The Shadow 246 by Maxwell Grant

Author:Maxwell Grant
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

IT was easy to find out the floor on which Dawn lived, and the number of her apartment. There was a placard on the basement wall near the entrance to the service elevator. The placard was placed there for the convenience of tradesmen and delivery boys. It was a directory of all the tenants in the building.

The door to the service shaft was locked. Evidently the elevator was not used after a certain hour at night. But the steel door leading to the fire stairs wasn’t locked. Vincent had no trouble shoving it open.

He made the long climb upward as fast as he dared. He couldn’t hear a sound from above, although he stopped cautiously many times to listen on his way up.

Had Carl Trevor really sneaked ahead of him to make a secret search of Dawn’s apartment? Or had he eluded Vincent in some way, down in the dark basement, and sneaked out by a rear exit to the courtyard? For that matter, was the tall guy in the long coat really Carl Trevor?

Vincent didn’t try to answer these puzzling questions. He had reached the goal he was after. In front of him was the service door of Dawn Reed’s apartment.

He didn’t have too much trouble with the lock. He used a thin, shining tool that made little noise. Tenants usually depended on the slot-and-chain mechanism on these service doors, more than the lock. Harry’s heart was in his mouth as he gently pushed the door open. If the chain was in place, he was stuck! He didn’t have the tools with him to cut through such an obstacle.

But his luck was good. Dawn had forgotten to hook the chain in its slot. The door continued to open.

Harry crept into a dark kitchen. Intuition told him that he was alone. He was sure of that just from the blank feel of the silence in his throbbing ears.

He began a slow, careful prowl to make sure.

Instead of turning on lights, he used a tiny electric torch, keeping it close to the floor as he advanced from room to room. His gun was ready for action in case of sudden attack. But he didn’t have to use it. The apartment was empty.

He wondered if there was collusion between Trevor and Bascom. Had Bascom deliberately detained the nightclub singer outside while Trevor sneaked toward her apartment for a search? But how could that be? Trevor had vanished. He hadn’t come upstairs.

Vincent felt confused and uncertain. He didn’t know at what instant Dawn might return. The thing to do was to keep out of sight and watch what took place when she did return. Vincent followed the tiny glow from his light, looking for a place to hide.

He entered Dawn’s bedroom. His light showed him a roomy wardrobe closet that seemed to fit the bill. The complete emptiness of the closet puzzled Vincent. He thought: “She must be planning to get away. Either tonight or early tomorrow. That’s why she’s so anxious to shake off Bascom!”

His torch veered from the closet.

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