The Shadow - The Shadow Unmasks Part 13

The telephone interrupted Chanbury. He reached for it; heard a high voice inquire for Mr. Henshew.

Chanbury pa.s.sed over the telephone. Henshew spoke his name; the voice inquired: "Are you coming back to the office, Mr. Henshew?"

"Back to the office?" repeated Henshew. "No, not tonight. If you want me again, I shall be here for a while."

That call was from Shark, another fact that Chanbury had guessed. The art collector listened indulgently while Henshew discussed the merits of the topaz settings. Each pa.s.sing minute showed a tightness of Henshew's tone, until the visitor noted that Chanbury's desk clock had reached half past nine.

Leaning across the desk, Henshew stated in a tone loud enough for Eleanor to hear: "Regarding those uncut diamonds, Chanbury. I should like to see them again. I feel that I may have underpriced them."

Chanbury produced the chamois bag. Henshew examined the diamonds as he spread them on the desk.

"Worth much more," he declared. "I might be prepared to pay you four hundred thousand dollars forthem."

"But what about your gems?" queried Chanbury. "I still want to buy them."

Henshew made no further attempt to stall.

"Those jewels were stolen," he declared. "It is all right for you to know it, Chanbury, but it would ruin my business if people learned that I had been foolish enough to keep them in my apartment. They are gone!"

"All of them?" Chanbury whipped out his penciled list. "All these that I jotted down from memory?"

Henshew's eyes stared at the list. For a few seconds his lips showed an ugliness that he usually concealed. Changing his manner, Henshew pa.s.sed back the list and acknowledged: "They were stolen, all of them. By Shark Meglo."

"I thought so!" Chanbury came to his feet. "Henshew, that is just what I wanted to hear you say. I have a witness - Miss Merwood - who has heard everything you stated. You have told so much that you can afford to tell more. I know, at last, that those jewels were the ones that belonged to Hugo Silsam!"

HENSHEW had risen also. He was stepping toward the door; but he was not disconcerted. Instead, he delivered a harsh laugh which ended with the chortled comment: "I have a witness, also! One who can speak for himself. Shark Meglo!"

Henshew hauled the door open. On the threshold stood Shark, a trio of trigger-men behind him. Those three men were the only thugs that Shark had been able to muster; but Shark's contemptuous look showed that he thought he had all the men he needed.

Entering, Shark covered Chanbury with a big revolver, and nudged to a follower, who swung a gun toward Eleanor.

"Take it easy, Shark," suggested Henshew. "The way it's going, I might as well leave first. I can talk to the servant when I go out. Hold the fireworks until I've gained a head start."

"Sure!" agreed Shark. "Go build your alibi. We'll fix the flunky afterwards. There was n.o.body around when we came through, so why leave anybody that might squawk?"

With a narrow look at Chanbury, Shark stepped closer to the desk and picked up the uncut diamonds, to pa.s.s them to Henshew.

"You handle these," suggested the killer. "n.o.body will know the dif. Keep 'em in your safe-deposit vault, along with the dough. I'll lam tonight; you can ship me my cut later -"

In turning toward Henshew, Shark let his gun swing slightly away from Chanbury. The thug who was covering Eleanor was telling a pal that the girl was a swell-looking dame, but that he didn't mind croaking a moll. No time could be better for the law's thrust. It came.

Side panels hoisted wide. Guns roared as Cardona and his men played a set policy of no quarter to the known murderer, Shark Meglo. Before Shark could even squeeze his trigger, he was loaded with lead from four guns.

Two other police revolvers took care of the rogue who covered Eleanor. Shark and the thug hit the floor together. Motioning his hands downward, Chanbury dropped behind the desk. Eleanor was behind the typewriter table before Chanbury waved. Shark's last pair of gunners had their revolvers up, to shoot it out with the law.

They didn't have a chance. Quick bullets sprawled them; detectives s.n.a.t.c.hed up the dropped guns before the wounded crooks could squirm to regain them.

Cardona had Henshew by the neck. The gem schemer was groping for his pocket, but his hands went limp as Joe choked him. Self-confessed brain in the jewel-murder game, Henshew was a prize that Cardona wanted to take alive. Henshew subsided; from a master-crook, he had become a cowering prisoner.

Clamping bracelets on him, Joe flung Henshew into a chair so hard that the handcuffs rattled.

"That cleans things up," announced Cardona, as detectives looked to the wounded men. "Shark did his last dirty job, when he murdered Tyrune. A good guy - Jim! He helped us, even after he was gone. But you staged the real show-down, Mr. Chanbury."

As Joe gripped Chanbury's hand, the grizzled man smiled and said: "Don't forget Miss Merwood."

"I won't." Joe shook hands with Eleanor. "You were game, Miss Merwood. I'll bet if the same thing happened again, you'd be just as cool as ever -"

CARDONA'S praise was halted by a peal of m.u.f.fled mirth, that presaged the very event of which Joe spoke. The chilling laugh loudened, as a clatter occurred at the back of the room. Past Chanbury, Cardona saw an appearing shape in black.

