Death's Bright Finger by Maxwell Grant & Walter Gibson

Author:Maxwell Grant & Walter Gibson [Grant, Maxwell & Gibson, Walter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Espionage, Fiction, Thrillers
Publisher: Street & Smith
Published: 1942-05-20T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER IX. A KING'S RANSOM

HARRY VINCENT moved swiftly forward.

He was scared. Like every other agent of The Shadow, Harry was aware of things that were still unknown to the police. He knew the horrible power possessed by the unknown crime master who called himself the Light.

It was clear what must have happened to that vanished steel door. The Light had literally “put the finger” on it. He had used the same dreadful weapon that had turned The Shadow's automobile into a film of blue-gray soot. He had, however, weakened the devilish power of his brilliant silver ray so as not to dissolve the wall safe into nothingness.

Why, then, had nothing been stolen?

Harry examined the contents of the safe. They had been tossed back in helter-skelter fashion after a quick search by the Light. The papers didn't give Harry any clue: the lease of Dawn's apartment; some insurance policies; a tin box containing a sheaf of government bonds; a sizable amount of cash in twenty-dollar bills.

The jewelry, too, offered no clue. Some of it looked fairly valuable. But the Light had ignored Dawn's bracelets and necklaces and rings.

Harry had a queer hunch that, for once, the Light had been baffled.

Obviously Dawn's open safe could stand a little more watching tonight. But how, and from where? Harry decided that the best hiding place was the wardrobe closet into which he had already peeped.

He darted swiftly back, aware that at almost any instant now, Dawn Reed would return–perhaps with the tall and dangerous-looking Peter Bascom.

The closet was completely empty. Every garment on the horizontal pole that supported the garment hangers had been cleaned out. Shoes and hats had vanished–everything! Nor was there a sign of a single piece of luggage anywhere in the apartment.

Dawn was apparently all set for a quick sneak somewhere.

The empty closet offered a good chance for a resourceful man to hide himself. There was a high, wide shelf at the top. From the shelf to the floor, a drape was hung to keep dust away from hanging garments. Harry proved that this high shelf was solidly built, by chinning himself and peering over the edge.

He saw just what he wanted. An extra bolt of the drape material lay toward the back of the shelf.

In a moment, Harry was up on the shelf, lying in a cramped huddle. He bunched the bolt of cloth in front of himself. Only a very tall man could see over that shelf without chinning himself or standing on a chair. The shelf was deep enough to permit Harry to keep well back from the edge.

He closed the closet door. With the same tool that had picked the lock of the service door, he drilled a small hole that permitted him a view of the ruined safe across the room. The hole was well above the level of normal eyesight.

Vincent had barely finished his preparations, when he stiffened on his shelf. He had heard a faint sound from the front of the apartment. A key had turned swiftly in a lock.

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