your Honor!"
"I have touched or moved nothing, Officer," the mayor said. "I did not leave the room. I
waited exactly where I was until you came. That was correct, I believe?"
MARK OF THE SHADOW 3
Moss nodded slowly. "Yes, Your Honor. That was correct. Can you . . . ?"
"He threatened me. He tried to kill me. I think you will find that his pistol has been fired once.
The bullet should be in the wall just behind me."
Lieutenant Moss looked down at the floor for the first time. The dead man was a short,
swarthy man in his fifties. Moss did not have to search for identification. The lieutenant knew the
man on sight: even in death. Giorgio Fustelli, alias Jimmy Faust, alias Two-Finger Jim, alias Joe
Fusto, alias so many other names Moss could not have remembered half of them without
consulting the record. A known Mafia leader. A known killer. Moss looked at the mayor.
"He called me and suggested a meeting. He said to come alone, he had vital information for
me," the mayor explained. "I suppose I should have expected a trap, but . . . Well, you know how
anxious we are, er, Officer?'
"Moss, Sir. Detective Lieutenant Moss."
"Well, Moss, you know how it has been. I imagine I was too anxious. I did have the sense to
come armed. He missed, I did not. I have a permit, of course."
Lieutenant Moss only nodded. He instructed his men to get to work on the normal homicide
routine. They were instructed to check every detail of the mayor's story. He took the mayor to
headquarters himself. One thing puzzled Joe Moss.
"Goleta said it was a woman who was shot."
"Ridiculous. Did he see a woman shot?"
"No sir, but he swears he saw a woman go into the cabin before you arrived. He saw no man,
and no one came out."
"I saw no woman," the mayor said, thoughtfully. "Still, as Goleta said, I arrived last. Perhaps
she came with him and left before I came. Or perhaps Faust had her in another room, the
bedroom. All I can tell you, Lieutenant, is that Faust called me and was here when I arrived."
Moss nodded. He had searched the bedroom, of course, and found nothing.
The mayor was released later that morning. It was a pure case of self-defense. Faust was no
great loss. The citizens of Santa Carla were satisfied. The police thought the mayor had been
foolish to take such a risk, and made him promise to never go alone on such an errand again, but
they exonerated him completely. The physical evidence confirmed his story in full.
The mayor did not exonerate himself.
He insisted on suspending himself from office in favor of the deputy mayor pending a full