The Story so far:

The Shadow let the police take on the hoodlum Frank "the Snake" Earl, turning his attention instead to the Case of "Mavis, the Mystic", a spiritualist cheating the rich. But Earl broke free of the Police trap, massacring both the police and his own men, who he blamed for his near capture. Now the Shadow, compelled to find Earl, turned the case of Mavis Martin over to another.

The Shadow, in the guise of Lamont Cranston, with the help of Margot Lane, introduced young socialite Morgan Willis to a strange little man called Mr. Maxwell. Maxwell who turned out to be the Magician "the Mysterious Audini" incognito, and at the height of a Seance he tripped a "ghost" and revealed to Morgan's Aunt Agatha the truth.

While the Shadow worked out a clue that Earl was recuperating by the sea, at Earl's hideout -- which, as fate would have it, was the very same Seagate House "Mavis the Mystic" had just been foiled in her attempts to seize -- Mavis told Earl, who'd been hiding unseen in the servant quarters, of her being exposed, expecting him to find a new hiding place. But instead Earl made it clear he was not leaving, he'd arranged for a bootleg ship to use the cove behind the house to gain both capital and an escape route to Canada.

Mavis, trapped into helping Earl but trying to avoid more bloodshed, set up a ghostly situation designed to scare off Morgan and his Aunt. But it backfired, the Ghostly apparition of the House ghost "Captain Black" was played by Earl himself and when faced by Morgan brandishing a gun he killed Morgan with a Cutlass.

At the Funeral for Morgan, the true nature of whose wounds had be hidden in trumped up car accident, Margot and Lamont were reunited. Margot wondered openly what had gone wrong with their plans. Now Mavis was back in with Aunt Agatha and Morgan, her old college friend, was dead. Lamont, who as the Shadow felt he was closing in on Earl, advised Margot to accept Agatha's invitation to stay a weekend and to help them find out.

But that night the Shadow with the aide of Cliff Marsland, in a warehouse used by the underworld, got the last piece to the puzzle -- only to realize it meant that Margot had been unknowingly sent alone directly into the Killer's hideout.

6
A night of turmoil.

Margot Lane's weekend with Agatha Willis at Seagate House was turning out to be a quiet one. But, then, Margot knew this quiet time with company was what Agatha needed most right now, after the sudden death of her Nephew Morgan. Margot was Agatha's life preserver in a sea of troubles. But with them was also staying Mavis Martin -- "Mavis the Mystic" they called her - would it be stretching the Metaphor, Margot thought, to say that Mavis was Agatha's chief wave maker? With Mavis still in close attendance Margot feared that Agatha's troubles, unlike her nephew Morgan's, were not yet over.

Coming to Seagate House was quite an experience for Margot. True, it was situated pleasantly on the far sea coast of long Island with a small cove behind the house, but the age and size of the mansion, especially with so few staying within, made one feel like a canary swallowed by a great dark cat.

They were sitting in the parlor the three of them, Agatha, Margot and Mavis. They had wound down their talk and now sat without talking, Mavis reading a book and Agatha staring out the window at the ever turning sea. Margot had tried to keep a pleasant face on things and not seem too distant or tense to Mavis but it had worn out, Mavis was always pleasant but in a way that afterwards felt very unpleasant. Mavis had insisted that Margot tell all about herself, especially her connection to Morgan. It had ended up as Margot telling stories of her college days with Morgan. These were a joy to Agatha but it ended later on a bitter point.

After lunch Mavis had proposed a toast to old days and happy times but something in the intensity of Mavis as she watched Margot lift her wineglass disturbed Margot. She pretended to be clumsy and spilled the drink. The servants who cleaned up the wine looked at Margot beyond Agatha's sight with undisguised hatred.

Mavis then engaged them briefly in a card game but she wouldn't be quiet. The real game was innuendo. At one point Mavis asked bluntly if Morgan had ever offered to marry her. Margot had blushed, the way the question was phrased made it seem Mavis had taken it for granted that she and Morgan had been more than friends. Agatha looked for Margot's answer with a tense and sharp eye as if their new friendship was soon to be quickly over. Margot as simply as she could repeated that they'd just been friends but Mavis pressed her. "Oh come now, you can tell us, " she smiled with her predatory wide grin "you're among friends."

