"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 022 - The Annhilist" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

The bronze man nodded. "Then what?"

"After he shot Court, the man fled," explained the examiner. "He ran down the stairs, got to the first
landing and had some kind of a fit, and died. That's as near as we can reconstruct it."

Doc Savage waved at the office. "Who was Leander Court yelling at before he broke out of the office?"

"That," said the medical examiner, "is a mystery."

"What do you mean?"

"There was nobody in the office."

Doc Savage swung over to the door and glanced through the jagged aperture where the frosted glass
panel had been broken out. The office beyond was plainly furnished, the Opposite wall being perforated
with one window, and there was certainly no one inside. He tried the door. It resisted his efforts.

"The lock is peculiar," said the examiner. "It is a spring affair that has to be unlocked from either side with
a key."

Doc Savage questioned, "You are sure no one left the office during the excitement?"

"They would have had to climb out," said the examiner. "Some one would certainly have noticed."

The bronze man glanced through the door again. The window was fitted with a substantial lock, and this
was fastened. No one could have left by that route.

"Very mysterious," Doc Savage said.

"Not any more mysterious than your not wantin' to tell us why Leander Court wore that identification
tag," Hardboiled Humbolt interjected sourly.
"Vot t'ings is happen here?" a strange voice demanded loudly.

Chapter II. THE MYSTERY QUEST
THE man who had spoken was a bulky fellow, with upstanding, frizzled hair and a ludicrously small
mustache. He wore an exceptionally loud checked suit which, however, seemed entirely in keeping with
his unruly hair.

"You pol-eezmans, vot you do here?" he demanded. Then he glimpsed the body of Leander Court and
gulped, "Dot man, who shot him?"

Hardboiled Humbolt shouldered forward and demanded, "Who the heck are you?"

The officer at the elevator called, "He said he was Janko Sultman, the president of the Association of
Physical Health. I thought I'd better let him in."

Doc Savage asked abruptly, "Sultman, why did Leander Court come to see you?"

Janko Sultman looked puzzled. He made a tripod of the thumb and two forefingers of one hand, then
reached up and absently massaged the top of his head.