"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 101 - The Gray Ghost" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

Besides contacting Harry Vincent, Rutledge Mann had held negotiations with Clyde Burke, another of
The Shadow's agents. Clyde was a newspaper reporter; he was an excellent man at making queries.
Clyde was the agent who had visited the Pennsylvania Station, to learn about Culden's shipments of the
dog.

The man at the baggage room had supposed that Culden was Yenner. In course of conversation he had
given Clyde a lead. Culden had sent a porter to the parcel room to obtain a checked package. When
Culden had left, the porter was following him; lugging a heavy; unwieldy bundle.

Word of this had been relayed to The Shadow previously. He had ordered Clyde to another duty:
inquiries at taxi offices. Claiming to have lost a bundle like Culden's, Clyde had visited every cab
company in the city. He had gained a result.

One taxi driver had turned in a report. He had taken a passenger from the Pennsylvania Station to an
address just off Eighth Avenue. Driving away, the cabby had seen a large package in his cab. He had
returned to the house and left it there.

The cab company was concerned about the matter, since it was possible that the package might be
Clyde's. They were willing to make inquiry at the address.

Clyde had forestalled it by stating that he would prefer to go there himself and identify the package, if it
proved to be his own. Clyde, of course, expressed the possibility that the package might have remained
in the cab during several trips; and hence might be his mythical bundle.

The Shadow was not surprised to learn of the package episode. The report concerning Culden had
indicated something quite definite. Before going out to Long Island, Culden had checked the package,
intending to pick it up after he shipped the dog. He had also planned to leave the package in the taxicab,
that the driver might return it to him.

Culden had extended his alibi. He had one more witness, should the pinch come; namely, the taxi driver.
The incident of the package had been important enough for the cabby to remember.

THE SHADOW finished with the reports. He clicked off the sanctum light. His present mission was to
take up the work where Clyde had left off. The Shadow was going to the house where Culden's cab trip
had ended.

Settled darkness hid the path which The Shadow followed. An interval had passed when he appeared
upon a thronged sidewalk near Times Square. The Shadow was in the guise of Lamont Cranston. With
leisurely stroll, he approached a hack stand and entered a parked taxi. He gave a low-toned order to the
shrewd-faced driver.

The cab wheeled away, bound for Culden's address. The man at the wheel was Moe Shrevnitz, one of
the speediest cab drivers in Manhattan. Moe's cab was an independent, uncontrolled by any company.
Actually, it was owned by The Shadow, who called the taxi into service on occasions such as this.

Moe sped northward on Eighth Avenue; he reached the designated street and turned left. He stopped
abruptly, a dozen houses from the corner. He was close to the required address. The Shadow alighted
and made a pretense of paying fare. Moe drove away, along the westbound street.