emphasis as the commissioner sat with his millionaire friend, Lamont Cranston, in the grill room of the Cobalt Club.
They were keeping the luncheon engagement which Cranston had jocularly arranged a few days previous. When the newspaper had blazed forth the triumph of the law over The Red Blot, Cranston had telephoned Weston to congratulate him - and to remind him of the suggested meeting.
“I have read the newspapers with great interest,” observed Cranston, after he had heard Weston’s all- inclusive definition, “My own experience - observations at the Club Janeiro - made me understand the remarkable features of this case -“
“That was but the surface, Cranston,” interposed Weston. “The whole affair was incredible. The motive was a relentless scheme for ill gain. A criminal intelligence masked by a most disarming exterior.
“Who could have suspected that Dobson Pringle, kindly and prosperous gentleman, was The Red Blot? Yet, once the scheme was uncovered, the machinations became as plain as day. Let me give you a summary of it, Cranston.
“Dobson Pringle was a man long experienced in building. He gained access to old city maps and records; to facts that had been forgotten. He noted that Manhattan was honeycombed with abandoned conduits; with blocked-off excavations. Below the surface of the city streets were the nucleus for a remarkable underground system of passages - not to compare with the catacombs of Rome or the sewers of Paris, yet an arrangement that could be put to definite use.
“Pringle was in a position to develop that system. He saw in it the making of a real underworld. The Amalgamated Builders’ Association was erecting skyscrapers, all within a short radius of Times Square. By a tie-up with Socks Mallory, then an enterprising racketeer, Pringle peopled his catacombs with a squad of wanted men - chosen ruffians who stayed below ground gladly, and who served as the advance workers. They were The Red Blot’s sappers.
“Pringle made Hubert Craft, the architect, his unwitting aid. In the plans for new buildings, he urged special arrangements for hidden outlets from the structures. He explained to Craft that these might later be used for connecting links with other buildings - subways and the like - and that they would prove of value in the future.”
“Craft was easily duped,” observed Cranston.
“For a while, only,” returned Weston. “The first of these hidden entrances to the cavernous domain was placed in the office of the Club Janeiro - beneath the Stellar Theater Building - an Amalgamated enterprise.
“That enabled Socks Mallory to go in and out; to add replenishments to his workers. Each new building had another outlet to be tapped. In the Hotel Gigantic it was an elevator shaft that descended more deeply than supposed.
“The most artful of these secret openings was in the fifth floor of the Amalgamated Building. The structure pyramids” - Weston began making a diagram upon the back of an envelope - “and the first set-back comes above the fifth floor. For five floors, there are corner rooms - like the conference room of the Amalgamated Builders, shaped thus. A narrow anteroom allowed for a hidden wall space, like a large air shaft. Pringle’s hidden workers installed an elevator there; one which could be reached through a secret panel in the anteroom wall.
“Galladay’s jewelry store was neatly designed so that one spot would allow access to all parts of the ground floor. That, of course, was protected by installed alarm apparatus; but Pringle had made full allowance. Craft was not suspicious even then - it was when Pringle made him put in a secret entrance to the ground floor of the Soudervale Building that the architect raised an objection. He knew that the space would give access to a banking institution.”
“DID Craft speak to Pringle?” questioned Cranston.
“Yes,” allowed Weston. “That was the deed that started The Red Blot into action. Mobsters abducted Craft. Pringle framed what looked like a disappearance of the architect. Then trouble broke loose.
“From the central cavern of his underground realm, The Red Blot had taken a large conduit as a course to the East Side subway. Other old underground passages, considerable distance from Pringle’s domain, were tapped from spots along the subway line. To build up a reputation, to gain funds which he needed, The Red Blot launched crime attacks in parts of Manhattan where his men could escape by hidden outlets to these underground channels. After each raid they returned to their base.
“Besides Socks Mallory, The Red Blot had another capable aid - Merton Hembroke. Where Mallory served as lieutenant of the underground forces, Hembroke was a secret agent working as a detective. That was to prove vital in The Red Blot’s plans. As we have pieced it, here is what happened.
“First: Spider Carew, a henchman of Mallory, who was stationed above ground, tried to squeal. We sent detectives to cover him as he rode up on the East Side subway. Hembroke tipped off Mallory to get the man. Mallory did so and escaped in the subway.
“Then Mallory slew Tony Loretti, who was a menace to The Red Blot’s schemes. Juanita Pasquales has confessed that she was forced to do Mallory’s bidding. Hembroke was present at the affray in the Club Janeiro. He made it look as though the killer might have escaped outward. He effectively covered the secret of the little office.”
“I see,” smiled Cranston.
“Then came The Red Blot’s master stroke,” continued the police commissioner. “Socks Mallory slugged an elevator operator and abducted Selfridge Woodstock, Chicago financier, with the secretary, Crozer. Down to the level below the Hotel Gigantic, in an elevator. There - so we believe - Hembroke took the elevator up; left it and reached the lobby, where he was on hand to gain credit for a quick investigation.
“Dobson Pringle, as president of the Amalgamated Builders, had very little money invested in the concern. He knew the psychology of the directors. He had a fake note. Its delivery caused consternation. Pringle was ready to urge the raising of the five million dollars. When Felix Cushman proposed that radical act, Pringle wisely played a conservative part.
“Then came an unexpected event. Before the meeting, set in the Amalgamated conference room, Carlton Carmody, architect, who had succeeded Hubert Craft, discovered the faults in the plans. He was seen by Hembroke - we have Carmody’s own testimony for this - and the false detective tipped off Pringle. Socks Mallory came up and seized Carmody, who was held prisoner with Craft, Woodstock, and Crozer.”
“Where?” queried Lamont Cranston, lighting a cigarette in absent-minded fashion.
“THAT’S coming,” smiled Weston. “Mallory raided the directors’ meeting and took five million dollars. Again, Hembroke covered by making it look as though the crooks had run out. Hembroke was commended. All was set for The Red Blot to pull his final coup blowing up through Galladay’s floor, the jewel robbery, and an escape along a passage which would be blocked after the marauders had passed.”
“Strange,” observed Cranston, “that such well-laid schemes should fail -“
“Detective Joe Cardona gets the credit,” interrupted Weston, in an admiring tone. “He investigated the Hotel Gigantic. He was double-crossed by Hembroke, and was captured. He escaped. He found The Red Blot’s secret office. A special passage - off behind a door that was always closed - led up to the Falconette Apartments, where Pringle lived. Cardona discovered a map; it showed all the strategic points except that one, which had been obliterated. Cardona also found a telephone that was hooked up with Pringle’s apartment.
“Through some lucky freak - how, we have not yet ascertained - the wire of the secret phone was temporarily connected with an outside line. When Cardona called, he got detective headquarters. Our men interrupted the robbery of Galladay’s. They covered everywhere - and the crooks were shot down by the police.”
“Odd,” remarked Cranston, “that The Red Blot did not escape through his own private exit -“
“Cardona stopped him!” Weston was triumphant. “Cardona shot down both Dobson Pringle and Merton Hembroke. He found the hiding spot of the stolen five million dollars, which The Red Blot had returned to get.
“Inadvertently, Cardona released a flood of water - a tapped dry pipe line which The Red Blot had arranged to sweep the dungeon where he kept his prisoners, should he deem their death necessary. Luckily, they managed to escape through the door which Cardona had previously opened.”
Police Commissioner Weston glanced at his watch. He arose hastily and announced that he must be back at his office. He shook hands with Lamont Cranston and departed.
A STRANGE smile appeared upon Cranston’s face as he recalled a parting invitation from Weston. The police
