But even more this thought was Clyde’s most important one — it would make a report of high value to The Shadow!
“How about this door?” a plainclothes man was questioning Cardona, in the hall at the back of the stairs. “Looks like it leads down to the cellar.”
Cardona was busy with the keys. The door opened. The detective’s flashlight showed a wall switch. Cardona pressed it, but there was no illumination.
With his electric lantern, the ace detective started down the steps. He reached the cellar with Burke, and the other man behind him.
A nailed-up coal bin caught Cardona’s eye. The detective moved forward to investigate. His assistant wrested with the boards, and Clyde Burke lent a hand. An opening was made, and all stepped through.
In the corner of the compartment was a heavy box, fastened with a padlock. None of the keys answered. The man who had called Cardona disappeared. He returned with a hammer.
The lock resisted his first blows; then a well-directed stroke shattered it. Cardona raised the lid of the box and let his flashlight glare into the interior.
The lid of the box dropped. Cardona turned to the other men, who were at the entrance of the bin. Cardona’s arm was lowered; the flashlight glared upward, and the detective’s solemn face showed strangely as the rays revealed it.
“What is it?” exclaimed Clyde, startled at the sudden change that had swept over Cardona.
“A body,” replied the detective slowly. “A body. The dead body of a man — murdered! Another victim — murdered by the fiend that we have captured!”