The Death Triangle

CHAPTER XV THE TRIANGLE

THE SHADOW was standing in a black-slabbed room. Unlike his sanctum, which had curtained walls of light-absorbing qualities, this compact apartment glistened from the illuminating rays above. The Shadow was in his laboratory.

Still clad in his black cloak and hat, those garments which he always wore except when specially disguised, The Shadow was testing the contents of the vial which he had brought from the medicine table in Cyril Wycliff’s room.

The test was proving a fact which The Shadow had quickly suspected from his observations of the bottles on the medicine table. The solution showed an oversupply of nitroglycerin. The explosive substance, used in tiny quantities to stimulate heart action, had been the direct cause of Cyril Wycliff’s death.

Doctor Barton Keyes, apparently, had overlooked this fact. There was an excuse for the physician’s lack of discernment. The symptoms of Cyril Wycliff’s death; the bursting effect which the nitroglycerin had shown when it had racked his heart — these were counteracted by the doctor’s faith in Johan Arberg; and also by the expectancy of natural death that is present in all cases of thrombosis.

To The Shadow, who knew the truth, it was apparent that the impostor who had played the part of Johan Arberg was not only a clever impersonator; he was also a man who possessed some knowledge of medicine. These were clews which could later prove of prime importance.

The Shadow left his laboratory. He reappeared a short while later in his sanctum. Here, close against the wall, his tall figure stooped before a row of books. Massive tomes, these volumes; the secret archives of The Shadow. Within them could be found identifying traces of many master crooks.

Often had The Shadow brought fiends to bay by searching through the records which he alone possessed. On this occasion, however, The Shadow met with difficulty. There were descriptions here of crooks who had posed as men of medicine; but all who had shown ability as murderers had been previously brought to accounting by The Shadow himself.

The Shadow moved to the table in the corner. The blue light glimmered and the girasol, shining from The Shadow’s finger, sent amazing sparks in upward flashes. The Shadow’s hand produced a bottle and a long quill. He dipped the pen into the fluid and inscribed, upon a blank paper, a large triangle, which showed in crimson ink.

The Shadow had chosen this blood-red color in his study of murder which as yet remained unavenged. Above the pinnacle of the triangle, the hand of The Shadow marked a large crimson dot. The symbol represented a human being; a man whom The Shadow intended to discover.

At the head of the triangle: the man behind events of crime. Above the apex, as if to classify the crimson dot, The Shadow inscribed these words:

To The Shadow’s logical, deductive brain, the qualifying detail was a natural assumption. A property deed, unregistered, would have no status. Hence the missing document that lay somewhere within the living room of the Wycliff mansion was valued by the hidden plotter only as an object to be destroyed.

The Shadow laughed. It would be a simple task to learn the identity of the man behind two murders. The first step would be to uncover the missing deed, and thus learn the location of the property involved. Through the document itself, The Shadow could lay his finger on the man directly responsible for crime.

The Shadow scored a line through the red dot. The action indicated that the hidden man could be cornered at any time The Shadow chose. So much for the man behind the game.

The Shadow’s hand moved down the left side of the triangle, and marked a new dot at the lower point. Here The Shadow inscribed these words:

Thus had The Shadow indicated two hidden factors in the game. Although he had marked no names, he had pointed out the existing personalities of Ward Fetzler, scheming landowner, and Martin Hamprell, man of murder.

The Shadow placed an arrow upon the side of the triangle that led from the peak to the point at the left. This indicated Fetzler’s instigation, the course whereby he commanded the services of Hamprell.

Returning to the apex, The Shadow marked an arrow toward the corner at the lower right. This showed Fetzler’s double power. It indicated that the plotter controlled some other hidden worker. The Shadow made a dot at the corner on the right. Beside it be wrote:

Here was the indication of the inside man. The controlling villain had an agent who could keep him posted on affairs at Wycliff’s. Carefully, The Shadow drew a thin line through this dot that stood for an unnamed individual.