The Shadow was stepping from a third alcove, in the very center of the rear wall - one that had a swinging panel, on concealed hinges. Henshew, gaping from his chair, quailed at sight of the ominous avenger. Chanbury, wheeling, stared frozen.

Of all who saw The Shadow, one alone expected his arrival. That was Eleanor Merwood. Her happy gasp told that, to her, The Shadow's return was the needed climax in the exposure of hidden crime.

CHAPTER XXIII. DEAD FACES.

THE SHADOW stood with folded arms as he faced the group before him. He had left past work to others; he could rely upon new cooperation when he required it. In whispered tone, he reminded Joe Cardona: "You have forgotten something most important. The stolen jewels!"

It dawned on Joe that Shark had spoken of the uncut diamonds and cash in Henshew's possession, but no word of the gems that had been used in the round of murders. Cardona supposed that they would be found in Shark's hide-out; but there was one person present who held a different opinion.

As The Shadow faced the center of the room, his burning eyes had an effect like those of certain portraits on the walls. They seemed to bore toward every one who viewed them. Henshew felt that the stare was meant for him. Hoa.r.s.ely, the captured crook exclaimed: "You have them! You took them from my apartment! That was why you waited there -" The Shadow's words cut Henshew short. In steady monotone, the cloaked avenger, disputed Henshew's belief.

"I waited," declared The Shadow, "because the gems were gone. Some one had rifled that hiding place, to take the jewels elsewhere."

The Shadow stepped aside. Within the s.p.a.ce where he had been, others saw the door of a built-in vault, set deep. Eleanor gazed, amazed. She had never known that Chanbury possessed that secret strong room, behind a locked panel.

Eleanor had never studied the outside wall as The Shadow had done tonight. He had found a projection in addition to those that housed the side alcoves.

The sweep of The Shadow's hand indicated the closed safe. The gesture made words unnecessary.

Henshew understood.

"Chanbury took the gems!" exclaimed the jewel broker. "He knew that I had them! He was the only one -".

Henshew stopped. Chanbury was not the only one who had known. Henshew could not forget The Shadow. The words, however, had given Cardona an idea. Joe voiced it, straight to Chanbury.

"So that's why you had Tyrune snoop at Henshew's. Open that safe, Chanbury! We'll have a look!"

"He must have planted them there!"

CHANBURY was pointing to The Shadow. The grizzled man's voice became hollow as he heard a whispered laugh. The Shadow's tone, like the look of the heavy-locked vault, belied Chanbury's accusation. Perhaps The Shadow was reputed to have amazing skill at opening vaults, but there was no one to testify to it.

If Henshew's gems were found in Chanbury's vault, the law would believe that Chanbury had placed them there. It would be odd, indeed, to find anyone - even The Shadow - bestowing a quarter million dollars' worth of wealth upon some one who had no claim to it.

"What if I do have the gems?" challenged Chanbury. "I've laid everything else in the open! I intended to do the same with the jewels I took from Henshew's! I couldn't let it out too soon."

"You never intended to!" cried Henshew. "You took the swag to scare me off. You thought maybe I'd quit and let you have the jewels. But if I came here - like I was fool enough to do tonight - I'd find the law here waiting. Maybe you'd like to know what I'd have done, if I'd known you had them gems. I'll tell you. I would have quit!"

Henshew's admission was small comfort to Chanbury. The Shadow had played crook against crook.

Henshew vengeful toward Chanbury, was using his own keen brain to supply facts that The Shadow could have stated.

When Henshew finished, Chanbury indulged in a dry smile. He felt that he could still square himself with the law; and he had good reason to so believe. Shark Meglo lay dead upon the floor. Chanbury's eyes glistened when he viewed the body. Others were watching him; so Chanbury was prompt to declare: "There lies a murderer! Henshew is the man who backed the killer! All that I did was to save innocent lives." "Except one!"

The Shadow's tone was sinister. Chanbury glared as he met the burning eyes. Turning to Eleanor, The Shadow spoke a question. Oddly his voice had changed its tone, so slightly that it was apparent only to the girl. Yet Eleanor, strained for the test to come, did not realize that she was again speaking to Kent Allard. She heard the quiet question: "When did you reach this house last night?"

"At quarter of eight," replied the girl. Without waiting for another question, she added: "Mr. Chanbury said that he had retired early; but it couldn't have been as early as that. I thought that Mr. Chanbury was not here at quarter of eight."

"He did not expect you so early?"

"No. He gave me the evening off. But Tyrune seemed to think that Mr. Chanbury had been here, or should have been. I'm not quite sure -"

The Shadow's voice interrupted. Again, with exceeding calmness, he asked: "About the pa.s.s-key marked Exhibit A. Did Chanbury show it to Tyrune when he mentioned it?"

