Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 121 by Maxwel l Grant

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

CHAPTER XI

RADBARD'S RETURN

SOLO JUKE lost no time in voicing his business to Moshart. He had come to get a line on Radbard's latest activities. Listening from the closet, The Shadow could hear Solo query:

"Radbard's gone out, like you thought he would?"

An affirmative response came from Moshart.

"What about the secretary?" demanded Solo. "Where's he at? And the French moll?"

"Sideling has taken the evening off," returned Moshart. "He instructed me to go through the passage and bar the rear door."

"Radbard's order, huh? In case I showed up while he was out. Did the dame go out, too?"

"Mademoiselle Lebrunne has retired. The other servants are either in the kitchen or in their rooms. I am on duty alone."

Solo displayed a grin when he received this news. Eying the office with suspicious gaze, he called for a further report. Moshart gave it in a disappointed tone.

"Radbard has given no indication that he has any jewels," declared the servant. "There are always times when he moves about the house alone. I admit that he could have them here, at least downstairs. Not on the second floor, though. I have been there too regularly, and I have searched thoroughly."

"Maybe Sideling knows something," asserted Solo. "I'd like to snatch that lug and put the heat on him!"

"Sideling knows very little," assured Moshart. "It is a sure thing that Radbard has told him nothing important. But the girl may know some facts -"

"About the sparklers?" snorted Solo. "Guess again, Moshart. I'm wise to the whole set-up! Pierre Lebrunne has shipped those rocks straight through to Courtney Radbard! They're working the racket together, and the moll is part of the front. Radbard brought her here to bluff guys like Leo, Beak, and myself.

"It worked, because they didn't let the moll in the know. Pierre hasn't put her wise to anything. Whatever dope he sends through goes straight to Radbard. There was a guy carried the news, without knowing it. That bird was Luff Barrago."

Solo, through his inside knowledge, was stating facts that The Shadow had already divined. The Shadow, however, could see added reasons for Celeste's presence in New York. Courtney Radbard was holding the girl as hostage, until the deal was finished.

Pierre Lebrunne had shrewdly agreed to send Celeste to New York because, in a pinch, he could communicate directly with his sister. Celeste, despite her

ignorance of the arrangement, was serving as double surety in the deal between her brother and Radbard.

"THOSE sparklers are here," assured Solo, grimly. "Radbard fenced some, just to see if he could pull it without us getting wise. It didn't work, so he got rid of Leo and Beak. Radbard's hanging on to a big lot of the jewels, right

now - and I'm not swell-headed enough to think it's on account of me. Radbard figures me as small-fry. He thinks it would be a cinch to rub me out, if I

squawked.

"He's got a better reason for waiting. It's because all the jewels aren't here yet. There's a pile of them; they'd fill a box a foot square and a foot high, from what I've heard.

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.