The House That Vanished

CHAPTER X KERMAL DECIDES

“WELL, doctor, we’ll probably be seeing you tomorrow.”

“Good. I’m glad you stopped off to say hello.”

“We saw you pulling into your garage. Though we’d better find out if you’d spotted anybody suspicious.”

“I wish I had, Carter. But I didn’t pass a single car coming up from town.”

“Well, I guess we’ve been chinning long enough. Good night, doctor.”

Three men stamped down the steps of Doctor Claig’s front porch. They were deputies, headed by a man named Carter. Claig had encountered them just outside his drive. They had strolled up to the porch for a chat.

Doctor Leo Claig was both well known and well liked in Sheffield. In the days when his big house had served as a private sanitarium, his wealthy patients had spent large sums of money in the town.

Always ready to chat with those whom he met, Claig had given greeting to the deputies. They were returning from the search that Goodling had ordered; they were wearied with their tramp about the hills and were glad to rest a while at the physician’s invitation.

Claig had gone into reminiscences. He had recalled many places in the neighborhood of Sheffield that he thought would be worthwhile investigating. Carter had thanked him for the tips.

Claig chuckled as he unlocked his front door. He planned to stay at home tomorrow. There would be more deputies prowling about. He would greet them as he had greeted Carter.

Closing the front door, Claig turned on the light. He walked from the hall into a comfortable, old-fashioned sitting room. He turned on a light there; then went back through the hall and into a parlor that served as waiting room for the few patients whom he occasionally received.

Claig went through and turned on the light in his office. Beyond was a door that opened into his bedroom. But instead of going in that direction, Claig used another door to enter a long passage that ran to the dining room and kitchen.

The physician turned on a light in a small alcove. Directly in front of him was a heavy door, with a large lock. The bottom of the barrier was above the level of the floor. This was the entrance to the stairway that led to the second and third floors.

Presumably, these upper stories were no longer in use. Claig had abandoned them when he had given up his sanitarium. They had formerly been the quarters occupied by the doctor’s patients.

Tonight, however, Claig had reason to go upstairs. He unlocked the big door, stepped through to the darkened stairway and closed the door behind him. The lock clicked automatically.

Viewed from outside, Claig’s house was a somber structure. The lights which the doctor had turned on modified the gloominess of the ground floor; but the upper stories looked barren and forbidding.

Faint moonlight showed blackened windows, most of them fronted by steel bars. One large window at the side of the house was unbarred; but its darkness made it as forbidding as the others. This window was on the second floor, just above the roof of a small side porch.

Off to the rear of the large house was a darkened garage. It was a large structure also, of sufficient size to accommodate four or five automobiles. The garage had a low second story, which possessed half a dozen windows. It had once been used as quarters for servants.

Off beyond the garage was a line of thick trees that marked the path of an old dirt road. It was from that streak of blackness that a vague figure appeared in the moonlight, only to fade in ghostlike fashion as it neared the garage.

THE SHADOW had come by a back route to Claig’s. He had studied maps of the district. He had read Clyde Burke’s details of the reporter’s chat with the physician. Clyde had gained a good idea of where Claig’s house was located.

From the garage, The Shadow studied the dimly lighted windows of the lower door. In their appearance, he detected the physician’s bluff.

Claig had definitely made an effort to indicate that he was at home, yet might be anywhere on the ground floor. To the average late visitor, those scattered lights would serve as explanation if Claig should prove slow in answering a ring at the doorbell.

To The Shadow, the lights meant that the first floor needed no investigation. He looked upward and spied the unbarred window that was conspicuous above the roof of the little side porch. The Shadow moved toward the house.

That objective gained, his course was upward. Gripping fingers pressed roughened stone. The Shadow’s figure reached the porch roof. His hands arrived upon a glass pane. A wedge of thin steel slid between the portions of the sash. A clamp yielded, noiselessly.

Stretching a hand into darkness, The Shadow felt a broad window ledge. Beyond were thick curtains; this accounted for the deep gloom within the window. The Shadow edged in until he reached the curtains. Silently, he closed the widow.

The Shadow could hear voices; yet the thickness of the draperies muffled them almost to a point of obscurity. It was not until The Shadow carefully divided the curtains to a scant half inch that he could make out the words that were being spoken.

The separation of the curtains enabled him to see as well as hear. The view of the room beyond the curtains was immediate proof that The Shadow had reached his objective.

Chairs, couch, rugs and tapestries; even the wolfhound in the corner — all matched the description of the living room in the house on Dobson’s Road.

