“The Living Shadow” (part five)

10. The Fight In the Gloom​

The rescuer is described as a short, squat man with characteristic Chinese features. Either the Shadow wears stilts when he's going around in his spooky cloak, or this is just another agent of his. Now that he's avoided decapitation, Harry has started getting a little more skeptical about this rescue.

“Perhaps this was not a rescue. No friend could have penetrated to the depths of this fiendish lair. It must be another trick of the ruthless Wang Foo − to save his victim from one expected death only to conceive a more terrifying torture for him.”

On one hand, that does seem like the sort of overwrought sadistic bullshit Wang Fu would pull if he was sufficiently bored. On the other...Harry, "no one" could have penetrated into this fiendish lair? You did that yourself a damned hour ago.

When no one shows up at Wang's office to report the successful execution, all three of the burly security guards - or, sorry, I meant "yellow giants." Yes, it actually reuses that exact phrasing multiple times to refer to them - come back to see what the problem is. The short, squat man who rescued Harry turns off the light, and then expands into a much taller figure in a much more ridiculous outfit that promptly outfights all of them at once and kills them with their own knives.

...I'm starting to lean toward the Shadow actually being a supernatural entity at this point. Disguising himself as a much shorter person is just not physically possible unless he was pretending to be a stooped old hunchback or something, and that's not how it was described.

Lights come back on, and the Shadow turns back into a much smaller man. Maybe it's a limitation of his; he can only assume his true form when in darkness, and in the light he's just some middle aged Chinese dude. Even in this form, though, he retains some disproportionate strength, proven when he (after working at it for some minutes, to be fair, but still) tears an iron support bar out of the window shutters with his bare hands to get them open. As the stupid gong rings from elsewhere in the building, alerting the rest of the gang to action, the Shadow gives Harry a rope and tells him to climb out the window with it and get into the cab waiting for him at the entrance to the alley. As Harry complies, four more triad ruffians barge into the room, and the Shadow does his spooky laugh as he starts attacking them with the iron bar he just pulled out of the windowframe. Only now, when he hears the laugh, does Harry realize that this is the Shadow. Somehow.

Harry escapes the building with the Shadow fighting the thugs behind him. I'm starting to wonder why the Shadow even bothers with sting operations when he's perfectly capable of just superhero-ing his way through the criminal underworld with brute force. If it really is that treasure he wants, specifically, it seems like it would have been easier for him to punch his way into Wang Fu's office and take it himself in the first place. Anyway, end chapter.


I'm getting "overbearing DMPC" vibes again. Ostensible protagonist gets railroaded into a situation he's totally helpless in and had no way to avoid, and then his patron saves him at the literal last second and has him flee while he does a lovingly described edgy stomp-fight holding the line behind him.

Hell, I'm even thinking back to the whole thing with Harry picking the coin up in the hotel room "without knowing way" and imagining it as the DM telling the player that that's what his character does despite his arguments.

Why is Harry in this story at all?

I really hope Texhnolyze is good or at least entertaining, I'm gonna need it after this. Next chapter.

11. A Baffling Mystery​

Three day timeskip, to Harry Vincent relaxing in his hotel room. He's been here ever since his rescue from pointlessly drawn-out and manpower-intensive gangland execution, and the Shadow hasn't called on him again. He's just been living in idle hospitality-industry luxury while awaiting his next instructions.

The cab that had been waiting for him at the alley mouth three days ago looped around a few times before bringing him back to the hotel. He did get orders to return to Fellows' office for debriefing the following morning, but that was a very short, very dry affair. He just told Fellows what happened, verified a few details that the Shadow wasn't 100% on, and was then dismissed. Since then, his only order has been to keep reading the local news to keep himself appraised of local murders and high-profile thefts, as some others are likely to be connected to this operation.

That last bit has been somewhat difficult, because most of the New York City crime reporting has been preoccupied with the Geoffrey Laidlow murder from a few days ago, and which was most likely the source of at least a big chunk of Wang Fu's tribute money. Some more details of the case have been made public, now that the late Mr. Laidlow's secretary has recovered enough in the hospital to speak with the press. And yet, as far as the papers report, the police investigation has remained "checkmated." I think the writers meant "stalemated," but the term they went with is much funnier, so I'll roll with it. Anyway, according to the witness the robbery-murder itself went as follows: Mr. Laidlow and his secretary, Mr. Burgess, came back to the former's mansion where there were some papers to be filled out and mailed. Laidlow's family were overseas on vacation, so it was just the two of them in the house at the time. Burgess was standing in the study at one end of the library while Laidlow went to get a book he needed to consult, when Laidlow heard something in the saferoom across the hall. Laidlow ran over, and Burgess quickly followed, with the latter reaching the hall just in time to see Laidlow open the saferoom door and be instantly shot in the head by the jumpy burglar. The burglar then ran out into the hall carrying the money and jewels from the safe, and accidentally slammed right into Burgess. Burgess tried to grab him, but was shot himself before he could pin the guy down. The thief then ran while Burgess was crumpled on the floor. He got away with the jewels and cash, but was forced to drop the murder weapon when he climbed hastily out the window.

