Death in the Stars s-197

by Maxwell Grant

  "There are those among you who can testify to the strangeness of these mountains. Those who have seen the mystic creature of the lake, that glides with silence through the heart of night. Let those who are fearful leave this enchanted domain; those who are bold may remain."

  The Shadow gave an interrogatory glance to Denwood and Harry. They supplied information that they had forgotten to mention. It referred to the "creature" described by Scorpio.

  "You've heard of the Loch Ness Monster, undertoned Denwood. "The sea serpent seen on a lake in Scotland. Somebody started a similar rumor here, about such a creature gliding through the water late at night."

  "But no one is on the lake late at night," added Harry, in a whisper, "unless they're coming home from a party. Around here, they give parties that are parties. Some of the witnesses say they saw two of the monsters, which gives an idea of how much their word is worth."

  Those side comments came while Scorpio was lighting the torches. Again, it was a matter of an alibi.

  Professor Scorpio was using a local rumor to back up his mystic claims.

  Looking around the room, The Shadow noted other faces. There were some thirty persons present; most of them seemed to believe in Professor Scorpio. Of all the enraptured throng, the most conspicuous was Paula Lodi; owner of the hacienda.

  PAULA LODI was a pronounced blonde, large-eyed and droopy-mouthed. She was registering a soulful expression that had proven a real tear-jerker when she displayed it in motion pictures. The trouble with Paula was that she looked older and stouter in real life, than in the movies.

  Make-up could help her acquire a younger appearance; but it would take diet and exercise to restore the sleekness that had made her famous.

  Meanwhile, Paula seemed to be enjoying her enforced vacation. She was clad in black because it was the best color as a background for her jewels.

  As Denwood had guessed, she was wearing all her gems. Her fingers were encrusted with rings, her wrists massed by bracelets. She wore a diamond brooch and an emerald necklace. Even her ankles were circled by jeweled bangles.

  Looking across the room, The Shadow saw Lois Melvin. Contrasted to the famous Paula Lodi, the brunette was a creature of simple but effective charm. She needed no jewels to enhance her beauty. Her trim figure seemed remarkably lithe and shapely when compared to Paula's.

  Lois wore an expression of doubt. She was remembering Scorpio's horoscope, wondering how much truth there was in it. She didn't want to believe in the professor's powers, yet she could not declare them wholly false. She was saying something of the sort to Niles Rundon, who stood near her.

  The square-jawed man gave a depreciating smile and remarked that Professor Scorpio was nothing more than a good guesser.

  Apparently, Rundon did not like Scorpio, but he was not bitter about it. The man who really detested Scorpio was Howard Carradon, the husband of Paula Lodi. Seated near the movie actress, Carradon was showing a glower on his sharp but rather handsome face. He looked ready to choke Scorpio at a moment's notice.

  Off in a corner stood Sheriff Kirk. He was fingering his badge and chewing a toothpick. Beside him was a half-filled glass; the sheriff took a long swallow from it. He evidently figured that he needed a drink in order to feel sober in a crazy scene like this.

  The torches were ablaze. Professor Scorpio requested that other lights be extinguished. A servant pressed the light switches at the door which led to the veranda. Wavering flames illuminated the scene, except for a glitter near front of the group. The glitter came from Paul Lodi's jewels.

  "You must move back a bit, Miss Lodi." declared Scorpio, courteously. "We need the light of the torches: nothing more."

  Paula shifted her chair farther into the audience. The glitter of the gems diminished, satisfying the professor. All was still among the throng, as Scorpio began a strange, deep-voiced chant-a summons to the dead.

  Reaching up beneath his evening coat, The Shadow drew a hidden garment downward. It was a black cloak; from its folds rolled a flattened slouch hat. Though both Harry and Denwood were so close that they could touch him, neither saw the transformation whereby Lamont Cranston became The Shadow.

  The reason was simple. Scorpio's torches were set high. Beneath them were bronze disks that kept the light from the floor. The flames looked powerful, but a mere glance at the ceiling showed that they reflected very little light.

