A sound stirred the stillness; it was like a knell, that mirthless laugh that betokened The Shadow's departure.
The rest was easy for the law. Crooks at the Bubble Club were taken into custody, Claude Ondrey among them. Slick Thurley was found, bound and gagged in
a place where The Shadow had left him.
Funds from Ondrey's safe were identified by Jondran; they were placed in Jondran's unfinished vault, with detectives on guard. All those details were completed by midnight - the hour when Beth Jondran came home with some friends.
Beth found her father in the study; with him was Maude Revelle. The story that Beth heard did not entirely surprise her. She had already recognized that Maude was a girl whose friendship had no limit.
And Maude knew, in turn, that she had found a lifelong friend in Beth Jondran. Maude could have wanted no better reward from The Shadow.
AT that same hour, The Shadow was alone in his sanctum. Beneath the bluish
light rested the list that he had made early in his campaign against recent crime. Five names composed that list:
"Thumb" Gaudrey
"Pointer" Trame
"Long Steve" Bydle
"Ring" Brescott
"Pinkey" Findlen
That list, however, had changed. Through the name of Pinkey Findlen, The Shadow had stroked a long line, that marked the obliteration of the racketeer, himself.
A whispered laugh stirred the black-walled sanctum, as The Shadow replaced
the list within the folder that bore the stamped symbol of a hand.
One finger of that hand had been obliterated. It was the end of one phase of the work. Not even The Shadow knew how very soon he was to meet another of The Hand; how soon he would again have to meet the challenge of these racketeers
The Hand would reach across The Shadow's path once more; and then another time, and still another, before that symbol would be wiped off The Shadow's record!
THE END