Margot did her best to deflect the direction of the talk "He liked that Mary Douglas." Margot remembered. "Whatever became of her?" She asked Agatha.

Agatha blinked and sighed, relaxing "A fast girl that, she had me worried about Morgan ... but then, luckily, Morgan was too slow for her tastes. She married almost immediately out of College, I think, to some filthy rich Texas Oilman, I believe." Agatha mused with a smile "She's fat with three kids I think now. The only boys she chases now are her own."

Margot had dodged Mavis's game then, but it wouldn't end. They all ended up wordless at dinner and later Mavis had turned in early and Agatha followed suit. Margot sat for a little while by the evening fireplace alone. She briefly tried to make heads and tails of Mavis's book, an Occult treatise on why the last Great War had made the Other side more eager to contact the living, but gave it up to find her way to her room.

Something about the winding hallways and stairs with the occasional lapses into darkness, made Margot feel in imminent danger. From who? Mavis and those phoney servants of hers weren't capable of killing her outright, were they? Morgan's death had been in a Car accident, it was still not satisfactorily explained but it still wasn't open violence, was it? Margot had to remind herself that she was not the suggestible sort like Agatha, but then why did it seem the shadows watched her? Were there others moving in the darkness, following her just beyond sight?

To add to the haunted atmosphere the on and off sprinkling of rain they had all day was turning into a full storm. The sound of wind and rain mixed with the shadows of the hallways. It was enough to make anyone sensitive to every noise. Margot reached her room and closed the door behind her with an irrational feeling of putting up a barrier to hidden forces that meant her no good. She shivered and looked at the old-fashioned over-stuffed bedroom with its small single lamp and wondered if she would be capable of sleeping in these circumstances. It was like some Movie thriller, she thought, next a hand holding a knife would appear from out of the curtains.

She suddenly realized she didn't have a key to lock the door. It made her briefly genuinely afraid, but such was foolishness Margot said to herself. She shook herself of the irrational ideas, slipped out of her clothes, slid beneath the thick covers, put her head to the pillow and with the merry thought of "Why bother with locking the door? I'm sure they have lots of Secret Passages that will do as well." she fell asleep.

It was past midnight when Margot was awakened by what sounded like someone knocking on the door. She blinked awake but realized the sound was too regular, too like a clock ticking again and again, and the sound was sharper, not like a hand knocking on wood. It took a moment or two before she could focus on what it was. It was a branch of a tree outside the window being pushed by the wind. She tried to roll over and ignore it but it was like the drip drip of a leaky faucet, it seemed to grow louder and louder the more you tried to ignore it. She mumbled curses, rose from the bed and opened the window to give the branch nothing to knock against.

The rain was slight again now but the air was damp and cold, she'd be forced to cuddle deeper in the covers, she thought, once the room cooled. But just then some movement caught her eye. The bedroom's window opened to a view of the back of the house and the cove, a pleasant vista by day but now it seemed like a gleaming slice in the faint light and the storm swept sky, a murky mystery of forms and glows. It took a minute to make out the shadows of several men down by the beach.

It intrigued her, she wanted a closer look, but she also remembered what Lamont said, don't go out of her way to spy, she might get caught at it and ruin everything ... whatever that everything was. Neither Lamont nor the Shadow himself ever seemed to tell her everything they knew. She knew that there were many Agents, like her and Lamont, each with their assignments focusing back to a single point of Black. It was safer not to stray from instructions. But then how much danger could there be from Mavis and her underlings? She got on a nightgown and a wrap and opened the door to the hall.
She felt a little foolish, what would she say if they found her? Would she say like some sleepy eyed child that she had just wanted a drink of water? Still, the window in the hall was wide and she might get a better view there. That would be enough, wouldn't it?

She approached the wide window in the hall and stopped short. There was a window seat below the window and a deep shadow lay across the window, someone was sitting there looking out at the cove. She briefly hugged the wall to creep back to safety, until suddenly she realized whose shadow it was.

"Agatha!" said Margot approaching the window "What are you doing out of bed?"

