Brett Halliday: Blood on the Stars

“I understand perfectly, Mr. Dustin. You’d like to request a disinterested appraisal before making up your mind.”

“Yes. Someone like an insurance appraiser. That’s a splendid idea. I’ll have to have it insured if I do buy. What portion of the appraised value do those people generally write coverage on?” he asked Shayne.

“Up to eighty percent. Sometimes more. Depending on the reputation of the dealer, the current market, things like that.”

Voorland nodded approvingly. “In general cases, you are quite correct, Mike. But this isn’t a general case. This bracelet is unique and therefore practically priceless. I’m ready to stake my professional reputation that any reputable insurance company will be glad to issue you a policy covering the full purchase price.”

“That’s good enough for me. You’ve made a sale if you can fix up a policy on that basis.”

Mr. Voorland chuckled and smacked over his gum. “Is Earl Randolph in town, Mike?”

“I saw him a couple of days ago.”

“Mr. Randolph is one of the shrewdest appraisers in the business,” Voorland told Dustin. “I showed him this bracelet two months ago when I was holding it at two hundred thousand, and he asked for a chance to write a policy on it when I sold it. I’ll get hold of him at once and I’m sure we’ll have no difficulty.”

“In that case, I presume you’d like to have a little cash on the line.” Mark Dustin’s voice was strained, as though he realized for the first time what he was letting himself in for. He reached in a side pocket of his slacks, adding, “Naturally, I don’t carry that kind of cash around with me.”

“Naturally not, Mr. Dustin.” Voorland’s voice was soothing and understanding.

“But the bangtails have been coming in for me,” Dustin explained as he withdrew a thick clip of bills. “Suppose I give you ten thousand down to bind the sale, and a check for the balance.”

“Perfectly all right, Mr. Dustin.”

“It will have to be a check on my bank in Denver. I’m just here for a short time.”

“I quite understand,” Voorland purred. “Of course you won’t expect to take possession until your check has cleared through my local bank.”

“Of course not. Wait a minute.” Dustin turned to his wife. “When is that shindig in Miami? That fancy concert at the White Temple.”

“Next Friday, Mark. But it doesn’t matter-”

“The hell it doesn’t. The Crowthers will be there, and the Buckleys. And old lady Bastrop with all her diamonds. Do you think I can have it for my wife to wear Friday night?” he asked Voorland.

“This is Monday.” Voorland pursed his lips and looked doubtful. “I’m sure I can have the insurance coverage arranged by that time, but the check on Denver will scarcely have time to get back.”

“Nonsense,” said Dustin. “Give your bank instructions to send it through special. By airmail. And have the Denver bank wire when it clears. Shouldn’t take more than two days.” His manner evidenced the westerner’s contempt for the conservative pace of easterners, and it brought an indulgent smile to Voorland’s lips.

He nodded and said, “Very well. If you’ll step back to the office, Mr. Dustin, we’ll take care of it right away. Wander around and see what you’d like,” he added over his shoulder to Shayne as the three of them went toward his private office. “This will take only a few minutes.”

“Who is he?” Lucy exclaimed when they were out of hearing. “He looks like a cowboy-or something. I could live in luxury the rest of my life on the money he’s throwing away on that trinket.”

Shayne grinned and tweaked her ear. “You thought it was pretty in the beginning.”

“I still do, but a hundred and eighty thousand dollars! It’s criminal to spend money that way. Think how many loaves of bread that would buy for starving children all over the world.”

“Let’s not think about it.” Shayne led her toward the long row of showcases. “Start looking around, but don’t stop if you come to any star rubies.”

Mark Dustin’s sports roadster was one of an unending parade of cars rolling across the Venetian Causeway toward Miami Beach. The last race of the day had been run at Tropical Park, and Dustin was content to relax while the procession crawled at a snail’s pace. He had hit a freak daily double at 420 to 1 with a ten-spot, and his four grand winnings made a comfortable wad in his pocket.

Celia was supremely happy beside her husband, pressing close against his shoulder and dreamily contemplating the shifting mass of fleecy clouds above the palm-fringed shore eastward. She was always happy when Mark won at the races. It gave her a deep-rooted sense of security to know that Mark was one of those people who are almost invariably lucky. She no longer worried when he gambled, and that part of her past when she was poverty-stricken had gradually become an unreality. Mark had snatched her away from it after a whirlwind courtship lasting exactly five days.

Tonight they would attend the society concert in Miami and she would wear the ruby bracelet. She, little Celia Hicks, would wear a piece of jewelry worth almost two hundred thousand dollars. She would make herself so beautiful for the occasion that Mark would never forget it, never be sorry he had paid so much for the bracelet.

A shiver of delight pulsed through her. She asked excitedly, “Will it come, Mark? Do you think it will be at the hotel when we get there?” A queer sense of dread suddenly mingled with her happiness.

Mark grinned tolerantly and chided, “Say star ruby bracelet when you mention your anniversary gift, Mrs. Dustin. The idea-calling it it.”

They laughed together and she said, “Didn’t Mr. Voorland tell you this morning?”

“He promised to deliver the bracelet by evening.” Mark’s voice was quietly emphatic. “His bank had a wire from Denver yesterday saying the check had cleared.”

“But didn’t he say he would rather have the actual money back here in his account first?”

“Naturally. In a transaction like this where I’m completely unknown to him he wants to take all the precautions possible. He hopes the money will be credited to his account before his bank closes this afternoon, but even if it isn’t, he said over the phone that the telegraphic assurance would be enough. Don’t worry, darling, you’ll knock everybody’s eyes out with that bracelet tonight.”

“You should never have bought it, Mark,” she said earnestly. “I’ll be frightened to death every moment I have it on-just thinking about how much it cost.”

“You’ll get used to it,” he told her cheerfully. “Just remember it’s insured.”

“Some people keep expensive things like that locked up in a safe and never wear them,” she told him.

“I know. They have cheap replicas made and wear those instead. Of all the damn fool ideas I ever heard of,” said Mark explosively, “that’s the damnedest.”

They reached the end of the causeway and some of the cars ahead of them turned off to the right or left onto winding, palm-lined drives threading through the length of the peninsula. With the congestion eased, Mark Dustin sat up straight and darted expertly past laggard cars, gauging his speed and distances superbly to gain a couple of minutes in the short distance to the hotel.

In the hotel lobby Celia stood back and waited breathlessly while Mark went to the desk to inquire about the delivery of the package from the jeweler. Her heart sank when she saw the clerk shake his head emphatically, and saw the taut anger come into Mark’s face.

He strode back toward her and she made herself smile as she hurried to meet him. “Don’t you mind, darling. It really doesn’t matter whether I have it tonight or not.”