Milo March #10

One-2

“You think the servants are all out?”

“I think so. That’s what the cops think, too.”

“What about the wife—or one of her friends?”

He chuckled. “Go see them and make up your own mind, Milo. I think you’ll agree with us. You’re trying to make the job too easy for yourself.”

“What does that mean?”

“If it were the wife, or one of her boyfriends, we wouldn’t need you. We would have it wrapped up. It’s much bigger than that, Milo.”

“I don’t like big things,” I said sourly. “Tell me something, John. Those other robberies that Carlin mentioned—most of the jade that was taken was Chinese, wasn’t it?”

“Well, in a way,” he said. “At least, at some time or other, it had mostly been Chinese-owned. But I’m told that it didn’t originate there, that China got its jade primarily from Burma or Chinese Turkestan. Why do you ask?”

“I just thought of something,” I said. “Suppose this big g**g you and Carlin keep mentioning turns out to be Red China trying to get all its jade back. What do I do then?”

“If I know you, you’ll walk into Red China and bring it back.”

“Funny man,” I said. “I should know better than to waste my time talking to you about it. See you around, John.”

“Good luck, Milo,” he said. He was chuckling as he hung up.

I cursed to myself and took another look at the report There was a notation that Halley was usually home by four in the afternoon. I glanced at my watch. It was just three o’clock. That would give me time to go see Mrs. Halley before he arrived. I left.

The Halleys lived in the better section of Park Avenue. A doorman called upstairs to see if I was to be thrown out. He looked disappointed when the answer was obviously no. I went up in the elevator and was met at the door by a maid. She led the way into the living room.

The woman who waited for me there was tall, blonde, and extremely attractive. She wore a dark gown that covered her from her neck to well below her knees, but managed to suggest much that was beneath it. She appeared to be younger than the thirty stated in the report.

“Mr. March?” she asked as I came in. “I believe that you said you represent our insurance company?”

“That’s right,” I said. “You’re Mrs. Halley?”

She nodded. “Won’t you sit down? I hope this visit means that you have some news about my necklace.”

I took the chair across from her. “I’m afraid not, Mrs. Halley. As a matter of fact, I just started working on the case today. The company is hoping that I will be able to find it. I wanted to ask you a few questions.”

“More questions?” she said with a little gesture of annoyance. “But we’ve already told everything to two different men from the insurance company, as well as to the police.”

“I’ve read their reports,” I said, “but it’s not quite the same as hearing the information for myself. I hope you won’t mind telling it once more. … You and your husband were out the night the necklace was stolen?”

“Yes. At the theater.”

“And the servants?”

“They were all out, too. We’d given them the night off.”

“The necklace was in the safe?”

“Yes.”

“Did you always keep it there?”

“No. We kept it in a safe-deposit box at the bank along with my other jewelry. It was only taken out when I was going to wear it.”

“And were you going to wear it that night?”

“No. I had worn it the night before. There had been no opportunity to return it to the bank.”

“Wasn’t that unusual?”

“No. My jewelry is often left in the apartment safe for three or four days. The safe is quite good.”

“But not good enough this time,” I commented. “Was the lock on the safe broken?”

“No. Someone managed to open it.”

“Perhaps one of the servants?”

“No. My husband says that they did not know the combination. And the police have proved that each of them was where he or she claimed to be that night.”

“Was it generally known the necklace was here that night?”

“I don’t think so.”

“But the servants probably knew it was here?”

“I suppose they might have known it,” she said. “But we trust them completely.”

“Who knew the combination of the safe?”

“My husband.”

“Perhaps it was written down somewhere in case he forgot it?”

“I don’t believe so.”

“And you didn’t know it?”

“No.”

“Perhaps you knew it at one time,” I said with a smile, “and then forgot it. And you might have mentioned it to a friend without suspecting they might sometime make use of it.”

“No,” she said firmly.

Before I could ask another question there was a cheery hello from the direction of the hallway, and a moment later a man entered the room where we sat. He was tall and handsome, with gray hair. He looked to be about fifty, although I guessed he was Mr. Halley and knew from the report that he was ten years older.

“This is my husband,” she said to me. She stood up and kissed him as he came up to her. “Maxwell, this is Mr. March from the insurance company. About the necklace.”

“Have you found it?” he asked.

“No,” she said before I could answer. “Mr. March has just been assigned to the case, and he has come to ask the same old questions.” She looked up at him and laughed. “I believe Mr. March had just gotten to the point of thinking I stole the necklace myself or gave the combination to my secret lover.” Her husband looked at me with laughter in his eyes. “You must forgive us, Mr. March,” he said, “but that was the first thing the police thought of. My wife is thirty years younger than I am, and this seems to put all sorts of ideas into people’s heads. We find it very amusing.”

