Complete works of peter.., p.535
Complete Works of Peter Cheyney. Illustrated, page 535
"Everything's all right, Mac," said Lon Ferrers. "I've just given Striker the signal to telephone. I'll get out of the way."
"That's right, Lon," said Alonzo. "The window is opened and everything should be easy for you. Don't let anyone see you about here now. So long!"
Lon Ferrers disappeared as quickly and as quietly as he had come and Alonzo, placing the leather case under his arm, waited patiently in the shadows of the alley.
Five minutes previously, Striker, a grin hovering about his face, had slipped into the telephone box near the Berkeley Hotel, and had telephoned Chief Inspector McCarthy.'
"MacTavish has just entered the house. Chief," he had said. "You'd better hurry. He may be quicker than we expected."
McCarthy had answered that he would be along immediately and Striker, hanging up the receiver, had walked quickly down Berkeley Street. As he passed the garage alley, he nodded quickly to Alonzo standing in the shadows.
"O.K., Mac," said Striker.
MACTAVISH, his leather case still under his arm, walked from the alley into Berkeley Street and commenced to stroll very slowly in the direction of Piccadilly. As he neared the top of the street, McCarthy's car shot round the corner. Alonzo heard the sound of brakes, and the car pulled up abruptly beside him. He stopped with a smile as McCarthy leapt from the car and confronted him.
"So you were quicker than we thought, MacTavish." said McCarthy with a grin. "Well, the game's up this time!"
"I'm afraid I don't understand," said Alonzo, still smiling.
"Don't you?" said McCarthy. "Well, I'll be a little more plain. I arrest you on a charge of theft—the theft of the Grant collection of Roman jewels—they're in that case under your arm. I happen to have seen the collection and I recognise the case."
Alonzo's smile became broader. "I'm afraid you're making a rather serious mistake, Chief Inspector," he said. "Will you allow me to explain?"
"You can explain at the Yard," said the Chief Inspector shortly. "It's a cop, MacTavish, get in!"
Ten minutes later in McCarthy' room at Scotland Yard, Alonzo was formally charged. Then, with a somewhat pained smile, he sat down in a chair and regarded the Chief Inspector.
"You know, McCarthy," he said, "you always were a bit of an ass, but this really takes the cake." He pointed to the open case which lay on McCarthy's table, in which a collection of antique stones glittered. "Those aren't the Grant Roman Jewels," continued Alonzo. "Those stones were bought by me about a week ago. I recognised them immediately as a very good imitation of the Grant collection, and immediately wrote to Mr. Grant informing him that, an imitation set of his collection existed, and asking if he would like to see them. He wrote and told me he would. I've got his letter in my pocket now." Alonzo threw a letter on to the table in front of the Chief Inspector.
"It was arranged," continued Alonzo, "that, as I was engaged at an earlier hour, I should call on him at twelve o'clock to night. I was just on my way there when you arrested me," said Alonzo, "and let me tell you this, Chief Inspector, unless I am immediately released, you're going to get into trouble. You can't go about arresting people promiscuously.
"If you don't believe what I say, telephone to Mr. Grant and ask him to get into a car and drive down here. He'll tell you that those jewels are simply imitation paste, and that that letter is the actual letter which he wrote to me!"
McCarthy said nothing. Then, after a moment, he stretched his hand out for the telephone.
"You're a clever devil, MacTavish," he said. "I'll not take any chances with you!"
Whilst they waited the coming of Grant, Alonzo smoked a cigarette patiently, and chatted pleasantly with Glass. McCarthy was already beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable. He knew the clever brain which existed behind the bland smile of Mr. Alonzo MacTavish, yet at the same time, he could not see where he had any possibility of a chance.
Fifteen minutes afterwards, Grant, amazed at being telephoned for from the Yard, arrived. He looked at the jewels and the letter, and turned to McCarthy with a surprised smile.
"This gentleman is perfectly right," he said, indicating Alonzo. "This is my letter which I wrote to him, and these are, apparently, the imitation jewels which he so kindly promised to show me. I am terribly sorry that this unfortunate mistake has occurred," he continued, turning to Alonzo.
