Lucy stood where she was and watched him.
“You’d better go back to your own room. God knows when I’ll get back,” he said when he reached the door.
“I’ll be here waiting for you,” she said, “when you do come.”
He nodded and went out, closing the door gently.
Chapter Six
Celia Dustin opened the door of the hotel suite for Michael Shayne. Beyond her he saw Peter Painter and Walter Voorland conferring together. Mark Dustin reclined on a couch, his right cheek and hand heavily bandaged.
Celia’s eyes widened when she saw the tall, redheaded detective. “You’re Mr. Shayne,” she said.
“That’s right, Mrs. Dustin. I heard about the robbery. Is your husband badly injured?”
“Mark’s so impetuous. He didn’t have a chance against all three of them-and they had guns.” She stood aside to let him enter.
Voorland looked up, worried and disturbed, and gave Shayne a friendly nod of greeting. Painter strutted forward like a fighting cock and stopped in front of Shayne with his small feet planted widely apart, his hands clasped behind his back. “All right, Shayne,” he snapped. “What do you know about this?”
“Damned little,” Shayne confessed. He looked over the detective chief’s head at the jeweler.
Voorland wasn’t chewing gum and he looked grave as he met the question in Shayne’s gray eyes. “It’s bad, Mike. First time Mrs. Dustin wore her new bracelet, and it’s gone-like that.” He snapped his fleshy fingers resoundingly.
“A perfectly planned and beautifully executed job,” Painter put in aggressively. “By someone who knew exactly what he wanted and where it was going to be at a certain time.”
Shayne disregarded him and continued to look over his head at Voorland. “I’m surprised that you were able to deliver the bracelet today,” he said. “Not much time for a check to have cleared through a Denver Bank.”
Voorland nodded in response to the unspoken question in the detective’s voice. “My bank rushed it through by airmail. The full purchase price was paid before the bracelet left my store.”
Shayne shrugged and moved around Painter to ask Dustin, “Mind telling me how it happened?”
“See here,” Painter exploded, following Shayne across the carpeted floor. “You’re here to answer questions, not to ask them. I’d like to know-”
“You’d always like to know lots of things,” Shayne said over his shoulder. “Looks like they really cracked you up, Dustin.”
The westerner nodded. “I went crazy mad and stuck my neck out a mile. Your boys down here play for keeps.”
“Now look here, Shayne.” Painter moved around in front of him again. “That bracelet was delivered to Mr. Dustin late this evening. No one else knew the value of it or that his wife planned to wear it tonight except you and that girl-”
Shayne put the palm of his hand in Painter’s face and pushed. Painter rocked back on his heels and swung up a furious hand to knock Shayne’s palm aside. “By God, I’ll-”
“You’ll keep your damned yap shut,” Shayne told him with cold anger, “if you expect any help from me.”
“But you certainly can’t deny-”
“I’m not going to waste time denying anything,” Shayne broke in harshly. “How did it happen, Dustin?”
Painter stepped back, bristling with fury, while Mark Dustin gave the detective a brief account of the robbery. “I didn’t see the license number nor any of their faces,” he ended helplessly.
“There were three of them, you say.”
“I’m not even certain whether a fourth man stayed in the car behind the wheel or not. But they knew exactly what they wanted. They told Celia to stick her arm out the very first thing.”
“But they did take your money, too,” Shayne pointed out. “That looks as though they were just out for anything they could pick up.”
Dustin picked up a highball in his left hand. “You cops are the ones to figure things out. You know the way your mobs work down here better than I.”
“I’ve been trying to tell Painter,” said Voorland, “how unique this particular bracelet is. The sort of jewel mobs who operate in a resort city like Miami necessarily employ finger men who are experts in their line. One glance at those star rubies would have been enough to send them after the bracelet in a hurry.”
“But I still maintain it is preposterous,” said Painter angrily, “to presume that a gang would be waiting right here at the hotel on the mere chance that a finger man would see something of value. Remember, Mrs. Dustin insists she didn’t show the bracelet in public except when she walked across the hotel lobby to the door.”
“That still doesn’t rule out coincidence,” Shayne argued. “Lots of wealthy people wander out of this hotel every night wearing stuff worth grabbing. A smart mob might easily be hanging around waiting for just such a tip-off as they got when Mrs. Dustin flashed her new bracelet. Had the insurance on it gone through?” he asked Voorland.
“Yes. That is, temporary coverage has been issued pending receipt of the approved policy from New York. Earl Randolph handled it for me, and I’ve phoned him to come over here at once.”
“Mark!” cried Celia. “Do you suppose there’ll be any trouble about the insurance? You haven’t paid the premium or anything, have you?”
“I’ve been waiting for someone to mention that,” said Dustin. “I don’t know what the legal position will be. I understood from Mr. Voorland that it was all arranged.”
“Don’t worry about legal quibbling,” Voorland said with assurance. “International Indemnity is zealous of its reputation for paying every valid claim promptly. Your temporary coverage is every bit as good as a formal policy, even though you haven’t paid a cent on it. Of course,” he added, “the first premium will be deducted from the full amount when settlement is made.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much about a cash settlement,” said Shayne. “The very uniqueness of the stones in the bracelet makes it a practical certainty that the thieves will be glad to make a deal as soon as they find out what they’ve got.”
“That sounds like prior knowledge, Shayne.” Painter pounced upon his statement. “Could it be you who is planning to make a deal?”
Shayne disregarded him. “Isn’t that right?” he asked the jeweler.
“Exactly,” Voorland agreed. “It will be impossible to sell rubies like that as they are. I have photographs and exact measurements by which they can be positively identified.”
“But they could be cut up,” Painter interjected.
“That is exactly what they cannot be,” Voorland explained to him. “Star rubies would lose nine-tenths of their value cut up into pieces. Any cutting that destroys the asterism destroys the value of the stone. Shayne is right. They’ll be offered by the thieves-at a price.”
The door buzzer sounded. Celia Dustin went to the door and admitted a portly man with a round, shining face and a broad smile that displayed two gold teeth beneath a neatly trimmed mustache.
He said, “I’m Mr. Randolph. Mrs. Dustin?”
She said, “Yes,” and offered her hand. Voorland came across to meet Randolph, his eyes grave and intent.
“This is bad business, Earl,” said the jeweler. “We were just discussing International’s liability if the jewels are not recovered.”
“We’ve done business together for twenty years,” Randolph reminded him. “Has any company I ever represented tried to avoid a valid commitment?”
“Just what I’ve been telling Mr. Dustin. You know Shayne and Chief Painter. And this is your client whom I believe you have not met.”
Randolph nodded to the others and went over to Dustin. He said, solemnly, “I didn’t realize you’d been injured. In the robbery?”
“That’s right,” said Dustin glumly. “If I’d been sure about the insurance I might not have tried to save the bracelet.”
“Mr. Voorland has been trying to tell us,” Painter put in, “that the gems in the bracelet are a kind that can’t be cut up and resold readily.”