“Well … ,” I said lamely. I wasn’t sure what to say, since I was partly guilty of the same charge.

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told the police,” he said. “My wife doesn’t know the combination to the safe only because there’s been no need for her to know it. My wife and I have a joint bank account. Even if she had a lover, she wouldn’t have to steal her own jewelry to get money for him. She could merely cash a check. I trust her completely and never ask her what she has done with the money she withdraws. I don’t even see her canceled checks.”

“Okay,” I said. “So I’m paid to have a nasty mind. As a matter of fact, your premiums go to pay me to have a nasty mind. Sometimes it may offend you, but most of the time it works out to your benefit. Tell me something else. Isn’t a hundred thousand dollars a lot of money for a necklace like that?”

“Not really,” he said. “The necklace is worth much more than that. It consisted of imperial emerald jade, and several of the beads dated from the time of Emperor Ch’ien Lung, in the eighteenth century. There is no other necklace like it in the world.”

“Since the thieves took the necklace and nothing else, would you say that they knew the value of what they were getting?”

“Definitely. The other pieces in the safe were more flashy in appearance.”

“And you have no idea of who might have engineered the robbery?”

“No.”

“Mrs. Halley said that you trust the servants. Have any of them quit or behaved in an unusual manner since the robbery?”

They both looked startled. “Well … ,” she said, then stopped and looked at her husband.

“One of our maids did leave three days ago,” he said, “but we are sure there is no connection. She left because her sister was going to have a baby.”

“The robbery was eight days ago?”

“Yes.”

“What was the maid’s name?” I asked.

“Mary Moy.”

“Chinese?”

“Yes,” he said reluctantly. “But don’t jump to conclusions because she’s Chinese and the necklace is jade.”

“If she’s innocent, she won’t be hurt by the conclusions I jump to,” I said. “Do the police know about her leaving?”

“N-no. They haven’t been around since she left. And, as I said, we’re sure there is no connection.”

“Do you have an address for her?”

“Of course,” he said. “I’ll get it.” He left the room.

“Mrs. Halley,” I asked when he was gone, “how long did this girl work for you?”

“About two months.” She must have noticed the expression on my face. “Don’t try to make something out of that, too. She came very well recommended and she was a wonderful maid.”

“I’m sure she was,” I said gravely. “What was she like?”

“Young and beautiful. In fact, we were worried at first, because we thought she’d want to be going out on dates all the time. … Oh yes, and she was quite tall for a Chinese.”

“Did you see any of her boyfriends?”

She shook her head. “If she had any, they never came here. And she didn’t go out often. She was the best maid we ever had.”

Maxwell Halley came back, carrying a small account book. He gave me an address on Pell Street.

“I hope,” he concluded, “that you won’t be rough with her, Mr. March. She’s a fine girl.”

“I won’t be rough,” I said. I stood up. “Thank you very much. I’m sorry that I had to bother you.”

They both muttered polite nothings and I left. I took a cab down to Chinatown. I didn’t expect to find anything, and I was right. A Mary Moy had stayed at the address, or at least had a room there for exactly two months. She’d given it up three days earlier. No one knew where she came from or where she had gone. No one knew anything about her, not even when I asked in Chinese. I wasn’t making much headway. I needed some kind of lead, and there was one place I might get it.

I headed back uptown, to Broadway and Vinnie’s Sport Palace. It was a place with every kind of game and coin machine you could think of, plus a shooting gallery and all sorts of novelties. The man I wanted to see could usually be found there—if he wanted to be found. I looked around on the street level, but didn’t see him. I walked over to the novelty counter.

“Little Pete around?” I asked the man behind the counter.

“Might be,” he said. “And again, might not be. Who’s looking for him?”

“Tell him Milo March is downstairs practicing to take him on at Skee-ball.”

I turned and headed for the stairs without looking back. I went down to the basement and over to the Skee-ball games. You roll a wooden ball up an incline so that it jumps into one of several circles, with the score running from ten to fifty for each ball. There’s nothing much to it, but just try to rack up a decent score. I put a coin in the slot and released the balls. I threw the first one. Ten points. I tried another one. Ten points again. I did worse on the third one. Nothing.

“Hiya, Milo,” a new voice said. It was Little Pete. “You still ain’t throwing them balls the way I told you to. You gotta put the old mazoo on them. Like this.”

He picked up three of the balls and threw them one after the other with apparent carelessness. But he scored fifty points with each ball.

“Like that,” he said as the third ball plunked into the center circle.