1938-12-16 — Page 5

CHINA MAIL

FRIDAY SUPPLEMENT, DECEMBER 16, 1938

R. Alonzo Green awoke at

M ten o'clock, screwed his eye-

glass into his left eye; appreciated the sunshine which emerged be "tween the curtains of his bedroom in Sussex Place. He ruminated for a few minutes on the men- tality of the world in general and détective officers in

parti- cular, after which he rang for his tea and the newspapers.

The story was plastered on the front page.

"South Kensington Robbery £40,000 Pearl Necklace Stolen. Thieves leave empty jewel case on library table," the headlines ran. Mr. Green read the. reports in three newspapers and smiled hopefully, after which he rang the bell again.

"Telephone through to Scotland Yard-ask for information," he told the enterprising Frayne when that worthy answered the bell. "Find out who is handling this Jewel Robbery case you'll pro- bably find it's Latimer. If they want to know who

you are, tell them that you are speaking for your master Mr. Estello Mar- quand; but don't give them an ad- dress. Understand?"

Frayne grinned.

"O.K. chief," he said.

Mr. Green drank his tea, arose, bathed, shaved and arrayed him-

Short Story

self in a suit of tasteful grey with brown shoes and a brown tie. He then went into his sitting room and took the cover off a portable typewriter. He selected a sheet of expensive grey and black note- paper with the initials H.E.M. neatly embossed thereon, adjusted his eyeglass and waited.

Frayne came in."

"It's Latimer alright," he said. "Information at the Yard asked who I was. I said I was butler off

to Mr. Marquand and rang quickly."

Alonzo Green nodded: "I'm writing a letter to La- timer," he said. "It will be finish- ed in twenty minutes. Then I want you to take it to the District Messenger office in Piccadilly and instruct them to send it by hand, immediately, to Scotland Yard. When you've done that, start packing. We shall be leaving at midday."

Frayne disappeared.

Green lit a cigarette. Then he wrote this letter, addressed to Chief-Detective Inspector Fergus Latimer, New Scotland Yard:

"Dear Inspector Latimer.

"I feel I must write and tell you about this stolen mècklace which isn't stolen at all. At the present moment it is quite safe in the drawer of my dressing table, but as I have no doubt you are rather excited about this so-called rob- bery, I feel I should tell you all about it.

"My name is Marquand-Henry Estello: Marquand. I am in this country on holiday and previously worked for the Dettmer Electric Safe Company in Montreal, which having regard to everything rather a joke.

"Well, last night I went to a theatre. I go to a show two or three times a week and afterwards

FAST WORK

I always stop at the South Ken- sington coffee stall for a final cup of coffee. I like watching the types that gather there, and I think I may say that I am both well-known and, I hope, popular there.

"Last night when I arrived there was only one other person at the stall-a woman. And what a woman.. I've travelled quite a bit and I've seen plenty of females who could hit you for six to the boundary, but this one was the best ever

"She was just above average height, slender, a decided brunette with amazing turquoise eyes. She was superbly dressed and I could see that her evening kit had cost a lot of money. But she looked scared stiff. She was frightened sick about something.

"Beautiful women have always interested me and I like talking to them. So I passed her the sugar and suggested that she put her tea-cup down on the counter be- cause her hand was trembling su much that she'd upset it in a

By Peter Cheyney

minute. I said she looked very distressed and asked if I could be of any assistance.

"She began to cry. In between sobs she said that I couldn't do anything for her. That it was all quite hopeless and that she wished she were dead.

"I made her drink her tea and then I took her by the arm and suggested that we went for a little walk, away from the coffee stall, and that she should tell me about it-you know the old trouble shared is a trouble halved' stuff. She fell for this and we went off.

"Walking through Courtfield Gardens she spilled the beans. From under her cloak she duced a jewel case and showed it to me. Inside was the pearl necklace!

.pro-

"Well, the long and short of it was that she'd been blackmailed into assisting in the burglary. Her job was to take the pearls out of the country to-day and meet the people who'd stolen them in Hamburg. She said that the burglary had been done whilst the Glenisdale family were at the Opera. She said she'd lost her nerve and couldn't go through with it; that she never had been a crook and didn't want to start- you can imagine how she went on.