"No," replied Eleanor. "He started to look for it in the desk drawer but did not find it. I never saw the key until after Inspector Cardona came here, much later."

"And in mentioning Henshew's apartment," prompted The Shadow, "did Chanbury merely suspect there was a hiding place behind the bookcase?"

"He said there was one," returned Eleanor. "But he said that before Tyrune told him that Henshew said nothing had been stolen from the apartment."

HENSHEW was out of his chair, shaking his handcuffed wrists toward Chanbury as he shrilled: "That tells it! Tyrune guessed what had happened. He knew you'd sneaked out of here to grab my gems.

You forgot to put back the pa.s.s-key, didn't you? Left it in your coat upstairs. And you topped it by mentioning the place behind the bookcase. That drove it through Tyrune's thick skull -"

"Silence him, Cardona!" snapped Chanbury. "I have the gems. I have admitted the possession of them.

That proves -"

"That you murdered Jim Tyrune!" cackled Henshew, in insane enjoyment. "He was honest. He was through with you. He was going to call Cardona when he got home. That's what he was starting to do at the telephone."

Henshew settled back into his chair maddened by his own choking laughter. Above the crook's high-pitched chuckles came a more ominous mockery: the mirth of The Shadow.

Chanbury's fists were on the desk, his arms straining to support his body. He steadied; his knee raised slightly to nudge the buzzer below the desk top. Only The Shadow saw the motion. Rallied, Chanbury coughed his denial.

"You found Shark's mask," he voiced to Cardona. "That was proof against the killer -"

"A funny thing, that mask" inserted Cardona grimly. "Come to think of it, it was the first one Shark ever dumped. You know, Chanbury, they sell lots of bandannas, in every five and ten. It's easy to cut slits inthem too. Any one could do it."

It was Joe's turn to talk and he was doing it. He stopped only to learn if Chanbury had something to say.

Defensively, Chanbury demanded: "Why should I turn criminal? Look at this mansion - my art treasures -"

Chanbury stopped; he had seen The Shadow turn away. The Shadow was noting portraits on the wall.

As his eyes fixed upon one, The Shadow spoke: "Faces from the past. I remember this one. Its owner thought the portrait was genuine; it was later declared a clever fraud. Perhaps he bought the original, but received the imitation -"

"Like my father did!" exclaimed Eleanor. "His paintings were proven false! He couldn't believe it. That is why he committed suicide."

"As Tyrune did!"

WITH those words, The Shadow's eyes met Eleanor's. His gaze called for action that The Shadow had told her would be needed. His back toward Chanbury, The Shadow was playing his master stroke. He was giving Chanbury an opening to betray himself without further proof.

Chanbury took it. Springing back from the desk, he yanked a gun from his pocket and aimed straight for The Shadow. The cloaked form faded; but its shift was unnecessary. Eleanor had acted at The Shadow's signal. She had the automatic from her pocket; she pressed the trigger before Chanbury could fire.

The crook staggered, a bullet in his elbow. Cardona and the detectives were surging for him. Their revolvers withered him as he tried to prop his right hand with his left. The grizzled crook rolled forward on the desk; toppled sideways and fell to the floor.

There was a clatter in the hall. Chanbury had counted on his servants; they were here, but too late to rescue him, thanks to the crippling shot that Eleanor had supplied. Crooks to the core, the armed invaders were willing to riddle Cardona's squad; but their chance never came.

Blackness blocked the door in front of them. Big automatics sprawled the foremost of the band. Others flung their guns aside; they cowered, arms raised in surrender. The Shadow's laugh echoed along the gallery. The lips of stolen portraits seemed to quiver in reply.

The mocking tone faded. Into the room came Chanbury's followers, herded by The Shadow. Detectives clapped handcuffs on them. Cardona drew Henshew from his chair. The prisoners began their slow march outward. Cardona ushered Eleanor from the room of death.

The girl gave one glance as she left. Faces from the past reflected her gaze: those wall portraits, to which Eleanor had become accustomed. But there were other faces here tonight, as stilled as painted ones.

They stared from the floor. Shark Meglo's, the face of a murderer; beyond that, the face of Michael Chanbury. Frozen in death, Chanbury's visage had lost its mask of pretense. Its hardened lines showed the murderous character of the man.

Madden Henshew, clever man of crime, had been trapped through the genius of a crook greater than himself.

The Shadow had allowed that outcome, that he might bring a similar disaster upon Henshew's crooked trapper, Michael Chanbury. No longer did The Shadow linger in the mansion. His triumph finished, he had departed, while the law was rounding up the last prisoners that he had given them. Only Cardona was with Eleanor when she walked through the long gallery toward the marble stairs.

Yet a presence still lingered - one that had dominated from the start. Every move by men of crime had been under The Shadow's surveillance until the conquest of evil stood complete. Only The Shadow could have produced such absolute victory.

The lines of portraits seemed to smile from the walls of the long gallery, as if they knew that they alone had witnessed the departure of The Shadow.

THE END.