Shadow The Baron Read Online Free Page A

does get into us? The minute I heard your key in the door, I knew there was something different. Perhaps it was because Toby telephoned, and he started me thinking about the Baron days. I had the ghastly feeling that time had gone back ten years, and Bristow was at your heels with a search warrant and a pair of handcuffs. They were bad days.”
    “A mere point of view. There were others. Mine was one.”
    Lorna said: “Don’t fool yourself. Not that we have to go back ten years to feel that Bristow’s on the doorstep. He seems to pop up every few months. I wonder what would have happened if you two hadn’t taken to each other?”
    “He would have made life a little more difficult, and I wouldn’t have been able to play the great detective so easily. Bill’s all right, but as worried as hell over the Shadow. He must be feeling now pretty much the same as he felt during the Baron’s heyday. Darling, we’re glooming! We needn’t. After dinner, we shall dance, and after we’ve gone to the Plenders, we’ll have a few days in Paris. I ought to go over to the Rougement sale, anyhow, and you might be able to buy a new dress. Another drink?”
    Lorna said: “No. John, you’re dying to go after the Shadow, aren’t you?”
    “The answer, for personal satisfaction only, and not in the capacity of a police stooge,” said Mannering, “is yes.”
    “I suppose you won’t be satisfied until you know who he is,” said Lorna. “And it’s no use begging you not to. Be careful, my darling.”

 
4:   News of the Shadow
    The door of the flat at Albemarle Mansions opened, soft wall lighting along the wide passage showed Mary Plender hurrying towards them in a silvery evening gown, and the maid standing on one side.
    “Lorna, it’s so good to see you. John, I thought you’d forgotten us.” The women touched cheeks, and then Mary gripped Mannering’s hand. “You’re more hopelessly handsome than ever.”
    “No competition,” said Plender, coming from a room on the right. “It’s heartbreaking.” He took Lorna’s hands and kissed her. The women, lingering over wraps, he led Mannering into a large, comfortable looking room, pleasantly furnished with books, a Persian cat, and armchairs drawn up near the fire.
    “Whisky?”
    “Thanks. I’m still out of jail, you see,” Mannering said.
    “Keep out. They’re overcrowded. How is business?”
    “Flourishing. I needn’t ask you about yours, I can read it all in the newspapers,” said Mannering. “I suppose you know that you’ve talked at least two innocent men into jail in the past six months.”
    “Don’t you believe it. If they weren’t guilty on that score, they were on some other count. The wheels of justice do their job.” Plender sipped. “Any news of the Shadow?”
    “He remains unknown, even in the lowest circles.”
    “Meaning?”
    “I have my spies. He’s not pally with the professional burglar. Some of them are beginning to resent his existence, and the speeding up of police attention. If the Shadow’s not careful, he’ll have a civil war on his hands.”
    Plender chuckled.
    “He’ll be careful. I’ve heard from him.”
    Mannering put his glass down, but didn’t speak. Plender went across to a book case and took out a folded copy of The Times. Marked round in pencil was an advertisement.
    “I saw it,” said Mannering. “The Echo and the Record took it up, and gave you quite a splash – didn’t you see? Appeal to the Shadow, lashes of sentiment. What does Bristow say?”
    “Nothing, yet.”
    “Meaning, he probably disapproves,” said Mannering. “If the Shadow really wants to become popular, all he has to do now is to return that pendant. He’ll probably demand that you send a statement to the Press about it, and –”
    “Intuition, or a case of identical minds,” said Plender lightly, “for the Shadow has indeed promised to return the pendant, on one condition; that I inform the Press when I get it.”
    “Well, well,”