MacTavish grinned. "You know what our police are like," he said, looking at McCarthy. "They're always making mistakes. Never mind, they can't really help it. Well, Chief Inspector, I suppose I may go now. Really, I think I ought to insist on a written apology from you, but I'll be nice to you this time and let you off. Good night, Chief Inspector. Be good!"
And with a pleasant smile. Alonzo strolled out of the room, and away from the Yard, leaving Chief Inspector McCarthy white with rage.
HE had been gone about twenty minutes when Inspector Glass, feeling that it was up to him to say something comforting to his Chief, walked into McCarthy's office.
"Pretty hard luck, that," he said. "I wonder...." He broke off abruptly as the telephone rang. McCarthy stretched out his hand and took off the receiver.
"Hello," he said. "Yes...who's that? Mr. Grant? What? What? Your Roman jewels have been stolen. What's that? They were stolen whilst you were down here at the Yard? Yes. I'll come immediately!"
He put down the receiver and looked blankly at Inspector Glass.
"Well, that beats everything," he said. "Grant's jewels were stolen between the time he left the house and arrived here. It couldn't have been anything to do with MacTavish because MacTavish was sitting here all the time. I wonder who in the name of goodness has pulled this!"
Inspector Glass thought deeply for a moment, when a slow smile broke over his taciturn countenance.
"I'll tell you who pulled it, Chief," he said. "Alonzo MacTavish!"
"What the devil do you mean?" spluttered McCarthy.
"Simply this," said Glass. "It's as plain as the nose on your face."
He sat down opposite the astounded Chief Inspector.
"MacTavish was after the Grant jewels, and he knew that old Grant had got some new sort of safe. Now MacTavish always likes to have a look at a safe before operating it. He gets Striker to come down here with a cock and bull story, which we believe. Incidentally, Striker gets one hundred pounds out of you for the information. Then what happens? MacTavish has had the imitation set of jewels made, and has actually written to old Grant asking if he would like to see them. Of course, Grant says 'yes.'
"Then, instead of Striker telephoning you when MacTavish entered the house, he telephoned you when he left it. So don't you see what happened? MacTavish entered the house and simply left a time bomb under the safe. The bomb was timed to explode about an hour afterwards. He then walks up the street knowing perfectly well that you are going to meet and arrest him. He knows that you will bring him back to the Yard to formally charge him, and he insists on old Grant being brought down here to prove that the set of jewels which MacTavish was carrying were actually imitations of the real thing. Whilst Grant is away, the time bomb explodes, blows up the safe, and one of MacTavish's men, probably Lon Ferrers, who is hanging about in the neighbourhood, simply enters through the window, which MacTavish had carefully left open, and grabs the real case of jewels.
"MacTavish has the most perfect alibi in the world. Whilst all this is happening, he is sitting down here in Scotland Yard, having been wrongfully arrested for something which he has certainly succeeded in doing.
"You can bet your life that at this moment MacTavish is examining those jewels and having the laugh of his life at us. He set a trap for you, Chief, and you fell into it. Not only did you fall into it but you paid a hundred pounds for the privilege of doing so. It's no good. Chief. MacTavish has been too good for us. We're a pair of also-rans. We've been sold!"
20. — THE BITER BIT
As published in The Sunday Times , Perth, Australia, 19 May 1929
ALONZO MACTAVISH, standing in the doorway of his recently-acquired house in Regent's Park, looked a trifle suspiciously at the broken key chain which dangled from his fingers, and wondered.
Someone had certainly pushed against him rather forcibly as he had left the Cinema Theatre in which he had spent the earlier part of the evening. Had the key chain been broken deliberately, or was it an ordinary accident which might happen to a very slender and not amazingly strong chain?
And supposing it had been an accident. Then, surely the key ring with the keys should have been in his trouser pocket, even if the chain were broken, and not missing. Also, to Alonzo, it was obvious that someone should be after that key ring, for on it hung the key of the Regent's Park house, and in that house were certain articles of great value in which quite a lot of people might be interested at the moment.
