Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 196 by Maxwel l Grant

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

CHAPTER IX. THE BLUE PARROT

ON the following evening, a taxi-cab drove slowly eastward on one of the best residential streets of Manhattan. Its goal was a towering apartment building in the swanky society section over near the East River.

Wealth and social prestige had transformed what was once a slum river district into the most desirable neighborhood in town. There was a float at the river's edge to accommodate the speedboats of wealthy tenants. A few seaplanes rode at anchor.

The streamlined taxicab looked like one of a thousand others on the busy highways of Manhattan. The driver was Moe Shrevnitz. He was a secret agent of The Shadow.

Moe drove slowly, because a conference was going on between his two passengers - a conference in which Moe took a necessary part. Certain facts had to be discussed before the cab reached the building in which a blonde named Dorothy Bruner maintained an expensive apartment.

Clyde Burke was keeping a promise he had made Dorothy a couple of days earlier. He was taking her

out on a date in his role of an amorous reporter.

Clyde's companion in the taxicab was older. He looked like a successful lawyer or a man familiar with stocks and finance. In the telephone book he was listed as an investment broker. His name was Rutledge Mann. Actually, he was an undercover financial agent of The Shadow.

Mann's job tonight was to take advantage of the absence of Dorothy Bruner after she departed on her date with Clyde. The Shadow was certain that hidden somewhere in that swanky apartment of Dorothy's were vital documents that might throw a revealing light on the activities of the sleek David Chester. He had instructed Rutledge Mann to make a careful search of every inch of the place.

A statement by Moe Shrevnitz confirmed one of the facts The Shadow had already deduced. The real name of Dorothy Bruner was Mrs. David Chester. She and her employer were secretly man and wife.

"I found it out by jawing with the building doorman," Moe said with a grin of satisfaction. "The renting agent is a notary public and the doorman is his brother-in-law. Last year, Chester took his income tax report to the renting agent to be notarized. It was a joint return for David and Dorothy Chester."

His grin hardened.

"Chester is up in the blonde's apartment right now! I saw him sneaking through the delivery entrance about a half hour ago. Unless he went away in the last five minutes or so, he's still there."

"Dorothy probably told him about her date with me," Clyde growled. "My guess is that Chester will hide somewhere out of sight and try to listen in while Dorothy pumps me. I'm afraid they both suspect by this time that I'm a lot more than a reporter for the Classic."

He didn't sound worried, however.

"I've figured a scheme to get rid of them both tonight," he told Rutledge Mann, "so you can get in and have plenty of time to search the empty apartment. I'm going to pull a stunt to scare this Chester guy and send him out on a wild-goose chase.

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