The Avenger 20 - The Green Killer Read Online Free PDF

won’t be ready to answer questions for quite a while?”
    “It may be days before she can tell us who she is, and why she tried to kill Heber. Though I have an idea on that.”
    “You have?” gasped Nellie.
    “Yes. If you noticed, the girl handled that bow and arrow like a native.”
    “How in the world does that answer the question of why she tried to kill him?”
    But The Avenger didn’t answer. He had withdrawn into concentration over the electron microscope so intense that it was as if he had literally gone into another room and shut the door. Nellie went quietly out and left him working.
    Working on the disease that could turn a human being into an ape.

CHAPTER IV

The Purple Haze
    The police force of New York City had learned that The Avenger didn’t like to give out any information until he had a case all worked out. They had also learned that Dick Benson always did work them out, eventually, and that the force then got a whole lot of credit for something they hadn’t done.
    So the police hadn’t expected any reports from The Avenger, but they were careful to give him reports on every detail they encountered, as soon as they could.
    So they called him the minute they’d finished going over the delivery truck in which Heber had nearly been kidnapped under the noses of Smitty and Mac and Josh.
    Nellie took the call, since The Avenger was so busy at the microscope.
    “There are prints all over the truck,” said the sergeant who had called. “Nice plain ones. But they don’t tell us anything. They don’t match up with the prints of any crooks we have in our files.”
    “Did you find out anything else?” Nellie asked.
    “Nothing to get excited about. We traced the truck. It belonged to a guy named Hatch, till three days ago. He sold it to a fellow he’d never seen before, who laid cash on the line. That’s all Hatch knows. He described the man, but nobody here knew of him.”
    “Are you holding Hatch?”
    “No. We threw everything but the captain’s badge at him, and he kept telling the same story. He’s okay. We checked him off. His address is on South Street, Brooklyn, if you want him.” He gave Nellie the address.
    The diminutive blonde thanked the sergeant and hung up. Then she called Smitty.
    They’d all had a good rest by now. It was three o’clock in the afternoon after the crowded evening during which Heber had nearly been killed.
    “The chief’s busy with the funny disease,” said the excitement-loving little blonde. “Heber’s still resting and is no good to anybody. The girl can’t or won’t talk, yet. Let’s you and I go and see this man Hatch.”
    “Why not?” said Smitty.
    “And I’d suggest that we take a couple of Mac’s persuaders with us.”
    “Good idea,” said Smitty.
    He got the “persuaders.”
    Mac, one of the finest chemists in existence, had perfected many curious chemical compounds. One of the strangest was a faintly purple gas, released from a sullen-looking liquid, which clouded a man’s brain and robbed him of the will to resist questioning. A sort of truth gas. It didn’t always work, but in a majority of cases it did. To some extent, at least. Many were the reluctant admissions they’d drawn from a case-hardened crook with a “persuader.”
    “I’d better go alone,” said Smitty. “There may be trouble, and you know how you are. You’re always catching it in your pretty neck, and then I have to go and rescue you.”
    If looks could kill, Smitty would have been hash after Nellie’s glare. The giant grinned. It was a sure way to get a rise out of her—tell her that she was always getting into trouble and needing help.
    They went out to Brooklyn.
    The South Street address, they discovered, belonged to a tailor shop. A very innocent-looking tailor shop in a basement. A front-window sign said:
    Tailoring, Dry Cleaning
Bert Hatch, Prop.
    Mr. Hatch was alone when they walked down and in. He looked with appreciation at Nellie’s small perfection