Part 3 (1/2)
WHOLESALE MYSTERY THINGS looked very black for Steve Trask, blacker, even, than the jet-hued dragon that nestled deep in the pocket from which it had once vanished - something that Steve wished it would do again. For the tiny dragon was looming more and more as an incriminating factor.
According to Cardona, Lewis Pendleton had owned just such a souvenir, because hotel employees had seen it in his room. With Pendleton's death the black dragon had vanished, exactly as Steve claimed it had in Miljohn's case.
Far from clearing Steve, that link only deepened the accusations against him. Cardona shot the question: ”Do you know what the black dragon represents?”
”It must stand for some organization,” replied Steve. ”The members carry black dragons as tokens, I suppose. Somebody is preying on them -”
As nearly as it could, Cardona's face formed an interrupting sneer. Steve stopped talking, puzzled.
”You would play innocent!” scoffed Cardona. ”You'll be telling me next that the Black Dragon crowd is made up of Chinese.”
”Isn't it?” Steve asked.
”Hear that?” Cardona turned to put his question to Fenmore. Then, seeing that the financier looked really puzzled, the inspector said: ”Sorry, Mr.
Fenmore. Naturally, you wouldn't know. The Black Dragon Society is made up of Oriental thugs who are j.a.panese-controlled. There are mighty few Chinese who belong to it, and these are renegades.”
”Then why would Miljohn and Pendleton have Dragon tokens?” demanded Fenmore. ”They must have suffered at the hands of that organization.”
”They were murdered by it!” expressed Cardona, ”Don't you get it yet, Mr.
Fenmore? Those carved dragons aren't members.h.i.+p badges, not by a long shot, They're death certificates. Whoever gets one is marked for murder, unless he delivers whatever the Black Dragon wants!”
Steve's thoughts exploded.
So that was why Miljohn had been murdered! He'd ignored the warning from the Black Dragon. The same applied to Pendleton, and even Steve's own case was covered. The Dragon Clan hadn't come after him; he'd gone after it, and gained a due reward. Sujan, planted in Chinatown for just such a purpose, had given Steve a jet dragon when he'd asked for one.
Therefore, Steve had been tagged for death, from which The Shadow saved him!
THE trouble was, Cardona didn't see it that way. The ace police inspector was figuring things to his own convenience. He thought that Steve had murdered both Miljohn and Pendleton, each time picking up the dragon token that the victim hadn't heeded. The clincher in Cardona's estimate was Steve's absurd alibi of a fantastic Chinatown adventure at the very hour of Pendleton's death.
”Smart stuff, Trask,” jabbed Cardona, ”coming here with the dragon you brought from Pendleton's and saying Miljohn had one like it! You wanted us to know that Miljohn's death was murder, instead of suicide, you thought we'd never accuse you of the very thing you so obligingly revealed!”
He added: ”You figured, too, that by chattering about one crime, you could dodge questions on another. We'd just ride over the Pendleton case and forget it, where you were concerned - at least, that's how you doped it. But we've tagged you for both jobs, and what's more, today you were delivering another death threat.
”That's what you did when you handed the black dragon to Mr. Fenmore.” Steve was sweating under the third degree. A light blinded his eyes.
Then came a welcome pause, produced by new arrivals, persons who stopped beyond the light. Whoever they were, Cardona saw fit to greet them; and Steve, given a chance to speak for himself, made the most of it.
”Call Li Huang!” blurted Steve. ”He'll tell you that I was in his house.”
Paper crinkled beyond the glaring light. It was Steve's typewritten statement, being pa.s.sed from hand to hand. Then Cardona's voice: ”All right. We'll phone Li Huang.”
Steve heard Cardona make the call, and though he couldn't see the telephone, he took it for granted that the inspector wasn't faking. Finis.h.i.+ng, Cardona gave a short, harsh laugh.
”Li Huang never heard of you!” the inspector sneered.
