"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 116 - Intimidation,Inc" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

Nobby followed his torpedoes from the street. He reached the wall with
them; stopped and gawked as he stared at a sight against the stone blockade.
Upon a bullet-riddled ash can lay an opened suitcase that had received its
share of the leaden hail. This was the only evidence that the alley had held a
human occupant. Despite the cement sidewalk and the concrete wall, Link Delvo
had vanished as mysteriously as a ghost.


SIRENS were wailing from the distance. The police were on the job.
Savagely, Nobby Kilgan ordered his dozen torpedoes to make their get-away.
Thugs poured from the alley, their leader with them. They were gone by
the
time the officers arrived. The police, too, found nothing but the suitcase.
They decided that they had been summoned to a false alarm.
 As the officers departed, a whispered laugh came from atop the garage
roof. A black-cloaked figure arose, moved along the roof amid darkness, and
dropped to a side street. Choosing an obscure route, that mysterious traveler
reached the Dorchester House. He entered by a rear door and ascended a
darkened
stairway.
In his own room, The Shadow removed the cloak and hat that he had taken
from the suitcase before scaling the garage wall. That ascent had been a
simple
task. Using the ash can as a pedestal, The Shadow had gripped rough surfaces
in
the concrete. Fingers had clutched; soft-tipped shoes had allowed a toehold.
Five feet of scaling had enabled him to grip the edge of the garage roof.
Here in the hotel room, The Shadow removed the features that he wore. He
replaced the face of Link Delvo with that of Lamont Cranston. That
accomplished, he reviewed his day's work.
The Shadow had handled Nobby Kilgan well. Not only had he learned that
Nobby was not hooked up with Intimidation, Incorporated, he had bluffed Nobby
into thinking that Link Delvo was. That was an important gain, for it meant
that Nobby Kilgan would not find a trail to the real master crook.
Today, The Shadow had learned a fact that he had not told Nobby.
Markallan, the contractor who gained the stadium bid, had already been plucked
of half a million dollars through the purchase of certain worthless stocks. It
was obvious that Markallan had been told to make an overbid for the stadium
contract; by gaining the bid, Markallan would be able to pay back funds that
he
had borrowed to buy the stocks. Like other unfortunates, the contractor had
been
threatened by Intimidation, Incorporated. That trail was closed.
The facts that The Shadow had revealed to Nobby were correct, however.
Hugh Bursard had gone on the air at eight-thirty from MXDO. Mayor Wrightley
had
been toastmaster at a banquet. Elwood Clewiss had worked late; had dined from
eight to eight-thirty. Newell Radbourne had gone to New York. Apparently none
of the four could have visited Sack Balban and sent the big-shot to his doom.
Yet one of those four was the master crook, despite his alibi. Not only