Dusk was gathering when the lights of a big car loomed up the drive. The two men on the side porch saw a tall figure alight beneath the porte-cochere. It was Lamont Cranston. Both Waddell and Noyes left the porch to welcome the guest.
The three men returned to the porch to await dinner. While they were seated there, the footman again appeared. Noyes arose, only to learn that the inevitable telephone call was not for him. Lamont Cranston was wanted.
The tall, quiet-faced guest entered the telephone room in the same manner that Parker Noyes had displayed. Like the lawyer, he closed the door behind him and spoke in a low, guarded tone.
“Burbank,” came the voice from the other end.
“Report,” said Cranston.
“Marsland reports no suspicious action on the part of David Tholbin,” announced Burbank. “Vincent reports continued watch at the home of Frederick Froman. No one has entered or left.”
Cranston hung up the receiver and sat in quiet speculation. Marsland and Vincent were capable men.
They were watching two individuals who were under suspicion only because Marcus Holtmann had made a strange and unsuspected disappearance.
The vigil had begun shortly after midnight. Its continuance had brought no results. Only one other man remained, who might possibly have had some interest in the affairs of Marcus Holtmann, inasmuch as he had talked with Holtmann last night.
That man was Parker Noyes, least suspicious of all; for he was quietly biding his time as the guest of Tobias Waddell. Nevertheless, The Shadow, following his keen sense of intuition, was leaving nothing to chance. Himself a guest in Waddell’s home, he was able to observe Parker Noyes at close range.