Agatha stood still as if she hadn't heard, still looking out to the sea below. Margot looked over Agatha's shoulder to see what she was looking at so intently. It seemed whatever Margot had seen from her own room was gone, there was only sea, beach and a few small groups of trees at the edges. Agatha was merely staring at the sea, hypnotized by the unending motion.

Agatha suddenly spoke in a whisper. "Do you see him?"

Margot was puzzled "Who?"

Agatha spoke quietly "You've seen the big Portrait in the downstairs hall, Captain Black, that's who."

Margot was still unsure "Did I see the portrait?"

"He's out there." she said in a hiss.

Margot didn't like the direction of this. "Who's out there? Captain Black? Surely ..."

"I've seen him!" insisted Agatha "I've seen the Ghost!"

Margot put her hands on Agatha's shoulders "Agatha, perhaps you should go to your room. I have a sedative I could give you to help you sleep."

Agatha gave a sick sort of laugh. "That's what Morgan thought, the night he died, he gave me a sedative."

"Agatha, please, let me ... "

"They say we had an argument that night ... we were always arguing, especially over the house ... they say that he left that night after a quarrel and missed the turn on the road near the cliffs. But that isn't true ... we weren't quarreling. He'd given me a sedative ..."

Margot didn't stop her, she listened intently.

" ... but I didn't stay asleep, I got up and looked for Morgan. I saw him on the beach of the Cove and there was someone else ... I saw the ghost ... "

Margot didn't argue. Agatha was weak and crying.

"I saw his face, the Ghost's face!" she cried quietly "It was not a face ... it was just a skull."

Margot didn't know what to say, so she quietly watched the waves with Agatha. Soon they'd both tire and go back to their rooms. The wind by the beach was whipping the surf into whitecaps. There was a sprite of rock on one far side of the cove and the waves hit it and a white plume shot up from the rocks. The window was slightly open and the wet air dampened their faces, mixing with Agatha's tears. Margot shivered. "Let's close the window and go to bed, you're liable to catch your death." Margot spoke the words not realizing what she was going to say. The word "Death" rung in the cold air.

"No, I must ... " Agatha cried softly "He's out there, watching and waiting, I know it." she began to sob. "I must see him again, I must know why ... " she explained. "Why did he take Morgan? And ... why would he turn on us?" she looked out into the surf "He's our ghost after all ... he's family."

Margot was shocked and dismayed with Agatha's irrational talk, had all this trouble driven her mad? "Please, Agatha, don't go on, you'll only hurt yourself more."

Just then something moved by the trees at the edge of the beach. "He's there I know he is!" cried Agatha.

There was a door as the hallway turned, it led to a small balcony and a broad wooden stairway down to the beach. Margot hadn't realized they were so close to access but suddenly Agatha bolted and threw wide the door, wind and rain blew through Margot's thin clothes. Agatha was halfway out and making down to the beach before Margot could react. "Agatha don't!" she called after her. "Don't, you'll get hurt!"

Margot followed her out, unable to let her run out to the beach alone. As she followed across the sand after the disturbed old woman it seemed like the dark house behind them hovered over them like a living beast. Again something in Margot's instincts cried danger. Danger from who? Mavis? No, she couldn't say exactly why but Margot knew there was more to fear here than just Mavis. Was this then truly a haunted house? Margot again had to get a grip on her fears, these were not her fears, they were Agatha's fears, she was just feeling the contagion of the poor woman's suffering.

As for Mavis, Agatha's cries were sure to wake some of those phoney servants. Margot would not be surprised if they weren't already watching and following. Perhaps this would be for the best, they could run out of the house and keep going, then they would be beyond the grasp of whatever lurked in the house. Why not escape tonight ... right now.

Mavis stumbled in the sand. She was down but didn't seem seriously hurt, she just sat down in the sand and cried. As Margot reached her the old woman finally lost her last strength and, fainting, lay down in the sand. Margot got down and kneeled by her and touched her to tell her that someone was with her, that there was someone there to help her. Agatha sighed. "I saw him." and lost consciousness.

Just then Margot was startled, a tree not ten feet from them creaked. She looked up and saw a black shape rise, almost as if it were appearing out of thin air. But this was a black shape she knew, it was the Shadow.

Margot nearly cursed. "Did you have to frighten a poor old woman half to death? She's nearly mad and then you appear? She thought you were the ghost."

