"
"I will."
"I'm going out shopping now," she returned, suddenly. "But, tell
him I'll be back--right away."
"Very well."
Hanging up the receiver, Elaine dutifully replaced the papers in
the box and returned the box to its secret hiding place, pressing
the spring and sliding the panel shut.
A few minutes later she left the house in the Dodge car.
. . . . . . . .
Outside our laboratory, leaning up against a railing, Dan the
Dude, an emissary of the Clutching Hand, whose dress now greatly
belied his underworld "monniker," had been shadowing us, watching
to see when we left.
The moment we disappeared, he raised his hand carefully above his
head and made the sign of the Clutching Hand. Far down the street,
in a closed car, the Clutching Hand himself, his face masked, gave
an answering sign.
A moment later he left the car, gazing about stealthily. Not a
soul was in sight and he managed to make his way to the door of
our laboratory without being observed. Then he opened it with a
pass key which he must have obtained in some way by working the
janitor or the university officials.
Probably he thought that the papers might be at the laboratory,
for he had repeatedly failed to locate them at the Dodge house. At
any rate he was busily engaged in ransacking drawers and cabinets
in the laboratory, when the telephone suddenly rang.
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