  Sometimes fake mediums used red lamp bulbs to produce a "lighted" scene. Red bulbs were a cute trick, for they weren't much better than total darkness. But Scorpio was going that stunt one better. His flickering torches, with all their show, were no stronger than half a dozen candles, and their glow was neatly deflected.

  Cloaked in black, his slouch hat drawn down across his eyes, The Shadow was crouching along the floor of the room, getting closer to Scorpio's preserves.

  The professor was visible because his attire was white, and enough of his face showed above the beard.

  He was keeping close to a torch, so that his features would be visible, adding to the impression that the scene was actually lighted.

  The Shadow wanted to reach the alcove behind the professor. As he neared it, he heard a creaking sound from the opposite direction. Someone else was crawling into the scene, quite as invisibly as The Shadow.

  Pausing, The Shadow watched the floor.

  Professor Scorpio pointed, gave a dramatic cry. All eyes gazed downward. A disk of light appeared, uncannily, upon the floor. There were gasps from many of the women present, as the glowing circle enlarged.

  THE SHADOW recognized the deception. It was the old materialization game. The person who had crept in from the alcove was wearing a luminous robe under a dark cloth. Mere manipulation of the cloth in its withdrawal, accounted for the appearance of the light.

  Then the cloth was gone entirely, but the figure still appeared dwarfed. The person in the luminous robe was crouched, performing gyrations in front of Professor Scorpio. As the figure rose, inch by inch, it gave the impression that it had grown. Then, of a sudden, it expanded. A full-fledged spirit stood in sight.

  To The Shadow, acquainted with such frauds, the spook looked definitely phony. Cheesecloth, smeared with luminous paint, was not a good enough disguise to fool a practiced eye. But to the other onlookers, most of whom were farther away than The Shadow, the sight was quite impressive.

  The "spirit" certainly knew his business. He kept on the move, giving the luminous cloth a shimmer that, at moments, produced a really ghostly effect. The spook was a man; his voice, a deep whisper, revealed the fact. His face was a man's too, but it was a mask attached to the luminous hood of his robe.

  There was a reason for the mask. That became apparent when the spook neared Paula Lodi. Seeing the outline of the false face, the actress gave a shriek:

  "Francois!"

  A buzz from the other sitters told the rest. Francois was Paula's first husband, who had departed into the land of spirits after a prolonged binge during the days of Prohibition. Professor Scorpio had supplied his accomplice with a mask that perfectly resembled the departed Francois.

  "Take these!" Paula had risen; her hands were glittering, as she started to peel rings from her fingers.

  "Take these baubles, Francois! Carry them back to the land of spirits-"

  Professor Scorpio voiced a rumbling objection as he sprang forward. Much though he liked the gems, he didn't want to spoil the act by anything so palpable as a gift to a spook. Such trickery was antiquated when there were skeptics present.

  But Scorpio was late with his objection. Another man intervened more rapidly. The sweep of an arm sent Paula spilling back into her chair; then the same man leaped for the spook. The man who was cracking up the séance was Howard Carradon, Paula's living husband.

  The dodging "Francois" wasn't quick enough to get away from Carradon. The room became a bedlam, as the living husband tried to choke the dead one. Then Professor Scorpio was in the fight, struggling to get Carradon away from his precious sp
ook.

  Though close enough to settle the fray, The Shadow let it go to its conclusion, which came quickly enough. The ghost made another transformation; it dwindled in the combined clutch of Scorpio and Carradon. They were wrestling with a deflated spook, because the man inside the luminous robe had managed to slip out of it.

  Unseen in the darkness, the fellow dived for the alcove; but The Shadow heard him go. There was a clatter of a hinging board, a slam as it went back in place.

  Again, because of the shouts, no one heard the sounds except The Shadow. He was at the spot in the alcove where the clatter had occurred. Rolling against the wail, he felt the floor drop with his weight.

  Then, as The Shadow began his drop to the abode of the departed spook, he heard a shriek from the living room. It was too late to return when the cry came. But The Shadow heard the words, recognized them, along with the voice that uttered them.

  The shriek came from Paula Lodi:

  "My jewels!"

  CHAPTER V. COVERED FLIGHT.

  HARRY VINCENT was among the first to spring to the aid of Paula Lodi. He had almost reached the actress, when he was shouldered aside by a milling throng of excited persons who were bashing through the dark.

