In Paris, Brockley had been befriended by Wallace Powell. He had given some information — in the form of documents — to Powell. That information may have concerned himself; it probably concerned others also.
Powell had sought to sell the information. He had dealt with a blackmailer in New York, and had made the arrangements for a meeting near Baltimore. There, Powell had been killed — and the slayers had obtained the information without the necessity of paying him ten thousand dollars. Harry Vincent's rescue of Stuart Bruxton had not only been an excellent deed; it had also gained a new secondary agent for The Shadow — a man who could identify Grady, the killer, and the old man whom Grady served. These persons were active workers for a mythical blackmail ring. But who were they? Harry Vincent had visited the burned house the day after he had rescued Stuart Bruxton. On that visit, Harry had drawn a complete blank. The house was a stone-walled ruin; its cellar was a mass of debris. Harry presumed, in his report, that the body of Jefferson, the hitch-hiker, had been placed on the ground floor, to be destroyed amidst the flames; but there was no direct evidence of this. Traces of the murderous pair — Grady and his chief — were totally lacking. The finding of Stuart Bruxton's car had perplexed the local police.
The automobile had been stripped of license plates and luggage; other identifying marks had been obliterated. The theory was that the car had been stolen; that it had crashed through the bridge; and that the men in it had taken refuge in the old house. There, they had started a fire which had gotten beyond control; then they had fled from the flames.
The police were confident that they had solved the case in its entirety. They saw only accidental incendiarism — not murder — and Harry had made no effort to enlighten them. The murder of Grant Chadwick, following so closely upon the killing of Wallace Powell, was highly significant to Rutledge Mann.
With Denby Chadwick completely cleared of suspicion, it seemed quite plausible that Grady was the man who had visited the old house near Chester, where Grant Chadwick lived alone. The connection between Herbert Brockley and Sherwood Mayo was similar to the one between Mayo and Grant Chadwick.
Had Grady come to threaten old Chadwick, putting forward a proposition of blackmail on the strength of what had been learned from Powell's documents?
That was Mann's theory, and he considered it a good one. But even more important was the possibility that the future might hold.
Two evil men, agents of some unknown leader, were embarked upon a career of crime. It was logical to suppose that other lives were threatened. Who would be next?
Mann's eyes rested upon the notes before him. One name, alone, seemed to stare at him.
That was the name of Sherwood Mayo.