Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 189 by Maxwel l Grant

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

CHAPTER XIII. THE HUNTED MAN

TWO days. No move from Adico.

Seated in the lounge of the Cobalt Club, Lamont Cranston was reading an evening newspaper.

Outwardly, he was placid, but behind the outspread pages of the newspaper, keen eyes showed a sparkle as deep as the glowing girasol that adorned The Shadow's finger.

Deliberately, The Shadow was inviting murder. In tantalizing fashion, the killers who worked for Adico were ignoring the marked Mr. Cranston, although they certainly knew where they could find him.

Did they suspect that Cranston was The Shadow?

It did not matter. There was a better reason why the death organization was biding its time. Rudy Waygart, the ace killer, wasn't available for this important murder.

Shadow or not, Cranston was a man who might know a lot. A close friend of the police commissioner, he would probably recognize Rudy as a crook if the fellow walked into the Cobalt Club. It wouldn't do for Adico to start with a false move.

Things fitted with The Shadow's theory that the death-insurance ring was nationwide. Other victims had been murdered in various cities, probably by killers who had learned fine points from Rudy. If Adico played its cards right, Cranston would probably meet with one of those specialists very soon.

Viewing the club foyer, noting that it was empty, The Shadow returned to his reading of the newspaper.

Commissioner Weston had issued a statement claiming that the law had put the lid on murder and intended to keep it tightly clamped.

Superficially, Weston's statement sounded well. The commissioner argued that recent murders were the work of desperate mobsmen, who had been either killed off, or dispersed. Parron had been slain by massed invaders. A mob was on hand when Renstrom died from a planted explosion. Juble's death had come during a thwarted mob attack directed against Vayne.

The Shadow smiled. He knew the facts behind those cases, saw how they differed.

Rudy Waygart had used mob methods in finishing Parron and Renstrom, to hide the fact that many other victims - of a far different sort - were being handled much more neatly. No one had taken out death insurance on either Parron or Renstrom. They were simply persons who had learned too much about the murder ring.

Vayne was different. He had been insured. Murderers had tried to dispose of him in subtle fashion. It was The Shadow's own forcing of the issue that had made the case look like a mob attempt. Weston simply hadn't caught on to the situation.

In his statement, Weston bragged that the law had managed to successfully protect three threatened persons: Janet Renstrom, Thomas Merwood, and Tyrus Vayne, though all of them had definitely been marked for death.

Again, the commissioner was deluded.

Weston didn't know that The Shadow had faked the Adico threat against Janet. Nor did he realize that Merwood had never been in danger at all, since no one had insured the financier's death. As for Vayne, crooks no longer had a reason to kill him. His term had passed; his claim was paid off and scratched from the books.

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