Death in the Stars s-197 Page 11

  Claremont had been in New York all during the Scorpio trouble. No one knew when he was coming back to Lake Calada. His visits were comparatively rare, and usually brief. If Denwood had not mentioned his name, to tactfully handle a troublesome situation, there would have been no thought of Claremont at all.

  Others apparently agreed with Grendale's summary of Claremont, for they smiled. Grendale was about to expand his views of the doddering multimillionaire, when a servant knocked at the door. In answer to Denwood's summons, the servant announced a visitor:

  "Mr. Claremont."

  Surprised looks turned to smiles, as everyone realized that Claremont must have come in on the afternoon plane. Looking toward The Shadow, Harry saw a gleam of interest on the usually immobile features of Cranston.

  Harry knew that his chief had intended to take up new angles of the Scorpio matter, after all others had finished their say. But with Claremont's arrival, The Shadow decided to wait.

  WHEN he entered, Percy Claremont fulfilled Grendale's description to a nicety. He did, in fact, look doddering. He was withery, to his sharp-jawed, tiny-eyed face. His dryish lips were twitchy; his bald head glistened like polished marble, above thin streaks of grayish hair. His tiny eyes were sharp, as they peered through large-rimmed glasses.

  Claremont was stoop-shouldered; he hobbled in upon a stout cane that, in comparison, made his bowed figure look frail. But he was alert and active, as he proved from the moment of his entry.

  Planking a small, wrapped package on Denwood's desk, Claremont grimaced at the group, then demanded in cackling tone:

  "What's this I hear about Professor Scorpio? Why have you driven him away? Show me the men who hounded him. By gad!"-he supported himself against the desk, in order to wave his heavy cane-"I'll crack their heads for them!"

  "No one has hounded Scorpio," assured Denwood, quietly. "If you had been here, Claremont, you would agree with us that Scorpio is a rascal who deserves all the punishment that the law can possibly give him."

  Claremont gave Denwood a scoffing look, as though he pitied him. Again leaning upon his cane, the withery man pointed his other hand upward, extending a bony forefinger. His tiny eyes glittered.

  "My star is in the ascendant," he declared. "This is the day that I have long awaited-when Professor Scorpio has promised to reveal the future that still awaits me! Only upon this evening can I learn the answer that lies in the heavens."

  Side glancing toward Cranston, Denwood caught a nod. Mildly, Denwood questioned:

  "Do you expect Scorpio to visit you tonight?"

  "I do," snapped Claremont, "and this talk of thievery is tommyrot! Scorpio did not have to steal. He knows that I keep my promises. I told him that in return for his all-important message, I would give him-this!"

  His bony hands ripping the package, Claremont displayed a sheaf of bank notes. The top bill was of a thousand-dollar denomination. So were the rest, as Claremont counted them, chuckling each time he moistened his thumb.

  There were exactly two hundred and fifty bills in that stack of thousand-dollar notes. Percy Claremont, the eccentric millionaire, had brought a quarter of a million dollars to Lake Calada as a personal gift to Professor Scorpio!

  BEFORE the glued eyes of silent witnesses, Claremont bundled up the cash again and tucked the packet under his arm. He hobbled to the door; as he gripped the knob, he turned to wag his cane.

  "Like the stars," he clucked, "Scorpio will not fail me. But I have a warning for every one of you to heed.

  My property is my own. I shall brook no trespass. I say again that Scorpio had too much at stake"-he gestured the money bundle beneath his arm-"to turn to criminal pursuits."

  "I have given you proof of Scorpio's honesty. I expect to have you prove your own, by staying away-all of you-from my preserves. Good day, gentlemen"-Claremont's tone was dryly sarcastic, as he pronounced the term-"and if you can not solve your present problems, I advise you to consult the stars!"

  The door closed on Claremont's trailing crackle. Seated in silence, the group heard the front door slam.

  They were still quiet, when the sput-sput of a motor sounded from Denwood's dock. The brief visit of Percy Claremont, the man who still believed in Professor Scorpio, had left them doubting their own senses.

  Only the steady eyes of Cranston seemed to understand, as The Shadow studied the baffled faces all about him.

