Lamont Cranston retained his smile as more and more gems put in their appearance when new eggs were broken. The final mystery was solved; The Jackdaw’s spoils had been recovered.
It was not until afterward that Joe Cardona suddenly gained a hunch. It was when the group had gone downstairs, when Cranston, at the door of the apartment building, was about to enter his coupe.
Joe Cardona stepped forward to the millionaire. He put a question as Cranston took the wheel of the car. The millionaire smiled as he heard it.
“The macaw,” remarked Cardona. “You said that Sarborn talked for it. You proved it, right enough. But I just remember that when I came up to Sarborn’s, it was the macaw that told me where Farrell Sarborn had gone — to Lydell’s—”
Cranston had started the motor. He became solemn as he leaned to the window of the car.
“Remarkable, wasn’t it?” he questioned. “The macaw did talk once — when it had a right to talk.”
The coupe rolled away. Joe Cardona stood bewildered on the curb. His hazy senses cleared. He began to build up facts. They all referred to Lamont Cranston.
The mysterious fighter out at Winchendon’s — the macaw that spoke even when its master was not present — the timely bullet that had downed The Jackdaw in Garforth Lydell’s vault. All went back to that significant point, the time when the macaw had spoken for Joe Cardona — when Lamont Cranston had stood beside the bird, coaxing it.
He — Cranston — had provided the macaw’s falsetto. He was in the open at that time; he had been under cover during the more important episodes which Cardona now remembered.
Throughout this case, the might of a powerful fighter had manifested itself. Well did Cardona know the only one whom it could have been: The Shadow.
Joe realized now that while he, Cardona, had been following the wrong trail, doing no more than interfere with Doctor Dubrong’s desperate efforts to aid the law, The Shadow had been closing a net about the real criminal — Farrell Sarborn.
It was The Shadow who had trapped The Jackdaw. It was The Shadow who, had ended the crook’s career of crime. It was The Shadow who had played the part of Lamont Cranston.
As he stood on the curb, staring after the tiny tail-light of the millionaire’s coupe, Joe Cardona fancied that he heard the faint echo of a weird, unearthly mirth. It was the laughter that had sounded at Garforth Lydell’s. Its tones were creepier than ever now.
Echoes of the past, the sinister mockery dispelled itself with the night breeze.
Thus ended the laugh of The Shadow!