Standing above her on the sand The Shadow never seemed so large and imposing, the wind in his cloak seemed to inflate him to more than human size. Even Margot who knew him felt herself cringe before the great black form. His sharp eagle's eyes over the edge of the cloak narrowed and seem to look through her. "It was not I that Agatha Willis saw. I have no wish to terrorize her. It was someone else. She was about to fall into their trap but I've put up a diversion to draw them away." he looked toward the side of the dark house. "But it won't last long, we haven't much time."

Margot was confused, she had never seen the Shadow so angry, but it wasn't with her he was angry with she was sure of it, was there someone else out there in the darkness she couldn't see?

"Margot" he said still looking into the darkness "there was more danger here than we knew when you talked with Cranston at the Funeral."

"Danger? From who? Mavis and her servants?"

"I haven't time to explain." he extended a black gloved hand toward her. "Come, I need to have you out of this house."
Margot blinked she had never openly refused an order from the Shadow before. "I can't leave. Not like this." she said looking down at Agatha. "I can't just leave her like this."

The Shadow looked down on them. If Margot had ever wondered if the black cloaked mystery man had ever conceived of a human feeling ... for in truth at times he seemed more a force of nature than a human being ... at this moment it was clear what were the Shadow's true priorities. He was as concerned with Agatha as she was and accepted her resolve to risk herself on Agatha's behalf without a second thought.

The Shadow looked back into the darkness "We'd never get the both of you out before they return. Get her back into the house. In the morning find a reason, any reason, for you and Agatha to leave the house together. If you can't, try to stay quiet until tomorrow night, your ordeal will be over by then. If I can, I will put someone in the house to make certain of your safety."

And with that he moved out into the darkness as if he were disappearing into thin air. Margot managed to rouse Agatha and steeling herself not to panic on their long slow walk back into the house, not to be afraid of being stopped and caught, walked the ailing woman back to safety.

Like a flash it was all so clear to Margot, she had said exactly the right thing. She had spoken back to the Shadow without hesitation of her commitment to Agatha, and he had accepted it immediately. She was free to leave Agatha to her fate but couldn't, just as the Shadow himself couldn't not work to defend the many others like Agatha who were the victims of crime.

Morning came not soon enough for Margot. By morning she had already packed and was ready to leave. Now the question was how to get Agatha to go with her. She rehearsed a half of dozen plans in her mind. It would be difficult because it had to be done directly under Mavis's observation. It had to be something she would not interfere with and disrupt.

She walked down to the dining room and took a deep breath before facing them. "Good Morning" she said as mildly as she could. "Agatha, Mavis." They were sitting at one end of the table and Mavis was giving Agatha a reading with the Tarot cards. Margot tried not to notice and took the breakfast served but it was difficult to eat. Not that she still feared what would be in the food but because seeing Agatha so entranced by Mavis's game made her positively ill.

"Good Morning" smiled Mavis. "I hope you slept well."

"As good as could be expected" mumbled Margot.

Mavis sighed as she turned over a card, shrugging her shoulders at Agatha who looked over to Margot suspiciously. "I'm sorry, we've tried three times now and it still comes out the same." apologized Mavis "I guess we have no alternative but accept what the cards are trying to tell us."

Margot knew a cue when she heard one. "What are the cards saying to you Mavis?" Margot asked trying not to sound sarcastic.

Mavis shook her head in sorrow. "Things do not look good for you, Miss Lane."

"Oh?" said Margot tensing.

Mavis held up the last card, it was the card of the grim reaper. "Perhaps it would be best if you leave today."

Margot colored "Isn't it the place of the owner of the house to say when a guest should leave." she said looking to Agatha. Mavis smiled an infuriatingly smug toothy grin.

Agatha put her hand to her forehead so as not to look Margot in the eye. "I think it would be best if you left, Miss Lane. Perhaps another time ... " she said her voice dwindling off.

"Agatha, couldn't we both leave this house? I have friends on the other side of the Island we could visit, wouldn't you like a ride in the country and get some fresh air and sunshine." Margot almost added and get away from Lady Gloom and Doom here, but didn't say it.

"Thank you for your concern, Miss Lane" Agatha said in a low voice. "But I think I'd like to be alone this afternoon."

