Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 202 by Maxwel l Grant

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

CHAPTER XI. ABOVE AND BELOW

FATE could play its tricks, even with The Shadow. Along with his quick analysis of crime, The Shadow sensed where trouble next was due. He wanted to reach the floor above and he was starting out to the main elevators, when a quicker route opened.

The new route was the little automatic elevator; it had come down from the floor above, and Joe Cardona was stepping from it, to learn why a lot of people were clustered around the platform with the opened curtain. Seeing the car deserted, The Shadow started for it.

Detectives saw the swift-moving Cranston and sprang after him. One of them yelled, "Stop the tall guy,"

and a couple of attendants dived in to block The Shadow off. He became the center of a milling crowd while excited women shrieked, "There goes the thief!"

Even Cardona was drawn into the stampede that charged toward the little elevator. He couldn't recognize Cranston in the melee, because of so many intervening heads. The scene was clearing, though, thanks to The Shadow's efforts.

He was flinging attackers right and left, tripping them over one another. Wrenching free of two detectives, he used one as a battering-ram to down the other, and reached the elevator just as Cardona grabbed him.

The Shadow didn't wait to argue with Joe. He hauled the inspector into the elevator with him and slammed the door. The two were starting upward, but only after a costly delay. Measured in cash, the delay amounted to two million dollars.

Upstairs, everything was quiet. Very strangely, Cynthia Pellew was the center of attraction in the upper salon, as well as in the lower. But she wasn't the same Cynthia as the one who had been found bound and gagged.

This Cynthia still wore her full attire of a black gown, trimmed plentifully with diamonds, from anklet to pendant, with ring and bracelet in between, and earrings on the side.

Strolling across the salon, the brunette had given an excellent display of the diamonds; then, near a front corner of the long room, she had stepped aside to let other debs have the floor.

That was something very unusual for Cynthia Pellew, though Harry Vincent did not know it. Harry was busy at the telephone trying to contact Cranston, but with no result. Taking another look for Cynthia, Harry saw something quite irregular.

One of the main elevators had stopped at this floor. A detective had inspected it, found it empty. The operator gave the detective an envelope, evidently for the police commissioner, for the dick started in Weston's direction.

That left the elevator empty and unwatched. At that very moment, Harry saw Cynthia turn in the direction of the main elevator.

The girl was accompanied by a man in evening clothes. Like Cynthia, he had his back turned, so Harry wasn't able to identify him. But it was plain that the two were going to the elevator, which offered them a direct route to the lobby.

As calmly as if she had been wearing a batch of rhinestones, Cynthia Pellew was leaving the diamond show with two million dollars' worth of gems on her person.

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