“I shall stay in San Francisco for a while,” Cleve had said. “In and out of Chinatown, I may uncover facts that refer to the Wu-Fan. My report, Mr. Darley, can not be made until I have investigated on my own.”
“Excellent,” Darley had agreed.
The head of the Civilian Committee had been useful. Cleve knew that he could count on him later on, if necessary. But tonight, the Bureau of Investigation agent was out to tap another source of information that might be even more valuable than Joseph Darley.
There was nothing in his action to indicate that Cleve Branch was bound toward a definite destination. His footsteps were carrying him along the well known channels of Chinatown.
He was scarcely more than a sightseer. He stopped before Oriental shops and admired their wares in the lighted windows. He looked at curious doors as though wondering what lay behind them.
Yet all the time, Cleve was cautious. He traced his steps in varying directions, doubling suddenly on his tracks to note if he were being followed. For Cleve knew the ways of subtle Chinamen, and of all that he had ever met, Ling Soo had appeared most crafty.
The lighted lobby of the Mukden Theater attracted Cleve. He stopped there and viewed the placards in the lobby. Foo Yat, the Cantonese tenor, was playing there.
The man must have been a headliner in his native land, Cleve decided, for a steady throng of patrons was entering the playhouse. As he watched the flow of bland-faced Chinese, Cleve was on the lookout for Wu-Fan badges. He saw none. If any had them, they were keeping them concealed.
TURNING toward the sidewalk, Cleve stopped suddenly. Before him, he observed a splotch of blackness. It was the tall, silhouetted shadow of a man. The same shadow that had been on the floor of Ling Soo’s anteroom!
Once again, Cleve was too late when he looked up. The shadowy surface was uncanny. For the moment that Cleve’s gaze found it, the blackness started to glide swiftly away. Searching for its owner, Cleve barely caught a glimpse of a tall man stepping off into the darkness.