The Front Page Mystery [antikvár]

B CHAPTER I BIG NEWS OB MERRITT, youthful managing editor of the Gate City News, picked up his damp, ink-smelling copy of the first mail edition. In the basement, two floors below, he could hear the steady rumble of the big press as it ground out the papers which would be delivered in the outlying towns late in the afternoon. Another hour and it would be noon. Then would come the second mail edition, intended for the nearby towns, and at 3:30 o'clock, the city edition, which would be distributed only in Gate City. It had been a quiet week, almost too quiet, and it was with a feeling of misgiving that he heard the telephone on his desk ring. Bob picked up the instrument. As he took the receiver off the hook a dozen thoughts flashed through his mind. Perhaps it was going to be the story of an accident, a bank robbery, the death of a prominent man or some other story of major importance. It might be only an inquiry for the weather report but his news sense whispered to him that it was something more. Whatever the message, he would know in a minute.