"Kenneth Robeson - Doc Savage 115 - The Fiery Menace" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

HE WAS HUNTING VAMPIRE

Mrs. Lucille Murphy, who is employed nights in the building, shed the first light on the matter of the man
in the chandelier. Mrs. Murphy completed her work the previous night and, while leaving the building,
noticed a man apparently climbing into the chandelier. Thinking the man was an electrician, Mrs. Murphy
called a facetious remark to the man.

The exact wording of the remark Mrs. Murphy had called to the man climbing into the chandelier was not
given in any of the newspaper stories, but it was a ribald one. She told it to the newspaper reporters, and
they split their sides laughing. She was quite an old rip, that Mrs. Murphy.

The man in the chandelier called down to Mrs. Murphy that he was seeking a vampire, Mrs. Murphy
stated.

тАЬI am sure that is what he said,тАЭ Mrs. Murphy declared, тАЬbecause I hollered back and asked him if he
meant like Dracula, and he said that was the general idea.тАЭ

It was added by Mrs. Murphy that the man sounded serious, although this did not strike her at the time.
Mrs. Murphy states that she told the man she had a son-in-law who would fill the bill if he needed a
he-vampire. Then she went on home.

The fact that the newspapers printed Mrs. Murphy's remark about her son-in-law making a good
he-vampire indicated how the newspapers considered the matter. Not exactly as a joke, because murder
is not a joke except on the stage. But they did not take it seriously, and they were pixyish enough about it
to allow little notes like the crack about Mrs. Murphy's son-in-law to creep into the written versions.

This was not the first mistake American journalism had made. And time proved that it certainly was not
one of their smaller errors.

The crack about the lost vampire gave a certain touch to the thing.

The hole in the man's head gave another touch to it. First, it gave an assistant coroner an ill spell when he
saw it. It made the other coroners and hardened cops who handled dead bodies-fresh and not so fresh
and in various mangled conditions-stand there with their jaws hanging in amazement.

The body was not brought down immediately, though. First, a medical examiner made sure the body
actually had no life, then fingerprint men and photographers-police, of course-recorded the scene
thoroughly.

Finally they got around to noticing that the hole in the man's head was a very neat affair. Possibly тАЬneatтАЭ
was not the word. It was a very precisely drilled thing.

тАЬMade after death,тАЭ said the coroner in charge. He looked up at the chandelier. тАЬProbably the work of
some mechanism that is part of the chandelier.тАЭ

A policeman pointed out that a drill was not part of a chandelier or any other lighting fixture that he had
ever heard of; then the officer climbed up to make sure that was also the case with this one.

тАЬMechanism nothing,тАЭ the officer reported. тАЬThere's nothing up there that would do that kind of thing.тАЭ