"Orczy, Baroness - The Regent's Park Murder" - читать интересную книгу автора (Orczy Baroness)

'Murder.' Then there was the double sharp report of firearms, and nothing more.
"The fog was very dense, and, as you no doubt have experienced yourself, it is
very difficult to locate sound in a fog. Nevertheless, not more than a minute or
two had elapsed before Constable F 18, the point policeman at the corner of
Marylebone Road, arrived on the scene, and, having first of all whistled for any
of his comrades on the beat, began to grope his way about in the fog, more
confused than effectually assisted by contradictory directions from the
inhabitants of the houses close by, who were nearly falling out of the upper
windows as they shouted out to the constable.
"'By the railings, policeman.'
"'Higher up the road.'
"'No, lower down.'
"'It was on this side of the pavement I am sure.'
"'No, the other.'
"At last it was another policeman, F 22, who, turning into Park Square West from
the north side, almost stumbled upon the body of a man lying on the pavement
with his head against the railings of the Square. By this time quite a little
crowd of people from the different houses in the road had come down, curious to
know what had actually happened.
"The policeman turned the strong light of his bull's-eye lantern on the
unfortunate man's face.
"'It looks as if he had been strangled, don't it?' he murmured to his comrade.
"And he pointed to the swollen tongue, the eyes half out of their sockets,
bloodshot and congested, the purple, almost black, hue of the face.
"At this point one of the spectators, more callous to horrors, peered curiously
into the dead man's face. He uttered an exclamation of astonishment.
"'Why, surely, it's Mr. Cohen from No. 30!'
"The mention of a name familiar down the length of the street had caused two or
three other men to come forward and to look more closely into the horribly
distorted mask of the murdered man.
"'Our next-door neighbour, undoubtedly,' asserted Mr. Ellison, a young
barrister, residing at No. 31.
"'What in the world was he doing this foggy night all alone, and on foot?' asked
somebody else.
"'He usually came home very late. I fancy he belonged to some gambling club in
town. I dare say he couldn't get a cab to bring him out here. Mind you, I don't
know much about him. We only knew him to nod to.'
"'Poor beggar! it looks almost like an old- fashioned case of garrotting.'
"'Anyway, the blackguardly murderer, whoever he was, wanted to make sure he had
killed his man!' added Constable F 18, as he picked up an object from the
pavement. 'Here's the revolver, with two cartridges missing. You gentlemen heard
the report just now?'
"'He don't seem to have hit him though. The poor bloke was strangled, no doubt.'

"'And tried to shoot at his assailant, obviously,' asserted the young barrister
with authority.
"'If he succeeded in hitting the brute, there might be a chance of tracing the
way he went.'
"'But not in the fog.'
"Soon, however, the appearance of the inspector, detective, and medical officer,