Shadow 306 - The Blackest Mail 08-01-46, The by Maxwell Grant

Author:Maxwell Grant [Grant, Maxwell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Street and Smith
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

X.

LIEUTENANT SHERLY, notified of the shooting affray by radio, leaped from the dolly car that had raced to the entrance of the studio.

He arrived just in time to see Genia, hands pathetically attempting to cover the nakedness of her pate, run off the street into the protection of a door.

He did a double-take and then surveyed the scene. The battle was secondary in his mind to what he had just witnessed. So that was the explanation of how the blackmailer had extorted money from Genia.

The slightest rumor that she was bald would have done more to ruin her glamorous reputation than any other thing in the world.

Don Barron walked up to Sherly. “Well, now the whole world knows about Genia. I thought from the beginning that she was foolish to let herself be blackmailed for that. After all, you know how it happened, don’t you?”

“Not being a mind reader, no.”

“It was that first U.S.O. trip she took. The one that went to the South Pacific. She caught a tropical fever there - the end results you just saw!”

Sherly nodded. “What a pity. For doing a patriotic duty, that dirty rat blackmailed her!”

Sherly walked away from Barron, shaking his head. He was beginning to conceive a deep hatred for the blackmailer in the case that went far beyond duty. He yearned to inflict physical violence on him.

“What is going on?” Sturm’s heavy voice was inquiring.

Sherly, startled, looked at the director. His eyes went from the bandaged shoulder to the bull neck and then to the monocle that seemed glued in Sturm’s eye. “You don’t know anything about all this, I suppose?”

“Of course not. I was resting my wound when I heard a racket. Such a noise! It sounded like a battle! Gun shots, screaming! Such things, ach!”

Sherly clenched his fists and turned away. He watched an ambulance draw up in front of the studio and counted to ten before he spoke. “Everyone out of here till we get this mess cleared up.”

In another part of the studio The Shadow watched as Shrevvie looked around the set with awe-struck eyes. Shrevvie was unaware that he was under scrutiny. He said to himself, “What a place… geeze…”

Flip Hiller was still with Shrevvie. He was evidently enjoying the impression the studio was having on Shrevvie. He pointed to the handwriting on the wall. “That appeared there, slowly, as though an invisible giant were writing it!”

Shrevvie was suitably impressed. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tony Hunter walk by. Hunter had a strange air about him. He looked hunted.

The Shadow noticed this air too. He followed, at a discreet distance, the trail that Hunter made. Hunter was careful, his eyes were everywhere. He looked over his shoulder repeatedly, but never noticed the shadows deepening behind him. At the end of a corridor he took a deep breath and, with an air of resolution, opened a door and went in.

The Shadow eavesdropped outside the door. He heard, “You fool! Why did you come

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.