The walking man had stopped at a dingy brick house. Abruptly, he went up the steps and into the place.
Dwig's car started away, but The Shadow told Moe to wait. He foresaw what the crooks intended. They were going around to the back, to find another way into the house.
Inadvertently, they were giving The Shadow the very chance he wanted. By using the front door, The Shadow could overtake the victim first.
Swiftly, The Shadow left the cab; fleetingly, Moe saw him on the house steps. Then, entering a gloomy hall, The Shadow heard creaks from the floor above and went directly for a flight of stairs.
By the time he had reached the second floor, the man ahead was on the third. As The Shadow neared the top of the next flight, he saw his man stop at a door.
After a few sharp knocks, the man spoke a name:
'Glevin!'
There was no answer. The man rapped again, spoke louder. His tone had an accusing note.
'Glevin!' he repeated. 'This is Mr. Talney. Louis Talney. I want to speak to you!'
There was no response. For the first time, Talney exhibited actual hostility. Clamping his left hand firmly on the doorknob, he prepared to drive his shoulder forward, while his right hand drew a small, stubby revolver.
'I'm coming in, Glevin!'
Turning the knob, Talney jabbed his shoulder hard. Whether he expected to crack the rather flimsy door, or merely alarm Glevin, was difficult to tell. In fact, The Shadow did not have time - or need - to decide the question. The door was unlocked, something that Talney had not suspected. Swinging inward, the door carried the tall man on a long lunge.
Talney must have caught himself as he gasped. But it wasn't his near sprawl that brought the odd sound from his lips. The word that Talney gasped was proof of some different sort of shock. The word was a name:
'Glevin!'
FROM the doorway, The Shadow viewed the sight that had so horrified Talney. Small wonder that the tall man was aghast, for it was his first view of the sort of death that The Shadow, as Cranston, had seen on display four times upon this very evening.
Upon a cot that stood beyond a strip of frayed green carpet lay a dead man who stared straight toward the ceiling - a corpse with staring, glassy eyes and bloated features that bore only a grotesque resemblance to anything human. Yet Talney had managed to recognize the face as Glevin's, which proved he must have known the man well.
Standing beside the cot, Talney reached gingerly and lifted Glevin's left hand. From it, he removed a finger ring, which he held toward the gaslight. The ring had a roundish stone, as colorless as a chunk of glass. Stunned by the tragedy of Glevin's death, Talney spoke half aloud:
'I trusted you, Glevin, as a faithful servant. Yet you stole... a worthless ring.'
Had The Shadow been acquainted with plans of Armand Lenfell, he would have known that Louis Talney was the fifth member of the secret six; also, that Glevin was the servant who had come in Talney's stead to receive a sapphire ring from Lenfell.
Jorton, Bayle, Halden, Raft - they were the four hooded men who had received rings. Talney was the fifth. Yet none of those rings bore the blue hue of a sapphire, whether real or imitation; nor did any show the peculiar star formation that should have been their characteristic!
Talney's bewilderment proved The Shadow's present theory: that all five of the worthless rings had once been valued as precious. So stupefied was Talney, that The Shadow ended his immobile vigil and moved into the room, approaching the dumfounded man beside the cot.
Once in motion, The Shadow ran the risk of detection; but it seemed slight, considering that Talney was still staring at the ring.
It was the flickering gaslight that betrayed The Shadow. Fanned by a breeze that came through the open window, the flame stretched and wavered, lengthening the streak of approaching blackness that preceded The Shadow.
Staring past the ring, Talney saw the weird, hawkish silhouette that was cast upon the cot where Glevin lay.
Roused from his stupor, Louis Talney uttered a savage cry. Wheeling, he aimed his stubby revolver point- blank for the cloaked figure that was swooping in from the door, and fired!
CHAPTER XIII. DINNER AT NINE
The Shadow's swoop had become a dive when Talney opened fire. The first shot, therefore, whizzed a full foot above The Shadows slouch hat; but Talney wasn't deceived.
Knowing that he had missed, he shoved his gun downward, intending to score at least one hit upon the unknown invader, who, in Talney's opinion, must be a foe. Talney's second aim was good, but he didn't pull the gun trigger.
The Shadow's dive was toward the stretch of carpet on which Talney stood. Grabbing the green weave, The Shadow gave a hard yank. Talney somersaulted as the carpet went beneath him, his gun flying to the ceiling. The Shadow was on his feet, picking up the revolver, by the time Talney struck the floor.
It wasn't luck on The Shadow's part. He wouldn't have moved in on Talney if he hadn't seen that the carpet was rightly placed for emergency. In fact, the breaks were all against The Shadow. He had counted upon plucking away the carpet before Talney managed to fire at all. The shot, even though it missed, was disastrous to The Shadow's plans.
Heard below, Talney's gun blast was bringing men up the stairs as fast as they could come. Dwig and his crew, in through the back way, knew that something had happened and they didn't intend to let Talney, their wanted victim, get clear.
Coming to his feet, Talney launched for the door, not knowing that death was hurrying up to meet him.
The Shadow reached the door first, slamming it across Talney's path. Twisting about, he blocked off the tall man and whirled him toward the window.
Something thumped the door and exploded with a smash that reduced the barrier to kindling. It was a bomb, chucked by one of Dwig's henchmen. That bunch was out to get rid of Talney without finesse or ceremony.
The door took the shock of the explosion, but before Talney could congratulate himself on escaping one death, he was confronted by another. Headfirst, he was going through the open window, propelled by The Shadow.
Talney thought it would be a thirty-foot plunge to a cement court below. He overestimated by twenty-nine feet, and he was wrong about the cement. Instead of taking off on a long plunge, Talney simply flattened on a fire escape outside Glevin's window.
The Shadow had noticed the ironwork of the fire escape, even though Talney hadn't. Rolling through the window, The Shadow flattened beside the tall man just as another 'pineapple' scaled through the shattered door, zimmed across the smoke-filled room and landed beneath the cot that held Glevin's body.
The second bomb took powerful effect. Glevin's cot was hurled to the ceiling; his body, already bloated beyond normal recognition, was mangled by the blast. Walls cracked great chunks of the ceiling showered down with Glevin's form. The windows ripped outward, showering Talney and The Shadow with a deluge of glass which cascaded from the fire escape, for the iron framework tilted outward at a crazy angle when the bricks that held it weakened.
In time to catch Talney before he rolled from the canted platform, The Shadow, instead of restraining him, steered him to the steps. Badly shaken, Talney no longer offered opposition. He wanted to get away from the exploding room, and was willing to trust anyone who aided him.
Reaching the ground, The Shadow helped the stumbling, horror-maddened man around to Moe's cab. At intervals, Talney faltered as if paralyzed, and during that slow journey The Shadow recognized that there would be no further chance of trailing Dwig and the murder crew.
They had gone down the front stairway, after hurling the bombs. They couldn't have seen who was in the bombed room, for the first of their explosive missiles had struck the closed door; the next had sailed through a clouded atmosphere of smoke.
Having heard the shot, they might suppose that someone was in the room with Talney; but that was immaterial. They would be satisfied that they had delivered death.
THAT fact suited The Shadow.