  Most of them were simply excited; but there were some-how many, Harry did not know-who were thinking of Paula's jewels. Grabbing at an arm that flew in his direction, Harry found it smooth. The arm was Paula's; its bracelets were gone. Rings, too, were absent from the hand that Harry managed to clutch.

  Then his grasp was lost. There was the clatter of a chair; another shriek as Paula went over backward. A flying slipper hit Harry in the face. The crooks had overturned Paula and yanked the bangles from her ankles, sending the slippers ahead of them.

  It was Paula, coming to hands and knees, who tripped Harry as he tried to grab at men in the dark.

  Except for the quick workers who had stripped away the jewelry, Harry was one of the few persons in the room who seemed to know what it was all about. Alone, he could do nothing. Too many people were blocking him off, even though they did not mean to stop him.

  There were shouts for lights. The milling mass of howling humanity was swirling toward the door.

  Suddenly, the lights came on, pressed by a disheveled man who had reached the door.

  Harry saw Niles Rundon, very much the worse for wear. He had managed to keep his wits, like Harry; but Rundon, too, had met with difficulties.

  So had Henry Denwood. The white-haired man was flattened at the spot where Harry left him, under a pile of floundering people.

  Crooks had made a clean sweep of Paula's jewels. The blond actress was staggering to her feet, half-dazed. Her black dress was shredded, hanging by one strap. The mobsters had ruined it when they tore away the diamond brooch.

  As order came from chaos, Rundon pointed wildly from the door; his finger was directed toward Professor Scorpio, who was still struggling with Howard Carradon. Rundon's yell was echoed by others who saw the fray:

  "Get the professor!"

  There was good reason to get Scorpio. Though the professor hadn't snatched the jewels personally, he was as good as caught with other goods. He and Carradon were still fighting for the remnants of the spook, which, in the light, definitely looked like cheesecloth.

  Once captured with such goods, Scorpio would be branded as an impostor. The professor knew it and struggled fiercely. Starting for him, along with others, Harry looked for The Shadow. Seeing no sign of Cranston, he decided that his chief had headed on another mission.

  Perhaps The Shadow had gone after the jewels. Even in the drive for Scorpio, Harry recognized that the gems were more important than the professor. It was that thought that guided Harry's later actions, through scenes that occurred with bewildering speed.

  It started with a lucky break for Scorpio; the first of several that came the professor's way. Swept ahead of the rush toward Scorpio was Paula Lodi. She didn't grab for the professor; instead, she seized Carradon.

  She was shrieking to her husband that her jewels were gone. Carradon didn't care about the gems as much as he did about Paula. Sight of his wife in the ragged remnants of her black dress made Carradon turn to her protection. The gesture helped Professor Scorpio.

  Getting possession of the cheesecloth with one hand, the professor let go with the other fist. Instead of Paula floundering into Carradon's arms, he dropped into hers.

  Having put that punch to Carradon's jaw, Scorpio scooped up the dark cloth that went with the cheesecloth. Springing away, he grabbed at the first handy weapon-one of the flaming torches.

  Swinging the fiery cudgel, Scorpio was beating off attackers, among them Harry, when the second break came. Again the room lights were extinguished; but not by Rundon, or anyone in the room. No one was near the wall when the lights went off. Somebody down in the cellar had pulled the main switch.

  WILDLY, Professor Scorpio made the most of the fresh darkness. He flung the flaming torch into the alcove, threw the cheesecloth and the dark cover along with it. He was getting rid of past evidence, along with present. Without the torch in hand, he couldn't be found in the crowd.

  Nevertheless, Scorpio's escape could still be blocked and the evidence against him reclaimed. That chance was diverted by a woman's cry, that came from near the window. The shouting girl was Lois Melvin.

  With the lights in the room extinguished, Lois could see the scene outdoors. From the window, she spied bobbing lights heading in the direction of the lake front; the starlight showed the figures of scurrying men.

  The girl told all as she shouted:

  "The jewel thieves! There they go!"

  Instantly, Professor Scorpio was forgotten. A wildly shouting throng made for the veranda door, and Harry was swept along with them. He went willingly, because of his accepted theory that the gems were more important than the professor.

