"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 290 - Death has Grey Eyes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

They must have found it somewhere in the cellar, Dick decided, and they were
putting it to good use. At least Greug thought so, for he nodded his approval
as he stepped from the cellar.
Turning toward Dick, Greug tilted his head slightly and listened. The
slight change in the doctor's rigid lips might have been termed a smile; if
so,
it was a self-compliment on his skill at long-distance hearing. Glaring
guttural
orders to his men, he waved them out through a doorway with their pine-wood
box,
while he gestured for Dick to accompany him by another route.
They were actually in the rear street, before Dick heard the sounds that
had registered earlier on Greug, the whine of approaching sirens. Windows were
clattering around the neighborhood indicating that the reports of earlier
gunfire must have spread.
Past the next corner, Dick saw a truck that looked like a hearse, as it
made a rapid departure, and guessed that it was carrying Eric's body in the
improvised coffin. What would happen when the truck encountered police cars
was
a puzzle, or would have been if Greug hadn't provided that it didn't.
Very methodically, Greug raised his Luger and fired three echoing shots
in
air. Then, with the same trip-hammer precision, he drew Dick rapidly across
the
street and into a passage where they moved unmolested by the rain, thanks to
the high walls on either side. The police cars must have been attracted by the
bait of fresh shots, for Dick could hear the wailing sirens change direction
and converge to the spot behind the apartment house.
Then, drawing Dick across the next street, Greug gestured him into a
bar-room and bluntly ordered two beers. They drank them in silence, Greug
plunked the change on the bar, and bowed Dick out through a rear door leading
into another alley. Around a corner, they came to a subway entrance and the
methodical Greug waved Dick down the steps.
There was more than mere coincidence in the fact that so many
siren-bearing cars had arrived outside Dick's apartment house. Before the
local
patrol crew could learn where the shooting had begun and what it was all
about,
they found themselves under the command of Commissioner Weston, who was
alighting from an official car.
With the commissioner was a very earnest young lady, Irene Breslon, who
was insistent on the point that Dick Whitlock could have been the object of
last night's attack outside the Starview Roof. Before the commissioner could
check on the number of Dick's apartment, another patrol car wheeled up, pacing
a cab which stopped to let out Jerry Trimm and Claire Austley.
"You see?" Claire was telling Jerry. "I said you shouldn't have left Dick
here alone. Something may have happened to him already, or all these police
cars wouldn't be here. If something has -"
Clipping it short as she saw Irene, Claire stopped accusing Jerry and
concentrated on the other girl.