The gesture was apparent. Through swift vigilance and prompt action, The Shadow could eliminate the spying agent and thus obtain the missing deed.

Upward moved The Shadow’s hand. It poised upon the dot at the apex. Here was another whom The Shadow could easily reach once the deed had been uncovered. But when The Shadow’s hand moved downward to the dot marked “murderer,” it paused and remained stationary.

The Shadow had reached an impasse. He saw a difficulty which foiled his immediate plans for complete and decisive action.

By eliminating the inside man, he would gain the deed and learn the identity of the plotter. He could then track the insidious instigator of crime to his doom.

But in the process, while the plotter was seeking to escape The Shadow’s wrath, the unknown murderer would have ample time in which to pass beyond The Shadow’s reach.

Of the three men involved, The Shadow was most anxious to apprehend the murderer. The man who had posed as Doctor Johan Arberg was unquestionably the most dangerous criminal of all. Once he had gained an inkling that The Shadow was on his trail, he would flee to a place of safety.

The triangle was simple; yet it presented complexities. The Shadow studied the graphic chart. His keen brain was summarizing past events. Two murders: both had been accomplished when needed. Doctor Johan Arberg had been slain that death might be imposed upon Cyril Wycliff.

How had the murderer come to visit the Hotel Imperator and thereafter travel to Cyril Wycliff’s home? The question was easily answered. The man behind the game had ordered the murderer to perform that double service for him.

The Shadow’s finger, touching the dot at the apex of the triangle, was an indication that The Shadow understood the simple process which had caused Martin Hamprell to execute two murders. Another question was the logical result.

Why had the plotter ordered the murderer to action? Where had he gained the information necessary regarding the proposed visit of Doctor Johan Arberg to Cyril Wycliff’s home?

Again, the answers were shown by the motion of The Shadow’s finger, which moved to the dot at the lower right. The inside informant, familiar with what was passing at Cyril Wycliff’s, had certainly sent word to the plotter.

THE SHADOW laughed. From his tracing of the past, he could foretell the future. An emergency had arisen at Wycliff’s. Murder had been needed. Word had passed from informant to plotter; then from plotter to murderer.

The Shadow’s problem was apparent. If he could again bring murderer and inside man together, as they had been at the time when the false Doctor Arberg visited Cyril Wycliff’s home, they could be handled simultaneously.

With informant and murderer both eliminated, the deed could be uncovered. It would identify the plotter; shorn of both his henchmen, that evil villain would be at The Shadow’s mercy!

The Shadow’s laugh sounded as a crafty whisper. Its tones revealed The Shadow’s hidden thoughts. From now on, The Shadow would play a game of stealth. He would not reveal the whereabouts of the missing deed until the time for action had arrived. Plotter and murderer, both would be waiting for word from the inside man. The Shadow’s plan was subtle.

By producing a new emergency; by making it necessary for the inside man to again call on the plotter for a new murder, The Shadow would set the stage for the final drama. He would bring the murderer and inside man together. When they sought a new victim, it would be The Shadow’s task to intervene.

The field of action lay at Howard Wycliff’s. With Burbank on watch; with The Shadow ready to visit the mansion, it remained simply to provide the trap into which the fiends would fall. That snare, however, required subtle preparation.

The Shadow’s hand rested beneath the triangle. The master brain was pondering as it planned the first step. Someone must be urged to action that would force the murderer to pay a visit to the same house where he had formerly committed crime.

The Shadow’s hand wrote. This time it inscribed a person’s name. The answer glared in shining red letters that announced:

The Shadow had found the key to the situation. The prowling servant, who listened at doors, who conducted his own secret search, who possessed money that must have been gained from sources other than his meager savings, was the one upon whom The Shadow would concentrate all action.

Through Miles Vorber, The Shadow would provide the emergency which would result in the solution of the triangle which lay before him. Three-sided crime would reach its culmination when Vorber sensed the presence of The Shadow!

Murder again would become necessary to aid the schemes of villains, once The Shadow had set the stage for the final scene!