"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 261 - The Museum Murders" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

after that date, all options expired - except on the one place where Croom and his caravan happened to
arrive. Mere occupancy of the premises would automatically establish a five-year's lease.

While Darden stated this, the directors nodded to show they hadn't missed a trick. So Clyde put another
question.
"Wasn't it an oversight," he queried, "not notifying the police that this was moving night?"

Darden's reply was a confident smile.

"On the contrary," he replied, "it happens that we have notified the police. None are present because it
would have been poor policy to advertise the time at which the collection was to be removed. The trucks
will arrive, be loaded, and depart in due course very shortly, with no fanfare.

"But surrounding the nine city blocks, of which this is the center, will be police - chiefly plain-clothes men
- who will close in as soon as the armored caravan has passed. We can all assure you, Mr. Burke, that
no one will trail our vans to their destination."

Darden's stern smile intimated that reporters would be blocked off like any other trailers, a hint that
Clyde would be wasting his time if he tried to follow the caravan. Meanwhile, one of the directors,
peering from a shuttered window, turned to announce that the trucks had arrived.

Politely, Darden invited Clyde to come along and witness the loading, so the reporter did. On the way
past the crates, Clyde sidled a shrug to Harry Vincent, a gesture that his fellow-agent understood. There
wouldn't be any fireworks tonight; couldn't be, with all the precautions that Darden and the directors had
taken.

Clyde took it that The Shadow had simply received last-hour information that the police were to be
covering the shipment of rarities that totaled millions of dollars; hence, as Cranston, The Shadow had
probably left to congratulate his friend the police commissioner on a duty well performed. In reaching that
conclusion, Clyde didn't note the loophole in his own argument.

The situation at the Argyle Museum still offered a lure to crime. What seemed to be a double precaution
could better be termed a baited trap. Like the museum directors, like the police commissioner, Clyde
Burke was overlooking the prospect as men of crime might view it.

One person alone had seen the flaw: The Shadow.

Perhaps through ignorance, men of crime would not realize that the odds were heavily against them. But
that was not the issue; the real point was that crime was due to strike.

The Shadow knew!

CHAPTER II. THRUSTS FROM THE DARK
OUTSIDE the Argyle Museum, the armored vans had slithered smoothly to a stop in front of the great
stone gates. All was quiet on this secluded street - too quiet. This oasis in the midst of Manhattan's
turmoil was just the spot for a surprise attack from the surrounding darkness.

In from a neighboring corner glided a figure of blackness, the cloaked shape of The Shadow. The
nonchalant Mr. Cranston had not traveled more than a block before leaving his limousine in the guise of
black that marked him as The Shadow. Hence Cranston had not learned of the police provisions to