Эрл Гарднер - The Amazing Adventures of Lester Leith

He saw quick flashing interest in her eyes.

“But how could he have anticipated that a theft would occur while Shogiro was under his roof?”

Lester Leith brushed the question aside. “That, of course, is something for the police to consider. It is just a thought.”

“Are you then a detective?”

“Heaven forbid!”

“And do you actually have need for a secretary, Mr. Leith, or did you wish to interrogate me?”

“Both,” Leith said. “If you would like the job, you’re hired. The salary is six hundred a month. You will have your traveling expenses taken care of, and, if necessary, we can consider a reasonable wardrobe a part of your traveling expenses.”

“You intend to travel?”

“Yes.”

“May I ask where?”

“To the Hawaiian Islands.”

She raised her eyebrows. “To Honolulu?”

“Yes.”

“That will be delightful,” she said. “I am considered an expert typist. I can take rapid dictation in shorthand, and I feel certain that I could do your work. When do you wish me to start?”

“At once.”

“You mean now — this instant?”

“Yes.”

She said, “Very well. May I see the typewriter please?”

Leith said, “There won’t be any typing for the present, Miss Foy.”

“What is it you wish me to do?”

“Wait here for my return.”

“So I may make appointments?”

“Yes,” Leith said, getting to his feet. “I have a valet who should be back at any moment. His name is Beaver. I call him Scuttle. He has been with me for some time, and I have the greatest confidence in his loyalty and integrity.”

“But one should expect that of all employees.”

“Exactly,” Leith said, “but I can double it in the case of Scuttle. I have absolutely no secrets from him.”

“That is very nice.”

Leith said, “He will probably ask you questions about what you are doing here and what was said in this interview.”

She said, “My race considers that it is the province of the servant to work, of the master to ask questions.”

“Well, Scuttle has his own ideas,” Leith said, with something of a twinkle in his eyes, “and I would be particularly happy if you would answer all his questions quite truthfully, because, you see, if you didn’t, he might think I had cautioned you not to, and I wouldn’t want to hurt him for the world.”

“Very well,” she said.

“And,” Leith said, “I really feel, Miss Foy, that you shouldn’t hold any grudge against Mr. Sansone. It may well have been that he asked you to leave for your own protection. As I get the story from the newspapers, Mr. Shogiro called on him the day before the dinner at which the necklace was stolen. At that time, Sansone inspected the necklace. The next evening Shogiro came to dinner and brought the necklace with him. It was in a carved ivory jewel case which Shogiro carried in the inside pocket of his coat. After dinner, at the request of Mr. Sansone, he produced the necklace so that Mr. Sansone’s guests could see it. At that time, the necklace was found to be an imitation. The assumption, of course, is that a substitution had been made sometime during the evening. But isn’t it quite possible that Mr. Sansone had perhaps recognized the necklace as an imitation when he first saw it?”

“In that case, why did he not tell Mr. Shogiro?”

“Because,” Leith said, “he wasn’t certain. You’ll note that the dinner was for men only — men who knew something about pearls and about China. In fact, I believe it was one of the guests who observed that the pearls were imitation.”

“So I understand,” she said.

Leith abruptly got to his feet. “That,” he said, “is all, Miss Foy. You are hired. Your salary starts at once. If anyone should appear and ask for me, I have gone out and will return in an hour.”

Leith opened the door of his apartment and stood to one side. A taxi driver, loaded with parcels, staggered into the room.

“Where do you want these put, boss?”

“Any place,” Leith said. “My man will put them away. Here, Scuttle, give a hand.”

The undercover man, who had been engaged in low-voiced conversation with Mah Foy, jumped forward to help the cab driver.

Leith said, “There’s more in the cab, Scuttle. If you will go back with the driver, you can bring the other parcels up.”

When the valet and the cab driver had gone, Mah Foy said, in her musical voice, “May I assist you in opening the packages and putting them away, Mr. Leith?”

“Not yet,” Leith said. “We’ll await Scuttle’s return. Scuttle will be interested to know what’s in the packages. He’s very curious, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

Mah Foy said, “I have noticed.”

“Questions?” Leith asked.

“Many questions.”

Leith said, “I trust that you remembered to answer them fully.”

“Quite fully,” she said.

Leith grinned. “We’ll stack these bundles to one side,” he said.

Together they moved the packages so that the doorway was cleared.

Even the Chinese girl showed curiosity as the undercover man and the cab driver returned with another load of packages.

“That all?” Leith asked.

“That’s all, sir,” the cab driver said.

When the cab driver had left, Leith closed the door and surveyed the array of packages. “Very well, Scuttle,” he said, “you may open them.”

Eagerly the undercover man produced a knife and started cutting cords.

Leith said, “Be careful, Scuttle. Many of those things are fragile.”

“Yes, sir,” the undercover man said.

He pulled back the heavy, brown wrapping paper, lifted the lid off a box, and brought out a glass bowl. “What’s this?” he asked.

“A goldfish bowl,” Leith said. “Not an ordinary goldfish bowl, of course, but one that has valuable properties.”

“I don’t see anything special, sir.”

Leith said, “You’ll observe, Scuttle, that there’s a circular partition in that bowl. When it is filled with water, this circular partition acts as a huge magnifying glass. Place that in front of an audience, and a small section of the bowl directly in back of it is magnified so that it looks as though the whole bowl is filled with water in which goldfish are swimming. As a matter of fact, only a small portion of the bowl contains water or goldfish.”

The undercover man straightened. “The audience?”

“Exactly,” Lester Leith said calmly.

Scuttle appeared slightly bewildered.

“But I don’t see what an audience has to do with it, if you don’t mind my saying so, sir?”

Leith said, “We are going in for prestidigitation, legerdemain, sleight of hand, optical illusions, parlor magic, and general hocus-pocus, Scuttle.”

“You mean you’re going to take that up as an occupation, sir?”

“Tut, tut,” Leith said. “You should know me better. I prefer to retain my amateur standing. Well, open the others, Scuttle.”

The undercover man opened a flat, heavy package. “What’s this? It looks like an ordinary double slate like those used in school.”

“You shouldn’t say that, Scuttle,” Leith said. “It dates you. However, you are quite right. Observe, Scuttle, how easy it is to communicate with the unseen forces which guard our lives. Ah, there it is — the sponge.”

“Yes, sir,” the spy said, producing the sponge from a corner of the box.

“Now, Scuttle, if you will just step into the kitchen and dampen this sponge, you can wipe off both sides of the slate. There should be some slate pencils — ah, here they are.”

Leith took out a package of slate pencils.

The undercover man, holding the sponge in his hand, stepped into the kitchenette. Leith glanced across at Mah Foy, the Chinese girl, and winked at her.