The Avenger 34 - The Glass Man Read Online Free PDF

phone.
    “A dame’s involved,” said Smitty when the Avenger had finished. “Might have known.”
    “And she’s missing, too,” said Josh.
    “Could be they eloped.”
    “I’ve read most of Jenny Keaton’s stuff,” said the black man. “She’s plenty shrewd, and she really does have a knack for digging out details. Been in some pretty tough scrapes.”
    “So it ain’t likely she’d do anything foolish.”
    “More likely she was following up some kind of news lead and got in trouble.”
    “Cole must have been with her.”
    The Avenger said, “We don’t even know if Cole ever saw the girl. Remember, Nellie found his trail leading from their hotel to Jenny Keaton’s hotel and from there to the Continental Club. Apparently Cole didn’t make contact with the girl at any of those places. It’s possible he never did.”
    “Both of them vanishing at about the same time,” said Josh, “seems like too big a coincidence.”
    “That makes three disappearances out there,” said Smitty.
    “And two murders,” said Benson.
    “Two?”
    “There was a second invisible-man killing last night. Nellie heard the details on the local radio station just before she called.”
    “This new victim got anything to do with the Dean’s Perseus Project?”
    “Nothing whatsoever.”
    “That makes it twice as spooky,” observed the giant. “You got this invisible killer, and on top of that what looks like a series of senseless killings. Jack the Ripper stuff.”
    The Avenger steepled his fingers beneath his chin. “Nellie thinks there may be some connection between the two victims.”
    “Like what?”
    “She’s going to do some more digging,” said Benson. “By the time we arrive in New Mexico she’ll be able to tell us if her theory proved out.”
    “We’re heading west, huh?” Smitty rubbed his hands together.
    “MacMurdie is up in Connecticut looking into that poison-gas business,” said the Avenger. “He’ll stay there. The three of us will take off in one of our airships in two hours.” He got up and left the room.

    Dr. Gardner Dean had no idea where he was.
    It was always dark. And he had the feeling that he might be underground. The room was rock-walled, possibly even some sort of cave which had been converted into a dwelling. Geology and archaeology were not his specialties. He had, however, the idea that he might be in one of the abandoned pueblo towns which lay some twenty miles out of Nolansville.
    He’d been here seven days at least. He could tell time fairly well by the changes of temperature from day to night, and from his body functions.
    Exploring more than a ten-foot circle of his prison was impossible. He was chained, with an ankle chain, to a ring set in the floor. Seven days of effort had not loosened the ring or the chain.
    Dr. Dean had not seen anyone.
    There were two large jugs of water within his circle. He’d located them soon after waking up down here. There was a carton full of dry biscuits and beef jerky. Not sufficient for a balanced diet, but more than enough to keep him alive. At the edge of the circle was a portable canvas privy.
    Whoever had knocked him out, from behind, as he was walking toward his house that night was thoughtful. He hadn’t wanted him to die. Not right away anyhow.
    The physicist was puzzled as to who had kidnaped him. German agents was the most logical answer. Yet they’d have surely been questioning him by now. Keeping him locked up in a dark hole wasn’t doing the Nazis any good.
    Unless they simply wanted to keep him from doing any further work on the Perseus Project.
    That was why Dr. Dean had come to New Mexico nearly two years ago, the month after Pearl Harbor. To work on the project at the guarded base outside Nolansville.
    “It seems very unlikely they even know what we’ve been up to,” he said to himself. “Security’s been very good.”
    The unfortunate part was that he’d solved the problem. Solved it only two days before he’d been