Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 298 by Maxwel l Grant

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

CHAPTER XI

OLD ISAAC TWAMBLEY gave a withering glance at his new chauffeur and delivered one querulous word:

"Well?"

"Sorry. Mr. Twambley." In the light from the hotel portico, the freckled face of Jerry Lanthrop looked quite sincere. "I've been parked here outside the hotel for the last couple of hours or more. Ask the door man - ask anybody -"

Old Twambley gave a peculiar wince that might have been meant for a sneer. He didn't have to ask anybody, though he didn't say so. He'd already heard from Hawkeye, about the last person in Seaview City that anyone would ever connect with an old blatherskite like Twambley.

What really mattered was Jerry's alibi.

The chap had fixed himself a good one. The Shadow knew that Jerry had brought Seth Gaudry to the Hotel Waterloo. After leaving Gaudry, Jerry had gone directly to the Hotel Neptune where Isaac Twambley was a guest. By that time, Twambley wasn't around the Neptune. As The Shadow, he had set out on Gaudry's trail. Unfortunately for Gaudry, he'd finished his quick buy at the House of Bankhill and

had gone on to the Coral House to keep a rendezvous with death, before The Shadow was able to overtake him.

Meanwhile, Jerry's alibi had built itself solidly, simply because Twambley's new chauffeur had stayed put, outside the Hotel Neptune.

Getting into the car, Twambley spoke an order in a dryish crackle:

"Take me down to the old lighthouse."

If that demand puzzled Jerry, he didn't show it. The chauffeur simply took the wheel and drove toward the destination given. If anything, he showed concern for his new employer, for Jerry spoke back from the front seat:

"I'd better take it slowly. sir. The road isn't very good and I need to get used to this car. If anything proves unsatisfactory, be sure to say so."

Plenty was unsatisfactory, but Twambley didn't say so. During the snail's trip toward the point of land where the old lighthouse stood, the keen mind of The Shadow was at work, analyzing Jerry's status.

It might not be a question of how much Jerry knew. It might be a case of how little.

So far the fellow had played the perfect stooge. His connection with murder in Seaview City could be an unconscious one, originating from nothing more than an effort to pick up some easy money driving company cars on his own time.

Though Jerry had brought along a brace of thugs when he took Cranston as a passenger in the blue cab, no threat had resulted during that trip. Maybe Jerry had been in on the frame when those car-lights had blinked a signal outside the Hotel Neptune, but The Shadow wasn't entirely certain that Jerry's vehicle was the one involved.

Today, Jerry had brought Gaudry from the depot, but again his part was minor and could be considered such until The Shadow knew definitely that Jerry had heard of Gaudry's death.

In any event, Jerry was a future prospect where The Shadow was concerned and it would be unwise to spoil him now. However much Jerry knew - or how little - The Shadow could use him as effectively as someone else.

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