Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 235 by Maxwel l Grant

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

CHAPTER XII

THE SHADOW'S FINISH

FOR the first time in his long career of battling crime, Lamont Cranston was learning fully why he, when garbed as The Shadow, could strike terror into the hearts of hardened crooks. In studying the most effective measures of approach, he had never been able to appreciate the surprise that his sudden arrival produced.

He was getting the full effect, at last.

The jab of a gun against his neck wasn't a new experience for The Shadow; seeing himself on the other end of the automatic was the real novelty. Viewed in a mirror, the sight was totally unreal.

Perhaps he hadn't fully recovered from the slight concussion that his physician had exaggerated to suit his, The Shadow's, convenience. Whatever the case, The Shadow couldn't shake off the illusion that the figures in the mirror

were placed wrong

His senses grasped the notion that he was the cloaked person with the gun;

that the helpless man in the chair was someone else. Always, when trapping an evildoer, The Shadow pictured the man's sensation. It seemed that this time he had projected his imagination too far.

He didn't belong in the chair, yet he was clamped there by invisible bonds

that wouldn't let him spring back into the shape of blackness that should properly represent The Shadow.

It was the sense of touch that forced The Shadow to the realization that he was still Cranston, and helpless. The back of his neck kept telling him that

a gun muzzle was chilling it. His ears caught a harsh undertone, and it served further to bring him to reality. It wasn't his, The Shadow's voice, that commanded him to raise his arms.

Slowly, Cranston's hands came upward, and now, as The Shadow of the past, he was recalling all he had said to Margo about The Shadow of the present.

He'd expected Clive Walden to make use of the borrowed garb, but this went

beyond predictions. There must be some reason why a man garbed as The Shadow would pick Cranston for a victim. One reason, in particular.

The man who wore the cloak and hat was definitely deep in crime. So deep, that he wanted to dispose of The Shadow. Not only that, but the masquerader had

a clear knowledge of the inside facts.

Possessing the cloak and hat, he knew that The Shadow was at large, and

had presumed that he would choose this mansion as a base while investigating crime.

One man, alone, had so situated himself. That man was Lamont Cranston.

Having thus divined why he had been chosen as a target by the false Shadow, the helpless Mr. Cranston was puzzled to find himself still alive.

Most

men deep-dyed in crime would have blasted The Shadow the moment they held the chance. Therefore, it was plain that the pretender in the cloak must have something more at stake.

The answer struck home.

It wouldn't do for Cranston to merely be found dead beside his chair, slain by an unknown assassin. This killer wanted to place the guilt on someone other than himself. He was waiting for witnesses to view the fatal deed.

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