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

"Let's find out what happened," he said.



"A good idea coming from a strange source," Ham stated unkindly, and they went out. The pig, Habeas, they left behind.



The elevators were not operating, probably due to the damage wrought by the blast, and they had to walk down. It did not take them long to reach the scene of the detonation.



They were efficient, these two men accustomed to scenes of violence through their long association with Doc Savage. Doc seemed to exist always in the shadow of peril and destruction.



Without delay, they went to work to ascertain the cause of the explosion. And there, they ran up against a profound puzzle, as well as a gruesome scene.



Paine L. Winthrop was dead. No doubt of that, as it was necessary for the ambulance surgeons to assemble the scattered parts of his body on a stretcher before it could be carried away.



Several of the Seven Seas office employees had been injured. A broken arm, received by a stenographer as she was knocked over her desk, was the most serious. Others were only lacerated and bruised.



Monk and Ham put quick inquiries about the cause of the blast. No one could give a reply of value except Paine L. Winthrop's head clerk, who was quite sure there had been no bomb, since she had left the private office only shortly before the arrival of her boss.



Before Monk and Ham could locate fragments of whatever had caused the detonation, a swarm of policemen and newspaper reporters arrived. The officers herded every one to an office one floor below, it having been decided that the skyscraper was in no danger of falling.



The office in which those who had been on the explosion scene were concentrated, was the headquarters of a firm dealing in imported antiques and art works. Adjoining the office were numerous stock rooms holding pictures, armor, pieces of ancient furniture, weapons, costumes and like articles. These were all antiques.



The newspaper reporters descended upon Monk and Ham. Both were high-pressure copy, for it was known that they were members of Doc Savage's group of aides, and Doc was front-page news all seven days of the week.



"Is Doc working on this?" a journalist connected with a tabloid demanded.