The Shadow Crook

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 570, 24 January 1929, Page 5

The Shadow Crook

By

Aidan de Brune

(Author of “Dr Night,” “The Carson Loan Mystery,” “The Dagger and the Cord,” etc.) (COPYRIGHT.) _____

-CHAPTER IV.—(Continued.) "Newspaper man, then?” "Thank the Lord, no!” Branston took off his hat with a comical gesture. "That madness afterwards.” "Then all you know of the Stacey Carr trial is what you've read.” "That’s so.” There was a fair pause before the journalist continued. ‘‘What do you want to know, particularly?” “There was a man mixed up in the Stacey Carr trial named Samuel Keeue. What do you know of him?” "Samuel Keene?” Branston halted again. “Samuel Keene! Now, where have I come across that name?” “He was a witness for the defence.” "Yes. I remember. The name stuck in my mind. He made quite a speech for the defence, didn’t he?” “Heard so.” Mason was not giving information. ‘‘Remember, all I know of the case is hearsay. When I have a few minutes to spare I'll avail myself of your offer and read up the trial in the ‘Mirror’ files.” “Welcome.” Branston paused at the glass doors of the newspaper offices. “If I’m not about and I don't usually come on until about S o'clock at night, go up to the second floor and follow the corridor round to the library. Tell Olsen what you want and he’ll get it for you.” “Thanks.” The Inspector stood and watched the newspaper man push through the doors into the building. He turned and walked up to Poliee Headquarters. A summons awaited him in his room to attend the Detective Superintendent. "What the devil did he want in the Fingerprint Department?” exclaimed Superintendent Tomlin, when Mason had again detailed the happenings of the previous night.

“On the face of it to have a look at lhe fingerprints of Stacey Carr.” Mason spoke with a grin on his lips. “The fingerprints of a dead man!” Tomlin, a stout, red-faced, thick-set man, snorted in disgust. “Can’t you think of something more original than that, Mason?” “Can you?” The Inspector laughed outright. “There’s one theory in my mind, and that doesn’t take account of fingerprints.” Tomlin looked the question his lips did not frame. “Stacey Carr died yesterday afternoon. He would have been due for release in about three years’ time, on ticket of leave. Now, neither the Kynaston sapphires nor the White Trinity have ever been discovered, tarr, before and since his imprisonment, has professed entire ignorance JJ* the hiding place of the jewels. I believe there is a connection between those jewels, Stacey Carr’s death, and the Shadovr Crook's raid here last night.’’* hat on earth are you talking about!” Tomiln became purple in the face as he stared across his desk at tne detective. “How’s Stacey Carr’s fingerprints going to lead any confederate—the Shadow Crook, or auyone else-—to the hiding place of the jewels. Tl ;at is, if they’re still hidden.” “You remember the Stacey Carr Superintendent?” “Very well.” Tomlin threw himself u*ck in his chair. “My opinion is that (arr got rid of them before he was iouikj insensible in his shop. He dipped then to a confederate and was a T res ted before he got his share of fhe plunder. Pity he died. I was going t 0 have him watched when he came O, K- niight have struck a clue "here they went to.”

