When Harry entered the foyer of the apartment house, he saw an office near the elevator. A clerk was busy at the switchboard, answering a deluge of calls that were crowding in all at one time. The elevator operator, a dull, long-faced fellow, was leaning over the counter. Harry heard him ask:
"Is Fred on the telephone, Mr. Deedham?"
The clerk answered impatiently.
"Get back to the elevator, Eddie. If Fred calls, I'll tell you!"
"But he's supposed to relieve me at nine o'clock."
"I know! He's late. He'll be docked for it."
"That won't help me. I got an important date."
Harry was entering the elevator. Eddie came back to run the car. Muttering his opinion of Fred, Eddie scarcely noticed the tuxedoed passenger who was aboard. He started the car upward.
Harry said "Sixth" and Eddie stopped at that floor. The operator was still mumbling when Harry left the elevator.
FRANCINE MELRUE'S apartment was No. 6H. Harry found the door unlocked. He entered and noted pitch-blackness. He closed the door and turned on the lights.
Window shades were drawn; the door to the bedroom was closed. Unquestionably, someone who worked in the apartment house had seen to these details. That person would have a perfect alibi later.
Such was the way with the finger men employed by Duke Unrig. They paved the way for workers like Wally Drillick, but were careful to do nothing more. That completely misled the police when they studied scenes of crime for signs of an inside job.
So far, Harry had followed Duke's instructions as capably as Wally could have. His next step was to look for a telltale hatbox. Harry saw it, resting beside the wall, near a corner chair.
Apparently, that hatbox had been put there accidentally. Harry knew otherwise. He looked directly above it and saw a square-framed painting on the wall.
All the while, Harry had been wearing the gray kid gloves. The time had come for another precaution that Wally had regarded as unnecessary, but upon which Duke had insisted. It was one that was to serve Harry later, so he made preparation.
Harry produced Wally's silk mask and carefully arranged it to cover his face. He fixed it so that he could see through the narrow slits.
Harry's gloved hands gripped the picture frame. It was tight against the wall, but a few shifts enabled Harry to find how it was fastened. The painting came away. Harry laid it on the hatbox. His lips smiled beneath the silk mask, as he noticed an open space where the picture had been.
Harry saw the door of a small wall safe, protected by a most effective device: a letter lock. The middle of the door showed five small letters, like the figures on a speedometer. At present, those letters formed the medley:
BZRSQ
With gloved fingers, Harry turned each cylinder, bringing new letters of the alphabet into view. He reached the ones he wanted and adjusted them so that they formed an exact line, spelling he word: CHIME
When Harry gripped the knob beside the letter lock, the door of the wall safe came open. Harry found a stack of jewel cases. Opening them in quick progression, he took out the gems, placing each emptied case with the picture on the hatbox.
The jewels formed a double handful; but Harry managed them with one hand by holding it against his coat. Harry was a fair judge of gems; he recognized that this collection was certainly worth the one hundred thousand dollars of estimated value.
One old-fashioned finger ring was mounted with a huge emerald - one of the finest green stones that Harry had ever seen. There was a ruby-studded brooch, a diamond necklace, pendants that contained excellent sapphires. Other rings and bracelets glistened with diamonds of smaller size; but if those gems were flawless, their value would run high.
The last item in the safe was a purse of woven platinum, that crinkled when Harry brought it out. It made a fair-sized bag, large enough to hold the gems, if they were lightly packed. The purse would he useful later. For the present, Harry did not intend to use it.
He pocketed the purse and waited beside the wall safe.
Tensely, the minutes passed. If Harry had been Wally, he could have put away the loot and made a cool departure either by the elevator or the window, according to which he preferred. For the present, Harry intended neither.
He was following Duke's orders no longer. From this point on, The Shadow's instructions were in operation.
Soon, The Shadow's plans were to produce a startling development that would bring crooks into the open. The Shadow was ready to force the issue with the hidden big-shot, Duke Unrig.
CHAPTER III. THE DOUBLE SURPRISE
WHILE Harry Vincent waited in Apartment 6H, Fred, the tardy elevator man, arrived in the downstairs foyer. Fred was a poker-faced fellow. He formed a distinct contrast to Eddie. In fact, it was Fred's superior ability that had caused the management to put him on the important night shift.
"Sorry I'm late, Mr. Deedham," began Fred, stopping at the office. "It won't happen again, sir -"
"Yeah?" It was Eddie who interrupted, as he came from the elevator. "Well, it happens that you picked the one night I had a date."
"That's serious," laughed Fred, eyeing the other operator. "I guess you're only due for about one date in a lifetime!"
Deedham remarked that he would have to dock Fred as a matter of policy. Fred looked disgruntled; then nudged his thumb at Eddie.
"You ought to dock this bird all the time," said Fred. "There's a lot of rules he doesn't follow. Like taking people up in the elevator without asking who they are, or where they're going."
Eddie looked sheepish. Fred had picked his weak point. The long-faced operator started to say something, then decided against it.
"I get it," grinned Fred. "I'll bet you slipped on that very order this evening!"
"I guess I did," admitted Eddie. He turned to the clerk. "There was a fellow went up about ten minutes ago, while you were at the switchboard, Mr. Deedham."
"You didn't ask who he was?"
"No, sir. He got off at the sixth and hasn't come down. I didn't notice him close, except that he looked all right."
Deedham made a note on a slip of paper. He told Eddie to go off duty; then spoke to Fred:
"Watch for the fellow. Find out who he is, when he comes down."
Fred entered the elevator. His back turned to Deedham, the operator showed a wise look. Everything was working right. Fred was the finger man who served Duke Unrig. He had come here late for a definite purpose. Fred had been sure that his lateness would make Eddie jittery enough to forget the rule about questioning persons who went up in the elevator.
As matters stood, Eddie would be blamed for the robbery when it was discovered. He would be fired for negligence. Fred would remain on the job, in high standing, completely supported by Deedham's testimony.
Fred had found out that Eddie did not remember what the visitor looked like. That made everything right for Wally.
Fred's job was to flag the crook when he rang from the sixth floor and tell Wally to slide out by the window. He could report to Deedham that there had been no one waiting for the elevator. That would start a lot of excitement, with Wally safely away.
PASSING minutes made Fred decide that Wally had already gone through the window. That made it all the better. Standing in the open elevator, Fred was just about ready to approach Deedham and start talking about the mystery man on the sixth floor, when a girl came hurrying into the foyer.
Fred's poker face changed slightly. He recognized Francine Melrue. The girl had come from the charity ball in haste, for her evening wrap was almost slipping from her shoulders. Francine stopped at the office with the worried question:
"Has my brother arrived yet?"
"I have not seen Mr. Melrue," expressed the clerk, in a surprised tone. "I - I thought, Miss Melrue, that