Part 14 (1/2)

”I was awaiting Hungerfeld's return from Europe. But before he came, I learned through Ba.s.slett that you, Callard, had been released from jail in China. I decided that the time to strike would be the night of your arrival, particularly since you had written Ralgood that you would come to see him.”

DAVE CALLARD started to speak as Dolver paused. The importer silenced the heir with a vicious snarl; then resumed.

”Ba.s.slett admitted me to Ralgood's,” explained Dolver. ”I found them engaged in a contest over the bit of ribbon. I slew Ralgood; then watched the effect on Ba.s.slett. As I had supposed, he was yellow. He had not expected murder. So I killed him also.

”I took the ribbon and the letter that Luther Ralgood had received from Milton Callard. Ralgood: had kept the letter as well as the ribbon. I searched the room and removed Ralgood's old-fas.h.i.+oned gun. But I left the cartridges; also the letter that Ralgood had received from China.”

”To frame me!” blurted Dave. ”You framed me, Dolver - but I thought -”

”You thought that Mallikan was behind it,” chuckled Dolver. ”That guess was as bad as the one made by the police when they suspected you. The murder of Ralgood! Bah! That was child's play, requiring no craft. Listen to the deed that followed: ”The next night, I went up to Shurrick's penthouse, from my own apartment. I knocked at the door. He admitted me. He thought I was a friend, for he had seen me about the apartment house. I lost but little time with Shurrick. I shot him dead, with that gun that I had brought from Ralgood's.

”I had carried in a bag that evening. In it, I had a coil of rope, already knotted and twisted. I placed it under my coat when I went to call on Shurrick. I also had a bandanna handkerchief, tied with a slipknot.

”First I s.n.a.t.c.hed away Shurrick's locket; as I expected, it contained the ribbon. I had seen Shurrick finger that locket nervously, when riding in the elevator. I removed the ribbon. I threw the locket far out the window. I did not care if it should be found later.

”The ribbon went to my own pocket. I wiped off the death gun and tossed it to the ledge below Shurrick's window. I gagged myself with the bandanna. I slipped into the coiled ropes, doubling my body; then stretching as I rolled upon my face.”

DOLVER paused to double up; then rise erect. His imitation told the story. Both Dave and Jund understood; they knew the kind of knots that the murderer had used.

”I was released,” laughed Dolver. ”Found bound and gagged; my bonds had tightened so much that the elevator man had difficulty cutting me loose. I told a story that sounded true. A man on the fire tower; a course to the penthouse; my struggle and Shurrick's death.

”The gun that I had brought from Ralgood's served as I had hoped it would. Your letter, Callard, hadbrought you under suspicion. That was why I had left it there. The cartridges in Ralgood's desk supplied the link with the gun. The police credited you with trying to baffle them. They were smart enough to pick up the fake trail.”

Dolver paused to chuckle. Other thoughts occurred to Dave Callard: how Dolver had bluffed the law by stealing the locket, making Cardona think that the object had been taken for its value; that ordinary theft had been the killer's mission.

”I was waiting for Hungerfeld,” remarked Dolver. ”The New York Cla.s.sic, its call for friends of Milton Callard, came close to defeating my plans. Moreover, it suggested that the murderer might threaten me.

Because I had described him and had told about the locket.

”I described the murderer.” Dolver chuckled again at the recollection. ”It was you that I described, David Callard. Not too closely; that would have been unwise.

”The police commissioner was influenced by the Cla.s.sic's story. He called me at my home. I invited him out there. I wrote those Chinese letters on the window shade. It was my excuse to go to the window with the candelabrum.

”Lessing was outside.” David saw the servant grin in ugly fas.h.i.+on as Dolver made the reference. ”An expert with a pistol, he aimed and fired. Not for me, but for that candelabrum that I was slowly moving across my body.

”Lessing hurried back and grabbed his rifle. Later, while the search was on, he dropped the revolver that he had used; then discovered it near the house. They thought it was your gun again.”

DOLVER paused. He had spoken directly to Dave. The young man clenched his upraised fists. He was savage as he denounced the killer.

”I came out there on your account,” declared Dave. ”To save you, Dolver, thinking that Mallikan might want to kill you. I read the newspaper story also. I saw you receive your guests. I heard the shot at the side of the house. I was forced to flee. Later, I read that Mallikan had been at your place. I thought that he had fired the shot; then doubled back to some spot where he had hidden his car.”

”Circ.u.mstances were excellent,” chuckled Dolver. ”They placed me in a strong position. But all the while, I had two ribbons that I could not fathom. I must admit that I did not connect them with a sailor's hat. I tried E S as the beginning of the word; I never suspected that X E would serve.

”I had to wait for Hungerfeld's return, to obtain the third ribbon. He arrived. Of course, he notified the Cla.s.sic and the police. Inspector Cardona was fool enough to call me; I was smart enough to talk him into divulging the letters on Hungerfeld's ribbon, which Cardona had seen.

”R X gave me all I needed. I wrote those letters on a slip of paper and used it with the bits of ribbon. I soon found the word; I recalled the Xerxes, which used to carry my imports as far as Hong Kong. I knew that the s.h.i.+p was with the ghost fleet.

