“That cook of yours called me on the phone,” stated Forey. “Where is she? What’s up?”
“Here I am, sheriff.” Adele appeared in dressing gown from the stairway. “There was a terrible noise out back. Someone smashing at the smokehouse door. The men rushed out; I called you on the telephone—”
“What happened out there?” quizzed Forey.
“Hiram encountered someone,” replied Harry. “He thinks the person was trying to break into the smoke house.”
“Let’s get out there!” barked Forey. “Come along. All of you!”
THE outline of the smoke house was plain when they arrived outside. The sheriff was the first to near the door. He tripped over the hand-sledge and picked it up. He noted big dents in the steel door; then observed the shattered lock.
“The fellow smashed things right,” growled Forey. “But he didn’t get in. Leastwise I don’t think so. The hasp is still on the staple. Looks like he was mighty anxious to get in, the way he hammered at the door. I wonder what his idea was.”
Prying the hasp free, the sheriff drew back the steel door. The interior of the smoke house was totally black. Forey stepped over the threshold and turned on his flashlight while the others peered in through the door.
A sharp word came from the sheriff’s lips; Craven uttered a startled cry; while Elbert Breck delivered a choking gasp. The flashlight had illuminated the entire floor. Its rays were revealing a huddled object in the center of the smoke house.
Face upward was the body that Harry Vincent had discovered in the road. The Shadow’s agent recognized the thin countenance with its gray hair. This was the corpse for which the sheriff’s posse had been searching. It remained only for Forey, himself, to give the statement of identity.
“Grantham Breck,” declared the sheriff, solemnly. “You gave us the right start, Vincent. This is the dead man you saw in the road.”
Elbert Breck was slumping by the door. Craven, his face ashen in the dawn, was quavering as he sought to aid his new master. This time it was Hiram who came to aid. He caught Elbert by one arm; Harry Vincent took the other.
Elbert was choking with convulsive sobs. Craven was shaking as he faltered ahead to open the back door of the house. They reached the living room; there Elbert slumped upon the couch, while Craven stood beside him.
Harry Vincent went out again, to report to Sheriff Forey at the smoke house. He was thinking of what Forey had said; that he — Harry — had been right about the body. But Harry Vincent also knew that he was right about something else. The proof was coming in the form of a distant sound off by the hill. It was the thrumming motor of The Shadow’s autogiro.
Harry knew the truth. That fading sound marked The Shadow’s departure. But before he left, rising into the haze of dawn, The Shadow had performed his task. He had located the hiding place where the body of Grantham Breck was lying. He had deliberately paved the way to the discovery of the missing victim.
CHAPTER IX
THE SHADOW’S RETURN
FIVE days had passed since the finding of the body in the smoke house. During that period, Harry had kept in communication with The Shadow. He had done this by letter and by occasional telegrams to Rutledge Mann. Through wires that referred to securities and real estate had enabled Harry to relay coded points of information to The Shadow.
The county coroner had classed Grantham Breck’s death as murder. Tim Forey had insisted that Harry Vincent remain in Chanburg. Harry had made no objection. Hence he was still a guest of Elbert Breck.
Moreover, Harry was still holding the sheriff’s confidence. Forey and deputies appeared occasionally at the house; but Harry was the secret watcher delegated to keep tabs on any doings there. This duty was becoming troublesome.
On two nights, Harry had heard Elbert Breck creep downstairs from his room. He had heard the young man go out of the house. He had timed the intervals of Elbert’s absence. On both occasions, the heir had been gone for more than one hour.
Craven, too. The butler was crafty as well as taciturn. Only once had Harry noted action on his part; that was when he had heard Craven coming up the stairs. Though he had no proof that the servant had gone out doors, Harry suspected that such had been the case.
Harry had not reported these occurrences to Tim Forey; but he had sent word of them to The Shadow. One point upon which Harry was convinced: there was no collusion between young Breck and the butler. During the day; at dinner — in fact, whenever occasion offered the opportunity — Harry had looked for signs of some secret conference between them. He had observed none.
On this particular evening Harry was seated in the living room with Elbert Breck. Off and on, Elbert had shown signs of talkativeness; but he had always swung into a nervous silence. Harry had made no effort to lead him on, and this policy was bringing results. Of a sudden, Elbert began to speak.
“Father’s death has troubled me terribly,” began the lawyer’s son. “Something must be done about it, Harry. New clues must be uncovered. I can stand this delay no longer.”
“We are liable to hear from Forey tonight,” remarked Harry. “After the bullet was extracted from the body, he sent it to New York. Experts are examining it.”
“Do you really think they can learn anything?” questioned Elbert. “From the bullet I mean? Could the killer’s gun be identified?”
“Positively,” declared Harry. “Of course, they will have to find the gun. The bullet, however, may tell them the make of the weapon. That will be one clue.”
“But I have no faith in Forey,” blurted Elbert. “He passed up the most obvious place to search for father’s body.”
“The smoke house? Yes, we realized after the body was found that the search should have begun there. But I must confess it never occurred to me that the body would be hidden there.”
“I must admit that I was confused also. But Forey should have thought of it in the beginning. Father naturally had the key to that padlock. The murderer would have found it with his other keys. That was why he unlocked the smoke house, put the body inside and closed the padlock afterward. Forey suddenly realized that after the body was found. Funny nobody thought of it before.”
Harry Vincent smiled. He knew someone who had deducted the murderer’s simple action. The Shadow. He had picked the smoke house as the place to find the body.
HARRY realized that the art of deduction included many points that seemed absurdly simple once results had been produced. He also knew that not one of all Forey’s searchers — nor even Harry himself — had struck upon the logical idea which The Shadow had gained.
“Do you know,” continued Elbert, “if the keys had still been on my father’s body, I think Forey would have continued to be puzzled. But he was so worried about the side door of this house that the first thing he looked for was the key-ring.”
“I know,” laughed Harry. “He shouted out that the keys were missing. Not in any pocket. Then all of a sudden he said: ‘Say — that’s how the murderer fooled us. Took the keys and unlocked the door of the smoke house.’ Then he kicked himself for not thinking of it before.”
“Why do you think Forey put new locks on all the doors of this house?” questioned Elbert, suddenly. “Do you think he figured the murderer would be coming back?”
“Perhaps,” answered Harry. “He has your father’s keys, you know.”
“Then there’s that prowler,” mused Elbert. “The fellow who smashed the padlock on the smokehouse door. He couldn’t have been the murderer. He would have unlocked the padlock — unless he had lost the keys or thrown them away.”
Again, Harry smiled. He knew well why the padlock had been broken. More than that, he was sure that The Shadow had first managed to open the lock and make sure that the body was within the smoke house.