“Who was, or is, Samuel Keene, Superintendent?” ‘'Samuel Keene? Oil, 1 remember.” Tomlin frowned, thoughtfully. “Gave evidence for Carr. Said he was of independent means; came from Victoria. Interested In jewels.” “Interested in jewels.” Mason repeated the phrase, significantly. "Did you put the acid on him?” “Don't think so.” The Superintendent hesitated. “No. The defence brought him forward at the last moment. Seems he was interesetxl in Stacey Carr’s work of curing jewels. Used to hang about the old man’s shop. Nothing against him.” “N-o.” Mason drawled the word. ‘‘Now, I’ve got quite a hunch that, if the police had been interested in Samuel Keene they would have come a damned sight closer to the missing jewels.” "You think he was a confederate?” ‘‘l think Stacey Carr was a victim of circumstances and a well-delivered blow —to his memory.” “Whew! ” Tomlin leaned forward. “So that’s it. Where have you been hunting?” “With Cranford Hughes, the barris ter who defended Carr. Then with Alec Branston. the night-roundsman of the ‘Mirror.’ ” , There was a long pause. Mason was tracing diagrams with his finger on the desk-top. Tomlin set well forward, staring at him. “What do you want. Mason?” “Just the history of Samuel Keene, from the day he was born to the present date. Y"ou know the Commissioner has detailed me to round up the Shadow Crook, pronto!” ‘‘Samuel Keene’s history. Well, it will want a bit of doing, but I’ll put it up to the Commissioner. Think he'll decide it’s worth while. Second part, good, if you get what you’re after. But. the Shadow Crook’ll want some finding. Any ideas, Mason?” “Plenty, hut no clues. There’s just I one thing in my favour. If what I’m : told is correct I'm one of the few per- 1 sons who have seen and spoken to j the Shadow- Crook. That’s an advantage. I'm game to bet I pick him our. of 50 men, first shot, even if I have to wait 10 years for the chance. Anything more, Superintendent? No, then. ...” , Mason’s hand was on the door-knob when Tomlin called him back. “g a v, Mason, you've put a puzzler to me. You make statements that don't seem to connect together. You talk as if Stacey Carr was an innocent man. and the judge was so convinced ; of his guilt that he gave him everything in the bag. You ask me to hunt j up people who’ve disappeared live years ago. What’s it all leading to?” i ■‘Just one thing.” The Inspector leaned his hands on the desk, laughing slightly. “I’m trading on one huncllthat the Shadow Crook who held a surprise party at Headquarters last night, and Samuel Keene, the friend and champion of Stacey Carr, five j vears ago, are one and the same per- 1 son.”

CHAPTER V. The theory that Samuel Keene and the Shadow Crook were one person rather fascinated Inspector Mason. He left Superintendent Tomlin dumbfounded at the suggestion, yet agreeing to set the machinery of the department in action to trace the one man, other than Stacey Carr, on whom suspicion could rest. Outside headquarters, in the broad light of day, the idea of connecting the raid on \Police Headquarters with the trial of the jewel doctor seemed absurd. There was an interval of five years to bridge. What had the Shadow Crook, if he were really Samuel Keene, been doing during that time regarding the missing jewels? They were a prize worth fighting for. Their discovery and sale would yield a fine fortune. Yet, if the detective could believe the theory he was coustruct-

ing, the man had taken no steps over the intervening years to acquire that fortune. j The one clue he had to work on was that the Shadow Crook had dared to ! penetrate Police Headquarters to hold ! in his hands for a few brief minutes ! the filing envelope containing the records of Stacey Carr. He had taken nothing from that envelope; Sergeant Anderson could swear to that. Samuel Keene, or Stacey Carr. The two names chased through the detective’s mind. Either man might have taken the jewels and it wis impossible ! for the time to distinguish between them. But, unless Stacey Carr had I been working on some well-devised plan he would not have had the opportunity to dispose of the jewels between the times they were handed to him and the mysterious assault on him, in his shop. If Stacey Carr had stolen the jewels then it was more than probable they still lay where he had hidden them. That would explain the jewels dropping completely out of sight. Mason remembered that in the history of other mysterious jewel disappearances there had always been a crop of rumours professing to explain where they had gone to. The White Trinity and the Kynaston sapphires had disappeared—as if they had never existed. That Stacey Carr had hidden the,

jewels, either for safety or theft, would explain the interest the Shadow Crook was showing in him. But, why had he displayed that interest immediately after the man’s death and not during his lifetime? AY as there an answer to that question? The Shadow Crook had watched the old jeweller, hoping to discover his hidden safe. He had failed in that object, up to the date of Carr's arrest. He had watched the old man throughout his prison career, to have his plans upset by the old man’s death. In some desperate attempt to locate some clue to the hidden safe the criminal had conducted his desperate raid on Police Headquarters. But, what clue could possibly he hidden in the official records of ths dead convict? So far Mason found his theory plausible, but to prove it he had to show that the official records held

some clue to the hidden jewels. For the present that appeared impossible. There was another flaw to his theory. He was presuming' a connection between the Shadow Crook and the Victorian, Samuel Keene. There was nothing to support that theory. To prove the connection he would have to trace the history of Samuel Keene from the moment he left the Criminal Court after Stacey Carr’s trial to the present day. Mason came out of his reverie to find himself at the corner of Hunter and George Streets. He remembered that down George Street, toward Circular Quay, lay Carew Cane. Quickening his pace he strode on. A hundred yards past the Hunter Street corner he halted abruptly at the entrance to a narrow street, almost an alley-way. (To be Continued.)