“Listen to what comes next. This is going to be important. After I ate, I went to see Frieth. I got to the Hotel Gilderoy and asked for the promoter. He wasn’t in, so I sat in the lobby and smoked a cigarette.
“At twenty-five minutes of seven — by my watch, which was right — I gave up waiting and went out. I headed straight to the Acme Agency, which is only half a block from the Gilderoy. I walked in there at twenty minutes of seven.”
Nethro paused to look at Cardona.
“Go ahead,” ordered the detective. “Twenty of seven. Frieth came into the Gilderoy at quarter of seven. We’ll hear your alibi.”
“It’s one that will hold,” assured Nethro. “When I reached the agency, I went into the chief’s office. You know the chief, Cardona. Mr. Fitzsimmons.”
Cardona nodded. Fitzsimmons had a high reputation. The alibi was becoming interesting.
“With Fitz,” declared Nethro, “was Maurice Shollin, an attorney from the office of the D.A. He was talking to Fitz about some minor matter, and wanted information from me. Fitz said they’d been waiting for me; that he’d expected me in by half past six.
“I pulled out my watch and saw it was only twenty minutes of seven. Ten minutes wasn’t much to be late. I told the chief so and he looked at his own watch. He saw I was right; and as luck had it, Shollin looked at his watch, too.
“Fitz was surprised. He realized he hadn’t kept tabs on the time. What’s more, all our watches were right on the dot and Fitz said that was pretty good time-keeping. So he took a look at the Naval Observatory clock in the office and it showed we were right.
“Well, the next day, when I read about those murders, I saw I’d gotten a lucky break. Fitzsimmons and Shollin won’t have forgotten that I came in at twenty of seven. What’s more, I stayed with them for an hour. So it’s a cinch that I couldn’t have bumped off Newell Frieth.”
Nethro paused triumphantly. Seeing that the investigator had concluded, Dreblin rumbled an objection.
“You didn’t tell me this, Nethro,” rebuked the magnate. “You started to say that you reached the office at twenty minutes of seven, when I questioned you the next night. But then you changed your mind and said you weren’t sure.”
“Let me explain something,” requested Nethro, looking toward The Shadow. “I was supposed to come in here and see Mr. Dreblin at nine o’clock on the evening of the murders. Fitzsimmons had work for me to do. I couldn’t get here and I didn’t think I’d found out enough to make a visit worthwhile.”
“The next day when I read about the murders, I was worried. Mr. Dreblin had offered me two hundred thousand bucks if I could save him two million. I began to think that maybe he had found a way to save the two million for himself.
“The whole thing looked phony. Like I was framed along with Powlden. If the Powlden hokum didn’t go over, I’d be the next suspect. Well, I had one alibi. So I thought I’d better come around here and chin with Mr. Dreblin.
“I talked straight at first; but as I went along, I got the idea that I’d better let him think I didn’t have an alibi at all. I figured him for the murderer and it looked like a good stunt to feel him out. So I bluffed; and I agreed to keep in touch with him right along.
“I saw him last night and said I’d be back at nine tonight. I got here early, and right off we caught this secretary, Vincent, snooping at the door. Dreblin said to grab him and I helped, figuring it was good policy to play in with Dreblin.”
Nethro shot a sidelong glance at the magnate; then rubbed his chin and looked at Cardona.
“When Alfred came up here,” resumed Nethro, “and said you were outside, I figured the time had come to turn on Dreblin. But he didn’t give me a chance. He yanked a big gat out of the desk drawer and told me to help him snag you.
“What else could I do, Cardona? Dreblin might have plugged me if I hadn’t worked with him. I knew he wouldn’t murder Vincent or you while I was around — that is, if I worked with him. I figured Dreblin needed me.
“Once he grabbed you, Cardona, the law would have something on him for a starter. He’d have to open up — offer me dough to work with him — and I was ready to act like I was willing. But in the pinch, I’d have helped you and Vincent. Get it, Cardona? It was my only out.”
Nethro put his statement with real sincerity. Following his alibi, the story was convincing. Cardona turned to The Shadow.
“LOOKS as if Nethro is on the level, Mr. Cranston,” decided the detective. “He’s got a good rep, working for Fitzsimmons. I’m going to arrest Dreblin.”
The magnate began a rumbling protest. The Shadow waved for silence.
“Let Mr. Dreblin speak,” he said quietly, to Cardona. “Nethro has had his opportunity. It is Dreblin’s turn.”
“Good,” growled the magnate. “Very good! This will be the time when you will all hear real facts. It is true that I offered Nethro money if he could help me with the Duro Metal deal. That was a straight-forward business proposition.”
“Dreblin’s got a paper I signed,” warned Nethro. “That was one reason why I stayed in line, Cardona. He sprang that stunt early in the game—”
“You have my signed memo,” interrupted Dreblin, “offering you two hundred thousand dollars if you could make those swindlers forget their Duro Metal.”
“Hear him talk, Cardona?” queried Nethro. “Swindlers. He means Lentz, Morath and Frieth—”
“Hear me out!” bellowed Dreblin. Then, as Nethro quieted, the magnate resumed: “I knew all about those fellows. I knew about Powlden, too. But Nethro knew as much as I did.
“I sent him to see those men. All three of them: Lentz, Morath and Frieth. I told him to say that he was representing a syndicate; but I never suspected that he would go in for murder. Not until afterward.”
Pausing, Dreblin glared at Nethro; then resumed:
“When Nethro failed to come here on the evening after the murders, I wondered why he had not kept his appointment. I read the newspapers the next morning and I saw the answer. Nethro was the murderer.”
Nethro started to speak; then shook his head.
“I was going to inform the police,” stated Dreblin, “but I desisted. I thought that Nethro still might come to see me. His only motive for murder had been the lure of the two hundred thousand dollars that I had promised. So I waited until the next evening. Nethro arrived.
“He was nervy enough to insinuate that I might have had a hand in the murder. I decided to gain his confidence. I felt that if I could hold the two hundred thousand dollars as bait, he would make more visits.
“I wanted to learn more before informing the law. So I urged Nethro to make other visits, that I might sound him out. I did not press him when he came here last night. I talked in friendly fashion and invited him back this evening.
“When I discovered Vincent, my new secretary, eavesdropping at the study door, Nethro aided me in trapping him. Then Alfred came with the news that Detective Cardona was here from headquarters.”
Dreblin paused emphatically. He looked at Cardona; then turned to The Shadow.
“A terrifying thought struck me,” confided the magnate, in a serious tone. “Suppose Vincent happened to be a tool of Nethro’s. Perhaps Nethro had aided in the capture to lull me. But Cardona, a detective from headquarters, would be a man whom I would admit.
“Suppose he proved to be a fake. Another aid of Nethro’s. The two would overpower me, release Vincent, and I would be in their toils. I decided to capture this new visitor, also. Then I would be able to deal with Nethro alone. I would make him talk. If Vincent proved honest; if Cardona were the real Cardona, they would hear and testify in my behalf. But if they were merely accomplices of Nethro, I would be holding them helpless.