“Yes, sir,” said Louie. “He’s been in and out during the evening. Gets his drinks at some speakeasy, I guess. He could hardly stand up when he was in here last.”
“What did you do about it?”
“Had a couple of the boys take him to his room.”
“All right, Louie. Send word to me if you see him behaving badly after this.”
When the steward had gone, Clark Brosset turned to Warren with a serious expression. First making sure that no one was close enough to overhear what he might say, the club president gave terse advice.
“You and I,” declared Brosset, “know that Jasper may be the murderer of those two men. If he is, he’s done a lot to establish an alibi. Here - at the speakeasy - well, he’s probably been from one place to the other all evening. Maybe his drunkenness was a bluff at first; chances are he’s well under now.
“As I see it, Warren, it would be a huge risk to accuse Jasper when the police discover the murders. To do so, you would have to admit your own presence at Delthern Manor. Your own flight would be against you; and you can’t say that you saw Jasper there.
“If Jasper is responsible, there’s a chance that he will loop his own neck. Let the police suspect him first; wait until they have him boxed. Then you can speak. It would be natural for you, as his cousin, to show reluctance in accusing him.”
Warren nodded his agreement. He saw the logic of Brosset’s opinion. He decided that he had done well to come to such a friend for advice.
“Remember,” warned Brosset, in a cautious whisper, “that Jasper, by a clever persistence of innocence, could turn the suspicion on you.”
“Except for one fact,” mused Warren. “Jasper profits directly from the murder of Humphrey -“
“And you profit also.”
Clark Brosset’s frank statement made Warren realize his startling predicament. It was true that he also gained in the division of the Delthern estate. Furthermore, he saw another dilemma ahead of him.
“Clark,” he whispered, “if Jasper diverted suspicion toward me, it might look as though I had arranged the deaths of both Winstead and Humphrey. Besides that, Jasper could pretend that I had threatened him!”
Clark Brosset gazed about him as he nodded. Then, sagely, he added another admonition.
“Up in the office,” he declared, “you told me that Humphrey denounced you as Winstead’s killer. I know perfectly that you would not have committed such a crime. I believe you, because I am your friend. But will others believe you?
“You told me also that Humphrey became indignant at the thought of his own brother plotting against his life. If it came to a question between you and Jasper, what would people think? I shall tell you, Warren. They would decide that a man would murder his cousin with less compunction than his brother.”
WARREN BARRINGER clutched the edge of the table. He realized fully that he had placed himself in a serious position by going to Delthern Manor.
“I see it now,” he said slowly. “Wellington was in on the crime, because I heard Jasper talking to him on the phone. That’s why Jasper killed Wellington also. He has rid himself of the one man who might testify in my behalf. Wellington should have been out of the house. When he showed up, Jasper Delthern decided to take no chances.”
“You are battling a fiendish schemer, Warren,” decided Clark Brosset. “I am thankful that I know the truth; that I can aid you in this emergency. I know Jasper for a rogue; you for an honest man. I am with you in this crisis.
“There is only one course for us to follow. We must wait and watch. These murders will probably be discovered shortly. There will be calls for you and Jasper.
“Remember: you were here during the evening. Up in the office with me; here in the grillroom. I am going upstairs again. It would be a good plan for you to join a game in the cardroom.
“Jasper is too wise to be without an alibi. So we will counter with one for you. Simply subordinate the time element. Is that plain?”
Warren nodded his approval. He felt a surge of gratefulness toward Clark Brosset. Here was one man positive of Warren’s interest. A true friend was priceless in an emergency like this. Warren’s innocence; his knowledge of Jasper’s scheming - these were justifications for the alibi, should it prove necessary. Warren asked one question, to be sure.
“No one knows that I left the club?” he asked.
“No one,” returned Brosset. Then, with a frown, he added: “Yes, one man; but he has left town. I forgot to tell you in the excitement. A friend of yours called to see you, and stopped in my office.”
“What was his name?” inquired Warren anxiously. “I know no one in Newbury outside of yourself -“
“This man was from New York,” interposed Brosset. “His name was Lamont Cranston. Do you know him well?”
“Lamont Cranston!” exclaimed Warren. “What was he doing in Newbury?”
“On his way back to New York,” explained Brosset. “Stopped long enough to see you. He would have waited, but as I did not know how well you knew him, I said that you had gone out of town. 1 thought it best that no one should know you were at Delthern Manor. I feared complications there.”
“He left for New York, then?”
“Yes.”
Warren Barringer breathed a sigh of relief. He glanced toward Clark Brosset with a new expression of gratitude.
“Lamont Cranston is a good friend of mine,” he stated, “but I would not want him to know of this trouble that I have experienced. With you to count on, Clark, I do not need him. You did the right thing, old man. Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it. I used war thinking; that was all. Just a hunch that worked. Come.”
With the final word, Clark Brosset arose from the table. He conducted Warren upstairs, introduced him to some club members in the cardroom, and waited until Warren had joined the game. Upon departing, Brosset stopped in the lobby and spoke to the operator at the telephone switchboard.
“I shall be in my office,” he announced. “I expect to be working late. By the way, if any calls come for Mr. Barringer, switch them to me. He is likely to be up there with me; if not, I can communicate with him.”
DOWN in the gloomy lobby of the City Club, a patch of blackness seemed to shift from the wall. A moment later, a tall, phantom figure traced its way silently through the lobby. The switchboard operator did not see this ghostly form. The men in the cardroom did not observe it as it glided past the door.
The figure merged with blackness near the stairs. That was the last visible trace of its presence. Yet the haunting form did not depart. Somewhere within the confines of the building it still trod its mysterious way.
Warren Barringer was in the cardroom. Clark Brosset was in his office. Jasper Delthern had been taken to his own room on an upper floor. Here, at the City Club, were the only three men who could possibly know anything concerning the details of crime at Delthern Manor.
That was the reason why The Shadow lingered. After his weird evanishment from Delthern Manor, he had come to this place - to the spot where he could watch the men who knew!
CHAPTER XVI
THE POLICE THEORY
THE uniformed policemen were not the only persons who had entered Delthern Manor to find the dead bodies in the upstairs study. With them were three or four neighbors whom Marcia Wardrop had called when she first left the house.
These men had crowded up the stairs after the officers; now they were down in the living room, consoling Marcia, while they awaited the arrival of police officials.
A siren sounded in the side drive. A man went to the door and admitted two chunky, square-shouldered arrivals. One was Sidney Gorson, the Newbury police chief. The other was his star detective, Harold Terwiliger.
Gorson asked a few brisk questions. Learning that none of the persons present knew anything about the crime, he motioned to Terwiliger, and the two ascended the stairs. They entered the room where the bodies lay.
