The Shadow Crook

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 January 1929, Page 12

The Shadow Crook

By

Aidan de Brune

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

CHAPTER XXVII. CONTINUED.

The light of the torch threw in to relief a medium height, slender figure of a man clothed entirely in tight fitting black. The head was turned towards the Inspector and he could see the black mask covering the features, through which stared two bright eyes, in frightened amazement. The man in the cupboard was not the Shadow Crook, as he had expected, but the Man in the Black Mask he had faced in Abel Mintos’s flat.

“Got you!” The Inspector spoke with intense satisfaction. “So you got a line on the missing jewels. Now I wonder where? Can’t open the safe, can’t you. Not much of a crook, you? Have another go at it, laddie. I want those jewels.” The man turned suddenly and = flung himself against the door opening into the shop. It held firm although Mason feared for the frail button. He laughed triumphantly. “No hope, sonny! I turned the button on the door while you were finding the safe. There’s only one way out and that’s past me —and damned unsafe. I’ve go you covered. Now, open that safe!” With a gesture of despair the man turned to the steel door and spun the dial, tugging viciously at the knob, without result. Mason backed slowly to the bench and along it until he could reach the light switches. He flung on all the lights and leaned against the edge of the bench, watching the crook, vigilantly. “Take it easy.” The Inspector hooked a chair forward and seated himself. “We have the whole night before us. I’ll watch your work.” “Inspector . . . .”

“Hold your tongue.” Mason spoke roughly. “You’re not talkink, just working. I want that safe opened quick! See?” “Perhaps I can help you, Inspector?”

The voice came from the door of the room. Mason sprang to his feet and swung round, startled. In the doorway lounged a tall figure dressed in an old brown overcoat and dark grey hat pulled down low over the eyes. It was the Shadow Crook! “You?” Mason spoke viciously. “So, I’ve got you, too. The Shadow Crook, at. last! Put up your .. .” His hand came up, to drop to his side. A slight motion by the master criminal had drawn attention to the small automatic he held in his hand, pressed to his side and covering the Inspector. “I wouldn’t, Inspector. I really would be more, careful, if I were you. Impulsive actions are most dangerous. Seems I have a rival in the field.” The man moved slightly further into the room and glanced to where the Man in the Black Mask stood within the cupboard. A contemptuous smile came on his lips and his eyes flashed back to watch the Inspector. “So he can’t open the safe? Well, well!” The crook laughed again. “Not much good in our trade, is he, Inspector? Why that sort is dead easy.” “Can you?” Mason was recovering his poise. If he could get. this man under his gun and drive him into the cupboard with the Man in the Black Mask! If he could force him to open the safe! “You’ve got a good line’of talk, but what, about a little action?” “Meaning?” “Can you open that safe?”

“Under your gun. inspector?” the Shadow Crook appeared to enjoy the joke. “No, thanks, I’ve too much respect for your undoubted abilities. There are other ways, y’know.” “Yes?” “Drop that gun!” Mason shrugged his shoulders. He would go out with the gun in his hand, if he must; not a blinded sheep, a captive of this crook. His brain was working at top speed. If only he could distract this man’s attention from him for a single second. He turned a high shoulder to the master criminal, glancing towards the cupboard. With an exclamation he stpped forward, peering into the shadowed interior. The Man in the Black Mask had disappeared.

Mason’s sudden exclamation startled the Shadow Crook. For a moment his eyes wandered to the interior of the cupboard. For a fraction of a second his automatic wavered from the direct line to the Inspector’s heart. Immediately Mason sprang to one side, followed by a wild shot from the crook’s gun. He turned, with an ugly snarl to look into the vicious, black circle of the Inspector’s automatic. “I score, at last, Mr. Shadow Crook!” Mason’s voice was full of triumph, “Drop that gun! Quick, I say!” CHAPTER XXVIII. For some minutes the men stood, gazing into each other’s eyes. Mason’s breast was swelling with triumph. He had the Shadow Crook under his gun and no power on earth could release him! He had the secret of the hidden safe. Soon he would have that safe opened and the missing jewels in his hands.

With the Shadow Crook in custody he could finalise the remaining points in the complex mystery. He would force the man to tell all he knew. He had ways and methods that , would break down the walls of silence the master criminal might erect. The solitude, the ring of trained officials, the repeated well-thought-out questions would sooner or later wring from him something in the form of a confession.

The jewels and the Shadow Crook! All he wanted now to complete the tally was Abel Mintos and the murderer of Stacey Carr. The Jew could not evade recapture. With him in custody and facing a long term of imprisonment for the frauds he had practised over years he held much to make the man communicative. Mintos would talk. The Shadow Crook should be compelled to talk. Between the two men the truth could no longer be concealed.