Alonzo MacTavish had many enemies. One of the cleverest swell cracksmen in the world, and one on whom the police up to the present had not laid hands, he had, during his adventurous career made many enemies, people who, knowing or guessing what was in the house at the moment would not scruple to gain an entrance by any means.
Alonzo took from his pocket a small steel instrument, and with a smile at the idea of forcing his own front door proceeded to pick the lock. He did this with great care, and having effected an entrance, closed the door carefully behind him, mounted the stairs to his first floor sitting room, and throwing himself into a chair gave himself up to thought.
Who, of the many crooks in London would be the most likely person to have stolen the key ring? Dr. Theodor Klaat, that enterprising blackmailer, was in prison, so he could be counted out. Marney, another enemy of Alonzo's, was in London, but was engaged on other business at the moment. Suddenly the name shot into Alonzo's mind—Largasso. That was the man!
MacTavish lit a cigarette and thought rapidly. In the sitting room downstairs were two steel safes. In one of them lay a collection of uncut stones of great value which Alonzo had "removed" from their rightful resting place some three weeks before and which, pending negotiation, were kept in the safe. In the other safe, in a sealed envelope, were certain documents which had two nights before been stolen from the Andarian Embassy—documents which were of the utmost value to certain political gentlemen who, through various other people, had commissioned Alonzo to steal them. It seemed to Alonzo that there was no possibility of Largasso knowing anything about the Andaria documents, and if he were the person who had actually stolen the key ring the thing he would be after would be the case of uncut stones.
At the same time Largasso was no fool. Surely he did not imagine for one moment that Alonzo, missing the key ring, would not take steps to ensure the safety of the gems. Or did he guess that at the time Alonzo made the discovery that it would not be possible for him to take measures to remove the booty. If Largasso intended to move immediately then he had struck at the right time. Lon Ferrers, MacTavish's trusted henchman, was away and would not be returning till the early morning, and there was no one else of MacTavish's little band of trusted associates who could be secured immediately in order to remove the gems.
One thing was entirely obvious. Somebody had the key to the front door and the keys which opened the two safes downstairs, for all the keys were on the same key-ring. Therefore, it seemed to Alonzo that the only thing he could do was mount guard all night, and in the morning clear the two safes and have a new key fitted to the front door.
He walked across to his bedroom, which was on the other side of the first floor passage, opposite the sitting room, slipped on a dressing-gown and, taking an automatic pistol from a drawer, placed it, fully loaded, in the right hand pocket of his gown. Then he placed an easy chair at the top of the curving stairway, from which position he could hear the slightest noise on the floor below. Returning to the bedroom he snapped off the electric light, walked over to the sitting room and repeated the same process, and then sat down in the easy chair at the stair-top to await developments.
One o'clock struck, but nothing happened. The minutes lengthened into hours. Alonzo's head was beginning to nod, when, just after three o'clock a slight noise came to his ears from the floor below. He rose noiselessly from the chair, descended a stair or two, and stood in the darkness listening intently. He was not mistaken. Someone was moving quietly in the hallway downstairs!
The footsteps moved cautiously in the direction of the dining room. Alonzo grinned to himself. In his brain there was not the slightest doubt that the marauder was the enterprising Largasso. Now he could hear the sound of the dining-room door knob being turned quietly and cautiously; the door opened, and then as quietly closed. Alonzo gave the interloper time to find and open the safe in the dining room, then he ran swiftly and silently down the stairs, flung open the door, switched on the light and received the surprise of his life.
He stood there, his pistol in his hand, and an amazed smile breaking over his handsome face, for instead of gazing at the foreign and beetle browed features of that old jail-bird Largasso, he found himself regarding a beautiful woman who stood, looking thoroughly frightened, before the left hand safe, with Alonzo's key ring and its attendant broken chain dangling from her slim fingers.
Alonzo returned the automatic pistol to his pocket, took out his cigarette case, and with the same amused smile found a match and lit his cigarette.
