The Shadow Crook

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 602, 2 March 1929, Page 22

The Shadow Crook

- i By

Aldan de Brune

CHAPTER XXIX. “Looks as if he’s had a watch on the lot of us.” Mason smiled grimly. “Funny how he manages to turn up at the opportune moment.” “He has saved me from trouble more than once.” Norma spoke gravely. “But for him . . “So?” The Inspector looked at her, keenly. “Saved you from bother, has he? Well, I can understand that. You were one of the clues he relied on to find the jewels. He watched the lot of us and led us like a lot of sheep in the way he wanted us to go. Now he think’s he’s going to collar the swag and leave us holding the bag.” He held up a warning hand for silence and crept into the workroom, to the cupboard door. There he listened for some minutes. When he returned to Norma there was a thoughtful frown on his brow. “Can’t understand it.” Pie muttered. “This isn’t like the Shadow Crook — to remain in a hold until we drive him out. Wonder what he’s up to?” For the moment he thought to go to the door of the cupboard and wrench it open, chancing the blind bullets of the master criminal. But, then there would be shooting in the shop and the life of the girl would be in danger. He must have help and get rid of her, before the fight commenced.

“Say, Mfte. Etheringham.” The Inspector spoke after a long pause. “Do you mind walking up to George Street and finding a constable. If there’s not one in sight go to the telephone and put through a call to the George Street North Police Station. Tell them to send a couple of men here as quickly as possible. I’ll remain here on guard. The girl nodded and went to the door. A few moments and Mason heard the pulsing of a motor engine passing the door. It ran up toward George Street and died in the distance. “Got her car with her,” Mason muttered as he pulled his pipe from his pocket and stuffed the tobacco into the bowl. “Good sort of girl that. No shrieking and fainting. Lord, what some women wouldn’t have put up if they’d been told there was a dangerous criminal in the cupboard of the room into which they had wandered.” Ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, would see her back and with her the constables. Then he would call on tho Shadow Crook to surrender. If he refused he would go to the cupboard. The first shot, according to the regulations, belonged to the Shadow Crook; after that . . .

Again he looked at his watch. Almost as he noted the time the sounds of a motor-car racing down the lane came ta him. It pulled up with a grating of brakes and a couple of uniformed men ran into the shop. Norma followed them, walking over to where the Inspector stood. “Better keep out. of the shop, Mrs. Etheringham.” He noted her flushed face; her eyes glittering with excitement. “That chap’ll come out shootin’.”

Norma shook her head but slipped into the corner by the partition, Mason shrugged his shoulders and turned to his men.

“The Shadow Crook’s in that cupboard. boys,” he said briefly. “He’s armed and likely to shoot, but we’ve got to get him out. Now, you get the other side of the partition and see he doesn’t get a break on us there. You get to the shop door and don’t let anyone pass you. See?” He watched the men pass to their stations. For a moment he stood summoning up all his courage, then slid along the partition to the cupboard door. Again he waited, his fingers feeling for the button fastener. With dismay he found it turned down. The door was only held by the spring. Who had unfastened the button? It was too late to speculate on that. He sprang forward and flung the door open. There was no answering shot. He glanced back at the constable at the door. He was on the alert. He looked into the cupboard. There was no one there!

Where was the Shadow Crook? Dragging his torch from his pocket he cast the light round the confined space. There was no one in the cupboard, but, on the ground was a small pile of clothing. Instinctively he recognised them.

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

They were the old frown overcoat and the dark grey hat constituting the disguise of the Shadow Crook. Where was the man? The Inspector bent and picked up the old overcoat. The hat rolled into a corner of the cupboard. As it moved a piece of white paper showed on the hat-band. Mason stooped and picked up the hat. The piece of paper was pinned to the hatband. There was writing on it. He focused the light of the torch on the paper and spelt out the faint leadpencil writing. “Sorry. The safe is empty. Many apologies for all the trouble.” The Inspector glanced up quickly at the wall. The door of the safe stood ajar. He wrenched it open and threw the light of his torch into the aperture. There was nothing in the safe.

For some moments Mason stood staring into the empty interior of the cupboard. He turned, to meet the broad grins on the faces of the constables, now standing behind him. A deep frown gathered on his face, to be immediately replaced by a rather painful grin. He could not but admire the audacity and resourcefulness of the Shadow Crook, although the man’s success meant his own defeat.

