The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories
- Автор: Adams Cleve F., Babcock Dwight V.
- Год: 2010
- Язык: английский
- Год: A Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
- ISBN: 978-0-307-45543-7
- Жанр: Криминальные детективы
Электронная книга - «The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories». Краткое содержание книги:
Black Mask was the apotheosis of noir. It was the magazine where the first hardboiled detective story, which was written by Carroll John Daly appeared. It was the slum in which such American literary titans like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler got their start, and it was the home of stories with titles like “Murder Is Bad Luck,” “Ten Carets of Lead,” and “Drop Dead Twice.” Collected here is best of the best, the hardest of the hardboiled, and the darkest of the dark of America’s finest crime fiction. This masterpiece collection represents a high watermark of America’s underbelly. Crime writing gets no better than this.
“Who signed the Cardwell Institute papers?” Nick asked sharply, his hands trembling.
“Why, Paul Cameron, of course! He’s the chief down there—”
Captain Malta took a chair, sighing quietly, his face looking most indulgent despite the reverses. “Then MacFerson is really gone, Hugh? And Miss Wilson with him?”
“All signed out. They left in a private ambulance which was waiting down in the emergency courtyard.”
“Hand me the phone, please, Hugh... You can have it when I’m finished, Adams.”
Captain Malta telephoned Central Police station and asked to have the ambulance checked. He sent two men over to the Cardwell Institute labs. Dr. Hollister looked amazed. “Now,” Malta said quietly, still holding the phone, “what did your snobbish colonel look like, Hugh?”
Hollister began an elaborate description, which proved to be unnecessary, for even from the briefest details, Nick recognized the fellow as the same pink-skinned gentleman who had visited him at the Royal Hawaiian, posing as John Venner. He considered the man’s efficiency, for if the impostor had managed to sign out MacFerson only an hour before, he had still been able to pop in on Nick and explain that the case was closed. The man had cold nerve. Malta said into the phone: “Yes, it’s Zeller again. You’ve got to find him. I’d report it to Intelligence also, since we’re more interested in him than they are... Yes... Yes, in thirty minutes or so, I’ll be there. Good-bye.” He hung up.
Nick said: “You know the man?”
“Yes. Fritz Zeller, a German agent. Intelligence knows him a bit better and would like to nip him. It’s a firing squad when they do. He’s a damned clever lad. You wished to call Cameron, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Nick said. He took the telephone, got through to Paul Cameron at his home. “Paul,” he said, “did you sign credentials acknowledging that a patient from the Stafford named Robert MacFerson was to be treated and admitted to the C.I. labs?”
Dr. Cameron was silent a moment. “Say it again, Nick.”
After he had repeated it, Cameron said, perplexed: “I’m afraid not, Nick. I didn’t know what the devil you were talking about for a moment. You sound rather perturbed.”
“There’s been a forgery then,” Nick said. “That’s all. I’ll explain it all later, Paul. Good-night.” He hung up. He sighed heavily. “You can assume the worst,” he murmured.
“I already had,” Captain Malta replied dryly. “And you needn’t look so pop-eyed, Hugh.”
“I think you’re both quite mad,” said Dr. Hollister, awed. “A touch of sun?”
“Johnny Venner is dead, murdered,” Captain Malta said. “And don’t ask me for explanations. You ponder it and it ought to explain our behavior here.”
“Are you sure the charts are gone?” Nick asked desperately.
“Yes, she took them with her— Murdered? John murdered?”
“Let’s get out of here,” Captain Malta said. “This chap will hold us for hours asking details. Read the newspapers, Hugh, and thanks for all the help.”
They went downstairs. Nick said, in admiration: “You’ve done a good job on this thing, Captain.”
“Not at all,” Captain Malta said. “This has all been routine. Don’t be impressed. Actually it has accomplished little. As for my having covered so many details, remember I’ve been at it longer than you, ever since we found Venner’s body at Maili by the tracks of the Oahu railroad. He was found shot through the head, stark naked, all identification removed. I recognized him of course. He was not meant to be found so soon, being in a stream. There were some chains still on one leg, but the heavier weights had dropped off. Where did you plan on going now?”
“To Schofield Barracks,” Nick said. “To find Sergeant Woolton.”
“I’ll save you the trip,” said Captain Malta. “He’s not there.”
“Not there? Where is he?”
“I wish I knew. If he is still alive, I think he may be hiding out. Possibly he wishes to reach you, since he must have known that Venner had wired you. I would like you to go back to town. I want you to be convenient for Woolton to find.”
Nick had a cold thought. “The weights and chains might have hung onto him. He could be at the bottom of the ocean.”
“Anything is possible,” said Captain Malta, his white bushy brows jerking as he moved them. “We should try to be optimistic. It’s the least we can do. Come along, Adams, I’ll drive you back to town myself. I’d like you to meet the man I’ve put on you, for safety’s sake. His name is Crowell. He’s a nice fellow, seen service in New York’s finest.”
Sergeant Crowell was waiting in the lobby downstairs. He was a cheerful soul, moon-faced, and with a glistening gold tooth in the front of his mouth.
“Highly pleased to make your acquaintance, sir,” he said, shaking hands.
“We’re going back together,” Malta said. “You follow. Nothing on the way out?”
“No one followed him, Captain.”
“Very good. Keep a weather eye on the doctor. I have a feeling he’s going to be worth his weight in gold before long.”
Nick was gloomy. “It will have to be before long. It’s nearly eight o’clock. That gives us a solitary day, according to Venner’s own time limit. Not many hours, Captain.”
“True,” Malta said. His voice was low but his eyes were hard. “Still, empires have vanished in less time. We’ve a chance, we’ve a chance.” But he did not sound enthusiastic.
Chapter Four
The Empty Carton
There had been no calls for him at the hotel. No Woolton, to his intense disappointment. While he was still at the desk, he saw Dr. Cameron come in. He glanced at his wristwatch, saw it was only a few minutes past eight. He joined Cameron.
“Paul,” he said. “It may be a hit-and-run meal. I’m expecting a very important call and I can’t risk missing it.”
“That’s all right, Nick,” Cameron said, his voice cool. “Although I did want to tell you a personal decision I made today.”
“We’ll have time for that, surely,” Nick said. “Go ahead. I’ll tell them at the desk that I’m inside and if there are any calls they can page me there. I’ll eat with you and then go up to my room and change my things.”
He joined Paul Cameron at a table a few moments later.
Nick turned to Cameron, who did not look well, nor did he look ill. His cheeks were very hollow, and his color was not good, and from the twitching of his fingers, he seemed to be tense and nervous. “What was your news, Paul?” Nick said.
“I’ve tendered my resignation from the Institute,” Cameron said. “Effective immediately.”
“What?” Nick exclaimed sharply. “Your resignation? Have you gone crazy, Paul?”
“I put it in writing by mail, but I also cabled the New York office of my decision,” said Cameron, his voice dead.
“But Paul, in the name of heaven—”
“I had an offer from the University of Southern California, a doctor of pathology there, my own department, much free time for any experimentation I desire. In other words, a free hand. So I’ve accepted. I’m tired of malaria. I’ve done all I can do with it. I want a go at the lepra bacilli. I’m going to try and find the way the blight is communicated.”
“I’m terribly disappointed,” Nick said gravely. “It’s such a poor time to lose a man like you.”
“Very kind of you, Nick.”
“Oh, the hell with kindness — you’ve spoiled the night for me. They’ll have a struggle getting another fellow like you.”
“There are better than I,” Cameron said. His eyes were abnormally bright, and he could not sit still.