"067 (B083) - The Red Terrors (1938-09) - Lester Dent" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

"This Harry Day," Monk gulped, "was on a ship that sank in mid-Atlantic several months ago!"
Ham peered at Monk. "Are you crazy?"
"I ain't as sure about it as I was last week," Monk confessed.
DOC SAVAGE did not seem concerned, surprised or particularly impressed by the news. This did not surprise Monk and Ham; they had known the bronze man for years, and they had never got over being startled by the control he could exercise over himself. He must be impressed by what had happened, but he did not show it.
Two men had drowned near the same spot in the Atlantic Ocean, several months apart. Now the two men had turned up in New York. This should be enough to impress anybody, including Doc Savage, who was perfectly human.
The bronze man had all the usual human qualities, in spite of the fact that he had been trained so intensively and scientifically that he was a physical marvel and a mental genius.
Later Renny, the big-fisted engineer, came in. The sad look on his long face did not mean a thing, being the expression he wore from habit.
"Holy cow!" Renny grumbled. "No luck at all."
"What have you been doing?" Monk wanted to know.
"Trying to find some trace of Doctor Collendar," Renny said.
"Doctor Collendar's associates think he drowned. They think you're crazy when you ask 'em if they've seen Doctor Collendar the last day or two."
The rumble of Renny's voice usually caused listeners to look instinctively to see if the walls were shaking.
Long Tom Roberts and Johnny Littlejohn came into the office and informed Doc they had found no trace of a man named Snig Bogaccio.
"Who in blazes is Snig Bogaccio?" Monk inquired.
"A maleficiently iniquitous anthropogenical specimen," Johnny replied.
"Huh?"
"A gangster," Long Tom translated.
"Why couldn't he say so," Monk complained, "Instead of dishing out them alphabetical hors d'oeuvres he calls English language."
Ham added, "And what has a gangster named Snig Bogaccio got to do with this mystery?"
"Well, the police think Doctor Collendar performed a plastic surgery operation on Snig Bogaccio."
Monk snapped his fingers. "Hey! In Doctor Collendar's office, we found fingerprints left by somebody who'd had a plastic surgery operation!"
"We also found some red hide off something!" Ham said.
"Depend on you to drag a polecat into the discussion," Monk grumbled.
Chapter V. THE HIDING DIVER
DOC SAVAGE went away unobtrusively for a few minutes and made some telephone calls to the company which handled insurance for the divers' union, inquiring about Harry Day's family. Then he rejoined his five assistants.
"Harry Day, the deep-sea diver, has a sister," the bronze man said.
"Is she good-lookin'?" Monk asked.
"The sister's name is Edwina Day, and she lives in an apartment on Central Park West," Doc Savage added. "We can pay her a visit and see if she can tell us anything about her brother."
"I'll bet she's a blonde," Monk said, "and as cute as a pickle seed."
Edwina Day was not a blonde. She was Spanish-dark, and she was small. But she was conceivably as cute as a pickle seed, a pickle seed being an elastic yardstick for measuring feminine beauty. The reception she gave them was also somewhat picklish.
"Whatever you are selling, I don't want any," she said, looking at them like a startled bird.
"Wait a minute," Monk said. "This is about your brother!"
He evidently said the wrong thing, because the girl tried to slam the door in their faces. Renny got a big fist in the way of the door.
"Mayn't we come in?" Renny rumbled politely.
"No!" the girl gritted. "Get away from here! All of you!"
Renny shoved against the door, pushed door and girl back, and they all marched in gravely.
"I'll call the police!" the young woman threatened.
"Isn't there enough of them in here now to suit you?" Renny asked.
"You aren't policemen!"
"We've got commissions," Renny explained. "I was under the impression that made you a cop." Doc Savage and his five men held honorary commissions which did make them, technically, officers.
"Oh!" The girl frosted them with her stare. "I might have guessed you were policemen."
The madder Edwina Day became, the cuter Monk thought she looked.
"This is Doc Savage." Monk indicated Doc.
This information usually had an effect.
"He'll be Doctor Mild-as-watered-milk if he doesn't get out of here!" the girl said.
Monk gathered that she had never heard of Doc Savage, or wasn't impressed.
"We seek information," Monk explained.
"What you'll get," the girl said, "is air." She looked them over. "Some collection of freaks," she added.
"Ain't you never heard of us?" Monk demanded incredulously.
"You should get a tent," the young woman remarked, "and charge admissions." She considered. "Two cents would be a fair price."