Erle Gardner - Erle Stanley Gardner’s The Case of the Murderer’s Bride and Other Stories

The sergeant stared at Lester Leith.

“A cooler summer! Dammit, man, it’s winter.”

Lester Leith positively beamed.

“By George, that’s so. I forgot to tell you of my new heat-saving scheme. It’s the same as daylight saving. That is, it depends on the same psychological factors, and it’s equally logical.

“You see, like every great idea, it’s simple. We achieve daylight saving simply by setting our clocks ahead. Well, I’ve achieved heat saving by the same method. I’ve set the calendar ahead. I tear off eight months and make it July. It’s marvelously simple!”

Sergeant Ackley peered intently at Lester Leith.

“You’re cuckoo,” he said. “It’s freezing in here. You’ll catch your death of cold. Good Lord, sitting in a room with the windows all up and thermometer down to freezing!”

Sergeant Ackley sat on the edge of a chair and shivered.

“Hello, what’s the idea of all the candy?” he asked.

“Just a whim, Sergeant. I was thinking about that unfortunate robbery of Mr. Mills, and I wondered if it was possible that the criminal had concealed the rubies in some of the candy.”

“So you sent out and bought this candy. Did it ever occur to you that you’d have been in rather a bad position if the candy had contained the gems?”

Lester Leith smiled frankly.

“Of course, Sergeant. That’s why I had my man call on you and get permission in writing to purchase anything he wanted.”

Sergeant Ackley’s brows knitted.

“But it was all a mistake. The hiding couldn’t have been worked that way. Have a piece of candy, Sergeant.”

Lester Leith extended a box and the sergeant took a chocolate, taking care to inspect the bottom before he sank his teeth into it.

For several seconds he toyed with the candy, going through the motions of eating it, yet making little headway. All of a sudden he stiffened and looked at the candy between his forefinger and thumb. Then he looked at the insides of the thumb and forefinger, and sat upright in his chair.

“Something?” asked Lester Leith politely.

But Sergeant Ackley was halfway to the door.

“You devil!” he exclaimed. “You clever devil!”

And the door banged behind him.

Lester Leith gazed at the door with a puzzled frown.

Sergeant Ackley sprinted for the elevator and literally ran into Beaver at the sidewalk. He shot out a huge hand and scooped Beaver into an alcove.

“He ain’t crazy,” said Sergeant Ackley. “I don’t know what his game is, but it’s the cleverest scheme ever pulled in a criminal case.”

Beaver, his arms filled with packages, surveyed his superior with blinking eyes.

“Have you gone daffy too?”

Sergeant Ackley shook his head.

“Look here,” he said, “when we heated the gems and tried to put them in the chocolate creams, what happened?”

“Why, we messed the job up,” admitted Beaver.

“Right,” said Sergeant Ackley. “Chocolate melts at about the heat of the human blood, see? Well, if you hadn’t been such a damned fool you’d have remembered the room was steam-heated. That’s what made the chocolates messy! Now Lester Leith is sitting up there with the heat off and the windows open. The room is freezing. But look what it did to the chocolates! You can hold one of them in your fingers for minutes and it won’t get sloppy. You could slip a hot stone into those chocolates and cover up the place by holding a hot iron near the chocolate, and make a perfect job of it. And you could do it quick!”

The valet-spy’s jaw sagged.

“Of course! And the loft of the candy store was cold when Griggy the Gat was in there!”

Sergeant Ackley nodded.

“I’m glad to see that you’re not entirely hopeless, Beaver. Now you get up to that apartment and humor Lester Leith in this heat-saving idea of his. Give him all the rope he wants. Put on an overcoat and let the room get just as cold as he wants it. And be sure to keep your eye on that candy!”

“How about the candy that’s still out at the candy factory?” Sergeant Ackley chuckled.

“That’s where I’m going right now. I’m going to have the police buy up every ounce of that candy, all the chocolate and all the mixing cream, and I’m going to put them all in one great big pot and melt them down. Then I’m going to pour off the syrup and see what’s left. I have an idea we’ll have the rest of those gems!”

“Meaning,” asked Beaver, “that there are stones in the candy upstairs?”

Sergeant Ackley nodded.

“And we spent the afternoon putting more stones in it!”

“That,” snapped Sergeant Ackley, “was your idea, Beaver. Now go up there and watch him like a hawk. When we get ready to spring the trap we’ll spring it right.”

When Beaver entered the apartment, Lester Leith was wrapped in a fur overcoat, his ankles covered with a wool blanket.

“Ah, good evening, Scuttle. Back already. Do you know, Scuttle, I can’t remember ever having seen a colder summer!”

The valet peered at the calendar.

“Here it is July already, and cold. Sometimes June is rather cool, but it’s unusual July weather, sir.”

Lester Leith smiled and nodded.

“Very well spoken. You got the things for me?”

The valet nodded.

Lester Leith idly reached for a chocolate cream. The valet watched him intently.

Lester Leith’s hand went to his mouth. He pushed some red object into the palm of his hand with his tongue, and his face lit with a smile of satisfaction.

The valet knew it was not one of the pieces he and Sergeant Ackley had loaded with the four rubies, so he leaned forward eagerly.

“Something, sir?” he asked, his voice trembling.

Lester Leith dropped the red object into his pocket.

“Yes, Scuttle, one of the red cinnamon drops. I forgot that I had put them in the chocolates, and cinnamon drops don’t mix very well with cream.”

There was a knock on the door. The valet eased his bulk toward the door and opened it. A dark-haired young woman with a very red mouth stood on the threshold. Her eyes were sparkling from the crisp air of the winter night.

“Which one of you is Lester Leith?” she asked.

Leith got to his feet as the girl walked into the cold room and the valet closed the door.

“Heat off?” asked the girl.

Lester Leith held a chair for her.

“Yes,” he said. “I am trying an experiment in heat saving.”

“Well, you’re saving it all right... All right, what are you giving away?”

Leith explained to his valet. “I telephoned a friend of mine and told him I had a gift for a deserving young lady.” Then turning to their visitor, “I want to give you some candy. I made a rather large candy purchase on a speculation which didn’t turn out, and I’m left with the candy on my hands.”

The valet-spy said, “You wouldn’t give it away, sir—”

Lester Leith said coldly, “That will do, Scuttle.” He turned again to the girl. “If you think your — er — boy friend would misinterpret the spirit which prompts this gift, I should be glad to deliver it to you in his presence.”

The girl’s eyes narrowed.

Leith continued, “I’ll carry the candy down to a cab.”

She was sizing him up with eyes accustomed to make fast and accurate appraisals. In the end she reached the verdict which most women reached with Lester Leith.

“Okay,” she said.

Leith loaded his arms with candy boxes and escorted the woman to the door.

“I’ll help you carry some of the boxes down, sir,” said Scuttle.

Lester Leith shook his head. “You stay right here, Scuttle.”

And he led the way to the elevator, made two more trips back for candy, and then wished the police spy a good night.