“Then he began to have callers. One night a swarthy-looking man with a mustache came. I kept thinking he looked familiar. The next morning I remembered seeing his picture in a newspaper. He was a member of that Briggin gang. The one they call Slick.”
Mrs. Riley held her handkerchief to her nose and began to sniffle. “Oh, I was so upset. I started to call the police. Just then, one of my other boarders told me he’d left in the middle of the night. Took all his things with him-even the funny tape machine he had. I was so relieved to have him gone that I didn’t bother to notify the police.”
Marco had begun to shake. It was evident that he had had no idea Raymond Turnbull was mixed up with bank robbers!
“Oh,” the watchman wailed, “I never thought-”
He was interrupted by Tom, whose eyes were riveted on a metal picture frame that hung opposite one of the opened living-room windows. As he stared, the frame began to glow dimly with an orange light.
“Quick!” he cried, as the picture glass suddenly shattered with a loud crack.
“Hit the floor, everybody I”
CHAPTER 20
THE MASKED INTRUDER
AS TOM SHOUTED the warning, he ducked below the window sash. Dr.
Morrow followed suit. Marco and Mrs. Riley seemed flustered by Tom’s sudden orders. The watchman lost his balance and sprawled aimlessly beneath a large oak table, while the woman froze, her eyes bulging at the sight of the orange light still playing on the picture frame.
“I think someone in the yard is trying to knock us out with a heat ray,” Tom whispered. “Get down! Play dead!” He crumpled into an inert heap near the door, setting an example for the others.