“McGinnis was here this morning,” he said. “He tells us that some one slipped in the car with you. How did he get there?”
“How should I know?” retorted Steve Cronin. “McGinnis was running things. The car was empty when I got in. I didn’t see any one climb aboard.”
“No?” Savoli’s voice caused the interruption. “Well, it looks like funny business to me. It never happened to McGinnis or Brodie before. They passed the buck to you. I’m tired of hearing this ‘I-don’t-know’ stuff.”
“Let me make this plain, Cronin,” said Borrango smoothly. “Brodie only knows that some fellow got in back with you. McGinnis tells us that some one cracked him with a rod.
“It don’t sound right. There’s no gorilla that works that way. It couldn’t have been a copper. Who was it?”
Steve Cronin realized that he was under partial suspicion. After all, it was up to him to make an explanation. He was the odd man on last night’s expedition.
He had hesitated to give his own opinion, not because he doubted the existence of The Shadow, but because he was afraid that Savoli and Borrango would not believe him. But now he saw a chance to tell a convincing story.
He glanced back and forth from Savoli to Borrango before he spoke.
“I don’t know how the man got in the car,” he said slowly, “but I do know who he was — and why he acted the way he did.”
A slight trace of surprise flickered momentarily across the features of Nick Savoli. Then the mob master resumed his accustomed calm.