"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 335 - Riddle of the Rangoon Ruby" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

"Now, tell me, Cranston. What's this you've learned about the Rangoon
Ruby
that brings bad luck to anyone who owns it? I thought it was safely put away
in
the International Museum."
"So it was," returned Cranston, "but it brought them bad luck, too. So
they sold it for six hundred thousand dollars to the highest bidder on this
list, only they won't say which was the unlucky buyer."
Avidly, Weston checked the list, then commented:
"More than half of these men live here in New York City, so I can
understand your worry, Cranston. If one of those becomes known as the buyer,
he
will automatically be a target for robbery - or perhaps kidnapping - or even
murder! It is my duty to alert every one of these estimable citizens" - Weston
was checking the New Yorkers - "in order to protect them. To be forewarned is
to be forearmed."
Weston read the names aloud after he had checked them, which gave
Cranston
the opportunity to sidetone to Margo:
 "He isn't including Carter Mycroft. Why don't you slide out and make a
long-distance call to Zelda, arranging to go up there?"
Margo slid out from the other end of the alcove seat. Ten minutes later,
she returned to find that Lamont had already ordered her favorite dish. With a
thankful nod, Margo informed in a bored tone:
"My friend Zelda is driving in for a dinner this evening and wants me to
go back upstate with her and stay over for a few days -"
"So I suppose you will have to do it," interposed Cranston. "Meanwhile, I
have been telling the commissioner that there is one way we might learn who
bought the Rangoon Ruby, or Thebaw's Star, as it is sometimes called, in honor
of King Thebaw of Burma, who was the first to suffer from its curse. It is the
finest of all star rubies, a term applied to gems that have streaks that
radiate out from their center, forming a six-pointed star.
"Modern science learned that rubies were a corundum gem and therefore
could be reproduced synthetically. Several years ago, the International Museum
allowed Jon Tolliver, a noted New York jeweler, to make a perfect - or almost
perfect - replica of Thebaw's Star, so that it could be exhibited at
conventions all over the world. Unfortunately - or perhaps fortunately -
nobody
wanted to see the jinx gem.
"So Tolliver offered it in his exclusive catalog for twelve thousand
dollars, about what it cost him. Now, I have been telling Commissioner Weston
that whoever bought the Rangoon Ruby would also buy the Tolliver replica, if
only to keep it out of other hands. So after lunch, we are all going to
Tolliver's where I hope to buy it as a gift for your next birthday -"
"Which was three months ago," reminded Margo, "but I don't mind pushing
it
four months ahead."
All bantering aside, they went to Tolliver's; not in Shrevvy's cab, as
they should have, but in the commissioner's big car, which naturally could
have