“That’s all, boys.” He turned to the constables. “The Shadow Crook has been kind enough to open the safe and reports he found it empty. 1-Ie didn’t wait to be thanked ‘ for his trouble.”

“You believe him?” Norma asked. “Perhaps he found the jewels and took them away with him.” “Perhaps he did,” Mason smiled. “I may be many sorts of a fool, but I happen to believe him. He’s not the sort of crook who gets away with things in silence. If he’d found the jewels, instead of this apology for their absence, he’d have left some sort of boasting message. No, someone’s anticipated the lot of us. That’s all. Good-night, you fellows.” The men grinned, saluted, and walked to the door. Mason waited until they were out of earshot, then turned to the girl. “I suppose you think I’m always holding the thin end of the stick, Mrs. Etheringham. Well, so far I am, but the police haven’t the same kind of freedom of action as the crook. Still, I’m not out of the running yet. I can wait and stick close on his tail. Sooner or later I must catch up to him. Then we’ll see.”

Norma had gone to the safe in the cupboard and was examining it. Mason made a perfunctory search of the shop, for clues to the Shadow Crook’s movements he did not expect to find, then returned to the cupboard. At the door he turned again. Hasty steps were coming down the lane. The shop door was flung abruptly open and a police-sergeant stood in the doorway.

“Where Is he, Inspector?’ “Who? Oh, the Shadow Mason smiled grimly. “

hand it to me, Mclntosh away again.”

Crook!” You can He got

“But . . . but this lady told me you had him locked up in the cupboard.” The sergeant stuttered with surprise. “How the . . .”

“Just so!” Mason interrupted. “The way he did it was to unbutton the door into the shop before he was so obliging as to offer to open the safe. He left a note to say the cupboard was bare —not even the proverbial bone, in the shape of a jewel-box, remaining.”

“Phew!” The man crossed to the cupboard and entered, peering into the safe curiously. “Why, it all sounded so sweet that I nearly entered it up in the night-book.” “Thank the little stars you didn’t.” The detective laughed. “Well, that’s the end of the night’s amusement. Say, Mrs. •Etheringham, you’ll have a late drive home.” Norma nodded; the Inspector’s hint was obvious. She had no desire to linger in that shop. The jewels were not in the safe. Had the Shadow Crook taken them? The supposition seemed reasonable, but the girl was inclined to agree with the Inspector. It was not in the nature of the Shadow Crook to conceal his successes.

Her car was standing outside the door, where she had left it when she followed the constables in their wild rush into the shop to capture the Shadow Crook. She entered the car

and drove slowly down to Pitt Street, turning in the direction of Martin Place. Her thoughts had turned to her home. What was happening there? Some instinct bade her expect further trouble that night. Stanley had spoken of Abel Mintos’s visit to the house that afternoon. He had said the man threatened to return? Had he done so? If he had, what had happened in any quarrel between the two men?

Outside- the General Post Office she parked her car and sought a telephone booth. She must get in touch with Cranford and tell him all that had happened that night. She must tell him of the strange forebodings that crowded her mind. Perhaps his cool, calm voice would soothe her ragged nerves. If Mintos had gone into the house!

Slie looked down at her wristlet watch as she paused at the door of the booth. It was after eleven o’clock. How the night had flown! As she lifted the receiver to her ear she knew she could not go through the hours until dawn alone. Cranford must come to “Avonlea.” It was absurd to ask that of him, at midnight, but she dared not be alone. She would wait on the verandah until he came. Then she would go into the house —to face the horrors her jagged imagination pictured. If she had been mistaken; if Mintos had not been to the house and quarrelled with her hnsband, he could go home and no one need know of his late visit. The coming day must end everything. No longer would she live amid the gloom and terrors that crowded on her. She would sweep them away

from her and step into a new life—a life in which she dimly visualised a happiness she had not known since her childhood days. Back in the Carew Lane shop Mason and the sergeant had settled down to a careful examination of the place. It seemed impossible that someone, had been there and opened the safe without leaving some trace of their presence.

Three problems confronted the de tective. First, when had the safe been opened and the jewels abstracted? Secondly, had the Shadow Crook, on his visit that night, left any clues that might lead to his capture? Thirdly, who was the Man in the Black Mask who had come so confidently to the panel hiding the secret safe; and how had he discovered that secret ? (To be Continued)!