The Crime Clinic
- Автор: Грант Максвелл
- Серия: The Shadow #43
- Год: 1933
- Язык: английский
- Год: Street and Smith
- Жанр: Крутые детективы
Электронная книга - «The Crime Clinic». Краткое содержание книги:
“Well, Cardona,” said Weston suddenly, “it looks as though we are on a real trail. Doctor Dubrong has acquainted us with some very valuable facts.”
Cardona smiled grimly. This was the chance he had been awaiting. His own theory, vague, a few minutes ago, had become strengthened. Placing his notes in his pocket, the detective arose and strode across the room. He pointed to the front window.
“This,” he affirmed, “is where Miss Lydell saw the face. I have examined this balcony, commissioner. It opens into an adjoining room. I believe, to begin with, that the Hindu who was looking in from here was the same one who entered the hallway by the steel door.”
“A minor point,” objected Commissioner Weston.
“Not at all,” asserted Cardona briskly, “when we follow a theory that only one Hindu was concerned in the affair. Let us go into the rear hallway, commissioner.”
As Cardona strode past the entrance at the side of the living room, he failed to notice a pair of gleaming eyes that watched his progress. The Shadow, stationed in the adjacent gloom, was still upon the scene.
As Cardona walked through the door at the rear of the living room, Weston, Klein, and Gloucester followed with one accord. Hardly had they gone, before a motion occurred at the side door. A shaft of darkness seemed to project itself into the living room. Uncannily, it assumed a living shape.
The Shadow became visible. Clad in his cloak of black, his face concealed by the brim of his slouch hat, the tall master of mystery advanced across the room until he reached the doorway through which the others had gone.
There, with steady gaze, he peered toward the group in the hallway. Joe Cardona and the others were standing beside the steel door that formed the entrance to the tower. Cardona’s words were plain as he pointed out significant facts.
“Hubert admitted Casslin to the tower,” he explained. “Then Hubert was struck down. Hodges arrived in time to kill the Hindu.”
“Exactly what Doctor Dubrong suggested,” remarked Weston.
“No,” objected Cardona. “Doctor Dubrong omitted a very important point. I have notations here. Mr. Gloucester can support them. Considering every element involved — the face at the window; the locked door, the key in Hubert’s pocket — there is only one inference to draw.”
“Which is”
“That the Hindu did not come from the tower. He was trying to enter the tower, in pursuit of Rutherford Casslin.”
Cardona’s voice rang with triumph. Stephen Gloucester nodded in accordance. The police commissioner appeared perplexed. Cardona followed up his point.
“There were two men here,” he asserted. “Hubert and Hodges. Both were trusted servants. Hubert fought the Hindu and died. Hodges killed the Hindu. The honesty of both servants cannot be questioned.
“How could the Hindu have followed Casslin? Remember, Hodges was here when Hubert closed the door. No! The Hindu was there” — Cardona was pointing down the hallway — “and as soon as Hodges walked away, he rushed forward to attack Hubert!”
The explanation came like a thunderbolt. Joe Cardona had scored a triumph. He could see Commissioner Weston nodding in reluctant agreement.
“The Hindu wanted the key.” Dramatically, Cardona was gesturing to depict the struggle at the door. “That is why he attacked. He stabbed Hubert as they grappled. One more point, commissioner. Hubert had closed the door. He was naturally facing it. That gave the Hindu the chance to spring at him.”
IN simple, emphatic words, Joe Cardona had completely shattered the theory advanced by Doctor Dubrong. There was, however, one point which the detective had not mentioned. Weston was quick to seize upon it.
“Then who,” demanded the commissioner, “was the man that killed Rutherford Casslin?”
“Someone in the tower,” returned Cardona.
“But how did he get there?” asked Weston.
“Beforehand,” smiled Joe Cardona. “Some guests went upstairs with Casslin. No one remembers just how many were in the crowd. Let us suppose that one person managed to remain within the tower, to await Casslin’s return. It is gloomy in that tower. He would not have been noticed.”
“Then afterward—”
“He must have managed to escape, gun, diamond, and all. He couldn’t have gone out through one of the windows in the tower; he must have managed to come through this door. But the point is this, commissioner. The Hindu was never in the tower. Casslin was killed in the tower. So someone else must have been in the tower.”
Weston considered. He turned and strolled slowly back toward the living room, the others pacing with him. Within the living room, The Shadow suddenly moved away with remarkable swiftness. He had glided through the side door before the others entered the room from the rear.
“Cardona,” said the commissioner solemnly, “I accept your theory. There is a murderer at large. The Hindu still may have been his accomplice; or possibly the Hindu was working on his own. However, the murderer — the thief — is the man that you must capture.
“I am counting upon you to learn his identity. We must not form opinions too hastily, but it is probable that he is a man of high intelligence, one who could pass himself unobtrusively in good company. Get him, Cardona.”
This was Weston’s final statement. The commissioner left, accompanied by Stephen Gloucester, whose car had gone into New York. Joe Cardona stood alone with Inspector Timothy Klein.
“Joe,” said the inspector warmly, “you put it across great tonight. You’re on the right track. The only question is — who are you after?”
Cardona wheeled as he was crossing the living room. He spoke emphatically as he tuned to Klein.
“I’ll tell you the guy I’m after,” he asserted bluntly. “I’m after The Jackdaw!”
“You didn’t say that to the commissioner—”
“Of course not. I’ll bring that up later. But The Jackdaw pulled this job tonight, and The Jackdaw is the guy I’m going to get. He’s keen enough to cover up his tracks. I’m good enough to uncover them.”
From his pocket, Joe Cardona pulled a list of the persons who had been present here when Rutherford Casslin had died. One by one, he crossed off the names. The last on the list was that of Bart Melken. Cardona crossed it off with the others.
Then, while Klein’s back was turned, Cardona wrote another name at the bottom of the column. It was the name of one who had not been here when the confusion had begun; yet one whose connection with affairs of Rutherford Casslin’s might prove to be of considerable consequence.
Cardona was standing beside the curtain when he wrote the name. Inspector Klein did not see the action. Yet there were eyes that did see; eyes that peered from above Cardona’s shoulder; eyes that the detective never dreamed were present. They saw the name that Cardona inscribed:
Doctor Lysander Dubrong
JOE CARDONA thrust the list into his pocket. He stepped forward to join Inspector Klein. Together, they walked through the rear door, to take a last look at the hallway and the tower.
Again, The Shadow stepped from the gloom. His tall form basked momentarily in the light of the living room. From hidden lips, lost in the folds of the cloak collar, came a soft, sinister laugh that was no more than an echoed whisper.
The Shadow had heard all. He had listened to Doctor Dubrong’s theory — a statement, which, if accepted, would have diverted all suspicion from any persons other than Hindus. He had heard Joe Cardona’s theory — shattering facts that broke Doctor Dubrong’s findings.
Joe Cardona had learned the part that the Hindu had played. He knew that someone — The Jackdaw — had accomplished the murder of Rutherford Casslin, and had departed with the Bishenpur diamond.