"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 243 - Room of Doom" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

present; they were bearing down on the Aldriff question.
In fact, when Dulther did mention Kelburn, Cranston heard Sigby promptly
say that he hoped Joan's uncle could explain himself when the police located
him.
Classing Aldriff as the brain, and Kelburn as the dupe, was quite a
logical
procedure. A schemer at the end of his rope would have reason to resort to
suicide; whereas, a man who found himself betrayed would be the sort to take
drastic steps to clear himself. Even such steps as arriving armed and masked,
to
demand a boxfull of incriminating documents.
However, it was the law that would decide the matter, and the law was
strict in such cases. Kelburn had sold stock to purchasers who bought it in
good
faith, and unless funds were forthcoming to pay off the stockholders, Kelburn
would pay the penalty.
Aldriff could have saved Kelburn by personally accepting the indictment
and
declaring that Kelburn was an ignorant party to the fraud. But Aldriff would
never testify in anyone's behalf; not even his own. Aldriff was dead, and the
question of suicide or murder was immaterial, when considered from the
standpoint of the testimony that he might - or might not - have spoken.


CRANSTON did not wait to hear Weston harp on that subject. Leaving the
closed door of the conference room, he crossed over to the side door. Guests
were gone, and no servants were about to witness Cranston's departure.
 Skirting the house, he reached his limousine, which was parked in the
wide
driveway. There, unnoticed by his chauffeur, Cranston opened the rear door and
slid a drawer from beneath the seat.
Taking cloak and hat from the secret drawer, Cranston also outfitted
himself with an automatic, and slid the drawer back beneath the rear seat.
Usually, The Shadow carried a brace of those guns. He needed only one .45
for the job ahead. Sliding his arms into his cloak, clamping the slouch hat on
his head, The Shadow delivered a whispered laugh as he looked toward a lighted
window on the third floor of the Aldriff mansion.
A single gun would be sufficient threat to test the weak link in the
human
chain. The weak link was Nevlin. Aldriff's secretary could play too smart one
moment, too dumb the next, to be a paragon of honesty or innocence.
Entering the mansion, The Shadow found a back stairway and became a
gliding
shape as he ascended to the third floor.
Nevlin's door was ajar. Inside the room, The Shadow saw the small-sized
secretary packing a bag and at the same time taking quick looks across his
shoulder. Nevlin was fearful of intruders, but despite his fidgets he didn't
sense that The Shadow was in the hall. So far, Nevlin could hardly have
realized
that The Shadow was in the case, at all.