"020 (B026) - Death in Silver (1934-10) - Lester Dent" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

Bugs was waiting for something, and he eyed the watch often.



As for Monk and Ham, they had given up all hope of the blond fireman furnishing any valuable information. The fellow had seen only a grotesque figure in silver. The ashes of the silver garment, a shapeless sediment of metal and cinders, furnished no clue.



"Even Doc couldn't learn anything from this," Monk complained, indicating the garment.



Ham started to nod, then refrained, since agreeing with Monk on any subject was against his policy.



"We're killing time," snapped the dapper lawyer. "Why don't we go upstairs and look over the explosion scene."



"The police have done that," Monk grunted.



"They have not found what caused the blast," Ham pointed out.



That seemed to settle the question, and they started mounting stairs, the elevators not yet being in working order.



The skyscraper had, not one basement, but three, one below the other, and the boilers were in the lowermost level, deep in the solid bed rock of Manhattan Island and probably below the surface of the near-by East River, which at this point was very wide, actually a neck of New York Harbor.



The two men reached the second basement and encountered a police officer. The cop had the rank of lieutenant, but he was deferential, for Monk and Ham held honorary police stations far above his own. Doc Savage and all of his men held these honorary commissions, issued out of gratitude for past services in aiding the law enforcement agencies of the city.



"We have learned something," reported the lieutenant. "I knew you gentlemen would want all information as quickly as we got it."



"Shoot," Monk invited.