The furnishings had been carried here to Claig’s and put in place about this room. Apparently, this had once been the physician’s upstairs office; that was why it had no bars upon the window. For the present, it was the new headquarters of Taussig Kermal. The man, himself, was seated in the center of the room.

A SOUR glower showed on Kermal’s thick features. As The Shadow watched, the heavy man gave a growl and shook his shaggy head. Opposite Kermal sat Claig. It was apparent that the physician had completed a report. The details had not been to Kermal’s liking.

“That’s about all,” declared Claig, suavely, as Kermal began to chew at the end of a cigar. “I was later than I expected; and I ran into some deputies outside the house. I stopped to chat with them a while. It seemed good policy.”

“It was,” snorted Kermal, “and it won’t be all the talking you’ll have to do, Claig. Well, let’s hope we can hold out for the next few days.”

“There should be no trouble, Kermal,” assured Claig. “Leave that part of it to me.”

“We may be able to fool Goodling,” stated Kermal, “but Rufus Dolthan is a different. matter. He and this smart detective, Parrell, are liable to make a lot of trouble for us.”

“No more than Goodling,” objected Claig. “He’s hot because of Yager’s death. He’s found the missing house besides.”

“He blundered into it,” sneered Kermal. “Something odd must have happened down there tonight. He never should have found the place. I’d have sent after that trunk sooner, if I’d known all that was coming.”

“Lay it on Yager,” suggested Claig. “How were we to know that Blissop talked to the fellow. I didn’t know it until he blew into the courthouse tonight. I was expecting some trouble from Goodling or Lanford — not from a person like Yager.”

“Croy took care of Lanford?”

“Yes. But there, again, I can see trouble. Goodling will be as anxious to rescue Lanford as Dolthan is to find Myra.”

“Not quite. But we’ve a chance to spike the Lanford business.”

Kermal settled back into his chair and puffed at his cigar. After a few moments of meditation, he spoke in a slow growl.

“Lanford recognized Croy,” he explained. “The only thing Croy could do was grab him. Croy didn’t think Burke knew who he was. That’s why he chucked Burke from the car, instead of bringing him along, too.”

“But Burke knew it was Croy,” put in Claig, in a sarcastic tone, “and right after that, Yager was murdered. That made a perfect tie-up between the abduction and the killing.”

“Forget Yager,” growled Kermal.

“They’ll never find the fellow who shot him; and if they can’t trace it that far, how are they ever going to bring us into it?”

“Through Blissop’s death,” returned Claig. “When they find his body, they’ll accuse us of his murder. They won’t need any more than circumstantial evidence to pin Yager’s death on us.”

“We can explain matters about Blissop,” insisted Kermal. “We decided that the other night, Claig. Our story will sound straight enough.”

“It would have sounded straight,” agreed Claig, “but it won’t pass muster after what’s happened to Yager. The two men were linked. Anybody who had cause to kill one would apparently have cause to kill the other.

“We’ll have to sit tight; and all the while, we’re in a worse mess because of Lanford. I’ll tell you, Kermal, you’ve gone too strong. Of course, it was Croy’s fault. He had good reason to be on his way through town; but he made a mistake in grabbing Lanford.”

“DID he?” Kermal bounded to his feet. “Did he? Listen, Claig — we’re lucky to have Lanford here. They’re looking for us anyway. We couldn’t use Lanford while he was loose.”

“Can we use him now?”

“Certainly. There’s going to be a show-down some day. The more friends we have in court, the better. I’m going to talk to Lanford and see how he reacts.”

“You’re going to tell him about Yager?”

“Of course not. We’ll give him the facts as they stood at the time Croy grabbed him. We’ll see if he is impressed. If it goes over, we’ll know that we can take a chance with the others later.”

“Not now. Not since Yager’s death. That complicates everything.”

“Perhaps. Nevertheless, if Lanford listens, we’ll have gained something.”

Kermal strode to the door and called for Daggart. The Shadow caught a glimpse of the pale-faced secretary in a hallway beyond the door. Daggart nodded and departed when Kermal ordered him to bring Lanford.

Doctor Leo Claig was smiling wisely as Kermal returned. Watching the physician’s face, The Shadow could see that Claig possessed craft as keen as Kermal’s.

Fred Lanford was due for an interview with two shrewd men. However they might choose to bluff their prisoner, the chances were that they would be successful.

But in the coming game, these two planners were dealing with one whose presence they did not suspect. Unwittingly, they were about to reveal themselves and their schemes to the hidden watcher who had come to learn their ways.