  CHAPTER XVII. OUTSIDE THE LAW.

  SEEING was believing.

  Perhaps the rule did not apply in the case of Scorpio's séances, for they were held in darkness; but it certainly held true with Percy Claremont and his money.

  Here, in Denwood's study, were more than a half a dozen men who could testify on oath that the eccentric millionaire had brought two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to Lake Calada. Claremont's statement that the money was for Scorpio, might be outlandish, but no more so than the fact that he had brought the cash itself.

  Granting the situation to be precisely as Claremont had put it, the committee proceeded to debate an important point; namely, Claremont's argument that Scorpio would not have turned crook when he knew that he could gain a quarter of a million dollars without recourse to crime.

  It was Grendale who talked first. He tried to laugh off the matter of the money, insisting that Scorpio had made a bigger haul through crime than he could otherwise. But Jamison, Albion, and the other victims of the robberies shook their heads.

  Combined, their losses might total more than a quarter million, but not in cash. Claremont's argument still stood. It was due to be shattered, though, as The Shadow could tell from the trend of the conversation. It was Carradon who struck the answer.

  "I've got it!" he exclaimed. "It's Scorpio, the alibi artist, all over again. The fellow is so crooked he can't think of anything straight. When anything legitimate comes his way, he tries to think how he can use it to cover something else.

  "Suppose we didn't have all the goods on him. Suppose he was still in his Castle, under suspicion of the heaviest sort, but with nothing fully proven. What would our reaction be, after what Claremont just told us? Why, we'd go over to see Scorpio, and apologize for ever suspecting him of crime!"

  Carradon's analysis brought a chorus of assent. It fitted perfectly with Scorpio's actions all along.

  Claremont's arrival could be regarded as Scorpio's trump card. No one wondered any more why the professor had so brazenly waited out events.

  Niles Rundon picked up where Howard Carradon left off.

  "What about tonight?" queried Rundon, suddenly. "Are you going to stand by and let Scorpio get away with something else?"

  Some listeners were puzzled. Rundon laughed.

  "You don't think the professor will pass up Claremont's cash, do you?" continued Rundon. "Carradon is right; this deal is Scorpio's alibi. But it's also his chance to more than double his haul, here at Lake Calada."

  A buzz circled the group. Henry Denwood looked toward Lamont Cranston. He caught the slightest of nods.

  "Claremont must be warned," decided Denwood. "At once."

  The statement produced derisive chuckles that grew into hearty laughs, with Grendale's booming loudest.

  "Warn Claremont!" expressed Grendale. "Why, he's warned us! Anyone who interferes with his affairs will probably get a load of slugs from a blunderbuss or whatever kind of gun that old miser has over at his place.

  "I've never known it to fail. The men who can squeeze pennies out of people and turn them into millions, are always the quickest to hand over their wealth to clever fortune hunters."

  The rest seemed to agree, with the exception of Cranston. The Shadow felt that the rule did not apply in Grendale's own case. The financier was a first-class penny squeezer, but he had never shown himself open-handed or big-hearted toward anyone.

  All that, however, was apart from the major theme. The question was: would Scorpio visit Claremont?

  The answer was unanimously yes. Which produced another question: What could the co
mmittee do about it?

  Denwood suggested calling in the sheriff, but he was promptly overruled. Should Sheriff Kirk agree to call at Claremont's, it was a foregone conclusion that Scorpio would not show up. On the other hand, if the sheriff knew that volunteers were going to Claremont's against the old eccentric's wish, he would probably use his authority to prevent such an expedition.

  It was Grendale who summed it up, with the first really sensible suggestion that he had made that afternoon.

  "We've got to handle this ourselves," he declared, emphatically, "and do it outside the law."

  The thing seemed justified, the more the group considered it. In fact, several of the others had been on the point of putting the same proposal. Two points were at issue: Claremont's property rights, and the quest for Scorpio. Denwood found the situation comparable to a previous one.

  "When we wanted Barcla," he reminded, "we let Scorpio go through with a séance, knowing that Barcla would surely come. We had men in the offing, who closed in and prevented Barcla's departure. In this case, we know that Scorpio will visit Claremont. Perhaps our former method will work again."

