Part 10 (1/2)
”If I could write the whole thing off, by getting rid of the property for the amount I loaned Carland, I would be satisfied. But I can't keep trying to convince you that you ought to buy. I've merely given a rosy picture of the proposition, and the rest is up to you.”
For answer, The Shadow drew a check book from his pocket. In Cranston's leisurely style, he wrote out a check for sixty thousand dollars and handed it to Brendle.
”That covers the loan,” he said, ”with ten thousand dollars over, which I expect you to pay to Yvonne Carland, after deducting interest. If this property was good enough to interest Jonathan Dorn, it issatisfactory to me.”
”I hadn't looked at it that way!” exclaimed Brendle, in a tone of surprise. ”I was thinking purely in terms of James Carland. But you are right, Cranston. Dorn intended to buy -” Brendle paused, gave his head a rueful shake. ”Or did he?”
”Carland claimed that he did.”
”Not precisely. Carland said that Dorn was willing to finance the rice project. But frankly, Cranston, it is impossible to rely on anything that Carland stated. However, you have offered a solution to the problem.”
Folding the t.i.tle deeds, Brendle placed them in his pocket. Then, picking up the check, he tore it into small pieces. He expected Cranston's face to register surprise; but it did not. Nevertheless, Brendle felt that there must be some puzzlement on Cranston's part; inwardly, at least.
”Our best plan is to leave the proposition open,” explained Brendle. ”If you wish, you can give me a letter stating that you value the property at sixty thousand dollars, which you evidently do, and that you are willing to buy. That, in turn, should satisfy Yvonne regarding her debt to me.
”We can then proceed to have the land inspected from a marsh tractor. If it proves suitable for planting rice, I shall gladly sell it to you at the price named. In fact, I can sign a contract to that effect. With a clause, by the way, stating that any amount in excess of fifty thousand dollars will go to Yvonne Carland.”
Therewith, Brendle proceeded to draw up a memorandum stipulating the terms. He made two copies, and handed one to The Shadow. Brendle emphasized the point that the contract would specify the sale of rice land, not salt marsh, which automatically protected Cranston.
”If you see Yvonne,” Brendle added, ”you might show her the memorandum, Cranston. If I told her, she would simply think that I was trying to eradicate the debt. She mistrusted her uncle - of that, I am sure - and this Talborn business must have worried her, too.
”Think of it, Cranston! Only last night, I was looking everywhere for Talborn, wondering where he had gone. All the while, he must have been watching that precious crypt where he had stored a quarter million in smuggled treasure.”
DINNER ended, both men left the hotel. The Shadow went to his car and blinked a signal with a little flashlight. It brought no answer, which meant that the Xincas had gone. Their departure was in keeping with The Shadow's plans. A soft laugh came from his lips.
Driving from the parking lot, The Shadow thought over the case of Graham Talborn. The police had appraised the treasure, and the estimate given by Brendle, a quarter million dollars, was about correct.
It would have been all profit for Talborn, too. Being in the export business, he could have s.h.i.+pped his spoils far and wide. Much of the treasure was pure gold or fine jade, which could always find a market.
Again The Shadow laughed.
Not only had he balked Talborn, but he had spoiled the game for Xitli before the masquerader could acquire Talborn's treasure as his own. But the crimes of the self-styled fire G.o.d were by no means settled.
The Shadow did not share the increasing popular opinion that Xitli's main purpose had been to obtain the loot that Talborn secretly possessed. Behind the machinations of Xitli lay a larger game, something concerning Carland and Dorn.
One person might, unwittingly, be able to supply proofs that The Shadow needed. That person was Yvonne Carland. It would be easy to talk with the girl and subtly urge her to unravel the past. As Cranston, The Shadow would start proceedings by telling Yvonne that he proposed to buy the rice lands.
Yvonne wasn't at her hotel when The Shadow stopped there. He called Andy at the Hotel Luzane, but received no answer. Next The Shadow tried Professor Hedwin, again with no success. He finally decided to go to the Hotel Luzane. There he learned that Hedwin had gone out, but that the clerk had not seen Andy leave.
It struck The Shadow as rather curious that one should have been noticed, the other not, particularly as the clerk's desk was directly opposite the elevators and the lobby quite small.
The Shadow went upstairs; he tried Andy's door with a special key and found the room empty. Then, as a matter of routine, he went to Hedwin's room.
Gargly sounds greeted the opening of the door. If ever eyes had expressed welcome, they were Andy's when they saw Cranston in the doorway. With a speed quite unusual for Cranston, The Shadow released Andy from the Mayan chains and removed the strangling thong. After feeling his throat and finding he still had one, Andy gulped his story.
”The professor has gone haywire!” he said. ”He went to the museum, and didn't trust me enough to take me along. I can't exactly blame him, because he guessed that I was spying on him - something that the detectives asked me to do.
