Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 252 by Maxwel l Grant

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

CHAPTER XIII

GUEST OF DEATH

NOW it happened that Inspector Joe Cardona was very busy when the tip-off was relayed to him. So busy, that he didn't think of it in terms of a tip-off at all. Cardona was busy trying to convince the police commissioner that it would take a long while to trace Judge Lawless, and that Joe shouldn't be blamed if he didn't get immediate results.

From Moyland's, The Shadow had called Burbank, who, in turn, had phoned headquarters; with the result that word had been passed to Cardona at the Cobalt Club. Simply word to station men at the Marview Hotel to see that nothing harmed a resident guest named Roger Helmbroke. The Shadow wasn't taking

chances, should Judge Lawless attempt an early move.

Likewise Burbank was calling in various agents of The Shadow to hold them in the offing. Such agents as Clyde Burke, who posed as a roving newspaper

reporter; the stalwart Cliff Marsland and his side-kick Hawkeye. And, of course, Moe Shrevnitz, since Shrevvy's cab might prove of timely value. But this was a bad night for bringing in The Shadow's aides.

With the exception of Harry Vincent, all had been assigned to a search for

the new headquarters of Judge Lawless. To a man, the agents were hot on the trail, but the Lawless band was gone from its new courtroom before any of The Shadow's workers could locate it.

Clyde, Cliff and Hawkeye happened to pick up the trails of suspicious characters who were coming from the meeting instead of going to it. Thus engaged, none of The Shadow's agents was where Burbank could quickly reach him.

There was one man whose trail The Shadow's agents did not cross at all: Dave Channey.

Judge Lawless had dropped Dave from the black-windowed car close to the Hotel Marview, where Helmbroke lived. From the moment that Dave entered the lobby of that hotel, he was to be on his own. At least, so Dave thought; but he

was wrong. Judge Lawless had already provided for the time when crime would enmesh Roger Helmbroke. One of the judge's inside men was on the job.

The inside man was the hotel clerk. The Marview was an apartment hotel, and the clerk divided lobby duties with the elevator operator. In expectation of a thrust from Judge Lawless, the clerk was staging a little drama for the elevator man's benefit. Reaching beneath the desk, the clerk brought out a package and at the same time reached up and pressed a plug into the switchboard.

The switchboard was buzzing while the elevator man approached, and the clerk faked a brief phone call in answer to the buzz. With an annoyed headshake, the clerk pulled out the plug.

"Everything happens at once," grumbled the clerk. "This package has to go up to 1264, and now the drugstore won't deliver the order before they close.

I'll have to go over there while you're taking up the package."

It happened that 1264 was the most distant apartment in the hotel, which meant that the elevator man would be absent for several minutes.

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