"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 336 - Blackmail Bay" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

anyone on Spruce Island can read it."
The judge handed the cryptic message to Margo, who was duly impressed by
the terms demanded by the anonymous caller, inasmuch as it gave the unknown
blackmailer ample opportunity to read it without running the risk of
recognition. That was, except for one flaw.
"If I should stay around the store awhile," suggested Margo, "I might
notice people who are interested in the message -"
"And you wouldn't have to wait too long," injected Kroft. "The
commissioner's friend seemed sure that others might be waiting."


THE clock in the general store showed quarter past twelve when Margo
arrived there and found Lester Blake still shopping with Ezra Hobbs hovering
uneasily in the offing. Seeing Earl Torgesen behind his usual counter, Margo
ignored the others and told the proprietor:
"Judge Kroft would like this posted on the bulletin board. Would you mind
putting it there?"
Torgesen spread both arms with a heavy-shouldered shrug.
"No, no," he said indulgently. "People post their own notices. They've
done it long before I took over the store a year ago, so they're free to go
right ahead. But if you want to ask Hobbs" - he gestured politely with his
hand
- "I'm sure he would post it for you."
"Certainly, Miss Lane," agreed Hobbs, taking the sheet from Margo.
Turning
to Blake he added: "We'd better start soon."
Blake finished his shopping while Hobbs was posting the coded message.
Chatting with Margo on the way out, Blake remarked:
 "That reminds me! Miss Madge always has me take note of anything special
on the board." Turning over his bundles to Hobbs, Blake made a notation on a
pad, stopping, a bit puzzled, when he came to Kroft's cryptic notice; then
writing it down in detail. Hobbs began honking the jitney's horn, so Blake
hurried over and they took off together. That gave Margo a chance to stroll
the
waterfront, keeping a casual eye on the few customers who went in and out of
the
store. All seemed already familiar with the board, for none looked at it.
Margo was still strolling when Hobbs came back in his jalopy, just in
time
to meet the 'Priscilla' as she loomed up beside the wharf on the dot of 12:45.
As passengers came from the lower deck, Hobbs shook hands with the man who was
obviously the mechanic he expected, but Margo was more interested to see Lew
Barton come ashore. He was chatting with a man she recognized as Clyde Burke,
who represented the New York 'Classic'. Margo kept a straight face while
Barton
introduced Clyde as a feature writer who was doing a story about Cobosco Bay,
because she knew that from now on, Clyde would take over and keep tabs on
people who stopped too long at the bulletin board, even interviewing them to
get their names and opinions regarding Cobosco Bay and Spruce Island.
While Margo was being interviewed by Clyde, Barton went over and spent a