  Denwood looked toward Cranston as he spoke. He knew that it was The Shadow, not the deputies, who had assured success the night of the séance. He was sure that The Shadow would act again, this evening.

  "Excellent, Denwood!" agreed Grendale. "We caught Barcla with the goods-those spooky robes that he was wearing. We'll get Scorpio with the goods, in the shape of Claremont's money."

  "Not at all" returned Denwood, "because the money will be a voluntary gift. Scorpio will be taken because of his past crimes. Even if it happens on Claremont's property, I think the captors will be justified."

  ALL were enthusiastic, but The Shadow could foresee a sudden cooling. He was smiling slightly when it came.

  When Carradon proposed that they form a party for the trapping of Scorpio, everyone favored it but no one wanted to be included, not even Carradon himself. He had beaten the others to the proposal, apparently in order to get out of it.

  "Come, gentlemen!" exclaimed Carradon. "You are all big losers. Aren't you willing to take a risk in order to regain your losses?"

  Apparently, they weren't. Grendale argued that they had lost enough already. Gillespie, Jamison, and Albion concurred with him. Derisively, Grendale demanded:

  "Why don't you go, Carradon? You're a loser, too."

  "No, no," smiled Carradon. "Paula is the loser. Those were her jewels. I've lost nothing."

  "Then take the risk," retorted Grendale, triumphantly. "You have a score to settle with Scorpio, anyway.

  He had you cooped up for a few days underground."

  Carradon gestured toward Rundon and Harry, said, "They were prisoners, too."

  "Then why don't you all go?" parried Grendale. "You're all in the same boat." He chuckled, feeling that he had made a jest. "All in the same boat; that's it! Go in a boat together, over to Claremont's this evening."

  No one laughed at Grendale's self-appreciated joke. Carradon's face had sobered, with recollection of his imprisonment under Indian Rock. Looking at Rundon, Carradon saw an expression that matched his own. Both glanced toward Harry Vincent. He, too, was serious, but his eyes were gazing elsewhere.

  Harry was awaiting a flash from The Shadow.

  "I'll go," decided Carradon, suddenly. "Someone has to break the ice, and it appears that I am justified."

  "Which puts it up to me," declared Rundon. "I was in trouble before, along with Carradon, and both of us got out of it. I'll go along with you, Howard."

  Harry caught a glitter from Cranston's eyes, while Carradon and Rundon were shaking hands to close the deal. When the pair turned toward Harry, he met their combined stare squarely and said:

  "You may count me in."

  Grendale was on his feet, warmly pounding the shoulders of the venturesome three. He winced a bit, when Albion added to the approbation by saying that he and the other losers-which included Grendale-would combat any lawsuit that Claremont might institute against the trespassers.

  The commotion simmered down to a discussion between the three volunteers. They decided that they would start from the Community Center at dusk, using a canoe to reach Claremont's property, which was only about a mile away. The water route was preferable, since Claremont's preserves were surrounded by a picket fence, which might be troublesome to cross.

  "If Scorpio comes by water," declared Rundon, "we will probably hear him. But my hunch is, he'll use the woods."

  "We'll have to close in on the bungalow, then," put in Carradon. "If we don't hear Scorpio climbing the fence, we'll certainly know when he goes into the house."

  "The fence is a big help," added Rundon. "It means we'll have Scorpio boxed when he leaves."

  "Except for the water front," reminded Carradon. "It's a pretty wide expanse at Claremont's."

  The point in question bothered the listeners. In picturing the lake front at Claremont's, they also recalled Scorpio's getaway on a previous night, when the professor had transformed himself from a robed mystic into a limber cross-country runner.

  They remembered, too, that Scorpio had wrenched himself from more than three men who grabbed him.

  Physically, the rogue was quite as slippery as he was mentally.

  "We'll have to bring in the sheriff," decided Rundon, ruefully, "and a bunch of deputies. But if we can only keep them off until we need them! Somebody's got to handle it."

  RUNDON looked to Grendale and the other money men. They, in turn, appealed to Denwood, who shook his head slowly. He doubted that he could handle the thing himself; and it was difficult to pick from among the others. Whoever was chosen couldn't afford to bungle; and it was too likely that the man would.

