“A guy named Maddox, eh?” he said. “Yeah — I’ve suspected him of being crooked… All right, Crowell, get hold of Devlin… Tell him to come down here right away… Fix it to release Galvin… I’m going out… See what I can get on this case.”
“Call Devlin yourself,” ordered The Shadow, when Zull had hung up the receiver.
Zull obeyed. He located Devlin and told the man to report.
Here, Zull resorted to trickery. Devlin replied that he would arrive in fifteen minutes. Zull pretended to hear him say half an hour.
The ruse failed. As soon as the telephone was laid aside, The Shadow thrust the muzzle of his automatic against the detective’s ribs.
“I have been watching you a long while, Zull,” he said, in his low, sinister voice. “I knew you were engaged in crime; but you concealed your motives artfully.
“Tonight you may do penance. Your career on the force is ended. Its smirches are not known.
“We shall let it stand — and so reflect no discredit upon the force. More than that, we shall add to your ill-gotten prestige. I have need of you tonight.
“Come. Learn how The Shadow deals in justice!”
A few moments afterward, Acting Inspector Zull was walking down the deserted corridor accompanied by a man in black, the muzzle of an automatic reminding Zull that he was virtually a prisoner.