Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 219 by Maxwel l Grant

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

CHAPTER XII

TOO MUCH TALK

It was half-past one, Monday afternoon. Armand Thull had finished lunch at

a restaurant near his office, but in the other direction from Tony's.

When he lunched, Thull did so with his usual regularity, and the people in

the lunchroom also regarded him as quite a character, which pleased Thull, because they thus were persons that he might use later.

Today, as he paid his check, Thull clucked gravely and said to the cashier:

"Sorry, I won't see you for a while. I am going out of town."

The cashier looked surprised.

"To Chicago," added Thull, "where I shall start a branch office. Much of my

mail-order business is in the Middle West. I may locate there, permanently."

Returning to his office, Thull made a telephone call. The voice that answered was that of Mort Falden. In his own tone, Thull queried:

"Any news?"

"Plenty" returned Mort. "I talked to Croak. He's been casing the Clairwood.

I had him fix one of the bellhops, like you told me -"

"I know." Thull's tone was testy. "That was quite awhile ago."

"Well, between them," Mort continued, breezily, "they've got the dope.

Plain-clothes men will be planted around the place and in the lobby. Upstairs, too, in other rooms on the eighth floor, where the directors meet."

"Are any police to be at the meeting itself?"

"I don't think so," returned Mort. "The thing looks like a trap. But there's a way around it. In through a garage next door, along a passage to the service elevators. Croak knows the route. There's only one trouble -"

"The police commissioner?"

"No. He won't count. A friend of his named Cranston is taking a room next to the meeting, but he's a stuffed shirt like the commissioner. The trouble is Joe Cardona.

"He's the guy that's really giving orders. They won't move until he shows up; but from then on, anything may happen. Joe is just smart enough, or lucky enough, to spot that special route."

The Time Master sat in thought. At the other end of the wire, Mort pictured

what was happening, but such a long time passed that he thought the connection had been cut off. Remembering something, Mort voiced it.

"About that Tony guy," he said. "You know, the barber -"

"What about him?"

Thull's interruption was quick, with touches of the Time Master's sharpness. Mort spoke rapidly.

"I stopped in there just as he was closing, Saturday night," said Mort.

"It

was safe enough, and I wanted to see how well Tony remembered things. He remembers them too well, and he talks too much."

"Specify."

"Well, he mentioned the shooting that night when The Shadow ruined Croak's

cab. Tony set the time too late, on account of the clock, he might forget it, if

we threw a scare into him."

"Not the proper policy," spoke the Time Master. "Tony is too useful an alibi. We must keep him as he is."

"I guess so, chief," returned Mort, ruefully, "but I'm telling you one thing. If Joe Cardona ever talks to Tony, he'll learn plenty! We've got to keep

Joe away from there."

After hanging up, Thull spent a long while in thought. At last, his dreary

face took on a smile.

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