Killer Durgan! There was a new mystery.
Durgan had disappeared. He had been seen in Larchmont Court at midnight, shortly before Cliff had returned to the apartment hotel. Durgan had left with Madge. There was no clew to their destination.
Cliff tried to picture the scene in Durgan’s apartment, when Mike Wharton had been talking with Durgan over the telephone. Durgan must have told the girl that her man had been killed. He would know now that he was wrong — for an item in the morning paper had told of the garage manager’s sudden death.
It was probable that Durgan had kept the news from Madge. So the girl was somewhere, hopelessly in Killer Durgan’s power.
The thought was not heartening to Cliff. He felt that he owed much to Madge; at the same time, he had a hunch that she would find an opportunity to communicate with him.
RACKETS were the topic of the day. The warehouse racket had been smashed. The garage racket had come to a sudden end. Now the dock racket was doomed.
Along with these, smaller rackets had collapsed; and in almost every case, some mysterious, unknown cause seemed present.
But while the newspapers gloated and editorials urged the police to action, no mention was made of a newer and greater racket that was striving to enfold a great business within its slimy meshes!
For Howard Griscom and George Ballantyne were persisting in their refusal to meet the demands of the theater racketeers.
Maurice Belden, the suave representative of the Theater Owners Cooperative Association, still continued his visits to Griscom’s office. He made no effort toward high-pressure salesmanship. He merely spoke of the advantages that his association offered.