"Let me make one suggestion," said Weston seriously. "Some time ago, Cardona, you had a great failing. You were inclined to attribute certain unexplainable events to a nonexistent person whom you termed The Shadow. You have corrected that fault. Do not let it undermine your sound opinions in connection with this case."
Cardona's face lengthened for a minute; then the detective laughed in a forced manner.
"I've forgotten that, commissioner," he said. "Let's not talk about it."
"Agreed," smiled Weston, clapping the star detective on the back. "Go to it, my man! I am relying upon you. The case is in your hands. Find the missing murderer."
As Cardona left the commissioner's office, he wore a solemn look upon his face a look that Commissioner Weston would have eyed suspiciously.
For Weston's words had aroused the detective's intent memory. As he headed for the Hotel Dalban, Cardona was wondering deeply.
Some unknown being had figured in this crime. The tabloids were loud in their cry of a ghostly hand — a wild theory that looked good in print, but which Cardona had rejected absolutely. Yet the strange disappearance of the missing personage must either be supernatural or superhuman. Ghosts, Cardona had heard, were supernatural. The Shadow, Cardona knew, was superhuman. Spook or Shadow — which?
Cardona spoke his decision mentally.
"The Shadow!"