“Because” — Spotter leaned forward to impart this information — “he was the guy that bumped off Reds Mackin.”
“How was that? I thought you said Maloney’s gang did it?”
“They tried to do it,” revealed Spotter. “But they missed out. Cronin knew what they was up to. He got in on it, to help out the gang. He was layin’ for The Shadow. So he shot the guy after the others slipped up on the job.”
Tiger Bronson made no comment.
“But” — Spotter spoke as though afraid of the consequences of his coming statement — “it wasn’t The Shadow that they got. It was Reds Mackin, after all.”
Tiger Bronson’s face was impassive. Yet he looked at Spotter for further information.
“You see,” said Spotter, “I figure it this way. The Shadow was goin’ around like he was Reds Mackin. He was supposed to meet Birdie Crull.
“I leave a note for him at the Black Ship, the night that the works was due to blow. Just by blamed luck, Reds Mackin himself comes back. He used to hang out at the Black Ship a lot. He happens to go in there, an’ he gets the note.
“It was him — not The Shadow — that showed up.”
“How do you know that?”