The Northdale Mystery by Maxwell Grant & Walter Gibson

Author:Maxwell Grant & Walter Gibson [Grant, Maxwell & Gibson, Walter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Espionage, Fiction, Thrillers
Publisher: Street & Smith
Published: 1942-05-20T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XII. THE THIRD TRAIL

THE next morning, Lamont Cranston took a stroll from the Central Hotel. He walked past the courthouse and paused at the post office, which was just beyond it, intending to mail a letter. He decided however, to send a telegram instead, but his stroll produced the fact that there was no telegraph office in Northdale.

So Cranston returned to the hotel, and on the way came to the conclusion that a long distance call would be preferable.

He made the call to New York and talked to a girl named Margo Lane. That call produced a return one, an hour later, and another after that.

During the afternoon, Cranston watched Jeff Bracy leave the hotel and begin to make the rounds of places like the theater and the jewelry store. There was no need to trail Bracy. He was simply following Mordant's suggestion, checking on some of the other depositors in the Northdale National.

As for Mordant, The Shadow wasn't interested in trailing him, any more than Bracy. Mordant was probably at home, and therefore unreachable at present. But the main thing was that The Shadow had a third trail planned. He was thinking in terms of Norman Chalmody. That trail would have to wait a few hours longer.

There was a by-product during the interim. It consisted of Rufus Mayberry. The Shadow saw the grizzled chain-store magnate drive into town and stop in the bank. Sleeper and the others weren't with him, and Mayberry didn't happen to cross Bracy's path. So the thing remained merely an incident.

Cranston's wait ended when the late afternoon train arrived. Margo Lane was on it, and Cranston met her at the station. Northdale was increasing in attractions: one day, it had received Corinne Chalmody; the next day, Margo Lane. For Margo, in her smart way was quite as attractive as the demure Corinne.

Margo was a streamlined brunette, who knew the answers and kept them to herself. She'd gained that ability by traveling in cafe society just enough to keep brushed up on everything to date.

At heart, Margo had old-fashioned inclinations, but she had dropped them on Cranston's account. She knew that he and The Shadow were identical, and that therefore she was helping justice by reporting what went on among a wealthy group that formed a natural target for crime.

As soon as she was in Cranston's car, Margo gave a brief outline of her day.

"It was really a job, Lamont," she declared. "Like playing hopscotch, getting in touch with people who knew Corinne Chalmody. Old school chums and what-not. Linking you to friends of Corinne's father was another game that took a while.

"But it all worked out. When certain people called Corinne and told her that their dear friend, Margo Lane was going to be in Northdale, she just simply had to invite me to the lodge. But she was really thrilled, when I told her over the telephone that you were coming with me to meet her father, because you knew so many of his friends.

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