In one compartment of the vault, The Shadow discovered stacks of crisp new bills. He took one bundle and slipped it beneath his coat. Then he gave his attention to another place where older bills were bundled.
Here, The Shadow discovered a few certificates of one-thousand-dollar denomination. He took some of these, and added others of five-hundred-dollar denomination, Completing his extraction with notes of one-hundred-dollar value, he made up a total sum of thirty thousand dollars. Directly upon the remainder of the stack, The Shadow placed three bills which he brought from his own pocket — each a gold certificate for ten thousand dollars.
A steely laugh sounded low within the vault, and the metal walls flung back the sound as though they, too, were laughing. The figure in black emerged and very softly closed the door of the vault. Hundreds of thousands of dollars had been at his disposal, had The Shadow chosen to rob the vault. He had taken only a small quantity of new bills — a petty, trifling amount. But he had used this opportunity to provide himself with change for the thirty thousand dollars that he had left within the vault.
One more task remained. On the back of a deposit slip, The Shadow was writing a brief message — using a fountain pen. He placed the written sheet in a small envelope, and reached through one teller's window to drop the envelope in a convenient spot.
The Shadow's soft laugh sounded sibilant as the mysterious man made his way back to the secret panel, in the room downstairs. He opened it, and again reached the underground passage. He turned his steps toward the undertaking establishment.
Reaching the morgue in the cellar, The Shadow went through the farther door and stole upstairs until he stood in the silent gloom of a funeral parlor. Here he discovered a hall that led to a rear door. The door, itself, was double-locked. The Shadow, with the aid of an oddly shaped key, not only picked the locks, but relocked the door from the outside, after he had stepped into the alley. Here he stood in a blind driveway into which hearses and delivery trucks could be backed. The alley was dark and deserted. The form of The Shadow was invisible as it moved toward the street. Tonight, The Shadow had learned the innermost secrets of the strange doings which concerned five men in Middletown — The Five Chameleons.
In all his actions, he had been cautious. He could have departed, leaving no possible clue to the fact that he had been within the walls and vault of the Middletown Trust Company. Yet The Shadow had chosen to leave signs of his visit. He had taken a labeled pile of bills. He had left notes of large denomination in place of smaller. He had put a sealed envelope where he knew it would surely be discovered.
What was the purpose of these actions?
Only The Shadow knew!