Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 255 by Maxwel l Grant

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

CHAPTER IX. KNOBS MALETTO

IN the billiard room which Cranston had quitted a few minutes earlier, Jonah Minter and his two guests stared at one another with relief.

"I thought we'd never get rid of him," Minter said in a low voice. "Do you think he suspects anything?"

Kilby shook his head.

"Not Cranston. It just pleased his vanity to show what an excellent pocket billiards player he is. It was just normal psychological behavior - a harmless bit of exhibitionism."

Simon Swade was annoyed by this scientific chitchat. "Let's get down to the important business that brought us together. Have you assembled the cash?"

Minter nodded. "I have fifty thousand dollars in my study safe."

He was pale at the thought of risking so much money, even though he was convinced that by risking it, he was almost certain to capture the unknown blackmailer.

"Wouldn't it be just as good to use sheets of blank paper? Suppose the criminal has figured some smart scheme; and escapes with the money in spite of us?"

"Nonsense!" Swade said.

He flashed Kilby a quick look. The psychoanalyst came to his rescue.

"It's much more rational to use the actual cash," Kilby declared. "We can assume that the blackmailer will expect trickery. Wherever he may instruct you later to leave the money, he will most certainly examine it to make sure no trick has been played on him. No. Actual cash should be used as the bait, in my opinion.

The criminal will then assume that you are frightened and anxious to avoid trouble. It will make it easier for us to formulate a counter scheme. He will be more easily nabbed."

"That's excellent advice," Swade chimed in. "The main thing is to wait until we hear from the blackmailer."

He smiled at Minter.

"How about one last game of pool? No sense in our getting jittery over something that may not happen at all tonight."

He selected a cue and approached the table. But he didn't clean out the pockets of the balls that Cranston had left. He allowed Jonah Minter to attend to that. He pretended to be startled by Minter's sudden gasp.

"What's wrong?"

"This!" Minter cried.

He was holding a folded piece of paper. He opened it with a convulsive gesture as Swade and Kilby sprang to his side. One glance at the note, and Minter's face became as white as the paper.

"It's from the blackmailer! It's a demand for the money!"

"Good heavens!" Kilby cried. "Where did you find it?"

"In one of the side pockets."

"How in the world could it have gotten there?" Simon Swade wondered.

"Could it have been put there by... Lamont Cranston?" Minter said uneasily. "It seems a crazy thing to say, but Cranston was the last one to remove the balls."

KILBY chuckled. Noting his slight sideward gesture, Simon Swade walked quickly toward the window of the billiard room.

With the note found, it didn't suit either of these partners to have Minter suspect dirty work inside the mansion. An unknown blackmailer ought to suggest peril from the outside. The scheme of Kilby and Swede depended upon building up that illusion.

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