Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 147 by Maxwel l Grant

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

CHAPTER XI

THE PHOENIX

JOHN MARSLEY found plenty to worry him, the next day.

It wasn't that he feared the police. He had been away from his home most of

the previous night, but he was satisfied he had covered his movements perfectly.

It was the accusing gaze of his daughter Viola that he found hard to meet.

Viola knew her father had not been home last night. He refused to answer her anxious questions.

The morning newspapers were again black with headlines. The discovery of Leo Barry's shotgun-torn body linked him at once with the similar murder of Duke

Duncan. The red-ink message on the wall, from The Phoenix, made it certain.

In his spacious living room, John Marsley puffed moodily at a cigar and tried to parry his daughter's worried questions. He succeeded, until she mentioned The Phoenix. Then his own intense excitement forced him to talk.

Viola said faintly, "Do you think The Phoenix is the one who's trying to send you to the electric chair for a murder you didn't commit?"

Marsley laughed bitterly.

"Forget that! It was only the beginning of the conspiracy. It was a method

used to force something else from me. The Phoenix is not interested in railroading me - or the innocent Jack Skelly - to the electric chair. He and I are both interested in something else."

He went on talking in a nervous undertone.

"I expect a coded cablegram today from a banking agent of mine in the Far East. If I can get that cable and decode it promptly, The Phoenix will have lost

- and I will have won!"

"That should be simple enough," Viola said. "If the cable is on its way now, and you have the code book..."

"But, I don't!" her father groaned. "The code book was stolen from this house, two days ago! Without it, the message will be meaningless. Worse than that, I suspect The Phoenix may already have the code book."

His voice hardened.

"I'm explaining this for an important reason. I want you to stay here and take that cable message when it comes."

"You're going out?"

"Yes. I think I know the thief. If I work fast, I hope to recover the book."

TWENTY minutes after Marsley departed, the doorbell rang. Viola hurried to

answer it. But quick as she was, the butler, Craig, was even quicker. He had already signed for a yellow envelope. He was slipping it quickly into his pocket.

He frowned, as the girl held out her hand and asked for it with a steady voice.

"I'll keep it for your father," Craig muttered. "There's no need for you to

bother. I'll lock it for safe-keeping in Mr. Marsley's study."

"You'll give it to me!" Viola snapped. "Give me that cablegram!"

"Very well," Craig said, quietly. His voice was submissive, but the gleam in his eye was ugly. He handed over the yellow envelope and retired to his quarters at the rear of the house.

Viola had always taken Craig for granted as a meek servant. Now she found herself suspicious of him. She decided to hide the important missive, not in her

father's study, but in the wall jewel safe in her own bedroom.

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