Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 105 by Maxwel l Grant

Author:Maxwel,l Grant
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf

CHAPTER XI. THE NEXT TEST

TWENTY-FOUR hours had passed since The Shadow had checked the second step in double doom.

The law had gained no trail to Ferris Krode; nor had any clues been found at Luke Saschew's. The police had learned only that Saschew, while a mere dabbler in art, had possessed some excellent social contacts. That marked him as a man who could have been used in schemes involving the seizure of

wealth.

Cardona had arrived at the studio to investigate with Marquette. They had found the wadded blue paper in the wastebasket. Cardona had wondered why it was water-soaked; Marquette had offered no explanation. The Shadow had taken the little bottle from which the paper had first been moistened.

Coolly, Marquette had taken credit for victory in the fight with Saschew. The G-man understood that The Shadow had reason for keeping free of the matter. It was better that those who backed the cause of the Yellow Door should remain in ignorance of The Shadow's definite entry into the case.

Marquette had expected to hear from The Shadow. No contact had been made. Tonight, Marquette had an appointment at Dudley Birklam's. He went to it alone, leaving Cuyler at the hotel to forward word of any calls.

When he reached Birklam's, Marquette was not surprised to find both Commissioner Weston and Inspector Cardona. Nor was he puzzled by the presence of Lamont Cranston. Marquette knew the part that the commissioner's friend had played in the solution of the code.

Detail by detail, Commissioner Weston was recounting all that had occurred, in so far as he knew the facts. The story began with Weasel Hacklin's confession. It followed with Cranston's solution of the code. Then came the account of the messages; how they had missed fire.

"No one saw Weasel die," Weston told Birklam. "We thought that it was safe to send him there alone.

Marquette went alone, also. Fortunately, he was able to cope with Saschew, while Weasel failed against Krode."

"Too bad," observed Birklam, in a discouraged tone. "It would have served us well could we have captured Krode. He appears to be the brain in all these schemes."

"If I had nabbed Saschew," put in Marquette, in a rueful tone, "it would have helped. But there was only one way to handle Saschew. That was to get him before he could get me."

Nods of agreement. Cardona changed the subject.

"What I'd like to know," growled the ace, "is how those messages happened to go sour. Krode knew Weasel and should have accepted him."

"Not necessarily," inserted Weston. "Mr. Birklam has given us the answer. Weasel had received orders to act as a messenger no longer. If Krode is the big-shot behind the Yellow Door, he would naturally have known that something was up as soon as Weasel appeared."

"An excellent deduction, commissioner!" exclaimed Birklam. "One that escaped me completely when I expressed the thought that Krode must be the master brain."

"That would cover it," conceded Cardona, "but only so far as Weasel was concerned. Let's figure that Krode was playing it smart.

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