  Shots stabbed from the direction of the Lodi dock as pursuers arrived on the veranda. Those were warning shots; they betrayed the escaping crooks, but also indicated that it would be dangerous to follow.

  The sheriff had reached the veranda; he was finding his first real chance to take part in the strife. Pulling his gun, he answered the fire from the shore.

  Then, at the foot of the veranda steps, the sheriff grabbed the two men closest to him, who happened to be Niles Rundon and Harry Vincent. He was telling them to organize the rest and follow his lead, when new shrieks from the house made everyone turn.

  The living room was lurid with light, far greater than the torches could produce alone. Flames were snatching at the woodwork. producing a first-class blaze. Crooks had to be forgotten, to save the hacienda. The sheriff pointed back to the house, telling the others to fight the fire, while he took up the chase alone.

  Harry and Rundon reached the living room. The entire alcove was ablaze. Carradon, back on his feet, was yelling something about a fire hose in the hallway. The fire could be stopped before it spread, but the alcove and its outer wall were sure to go.

  Professor Scorpio was lying on the floor, with one eye open. He let it close, as Harry stared in his direction. Paula Lodi and some of the other women were dragging the professor from the danger spot; still murmuring their belief in him. A bland smile showed on the bearded lips.

  Scorpio had played an almost hopeless game; yet he had won. His toss of the torch had been a lucky trick. He could alibi it easily, by claiming that he had lost the torch in a struggle that had left him senseless.

  The damage could be blamed on his attackers, instead of himself.

  But the damage was exactly what Scorpio wanted.

  Already, the flames had consumed the spirit robe and the cloth which the spook had used to cover it.

  The alcove was going, too. From charred floor and flame-swept wall, no one could gain proof of the trapdoor through which the spook had made his escape.

  A clever trick, Building the trap here in Paula's house during her absence. The professor had rigged it long ago, for an occasion l
ike this evening. His game had turned into a boomerang, but he had managed to save the situation. The flames were killing the evidence. No one could brand Scorpio as an absolute faker.

  As for the missing jewels, Scorpio was clear on that count. He hadn't touched Paula's gems. To Harry Vincent, the situation was disheartening. Harry felt that he had failed The Shadow: but that was not all. It seemed that The Shadow, too, had failed.

  In fact, The Shadow's disappearance from the scene provided a very ominous touch. It made Harry forget the fire and start outdoors, gripped with the unreasonable dread that crooks had carried off his chief, along with the Lodi jewels.

  This was the situation where everything seemed totally wrong. As Harry pictured it, there had been robbery in The Shadow's very presence: and that, in itself, indicated that something worse had happened.

  Others could worry about the jewels and the fire: Harry was thinking only of The Shadow, wondering what fate awaited him.

  No qualms were needed from The Shadow, though Harry did not know it. The Shadow had chosen his own route, and was seeing it through. The persons who most deserved sympathy were those whom The Shadow might meet along the way.

  CHAPTER VI. THE LAKE MONSTER.

  THE SHADOW was on the trail of a ghost. The ghost, however, happened to be a very human one, quite confused in the darkness. The ghost was Edward Barcla.

  There had been a few lights in the cellar beneath the hacienda when The Shadow landed there. By their glow The Shadow had spotted a scrambling figure reaching for the main switch that controlled all the lights in the house.

  In one brief glimpse The Shadow had recognized the pasty features of Barcla, spread in their eager weasel-like grin. Then darkness, as Barcla pulled the switch. After that, The Shadow had kept along the trail.

  Shouts from above, thumps upon the floor, meant that things were happening in the living room that The Shadow had so suddenly deserted. But there had been no shots. Nothing less than gunfire seemed enough to demand The Shadow's aid. With the fight a mere brawl, with crooks outnumbered, it was better to trail Barcla.

  There was much that the professor's tool could tell, under The Shadow's persuasion. How much was a question; but it would be enough to make Barcla's capture worthwhile. Barcla would tell facts that Professor Scorpio would stoutly deny, if questioned. What was more, Barcla would reveal them without Scorpio's knowledge.