The Shadow - 227 - The Crimson Death by Maxwell Grant

Author:Maxwell Grant
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Street & Smith
Published: 1941-07-31T22:00:00+00:00

Elsie smiled at the transmitter. Brinker was like the rest of the people she had tricked at Copley’s bidding. A sap! He had given her an opening which she grasped quickly. Her voice sounded shy and innocently helpful.

“Wait, Mr. Brinker. There might be some trouble if I came to a man’s hotel

room without some reason.”

“What do you mean?”

“After all, I’m not an unattractive young woman. If the house detective saw me entering your room, it might bring me unpleasant notoriety.”

“Well?”

Elsie sounded silly and empty-headed to Brinker - which was what she had intended.

“How about this?” Elsie said breathlessly. “I’ll bring along my portable typewriter. If anyone sees me go into your room they’ll assume I’m a public stenographer employed by the hotel. They’ll assume you telephoned Room Service and asked for a stenographer to transact business. Don’t you think that’s a perfectly splendid idea?”

She held her breath. For a minute, there was no reply. Then Brinker agreed.

“All right. Do it that way.”

He hung up. So did Elsie Horton. Her sneering laughter echoed in her apartment bedroom, from which she had made the call.

A moment later, the doorbell rang.

ELSIE’S blue eyes clouded with suspicion. Before she answered the ring, she turned to a side table. On it stood the compact little radio set in its black carrying case. Elsie shoved it hastily under her bed. Then she went to the door.

She was surprised to see a very lovely girl outside. The girl was an attractive brunette with a pleasant smile. She was wearing an expensive evening

gown that revealed a flawless figure. She looked apologetic.

“I wonder if you could do me a favor,” she said to Elsie Horton. “I have an apartment on this same floor. A couple of gentlemen friends of mine have called to see me. They brought along a bottle of wine which I’d like to open.

But, unfortunately, I find I have no corkscrew. Could you allow me to borrow one from you?”

Elsie hesitated. She was a bit suspicious of this sudden visitor. She knew

that the girl had moved into an apartment down the hall only a few days earlier.

Was it possible that she had moved into the building to keep tabs on Elsie?

Elsie could observe nothing to keep her faint suspicion alive. The building was full of girls like this stylish brunette. Their incomes were always mysterious. Occasionally, wealthy gentlemen came to see them. The gentlemen were invariably much older than their lady friends. Elsie assumed that this pretty brunette was just another smart girl with a convenient sugar daddy.

Not once during that quick scrutiny in the doorway did Elsie recognize her

visitor as an extremely homely filing clerk who had recently obtained a job in the offices of the Copley company.

Elsie would have been amazed to know that the filing clerk and this smiling lady in the expensive evening gown were both the same personality.

Her apologetic visitor was Margo Lane!

Margo’s task at the Copley plant had been to keep an eye on Elsie Horton.

She had found out considerable about John Copley’s confidential secretary.

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.