”Pretending that I was going to my lodge, I dismissed the two detectives who were guarding me. I arrived near here at dusk; I sent Lessing down to negotiate with hoodlums who were about. He lined them up in my service. We have captured most of the crew aboard this boat. We will take the others later.

”They will come out from cover after the shooting starts. For there will be shooting. You will die, Callard; the police will be glad to find your body. You also, captain, for I have told you all the facts. The law will believe that you had henchmen, Callard. It will be a.s.sumed that those henchmen escaped with the swag.” Dolver paused and motioned to Lessing. The pistol expert raised his revolver, covering Jund while Dolver kept his own gun on Dave.

Dolver spoke to Cray and Partridge. The riflemen turned and headed for the deck. They were going to summon others, to help unload the swag.

”The law will be deceived,” gloated Dolver, advancing into the strong room, with Lessing moving with him. ”The law was deceived before. Small wonder; for my plans were bold and daring, yet perfect in their execution. No one could possibly have guessed the part that I have played. No one -”

DOLVER stopped abruptly. His face hardened; so did Lessing's. From behind them had come a strange whisper, a mocking tone that filled the strong room with an eerie chill.

Instinctively, the master crook and his henchman swung about, forgetting Dave and Jund. The prisoners could have pounced upon their captors; but they, too, were too astounded to budge.

Like Dolver and Lessing, Dave and Jund were staring into the mammoth muzzles of automatics that bulged from black-gloved fists. Behind those leveled guns were gleaming eyes, living coals that glared from under the brim of a slouch hat.

A cloaked form had entered the doorway. A previous intruder had been lurking outside the strong room, even before Dave Callard had come aboard. Captain Jund gasped as he recalled the lights of the autogyro; the sound of the clanking anchor chain.

The Shadow had antic.i.p.ated crime. He had known who would be its maker. He had arrived to await Courtney Dolver. He had allowed the master crook to enter and reveal himself. Helpless and unmasked, Courtney Dolver was faced by the enemy of crime. The Shadow had divined Dolver's deeds of evil.

CHAPTER XXI. THE BATTLE BEGINS.

”THERE is more to tell,” intoned The Shadow, his voice sepulchral in the hollow room. ”More than you have told, Dolver. You were the man who was deceived, when you believed that your ways were hidden.”

Dolver and Lessing had let their revolvers fall. The weapons had thudded upon a padded flooring. Both were staring at avenging eyes; their faces were frozen, while their arms came slowly upward.

”I learned your game at Shurrick's,” resumed The Shadow, his tone a sinister whisper. ”You spoke of the penthouse door; you described its slam. Yet Lattan, who heard the shots plainly on the floor below, reported no sound preceding them.

”Those ropes proved that you could have tied them. The gun on the ledge was obviously a blind trail. For Dave Callard could not have been the murderer. The search at Ralgood's showed too many signs of thoroughness. The letter from China had been seen but left there.”

The Shadow paused. The men who stared at his vague form were realizing his logic. Defiant as he stared, Dolver was realizing his mistakes.

Inconsistencies. Two men slain at Ralgood's; one spared at Shurrick's. A murderer pressed for time lingering to bind and gag a victim. But to these had been added Dolver's own statement of the slamming door. It had proven his story a lie; but the police had missed the slip. Not so The Shadow.

”You were under surveillance, Dolver,” stated The Shadow, ”from the time that you left the guardians.h.i.+p of the law, the morning after Shurrick's death. I was at your home on Long Island, waiting in case youchose to fare abroad.

”While you were watched, there could be no murder. Meanwhile my trap was closing. You were being forced to a deed that would reveal your double part. To strengthen your story, you were forced to feign an attack against yourself.”

DOLVER gaped. The Cla.s.sic story had been inspired by The Shadow! The fakery in which Lessing had aided could have been turned into a betrayal. The Shadow had given the law an opportunity to prove a case against Dolver; and thereby clear Dave Callard. Odd circ.u.mstances alone had prevented that result.

”Dave Callard suspected Mallikan,” declared The Shadow. ”He came to Long Island and was seen there. That spoiled your self-betrayal, Dolver, for betray yourself you did. In murdering your victims, you used many shots. Yet only one bullet was fired when you lingered at the window.

”That was the shot of a marksman. One who was calculating; one who would have fired again had he sought to slay you. He found his target; it was not your heart. It was the candelabrum which you clutched so tightly. Another proof that you expected the bullet that was to come.”

The Shadow's steady eyes were on Lessing. The marksman cringed; he knew that his part had been revealed.

”You were not watched after that night,” concluded The Shadow, his gaze indicating Dolver. ”Detectives were with you. While they were present you dared not move. When I learned of Hungerfeld's arrival, I protected him. While doing so, I learned that Cardona had told you of the final ribbon.

”I saw that ribbon. From it, I gained the full secret. I learned the final facts. Every detail of your game was plain, including the murder of Ba.s.slett, which I had correctly attributed to you, even before I knew you by sight and name.”

Dolver's face was livid. He had been balked at every point. Clenching his fists, the archfiend looked ready to pounce forward. The looming guns caused him to change his wild desire. Each .45 seemed trained squarely upon him.