  They were buzzing among themselves, however, and eyes were turning toward a person who had hitherto been little more than a spectator: Lamont Cranston. He had suddenly become the choice of everyone, for a very sensible reason. Sheriff Kirk held a high opinion of Cranston and had voiced it heartily. He credited Cranston with being the quickest thinker that he had ever met, because of the episode at the Pioneer Mine. The deputies liked Cranston, too, because he had saved the lives of a few of them during their mistaken encounter with Harry Vincent.

  Catching the buzzed words, Denwood glanced toward his friend and received The Shadow's nod.

  Denwood settled the discussion.

  "Our minds are all agreed," he declared. "The sheriff values Cranston's opinions and will follow his suggestions to the limit. He knows, too, that Cranston has visited obscure sections of the lake and might pick up a clue to Scorpio, should the professor come back through the mountain pass and stay in hiding hereabouts.

  "I believe, knowing Cranston as I do"-Denwood was keeping his tone as casual as possible-"that he will be able to keep the sheriff quite satisfied, yet unaware of actual matters, until the time for action. There is just one question, and Cranston alone can answer it: Will he accept the assignment?"

  Eyes turned hopefully toward The Shadow. They saw the impassive face of Cranston light with what seemed a real enthusiasm.

  "Gentlemen," came the calm-toned reply, "I shall be delighted to undertake the intriguing task that you suggest."

  Only Harry Vincent, long in The Shadow's service, could sense the mockery behind that acceptance. He was sure that The Shadow was laughing inwardly; later, perhaps, Harry would know why.

  At present, only The Shadow knew!

  CHAPTER XVIII. THE COMMON GOAL.

  They dined at the community lodge-Harry, Carradon, and Rundon. Lois Melvin was at their table, Because her presence would naturally be expected. By mutual consent, they took the girl into their confidence, enough so to curb her curiosity.

  Lois could be trusted not to talk, and she wasn't the sort to fuss about anyone taking risks. The trouble was something that Harry should have anticipated. Informed briefly of what was to happen, Lois wanted to go along.

  No argument would persuade her otherwise. Rundon
became testy, in an undertone, and Lois displayed anger in her flashing eyes.

  "Scorpio was right on one thing," she told him. "Gemini doesn't harmonize with Virgo. You turn facts to suit your wishes, Niles; while I only want things that facts permit me to have."

  "Just how does that apply in this case?" growled Rundon.

  "Very definitely," replied Lois, firmly. "You want to trap Scorpio, and you've talked your friends into thinking that the three of you can do it."

  "It was Carradon's idea-"

  "Your own, too, Niles," interrupted Lois. "You have good points, as well as faults. You are generous, overly so, in giving credit to others. But you haven't stuck to facts. You three are the last who should have been selected for this job."

  "Why?"

  "Because Scorpio tricked all of you, and captured you in the bargain. Individually, you have demonstrated just one ability-that of being trapped."

  Rundon's eyes flashed fury. Carradon looked very much annoyed. But Harry eased the tension with a chuckle, as he told the others:

  "Lois is right."

  "Perhaps," said Rundon, regaining his calm. "But tonight there are three of us."

  "Which doesn't change the case, returned Lois, sweetly. "What you need is somebody that Scorpio can't catch."

  "Yourself, I suppose."

  "Exactly!" argued Lois. "Think back, and you'll recall that I'm the one person who did manage to give Scorpio's bunch the slip. It's nearly dusk"-she glanced from the window-"so I'll go and change to my camping outfit. I'll meet you in the canoe."

  She looked to Harry and Carradon as they walked from the dining room. Both looked doubtful, yet neither could find a solid reason why the girl should not accompany them. It seemed that Virgo people were unbeatable, when it came to logical argument.

  It was up to Rundon to spike the idea, if he could find a way, and Rundon was doing some quick thinking. Laughing, Lois said that he was giving a display of Gemini ingenuity; but she reminded him that this was a sporting proposition, which should also appeal to people born under the sign of the Twins.

  Rundon paused by the clerk's desk, stalling while he watched Sheriff Kirk come into the lobby and enter a telephone booth. He whispered to the others: