Chain Of Death

CHAPTER XIV THE CHAIN CLOSES

AT nine o’clock the next morning, Culbert Joquill entered his office in the Zenith Building. There was a serious expression upon the dignified lawyer’s face. Joquill’s greeting to the office staff was no more than a curt nod.

Reaching the inner office, Joquill seated himself behind the desk. He drew a folded newspaper from his overcoat pocket. With forehead furrowed, the attorney began to read a news account that he had studied while riding hither in the subway.

The headlines told of death at the Hotel Salamanca. Professor Langwood Devine, a scholarly old recluse, had been slain by an unknown assailant. Details were complete. The newspapers mentioned that the fray had commenced while Professor Devine was alone in his suite. His servant, Rupert, had returned from posting a letter to see the professor alive for the last time.

Still frowning, Joquill tossed the newspaper aside. His eyes looked toward the tray upon his desk. There, projecting from the morning’s mail, was an envelope which caught the lawyer’s attention. Joquill seized the missive. He ripped it open.

Out came two folded sheets. One carried the circled code; the other, the series of block-like characters. These were the copies that Professor Devine had made.

No wonder Culbert Joquill had been alarmed by the reports of Devine’s death. The professor and the lawyer were connecting links in the chain of Crime Incorporated!

Joquill settled in his chair. He pondered. A smile showed on his benign features. The lawyer was considering the circumstances of Devine’s death as revealed by this forwarded copy of the word which Devine had received.

Some member of Crime Incorporated had started a request along the line. Last night, Devine had received his notes. He had copied them and forwarded the request to Joquill. That work had been accomplished before Devine had faced the danger which had brought his death.

Culbert Joquill was positive that Langwood Devine must have destroyed the coded message that he had received. That step, normally, should have preceded the forwarding of copies. The newspapers contained no mention of any papers found at Devine’s.

Joquill chuckled. The chances seemed certain that Devine had destroyed his messages. What if he had not? It made no difference. Joquill had confidence in the code itself; he was positive, also, that Devine must have kept some excellent hiding place for his documents that pertained to Crime Incorporated.

Knowing Devine, Joquill recalled that the old professor had a special lodging somewhere in the city — a place where he seldom went — and the chances were that his stock certificate and coded by-laws were concealed there.

The fact that Devine’s letter had come through the mail was all that Joquill needed to feel absolutely secure. Freed from sense of menace, the lawyer became methodical. Taking pen and paper, he copied the coded messages that he had received. His own writing showed a difference from Devine’s.

WHILE his copies were drying, Joquill picked up Devine’s notes and tore them to shreds. He raised the window and let tiny fragments of paper flutter out into the breeze. Intermittently, like flurries of confetti, the bits of Devine’s notes were scattered beyond recall.

Returning to his desk, Joquill picked up his own copies; he sealed them in an envelope. He wrote an address, sealed the letter and strolled from his office. He posted his letter in the mail chute by the elevators; then returned to his private office.

Culbert Joquill had sent the request along the chain. The promptitude with which he had copied Devine’s notes and mailed them proved that he could see no way in aiding coming crime. In fact, the satisfied smile that showed on the lawyer’s lips indicated that he felt he had done his share.

The theft of George Hobston’s private wealth had been a big job. Culbert Joquill was holding vast spoils for later division among the members of Crime Incorporated. He regarded himself, for the present, as no more than a connecting link.

Yet Joquill had another duty. An emergency had arisen. Professor Langwood Devine was dead — killed under circumstances that had obviously rendered it impossible for the old professor to transfer his franchise in Crime Incorporated. There would be no substitute to take the dead man’s place. A link was broken in the chain.

Culbert Joquill went to the door of his private office and softly turned the key. Crossing the room, he opened the hinged bookcase. He stepped into the secret room. There he faced the solid back of the bookcase. He pressed a panel. It moved upward, revealing a narrow space between two vertical surfaces.

From this cache, Culbert Joquill removed an envelope. From the container, he produced two smaller envelopes. He chose one that he knew had come from Langwood Devine. He replaced the other, closed the trick panel, and moved from the secret room, shutting the bookcase from his office.

At his desk, Joquill ripped open the sealed envelope. He found a piece of paper that bore a coded name. Joquill chuckled. This was the name of Professor Devine’s other friend. In all probability, that man was at present opening an envelope of his own, to learn the name of Culbert Joquill.

THE lawyer inscribed a note in the circled code. His rapid writing showed that this was merely a formality; that the succession of circles was merely a blind.

Then he followed with a second message, which he prepared slowly, pausing to choose his statements. This was in the blocked code. Finished with his hieroglyphics, Joquill pondered over the message.

Smiling, the lawyer folded both sheets and placed them in a plain envelope. Methodically, he tore up the little slip of paper that revealed the name of Professor Devine’s other connection. He tossed the bits from the window. Then, from memory, he addressed the envelope:

Carrying the letter, Joquill used his private exit to reach the hall. He returned a few minutes later, without the envelope. He unlocked the door to the outer office, seated himself behind the desk and picked up the morning newspaper.

Casually, the attorney turned to the page that listed steamship sailings. He chuckled as he found the name of the Steamship Mauritius. The liner was not scheduled to sail for one full week.

Some one knew that crime could be launched upon that ship. The plotter of evil had stated his case to his fellow members in Crime Incorporated. Word had come to Chalmers Blythe; from him to Langwood Devine; then to Culbert Joquill; and the lawyer had sent it further on.

Replies would be immediate. From somewhere in the chain of crime, a crook equipped to do the task requested would pledge his cooperation in the stroke that was required. Members of Crime Incorporated would act in teamwork aboard the Steamship Mauritius.

The plotter had probably sent requests in two directions. Perhaps cooperative aid would come from some one beyond Joquill; possibly it would come from the opposite end of the chain. In either event, the waiting plotter would be assured of aid before the Mauritius sailed from New York.

Culbert Joquill chuckled. He had done his part. Not only had he forwarded the request; he was ready to send along the reply when it arrived. But he would send no message to Professor Langwood Devine. The dead man had been eliminated from the band of supercrooks. The new recipient of Joquill’s messages would be a man named Chalmers Blythe.

Already, Joquill had phrased a coded note to Blythe. He would probably receive a similar epistle from Blythe himself. Unknown to each other in the past, Joquill and Blythe were now joined as friends. They had bridged the gap left vacant by the death of Professor Langwood Devine.

The Shadow had been forced to slay Devine. That, in a sense, had been a victory for The Shadow. But it had again brought him to the end of a blind trail. The Shadow had simply broken one link in the chain of Crime Incorporated.

The break had been joined. Devine, dead, was a discarded unit. Culbert Joquill and Chalmers Blythe were unencumbered. Crime Incorporated could proceed with its heinous plans, its evil members hidden as effectively as before!