”It's the Xitli stuff again. The professor can't think of anything else. Sometimes I wonder -” Andy caught himself, urged by a fading loyalty toward Hedwin. ”I'm wondering about Yvonne. She was on the telephone when the professor grabbed me. You don't think that she went to the museum, too?”
Andy wasn't merely changing the subject; he was really anxious about Yvonne. Calmly The Shadow told him not to worry, and suggested that they go to the museum, which suited Andy.
Riding in Cranston's car, they made a rapid trip, and to Andy's delight they found it open, with a few lights on the ground floor.
Starting in through the museum door, Andy felt himself restrained by Cranston's grip. He heard the calm tone of his companion: ”Wait, Andy. Suppose we enter quietly and look things over. Professor Hedwin does not trust Fitzhugh Salter. He may have treated Salter as he did you.”
THEY moved quietly toward Salter's office, where, again, Cranston's hand drew Andy back. From a turn in the dim corridor they saw the door of Salter's office. Two men were standing there, shaking hands. One was Salter, the other Hedwin; they seemed on the best of terms.
”I owe you an apology, Salter,” Hedwin was saying. ”I thought that you might have stressed the Xitli story and thereby caused me inconvenience. I was annoyed, of course, when the police came to the hotel.”
”As I was, when they came here,” returned Salter. ”So I reserved comment until after they talked to you, professor. We agree on one thing, Hedwin” - Salter was smiling pleasantly - ”and that is that neither of us care to be disturbed.” Hedwin came shambling toward the outer door, apparently engrossed in his thoughts. But his eyes took on a keen light when he heard a slight slam behind him, indicating that Salter had gone back into the office and closed the door.
Hedwin did not see Cranston or Andy; they had drawn toward a deep corner of the corridor. But they saw what Hedwin did next.
Turning about, the professor tiptoed past Salter's office toward the elevators. As soon as he had turned a corner, Andy started forward. The Shadow let him follow as far as Salter's office. There, the gripping hand a.s.serted itself again.
Deftly, without the slightest trace of noise, The Shadow turned the k.n.o.b of Salter's door. Opening it a crack, he motioned for Andy to listen.
Salter was on the telephone. He was calling police headquarters. They heard him requesting detectives to come to the museum. Coolly, Salter was telling them that he had obtained new facts concerning Xitli, the fire G.o.d.
Perplexed, Andy looked toward Cranston, who was silently closing the door. The Shadow pointed toward the outer door. More puzzled than ever, Andy came along.
”Wait here,” was Cranston's suggestion when they stood on the outside steps. ”When you see the police arriving, go into Salter's office and be there when they come. Let Salter do the talking, and learn all you can.”
With that The Shadow strolled away. Andy watched Cranston's figure enter the parked car and decided that his friend intended to wait there. It happened that the car was too obscure to allow Andy a view of the cloaked shape that emerged.
Clad in black, The Shadow was skirting toward the museum, totally unseen by Andy. Nor did the watching man hear the low, sibilant whisper that came from somewhere near the shrubbery. In answer to that call, two chunky men joined the figure in black. They were the Shadow's Xincas.
Then all three were gone without a single glimpse on Andy's part. The lights of police cars were coming toward the museum. Remembering Cranston's injunction, Andy turned to go inside. More puzzled than ever, he was wondering what the next events would be. One person alone could have told him: The Shadow!
CHAPTER XVIII. THE CHANT OF XITLI.
FITZHUGH SALTER was not at all surprised when Andy Ames entered his office. He took it for granted that Andy had heard from the police. A few minutes later the police themselves were stamping into the curator's office in a fas.h.i.+on that made Salter motion for silence.
”I have something to tell you,” declared the curator. ”Something which may be in the nature of a demonstration, though I am not quite sure. Meanwhile” - he glanced at the half circle composed of six detectives - ”I must insist upon absolute silence.”
The quiet was broken by new footfalls coming in from the outside door. Hurriedly, Salter went to quiet the newcomers. He came back with two more detectives and another man: Eugene Brendle. As soon as Salter closed the door, Brendle explained that the detectives had called him, to which Salter nodded.
”I asked them to do so,” he said. ”Odd things have been happening in this museum, Brendle. Matterswhich concern both of us, as well as others.”
He turned a half-doubtful glance toward Andy. In Salter's gaze Andy recognized a revival of the curator's old feud with Professor Hedwin.
If Salter had known how Hedwin had treated Andy before coming to the museum, the curator's doubt would have vanished. However, since Salter decided not to protest Andy's presence, Andy simply followed Cranston's injunction to remain silent.
Andy was thinking about Yvonne, and his worry was increasing. He finally rea.s.sured himself that Yvonne could not have come to the museum, or Salter would have mentioned it. When Salter began to speak, Andy did not realize that the curator's own statement proved that Yvonne could have come without Salter's knowledge.