Jon Breen - Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Vol. 57, No. 3. Whole No. 328, March 1971

“Enough to pay me $20,000 so you could get a job worth maybe a few hundred? I think not. But you were working in the museum on the day the Pliny diamond was stolen. And that started me thinking. You said yourself that when you fitted an artificial bone they usually closed off that room of the museum while you did your work. That means, at least for a brief period, the guard would probably be removed — or he wouldn’t be watching you too closely. The jewelry at the museum now isn’t worth your trouble, but suppose the Pliny never left the building. Suppose you simply broke the display case, removed the Pliny and hid it somewhere. Somewhere, say, in the Hall of Great Reptiles.”

“That’s crazy!”

“Is it? You couldn’t risk carrying it out of the building on your person with alarm bells ringing all around, but you could hide and return for it later — a week or a month later, if necessary. But what happened after the Pliny diamond was stolen? The museum tightened its security by placing a guard in every room. The Pliny was still there, safer now than ever, except that the museum didn’t know it.”

“Of course!” Lynn Peters breathed at his side. “That would explain everything.”

Nick nodded. “It would certainly explain why you were so pleased to see me on Sunday, Kincaid. You knew I couldn’t be hired to steal the diamond for you, but if I could steal part of the dinosaur, the museum would ask you to come down and fix it. Alone in that room you could retrieve the Pliny from its hiding place.”

“You’ll never convince anyone of that story, Velvet.”

“I’ve convinced Miss Peters already, and I’m sure she’ll be able to convince the museum officials. You were growing nervous and wanted me to steal the tail soon, which means the hiding place isn’t too safe. I think a search of the room will turn it up quickly.”

Kincaid bit his lip and looked from one to the other. “I have money. I’ll pay you both well.”

“I already have my pay from you,” Nick said.

“A deal?”

“That’s up to Miss Peters now. But if you tell us exactly where the Pliny is, I think she’d allow you enough time to catch a morning flight to South America.”

“South—”

“They must read dirty books down there, too. You could start a whole new life.”

Kincaid made a sudden motion toward the desk, but Nick stopped him. “No guns, please. Nothing like that. ,

“Where’s the Pliny?” Lynn demanded.

He stared at the carpeted floor for a long moment before he answered. Then he said, so softly that they could hardly hear, “On top of one of those tall display cases along the wall. I just threw it up there. The cases are so dusty I knew they were rarely cleaned or even examined.”

They left him in his house on the hill, and as they drove away Lynn asked, “Is your work always this much fun?”

“Sometimes. When there’s somebody like you along.”

“What are you thinking about right now?”

He turned to her and grinned. “You know, in a sense that damned dinosaur had a jeweled tail after all.”

© 1971 by James Powell.

Copyright, 1945, by The Curtis Publishing Company. Reprinted by permission of William Morrow & Co., Inc.

©1971 by John D. MacDonald.

© 1971 by Jon L. Breen.

Copyright 1929 by Dodd, Mead and Co.; renewed 1957 by Agatha Christie Mallowan.

© 1971 by Nedra Tyre.

© 1971 by McGarry Morley.

© Michael Gilbert 1968.

© 1971 by Edward D. Hoch.