"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 043 - The Crime Clinic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

"Well, I'm not interfering," said Cardona. "I'm on my way right now." He turned to Klein. "I'm all set,
inspector. I'll run out to Casslin's place some time this evening."

"So he can see you're not from Bombay," added Klein, with a short laugh. "That sure is an odd one, Joe,
unless some -"

"Unless Casslin is goofy?"

"No." Klein was rising from the desk as he spoke. "Unless there is some Hindu business mixed up with
that diamond. I've seen some strange hookups in my time."

"I'll find out the whole story, inspector."

The two men walked from the room. Klein was pocketing his report as he went. He looked toward the
janitor, who was busy with mop and bucket.

"Good night, Fritz," he said.

"Yah," was the janitor's reply.

Footsteps died in the corridor.
IT was then that Fritz ceased his mopping. His tall form seemed to straighten to unusual proportions. A
soft laugh came from his thick lips. In the direct light of the room, Fritz's face took on an artificial
expression that neither Cardona nor Klein had noticed. It was more a mask than a face.

Stooping again, this curious janitor shambled from the office. He emitted a friendly "Yah" to a detective
whom he passed in the hall. He reached an obscure room, placed mop and bucket upon the floor, and
opened the door of a locker.

Folds of black cloth tumbled forth. A cloaklike garment rolled over the janitor's head. Long hands placed
a slouch hat upon the head above. With swift, gliding stride, a phantom shape swung away from the
locker, and reentered the gloomy corridor.

The metamorphosis was complete. The pretended janitor had become The Shadow.

No one could have traced The Shadow's course from then on. Not even the real Fritz, arriving for janitor
duty, saw the lurking shape which waited near the outer door until he had passed. The Shadow, by his
remarkable impersonation, had listened from the corridor to the conversation between Detective
Cardona and Inspector Klein. He had learned why Joe Cardona had visited Scoffy; he had also
discovered why Bennie Lizzit had slain the stool pigeon.

To The Shadow, the information gained was usable for a more direct purpose than an immediate visit to
the home of Rutherford Casslin. One hour after his departure from headquarters, The Shadow appeared
in an obscure portion of Manhattan. A corner light revealed him only as a passing shade of blackness
against a dingy wall.

The Shadow had arrived in a district of cosmopolitan Manhattan where members of a dark-skinned race
were wont to be. Hindus are rare in New York, but the spot chosen by The Shadow was one which they
frequented. The tall shape was lost in obscurity; it reappeared at a little used doorway, and glided into the