Then Caulkins uttered his startled exclamation in words that were gasped through trembling lips.
“A threat from Double Z!”
CHAPTER II. OVER THE WIRE
NEVER was a man more dumfounded than was Joel Caulkins of the Classic, after he had read the note shown to him by Judge Harvey Tolland. The fact that the older man was now calmly surveying him from an opposite chair did not ease his perturbed mind.
For the cryptic name of Double Z spelled fiendish horror. It was a title coined from the strange signature of a fanatic whose connection with a series of murders had terrorized New York and bewildered the police.
Caulkins, with his inside knowledge of detective investigations, knew of the menace that lay behind that strange signature. He had been shown other notes signed by Double Z, and not for an instant did he doubt the authenticity of this one.
The two letters appeared side by side, one a half line lower than the other, so close together that they formed a mysterious symbol.
Slowly, mechanically, Caulkins folded the paper and laid it on the table beside him. He looked at Judge Tolland and noticed that the jurist’s thin lips were twisted in a mirthless smile.
“Startled, eh?” asked Tolland.
“Yes,” admitted Caulkins.