Эрл Гарднер - The Amazing Adventures of Lester Leith

“Vare,” he said, “you have had your first lesson this afternoon. Do you think that you have profited by it?”

Vare flushed.

“I’ll say one thing,” he said, “no pickpocket will ever get near you again as long as I’m around.”

Lester Leith nodded.

“That’s fine,” he said. “Now then, I have a rather valuable bauble here that I want to have guarded carefully. I am going to ask you to put it in your pocket.”

And Lester Leith slipped from his pocket the imitation ruby and passed it across the table to Vare.

Vare gave a gasp, and his eyes bulged.

“Good heavens,” he said, “this is worth a fortune!”

Leith shrugged. “I am making no comments, Vare,” he said, “on its value. It is merely something which is entrusted to you for safekeeping, as a part of your training in detective work.”

Vare slipped the gem hurriedly into his pocket.

Lester Leith caught the eye of the waiter and secured the check, which he paid.

“I want you folks to take a little walk with me,” he said. “Vare is going to have another lesson as a detective, and I would like to have all of you present.”

The spy was plainly ill at ease.

“You want me there also, sir?” he asked.

“Certainly,” said Lester Leith.

“Very well, sir,” said the spy.

Leith helped the young woman on with her wraps, saw that she was seated comfortably in the taxicab, and told the driver to take them to the depot.

The spy stared at him curiously.

“You’re leaving town, sir?” he asked.

“Oh, no,” said Lester Leith. “We’re just going down to the depot, and I’m going to walk around the way I did this afternoon. Vare is going to see that my pocket isn’t picked.”

There was not as large a crowd in the depot at night, and Lester Leith had some difficulty in finding a crowd of sufficient density to suit his purpose. In his side pocket was a note:

“The young man who is following me around has an imitation ruby in his pocket. He is watching me to make certain that no one picks my pocket. See if you can get the ruby from him, and after you have it, return it to me later.”

Bentley, the pickpocket, stood on the outskirts of a crowd of people who were waiting in line at a ticket window, and gave Lester Leith a significant glance. Leith gestured toward his pocket.

Leith pushed his way into the crowd, and, as he did so, felt Bentley’s fingers slip the printed instructions from his pocket.

Thereafter, Lester Leith wandered aimlessly about the depot, until suddenly he heard a choked cry from Harry Vare.

Lester Leith turned and retraced his steps to the young man, who was standing with a sickly gray countenance, his eyes filled with despair.

“What is it?” asked Lester Leith.

Vare indicated a gaping cut down the side of his coat and through his vest.

“I put that gem in the inside of my vest,” he said, “where I knew that it would be safe from pickpockets, and look what happened!”

Lester Leith summoned the undercover man.

“Scuttle,” he said, “will you notice what has happened? This young man whom I was training to be a detective has allowed the property with which I entrusted him to be stolen.”

The valet blinked.

“I didn’t see anyone, sir,” he said, “and I was keeping my own eye peeled.”

“Scuttle,” Lester Leith said, “I am going to ask you to take Vare back to his apartment. Let him sit down and meditate carefully for two hours upon everything that happened and every face he saw while he was here at the depot. I want to see if he can possibly identify the man who is guilty of picking his pocket.”

Vare said humbly: “I’m afraid, sir, that you picked a poor student.” Lester Leith smiled.

“Tut, tut, Vare,” he said, “that’s something for me to determine. I told you that I was going to give you an education, and I am. You’re getting a free scholarship as well as wages. So don’t worry about it. Go on to your apartment, and sit down and concentrate.”

Vare said: “It certainly is wonderful of you to take the thing this way.”

“That’s all right, Vare.”

As the undercover man took Vare’s arm and piloted him toward a taxicab, Lester Leith turned to Dixie Dormley with a smile.

“I’ve got to meet a party here in a few minutes,” he said, “and then we can go and dance.”

They continued to hang around the depot for fifteen or twenty minutes. Lester Leith began to frown and to consult his wrist watch. Suddenly Sid Bentley, the pickpocket, materialized through one of the doorways and hurried toward them.

“It’s okay,” he said.

Leith frowned at him.

“You took long enough doing it,” he said.

“I’m sorry I kept you waiting,” Bentley said, “but there was one thing that I had to do. You should have figured it out yourself, Chief.”

“What was that?”

“I had to go to a good fence and make sure that the thing I had was an imitation,” said Bentley.

“Well,” Leith said, “there’s nothing like being frank.”

“That’s the way I figure it, Chief,” he said. “You know, I’ve got a duty to you, but I’ve got a duty to my profession, too. I certainly would have been a dumb hick to have had my hands on a fortune and let it slip.”

Lester Leith felt the weight of the jewel in his pocket. He nodded and turned away.

“That’s all right, Bentley,” he said. “You meet me here tomorrow night at seven o’clock, and in the meantime there won’t be anything more for you unless I should get in touch with you. Can you give me a telephone number where I can get in touch with you if I should need you?”

The pickpocket reached in his pocket and took out a card.

“Here you are, Chief,” he said. “Just ring up that number and leave word that you’ll be at some particular place at some particular time. Don’t try to talk with me over the telephone. Just leave that message. Then you go to that place, and I’ll be hanging around. If the thing looks safe to me, I’ll be there. And if I don’t hear from you I’ll be here tomorrow night at seven.”

“Okay,” said Leith.

“Dixie,” he said, “I’ve got something for you to do which is rather confidential. I am going to take you to a night club where there’s a chap by the name of Bob Lamont. He makes this night club his regular hangout. He will probably have a companion with him, but, from what I’ve heard, he has a roving eye. I want you to see to it that his eye roves your way, and that you dance with him. After that, we’ll try and make a foursome if we can. If we can’t, you can date him up for tomorrow night. Think you can do it?”

“Brother,” she said, “in these clothes, if I can’t stop any roving masculine eye, I’m going out of show business.”

Sergeant Arthur Ackley banged upon the door of the apartment. Bolts clicked back as Harry Vare opened the door and stared stupidly at Sergeant Ackley.

Sergeant Ackley pushed his way into the apartment without a word, slammed the door shut behind him, strode across the room to a chair, and sat down.

“Well, young man,” he said, “you’ve got yourself into a pretty pickle.”

Harry Vare blinked and started to talk, but words failed him.

Sergeant Ackley flipped back his coat so that Harry Vare’s eyes could rest on the gold badge pinned to his vest.

“Well,” he said, “what have you got to say for yourself?”

“I... I... I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, yes you do,” said Sergeant Ackley. “You’re teamed up with this super-crook and you’re hashing up a scheme to assist in hijacking a big ruby.”

Vare shook his head.

“No, sir,” he said, “you’re mistaken. I had a big ruby which was given to me to keep but somebody stole it.”