WHEN his turn for testimony came, Bart merely stated facts which others had mentioned. He gave his own reactions to the hubbub in the hallway. When the statement taking was completed, no mention had been made of anything that constituted suspicious actions on the part of Bart Melken.
Nevertheless, Cardona had been seemingly thorough in his questioning; and he had barely finished before Gilkins again announced that he had heard the doorbell. Stephen Gloucester volunteered to answer the ring. When he returned. Gloucester was accompanied by Inspector Timothy Klein, a trio of detectives, and a police surgeon.
Arrangements were quickly made. Two detectives were dispatched to make a thorough search of the ground surrounding Five Towers. One was left in charge of the living room, with the guests. Klein, Cardona, and the police surgeon prepared to visit the tower.
It was then that Doctor Dubrong advanced and stated that he would like to view the body of Rutherford Casslin. Inspector Klein stated that he could accompany the group. They began by examining the bodies of Hubert and the Hindu. Then Joe Cardona unlocked the steel door that led to the tower.
Strange it was that in this house, where death had fallen, a hidden being should be stalking almost within reach of the investigators. The Shadow had moved into a darkened room upon the arrival of Klein and the detectives.
After the two sleuths had been sent out to examine the grounds, he had moved to the far entrance of the hallway, where the bodies lay. Before Cardona had decided to unlock the steel door, The Shadow had departed.
His phantom presence manifested itself outside the castle. A fleeting patch of blackness against cold, gray walls. The Shadow circled the huge building, unseen by the detectives who were inspecting the dry ground with flashlights.
The rear of Casslin’s castle was almost black in the gloom of night. The tall turret that housed the dead millionaire’s strong room showed as a massive cylinder with ivied walls. At intervals appeared gloomy rectangles of light, the slitlike windows of the stairway and the three openings in the turret itself. The bars showed plainly against the dim glow.
Within the tower, Joe Cardona was leading the advance up the spiral steps. At each window, the detective stopped to unfasten the ironbound glass frame. Every crossbar came under his careful inspection.
During the ascent within the tower, another climb was taking place outside. The Shadow, blackened against the stones of the tower, was scaling the wall like a human fly. He was not trusting to the ivy; that was not thick enough to support more than twenty pounds of weight. Instead, The Shadow was relying upon flat disks that were pressed to his hands and feet.
Soft, squdgy sounds marked The Shadow’s upward progress. Those disks were concave circles of rubber that affixed themselves under pressure. A twist of hand or foot made each disk yield and come free while the others served as supports.
THE SHADOW’S climb was a steady one. When the black-garbed investigator reached the uppermost windows of the tower, his peering eyes saw that Cardona and the others had not yet arrived. Casslin’s body still lay alone upon the floor, with arms outstretched toward the wall below the safe.
The Shadow was clinging to the wall like a mammoth bat. His head moved away from the window as the broken door of the tower room opened, and Cardona came into view.
The detective’s first action was to open each one of the three windows, and try the crossbars. In performing this action, Cardona came within a foot of The Shadow’s head. He did not, however, notice the phantom shape without. The Shadow was motionless upon the wall.
As Cardona went over to Casslin’s body, where the police surgeon and Doctor Dubrong were making their examination, The Shadow’s head appeared at the lowest point of the central window. The frame was still open; Cardona had left it that way. Words as well as actions were plain to The Shadow.
“What about the windows?” Inspector Klein was inquiring.
“The same as those on the stairs,” replied Cardona, in a laconic tone. “The frames are nothing — anyone could jimmy them open and shut them again. But what good would it do?”
The Shadow saw Cardona make a gesture with his hands, to indicate a measurement.
“No one could squeeze through a space that wide,” declared the detective. “Those bars are just as solid as if they were part of the wall. That makes a square about six inches each way. This place is like a vault, so far as entering it is concerned.”
“What about the diamond?” questioned Klein.
“It’s gone,” assured Cardona, “unless Casslin put it back in the safe. That’s locked—”
“Are you sure?” interposed Doctor Dubrong, looking up from Casslin’s body. “I don’t see why Casslin would have locked it up while the diamond was out.”
Cardona walked over to the safe and tugged at the handle. The door refused to budge.
“Turn the handle farther,” suggested Dubrong.
Cardona complied. The firm twist succeeded. The combination knobs had not been turned. The safe came open. The small strong box was quite empty.
“That proves that the diamond is gone,” declared Cardona grimly.
The detective stepped to the window. The Shadow’s head wavered away from view. Cardona uttered a shrill whistle. An answering call came from one of the detectives below.
“See anything there?” shouted Cardona.
“Nothing,” came the answer.
“All right,” ordered Cardona. “Meet us inside.”
With Inspector Klein, Cardona completed the examination of Rutherford Casslin’s stronghold. Accompanied by the two physicians, the investigators started below.
THE room was again empty, save for Casslin’s body. The Shadow’s right hand appeared upon the central bar of the window. White fingers emerged from a glove. The Shadow touched the central bar — one which Cardona had so recently tested
There was no firmness in The Shadow’s grip. Cardona’s examination had shown that the bar was firm. It was with fingers only that The Shadow acted. His light touch moved along the bar, which was roughened with rust, except at the center, where the fingers encountered smoothness.
The same fingers moved along each of the other bars. With gleaming eyes, The Shadow stared through the opened slit, directly at the back of Rutherford Casslin’s prone body, a dozen feet away.
Then the descent began. Slowly, steadily, The Shadow moved downward. The ground detectives had gone within the house. At certain points, a tiny flashlight glimmered, its disk of illumination no larger than a silver dollar.
One hand was free; this, perhaps, accounted partly for The Shadow’s slow descent. Rubber suction cups paused in their squdge; occasionally, bits of ivy vine rustled under The Shadow’s touch. Once a twig broke free with a snap.
At the bottom of the tower, The Shadow became a thing of night. His flashlight no longer glimmered as his weirdly blackened shape again circled the house. The only sign of The Shadow’s presence was a murmured laugh that came in whispered tones.
The eerie sound faded. Silence lay about Five Towers, the castle of death. The Shadow had again entered the house where murder had struck.
The Shadow had seen all that others had seen. The Shadow had learned more. From the outside of the tower, he had peered in to gain a clew to the death of Rutherford Casslin.
CHAPTER VI
CARDONA’S THEORY
THE clock in the Casslin living room was chiming twelve. This midnight hour found a group of four men seated in tense conference. Of the guests who had been present while death had struck thrice, only one remained.