“You entered there to kill. You were just in time. Tolland was giving away your secret. To a newspaper reporter — Caulkins. You killed them both. You removed Tolland’s body. It was carried away by one of your underlings — probably by Jake Dermott!”
Matthew Wade’s gasp showed that The Shadow’s impeachment was true. The murderer could only stare at this strange being from nowhere who had come to make him listen to his crimes.
“The death of Arnold Bodine represented a temporary drawback from the joy of killing,” continued The Shadow. “One of my agents sought to thwart it but failed. With Bodine’s death and the elimination of Markan and Lombrosi, you ruled supreme. The biggest of all big shots. A man who needed no hideout — because your identity was unknown.
“But there you encountered The Shadow. You sought to combat this unknown enemy — who you knew was more powerful than the police, so far as you were concerned. You failed. Your hirelings were slain. Worst of all — for you — your great ally, Loy Rook, perished.
“For once you knew fright. But you were clever. You conspired to kill yourself! Double Z threatened Matthew Wade!”
THE SHADOW’S mirthless laugh expressed the ironic humor of this situation.
“But I knew you by then, Matthew Wade,” went on the man in black. “Your strength — your knowledge — your intelligence — all pointed to a man above the gangster type. Your ruse did not fool me, as it did Cardona. I waited for your next move.
“I come now to the most fiendish part of all your schemes. The notes from Double Z. They appeared to be the work of a maniac. You wanted a perfect alibi. You found one — through Loy Rook.
“Old Zachary Shellmann had known Loy Rook in China. There, Shellmann had adopted a Chinese boy, Luke Froy, who loved him as he would love a father. In New York, in an old house in the Bronx, Shellmann became afflicted with a mad desire to kill. Luke Froy nursed him. They were short on funds. He went to Loy Rook.
“They suddenly had money. Everything that the old man wished was his. Luke Froy encouraged the killer desire because it was the only thing that made the old man happy.