"satandanced" - читать интересную книгу автора (Barton Gary)

"I...I--" She didn't say any more than that. She crumpled in a heap on the floor
in a dead faint. I didn't think she was acting. I knew damn well she wasn't.

Jaegar picked her up in his arms and headed for a rest room down the hall. Penny
went with them.

Lieutenant Haley from homicide was there, then. He's my chief. Besides the ball-
istics, photogs and fingerprint men, he had his stooge, Ryan, in tow. They took
over. Maybe I was in the way; anyway, I don't rate with those counterparts of
Holmes and Watson. I decided to wait till they were through.

I stood outside and dragged on a cigarette.

I don't know how long I stood out there. I was thinking of a dozen angles to this
case. Nobody bothered me; so I had plenty of time to think. Jaegar, Penny and the
little blonde were still in the room down the hall, I remembered that June Eiden
had been Larry Liegh's girl friend. That would have given her a beautiful motive
for killing Nevins. The way I looked at it: June found out that Nevins had blasted
Larry. She was still in love with Larry. She sees Nevins in the club--maybe she
got him to come here. Then she knocks him off, just like that. Sweet revenge. Ah!

It clicked. Or did it? I wondered.

There was a sarcastic smile on Haley's homely face when he came out of the room. I
tried to get ready for what was coming. I knew it wouldn't be good.

"It's all over, Kane," he said. "You can go home, now."

My mouth dropped and I looked at Ryan. He must have fathomed what was in my mind.

He said: "We found the gun under the couch, just beyond the dead man's outstretched
hand. It had only one set of prints--the dead man's. It was suicide, Kane!"

Suicide? It sounded too easy. Killer commits suicide. Then that would mean the mur-
der of Larry Liegh was a closed case. It was perfect.

It was too perfect!

My mind was racing as I watched Haley and his stooge stride down the hall. I decid-
ed to have a look around the room myself. I went in and completed the job of turn-
ing the place upside down that Haley's boys had started.

I went over everything. I looked at the body. It was difficult to tell from the
condition of Nevin's head just how much powder was in the wound. I checked as
closely as I could, then prowled the place to substantiate my theory.

I found it buried on the top shelf of the closet. A pillow!

There was a hole clean through it, and its satin covering was a blotch of charred