"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 260 - The Money Master" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

whatever dough he could bring along. Naturally, Nazi agents would like to get him if they could."

Cardona nodded, as a matter of course.

"That should explain it, Bert," said the inspector. "A man like Brune would logically move from place to
place."

"Not as fast as Brune does." Bert's broad face was serious. "He jumps so fast that I can't keep up with
him. That's what I don't understand. Why should he hire me to check on anybody trailing him and then
duck out so I can't follow?"

Cardona almost spoiled his deadpan visage with a smile.

"He's really done it, Bert?"

"Time and again," Cowder acknowledged glumly. "Last night, he was gone again. This afternoon, he calls
me up and tells me where his new apartment is. Wants me to come there same as usual. It doesn't make
sense, Joe!"

Reaching across the desk, Cardona turned on a lamp. The glow showed the anxious lines that were
spreading over Cowder's face. Sensing it, the private detective explained his chief worry.

"Brune is scared," asserted Bert. "Horribly scared, over something worse than he's willing to tell. The
way the F. B. I. is spotting the Nazi bunch, Brune shouldn't be afraid like he is. Now look, Joe. Suppose
this thing catches up with Brune and knocks him off. How am I going to live it down?"

Cardona understood the fine points of the question. It would surely be bad for Cowder's long-built
reputation, should a guarded client meet with disaster through Bert's own shortcomings.

"Maybe Brune still has money," suggested Cardona. "If so, he'd be afraid of local crooks. They've been
picking on refugees lately."

"So why should he lay himself open?" demanded Bert. "That's what he's doing when he gives me the
run-around."

"Why don't you put the question to him, Bert?"

"That's just what I'd like to do," returned Cowder. "But Brune won't listen. I can't make him talk, Joe, but
you could. Suppose you come along with me and when Brune starts to hedge, cut him short. You can do
it officially. I can't. I'm only a guy that Brune hired."

Cardona pondered. The invitation intrigued him, but he couldn't see his way to accept it. Making himself
a party to business that was strictly Cowder's would be beneath Cardona's dignity as a police inspector.
But Joe could see a satisfactory compromise in a case that might prove of importance to the police.
Acting upon it, he reached for the telephone.

"I'll send Gregg Emmart," declared Cardona. "He's a good detective, a five-year man. You've met him,
Bert."
With a nod, Cowder settled back in his chair, a relieved expression replacing his worriment. All of which
proved the very point in Cardona's mind: namely, that Bert could handle the Brune showdown in his own