Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 066 by Maxwel l Grant

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

CHAPTER XIII. THE SECOND BULLET

THE next afternoon found Sheriff Tim Forey in his office. Two men were with him, One was Norman Trobers, the county prosecutor. The other was Harry Vincent. Tim Forey was discussing murder on the hill.

"Two fools!" exclaimed the sheriff. "Dunmore and that Chink cook. They had no telephone; so they kept watch over that body until morning. Then they got word in to me - hours after Ezekiel Twinton was murdered."

"No evidence, then?" inquired Trobers.

"No," growled Forey. "That dry ground left no footprints. I figure Ezekiel Twinton put up a fight; then he was shot dead. The same as with Grantham Breck. Only Twinton was shot in the back.

"I've got the bullet" - Forey produced a slug from the desk drawer - "and I won't have to send it into New York. The expert is due here this afternoon. Maybe he can tell something about it."

Forey dropped the bullet back in the drawer. It clanked alongside the Luger. The sheriff rested back in his chair and spoke again.

"I brought Vincent in here on a pretext," he explained to the prosecutor. "Since he found Grantham Breck's body, it was natural that he should see Ezekiel Twinton's corpse also. But the real reason I brought him in for was to talk about this butler, Craven. One of the deputies reported that the fellow was moving around last night."

"Inside the house or outside?" quizzed Trobers.

"Inside, the deputy says," replied Forey. "But he could have gone out as well. He might have been coming back when the deputy spotted him. Listen, Vincent, did you see or hear Craven go out of the house last night?"

"No," responded Harry. "I heard the deputy challenge him in the hall. Craven gave his explanation about the back door being unbolted."

"What about Elbert Breck?" questioned Trobers. "Do you think he could have sneaked out the back way, Vincent?"

"No," replied Harry. "As a matter of fact, Elbert locked himself in his room for the night."

The explanation sufficed. Harry said nothing more. He knew that he must preserve silence that he might aid The Shadow. Accusations of either Craven or Elbert would bring a definite quiz. Harry knew that he might be forced to declare his own actions of last night. That would end his usefulness by making him a possible suspect in the murder of Ezekiel Twinton.

"Here's the way I figure it," asserted Forey, in abrupt fashion. "Old Grantham Breck was a cagy sort. He had something up his sleeve. There was something fishy about him wanting to buy some of Twinton's property. Well, Grantham Breck got bumped off, and somebody had a reason for doing it.

"Like as not the actual murderer cleared out. But somebody stuck around. Whoever did was prowling

like Grantham Breck had done. This fellow ran into Twinton and killed him last night. Now who was the fellow?"

"Somebody who knew something about Grantham Breck's affairs," decided Trobers.

"You've hit it, prosecutor," agreed Forey. "Well, there's Craven. He was pretty faithful to old Grantham Breck. He knows the lawyer was acting funny.

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.