But, during the past few days a new character had crept into the problem —the Man in the Black Mask. Who was he and what did he want? He had discovered the safe, but had been unable to open it Had the safe baffled

hi in,„ or had he been fooling the Inspector? Mason watched his new captive witn wary eyes. The Shadow Crook was full of guile. Unless he acted quickly, giving the man little time for thought, he might be up against some trick difficult to counter. He knew he should take immediate steps to obtain assistance; his first thought should be to disarm the crook and place himm a cell, but ... He wanted those jewels! He wanted to walk up to Police Headquarters with the Shadow Crook and the jewels. He wanted to show those in high authority that lone-handed, he was a match for the master-criminal who for so long had defied him. He wanted to show the men of five years ago that it was not wise to take things pt. face value.. , That they..had .sent an innocent man to gaol, because /hey had not possessed the vision to look at a problem from all angles. They had laughed at his theories —his belief in the innocence of Stacey Carr. Now they should understand, and believe! First, the jewels! His hand, holding the Shadow Crook under the automatic, steadied and stiffened. “There’s the cupboard, friend.” Mason made a slight motion with his head. “Show me you can open that safe. Now then, get to it.” For a moment the Shadow Crook hesitated. His eyes wandered from the Inspector’s face to the door of the little safe. A slight smile came into his eyes and he steeped to th© door of the cupboard. “Right in, please!” The Inspector barked the words. He had not thought to overcome the man so easily. Obediently the Shadow Crook stepped into the cupboard and bent to the door of the safe. For some minutes the long fingers, clad in skin coloured gloves, touched the little dial, delicately, swinging it backwards and forwards. The head of the crook bent to the safe, the whole figure merged in the two senses of hearing and touch. “Well?” Mason spoke impatiently as the Shadow Crook straightened himself.

“If I opent his?” The man’s voice held no note of defeat. “What then?” “Nothing! Not a damned thing!” The Inspector’s voice rasped loudly. “You’re going to have the pleasure of one legitimate job at safe-opening before you go to gaol. I want to see if you’re as clever at your damned work as they tell me. Get that?” “And if I refuse?”

“Then I’ll take you at once to headquarters, Youi' curiosity regarding that safe and the jewels in it, unsatisfied.” The detective laughed. Somehow he rather liked this man who faced him, undaunted, at the end of a successful career of crime. “That’ll hurt, I guess.” “I’ll hear there.” The Shadow Crook shrugged his shoulders and moved towards the door of the room. “Coming, Inspector?” Mason sprang forward, fury in his eyes, a menace in his hoarse voice. “Get back.” The steady gun halted the man. “Get into that cupboard and open that safe.” “And if I don’t will you shoot?” For the moment the crook waited, then turned to the cupboard and entered. “Oh, hell! What’s the good of butting you phiz-gigs. Suppose I’d better open it.”

Again he bent to the little dial, listening intently. Mason moved slightly and the crook swung round, angrily. “How the hell’s a man going to work with you making all that noise. If you want the safe opened, keep quieC. Oh, I’d better shut this door.”

With a sudden move he kicked the Inspector’s penknife from the floor and sprang back into the cupboard, pulling the door closed behind him. Mason sprang forward with a cry of rage. He slung himself sideways as a bullet bored through the door, past his head. Instinctively his finger tightened and his gun answered the challenge. “Stop that, Mason.” The Shadow Crook spoke from within the cupboard. “You didn’t know I carried another gun.” “You fool!” Mason sprang to the door between the room and the shop, watching the two doors of the cupboard. “You can’t escape. The door into the shop’s fastened.”

“Good enough!” The light lilting laugh of the master criminal rang through the shop. “Then, for the time it’s a stalemate. Now we’ll both think about it. Any ideas, old man?” It was a stalemate, as the Shadow Crook said. Mason dared not go to the doors of the cupboard; he dared not leave his position between the shop and the workroom. He could only wait and watch. Yet the Shadow Crook was safely imprisoned. There was no possible hope of him getting from the cupboard to the door of the shop. Mason silently vowed that at the first sign of an attempt to escape he would shoot. He dared not allow the man to get away.

Time was on his side. He glanced down at his wrist-watch. It was not after ten o’clock. A little more than an hour and a-half and Swartz would come down to the shop to relieve him, if the lights in the place did not at tract the attention of the patrolman first. He would send for help. With a number of men thronging the place the crook’s position would be hopeless. The time passed slowly. Mason stood leaning against the lintel of the door, watching the doors of the cupboard. Ho longed for the patrolman to come down the lane; the inaction was wearisome.

A slight sound at the shop-door drew his attention. He looked round to see Norma Etheringhain standing on the doorstep. She knocked on the glass, then as the Inspector did not move, turned the handle and pushed open the door. “Mrs Etheringham!” Mason spoke sharply. “For God’s sake, be careful! The Shadow Crook’s here!”

“Where?” Norma looked round the room, fearfully. “In the double-doored cupboard.” The Inspector gave a a quick glance towards the doors. “Come over here to me. Quick! He can’t shoot towards here, and I’ll get him if he comes out of the cupboard. So! That’s right. What did you come here for?” (To be Continued).