Steve broke into a frenzied protest. Of course Li Huang wouldn't know who Steve was, because Steve hadn't identified himself. Cardona's whole handling of the matter was unfair, done in a manner that Li Huang would mistake for a trick.
If they'd take Steve to Li Huang's, the Chinaman would remember him.
Cardona extinguished the glaring light. After a minute of blinking Steve made out other faces. One that wore a military mustache-belonged to Police Commissioner Ralph Weston. Steve heard Cardona address the commissioner by his t.i.tle.
Accompanying Weston was a man named Cranston, whose face was dignified, reserved and quite impa.s.sive. Indeed, Steve might have identified Cranston with The Shadow, but for the fact that the commissioner's companion was leisurely in action and utterly indifferent to the business under discussion. Every time Weston addressed him, Cranston appeared bored.
”Trask admits knowing Miljohn,” a.s.serted Weston brusquely. ”The question now is whether he knew Pendleton, which is something that he won't admit.
Perhaps some of Pendleton's friends can tell us.”
”Pendleton just returned from the Orient,” objected Fenmore. ”He has very few friends in New York. Even I knew him only by reputation.”
”What about Sauber, the importer?” queried Weston. ”His business with the Orient was huge. He must have advertised in some of Pendleton's journals. They should have known each other quite well.”
Steve saw Fenmore shake his head.
”I am afraid Pendleton knew Sauber too well,” said Fenmore. ”Two years ago, Pendleton canceled Sauber's advertising because it was misrepresented.
Nevertheless, Sauber might be the very man to supply information concerning an insidious organization like the Dragon Clan.”
MARCHED from Fenmore's mansion, Steve found himself planted between Cardona and Weston in the commissioner's official car.
Cranston wasn't accompanying them. Either he felt that the trip would bore him, or people like Sauber didn't belong in Cranston's social set. Then, as the car rolled away from Fenmore's, Steve had a hunch. Maybe the choosy Mr.
Cranston didn't care to ride in a car that contained a common criminal like Steve!
That was enough for Steve to dismiss Cranston completely and think of what Sauber might be like. Steve was left to his own conjectures, for Weston and Cardona were remaining strictly silent.
The big, official car was nosing its way through a slum area, whichstruck Steve as an odd district for a wealthy importer's residence. Then Steve noted that large warehouses, sprouting up among the squatty tenements, were largely occupied by importing concerns.
Swinging a corner, the car stopped near an archway that opened into a secluded court, a short street of its own. There were trees as well as houses beyond the archway, marking the court as an exclusive residential sector.
One of the houses was Sauber's, because Weston and Cardona alighted, drawing Steve with them. Pa.s.sing through the archway, Steve looked to his right and saw a similar arch, leading to another street. It was very dark, that archway, like the boxes surrounding the trees and the narrow cul-de-sacs that flanked the houses.
A servant answered Cardona's ring, but it was Weston who introduced himself and asked for Sauber. Before the servant could summon the importer, a querulous voice arrived, followed by Sauber himself. At first, the importer was just a blocky figure, but when he reached the vestibule, his face showed plainly, as though a veil had been swept from it.
The reason, of course, was the light in the vestibule. Sauber had stepped right into its focus. But that only made the thing the more startling to Steve.
It was like something s.n.a.t.c.hed from a forgotten dream and brought into reality.
Beady eyes, bushy brows, sharp nose above yellowed teeth - those features, and the thrust of the jaw beneath them, jabbed Steve's memory like a pin puncturing a balloon.
Sauber was the man that Steve had met outside of Li Huang's, the figure who had arrived by cab only to dart away when shadows came to life!
If the evil Dragon Clan owned a local chief, Carlton Sauber was a logical candidate for the insidious t.i.tle of Black Dragon!
Briefly stating the object of the visit, Cardona asked if Sauber could identify Steve as a person who had known Pendleton. Briefly, those beady eyes showed recognition; then, with a sudden head-shake, Sauber drew back into the vestibule.