"Good evening, or perhaps I should say good morning," he said. "By the way, you've opened the wrong safe. The gems for which you are looking are in the other safe—the one on the right hand side of the room. Incidentally, you must be rather tired of standing. Won't you sit down?"
She gave a little gesture of dismay, drew her evening cloak closer about her and threw the key ring on to the table.
"I suppose you will telephone for the police," she said, tearfully. "But it was not the gems that I came for. I didn't even know that you had any precious stones in the house."
Alonzo drew up a chair and motioned her to be seated.
"If you are not interested in the stones," he said with a smile, "may I ask what it is you really do want? Incidentally, I suppose it was you who stole my key ring tonight at the cinema?"
She nodded. "I didn't actually steal it myself," she said, "but I paid a man to do so."
Alonzo nodded. He was beginning to feel really interested. "It seems to me," he said, "that if you did not know of the existence of the precious stones which are in the other safe, that there is only one thing which you did want—"
"Exactly," she interrupted "I wanted the papers which you stole from the Andarian Embassy." She raised her head and looked at him, and Alonzo realised how beautiful she was.
"Listen, Mr. MacTavish," she continued. "I am not a thief, but it was necessary that those papers should be returned. My first thought on hearing that you were the most likely person to have stolen them was to have come to you and put my story before you. I have heard that you are kind-hearted, that there isn't any crook in the world who is exactly like you, and that you very often steal things more for the fun of the game than the actual profit derived. But afterwards I thought that you might refuse and, after making inquiries, I found out the name of a man who, I was told, would help me."
"Tony Largasso, I expect," murmured Alonzo.
She nodded. "Yes, that was the chap. He told me that the papers were probably concealed in this house, and suggested that he should steal your key ring, and that I might come and try to get them. He said that in any event, even if you discovered me that you were very soft hearted where women were concerned, and that if I told you my story you would probably tell me where the papers were, supposing that you had already parted with them."
"So, there is a story, is there?" smiled Alonzo. "May I hear it?"
"I want you to hear it," she said. "You don't look like a man who would hurt a woman, and the return of those papers to the Andarian Embassy means more to me than life itself. I am engaged to the man in whose charge they were, and unless they are returned within forty-eight hours it means absolute ruin for him. When the theft was discovered, the Andarian Ambassador, knowing that a foreign country was most desirous of getting those papers at any cost, suspected that my fiancé had been bribed to hand them over. Denials were of no avail, but eventually the Ambassador agreed that if the papers were returned within forty-eight hours from this morning that he would be prepared to let the matter rest and give my fiancé the benefit of the doubt.
"Since this morning, neither of us have rested one moment. Separately, we have been all over London making inquiries, trying to get some clue which would tell us where the papers were. It was by chance that I was put in touch with the man Largasso, who said that the most likely person to have them was you, as it was the sort of job in which you specialised. Largasso followed you this evening when you went to the cinema, and it was easy for him, mixing with the crowd after the performance was over, to cut your chain and take the keys. He gave them to me and I paid him for his services. The rest of the story you know."
Alonzo nodded. "I'm not surprised that Largasso would not actually do the job himself," he grinned. "He probably guessed that he would get a warm reception from me if I caught him here. As for my being soft hearted where women are concerned, I suppose that is true and, in any event," he continued with a charming smile, "I would be very unhappy to think that any act of mine had jeopardised your happiness."
He rose to his feet, took the keys from the table, and walking over to the safe on the right hand side of the room, opened it, and took out the bulky packet of documents. He returned to her, and with a bow, handed the package to her.
She got up. Alonzo thought that her smile was the most wonderful thing he had ever seen in his life.
"You're very good," she said. "But I'm going to ask you to do one thing more. I'm going to ask you to go round to the Andarian Embassy and hand these documents over to the Ambassador, and to tell him that my fiancé was absolutely guiltless in the matter. Needless to say, no action will be taken against you. The papers are of much too great an importance to have any publicity attached to them. Will you do this for me?" She smiled up a him, and Alonzo, looking down at her, marvelled at the beauty of her eyes.