"Then I asked her what I could do for her. She pulled up dead and pressed the jewel case in my hands and begged me to go round to the Glenisdale House and re- turn the pearls. Before I could say a word she turned and ran like a hare. By jove, she could rum too, and I don't think I've ever seen anything so graceful as that perfect creature, her long. evening skirts held up, doing the mile in five!

"Well, there I was. I couldn't run after her-I hate hurrying--

and I thought the best thing I could do would be to walk 'round. to Lord Glenisdale's house and hand back the pearls. I knew the house was somewhere in the neighbourhood.

"I met the policeman on the Gloucester Road beat and asked him where the Glenisdale house was, I was a bit surprised when, after he'd told me, he said that the Glenisdale family were away until to-day. Then I began to get suspicious and a funny idea came into my head. Supposing the whole thing was a frame up!

"However, I was amused at the adventure and I went round to. the house and rang the bell. In a minute the door was opened by a perfectly turned out butler, and when I told him that I wanted to see Lord Glenisdale and returta some pearls he nearly had a fit.

"However he showed me along into the library, and there was my lord, smoking a cigar, and in the corner of the room was a safe --and it was a Dettner Electric Safe!

"I told the old boy the story and he was adequately surprised. He said that the job must have been done whilst they had been out at the Opera and that the ser- vants had heard nothing.

I said the proper things and handed over the jewel case. He then started fiddling with the safe and after a minute rang for the butler and asked him if he could find the paper with the combination on it as he'd forgotten what it was.

"The butler went off and came back after a few minutes and said that he was sorry but he couldn't find the combination. and he thought Lady Glenisdale had it. and she was still out.

"Then I knew it was a frame- up. It flashed into my head that these crooks had known that the family

they were away; that could easily get into the house; but that they couldn't get the safe open. They'd found out about me. They knew I'd worked for the Dettner Company and knew the master combination. They knew that I went to the coffee stall after the theatre, and the whole busi- ness of the charming lady and her sob story had been a frame-up. It struck me like a brick that the pearl necklace she'd given me was a fake, and that the idea was that I'd open the safe for them so that they could steal the real one!

"I did. I told the old boy that I'd been employed by the Dettner Company; that I knew the master combination. He was agreeably surprised. Then I picked up the fake jewel case off the table, turned my back on him, opened the safe and had a quick look. There, sure as shooting, at the back of the safe was an exact replica of the jewel case in my hand.

"I was very quick. I knocked the electric table lamp on the table at my elbow over and while ""my lord" was fumbling in the dark- ness picking it up, I snatched the real pearls from their case, pat them in my coat pocket, put the fake pearls in, the case in the safe, and casually, as he got the light going, put the empty cage back on the table. I knew they wouldn't bother to oper that. Then I turned around leaving the safe door open, and after saying I was glad to have been of use and being profusely thanked and given a drink, I left-with the real. Glenisdale pearls under my coat!

"When I got outside I looked for a policeman. Of course there wasn't one. There never is when you want one. I walked down the road looking for one or а telephone call box. Suddenly I heard a noise and looked back. There, outside the house, was a car and while I watched I the fake butler and the fake Lord Glenisdale get in and drive off. And the car was driven by the woman!

saw

But as "Lord. Glenisdale" got into the car the light of a street lamp fell on to his face. He had taken off the white moustache he had been wearing, and I suddenly realised that I had seen him some- where before.

"I am very interested in crooks. I keep a cutting book about them. When I got home I looked it up, and there sure as a gun was a picture, I had cut out of the "Sun- day Graphic" two years before; a picture of "Slim" Peters, Jimmy Fells and Marie Cartoule. They had just been arrested in Paris on suspicion of stealing a diamond necklace, and I recognised Marie Cartoule as the woman who had waited for me at the coffee stall and put up that splendid act for my benefit!

"I am writing this mote from my rooms in Sussex Place, and I am going to send it round to you by hand immediately. Then after lunch I am going to wander round to Lord Glenisdale's place the policeman said they would be back to-day-and hand over the (Continued on Page 7)

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