The Shadow - 204 - The Fifth Face by Maxwell Grant

Author:Maxwell Grant
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Street & Smith
Published: 1940-08-14T22:00:00+00:00

Barney’s bluster was rather painful to old Breddle, who was still thinking

in terms of his lost diamonds. Cranston, too, seemed bored by all the palaver.

When Breddle decided to leave, the commissioner’s friend went along. In the foyer, Cranston paused to make a phone call, then went out to his limousine.

Inside the big car, he slid open the drawer beneath the rear seat and rapidly cloaked himself in black garments. Watching from the window, he saw old

Breddle turn the corner, walking toward the subway. Opening a door with one hand, The Shadow reached for the speaking tube with the other. He spoke to the chauffeur, using Cranston’s tone.

“I think I shall remain at the Club, Stanley,” said The Shadow. “See if you can overtake Mr. Breddle before he reaches the subway. Tell him that this is my car, and that I instructed you to take him wherever he wants to go.”

Stanley heard the slight slam of the rear door and started the limousine forward. It happened that the closing door was on the street side of the car.

The figure that left the limousine wasn’t Cranston’s. It was The Shadow who whisked himself away toward the darkness across the street.

While Stanley thought that Cranston had actually gone back to the club, the doorman and others on the sidewalk supposed that he had left in his limousine. Instead, The Shadow had taken up an unsuspected vigil. Obscured in the opposite darkness, he was watching the entrance of the Cobalt Club!

A taxicab coasted into sight. It stopped when the driver saw a tiny red gleam from a special three-colored flashlight. Moe Shrevnitz was the driver of that cab; The Shadow had summoned him through a call to Burbank.

But even Moe was rather amazed to learn that The Shadow was spying on the Cobalt Club, the place to which he had access as Cranston any time he wanted it.

The reason was explained when a burly man with a tired derby hat stalked from the club and strode manfully along the street. Instantly, The Shadow’s light flashed green, but followed with a cautioning blink of yellow.

It meant that The Shadow was taking up a trail on foot, but wanted Moe to be close, ready if needed. The Shadow had used that system frequently; hence the process offered no surprise. The astounding thing was the nature of The Shadow’s trail.

The master of darkness was playing a long hunch. He was picking up the trail of Barney Kelm, the public hero who rated as a champion of law and order,

not as a man who dealt in crime!

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