Part 4 (1/2)
Now, if Lenstrom had intended to call on his old friend Creswold, why should the latter have waylaid him? If Lenstrom still carried the cash, Creswold could have acquired it more easily than resorting to murder on the highway. If Lenstrom had left the money with Brett, Creswold would have had no reason to attack him at all. Even with murder in his heart, Creswold's ignorance of Lenstrom's cash status would have caused him to wait.
This wasn't openly broached; it was simply intimated. The very inference being an injustice to Creswold, public sympathy swung heavily in his direction. The final touch was provided when witnesses stressed the existence of a ”person unknown.” They spoke of the cloaked marauder who had wheeled all over the map, zigzagging from Brett's to Pow-wow Boulder, down to the scene of the accident, up to Bigby's, and back across to Brett's.
Thus did The Shadow become scapegoat for the events surrounding Lenstrom's death. His operations simply added to the mystery. No one could actually say that this weird figure, more ghost than human, had played a hand in murder. Who he was, what he was, would have to be determined before making a direct accusation.
It was the coroner's business to deal in tangible facts. Somebody had certainly driven Creswold's car down the hill and smashed Lenstrom's. The culprit had undoubtedly fled after his probably accidental deed. Finding him was like finding Lenstrom's cash. Yet, to mark Creswold as the wanted man seemed preposterous.
Having just spent good money repairing his car, Creswold wouldn't go and crack it up--or would he?
By the prevailing standards of Kawagha County, Creswold wouldn't, unless he happened to be a fool, which he wasn't. So the coroner's verdict excluded Creswold, at least until some actual evidence should be found against him.
Strangers to Kawagha County were permitted to hold their own opinions. Hence, when Cranston and Margo discussed the case, they produced some curious angles. Their talk took place in the quiet lobby of the hotel.
”Creswold not only knows this territory,” remarked Cranston. ”he also knows the inhabitants and their reactions.”
”He showed that at the inquest,” agreed Margo. ”He looked as though he could have answered all the questions that weren't put.”
”If he'd wanted to murder Lenstrom,” decided Cranston, ”he couldn't have chosen a better way to do it.
Ordering his own car up to Bigby's, wrecking Lenstrom's automobile with it, starting a trail back to The Gables and reversing back to the theater--” ”You forgot how he actually murdered Lenstrom,” interrupted Margo. ”Careless of you, Lamont.”
”Hardly,” said Cranston, with a smile, ”since we haven't proven anything on Creswold. Let's see if we can link him with the past; I mean prior to Lenstrom's death.”
Strolling over to the desk, Cranston began to chat with the clerk who had testified in Creswold's behalf.
Like everyone else at the inquest, with the exception of Creswold, the hotel clerk's questioning had been cut much shorter than he wanted. So he was glad to embellish his recent testimony.
”I'll say Creswold was good friends with Lenstrom,” insisted the clerk. ”Why, they were talking business all the time. Not just here in the lobby, but up in Lenstrom's room.
”Were they up there yesterday?” inquired Cranston.
”Not yesterday,” replied the clerk, ”but they were there the day of the big storm. That was when the call came in for Creswold.”
”A call from whom?”
”The party didn't give his name, but it must have been urgent because that's why Creswold left.”
”You mean when he went up to the Old Bridge Tavern?”
”That's right. Lenstrom asked later where Creswold had gone, but I didn't know at the time, because Creswold hadn't gotten back.”
Margo had come over to the desk. Noting that she was about to exclaim something, Cranston gently motioned her away. Nodding to the clerk, he followed. He undertoned to Margo: ”I haven't forgotten the first inquest. Old Clem testified that Zeke had phoned someone from the tavern.”
”But that's the link!” Margo spoke breathlessly to keep her voice down. ”He must have been calling Creswold!”
”Very probably.”
”And that's why Creswold went to the tavern--”
”You mean why he was going to the tavern.”
”He could have gone there,” argued Margo. They were well away from the desk and she no longer needed to guard her tone. ”What's more, Lenstrom must have heard that call come through, because Creswold was in his room. Don't you see how that fits, Lamont?”
”How does it fit, Margo?”
From the quiet tone of Cranston's question, Margo felt that he was baiting her with his complacence.
Nevertheless, she expressed what she felt sure must be in his mind.
”It gave Creswold a motive for murdering Lenstrom,” defined Margo, ”because Lenstrom was the one man who could connect Creswold with Zeke's death and the tavern fire.”
”What about the hotel clerk?”
”I guess Creswold overlooked him. Or maybe he hasn't. In that case, there'll be another murder--” This time Margo interrupted herself as Cranston gave one of his slight but rare smiles.
”You're piling up the circ.u.mstantial evidence,” reminded Cranston. ”People always can, when they start with a false premise. We need a sounder basis to prove Creswold guilty.”
”Then you really think he's guilty?”
”I said we need a sounder basis,” replied Cranston, cryptically. ”Until tomorrow, our policy will be to watch Creswold and learn more about his actions.”
”Why only until tomorrow?”
”Because I have summoned some other observers to a.s.sist us. They will be here tomorrow. I may a.s.sign them to check on Creswold. After all, the feud between Bigby and Brett is the basis of all the local trouble. It must not be forgotten.”
It didn't quite make sense to Margo. She thought that she and Lamont had fully covered the feud question. Granting that Brett had wanted the Old Bridge Tavern burned in order to financially embarra.s.s the local farmers, he couldn't have murdered Zeke, because his alibi was solid. Similarly, Bigby's need of money could not mark him as Lenstrom's killer, because he hadn't even left The Gables until after the murder on the highway. Margo personally could testify to that important fact.
So Margo dropped the subject, satisfied at least with the thought that Cranston intended to watch Creswold. Perhaps his urge for mystery was causing him to create some where it didn't exist.
Often, Margo felt that this was the one weakness of the man whose other self, The Shadow, was Mystery personified.
X.
DINNER that evening was an ordeal for Margo Lane. She would as soon have shared a table with a batch of rattlesnakes as meet the guest who foisted himself, uninvited, upon her and Lamont Cranston.
The man who Margo didn't want to come to dinner was none other than Herbert Creswold.
Still, it couldn't well be avoided. The hotel dining room was more or less a public place. When a gentleman affably sat down with two acquaintances before they had a chance to say they didn't want him, there wasn't much to do about it. Even worse, Margo felt that Cranston was very glad to have Creswold dine with them. It certainly made it easier to watch Creswold. Cranston was a stickler for efficiency.
It happened though that Lamont was master of the poker-face. Margo wasn't. She found it very difficult being nice to Creswold. His shrewd eye made her restless. At proper distance, Creswold looked benign with his easy, frequent smile. But at close range, you could see that expression tighten and practically merge with his sharp, suspicious gaze.
Fortunately Creswold confined his probe chiefly to Cranston. It must have satisfied him, for with dinner over, the grizzled man came bluntly to his subject.
”I was sorry about Lenstrom,” declared Creswold. ”Sorry for everybody's sake, particularly his own.
Lenstrom had a real business opportunity here in Lamira.”
”So Brett was telling him,” remarked Cranston. ”He wanted Lenstrom to lend money to the farmers.”
That smile of Creswold's curled a bit sardonically. ”Brett would have,” declared Creswold. ”He wanted to win them away from Bigby. What did Brett say after Lenstrom left?”