The Shadow 149 Cards of Death by Maxwell Grant

Author:Maxwell Grant [Grant, Maxwell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Street & Smith
Published: 1938-04-30T22:00:00+00:00

The Australian, Craythorn, could easily have been working under Legrec’s supervision. He was the “front” for the master criminal’s clean-up at the gambling casino. Instead of a percentage of the profits, the Australian had received death.

Ironically, Legrec had placed the card that branded his murdered dupe as a

fool.

Since then, Legrec had worked through other dupes. Balcray, Lysand, Keever, finally Clyston - all had participated in some game, here in New York.

It would be useless to search for coming crime. Legrec had probably completed his present scheme. These deaths of dupes were merely the clean-up men who knew too much; persons who would want a share of the spoils that Legrec

intended to keep entirely as his own.

There could, however, still be a trail to Legrec.

RIGBY had finished with the motion pictures. Facing his audience of three,

he spoke in recollective tone.

“The police quizzed all foreigners in Budapest,” he stated, “myself among them. Learning that I was a crime investigator, they asked my assistance.

Clues

indicated that Legrec had gone to Istanbul. The authorities there requested that

I come.

“I uncovered a dead spy of Legrec’s. New evidence pointed to Cairo. I arrived in Egypt too late to save the victimized official. After many months, chance information brought me to Monte Carlo.

“Craythorn, the Australian, made his big winnings just after I arrived there. He was murdered; Legrec was gone with the spoils. On a long chance, I went to Australia, thinking that Legrec, always daring, would try to acquire property that belonged to the dead adventurer.”

Rigby drew down a rolled wall map. It showed the world, with lines that marked Rigby’s own travels. He ran his forefinger eastward, to the island of Ceylon.

“I was waylaid there by murderous Singhalese,” he recounted. “Legrec’s work; but I managed to escape before he sent payment for my capture.

Afterward,

Australia - again, Legrec was gone.”

Rigby started to pull down a roll that showed the outline of a man’s face.

It was the wrong one; he drew down another, instead. The Shadow’s eyes became keenly interested.

The face, huge in size, reminded him of some one that he had seen recently: Rupert Roban, the counterfeiter.

There were points that spoiled the exact resemblance. Where Roban’s chin was sharp, that of the outlined portrait had a roundishness. The forehead bulged, like Roban’s, but the incorrect chin gave a wrong comparison between the lower and upper portions of the face.

The hair was shocky, like Roban’s; but grayish, rather than white. The eyes were almost perfect; but they displayed only one of Roban’s moods. They were fixed in a cold stare that seemed to threaten eyes that met it.

The portrait showed the face as pale; it lacked the ancient hue of Roban’s

parchment skin. Withal, Roban could have been identified from it, particularly when Rigby explained the chart’s limitations.

“This is a pieced portrait of Legrec,” declared the investigator. “I have checked statement after statement, made by persons who claimed that they had seen him. I started to show you one of my earlier charts; its details were bad.

“In fact, I discarded portrait after portrait, keeping only my lists of details.

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