Margot looked over to Mavis "Then Miss Martin will be leaving as well?"

Mavis's face was hard and expressionless.

"Good day, Miss Lane." Agatha said and servants appeared behind Margot. Margot rose unsure what to do next, she could see in the hall that her bags were already waiting.

"I'm sorry if in some way I've offended you, Agatha." Margot said taking her coat and hat as the servants handed them to her. But Agatha said nothing at her imminent departure.

In moments Margot had marched out to the front stairs and allowed herself to be sent packing, to be put into the back of a Cab. It seemed pointless to fight them, what could she do? Knock them all down and drag Agatha away? But as she got into the cab she was mentally still trying to find a way to get the upper hand. An effort that ended when the cab started off. An icy coldness descended on Margot. They had won and she had failed.

Still, the Shadow had assured her that this all would be over tonight. Perhaps, if Agatha were left alone till then ...

The cab seemed familiar but it wasn't until she glanced up and saw the Driver's Hack License ID card and picture that Margot finally placed where she was. In the back of the cab of Moe Shrevnitz, fellow agent of the Shadow

"Shreevy!" she cried "What are you doing this far away from Manhattan?"

"I ask myself that same question." The long-faced Cabby from New York City shrugged "Actually, I wuz out here once before ... you see, my cousin, what's got a Chauffeur's license ... "

"Save it" interrupted Margot. "I need your help."

"Eh?" grunted Shreevy.

The Cab had already traveled down the long exit road away from Seagate House and was on the other side of the Great Gate. "Stop this car." she demanded.

"Eh?" grunted Shreevy again.

"I said stop this car!" Margot called out.

Shreevy applied the brakes and they skid to a stop on the sandy road.

"Turn around. Park the car in the trees on the road back to the house where you can't be seen and watch for me. When you see me, come back out again I want you to scoot with all you've got and pick us up."

"Eh?" Shreevy said blinking.

"Do it" cried Margot in frustration.

Moe Shrevnitz, New York Cabby complied, pulling the car back around and into the road to the house. In a moment they'd stopped and Margot was out of the cab and on her way back to the house. "Remember, keep and eye out for me and scoot us out of here."

"Right." answered Shreevy not feeling at all right but not arguing. He watched her march down the road and sighed, worried about wether he'd done the right thing following her instructions and worried for Margot's safety. "Why do I get the feelin' dis is going to be a long day?" he sighed lifting his cabby's cap and wiping the sweat from his brow.

This was unexpected, Margot was sure no one would see her come back. This was possible, she could do this, the trick of getting Agatha to listen and come with her was not as hard a puzzle as it seemed. She'd tell her the truth, that these people were murderers who had killed her Nephew Morgan. She'd been tricked by Mavis before and been shown the trick, it was still possible that if she was told she was being tricked again she'd believe it and then they'd be back out the door in minutes. The only problem Margot saw with that plan was wether the poor old woman could any longer stand being told the Truth.

Coming back in the door Margot had to stop and listen, to make sure she wouldn't be seen. She was then in and into the hall and no one seemed any the wiser. Mavis was in the front sitting room with someone whose voice Margot didn't recognize, but likely just one of those phoney servants, whose voice she never had heard before.

Wether it was the convincing idea that Agatha had gone to lie down after Margot left of just that it was an easier route, Margot decided to look for Agatha upstairs first.

Margot found Agatha lying on the same window seat in the hall from which they'd watched the beach the night before.
"Agatha." Margot whispered so as not to startle the old woman. She touched her to wake her up but she didn't respond.
Margot gasped. The old lady's eyes were half open and her breathing was labored. Margot had enough knowledge of medicine from her girlhood desire to be a nurse to recognize that Agatha was drugged. She would not be able to move her, she would not be able to carry her dead weight down the stairs and out to safety. The plan was a total loss.

"And who might you be, girly?" came a raspy voice behind her.

Margot turned and saw she was looking at a total stranger, a balding man with a mustache. The leer on his face was half in humor and half in sadistic delight.

"I think you've gone one step too far, little girly, and now you've got to pay the piper." he chuckled.

Margot found herself staring down into the black barrel of a .38 revolver.

to be continued...

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