Nick smiled and moved around the desk to a comfortable leather chair. “Your building is quite old and I’m something of a thief, remember?”
“Did you steal those birds? Did you cause all that trouble at the Palace?”
Nick shook his head. “No. As a matter of fact, I’ve come for my money. Harry Haskins offered me ten thousand pounds if I could prevent the ravens from being stolen.”
“What?” Gibellion didn’t seem to understand. “But you didn’t prevent it! The ravens were stolen!”
“On the contrary, Mr. Gibellion, the ravens were not stolen. When you brought the cage to the Palace today, the cage was empty. That business with all the birds was clever misdirection — but misdirection from a robbery that was not taking place.”
“You must be crazy!”
“Am I? The cage was covered for the presentation, and neither Haskins nor I actually saw those birds this morning. We were supposed to assume they were in the cage because you said so. I’d been visiting pet shops myself last night and had encountered an astonishing shortage of all kinds of black birds. When I discovered that someone had been buying them up, I wasn’t really too surprised to see the truck release them into the Palace — though I must admit it made quite a spectacle. I simply stood in a comer and watched — both the birds and that covered cage of yours. No one went near that cage, Gibellion. And yet later you claimed the birds were gone. The only possibility is that they were never in the cage in the first place.”
“But you are the thief, Velvet — not me!”
Nick shook his head. “Not this time. No one could seriously have suspected me of the crime, because I’d never been to the Palace before. I had no knowledge of which room we’d be in, so I could hardly have paid the dim-witted driver to back his truck into the correct window, could I? No, the driver was hired by someone who knew the Palace routine. It could have been Haskins, but when I determined the cage was empty all along, I knew it had to be you.”
“And so?”
“And so I want my money. No theft took place, so you owe me ten thousand pounds.”
“Your deal was with Haskins,” the Ambassador reminded him.
“But I’m collecting from you.”
Gibellion shook his head. “You’ve already collected your fee, Velvet. You were paid by the anti-Gola forces to steal the birds, and you collected from them this afternoon.”
Nick frowned at him across the desk. “I gather you’ve been talking with Stavanger.”
Gibellion shook his head. “You fail to fully comprehend the intricacy of the situation.” His hand came up from under the desk and it was holding a nickel-plated revolver pointed at Nick’s chest. “You see, I am Stavanger.”
Nick leaned back in the chair, keeping his voice casual. “That’s fine. Then I get paid twice by the same man.”
“Your payment is right here,” the Ambassador said, and the gun edged up a trifle. “You are a thief, Mr. Velvet. You have already robbed me of one payment — for seven false ravens you obviously obtained from a pet shop. I could hardly admit to the girl that I knew the birds were fakes, and so I had to pay for them.”
“Finding those birds last night was a harder job than stealing them,” Nick said. “I had to drive all the way to Greenwich to find a pet shop you hadn’t emptied for your little trick this morning. I’ll admit I was beginning to wonder about the identity of the man in the false beard who was buying black birds.”
“The birds were purchased over a period of several weeks. I have been planning this for some time.” The gun edged up another fraction.
“Before you shoot me, Gibellion, you could at least explain why you did it.”
“Why? There were two reasons, really. One was simply to embarrass the President of Gola on his visit here. But much more important, I wanted to discredit myself and force my recall back home. As Stavanger I have built up a complex underground system in Gola, an army of faithful revolutionaries waiting to follow me. But I am the only man who can lead them, and here I am in London, chained to an Ambassador’s desk. By allowing the theft to take place I incurred the President’s anger and will be sent home in disgrace — which is exactly what I wanted! It is far more effective and less suspicious than if I merely resigned. I will be back in Gola next week, ready to lead the revolution.”
Nick saw the Ambassador’s finger whiten on the trigger, and he tensed for a leap. Then suddenly the window through which he’d entered opened again, and the room was alive with birds. Gibellion jerked back in his chair as a bird darted in front of his eyes and circled toward the ceiling.
Nick waited no longer. He dove across the desk, knocking the gun away and pinning the Ambassador in his chair.
Pat McGowan entered through the window, wearing black slacks and a sweater, and looking that moment even more beautiful than Nick remembered. “The same bird trick,” he said with admiration.
She grinned, and took a little bow. “Stavanger’s driver told me he didn’t even want the birds. He left them in the limousine this afternoon. I brought them here to sell them back to Gibellion — anything for a little extra money — and overheard your conversation just now. I was as surprised as you to learn that Stavanger and Gibellion were the same man. I’d never seen the Ambassador before, not even in pictures.”
“I have to thank you for saving my life,” Nick told her. The birds were still swooping around the room, enjoying their freedom.
“I decided your life was worth saving,” she said.
Releasing his grip on Gibellion, Nick reminded him, “I believe you were about to pay me my fee. Ten thousand pounds.”
The Ambassador sputtered and struggled to his feet. Nick stood by his side as he removed the money from a wall safe. Behind him, Pat McGowan was trying to coax the birds back into their cage. “You’ve been paid twice for nothing,” Gibellion complained. “You didn’t steal the birds, and you didn’t prevent their theft.”
“But you now have fourteen ravens — these seven and your original seven. The extra birds should be worth the extra fee.” Nick grinned and pocketed the money without counting it. Then he took the girl’s hand and they left quickly by the window, before the Ambassador could retrieve his revolver.
“It looks as if I’m no longer working for Stavanger,” Pat remarked as they reached the next block.
“Just as well. Somehow I don’t think he really had much interest in your Irish matters.” He hailed a passing cab. “Let’s go somewhere for a quiet drink. I’ve already missed my plane.”
“What will happen to him now, Nick? To Gibellion, I mean.”
“Who knows? Maybe his brand of revolution is good for Gola. Maybe by next year he’ll be visiting the Queen himself, and she’ll get her seven ravens after all.”
The Borneo Snapshot Mystery
by James Holding{©1971 by James Holding.}
The years have passed — nearly five of them — since we’ve published a new adventure in deduction about our favorite mystery writing team (fictional). Surely you remember King Danforth and Martin Leroy, partners in crime (fictional), the famous literary collaboration known as “Leroy King,” whose books have sold more than 125,000,000 copies throughout the world. Well, they and their lovely wives are still aboard the Valhalla on their round-the-world cruise, and once again a shipboard mystery strikes. What is the meaning of the strange clue — the tiny colored glass spheres on the dead man’s forehead? Strange clue indeed — but are the Great Men daunted? Not on your ’tec tintype — Leroy King rides again!