Kenneth Robeson - The Avenger 19 by Pictures of Death

Author:Pictures of Death
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-02-20T14:27:03+00:00

Chapter X

Dates of Destruction!

Back at headquarters, they tried to make something of a bunch of puzzling, apparently nonsensical crime pieces.

Just after they’d returned from Connecticut, Cole Wilson had called from Long Island that he was on his way back. So they could dismiss worry over his inexplicable and lengthy absence and devote their time to the puzzle.

The Avenger, in telling of what had happened to him and Mac at Vaughan’s penthouse, had described the sleek, dark leader.

Nellie nodded vigorously.

“I saw him, too. And I’ve seen him before. Not for long, but long enough so I ought to remember.”

“He gave his name as Addfield,” said Benson. “Probably an alias.”

That was enough for the half-pint blonde.

“I’ve got it! Smitty, you remember the dark fellow with the woman in white in the foyer of the Pink Room?”

“Yeah,” said Smitty.

“This must be that man! He gave his name then as Addington. Richard Addington. He and that woman were the only two who noticed when Teebo disappeared from in front of an open window.”

“Only the woman noticed it,” replied Smitty. “Addington claimed not to have seen anything.”

“Anyhow?that’s him. He’s in this up to his neck. Maybe he could tell how Teebo died.”

“If Teebo did die,” Smitty said slowly.

“Again?” sighed Nellie.

“Listen. Back at that barn I saw a fat guy. And if it wasn’t Teebo, I’m a gorilla.”

“That’s an unfortunate remark,” said Nellie, eyes going over Smitty’s mountainous bulk.

“Why, you little ingrate!” gasped Smitty. “After I saved your life back at that barn?”

“Go on. You’d be there yet if it hadn’t been for the boss. Save my life, indeed!”

The quiet but dominant voice of The Avenger recalled them to the task at hand.

“You say this Addington was in the foyer near Teebo at the time of Teebo’s disappearance?”

“Yes,” said Nellie.

“Could Addington have pushed the fat man out of that window?”

“I don’t see how,” said Nellie. “They were twenty feet apart.”

Mac approached them. The Scotchman had been examining the “Diabolo” with X-rays and other testing devices as the fake picture, “The Dock,” had been tested. But Mac looked perplexed instead of satisfied.

“This painting,” he said, “is no fake.”

“What?” said Smitty.

The others stared. They’d all taken it for granted that it would be a phony, just as the supposed Gauguin was a phony.

“It’s the real thing,” said Mac. “It has been touched up in just one spot?this lavender shadow in the background?but that’s all. It’s a genuine Dubois.”

“Then why didn’t that crowd that trapped Nellie and me in the barn take the picture with them?” demanded Smitty.

“It’s as if all they wanted was a look at it,” said Nellie. “But that doesn’t make sense.”

“Maybe it does.” The Avenger said quietly. They looked at him, but he didn’t trouble to explain. He summed up:

“There are definitely two separate gangs mixed up in this business. They are enemies?not connected with one another.

“A fat man named Teebo apparently fell to his death, and yet is seen shortly after with the rival gang.

“This second gang appears to trail the first, trying to get back the pictures that the first sells.

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