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

that he held an open mind when it came to judging men upon their innocence or
guilt.
Cranston left the girl at her apartment. Alone there, the girl gazed from
her window, along the street where the limousine had gone. Joan's happy sigh
was
sponsored by the thought that she had found two real friends: Lamont Cranston
and The Shadow.
 Joan was wrong. She had made only one new friend. But that lone friend,
personalized both as Cranston and The Shadow, was to prove himself more
powerful
than a multitude!


CHAPTER VIII

THE NEEDED MESSAGE

THE world called Aldriff's death suicide, as well it might, considering
the
circumstances. The newspapers printed their pictures of the death-room scene,
to
prove conditions that could never have permitted murder. Reporters roved in
and
out of Aldriff's mansion, examining the locked windows of the room of doom,
tapping walls, floor, and ceiling, as Cardona had done.
From door to nook, the place was air-tight, proving that Aldriff must
have
died by his own hand alone.
One of those reporters was Clyde Burke, a secret agent of The Shadow.
When
Clyde came through with a suicide verdict, it was usually a convincer. The
Shadow had trained this particular agent to be more than thorough when
examining
such scenes. Nor was Clyde the only one who brought that verdict home.
Inspector Cardona kept pounding it into Cranston's ear every time he met
him, until Commissioner Weston finally called a halt.
It happened at the Cobalt Club, where Cranston had dropped in to see
Weston
and idly inquired if the police had obtained any traces of either Kelburn or
Nevlin.
"Of course, Aldriff's death was suicide!" snapped Weston, addressing
Cardona. "To hear you harp on it, inspector, you would think that someone held
a
doubt!"
Cardona looked at Cranston, whose return gaze showed he understood.
Cardona
hadn't forgotten Cranston's remarks regarding the neat loophole that Kelburn
might choose in order to feign innocence on the business of selling phony
stock.
Cardona wanted Cranston to know that Kelburn could never find an out by