Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 214 by Maxwel l Grant

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

CHAPTER IX. DARK DEATH

IT was pitch dark along the New Jersey shore. The road that ran close to the edge of the Hudson River was a lonely one. Most traffic whizzed smoothly along on the excellent paved highway on the heights above the Palisades.

The Shadow parked his car behind a screen of scraggly bushes. Across the Hudson he could see the twinkling lights of Manhattan. But the shore line of New Jersey at this point was desolate.

A few empty wharfs jutted out into the black current. All of them had lapsed into decay. The Shadow eyed those wharfs with grim interest. Three of them were nothing more than narrow jetties, their sagging planks open to the black sky overhead.

The fourth pier was a covered structure.

It was the fourth pier that The Shadow approached. A faded sign showed that it had once been a part of a brick works. Years ago, river barges had carried building material to many a construction project. But fire had destroyed the brick plant and the pier had been allowed to lapse into ruin.

It was an ideal spot for a crook like Slasher Doyle to bring victims whom he was anxious to put out of the way without danger of discovery.

The Shadow was certain that Hilbert was a prisoner inside this dark pier. He had listened carefully to the directions Slasher had given Big Bill Bokin at their criminal conference in the politician's home. The Shadow had followed those directions accurately.

A glance at the locked door at the shore entrance of the pier confirmed The Shadow's suspicion. The ground in front of that door was sifted an even white. It was impossible to get close enough to touch the knob of the door without stepping on that powdery white material and leaving a telltale footprint.

The Shadow's electric torch played briefly on the knob. A thin dusting of powder covered the knob, too.

Someone, anxious to make sure that no intruder could get in unnoticed, had smeared the knob with a paste of some kind and then dusted the powder over the paste.

Moving away in the darkness The Shadow headed riverward, toward the side of the pier.

The ground sloped sharply from the edge of the road to a muddy tide flat. The river current had piled driftwood into this forgotten little cove. Crates and boxes were mired, waiting for the morning tide to float them off again. Two or three logs had grounded. The Shadow pried the biggest log free.

Sitting astride the half-submerged log, he paddled his unwieldy craft out into the black river. His goal was a window out near the end of the covered structure. No light came front that window. There was no glass in it. It was covered by a square of heavy burlap, tacked tightly on the inner side.

The window was fairly high above the river's surface. The log bobbed uneasily as The Shadow rose gingerly to his feet. He made a quick grab for the sill of the window.

He hung by his fingertips from the high sill, while the log spun away under the impetus of his kick.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.