Grant, Maxwell - The Shadow 149 - Cards of Death by Maxwell Grant

Author:Maxwell Grant
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Detective, Mystery, Crime, Suspense, Adventure, Thriller
Publisher: Street & Smith Publications
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

“THAT tarot,” resumed Rigby, “was but the first of many that I have discovered along Legrec’s trail. In Cairo, an Egyptian official was found dead, clutching this card.” He produced a tarot showing a demon, above the wording, “Il Daivolo,” and added: “The murdered man was beside his rifled strong box.”

The next card that Rigby produced was the picture of a hanging man suspended by his feet. It was called “L’Appeso”, which Rigby translated as the “Hanged Man”, stroking his chin when he noted the tarot.

“Sterling Craythorn was an Australian adventurer,” recalled Rigby. “He won a million francs in one evening, at Monte Carlo, in most mysterious fashion. Oddly, Craythorn was found dead, off the suicide leap. Usually, losers are the ones who take that plunge.

“Perhaps he jumped because his money had mysteriously vanished. More probably, he was tossed to his death. There is no question who gained Craythorn’s profits. One of his pockets disgorged this token from Legrec. The card symbolizes a martyr to a cause.”

Rigby’s face was stern, its lines deep. He turned to the projector, flashed pictures of Cairo and Monte Carlo. The Shadow pondered on a point that had apparently eluded Rigby.

The deaths of the Turkish merchant and the Egyptian official fitted with Rigby’s suppositions. Legrec had slain those men in order to obtain wealth which they rightfully possessed.

But the Australian adventurer marked a departure.

How had the Australian cracked the bank at Monte Carlo? Probably through use of some system that had beaten the roulette table. Where had he acquired that method?

From Legrec!

The case was a link that The Shadow wanted. The very name, Legrec, was a French term for “swindler”, or “gambler”; the murderer’s constant use of tarots also smacked of a gamester’s ways.

With the Monte Carlo incident, The Shadow could see the beginning of new tactics on the part of Legrec. The master crook had started using dupes to aid his schemes.

The Australian, Craythorn, could easily have been working under Legrec’s supervision. He was the “front” for the master criminal’s clean-up at the gambling casino. Instead of a percentage of the profits, the Australian had received death.

Ironically, Legrec had placed the card that branded his murdered dupe as a fool.

Since then, Legrec had worked through other dupes. Balcray, Lysand, Keever, finally Clyston - all had participated in some game, here in New York.

It would be useless to search for coming crime. Legrec had probably completed his present scheme. These deaths of dupes were merely the clean-up men who knew too much; persons who would want a share of the spoils that Legrec intended to keep entirely as his own.

There could, however, still be a trail to Legrec.

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