The testimony after this point comes from one of Laidlow's neighbors, a prominent criminal lawyer by the name of Ezekiel Bingham. Bingham had been pulling up toward his driveway in the house next to Laidlow's when he heard the two gunshots and stopped the car in place. Looking toward the source of the sound, Bingham saw the silhouette of a person carrying a package wriggle out one of the windows, dash across the lawn, and disappear into the trees of Laidlow's front garden. Bingham then entered the house and found the wounded Burgess, who he called the police and requested an ambulance for.

Both witnesses describe a man of average height and very thin build. Burgess saw him up close, but he was gloved and masked, which of course meant that there were no fingerprints left on the dropped handgun either. That handgun, it seemed, was also Laidlow's own property. Apparently he just kept a loaded revolver in his safe. Anyway, that probably explains why the thief wasn't more reluctant to part with it. The safe itself was undamaged, with only minute scratches around the locking mechanism, indicating that the thief was an experienced safecracker. Other than that, no clues could be found. The grass in the lawn was thick enough that no footprints had been left, and while Bingham saw the perp run into the grove no one saw him come out, or spotted any other suspicious characters around the neighborhood that night. Were it not for the bad luck of Laidlow and Burgess coming home earlier than the thief expected, it would have been the perfect crime.

For completeness' sake, Harry reads up all he can about the victim and crime scene. Manages to find some blueprints of the house, and learns the names of Laidlow's wife and children (who returned to New York upon hearing the tragic news). Nothing jumps out at him in terms of inferences, though. He also manages to find a few follow up articles hidden in the back pages about the comparatively low-profile murder of Bob Scanlon at the hotel the same night. The police seem to be looking for a suspect matching Cronin's description, which is unsurprising given how clumsily he went about things. Harry is comforted by the cops apparently having a suspect to track down, which means he himself probably won't have to answer any more questions.

On the second day, Harry is sent a blank checkbook connected to a bank account that is apparently his now. No note or message, but Harry understands that this is going to make it easier for the Shadow to pay him henceforth so he's not inclined to second guess it.

Finally, catching back up to the present (why was this even written in retrospect?), Harry gets a call from Fellows calling him to his office. He hangs up immediately after summoning him, not giving Harry a chance to so much as say a word back. Hmm. Kind of suspicious. However, when he arrives there doesn't seem to be anything wrong. Fellows is just not a big phone-talker, I guess. Fellows asks Harry is he's been reading about the Laidlow murder investigation, which nets this brilliant exchange:

““I’ve read about the Laidlow murder.”

”How does it impress you?”

”It is extremely confusing.”

Fellows smiled faintly. “You would make a good police detective,” he said in his slow voice. “Those fellows are perplexed.”

”That’s a good excuse for me,” said Vincent. “I suppose I have a right to be perplexed, too.”

”I do not ask for excuses,” answered Fellows. “I merely want to know if you have done the work of reading the newspapers.””

"Confusing?" Really? What about this case is even remotely confusing?

The Shadow sure knows how to pick 'em.

Anyway, Fellows gives him his new orders. He's going to move into another hotel, located very close to the Laidlow residence. He's going to pretend to be a reclusive author working on his magnum opus, so he should get a portable typewriter and arrive with it when he first checks in. When Harry confirms that he can drive, Fellows is pleased, and tells him that they'll have a secondhand car for him to arrive in as well, and that he's free to use it for as long as this mission continues. While they're, he's to covertly investigate the murder, and take careful notation while pretending to work on his nonexistent manuscript. Whenever he learns something, he's to drive back into the city to give the notes to Fellows. If Fellows wants to talk to him, he'll just give him another cryptic phone invitation.

He may or may not get more hidden messages from the Shadow, either via voCAl eNuncIAtions, or by letter. The latter will be cipher coded, and also have a...well:

““Listen carefully,” he said. “You may receive a letter − perhaps several. They will be written in a simple code − certain letters of the alphabet substituted for others. Here is the code.” He passed a sealed envelope across the desk. “There are very few substitutions, so you can memorize them quickly. Destroy this as soon as you have learned it.”

”Shall I destroy any letters I happen to receive?”

”That will not be necessary,” smiled Fellows. “They will destroy themselves.”

The remark was puzzling to Vincent, but he thought it best to make no comment.
”

Fellows further elaborates that he'll need to read these letters immediately upon opening them. So that's what was up with the blank paper he appeared to be reading off of before. The Shadow uses some kind of magic ink that vaporizes after a minute or so of exposure to light or something like that.

Anyway, these coded letters will each be sequentially numbered. If he gets one out of order, Harry is to drive to Fellows' office and tell him about it immediately. Chinese mob might be stealing their mail, I guess. Anyway, Harry's final instruction is to make acquaintances with as many Laidlow-connected people as possible, but to avoid getting attached to anyone. That could just be because he'll be relocated with a new identity after this, or it could be because the Shadow is planning to eat them all. End chapter.


First third or so of the chapter was bland recap. Second two-thirds were dry, overly drawn-out mission briefing. I know these Shadow posts aren't very long, but believe me, they take me just as much time to write as my usual reviews, because this story is just that slow. Next time, Texhnolyze.