Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 248 by Maxwel l Grant

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

CHAPTER XIII. THE CHANGED TRAIL

IT was Giles Mandon who brought order out of chaos. He rapped home the point that too much time had been lost in tracking a killer, the night when Foster Granmore had died. He demanded to know what had happened in his absence, and it took Margo to tell him.

Omitting any references to Connie's disappearance of an hour, and Ted's departure, Margo stated simply that Corbey had captured an unknown intruder, who had later escaped.

By the time she finished, Margo had witnesses to support her. Two frightened servants came from where they had been hiding and solemnly nodded their heads.

Finding that Margo alone was vocal, Mandon demanded:

"Who was the intruder?"

"I didn't see his face," answered Margo. "It was covered with his hat."

The servants nodded their corroboration.

"Maybe Corbey took a look at him," suggested Mandon glumly. "If he did, that's why the fellow killed him."

"Corbey knew, alright," assured the sheriff. "He was spilling it when the thunder interrupted him. The murderer heard him, and that's why he killed him. It's going to be tough, though proving it, considering the way my men were shooting. The killer could lay it to them."

"But that bullet through the heart -"

"Corbey was yelling to us," broke in the sheriff. "He might have turned around and gotten it. Understand, I don't think he did, but it could have happened that way."

"That can be settled," decided Mandon, "by probing for the bullet and checking it with the guns your deputies were carrying."

"Kind of a big wound,"' observed the sheriff, looking at Corbey's body. "I'd say the bullet mushroomed against a rib. Not much chance of identifying a flat bullet. The experts will probably tell us it could have come from anybody's gun."

Mandon's expression changed suddenly. The sheriff's reference to guns in general had given Mandon a recollection. Turning to Connie, he asked grimly:

"Where's your cousin Ted?"

Connie shook her head and looked at Margo, who also professed ignorance, since she was supposed to have been out in the garden most of the time. Beckoning to the sheriff, Mandon led the way into the study. Sight of the closed safe reassured him.

"I suppose I'm worried over nothing," began Mandon. "Still I'd better make sure -"

He fingered the combination and the safe came open. Turning, Mandon showed a horrified expression, which only Margo understood. Prompted by a question from the sheriff, Mandon explained.

"There was a revolver in this safe," he said. "It belonged to Ted Granmore."

"If it belonged to Ted," queried Clemming, "what was it doing in your safe?"

"I put it there so Ted wouldn't use it," Mandon replied. "He asked for it this evening. He wanted to give it to you, sheriff."

"To me? Why.

"I suppose I'd better tell you the whole story."

THEREWITH, Mandon gave an exact account of Ted's first visit, when he brought the revolver. He told how Ted had been at the Granmore house, and detailed Ted's accusations of Titus Weldorf, along with his mention of a mystery man in black.

"I believed Ted," stated Mandon simply, "though I wasn't willing to brand Titus as Foster's murderer.

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