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."Did you?""Just one glimpse," Ken said."Of the small one."The Button car pulled away and a moment later the sedan moved off in theopposite direction.The street was suddenly dark and silent."O.K.," Sandy said.He straightened up, easing his cramped muscles."Let's getback to the darkroom and see what we've got.""Sure," Ken said absently."Might as well." " ft "What's eating you?" Sandydemanded."A minute130 THE CLUE OF THE PHANTOM CARago you nearly jerked my arm off, telling me to take these pictures.Now yousound as if you don't care whether they turn out or not.""I care all right," Ken assured him."I was just thinking that if we'd onlybrought the car along we could be following those two strangers.We didn'teven get the license number of that sedan.""I'm more interested in that man in the convertible," Sandy said, as theywalked along the garage wall toward the alley."I'm always interested inpeople who seem to be following us-and particularly right now after that oldcotter pin turned up."Ken glanced up and down the alley before they stepped into it."He may havefollowed us to the Advance," he said, "but somehow I don't believe he followedus over here.""He turned up mighty suddenly in both places-right after we'd arrivedourselves," Sandy pointed out."I know, but-" Ken paused when they reached Main Street too, and looked bothways before he led the way out of the shadowy passageway alongside the bank."Let's go through the back door again," he suggested."I have a hunch theconvertible will be out in front.""Your idea is that he just came over here to report to Button?" Sandy asked.And when Ken nodded, he went on, "But if he left the office at all, he won'tknow whether we're still there or not.""There could have been two men," Ken pointed out."One to stay and keep an eyePage 53ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlon the office, and one to come over to the garage."Sandy shook his head."That would make seven menMIDNIGHT RECONNAISSANCE 131and three cars all milling around in the middle of the night.And for what?That's what I'd like to know."A few moments later they crossed the parking lot behind the Advance and letthemselves in through the rear door.Ken locked it behind them."Let's take a look out front," he suggested.They walked, bent down, through the front office, so that they wouldn't bevisible to anyone outside.Together they peered through the glass door.The convertible was there-in the same place it had been when they firstspotted it."All right," Sandy said quietly."Looks like you called this shot correctly.What next? Do we tell Andy Kane?""What would we tell him?" Ken asked."We don't have any real proof that we'vebeen followed.For that matter, do we want him to know we've been spying onDutton?" He waited a moment."No," he said, "I think we've got to go it aloneuntil we can deliver some real proof that something is wrong.And maybe thatproof is in your camera.Let's get that film developed."Twenty minutes crawled past before they could lift the small strip of film outof its hypo bath and inspect the three tiny exposures.Sandy's voice was triumphant."Perfect-all three of them!"Ken grinned."I'll take your word for it.I can't make out a thing on thosemidgets.""You'll see," Sandy promised."I'll have them printed in a few minutes."By one thirty they were finished.When they went back upstairs Ken had in hispocket four copies of a pic-132 THE CLUE OF THE PHANTOM CABture that showed all three Buttons clearly and distinctly.Sandy had enlargedthe best negative until the three faces almost filled a post-card-sized print.Every feature was visible, including the daubs of poison ivy salve on BobButton's swollen and puffy face."We'll send one off to Global's Sacramento man right away," Ken said."Hadn't we better ask Granger for permission first?""We'll call him in the morning and tell him what we did," Ken answered."Idon't think he'll mind, but if he does, he can just tell his Sacramento man topay no attention to our request.""I'll get the Global directory and find the name and address while you'regetting an envelope ready," Sandy offered."Hold it!" Ken's exclamation halted the movement of Sandy's hand toward thelight switch.Once again he crouched low and made his way toward the frontdoor."Still there," he reported when he returned."I don't need a light to find the directory," Sandy said."And we can go backdownstairs to address the envelope."Ken used the battered old typewriter in the darkroom to write a brief note tothe Sacramento correspondent for Global News.He enclosed a picture with it,sealed both in an envelope, and scrawled air mail in big letters across thefront.Then he slipped a carbon copy of his note into another envelope andaddressed that one to Granger in New York."We'll go out the back way and drop these off at the post office," he said."They'll be on their way by six."Sandy yawned and looked at his watch."That's notMIDNIGHT RECONNAISSANCE 133so far off," he muttered."Seems like we never get enough sleep any more."They checked once more and found the car still parked half a block from theAdvance office [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]